Donald Trump (5:38)

Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will anymore. I was surprised because you were here. Everybody in this room practically was here as we had a wonderful send off. He said wonderful things about me. You couldn't have nicer. Said the best things. He's worn the hat. Trump was right about everything. And I am right about the great big beautiful bill. We call it a great big beautiful bill because that's what it is. And again, biggest tax cuts in history, biggest economic development moves anywhere. We've never done anything like it.

Vince (6:12)

Yeah, he said, this is big. It's a great big beautiful bill, which is really great. And I see there's a person sitting in our chat, Commander Marcus, 74, who says, Stop talking about all the good the bill is doing. Address the bad, you coward. Well, then lay out the bad there. Commander Marcus, Mr. Commander. Of everything we need to know about this thing, let us know. Because all of this chirping about, oh, there's pork in the bill. Okay, fine, lay down. What's the pork? What's the point? Are there issues with the bill that I have? Yeah, the salt tax deduction should not go up to $40,000. That's ridiculous. Keep that thing down to 10. There's no reason the rest of us should subsidize the blue states. But if you're gonna chirp, back it up, provide receipts. All we do here is receipts. That's the only thing we do, Provide evidence for it. It's like the craziest thing this thing. I'm telling you right now, we've never seen a lockdown on the immigration system like this bill provides. We've never seen a deportation bill like this bill. We've never seen a wall funding bill like this bill. We this in our lives and we're never gonna see it again. Let me repeat that. You're never gonna see it again. A 50 vote opportunity to secure this country. Take it while you have the chance. Nobody should vote against this thing. That's crazy. That's crazy. It's amazing. It's amazing. The opportunity we have. Don't let it go away. Normally what Washington does, they pass amnesty in these things. I'm not for amnesty. I'm for security. I'm for getting millions of people out and I'm for doing it as quickly as possible. And I'm for tax cuts and I'm for Americans keeping more of their own money. Don't tell me Americans keeping more of their own money raises the debt, raises the deficit. Washington spending problem is not my problem. My problem is I gotta feed my family. That's my problem. And so the President pursuing this agenda here. All right, let me see here. I've got the next piece of this. Trump, also in this Oval Office meeting, accused Musk of potentially having a little bit of TDS cut to take a look here. This is the guy you put in charge of cutting spending.

Tommy Piggott (8:12)

Should people not take him seriously about spending now?

Vince (8:15)

Are you saying this is all sour grapes? No.

Donald Trump (8:16)

He worked hard and he did a good job. And I'll be honest, I think he misses the place. I think he got out there and all of a sudden he wasn't in this beautiful Oval Office and he was. And he's got nice offices too. But there's something about this one. And I'll tell you, it's not. He's not the first. People leave my administration and they love us and then at some point they miss it so badly and some of them embrace it and some of them actually become hostile. I don't know what it is. It's sort of Trump derangement syndrome, I guess they call it. But we have it with others too. They leave and they wake up in the morning and the glamour's gone. The whole world is different. And they become hostile. I don't know what it is. Someday you'll write a book about it and you'll let us know.

Vince (9:05)

All right, so there's the President said, hey, maybe he's got a little bit of tds. This happens from time to time. You know, Elon himself has talked about Trump Derangement Syndrome and how out of control lefties are, how out of control some righties are with Trump Derangement Syndrome, saying, they're like rabid dogs. They're like spittle everywhere. They can't fight, think straight because they hate Trump so much. Now, Elon Musk was watching all of this, as you might imagine, and he was posting to his Platform X all of his reactions to the day's events. And that includes this, you know, President Trump saying that he was disappointed in Elon Musk. And here is Elon saying, false. This bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost nobody in Congress could even read it. Now, that's not true. The bill was available for weeks, actually, the text of which all members of Congress could read. There's all sorts of people who could read it. And that's just not true on the part that Elon's saying. But he starts reacting here to all of this. To which President Trump responds, in the midst of all of this, the easiest way to save money in our budget, billions and billions of dollars, is to terminate Elon's governmental subsidies and contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it. Okay, so now things are really starting to catch fire. So President Trump comes along and says, yeah, maybe we should cut Elon's contracts here. Then we get to the next part of this. What happens. This is Elon Musk says, okay, cutting off the. But cutting off me, cutting off my contract. SpaceX, this just gets better and better. Go ahead, make my day, says Elon. Then we get here. In light of the President's statement about the cancellation of my government contracts, SpaceX is going to begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately, he claims. And then the big bomb, this is the one that Elon released again, as you see right there on the screen, 3:10pm Eastern Time. This is 10 minutes after I concluded my radio show. And sure enough, Elon goes real. Donald Trump is in the Epstein files. He declares that is the real reason they have not been made public. And have a nice day, djt. And then he adds, he follows with Mark this post for the future, the truth will come out, says Elon Musk. Now, hold onto that for a moment. I'm gonna get to that allegation in just a second. And then finally, one of the big elements of yesterday was this Ian Miles Chong post asking, suggesting, outright declaring that Trump should be impeached, say Ian Miles Chong. Trump should be impeached and JD Vance should replace him, is what Ian wrote and to which Elon Musk responded, yes, yes. Okay, so that's the state of play. That's how dicey things were. Now, a couple of developments overnight. And I'm gonna get to the Elon Musk, Jeffrey Epstein allegation in just a second. But a couple of developments overnight. Among them is a Politico report claiming that President Trump and Elon Musk may actually have some sort of phone call today to patch things up. But the President has been on the phone this morning with a number of reporters, to include ABC News's Jonathan Karl, who he apparently said he told Jonathan Karl that Elon Musk has lost his mind and that he's not particularly interested in speaking to Elon Musk, although he said that Elon does want to speak with him. That's what the President said. Additionally, CNN had this this morning. Dana Bash apparently had a phone call with the President and immediately after that, called into the network. Here it is, cut 12. This is President Trump's thoughts about Elon, according to CNN. Joining us now, someone who just got off the phone with the President. CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash joins us now by phone. Dana, what did he tell you?

