← The Dan Bongino Show
The Dan Bongino Show
FINALLY: Jan 6th Pipe Bomber Arrested? | Episode 181
00:55:37
Person of interest arrested in connection to the Jan 6th pipe bomb; The mainstream media grills Democrats over recent scandals; Minnesota fraud discoveries keep piling up.
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- [00:00]
A
Hey, everybody. Welcome to Vince on a Thursday. This program is always brought to you by Blackout Coffee, the official coffee of all of us here at silverlock. Go to blackoutcoffee.com Vince. Use the code Vince. That's V I N C E for 20% off your first order. Blackout Coffee. So good. We start today's program with breaking news, ladies and gentlemen. We got him. Yeah, we got the January 6th, technically January 5th, Pipe Bomber has been taken into custody, officially this morning, Thursday, December 4th, in the year of our Lord 2025. He's in custody, and I say he's in custody despite the fact that he had a very feminine walk. Apparently, it was a dude taken into custody in Virginia. Again, these are breaking elements. Breaking news by the time you hear this in podcast form. If you're listening later on, not during our live broadcast at 10:00am Eastern Time each day, there may be more details available to us from the United States Department of Justice. But a suspect now in custody. The FBI going this morning a short while ago into the Commonwealth of Virginia and taking this man into custody. We will bring you the details on this as we get our show started and take a look back at the events that transpired leading up to this. But one more thing to you, one more thing to emphasize before we kick off the rest of the program today. I mentioned today is December 4th, and it's probably worth mentioning, you know, today is Dan Bongino's birthday.
- [01:46]
That's a hell of a birthday gift. The guy who spent all of his time outside of the FBI saying, hey, we need to catch the pipe bomber, then goes into the FBI, spends all of his time trying to catch the pipe bomber, and sure enough, on his birthday, well, it looks like he caught the pipe bomber. We'll find out more, but happy birthday, Dan. Some good news to start the day coming up. Hey, have you ever had a moment where you're thinking to yourself, hey, if something happens, how fast can I get to my firearm? This is why I'm obsessed with Stopbox. No keys, no batteries, just instant access when it matters most. If you own a handgun, you know the struggle. Locked away and safe, but out of reach or unsecured and risky. Stopbox USA solves this problem with the Stopbox Pro. It's mechanical. It's a keyless locking system that gives you fast, reliable access without fumbling for keys or worrying about dead batteries as 100% mechanical. So it works every single time. And with Christmas coming up, look, this is the ultimate gift for anybody who takes safety seriously. So whether it's for your nightstand or a loved one. Stopbox Pro delivers peace of mind. The holidays just got a little bit safer and a lot more affordable. For a limited time only, you can get a crazy deal. Not only do you get 10% off your entire order when you use the code vinshow@stopboxusa.com, you can. They're also giving you buy one, get one free for their StopBox Pro. That's 10% off and a free Stopbox Pro when you use the code vince show@stopboxusa.com.
- [03:27]
I mean, what a hell of a way to spend a birthday. The guy is like spending all of his time constantly getting chewed out by everybody in the media. They hate everything they're doing at the FBI. Dian Bongino goes into the FBI and then on December 4th, the guy's birthday, how old is he? That Guy's like, what, 40, 30 something? He's a young man. The point is, it's his birthday today. And now they catch the pipe bomber. Did they set this up intentionally? I'm waiting for that conspiracy theory. Remember when everybody was accusing Donald Trump of throwing himself a parade on his birthday? Earlier this year, he threw himself a parade. Now he's celebrating the United States army, which happened to be born on the same day as the President of the United States. Dan Bongino arranged to arrest the pipe bomber on his birthday. Yeah, I'm sure, I'm sure he wanted to take the world of shit that they've been receiving all year long. He wanted to wait for his birthday, for the big announcement. Come on. It's like so crazy. Anyway, the dude gets arrested on Dan's birthday. Here's what we have. Again, these are the early developments today. A lot could change as the day moves along. And certainly by the time you hear this program, perhaps you'll know more details here. But this is the early reporting this morning as first heard on the Fox News Channel. Take a look at this.
- [04:42]
B
This is a big deal. Bill and Dana, it happened January 5, 2021. A mysterious person, covered from head to toe, placed pipe bombs outside both the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee here in our nation's capital. We don't know the suspect's name or anything about this person other than the fact this is a male that was living in Northern Virginia, arrested at some point within the last 90 minutes, now in federal custody. I'm told we'll know more as the day moves on and we have the information. Of course we will break in with that. But just this Past October. A couple of months ago, the FBI put out this enhanced video and pictures of the mass suspect planting pipe bombs near a bench outside the DNC in Washington on January 5, 2021, the night before the attack on the US Capitol. The suspect then placed the same type of bomb outside the RNC minutes later. The suspect, as I said, wore a face mask, hooded sweatshirt, glasses, gloves. But using FBI technology, agents told the public the suspect they believe is around 5 foot 7 inch. We'll see Bill if that rings true once we get an identity later today. Agents say the two bombs were placed between 7:30 and 8:30 at night. The bombs did not detonate, but this is important. They were viable. They could have hurt people, they could have killed people. Those bombs were discovered the next day. Over the past four years, agents visited 1200 homes and businesses, conducted more than 1000 interviews, reviewed approximately 39,000 video files, went through 600 tips. It's notable the reward bill and Dana was half a million dollars, $500,000.
