From the Kitchen Table: The Duffys - Kash Patel: Fighting The Deep State

Episode Date: December 11, 2021

This week, Sean and Rachel bring former Chief of Staff to Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller under President Trump, Kash Patel, to the Kitchen Table to discuss the Russia Collusion Hoax, the presence of the media in politics, and other news of the day. Later, Sean & Rachel bring FOX News @ Night Anchor & Host of the Livin' The Bream podcast Shannon Bream to the Kitchen Table to discuss her traditions shared in their new book, All American Christmas. Order their book! Follow Sean and Rachel on Twitter: @SeanDuffyWI & @RCamposDuffy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Mejuri. From November 25th to December 2nd, get 25% off everything on orders over $150 in Mejuri's biggest sale ever. From bold hoops to minimalist stacks, Mejuri has something for everyone. Mejuri makes handcrafted fine jewelry for every day made with responsibly sourced materials.

So you can look and feel good about gifting and wearing them. Shop your wishlist 25% off at Mijeri.com today. Hey, everyone. Welcome to From the Kitchen Table. I am your host, Sean Duffy, along with my co-host for the podcast, but also my partner in life, Rachel Campos Duffy. Thank you, Sean. And you're right. We are partners for life. We've been together a long, long time. But this podcast invites lots of people to join our kitchen table. And today we have two very special guests. So first up, we have the former chief of staff to the acting U.S. Secretary of Defense under Donald Trump. He also was an aide to Devin Nunes and really one of the first people to uncover all the bad things that were happening with the Russia hoax. So let's welcome Kash Patel to our kitchen table. Welcome, Kash.

It's great to be with you guys. I was dubbed the chief investigator for the Russiagate investigation. Yeah, that's what makes it so interesting. So we're going to jump right into this because I have so many questions. So before we start, since you are sort of known for uncovering the deep state, tell us what your definition of the deep state is. Well, it's kind of one that you hope never comes true because, you know, I served in government for 16 years and you guys are familiar with serving as is Sean. And you sort of sign up to serve the mission. And unfortunately, you come across people who think the mission exists to serve them. And that's sort of the shortest way I can answer who is the deep state. But your hope

is that there's no one around that really is like that because service is a privilege. It's not something that's a right given to everyone and you voluntarily commit to it. So we unfortunately, during the Russiagate investigation, uncovered a lot of people with egos the size of Texas that wanted to take down the Trump presidency on false information. that wanted to take down the Trump presidency on false information. And, you know, the ringleader in that circus was Adam Schiff and company. So unfortunately there were too many characters there, but I'm glad it's all coming to light. Right. It is starting to come to light. And really quick, I want to tell you that Sean and I are, have a little daughter named Valentina and she's with us. We don't have a babysitter.

That's cool. That's all good. So if you're here, I have a baby in the room. That's all good. It's truly from the kitchen table, Kat. Yeah, it truly is from the kitchen table. Yeah. So, Cash, let's talk a little bit about the work you and Devin did together on the Intelligence Committee, obviously, very early on, you were calling the Russia collusion hoax that we all know is a hoax right now. Early on, you were calling it for what it was with Devin. And the media was losing its mind

because they had a narrative that was fed to them by the intelligence community and also the FBI that wasn't really true. When did you first see, you know, obviously, so just let me back up. I heard it and I was like, this can't be true. This is this is so farfetched. Right. But when did you kind of see that there was some evidence behind the scenes on the intelligence community to go, hey, this is all wrong? Was it early on? Yeah. In retrospect, that's a great question, because we were limited, as you know, by a lot where we could make public because so much of it was classified at the time. But basically, as soon as I got there, we were able to see the FISA applications against Carter Page and the Steele dossier.

And with that at the time, we couldn't discuss because all of that was classified. And it took us months to unveil it to the American public lawfully. So at that time, we knew there was problems, serious problems pretty early on. The hard part, as your wife mentioned, was unfortunately, the Trump administration was in by then. And we were fighting the deep state that existed within the Trump administration to perform our constitutional duties of oversight and inform the American people of what happened by showing them the documentation itself. And that just took time. But we knew we were on the right track because not because we guessed, but because we read and saw it. So we knew we

were going to put out the truth, irrespective of all the leaks of classified information, false leaks that were put out by people who wanted to hurt that investigation. And that was just, you know, unfortunate. And it just harms Americans' national security. Now that we know it was a hoax, there's a lot of people, especially in the media, obviously the Democrats were like, okay, let's move on. It was a hoax. Okay, let's not talk about it anymore. Okay, we got that. We got that. Okay, let's talk about other stuff. So have you seen any real effort on the part of Democrats or any media that you go, you know what, at least they're finally admitting it. I