Tommy Piggott (13:09)

Good morning, John.

Vince (13:10)

Well, he said that he's, quote. Well, here's exactly what he said. Quote, I'm not even thinking about Elon. He's got a problem. The poor guy's got a problem. He said he won't be speaking to him for a while, but he said he wishes Elon Musk well. It was a short conversation. He was. Didn't seem very exercised about it. Yeah, not gonna be talking to him. He wishes him well. So again, there are some additional reports today that it may be people who are close to Trump who will be talking to Elon. And Elon even indicated yesterday, in reaction to a later tweet yesterday evening, that it would be better for the country if both of these men could come to a peace with one another. And he agreed. He tweeted his agreement to that. So we shall see. We shall see. Maybe things will simmered down a little bit today, but I want to go back to what he claims to be the nuclear bomb in all of this. That, that President Trump allegedly have some sort of nefarious relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, that he's in the Epstein files, and that's why the files haven't come out. Now, is it news? Let me just ask the chat. Is it news that President Trump knew Jeffrey Epstein? Yes or no, Is it news? The answer is no, it's not news at all. It's not news that President Trump knew Jeffrey Epstein many years ago. He knew him. So the idea that he would appear in Epstein's contact list is not a new piece of information. That's, that's totally known. That's well known. In fact, as it relates to Epstein, there's a lot of information available that very much works to President Trump's advantage here. Let me start with one of Epstein's accusers by the name of Virginia Giuffre. You remember Virginia Giuffre. She, in a deposition, she said out loud, I don't think Donald Trump participated in anything, in anything she said. So they were asking Virginia Giuffre about this, and she said, so Donald Trump. The questioner said, so Donald Trump was, in your mind, you believe, a witness to the sexual abuse of minors. And she responded, I don't think Donald Trump participated in anything. That would have to be another assumption. I never saw or witnessed Donald Trump participate in those acts. But he was in the house of Jeffrey Epstein. I've heard he has been, but I haven't seen him myself, so I don't know. So in other words, I've never seen him participate in any sort of illicit act, said Virginia Giuffre. So that's one. And that's a point, of course, in President Trump's favor. Additionally, there was another accuser, an Epstein accuser, who at one point had made up a claim about President Trump speaking to a New Yorker Post reporter. Her name is Sarah Ransome. And Sarah Ransome would later admit that she had fabricated that claim merely to lump in a bunch of other people in her effort to go after Jeffrey Epstein. She said, I made that up, that detail. And she made up that detail in a conversation with the New York Post. Additionally, we have a really important piece of video. This comes to us from a lawyer who represented 70 of of Epstein's victims, who said that the only guy that he got in touch with who was very helpful to going after Jeffrey Epstein was one Donald J. Trump. Take a look. Cut three. Here, this lawyer, again, who represented Epstein victims, who said, Trump's the good guy in this story. Look at all.

Tommy Piggott (16:57)

The only thing that I can say about President Trump is that he is the only person who, in 2009, when I served a lot of subpoenas on a lot of people or at least gave notice to some pretty connected people that I was going that I wanted to talk to them, he is the only person who picked up the phone and said, let's just talk. I'll give you as much time as you want. I'll tell you what you need to know. And was very helpful in the information that he gave and gave no indication whatsoever that he was involved in anything untoward whatsoever, but had good information that checked out and that helped us and that we didn't have to take a deposition of him. That was in 2009. That was in 2009. So do you know if there's any truth to James Patterson's claims that Trump kicked Epstein out of Mar A Lago? I've definitely heard.

Vince (17:48)