- [06:17]
A
Okay, so that's a, that's a great summation there on fox. So here's a couple things that stand out to me. One, remember when we were looking at the video footage of this in October? In October, the FBI did a renewed and high definition release of a ton of video footage here. And I told you at the time, here's what's happening. As far as I'm concerned, they are close to something. The reason they were releasing that video in October was not because they were starting from square one. It's because they needed some last kind of public push in order to get the information here that was essential for this arrest. We'll find out what role that October disclosure played soon. We expect some announcements from the Justice Department today on this subject. But that seemed like a big deal and they were offering a half million dollar reward at the time. Did that induce something, something meaningful? Another piece here is I concluded like a lot of other people, I think, but I started concluding I was looking at the dude, apparently a dude. Now we know. I thought it was a chick. I was like, man, look at this person. They're like swinging their hips in a very feminine way. It could just be a dude with a feminine walk. It's like a Seinfeld character or something. But yeah, no, they say it's a dude. They took a dude into custody today. They say he's the pipe bomber. And what I'm hearing is they think they've got their man. This is not like a distant call or this is it. This is the guy we'll see. Big announcements coming today from the United States Department of Justice. This is the breaking news. This is, of course, as you might expect, not what I expected that we'd be talking about first thing this morning. But I talk about it with you with elation that we've got something very interesting going on. Pipe bomber taken into custody Again. It was just a month over when they did their last big push for information. And here we are. An arrest in Virginia heading into Christmas. Kind of. Kind of amazing. And so where are we at? We're in 2025, or at the end of 2025, nearly into January 26th. In other words, we're almost to five years since this happened. There was no actual progress of any kind made by the Biden administration, None. A suspicious lack of curiosity in getting to the bottom of this case. It took a new FBI director, an FBI deputy director who clearly was obsessed with this issue, and an immense push to finally bring this thing to at least the step that we see today. A big arrest and a lot of reports flying all over the place right now. As soon as we get real details, we'll bring more to you, including on tomorrow's program. I'm certain we're gonna be able to talk about that. So, anyway, that's. How about that, ladies and gentlemen, Some good news to start the day. We like this. We like good news. I'll take good news. And this goes back to kind of the point that I've been making all year. There really is something always happening, whether or not we see it all in public at any given moment. The reality is we voted for Donald Trump in order to make progress on all of these fronts, whether it's securing the border, improving the economy, stopping the drug deaths, or establishing accountability, actually holding people accountable for what they've done wrong to our country, arresting and prosecuting the people who've hurt us at high positions of power, the people like James Comey and letitia, James Lamonica McIver, Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell, whatever, whoever the person is. We're seeing more and more updates on that as time goes on. And then, of course, taking somebody into custody as related to the January 6th pipe bomb case. That's legit. Oh, one other thing that I am hearing this morning, I do hear that Congress, that the January 6th committee, as it's currently constituted, run by Barry Loudermilk, those guys have been receiving updates on all of this as well. So they're apprised on the fact that this guy has now been taken into custody. And they are feeling very solid about this, too. So.
- [10:23]
That'S a really big piece of this. We'll keep an eye on it. The President of the United States has kicked up another round of venom that's being directed at him and at you for voting for him this morning. He started his day with he just rolled another grenade into asshole HQ with this post on Truth Social. He said, I'm dealing with the poisoning of America. I'm dealing with the poisoning of America. He says, he sure is. What he's talking about is the fact that our country has been overtaken by people who do not love it, who wish us ill, who take advantage of us, who kill our people and who steal from us. And this week that story has been emphasized in a big way by all of the revelations surrounding billions of dollars of theft done by Somali nationals who have come into the United States and they just promptly stole tons of money from us, from American taxpayers. It drives any thinking, rational, decent person crazy. But the irrational, psychopathic lefties, they're not mad at the Somalis. They're mad at Trump. Here's Ilhan Omar, who is cracking open a very tired playbook. Look at her. Cut five. Watch as she says, you know what Donald Trump, noticing what Somalis have done to America, that's racist.
- [11:58]
C
He's always been a racist, a bigot, xenophobic and Islamophobic. We know that he called African nations a shithole in his first administration. We know that when he came down that escalator, he said he was going to stop Muslim immigration into this country. And so it is not surprising that he is going after black immigrants in this country. And it's certainly not surprising that he's choosing a black immigrant community that is also Muslim. But what I would like to say is that most of us are citizens. On our passport, it says we are nationals of this country. We love that Minnesota has welcomed us. Many of us have not been settled in Minnesota. We chose it as a home because the Minnesota people and the state is beautiful and very welcoming. And we are going to be here regardless of what the President has to say.
- [12:56]
A
Man, I hope they denaturalize her and deport her. Wouldn't that be the best? You know, it's funny, as I watched that clip the first time, you know, ahead of bringing it to you, and just now, again, I was thinking, you know, what's great about this moment, how limp wristed and feckless that particular line of attack is. Like, she just gets up there and she's like, you know, Trump's a racist. Trump's a racist. He hates black people. He hates brown people. He hates Somalis because of their skin color, and just goes on and on. And it's so weak and, like, not impressive at all. And not for a moment does it set you on your heels anymore. You don't hear that, and you go, wait, wait, wait, I can explain. I don't. I'm not racist against anybody. No, you're like, eh, shut up. Nobody's taking you seriously. In fact, you shouldn't be in the country. You married your brother to commit immigration fraud. Get the hell out, you ungrateful wench. Insanity. So Ilhan Omar is trying something that used to work in the United States, doesn't work anymore because nobody's falling for it. We're just sick of the crap. We're sick of the crap. And then when she was asked on a different network, hey, why is it that these Somalis were stealing billions of dollars? And I'm seeing numbers, by the way. We're seeing numbers around $6 billion by some estimates. That's a lot of money. We're talking about $6 billion. I'm pretty sure we could have built a wall for $6 billion. A couple years back, they stole $6 billion from us. Why did that happen? Well, Ilhan OMAR's explanation, cut six, is that some people did something.