mean, do you feel that? Because I don't see it. No, I couldn't agree with you more. They are doing what they did in the Russiagate investigation, which is pat themselves on the back for basically saying we didn't really get it wrong, but we might have gotten this one line wrong. There's no bit, there's been no retraction of articles. There's been, quote unquote, edits by the Washington Post and the likes of CNN. But their Pulitzer and the New York Times, the Pulitzer they got for reporting so courageously, supposedly on Russiagate, which turned out to be false, that still stands as well. So what they're trying to do is distance themselves not only from the Russiagate investigation, which they got wrong for five years, but also say they should be double tapped on the head and congratulatory fashion because they had the courage to come out and say they got a small

piece of it wrong, maybe. And I think that speaks to your point about how bad and broken the media is. And that speaks to timely fashion, what I've been working on and fightwithcash.com and what Devin is going to take on when he's now the CEO of the Trump media empire. What's cash.com? It's cash.com. What was your website? Sure. It's fightwithcash.com with a K.

And basically, you know, after enduring the Russiagate investigation, Devin and I were subjected to being called some pretty nasty things, but we were also defamed in the process. So I started suing the Times, Politico and CNN, long story short, I'm suing all of them. And we've had people around the country that said, I've been defamed, I've been deplatformed, but they don't have the money for the lawyers or the know-how to do it. So fightwithcash.com is an organization where they go around the country, I raise money, and if you have a veritable defamation case or deplatforming case, we'll pay for your lawyers. And this way, you get your day in court. Has Kyle written a house reach out to you?

Do you have a group of lawyers that are working with you, Cash, that you have like on staff or like law firms that you work with that are willing to take these cases on? Yes, we do. We have great defamation lawyers that are willing to join the fight

at a reduced rate, thankfully, because they know the only way, like Devin and I firmly believe, is you have to correct the media, not just call them out, but correct them. And that's going to take time. And the biggest and best way to correct them, as you guys know, is a monetary silver bullet to their bottom line for defaming people.

And they knew they defamed those people. And they knew they deplatformed those people with false and fictitious narratives. And so that's what Fight With Cash is all about. And it wasn't something I planned on starting. And it's not something that it's a for-profit or anything like that. All the money goes right back to folks who have veritable claims. And look, we take them. You can message us directly from the website. We take a look at your case for free. And if we think there's a claim, we'll find you a lawyer to sync up with and pay for your day in court.

It got, Sean and I jumped on each other in retirement. I was wondering if Kyle Rittenhouse has reached out to you. I heard he's also looking at being. You know, we welcome Kyle's reaching out to us because here's the crazy thing about Kyle's case, right? GoFundMe shut down his fundraising process for the specific purpose because they were so offended

by the Kyle Rittenhouse case. And we told, you know, publicly, we said if Kyle wishes to reach out to us. I said, I didn't know that. I didn't know you said that publicly. It just occurred to me. So let me ask you this, because at one point, so you were acting secretary, you were chief of staff to the acting secretary of state for a while.

Then towards the end of the Trump administration, some really interesting things started happening. And there was rumors that you might even replace Gina Haspel at CIA. It appears that there were efforts to get people into place who could declassify things to get the stories out of, I assume, mainly of the Russia hoax, but maybe there was other things. My question to you is, yeah, it would be great to put the right people in place to do that. But ultimately, Donald Trump had the power to declassify a lot of things that he didn't declassify. Why didn't he do that? Wow, that's a question that I've been dealing with for a long time. So, as the guy who ran the Russiagate investigation,

I compiled a lot of information over the years that I felt the American public should see. And I think former President Trump agreed with that. Unfortunately, we keep coming back to this deep state narrative. And I believe the president wanted all that information declassified. And he had people in his White House counsel's office that worked for him who actually reversed or slowed down that process. So as far as I'm aware, President Trump wanted all of that declassified. And, you know, the administration ran out of time and it should have been done earlier. We should have gotten it done sooner. But from my understanding, that's what happened.

And I don't think it was an intent on the president's former president to say, I don't want this out there. My understanding was he fully wanted it out there. And we had compiled a pretty big record of information they wanted out there. And I know I can't speak to what's in those documents, but what can I, what I can say is that it would show more abuse by certain individuals in government, certain agencies abusing their, their positions for political gain and not in the defense of our nation. So to that point, Cash, so do you, based on your knowledge and what's in the public sphere, is there a lot more information that would shock our conscience of what actually happened, what people were doing in positions of power to prolong this fake Russia investigation? Or do we know the basics of most everything? Or are there other things out there that would shock us?