I've definitely heard that. Okay, so that gets to the next piece of evidence in Trump's favorite President Trump. By now you likely know, but for those who don't, he banished Jeffrey Epstein from Mar A Lago for harassing a member's daughter. Take a look here. This is an old CNBC report on the subject, but I want to make sure you get a hold of it here. Trump banned Jeffrey Epstein from Mar a Lago after a sex criminal hit. After the sex criminal hit on another member's daughter, President Trump banned his former friend, the wealthy investor Jeffrey Epstein, from his exclusive Mar A Lago club for hitting on the teenage daughter of another member. A new book says the late Epstein's banishment by Trump from the Palm Beach, Florida, club appears to have occurred months before Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to state criminal charges in Florida, which included paying for sexual services from A14. But it also seems to have happened more than two years after a state grand jury charged Epstein with soliciting prostitution. Again, that was merely a prostitution charge, not one that involved minors at the time. And so the book is called the Grifters Club Trump, Mar A Lago, and the Selling of the Presidency. So the book was designed to attack Donald Trump. The book was written to attack Trump. But in the process of doing the research for it, the author established that Trump had indeed kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of Mar a Lago for being a pervert who was perving on the daughter, the teenage daughter of one of the members of Mar A Lago. So every single time here, what we're seeing is evidence that works in President Trump's favor. In fact, let me remind you about something. At one point, President Trump was calling for the release of the Epstein files specifically because he said that he believed that Bill Clinton was caught in the middle of some of the most vile acts and he wanted those files to be made public. So why would a guy who is in the files, who's implicated in them in some sort of nefarious activities, seek their release? Come on, do the math on this. And finally, I wanna point out one of the most important elements to this in terms of if you're thinking about this, you're like, maybe, maybe Elon has access to information that the rest of us don't by virtue of his wealth and access to power and all of this other stuff. Just think through this clearly. The first person I saw to express this yesterday on X was Chris Bedford, and he's great. And Chris said this within seconds of the Epstein allegation being made by Elon. If Biden had that information, why didn't he release it? If the Biden administration was sitting on the ultimate kill shot against President Trump, he's in the Epstein files. That he had abused children, that he had done something nefarious. The government was just sitting on that. You think that the weaponized United States Department of Justice, designed to destroy Donald Trump at all costs, wouldn't put that out? Come on, do the math. Just do the math. Anyway, so what's happening today is, first of all, a number of scurrilous allegations, including from Elon Musk as we're watching this breakup between them. They may patch things up. Now, in just a moment, I want to go over why I'm not that discouraged by this in the end. Because I actually think it can redound to the country's benefit in an interesting way. I'll share the details on that in just a moment. First, I've got to thank the sponsors of this fine program. Thank you, as always, to the sponsors who make it all possible. Birch Gold. Wonderful. Birch Gold. Great, great organization. You know, the administration's got their sleeves rolled up. They're streamlining monumental moves right now. But it's difficult for them to take your personal finances into account when trying to fix the country. You've gotta do that. And that's why tens of thousands of Americans are buying gold right now from Birch Gold. Here are the facts. In the past 12 months, the value of gold has increased by 30%. Central banks are buying gold in record quantities. And the Rio reset, well, that's on the horizon. That's where some believe BRICS nations are going to be looking to unseat the US Dollar as the global reserve currency. But you can find peace of mind in gold. Birch Gold makes it extremely easy to convert an existing IRA or a 401k into a tax sheltered IRA in physical gold or just buy some to store at home. Just text my name, Vince to 989-898 and Birch Gold will send you a free info kit. On gold. There's no obligation, only useful information with an A plus rating. With the Better Business Bureau, thousands of happy customers, you can protect your savings today. Just text the word Vince to 989-898. Data and message rates apply. Yes, indeed. Thank you to Birch Gold. We've got coming up here, we've got Tommy Pigott from the State Department. We're going to chat with him about everything going on internationally. We got a lot of foreign policy stuff going on. The president just got off the phone with Xi Jinping yesterday. So a big deal working out with with the ChiComs. We'll see. We'll see. The president's hopeful they're set for some visits between the two countries. But before I get there, the one last thing on Elon Musk and Trump. Trump's trying to get the big beautiful bill through and he's trying to work with the United States Senate to do that. Up until yesterday, Republican senators who were looking to vote against the bill could try and use Elon Musk's criticism as cover. Look, a guy who's a part of Trump world who's critical of the bill, we should rely on Elon's right. We should go with Elon Musk. That ability, that fig leaf has disappeared overnight. These two men are at odds with one another and sure, they may try and patch things up, but the ability to use Elon Musk as some sort of human shield for a vote against the big beautiful bill that just evaporated. That just evaporated. And Trump voters all over the country have their eyes wide open right now to these senators and what they're doing and on whose side they stand. You know, this bill, you know, it's amazing to me, you know, this is a bill that is really about the little guy in America. It's about tax cuts where the biggest benefit falls to the people who make the least, the middle class. And it's not for the billionaires. This is the craziest thing and it's billionaires like Elon Musk are advocating against it right now. And one last thing on this, I want you to just keep in mind this disproves the Lie that somehow President Trump is beholden to political donors or rich people or people who are buying them off. Remember, the left has been claiming that Donald Trump had tailored his presidency just to give Elon Musk whatever he wanted. This was, was that Elon Musk had bought the presidency for his own enrichment. That's bullshit. Just look at what's happening. President Trump was rejecting people to take positions that Elon Musk wanted in those positions. That never happens in Washington. If your biggest donor, typically in a presidency, is saying, hey, I want this guy for that job, usually the president, the guy who's taken all the money in the establishment, saying, okay, yeah, whatever you want, sir. Whatever you bought, I'll give you, I'll give you that. Trump doesn't do that. Even with the biggest donor he has, the biggest financial supporter he has. He says, you know what? I'm going to go a different path. That's not the Trump the media tells you about. Not at all. Not at all. So we'll, we'll, we'll keep our eyes on this. This is a, this is a very big and, of course, rapidly developing story. But again, I'm not, I'm not sweating it today. I feel pretty good, actually, about all this. It's, it's been, it has been wild to watch. Hey, let me real quickly go over what's going on with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the threats to ICE agents. They're out of control. We've got Hakeem Jeffries, who is just a full blown lunatic. He's the guy who's in the House. He's the House leader for Democrats. And this past week he's been saying that ICE agents are just like a bunch of these Democrats. ICE agents are doing something villainous by covering their identities. Now, remember, ICE agents, threats and assaults to ICE agents have gone up by 400% because the left is on the hunt for ICE agents. They want to stop these guys from doing their jobs. And so let me take you through this Cut seven. Here's Hakeem Jeffries condemning federal law enforcement from upholding the law.

Tommy Piggott (26:10)

Jeffries, you said after Congresswoman McIver was.

Vince (26:14)

I think, said, physically accosted by ICE.

Tommy Piggott (26:17)

Officials that you wanted them identified.

Vince (26:19)

The officials that accosted them, have they been identified? And what do you expect from. Or do you want the agents that were harassing Jerry Nadler's staffers in his district office also identified?

Tommy Piggott (26:29)

What's the latest or how are you?

Vince (26:30)

Are Democrats going to respond to the. Every single ICE agent who's engaged in.