- [14:30]
C
When you have these kind of new programs that are designed to help people, you're oftentimes relying on third parties to be able to facilitate. And I just think that a lot of the COVID programs that were set up, they were set up so quickly that a lot of the guardrails did not get created.
- [14:50]
A
Oh, it's not their fault. Nobody created guardrails like they stole because people let it happen. If only there were guardrails. If only somebody was to stop them. You know, when whistleblowers in Minnesota did start noticing that there was immense fraud going on at the hands of Somali nationals, they began to bring this up. Guess what happened? Oh, the old Ilhan Omar playbook got whipped out. We're gonna call you racist if you bring this up. You scrutinize us. So what did the lefty leadership of Minnesota do? They just look the other way. They just let it happen. They let their own people get fleeced because they didn't wanna be called racist. And they said, well, Somalis are a very important voting bloc for Democrats, so let them rob us blind. Yeah, that's the plan in Minnesota. How's that working out for you? The mayor of Minneapolis is an idiot called Jacob Fry, and he says that everything's fine. Everything's totally fine. There's nothing to worry about here. Cut 8. Here's the Minneapolis mayor yesterday.
- [15:56]
D
I'm not even clear that the federal agents know exactly what they're doing here, because here's the thing. The Somali community is almost universally American citizens. They have come here legally. They are in our city legally. They've been here in many cases for decades. And they have contributed greatly to the fabric of who we are. They're part of our family here in Minneapolis. I mean, they are part of our family. Our banker. They are our babysitter. In my family, they're my bodyguard. And that's just the bees.
- [16:29]
A
Must also be his brainstorming that have.
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D
Benefited Minneapolis in a really beautiful way.
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A
Yeah, it's beautiful. It's part of the fabric of America. They're part of my family. It's basically a family member who's constantly robbing me at gunpoint, stealing everything I've got, leaving me without a house and home. What a great family member. Very dysfunctional family that he's describing. Jacob Fry, the President of the United States, was asked about that idiot yesterday. The great Mary Margaret Olihan, asking the President about the Minneapolis mayor, claiming that, well, Somalis have just made Minnesota so great. Here's what the president said. Cut 4. Take a look at this. The mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, is saying that he's actually proud to have the largest Somali community in the country.
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E
And his police chief.
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F
Well, then he's a fool.
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A
Well, his police chief is also saying.
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F
Have the largest Somalian. Look at their nation. Look how bad their nation is. It's not even a nation. It's just people walking around killing each other. Look, these Somalians have taken billions of dollars out of our country. They've taken billions and billions of dollars. They have a representative, Ilhan Omar, who they say married her brother. It's a fraud. She tries to deny it now, but you can't really deny it because, you know, it just happened. She shouldn't be allowed to be a congresswoman. And I'm sure people are looking at that. And she should be thrown the hell out of our country. And most of those people, many countries, they have destroyed Minnesota. Okay?
- [17:59]
A
Yeah, they destroyed it. Garbage. They absolutely ruined it. And so that's. Whether that's Tim Walls or Ilhan Omar or Jacob Frey, They've laid nothing but a path of destruction for that state. They've just allowed this to happen. And you would think that after all of this abuse that they let happen, that they would, you know, they'd figure out a way to stop the abuse. No more abuse. Let's cut off these programs that people are exploiting in order to scam everybody. You think they would do that and yet they're not doing that. In just the last 24 hours, Tim Walls just announced they're introducing a new way to commit fraud in Minnesota. The new way is that now they're mandating up to 20 weeks of leave and paid benefits for anybody who feels like taking time off in the state. So if you have a private business in Minnesota, congratulations. Tim Walls has made it so that people can steal your money by collecting a paycheck and not actually showing up to work. Here's Tim Walls making the announcement Cut nine yesterday.
- [19:09]
G
And one of the things is that has been missing in America is what happens if you have a child? How do you take time away and how do you bond with that child, which we know all the research shows how big a difference is that makes? Or what happens if you've got a family member that's sick? My family's going through that right now with a mother in law. Or what happens if you yourself have, have an illness and have to be either through treatments or hospitalized. The choice in the past was.
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Lose your job or go broke or care for yourself. Or as we were just saying, if you're lucky enough to have family support and people who do that, it's not the way things should be done. And I continue to say this United States is about one of three or four countries that doesn't have some type of program like this. Now we join that are going to implement a paid family medical leave program.
- [19:59]
A
So this guy is basically saying mandatory time off. You want to take time off from work, you can do that. Now the now it's protected by the state, by the law. The company needs to keep giving you a paycheck while you're not showing up to work at all. And of course, like every time they do this, oh, it's about medical leave. You know what they mean by that? They mean even the loosest possible definition. Oh, I need a mental health day. I need a mental health day. I gotta stay home and spend time with my brain. Okay, for how many weeks? Oh, just for 20 weeks. For 20 weeks? What, are you serious? And so in a state that has ridiculous, rampant levels of fraud, by the way, most of which has actually been, as we well know, done by Somalis, they just established a new program that can be defrauded and so Walls realizes this. He's. I don't know if he was asked about this yesterday, if he brought it up himself. He swears watch this cut down. I'm so sorry for you. If you're in Minnesota, the garbage you're dealing with right now, he swears up and down. Nobody's gonna scam us and take time off.