Amazing point. And I've been trying to, I'm so glad you brought it up because I've been trying to tell this to people. We only put out, I would say, maybe 60% of the information. There's still a good 40% out there that would change the landscape. What I believe and what I'm glad is, I believe John Durham has that information. And the reason I've stopped calling this thing the Russia hoax and starting it, calling it an organized criminal enterprise is because I believe that's what it is. And that's what John Durham's highlighting. So it's a shame that the American public never got to see the rest of that, but I have confidence that John Durham is looking at that. And hopefully one day that information will come out, but hopefully in the form of indictments

to hold people accountable. Yeah, because if people aren't, this is going to keep happening. I guess as I hear your story, when I, first of all, so grateful there are fighters like you in government, because I think about the forces that you were up against and it's actually kind of scary. It's scary what you were up against and the powerful people that were trying to suppress information and make sure that never came to light. Powerful people that were actually trying to take away the rights of the people who had elected Donald Trump. I mean, by not letting him do his job, by putting this false story about Russia interference around him, he couldn't do what he was elected to do in its full capacity because he was tied up with this. But and he also defamed many people.

They also defame many people. Surprising to me is how bad some of his advisors were, how he had people close to him that weren't really working for him, but were working for these powerful forces that you were working against. Trump sold himself to us, to the American people, is I hire great people. I see you and I go, yeah, he did. But I see others and many of them more powerful than you. And they see. I think that was the greatest. That was the biggest, toughest lesson that the former Trump administration learned was I think what they did was they placed their trust in senior government officials to transition a government and work for their new commander-in-chief. That trust was obviously broken by the senior government officials and the likes of Rod Rosenstein and Chris Wray and all those individuals who were selected on the basis that they would continue their senior government service for the commander-in-chief who was duly elected. And it goes to what Sean said earlier, like, if you pitched this narrative before,

people would have thought you were crazy. People thought I was crazy. People thought Devin was crazy. And we understood why. We were basically saying, forget Watergate. This is the biggest political scandal in the history of the United States. And these two guys, one congressman and one staffer have unearthed it. Of course, you're not going to believe that. And are you going to believe that the deputy attorney general, the director of the FBI or the director of the CIA is working against the sitting president? At the time, people thought we were out of our minds, but we slowly showed it over time, which is what's made it all the more treacherous because I didn't want to believe that, but it proved to be true. And I think the reason that the Trump administration relied on so many of those people is because they'd never been in government. They came in and said, we would be able to trust these individuals. And it turned out we shouldn't have, they shouldn't have. And they came in and said, we would be able to trust these individuals. And it turned out we shouldn't have, they shouldn't have. And we should have put more people in and maybe beg Sean to come back too. I appreciate that, Cash. And from my vantage point, again, it didn't seem right. It didn't smell right. But I remember being in the cloakroom with Devin and going, hey, and I know he was very tight-lipped, couldn't tell us what he knew and

what you knew, but he would be like, not true. This is going to fall apart. He would reassure us of what our gut reaction was with, this is all bogus. Wait right there. We'll have more of this conversation next. This episode is brought to you by Mejuri. From November 25th to December 2nd, get 25% off everything on orders over $150 in Mejuri's biggest sale ever. From bold hoops to minimalist stacks, Mejuri has something for everyone. Mejuri makes handcrafted fine jewelry for every day

made with responsibly sourced materials. So you can look and feel good about gifting and wearing them. Shop your wishlist 25% off at Mijeri.com today. But I want to go to another question for you, Cash, because I saw this firsthand in Congress. I'm not sure if you saw this in your role with Devin, but the deep state exists in Congress as well. And not so much in your personal office,

and just for our listeners, your personal office, you have 12, 15 people that work for you, that are close to you, and they're at all different levels, and you see the work that they do, and you want them to be loyal. And if they're not, they're gone. But on the committee staff, committee staffs are much bigger. They can be anywhere from 80 to 120 people on committee staff. I'm not sure how big the intelligence committee staff was, but on financial services, it's a big staff.

was, but on financial services, it's a big staff. And what you find is if you don't have the right people at the highest points of every committee or at the top of the committee, and they drive a narrative of respecting the members of Congress who were elected and recognizing that they weren't elected and you're doing the mission of the elected, they start to go in a different direction. I saw that firsthand. And so with the federal government, and you've seen both of this on, you know, in the House side, but also in the federal government, there's, I mean, tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people that are tasked with carrying out the directive of the president. And if it's not driven from the very top, that we are going to accomplish the mission of the commander in chief who was elected.