Tommy Piggott (26:37)

This Aggressive overreach and are trying to.

Vince (26:41)

Hide their identities from the American people will be unsuccessful in doing that. This is America. This is not the Soviet Union. We're not behind the Iron Curtain. This is not the 1930s. And every single one of them, no matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes, will of course be identified. That, in fact, is the law. And we're going to make sure that.

Tommy Piggott (27:12)

The American people have the transparency necessary.

Vince (27:17)

To hold people accountable when their folks who cross the line. Oh my God. The guy talks slow because he thinks slow. That's the dial up Democrat, Hakeem Jeffries. He operates on a 56k modem. Takes a while for him to get the words out, but when he's doing it, he's attacking. Attacking ICE agents and saying that they're the villains. Merely for ejecting foreign nationals out of our country who've invaded it in the first place. Now, he's not alone in this. He's not alone in this. There's a bunch of these guys who are doing the same stunt. Doing the same stunt. Before I get there, I wanna get. Hey, Justin, let me know. Is our guest standing by? Are we just about ready for that? Okay, good. So here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna come back to this, cuz I wanna get back to this ICE story. I think it's really important. Hakeem. Jeffrey's not the only one to attack ICE agents. And the ICE director himself is now speaking out about all of this and what needs to be done. I'll get to that. Coming up with you. I think something, something big does need to be done here to resolve all this. Because they're going to get somebody killed. They're going to get an ICE agent killed. I don't want that outcome. But Democrats are grooming their base right now for that outcome. And it is horrifying. And we can't stand for that. We just can't. Okay, let's. Let's thank the sponsors of this program ahead of our guest joining us. I've been trying to figure out ways to get my energy back, which is why I'm so excited to share with you guys. C15 from Fatty 15. The first essential fatty acid to be discovered in more than 90 years. Fatty 15 co founder, Dr. Stephanie Van Watson discovered the benefits of C15. That was while working with the US Navy. And based on studies, we actually know that when our cells don't have enough C15, they can actually age faster. Fatty 15 can help repair and protect age related damage to cells and help activate pathways in the body that repair mechanisms that support our overall wellness. Fatty 15 is a science backed award winning vegan. 100% pure C15 supplement and refills are shipped right to your door. I know I'm having more energy since fatty 15 sent me some to try and I can. I'm even feeling younger, baby. No, it feels great. It's, it's great. And, and I'm telling you, just do the research yourself if you don't believe me on it. I did, that's what I did first and I'm really encouraged by it and I do feel better taking it. Fatty 15 is on a mission to optimize your C15 levels to help support your long term health and wellness. Especially as you age. You can get an additional fat 15% off their 90 day subscription. You can do that. That's their starter kit. By going to fatty15.comVince and using the code Vince at checkout. These statements have not been evaluated by the fda. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. No, it's not. And also blackout coffee. Hello, Blackout coffee. Look at my, my blackout coffee cup. I'm loving this one second. Hmm. That's perfect. That's getting me ready for my next guest. You guys know I just don't slap my name on anything. I love blackout coffee. Blackout coffee charges me up every single day. John is the owner of blackout Coffee. He's a great American and he built blackout coffee from the ground up. He doesn't compromise on quality or values. It's America first coffee, roasted fresh, right here in the United States. No woke nonsense. Just bold, strong coffee for people who actually get stuff done. And as you know, blackout coffee has been the official coffee of everybody here at Silverlock. So you know, it's a brand that stands for the right values and honestly delivers a great cup of coffee. Would you like one? Well, you can have one. Here's the deal. John is hooking you up. Head over to blackout coffee.com Vince. Use the code Vince. That's V I N C E for 20% off your first order. Whether you like whole bean, ground or even instant coffee that doesn't suck, Blackout coffee has you covered. Support a company that actually shares your values. Blackoutcoffee.com Vince. And use the code Vince for 20% off your first order. All right, baby. Yeah. Rabbit 99 drinking some now. Thank you. Rabid 99 supporting Blackout Coffee. They support us and I really appreciate that. All right, let's get into what is going on internationally now? We haven't done one of these in a while, so let's do it now with our next guest. State Department spokesman Tommy Piggott joins us on the program.

Tommy Piggott (31:24)

Tommy, thanks for having me on. Appreciate it.

Vince (31:26)

The president just banned travel from a dozen different countries to the United States. Just give us the summary of what this is about. Why?

Tommy Piggott (31:36)

Well, there's kind of two main drivers here. First are visa overstays, and second is that national security imperative when it comes to visa overstays. What we're seeing from many of these countries, and it's all public information. If you go to the White House website, folks can check that out. It goes country by country, but there's several of these countries that have huge amounts of visa overstays. So someone comes here on a visa, there's that time limit of how long their visa is applicable for, and then they're supposed to return home. So there's a large amount of people that are those visa overstays. Right. And so that's one element of this, those people that overstay their visa.

Vince (32:06)

Let me just kind of dwell on that for a moment. So in other words, the dozen countries that the president selected have some of the highest rates of illegal aliens from visa overstays.

Tommy Piggott (32:15)

That's one of the main drivers here. Yes. So one of the main drivers is those overstays. But there's also some of these countries that then are not cooperating with us in terms of accepting their nationals back into their country. And we've been clear that every country has an obligation to accept their nationals back into their country that are illegally present in the United States. So it's kind of that two part there when it comes to people overstaying that visa and the cooperation or lack thereof, we're seeing from some of these countries in terms of accepting their nationals back into their country. And then the second main driver of this is that national security concern. When someone applies for a visa, they're supposed to give documents, passports, other documents, to attest for what they're doing, their background. We need to have the ability to vet people properly. And some of these countries, we just do not have that ability based off of a lack of essential authority, terrorist concerns. And so that's really common sense. We don't want people coming into this country that we can't properly vet. And that's part of the broader priority of all the whole host of visa actions we've seen from this administration to make sure if someone's coming to this country, let's make sure they're vetted properly.