- [20:58]
H
That.
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A
That's not actually real. Watch this.
- [21:00]
G
Aren't people gonna abuse the program? How disrespectful to people to assume that all Minnesotans are scamming. That's what I hear from them all the time. I trust Minnesotans. I believe in Minnesotans. I believe they know you're not going to get rich. And it's not your full salary. You're not going to scam and take time off.
- [21:17]
A
Somalis just stole $6 billion from your states. From your state. I mean, you have to be the world's biggest dumbass to create a brand new program that people can easily defraud in the state. I mean, you'd have to be the kind of guy who doesn't even know how to load a shotgun. You've got to be the Elmer Fudd of American politics. Oh, wait, it's Tim Walls. Tim Walls, Tim.
- [21:43]
B
What an idiot.
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A
Just such an idiot. How the hell did that guy become a governor of a state?
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Nobody's gonna scam us. Oh my God. Please, please. So, yes, Tim Walls has cooked up a new way to commit fraud in the state of Minnesota. Thanks, buddy. Thank you very, very much. Meanwhile, in terms of like, you know, what the heck's happening in our country? In terms of like foreign nationals pouring in who don't share your values, who don't share concern for your country or super happy to root on its destruction. House Democrats have a new plan for how to deal with immigration enforcement. Don't enforce the law at all. Here is an announcement yesterday cut 11 House Democrats have made a big announcement that they've got a piece of legislation and it's got 123 co sponsors. And the legislation says it will be illegal to take illegal aliens into custody. That's the plan.
- [22:40]
E
Our Dignity for Detained Immigrants act has a remarkable unprecedented. 123 original co sponsors before we've even introduced it. 123 co sponsors. And it overhauls the detention system. It drastically scales back the use of detention. It ensures that every single immigrant who is in detention has their human and civil rights protected. Our bill also phases out the use of private for profit detention centers. It prohibits the detention of children and families and Makes it harder to detain primary caregivers and vulnerable people like pregnant women or seniors or workers who are whistleblowing and unscrupulous employers.
- [23:25]
A
Okay, so premiere over here, her plan is no more detention of people who break our laws, no more arrests for the people who break our laws. Don't enforce immigration law at all. I mean, this is the uphill battle that the President of the United States is facing right now. He's got a situation where Democrats, they didn't want the border to be closed off. They didn't want a functional sovereign border. And now that the border is secure, which, by the way, Democrats are now admitting it is secure, they're trying to figure out, well, how do we keep the scam going? Well, let's stop interior enforcement. At least we can try and keep the illegals who've made it in running around our communities causing chaos. Let's keep doing that. Says Pramila Jayapal and 122 other idiots in the Congress.
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And as far as the border is concerned being secure, even Hakeem Jeffries is begrudgingly admitting that Donald Trump did secure the border. And this is a funny exchange because it's CNN who asks him. CNN's like, well, can't you admit that Trump did actually secure the border and it didn't take any new legislation? I wanna repeat something. It did not take any new legislation, as the president said. All it took was a new president. That's it. The Democrats could have done this. They didn't want to. They loved the open border. Watch Hakeem Jeffries begrudgingly admit that President Trump won this fight. In other words, you won this fight. Cut three. Watch this.
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H
Give President Trump any credit for securing the border.
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A
Because, as you know, that was a big issue under the Biden administration when you had record border crossings and those.
- [25:00]
H
Border crossings have gone down dramatically. Can you give him credit for that?
- [25:04]
A
The border is secure. That's a good thing. It's happened on his watch. He wants to claim credit for it. Of course he'll get credit for that. In terms of making sure that we actually deal with the issues that matter, including on immigration or beyond, there's a lot that is left to be desired.
- [25:26]
I love that he's practically choking on his words as he delivers them like a 56k modem screeching towards. Yeah, I guess it's true. He deserves credit. That's one of the funniest clips I've seen all week. I love that clip. Hakeem Jeffries has to admit that. And CNN Made him admit it, too. It's really wonderful. But it's true. The border is secure. You can thank Trump for that. There's a reason we've moved from the drug problem crossing our border to the drug problem in the oceans, trying to get to our country on the land border, on our south and the river border, for that matter, to our south. We've dealt with this. We've sealed up our borders on the south and the north. Now we're trying to deal with, okay, what's coming in across the ocean. And that's where you continue to have the war crime hoax being perpetuated. The war crime hoax continues at pace today, though the rest of us realize that the whole thing has collapsed. It's like there's nothing to this. The military did its job. It took out drug boats that were destined for the United States to kill Americans. Good. But the war crime hoax continues today. Admiral Bradley. Admiral Bradley, Admiral Mitch Bradley is going to be testifying today before the leaders of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees. This is crazy that these Republicans continue to do this. Roger Wicker and Mike Rogers in the House. Why are you doing this? And if you're doing this to basically clear the deck, get it done by the end of the day. Because it is insane that you continue to play footsie with these idiots, these Democrats who are trying to lock up the Trump administration and create yet another pretext to impeach the president of the United States. Again, you got to be honest about what the hell's going on here. In fact, here's a Democrat, Senator Jack Reed, he's the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, gloating yesterday that the war crime hoax investigation is continuing. Watch. Cut 12. Watch this. You and Senator Wicker, the Republican on the committee previously announced that there would be some type of inquiry into Hegseth to try to get to the facts of what really happened. What's the status of that inquiry? What have you found out thus far?