You were not. And if you don't do that, you're gone. If that doesn't happen, that lets this deep state foster and grow and expand. And like to your original point, do their will as opposed to the will of their elected boss. Yeah, you're absolutely right. And the intelligence community is a perfect example of had anyone even ever really heard of the intelligence community before Russiagate? They just did their work in a bipartisan fashion 98 percent of the time. Then they got issued this investigation after Donald Trump got elected and the political landscape blew up. And I remember talking to members. I was new to Congress at the time. I didn't really know how Congress worked and coming over from the executive branch. But I remember the members of Congress were like, no, no, we work great with our Democrats on this committee. This has been the one committee where we have been able to basically do 98 percent of the work conflict free. And this investigation shattered that committee's work because you had staffers and like you said, deep state politicians who wanted to make their name, i.e. Adam Schiff and company and Swalwell and whatnot, and make their claim to fame based on what happened. A foreign asset was utilized by your political opponent to buy dirt and pump it into the FBI.

And the FBI intentionally knew that information was false and got a surveillance warrant. Anyway, they thought no one would discover that. And that's what the forces that we were fighting. They thought no one would discover that. And that's what the forces that we were fighting. Yeah, it's so crazy because it is it's really hard to believe. But also I look at some of the people that my husband worked with on his committees who I think who Sean would say weren't following his directive, ended up in the Trump administration. And they were people who were anti-Trump. And it was really frustrating to see that happen as well, that, you know, you're as a president, you know, your staff, your your personnel is so important and how loyal they are. And I don't know who was advising to hire certain people. Trump wasn't just fighting, you know, the Eric Swalwells and,

you know, the Adam Schiff's. There were people that were brought into his own administration who were clearly against Donald Trump and were and were stopping things at all kinds of levels. So he was fighting on so many fronts. And so I guess my question is, what is it? As you said, the Intelligence Committee prior to Donald Trump, they were bipartisan. They worked together. What is it about Donald Trump? What was that they felt was so threatening about him that it blew up any semblance of bipartisanship, that it would instigate this kind of, as you said, not a hoax. It's a conspiratorial, you know, criminal activity that happened there. What is it?

I wish I could point to the one thing other than I think it's just their sheer hatred for the fact that Donald Trump won the presidency of the United States in the fashion that he wanted, being a total political outsider and probably the longest shot odds in American history to win that seat. And I think since he came down the escalator and started his campaign, the media just lost it. They collectively totally lost it. Let's not forget how big of a culprit they are in this. The mainstream media helped propagate this fiction that was put out by the Trump haters and the deep state. But cash cash. Wait a second. Wait a second. I'm the first in line to blame the media.

But based on when I read the stories and the articles that I read about you and what you were working on, it sounds like the intelligence community was in on this. Oh, look, I'm not I'm not disagreeing with you. We have to take on. We take on the FBI. Why would the why would the intelligence community care whether the president is I'm not disagreeing with you. We have to take on. We definitely take on the FBI. Why would the intelligence community care whether the president is Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton? That's, I guess, what I'm getting at. I'll tell you why. Because they, the intelligence community, its leadership and some of its leadership did not have faith in President Trump to execute the mission of commander in chief. And as a national security guy, as a career national security guy, I couldn't disagree more because we accomplished more in four years of national security

than any president in modern history. So for whatever reason, the senior leadership people in the IC felt that their missions would be impeded to the detriment of the United States, and we proved otherwise. And they, of course, are never going to come around and say, well, we were wrong. We had the safest border, the strongest anti-drug policies, chased down the world's terrorists, brought home the most hostages, defeated Iran, butchered down on wars across the world. And so here's the one thing people in government, senior leadership positions hate more than anything. They don't want to be proven wrong. And all those folks were proven wrong. And again, when I started in Congress, Cash, I came in from a small DA's office.

I had no idea what I was doing. I didn't always hire the best staff when I first started. And that's a small staff in my personal office. I can only imagine the president being a first-time guy to for all that he did for the reasons you just laid out. But he did make mistakes in regard to the top one lesson that he's learned is to make sure that he has better people, more loyal people, smarter people in positions of power to execute the mission of the executive. And again, I don't think he saw that when he came in in 2017. He 100% gets that right now because if you don't have staff to help you out, you're not a one man band. It is a

massive organization that you need loyal people following your directives to accomplish the promises that you made on the campaign trail. Am I right? I totally agree. And in vain with what you were saying, people constantly ask me, well, does that bench exist? Do those people exist? And the answer is yes, they're there. I served with them. Some of them are still in government. And that's also what made this problem so large is if these people existed, why didn't we find them the first time? And we didn't find them the first time where President Trump did because I don't believe they utilize the right system to go about picking people. So I do believe the bench exists. I know they're there. You're there. I'm there.