Vince (33:12)

Okay, so the countries include Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Also, there's additional travel limits from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. Will there be other additional countries added? Is this, is, is that likely to occur?

Tommy Piggott (33:34)

Well, look, president's been clear. This is a country by country basis. So that's, we're going to be analyzing this, looking at this. I don't have anything to preview in terms of announcements. That's up to the president and what he decides to do. But even with these countries that have been named, this is an ongoing analysis. The proclamation makes clear that there's going to be another analysis after 90 days and then 180 days thereafter. We want to see changes made so that we can properly vet people, that we see the cooperation and when it comes to accepting their nationals back into their country. So this is a dynamic situation. It's part of that broader picture of making sure that countries are properly vetted. And ultimately, it's just common sense. It's a common sense policy to make sure people coming to the country are properly vetted.

Vince (34:12)

So can you envision a scenario where China is added to this list? And the reason I ask that is because, you know, I know that, you know, the president just announced, I mean, and the State Department just put out that we're, we're ejecting Chinese foreign nationals from our university system because of their links to the ccp. It does strike me that the story that you're telling obviously, is there's immense concern about Chinese nationals in the country. Could China ever end up on a list like this?

Tommy Piggott (34:38)

Well, I don't want to speculate or get ahead of the president in terms of anything like that, but what I can say to that point is this is part of a broader picture. It's not just this one announcement. We've seen a series of announcement when it comes to visas from the State Department, from the Trump administration. This is part of a wide array of actions to make sure people coming in are properly vetted. Student visas, for example, making sure that people coming in are properly vetted when it comes to student visas. But then when they're also, when they're in the United States, if they break our laws, if there's pro terrorist activity, we have zero tolerance for that. They may see that visa be revoked if they acted a way that if they had told us before when they applied for a visa that they were going to act that way, if we were going to reject that visa if they had been honest. If they act that way, then when they're in the United States, they also may see that visa be revoked. So it's part of that broader initiative here. Let's properly vet people. And the bottom line, every sovereign country has the right to secure its borders, and that's the right to determine who is coming into its country on a visa.

Vince (35:28)

Okay, so in terms of like getting rid of these student visas, ejecting people from the country, help me out here, because one of the things I'm seeing the left constantly trying to say about the Trump administration is, oh, you're just attacking people because of free speech. You can't remove people because of their free speech. What is, what are, what's the State Department saying as it relates to that? What is the Secretary of State saying?

Tommy Piggott (35:49)

Well, look, ultimately we have zero tolerance for people that break our laws or that have pro terrorist activities. Again, that's common sense. Zero tolerance for that. What we've seen on universities across the country, especially after October 7, was vile anti Semitic rhetoric. Really vile. A protest is even the wrong word for it. With much of what we saw in terms of taking over buildings, blocking students from classrooms, Unacceptable zero tolerance. People here on a visa that support terrorists. National security concern, really, that is. And that break our laws also, if they act in a way that if we would not have given them that visa in the first place, if they had said, I'm going to take over a building or something like that when they applied for that visa, if they would have been denied that visa, and then they go ahead and act that way when they're in the United States, that may also be a reason to see that visa be revoked. Ultimately, this is a common sense policy. Let's make sure that we're not having people that come in. President Trump said this the other day, actually, let's make sure people that are coming in love America. Let's not have, let's not have people that support terrorists or break our laws. We're gonna have zero tolerance for that, man.

Vince (36:45)

Okay, let me move to a bigger issue with China, which is the President just had a conversation with Xi Jinping yesterday. They had a long phone call according to both countries. And it sounds like the latest on that, according to the president, is that there's at least one, maybe two visits scheduled between the two countries. The president set to visit China, he says, and possibly Xi Jinping also returning the favor coming here to the United States. What's the state of play right now as China and the United States try and work out their differences.

Tommy Piggott (37:16)

Well, I think what we're seeing is President Trump saying, let's rebalance this trading system. This is again, part of that effort from President Trump to put the American worker first. For too long, we have seen the trading system that has ripped off the American worker, that has disadvantaged the American worker. And President Trump campaigned on this. It's a promise made, promise kept, to put the American worker first. And let's also make sure that we're protecting key national security industries. There are several industries that we need to have in America for national security concerns that are key to our national security. So let's also make sure that we're having those manufacturing. And the results really speak for itself. We're seeing the rebalancing of the trading system already, and we're also seeing a revitalization of a lot of these industries. The economic numbers are incredibly good. We're seeing wages up, prices down. So a lot of the concerns raised by people criticizing the president have not come to fruition. And instead we're seeing a rebalancing of the trading system, an economy that we're seeing seeing those wages rise. And this is an effort that President Trump has prioritized and we're going to see continue.

Vince (38:15)

Is it a part of the conversation to get China to buy more American energy and less Iranian energy? Because I know Iran is obviously one of the biggest items right now that the administration is trying to tackle. But, you know, Iran is selling 90% of all of its oil exports to China. 90%. In other words, China is funding the terror regime in Iran. Is it possible to kind of pull off an economic rebalancing that that where more American energy is sold into China and we take away the financial resources that Iran has to pursue terror?