- [27:47]
I
Well, we're beginning in earnest the investigation. Tomorrow. We are going to have the.
- [27:57]
H
General.
- [27:58]
I
The admiral who was in charge of the operation, as well as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to join us. And we're going to go into detail as precisely what happened, particularly with the second strike which.
- [28:14]
Has engended the suggestions at least, that some personnel might have been killed in the water, which would have been be, on its face, a war crime. But we want to establish everything, all the details, who gave the orders, what instructions they received, what alternatives did they consider? It's a Very serious charge and we intend to take it seriously.
- [28:42]
A
You are so full of shit. It's a wrap up smear. It's a wrap. You even heard in the way he was hedging his description. Well, people are kind of suggesting that there may be a war crime. Oh, shut up. You're disgusting for what you're doing to the men and women of the military. Remember, in their animosity for Trump, they are slandering the military for doing the job that they signed up for, which is protecting us. God bless them for it. I've got more details on that story and so much more coming up. We're gonna talk to Brett Tolman in just a minute, get his assessment of all of the legal things that are going on in the world today, because there's a lot of them. Actually, that's all I had on this edition of Vince on the day in which the pipe bomber apparently has been taken into custody. Great news, lot to get to. Hey, Beam's cyber sale is going on right now. It's live for you and it's their best offer of the year. But it's only until the end of the week. Right now you get up to 50% off. 50% off. With my Code Vince show, you can grab Beams Dream dream for just $1 a night. Just about a dollar a night. Dream is made with clean, science backed ingredients like Reishi, magnesium, L theanine, apigenin and melatonin. It is formulated to help you fall asleep, stay asleep and wake up refreshed. No grogginess, no crash, just deep restorative rest. It's wonderful. And by the way, it's delicious. It is the perfect way to end your day and head off to peaceful bliss in your sleep. I've been using Dream for a while now and I can honestly say it makes me feel great. I feel sharper, calmer, more focused. So if you've been waiting for the right time to try Dream, this is it. Go to shopbeam.com Vinceshow use the code Vinceshow and get up to 50% off during Beam's cyber sale. But here's the catch. You ready for the catch? It's only available at this price until it sells out. So seriously, think about it. How much you want to pay for a truly great night of sleep? With Beam's cyber price, it's just a dollar and eight cents per night. Go to shopbeam.com Vinceshow right now. That's Beam. Thank you to Beme, great sponsor of our program, and thank you to Blackout Coffee. So after you go to sleep and sleep blissfully, you wake up and then you go. Time for blackout. Blackout Coffee. Proudly the official coffee of all of us here at Silverlock. There's a reason for that. It's bold, it's unapologetic. It's America first coffee, roasted fresh right here in the United States, not grocery store junk. Blackout coffee delivers rich, high quality roasts that actually taste like freedom. And now you can set it. Forget it, baby. With auto refill and recurring delivery, this means no more running out, no more watered down backups. Just your favorite roast delivered fresh right on your schedule. So pick your favorite roast, how often you want it delivered. Not only do you get a discount, you also get double the rewards and free shipping right to your doorstep. I drink my coffee black. I love blackout coffee. Here's what you do. Go to blackoutcoffee.com Vince. Use the code Vince. That's V I, N, C, E. Get 20% off your first order. So if you're into the bold dark roasts, the flavored coffee, or even instant, blackout's got your back. Real coffee, no compromise. Blackout coffee dot com. Vince, get yours now. Our thanks to Blackout Coffee. All right, I'm happy to have. Joining us right now a former United States Attorney for the District of Utah. He did that for a while and he also worked in the United States Senate. He's done it all and he was a leading figure in the drafting and passage of major legislation as well. Brett Tolman joins us on the program. Brett, it is good to have you back with us. Thank you, sir.
- [32:25]
H
Thanks for having me. Vince, it's great to join you.
- [32:27]
A
I mentioned a moment ago that Admiral Mitch Bradley is arriving today to talk to the Senate and House Armed Services Committee about the legal ramifications. Did he commit any war crimes as we were fighting back against these drug dealers who are trying to bring this poison into the United States of America. I mean, Brett, everything you've seen so far, what are you concluding about this saga? It does seem like they're trying to lock the Trump administration up in another ridiculous wrap up.
- [32:58]
H
Yeah, Vince, I think they are clearly ignoring some key, key features of the present day issues that we have. One being that the President has authority to designate agencies, organizations, individuals, terrorist threats to this country. Once that's done, it opens up a whole different set of tools that the President can use as the executive.
- [33:22]
Ahead of the executive branch in this country. And the military is, is one powerful tool to go after those that have been designated as terrorist organizations. I think that is something that, you know, no matter what the controversy is and no matter what they try to, you know, embroil this administration in, they're doing what they have to do to protect the United States and its citizens. And there's a clear threat coming through these narco terrorists.
- [33:49]
A
That's right. And then the other thing that, like, the media has tried to, like, just skip right past is the fact that in the sequence of events, and we learned more from the Wall Street Journal yesterday about this, in the sequence of events that led to the destruction of that boat, they strike it once and then they determine over the course of another hour, they're literally staring at video feed for an hour before they make a realization. They're like, wait a second. First of all, not everybody's been eliminated. The boat continues to float. The cargo is still there, and we have detected radio calls to nearby narco terrorists to come and collect the items that are on that boat. Well, then the military makes a decision. We've got to finish this mission. That doesn't sound like a war crime. That sounds like the military doing the job it's supposed to do.