Other folks are there that can go into these key leadership positions. But I totally agree with you, Sean. I told the president, Mr. President, if you're looking at nominating people, you could get five people in Congress to run names by, and probably 70% of them we could give you advice on, good or bad. Because we've worked with or seen them. We're like, that's a horrible nominee, Mr. President, or that one's great. Because I know some people that were the most vitriolic, hateful Trump haters during the campaign that were put in the White House in really high positions. And I was like, what is the president doing? This person, I'm not going to name names, but they hate him. I would go to dinner with him and they would I had not talked so favorably about the president because they were so anti-Trump. And then they're working in high levels in the White House, which was distressing to me as a member of Congress at the time. It was so infuriating to me, too And I, and look, we all had similar interactions. We would go in and be like, why is this individual or this lady

or this man, why are they being put in this position a month ago or two weeks ago? They were never Trump or they came out and did a TV hit against the president six months ago. And we were just shocked to find that they were in there. And I think the vetting process, as you said, could have been done entirely differently, should have been done the way you said, at least in one route should have been done in that fashion, because he could have gotten direct information, reliable, truthful information. And I think what the president did was he went in and said, I'm going to rely on some of the members of my team and run it kind of like Trump org, which is not how you can run the United States government. And I think he just put too

much trust in some people right away. And I don't know if you can fault him for that. In retrospect, obviously a mistake. But in the time, in the moment of the decision, with this Russia collusion hoax of an investigation. He still did so many amazing things in the face of all of that. It speaks to the man and how driven he was to make America great. I agree. I totally agree. Yeah, it is amazing how much got done with all the distractions and all the forces working against him for sure. And if you read some of the books, whether it's Peter Navarro's book, which I think is excellent, some of the people he was taking advice from and probably shouldn't have were family members. And I think that's hard, right? You come in and you have a lot of enemies and you think,

I can only trust my family, but sometimes lots of people have angles, even in your own family. only trust my family but you know sometimes lots of people have angles even in your own family um so that's that's kind of um it's kind of interesting to hear those stories as well so let me let me ask you this because you were in deep inside the intelligence um community that's my dog so if it's not my baby it's my dog um skippy skippy oh now he upset the baby with all the screaming. OK, let me ask this really quick and I'll go on to mute so you guys can hear. What is the biggest threat facing America right now? It's China and Russia are the biggest threats to America from an intelligence perspective, from a defense perspective and what they're doing in the South China Sea, from a defense and national security perspective, from what they're doing in space and underwater. Look, the Russians have been living off of American weakness in the national security front since Joe Biden acceded to power. And I think the

Chinese have clearly taken advantage of that. We don't even have a current president who travels around the world right now. And Putin or Xi even bother to show up when he goes abroad for G20 meetings. So that just goes to show you the respect or lack thereof they have of our current leadership and how they're looking to take advantage of it. So I say all day long, China and Russia, and then of course, not far behind them is Iran. I couldn't agree with that more, Cash. And again, that we're not fighting the battle that's in front of us, I think specifically with China. I mean, the economic threat, the military threat is incredibly real.

They want to be the sole superpower and are working every day to that end. As we're focused on race and gender and everything else that doesn't have anything to do with things like math and science and the quality of candidates in position, but they're focused on other issues that I think have no relevance to people's competence or intelligence, which I think is a mistake in America right now,

which is putting us further behind, especially China. Listen, Cash, I want to thank you for joining us. And if I could- Wait, but Sean, we got to ask him a quick question because Cash is a hockey guy. Yeah. And you're a hockey guy. Yes yes cash but where were you born and raised

i was born and raised in new york i still play i still coach i love the game you do that's that's so like i i'm a little older than you cash so i i i've you know i get out probably once or twice a year but i have great hockey roots in wisconsin and min He's so, wait, wait, wait. This is so Midwest and modest. Okay. He has an uncle. He has an uncle who played in the Olympics back in Wenshawn. 52 or whatever.

Oh, man, that's so awesome. And we have a nephew who is a pro hockey player for the Avalanche. Yes. My very handsome, very tall, gorgeous, sweet, wonderful nephew, Eric Johnson. Oh, yeah. Of course. He went first round, first pick in the NFL draft. What was that, 10 years ago now?