Tommy Piggott (38:50)

Well, at the State Department, we've actually seen actions when it comes to sanctions as part of that maximum pressure policy to make sure that we're targeting what's called teapot refineries that are buying Iranian oil. So we're seeing concrete actions from the State Department's perspective when it comes to that maximum pressure policy. I don't want to get to the specifics of this dynamic convers with China. We'll see exactly what's announced, and we've already seen some announcements when it comes to that. But when it comes against the Iranian oil piece of this, we've seen concrete actions as part of that maximum pressure campaign. And that's a real distinction from the previous administration, President Trump coming into office giving that directive directive to have that maximum pressure and make sure we're driving revenue from Iran's illicit oil sales to zero. And so we've seen actions from the State Department to do just that.

Vince (39:30)

Okay. One of the big global conflicts that the president is trying to resolve is between Russia and Ukraine right now. And he had another phone call earlier this week with Vladimir Putin. He walked away from that call sounding like he's concerned that the conflict's gonna continue to rage on. Putin indicated to the president that he needs to conduct some sort of action. One would assume a counterattack as a result of the Ukrainian drone strikes inside of Russia. It does seem like this is a difficult one to bring it into. Do you feel like we're making progress towards peace? How do you assess it?

Tommy Piggott (40:09)

Well, I think it's a credit to President Trump's leadership that we've seen the progress we have seen. If anyone can bring peace to this, it's under President Trump's leadership. And we've seen conversations happening, we've seen engagement from the highest levels of this administration. But the president's also been clear, as has the secretary, that we're going to look at actions, not words, and we need to see the parties come to the table. We need to see the parties really get that ceasefire and then have that negotiated peace. We need to see that it's up to the parties. And the president's also been clear, as has the secretary, that we're not going to fly around the world, have meetings for the sake of scheduling additional meetings. We're not going to do that. If we're going to go around the world, we stand ready to help in the pursuit of peace, but we're going to have constructive meetings, that. Meetings that actually advance this cause, not just schedule additional meetings later on. So we've seen that priority from the president, the progress we have seen, I believe, is a credit to his leadership. We're closer to peace than we were before President Trump took office. It's up to the parties to see if they can come to the table, get to that ceasefire and then that negotiated peace.

Vince (41:04)

Is. Is it true, Tommy, that the United States was unaware that Ukraine was going to conduct these drone attacks inside of Russia, that they never notified the United States that they were doing that?

Tommy Piggott (41:14)

Well, I have nothing to preview on that. I'm not going to talk about that here. But ultimately, again, the president's been clear. He wants to see an end to this conflict. He wants to see this carnage come to an end.

Vince (41:23)

I totally understand. But. But as a broader point, Ukraine does owe the United States and the American people. A great amount. Right. Including, including notification for these types of major military actions. One would think, at least that's what I would think the average Trump voter would say.

Tommy Piggott (41:37)

Well, I think ultimately this is part of also when you look at President Trump's critical minerals deal, the deal that we saw the reinvestment fund announce between Ukraine and the United States, that's actually going to lead to that prosperity for the American people as well. A deal that benefits both the people of Ukraine and the United States. So that's a new approach that we saw for President Trump. And there's actually steps to make that agreement operational. Just this past week, Treasury Department talking about that. So we are seeing that new approach from President Trump. And I think a broader point on that. When we're looking at the world in general, when we're looking at allies, we're looking at NATO, for example, we're looking at other situations, we need to see burden sharing and what that actually happens when you have that burden sharing, at least a stronger alliances, stronger bilateral relationships that are more balanced and actually allows us to pursue those common interests more effectively.

Vince (42:19)

Okay. And then Gaza, let's just, just, you know, what's the latest here on trying to bring a conclusion there? Because the president obviously very invest in both of these conflicts, trying to negotiate a peace and trying to help out Israel in getting the hostages released. What should we be paying attention to in that conflict?

Tommy Piggott (42:40)

Well, look, what we've seen from the administration here is that we stand with Israel and we stand for peace. And we've seen that engagement from the highest levels of the administration on this issue as well. What it comes down to is Hamas bears sole responsibility for this conflict. Hamas brutality, we saw on October 7, their actions since then. We need to see the hostages released. We demand that they are released immediately. We've seen some hostages be released. President Trump, welcome, welcoming home, for example, Idan Alexander. We've seen that engagement. Another part of this is trying to get aid into Gaza to help the people there without it falling into the hands of Hamas, without it being stolen by terrorists. We've seen creative solutions in that regard. So this is really another area where we need to see a long term where Hamas cannot continue to exist. Israel has a right to defend itself. We've seen that engagement there. And when it comes to issues like aid, for example, we have seen those creative solutions that have allowed 9 million meals nearly to go to the people of Gaza without it being stolen by Hamas.

Vince (43:32)

Okay. All right, Tommy Piggott, thank you very Much for joining us. Spokesman for the State Department. Good to get an update on that. I hope you come back sometime, sir. Appreciate you.

Tommy Piggott (43:39)

All right, thanks for having me on. Thank you.

Vince (43:41)

That's Tommy Pigott, the principal deputy spokesman at the Department of State. So, yeah, I still think, you know, obviously, he's got a representative course, you know, what they can and can't say right now is the State Department especially, is in the realm of navigating all these sensitive diplomatic conversations. I do think, though, Ukraine owes us everything in the world, including notification ahead of a major attack inside of Russian soil. That's the kind of thing that they owe to the president of the United States, given the fact that the United States has sponsored this war, that side of it. And so that just strikes me as a. As a very, very big deal back here. Domestically. We do have a lot of foreign nationals right here in the United States that we're trying to get rid of. And in order to do that. But, well, we've got ICE agents doing that hard work right now. The big beautiful bill is looking to double the size of the ICE agents, the force of ICE agents, in order to get all these people out of the country. Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem and Tom Holman, they wanna start deporting at least 3,000 illegal aliens a day. And even that is just about a million a year. You and I both want a lot more than that. They tell us that 20 million came in under Biden. So we've got to get aggressive and quickly. But this is a start. These ICE agents are out there doing this job day in, day out, night in, night out, and yet they're being attacked by the left. I already played for you, Hakeem Jeffries, attacking these ICE agents, these brave ICE agents who are doing this at risk to themselves. And he's not alone. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is also one of the ghouls who is attacking the ICE agents. Take a look. Cut eight. And what she said this week.