- [34:38]
H
We live in this bizarre moment in time in which those would say, the first strike was fine, it's the second that was the problem. There's no innocent actors on that boat and they have to finish the job. And I think anyone that served in the military understands that if a mission is authorized, it's also authorized to be completed.
- [35:01]
A
It sure seems like it. Well, they're hassling the admiral today. We'll see what happens with that. I do think that if I can engage you in a political question, I do think Republicans are being very stupid here, meaning in the Senate and the House, by treating this like it's a legitimate line of inquiry. I think the public record has already satisfied any normal thinking American on what the hell's going on here. The idea that Republicans would continue to play footsie with this is doing nothing but giving permission to Democrats to find new ways to try and lock up the Trump administration.
- [35:37]
H
Yeah, Vince, you're exactly right. I mean, I saw it up close and personal for many, many years. There's, there's, you know, there's no surprise. This is why Congress has a single digit approval rating, because especially on the Republican side, where you do have the, the ability to take the high ground in this, the arguments are in our favor. The, the action against narco terrorists is long overdue. We talked about and gave lip service to a war on drugs without ever engaging in the war. Now we're finally attempting to get rid of this plague that the country has been under. And now we're learning from folks that have been insiders in different countries who are coming out and revealing that it was a targeted plan to weaken the United States, its citizens, to compromise its borders, and to effectively pull down the power of the United States.
- [36:32]
A
Okay, let me move from our foreign threats to the domestic concerns we have. You were a former U.S. attorney, so I'm really intrigued in your thoughts about how important it is for President Trump to have actually Senate confirmed in place U.S. attorneys. He's in an immense struggle right now because he has prosecutors that are there in a variety of capacities and a variety of statuses who are trying to bring prosecutions, and they're meeting a firewall of left wing judges and people who are looking to disqualify them. We just saw the Comey prosecution, for instance, at least temporarily thrown out. Not on the merits. It was thrown out on procedural grounds. They were going after Lindsey Halligan and whether or not she was even eligible to bring the prosecution. Can you talk about how important it is to get these U.S. attorneys through? What are you observing right now?
- [37:26]
H
Yeah, Vince, great question. Not a lot of people realize this is the Achilles heel of this administration right now. And what I mean by that is, look, history is important. It used to be that U.S. attorneys were very apolitical. You had very few fights on the Senate floor. You had no problems confirming them. Bill Clinton came in. He was the first president to actually remove all 94 United States Attorneys when he came into office. Then after that, it became sort of commonplace with every president. The difference here, though, is the prior presidents worked very feverishly, you know, very hard at getting their US Attorneys in place immediately. This administration has got to step up their game, and this Congress and the Senate has got to step up their game. It is dangerous. Where we're at and why it's dangerous is because what you have are bureaucrats. And remember, 90% of those that donated to political campaigns in the Department of Justice donated to the Democrats. So you have bureaucrats that are making key decisions about how to use the most powerful tools we give to the government. The power to indict, the power to take away liberty and freedom, and let's face it, right now, the power to implement the executive branches, priorities on what should be prosecuted, what the US Government should be concerned about. That's not happening. Instead, what you have is acting US Attorneys in multiple jurisdictions, key jurisdictions who have no interest in, in following or assisting this administration in implementing their priorities.
- [39:08]
A
Okay, let me talk about solutions here, about what can be done. Obviously, this is a source of great frustration to the Trump administration and the Justice Department, obviously. But we have a couple of solutions, at least that are in my mind. One of them is why don't we just use the special counsel statute?
- [39:28]
The left kept using it like crazy and we, and I assume you too, Bret, were rightly critical of the way they were using it. But at this point, the obstruction is so immense, why don't we just use it? In other words, Jeanine Pirro is a fully Senate confirmed U.S. attorney. Why don't we just make her a special counsel? Why don't we just let her prosecute anywhere in the whole damn country and then we don't have this problem anymore? Would that be a solution here?
- [39:51]
H
Well, the special counsel rules are slightly different and they are more difficult to use. Now, having said that, on these particular cases, like Comey and some of the others, a special counsel might have been appropriate. I think there were many inside the department and this administration who were advising that that would be the solution. Instead, unfortunately, you know, these key cases are brought in a scenario in which there's controversy over the appointment of the U.S. attorney because there are rules that are in place and Congress needs to revisit these and change them. But there are rules on how a president can put in an interim or an acting U.S. attorney.
- [40:33]
A
No, but I got that. But, but I want to dwell on something about Jeanine Pirro. If I could just for a. She is Senate confirmed because we had prior rulings down in Florida, of course, and this was about whether or not a special counsel was eligible, Jack Smith, to even be in the role that he was unconstitutionally appointed. Jeanine Pirro wouldn't have that problem, as far as I'm aware, because again, she is Senate confirmed. She is there as the U.S. attorney in D.C. she could be made the special counsel as a result. Am I wrong about that or what's the.
- [41:03]
H
Oh, you're not wrong. You're not wrong. But certainly Jeanine Pirro is not going to be the one digging through the evidence, is not going to be the one that actually presents it to the grand jury. These cases, it's going to take those that are in the jurisdiction. Right. So it's got to be those that are in the jurisdiction that are bringing the cases and assisting on it. And even, even when you had, when, for example, when you have Mueller that was in charge and you know, the special counsel designation, who did he work with? He worked with Assistant USA and other main justice prosecutors who could actually present the case to the, you know, applicable grand jury.
- [41:42]
A
Janine, required. Is that required or is that just a symptom of needing manpower?
- [41:48]
H
No, it's required because you have to have jurisdiction over the case. So Jeanine Pirro in Washington, D.C. would not have jurisdiction over the case, you know, for example, over Comey. That's why it was brought in the Eastern District of Virginia.