So good big Minnesota kid. Oh, man. I'd love to get together up in the Midwest and talk hockey with you. I could do that all day long. So man, that's a, I didn't know that. Do you still play? I still play. I still coach. It's what got me through the administration was Sunday night beer league hockey and coaching the youth in, in and around the community here was what made it all possible. Gave me my sanity. Yeah, it totally did. Wow, what a small world. And I'd love to, I appreciate you guys having me on and anything you could do

to have your audience support fightwithcash.com would be greatly appreciated. And also your audience should check out The Plot Against the President if they haven't seen it. Anybody who wants to know what happened during Russiagate, check out that number one documentary there. And if they haven't seen it, anybody who wants to know what happened during Russiagate, check out that number one documentary there. Can I ask you one last question? So you mentioned that certain websites will shut down contributions to certain people that have a certain political position that they do not like. If people go to fight with cash and donate to give money to legal defenses, how are you doing it? How are you structuring it in a way that doesn't get shut down? Yeah. So it's not for any political backing. If you're a Democrat and got to fame, we'll take your case. If you're an independent, a libertarian, a mega conservative,

we literally advertise it. It's a charitable trust, legal offensive trust set up for all Americans. We are not saying we are going to take on just MAGA people or Republicans. We advert, and I mean that as a guy who used to be a public defender and who spent more time in the Obama administration, the Trump administration, it doesn't matter to me what your background is. It just matters that if you are defamed and have a case, we're going to get you your day in court. We're going to need that. There's a lot of people from the January 6th incident that have been defamed and abused by government, but there's many more. And it sounds like a really great fund that you have. I hope people

will contribute to it. I really hope that you come back and stay in government because you are a fighter. I thought I knew about you, but I did. I'm friends with Rick Ronell and I knew about you. I've been following you. But as I as I delved even deeper to prepare for this podcast, I just you were all over the place and fighting and taking on just. I mean, like I said, I think it's scary when I think about I wish I'd known I would have been praying for you taking on these forces. I would have been praying for you as you're taking on these forces. But you are a very strong man. You're definitely a patriot. And we're really glad that people like you are brave enough and willing to serve in government and take on these forces. So thank you so much, Cash.

Really an honor to speak to you. Thank you very much, guys. I'm humbled. And I hope to be back at the kitchen table very soon. I really enjoyed our conversation. Maybe next time we'll have a real cup of coffee, Cash. Thanks for being at the kitchen table very soon. I really enjoyed our conversation. Maybe next time we'll have a real cup of coffee, Cash. Thanks for being at the kitchen table. Deal.

All right. Thank you so much, Cash, for joining us. And when we come back, we're going to have a conversation with our friend and colleague, Shannon Breen. Save up to $75 in the Ancestry DNA Cyber Sale, our lowest price of the year. Treat yourself or a loved one to a DNA journey of discovery at a truly incredible price. Discover your heritage, learn about your ancestors, and make new family connections. But hurry, these savings are only for a very limited time. Visit Ancestry.ca to start your journey today.

Offer ends December 3rd. Terms apply. So, Sean, let's welcome to our kitchen table, our friend, our colleague, Shannon Bream. She's the anchor of Fox News at Night. She's the host of a really great podcast called Living the Bream. And of course, she's a contributor to our book, All-American Christmas. Shannon, welcome to the kitchen table. We're so excited to have you and have a virtual cup of coffee with you.

The name of your podcast, by the way, tell everybody, because I think it's the most clever podcast name we have. Or cheesiest. It's Live in the Bream. I am so glad to join you guys at your table. I know it's going to be like the most fun, energetic table ever. We're so glad to have you. Can I tell you something?

Like when I travel and I do travel around the country for speeches and different things that I do, and people always want to know what it's like at Fox news and the women who watch our network in particular, they're so fascinated by all the other women on the network. And I get asked often, believe it or not, Shannon, who is really the prettiest? Uh-oh. Well, listen, we have some great competition inside and out. We've got some

amazing women. Without all the foxification, the hair and makeup and all that. And I say, without even missing a beat, I've seen everybody without hair and makeup, the prettiest, hands down, natural beauty, no question. No competition is Shannon Bream. I'm so glad no one can see this right now. I'm just very grateful. That is a true story. I say that every time with no hesitation, but you're not just beautiful on the outside. I think what everyone loves about you at the network is just how sweet and nice and faith-filled and genuine you are. And anyone who's ever been around you just really gets that sense of light and joy from you. And I think

that's why people love you so much and why we were so happy to have you in our book, because your chapter in our book really, I think, is very much grounded in who you are as a person and around the meaning of the season. Right, Shannon? Absolutely. And you talk about light and you talk about joy. And I think all of us as believers who celebrate what Christmas really is, is our Savior coming to earth to make a way for all of us to have that joy and that peace and that light. It's my favorite time of the year because there's nothing more hopeful than that. I mean, I love Easter too, and they have to have each other for the whole plan. But I just feel like the world is really festive. We take it a little bit easier, I think, on each other during this

time of year. And we're looking around, being grateful for what we have and looking for how we can help other people. So there's so many good things about this time of year. Right. And by the way, your middle name is Noelle. So it's like, it's your time of year. It is. Yeah. Because of my birthday is on December 23rd and I came home from the hospital on Christmas day. They put all the little Christmas babies in these big red booties, stockings kind of, and I've got this picture of my grandmother with me in this red stocking coming home on Christmas day. So yeah, there are a lot of reasons. I just love it.