Tommy Piggott (45:22)

I don't know of any police department that routinely wears masks. We know that there are other groups that routinely wear masks. NSC131 routinely wears masks. Mayor, just to clarify, are you comparing ICE, you said to NSC 131 Neo Nazi group? Are you comparing them to a neo Nazi group? What I said is that Boston police and no police department that I know of at the local level routinely wears masks.

Vince (45:50)

She's lying. She's lying. Of course cops wear masks in dangerous situations where there are personal threats to them or their family. As a result People who are involved with going after cartels and dangerous drug operations and dangerous gang rings. Yeah, they wear masks. They will cover up their faces explicitly so that they can protect themselves and their families, not so that they can break laws. So she's saying these guys are just like neo Nazis. And this is the same language game the left always plays. They say our opponents are Nazis, which means that you can stop them by any means necessary. Now, they won't say all of that language out loud, but that's the permission slip that they're handing to the most radical elements of their base. That guy's a Nazi. What do we do to Nazis? The threat hangs heavy over the heads of these law enforcement agents. That's just true. Shame on her. Congressman Dan Goldman of New York, the Levi Strausser just pulled the same stunt. Cut 9. Take a look at this. This is Gestapo like behavior, where plainclothes officers wearing masks. You stop terrorizing immigrants who are doing the right thing by going to court, following up on their immigration proceedings, and trying to come into this country lawfully, which is through asylum. I'm also, as a Jew, very familiar with the Gestapo in Nazi Germany. Oh, my God. And other forms of secret law enforcement in Russia and elsewhere that used fear and intimidation and under the COVID of night, under the COVID of masks, in order to terrorize people that they did not like. It's so disgraceful. And by the way, what he's describing is the behavior of the left in the United States. We saw it, unfortunately, in some of its most vile forms. And 2020, but hasn't stopped since then. We've seen attacks on crisis pregnancy centers and all sorts of Americans and police officers and official government buildings, the courthouses and police precincts burned to the ground, small businesses burned down, all done by lefties wearing masks, concealing their identity in order to commit crimes. That's what Dan Goldman is describing. But he goes further than that. He says that these ICE agents are like the Gestapo, and then he invokes his own identity, says, as a Jew, I know what this is. I know what this is. You're saying they're Nazis. Dan Goldman, you utter scumbag. You understand what you're doing? You know what you're doing. These guys are in the midst of trying to get an ICE agent killed. And if that occurs, and God willing, it doesn't, but if that occurs, blood will be on their hands for this. Tim Walls tampon. Tim Walls pulled the same garbage recently. He was speaking at a commencement address where he decided to weave in that detail that he thinks ICE agents are Nazis. Take a look here. Cut. 10 years Tim Walls doing this. Donald Trump's modern day scapo is scooping folks up off the streets. They're in unmarked vans, wearing masks, being shipped off to foreign torture dungeons. No chance to mount a defense, not even a chance to kiss a loved one goodbye. Just grabbed up by mass agents, shoved into those vans and disappeared. To be clear, there's no way for us to know whether they were actually criminals or not because they refused to give them a trial. We're supposed to just take their word for it? Yeah. Can you imagine going to your graduation and then you're served up that packet of lies right there on stage? Rather than a forward looking vision for the future, rather than a rearward looking appreciation for all you've accomplished, as you reach the graduation day phase, you get tampon. Tim Walls, the guy who waves with two hands, standing on a stage saying that ice, yeah, they're terrorists, they're Nazis. What an utter disgrace that guy is. Thank the good Lord that he is nowhere near the White House. And I feel bad for the people of Minnesota that he's their governor. He shouldn't be. But here you have Democrat after Democrat, leader after leader as far as leaders of the party. Hakeem Jeffries, he's the leader of the Democrats in the House. And Tim Walls may as well be one of their top leaders. He was just on the near the top of the ticket right there behind Kamala Harris, pulling the same crap. ICE Nazis. They're gonna get somebody killed. And the ICE director knows this. The ICE direct, the acting ICE director, Todd Lyons, has just released a statement on all of this saying this needs to stop. And now cut six, take a look. Here's Todd Lyons saying all of that. My officers and agents walk into danger so other people can sleep safely at night, so kids can make it to school safely and play outside. So while it's easy to be an armchair quarterback and make up talking points that get activists riled up, the bottom line is my officers and agents are out there protecting the same people who are threatening their safety. Law enforcement's common sense politicians need to stop putting my people in danger. I'm not asking them to stop. I'm demanding that they stop. Here's what I have to say to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, and anyone else stirring up the outrage about what ICE does. These are real people with real families. You're hurting with your ridiculous rhetoric and inflammatory comments. And it's time to remember that it's time to remember that. I'm not asking, I'm demanding, he says. Now, I've said it before, but I'll reiterate here. There are some other actions that probably should be taken immediately in the House. Speaker Mike Johnson should pursue, at the very least, a censure of Hakeem Jeffries, a censure to condemn him officially for calling out the base, the radical left wing base, against ice. You're playing with fire when you do this. Remember, among these lefties in the United States, we have an assassination culture going on right now, a very dangerous one. There was a study out of Rutgers University earlier this year that found that lefties by majority could justify the assassination of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, by a majority and just under a majority at that point, when they all hated Elon, although now they're pining for him to come back to their party when they hated Elon, just under 50% of lefties said that they would be able to justify the assassination of Elon Musk. This is not a party that is of sound mind right now. This is not a party of sound mind. Teddy Roosevelt was once shot ahead of giving a speech. He gave the speech anyway with a bullet in his chest. And when he gave that speech, one of the first things he said was that his political opponents were inflaming weak minds, and that's what led to the attack on him. He said it just moments after being shot. And that's what's happening here. Our political opponents are inflaming weak minds to take vicious actions. We've seen it before. We saw it against the president of the United States. And in particular, the second would be assassin of President Trump, Ryan Routh, who was lying in wait in those bushes in Mar? A Lago, or not in Mar? A Lago, but instead Florida. At that golf course, lying in wait there. He had expressed all over his social media account that he thought that democracy was on the ballot. He was using the language that the White House kept putting out through Joe Biden's elderly mouth. He was saying the kinds of things that you saw Joe Biden read off the teleprompter when he gave that vile speech in Philadelphia, bathed in blood, red light. And he exploited the United States Marines who they put behind him to make it like, seem like he was on the side of virtue. It was grotesque what Biden did. And Ryan Routh reiterated all of that in his social media postings ahead of his attempt to assassinate the President of the United States. The left is grooming its base into believing that a by any means necessary approach is the only way they can, quote, save the country. And by any means necessary, it means some of the most dangerous possible things you can imagine. So it is incumbent I think, right now on Republican members of Congress to stand up for ICE agents. Stand up for them. Stand up for them by holding accountable the people who are imperiling them right now. That includes elected members of Congress, Democrats additionally. Stand up for them if you're in the United States Senate, by getting these ICE agents the funding and the logistical support, everything that they need to do their jobs to get these illegal aliens out of the country. The real threat to these communities are not ICE agents who are doing their jobs. They're people who would murder people like Lake and Riley or Jocelyn Nungare, who are raping women here in the United States, who are leading human and sex trafficking rings here in the United States, who are committing these grotesque acts of violence and bringing drugs into our communities. It's enough. It's enough. Get them out. Get them out. And so supporting ICE agents does that, because those guys are actually doing the real work, and they deserve our gratitude for that. Not that venom that's being spit at them by the left right now. It's too much. It's much too much. Hey, a lot of people have been asking me for Major to stop by the studio. I've got Major here in studio with me. And. Let's see. Let us see. Allison dropped him off every. So we. We plan it out. You know, it's like. It's like, you know, Major doesn't want to hang out in the studio the whole time. He likes running around, planting his face against the windows, looking for squirrels and then barking at them. But at some point in the show, Allison brings, just as our guest was wrapping up, brings a Major by and opens the door. So let me see here, Major. Come here, buddy. Come here. Come here.