- [42:00]
A
Got it. All right. That makes sense to me. Here's the other thing in terms of addressing this, the Senate, which you're very familiar with, the reason this is a problem is because Adam Schiff has a veto over the president's U.S. attorney pick in California. That basically that each of these Democrat senators in their respective states, like Virginia, which has two Democrats as the senators, the Democrats get to just veto whoever the President picks to be the U.S. attorney because of something called the blue slip process in the Senate.
- [42:35]
H
Yeah, and Vince, that blue slip is completely made up. It's not in statute. It's, it's, it's not a rule, it's not a law. This is all just tradition. It's history and tradition of the U.S. senate. Now, I'm all for tradition, but one side has already illustrated they're, they're not willing to follow it. They'll do what they want when they need to do it. So the Republicans need to step up and understand. Guess what? You applied, you, you applied the nuclear option on higher, more elevated appointments. You're going to have to do it now. It was a product of, you know, I think many of us saw this coming. You were going to have to do, you were going to have to apply it to appointments, and they're going to have to do it here. I mean, screw the blue slips. Stop with this. You know, these days of old in which history and tradition, you know, and the higher ideals are operating in the Senate, it's not the case anymore. You're not going to bring it back, and you better fight fire with fire.
- [43:38]
A
And so, and as I understand it, it's not a law. It's also not even really a codified rule in the Senate either, is it? It's just a gentleman's agreement between senators.
- [43:48]
H
That's right.
- [43:48]
A
Okay, so who is it up to? Is it up to Chuck Grassley, as the head of the Judiciary Committee to blow past this?
- [43:54]
H
No, this would be, this would be the majority leader. The majority leader would have to. Yeah, I mean, it would take both. I mean, Grassley would have to push out, you know, take a party vote in committee, get the, get the individual out of committee, put it to the floor, and then Jonathan would have to take it and ram it down the Democrats throat.
- [44:16]
A
So Grassley and Thune have to do this is the answer to that.
- [44:19]
H
They do. I mean, and that's the, that's one of the problems, right? These are old bulls that, that want to conduct themselves in a manner in which they would hope that the other side would conduct themselves. Those days are gone, Vince. Those days are gone.
- [44:34]
A
But they don't even enter. So, like you and I are talking about this. They refuse to. They only talk about this process under duress. Like, you would have to, like, be in the, like walking through the Senate hallways and run into John Thune and asking about the blue slip. They do not want to talk about this. They don't want to talk about getting rid of the filibuster. Partly that's because they've got people like Susan Collins and Thom Tillis and Lisa Murkowski refused to get rid of it. But regardless, there's obstinance in the United States Senate to doing their damn jobs. And I like Chuck Grassley, I think he's done a lot of good for the country. I'm perfectly happy with that. But this is insanity to me, Brett Tolman, that we have to beg them from the outside to do the most obvious possible things. Like, as you point out, the Democrats are shitting all over tradition. They don't care about it. And Republicans are rolling around like, well, if we get rid of this, it'll somehow be used against us in the future. It's being used against you now, you idiots.
- [45:28]
H
That's right. 20 years ago I worked in the Senate and I would have told you, I would have given you a different answer. I would have said, look, we need to be careful about what we do because power shifts. They're going to have power if we do this, then they're going to do it. Do you want that? And that's how the Senate conducted itself for 200 years. However, it all changed. It all changed. And they were willing to do unbelievable things, unethical things, unconstitutional things, utilize our laws to go after their political enemies. That changed the landscape forever. We have to start fighting back. Can we do it with Chuck Grassley and Thune and others? I don't know. If they don't see very quickly what's happening, that the President is not getting his U.S. attorneys and the damage that it's going to do to this country, you're not going to get the swamp out of D.C. you're not going to stop the administration or the use of the justice system to actually go after political enemies. And that's what we want done as the new administration to fix this country. Put guardrails in so that we never have to see what happened over the last four years.
- [46:35]
A
Okay, so what's going to happen if Democrats get control of the Senate again? Do they blow through the silent filibuster?
- [46:42]
H
Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, they pack the court, they increase the number of Supreme Court positions and then they pack the court so they have the majority. You're going to see them, you know, it's in the interest of preserving our republic. Right. Saving democracy under those, under that umbrella, they will do things that destroy this country.
- [47:07]
A
They're going to create new states instantly. Puerto rico and Washington, D.C. designed to create four new senators and then guarantee their own power forever.
- [47:14]
H
That's right. And then gerrymandering, gerrymandering gets out of control. Bringing individuals in across the border illegally. They have no concept. I mean, they don't love America. Like, you know, we love America. They want to see it actually fall because they believe it could be rebuilt. This started with Obama and it's carried on since. And that's their agenda. And so we do need to wake up and Congress has to be part of the solution.
- [47:38]
A
Okay, one more legal news question for you and I'll let you go. Brett Tolman, thank you for being here. Former U.S. attorney. We got updates on Arctic Frost this week. Arctic Frost was, you know, there's a lot of components to it, but it involved Jack Smith spying on a whole bunch of people, including a lot of members of Congress. And he did it with the sign off of the chief judge in Washington D.C. called Judge Boasberg. There has been some effort to try and impeach Boasberg over this now. And Boseberg was supposed to testify actually this week before Congress about this. That has been postponed. The update that we just got from a variety of sources is that Boasberg allegedly didn't even know that he was signing off on spying warrants against members of Congress. That Jack Smith just approached him and said, here's a couple of phone numbers we want to go after. And he said, sure, you can do that. I'm sorry, Brett Tolman, what is the point of a judge if you're not judging anything, if you're just being told, hey, rubber stamp this for me, would you? And you have no curiosity whatsoever about what you're signing off on?