So first off, no one ever asked me who the best looking person at Fox is without makeup for the record to you both, right? It's a girl thing. It is a girl thing. It's a girl thing. Do not talk about that at all. They don't want to know who the best looking guy is without his TV makeup. All right.

Jesse Waters wins that. Jesse Waters. Best hair, maybe. Best hair. So we wanted you on this podcast, not because we just wanted to hear your Christmas story. We wanted some of your razzle dazzle of book sales from your book to hopefully rub off on ours. It's like Shannon Green has the high mark for Fox News books. So again, we are just so pleased that you were willing to participate and write your chapter. You mentioned your birthday. Do you get ripped off for Christmas and birthday? It's like my birthday is on the 23rd, but Christmas is on the 25th. Do you get only partial gifts on your birthday versus partial gifts on Christmas or do they go full-blown birthday and then you get full-blown Christmas right Yeah. So like, listen, we didn't have a lot

growing up. And every year my mom would kind of give this speech like, Hey, things are tight. Let's not expect too much. And she always, we always had something, you know, so we were super grateful, but she always tried to make sure I had birthday gifts wrapped in birthday paper, even if it was one on the 23rd and we'd have a cake and the whole thing so that I would have my own birthday celebration, which I really love. And I felt like, listen, I was never in school on my birthday as a kid. I just loved my birthday being around Christmas time. I never felt like I was missing anything, but I never really had any other experience with that. Now for my poor husband, birthday, Christmas, and our wedding anniversary are in one week.

So listen, I will take one amazing gift. Sure. For all three. I think that's great. But he's always really good about trying to separate the birthday and the anniversary and everything too. Here's the thing. I've got a brother whose birthday is the 26th, the day after Christmas. He's the one I feel bad for because everybody is exhausted and stuffed. You've been eating and drinking too much, all the gifts, the wrapping papers everywhere. We wake up the day after Christmas and it's like, hey, it's Pete's birthday. Everybody's like, oh, just kind of like, oh my goodness, all the celebrations. So I always try to make sure that first thing when I get up on the 26th, I call or text him like, happy birthday. I know it's your birthday and we love you and it's

your day. So there's a lot going on in our house in December. Yeah. It sounds like it's a really busy week that week for you guys. I noticed also, Shannon, that you had a playlist and Sean and I have our Christmas playlist. One of the songs on your playlist is one of my favorites and that Mary, did you know? Oh, I love that song. I love that song. Tell us why that, why you made sure that one was on your Christmas playlist. You know, I've heard different versions of it and every single one of them, I think are so beautiful. It's almost a haunting melody to the song. And we actually know the guy who wrote the song and I mean, he's just so talented. And I think not even when he wrote it, could he have

imagined that it would become this huge Christmas hit that lasted over decades now that people really appreciated, but sort of this message to Mary or asking of Mary, like, did you know this little baby that you had is going to save the whole world. And I think about her conversation being visited by the angel Gabriel. And I can't imagine being this young woman, or I can't imagine being myself, an adult and an angel shows up like, Hey, Shannon, I need to talk to you. I can't imagine this conversation that she had, but she never shies away from what the angel tells her about her destiny. Her attitude is like, why am I so blessed among women? Why am I getting this divine assignment? And I will do and follow what you're

asking of me. So it's just amazing to think about what a young woman she probably was to have this whole situation, the salvation of the world thrust onto her shoulders and to be so humble and gracious and trusting of God that he had a plan in all of this and that she was an amazing, amazing piece of this whole puzzle. And I just think the song is so beautiful and kind of probing about he or she is walking through this as a human being, but such a divine thing. And could she really know what it would all mean? Right. She was so trusting, wasn't she? I mean, she was only probably, I guess, you know, the historians, those people, the theologians, they believe she was probably 14 or 15 years old. And that kind of trust and faith, maybe her youth