Tommy Piggott (56:03)

Please.

Vince (56:04)

Lie down. Good boy. Look at that. There's Major. You got the Major cam up and running today, Buddy. I know everyone's been asking, and there's some people in the chat who said, that'll make my week of Major stops by. It always makes my week when I. When I've got Major in the house. And I do have one other dog. We have Raina, who I've shown pictures before. Raina's a barker. Raina is a very fidgety barker. Both of them are rescues. Major is a great dog, and I got him at a very young age. We did most of the training with him, Raina, we got a lot later on, she was apparently rescued in Egypt, and so there's international rescues, and they brought her over. And while she was in Egypt, she had the tip of her tail cut off. She had to be treated like utter garbage. She's got all sorts of trauma, so even when we pet her, she's very skittish. She runs off. So we're constantly working with her, trying to work through all that and get her up to speed. But Major's great. Major's my steady hand here, and so he's been. He's been a total upgrade to the whole family. He brings a lot of energy to the house, and I can't recommend dogs enough. Guys. I can't recommend these dogs enough. They really. They really bring a lot of spirit to the. To the house, and it's a wonderful treat to have him. Have him here, and it's a. It's a wonderful treat to have you with me. I know. I know. This has been. It's been an experience for all of us. It was just a couple short months ago, if you can even believe it. It was, what, March 17, that we started all of this, when Dan Bongino handed over the reins and said, hey, I want Vince to do this. I've got to run off and be the Deputy Director of the FBI. And I can't tell you how grateful I am to him and how enamored I've become with this audience. You guys have just been phenomenal. I love your messages. I love your encouragement. I love your critiques. I love it all. And I think we're doing good things. This podcast in particular, we've made a really big impact. We've put up really, really big numbers with each passing month, and that's thanks to your support, for sure. And let me add that the guys who make this possible, this show possible, that includes Guy and Justin and Andy and Jasmine, just the whole crew that make this possible, I can't thank them enough for how smooth and wonderful this has all been. I mean, it's been. You know, we hit our hiccups from time to time, but who doesn't? It's just been very, very cool. And I. I'm over the moon about it. So I thank God for all these people. I thank God for you. And before I check out here, I do want to note that today is D Day, is the anniversary of D Day. And if you're ever. You ever feel like your life is tough, you ever feel like, you know, things are difficult to surmount, or to overcome. Just check out what the guys did landing on the beaches in Normandy. That is some of the most amazing, the most amazing expression of American courage any of us will ever see. And so it's worth reflecting on their sacrifice today. Thank you. Thank you to everyone who saved the world, our God. Bless you. I hope you have a fantastic weekend, and I appreciate you joining me for another episode of Vince.