- [48:54]
H
Yeah, I mean, this is, I don't even know where to begin, Vince, because, you know, ever since 9 11, what we saw in the FBI and the Department of Justice was an enormous shift away from interdicting violent crime and keeping Americans safe to intelligence gathering. And they justified it under the 911 attacks. And then the need for our national security, what did it cause? It caused judges and prosecutors to relax on the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments and to pursue, out of the interest of national security, which is very vague and broad, incredible encroachments on civil liberties in this country with no checks, no transparency, no accountability. And judges have played a role in that, especially judges, where they align themselves politically with the current administration at the time.
- [49:48]
A
Yeah, yeah. And Bozberg's been involved in, like, endless parades of horrors and should have been impeached a long time ago, and yet we're still having this debate and Congress is still dragging its feet. Brett Tolman, thank you, as always. Really appreciate your wisdom and insight and encouragement for our country to get better. Appreciate you, sir.
- [50:05]
H
Thank you, Vince.
- [50:06]
A
There's Brett Tolman. Good to. Good to chat with him today. What do we got? Oh, did you see? President Trump.
- [50:16]
Gave a pardon yesterday to Henry Cuellar. The media has no idea what to do with this. They have no idea what to do with it. Henry Cuellar, who is a Texas Democrat congressman, he's got a border district. He spent a lot of time speaking out against Joe Biden's horrific border policies. You heard me correctly, he's a Democrat congressman who criticized Joe Biden's border policies. Biden's Justice Department began prosecuting him, began going after him, and they indicted him on what they said were conspiracy and bribery charges. He denies these. They were going after him for both him and his wife. And the president came out yesterday and announced, to hell with it, I'm pardoning the guy. And as the president explained it as he posted to Truth Social, he said, look, this is a guy who was being targeted by the Biden administration because he disagreed with them. He said, this is one of the clearest examples of when Crooked Joe was using the FBI and the DOJ to take out a member of his own party. After the highly respected Congressman Henry Cuellar bravely spoke out against open borders and the Biden border catastrophe, Sleepy Joe went after the congressman and even the congressman's wonderful wife, Imelda, simply for speaking the truth, he said, is un American. Un American. And so President Trump has issued a pardon. Now the media is wondering, what the hell is he doing? This is shocking Washington. They can't believe that President Trump would do this. Meanwhile, I can, I can believe that President Trump would do this because President Trump keeps detecting injustice. He did this in Eric Adams case, too, in New York. Remember, Eric Adams is a guy who has been treated like garbage. Garbage. Because he was speaking out against Joe Biden's disastrous border policies. Now, was Eric Adams great on immigration? No, he wasn't. Is Henry Cuellar great on everything going on with Democrats? No. He's voted for all sorts of idiotic stuff. But President Trump knows Justice Department corruption when he sees it. And he saw this, and he goes, to hell with it. I'm giving this guy a pardon. The media has no idea what to do with it. Here's Henry Cuellar reflecting on all of this. Cut 15, saying, yeah, Joe Biden definitely targeted me because I spoke out against the open border watch.
- [52:44]
B
Do you agree with the President that the Biden administration targeted you on purpose with this party?
- [52:49]
D
Absolutely.
- [52:50]
J
Absolutely. You know, we looked up how many times I got on national TV and national media. It was over 150 times. While I was very critical of the administration, the Biden administration, I tried very hard to get them to understand the border. I live there. They just wouldn't take it. And after that, I started criticizing them over 150 times. National Male media doesn't include the local media. The timing of this was very suspect. You know, 40 days before an election, if you recall, I was having that primary race where they spent $20 million against me and more things that we'll talk about. That is makes it very, very suspect.
- [53:38]
A
So good news for any Cuellar, he gets his pardon from President Trump. He spoke. He did speak out. It's true. I remember talking about every time he did it, I was like, who is this Democrat speaking out against open borders? And the reason for that is he's got a district where the constituents say, I don't want my borders open. And so they got Henry Cuellar as their lawmaker. And here's what Henry Cuellar needs to do now. You ready? Come on, Congressman. Become a Republican. Become a Republican. Pull the gym, Justice. Pull. Pull the. What was that guy's name up in New Jersey? Van Drew. Do what Van Drew did. Now's the time. Now's the time. Become a Republican. There's all this chatter right now about like, no, President Trump did a favor in a competitive district for a Democrat. That's not gonna help the Republican win there. Okay, fine, become a Republican and start voting with the Republicans, not just on the border, but with everything else. Get on board with the Trump agenda. Open your eyes. Take a look at who's actually on your side. It might be the guy who just pardoned you from the persecution you were receiving from the Democrats and join the fight. Do what Tulsi Gabbard did. Switch parties and join the America first, the Make America Great Again movement. How about it? We did our part. We put Trump in office, and Trump just pardoned you. Now what are you gonna do for us? Come on, son. Now's your chance. All right. Coming up today, the big national radio show. Whatever updates come out on that pipe bomber, the suspect taken into custody this morning. We'll cover the details on the radio program. You can find your local listings thevinceshow.com or watch us on rumble, rumble.com. vince, always great to have you. You can join me in the chat. It's so fun. And I'll be back with you tomorrow with a big update on everything we're learning. All ahead on this program. Vince, great to have you with us today.