was almost necessary for that kind of faith. It's really an amazing thing. And you know, necessary for that kind of faith. It's really an amazing thing. And you know, I'm Catholic. And so obviously, for us, Mary has this really prominent, you know, theological role for us. But it is for that reason, too, that I really do also love that song. You know, Shannon, we, Sean and I have been interviewing, you know, so many of our colleagues here at Fox. And we've been really sort of have a sense of gratitude for not just how many colleagues we have that share our faith and our love of God, but also that we work for a network that lets us be really open about that. And you're somebody who has been for, you know, ever very open about it. But there is something about being able to work for a corporation that really embraces that. I mean, it's so true. And listen,

my last book that was out, it was their idea, this Women of the Bible. And they came to me, they know that our viewers are very much plugged into that part of their life, whatever their worship tradition is, that for many of them, it's the center of their life. Whatever their worship tradition is, that for many of them, it's the center of their life. And I think it's beautiful that Fox appreciates that. We often have special programming that focuses on the different religious holidays and important moments in the religious calendar. And I love that, during COVID, I felt like too, especially the first few months that were so anxiety filled and so frightening, so many unknowns for everybody. I started having people on the show to talk about all kinds of things. Of course, we all had doctors and experts and that kind of thing, but I would have friends on too, like Janice Dean. And we

would talk about what we're going to have on the show that night, just to try to brighten things up and to reassure and cheer people. And she'd say, let's share Bible verses. Let's pick Bible verses for tonight. And I thought, you know what? I'm going to keep putting them on the show until somebody tells me I can't. And no one ever did. So I thought, if we're going to have sort of a nightly Bible verse during COVID to encourage

people, I found that people really responded to it. They felt like, especially in a time of crisis, that either they had faith and they were turning back to it or they were examining it for the first time, just looking for some hope. So I do love that we work at a place that not only tolerates that, but celebrates and encourages us to share whatever our personal faith experience is. Yeah. I think it's great that Fox would say, listen, that's great. Bible verses. Exactly. You know what? Well, if you're not there, we're going to bring you back. And I think a lot of our viewers too at Fox are faith-filled people. But you mentioned the two of you about the freedom that Fox gives us to talk about our faith.

But as I read the stories, it was interesting, this common theme, right? The celebration of Christmas and like for Geraldo, the balance of his one Jewish side of the family and the Catholic side of the other and how they navigated it. But also what you see, the balance of his one Jewish side of the family and the Catholic side of the other and how they navigated it. But also what you see is the importance of our families and our faith. But so many people talked about how hard it was growing up. A lot of people who work at Fox did not come from money, did not come from means. And the people who are there understand hard work and effort and the blessing that it is to live in America. And if you work hard and you have faith, you can make it. And again, I just kept seeing these similar themes and different stories, different backgrounds,

different traditions, different everything. But these themes with our friends was, I thought, so unique. And again, the center of that was their faith and then their family, but these themes, you know, with our friends is, was, I thought so unique. Um, and again, the center of that was their faith and then their family, but also stories of my mom and dad didn't have very much. Um, but they would, like you said, Shannon, they, but they, they made an effort to make it special because this is a special time of year. Again, you don't get Easter unless you have Christmas and their parents kept that meaning of the season alive for them, no matter what they had or how hard it was in the Christmas season. Yeah. And my family very much came from that place. My parents were very young when they

got married, had me a couple of years later, and unfortunately divorced. And so it was a real struggle for all of us as a youngster. My mom was raising me alone and she's in her mid-20s and she's a teacher. And so, yeah, we were definitely always on a budget, but my mom was always about gratefulness, about looking around you to see people who need even more than you do and being able to reach out and give what you have and that God will multiply that and He will honor that. And so over the years, she modeled that night and day, 24-7. She's still doing it. Half the time, I can't find her because she's out taking someone a casserole or doing their yard work or something else. My mom is very much

the type that, listen, we're to be the hands and feet of God and serving other people. And so that was a year-round thing for us. But I know we never had much at the holidays growing up, but we always found a way, like you said. And my parents very much too were about personal responsibility. Listen, you can have huge, big dreams, work on your education, keep your faith at the center of your life, look for ways to serve other people, and you can achieve other things in life. And I think that so many of us, as you said in the book or our coworkers, had that same attitude that we live in a place that gives us such amazing opportunity. I would not want to be a woman, a female growing up in any other country in this world.

I've been to plenty of them. And you guys know that here we have the opportunity to overcome whatever our beginnings or struggles or challenges we're growing up to have just unlimited opportunity. Yeah. You know, Shannon, it's so true. As a woman in particular, I think about that a lot. I reported on a story for Primetime not long ago about just the poverty that has now descended over the country of Afghanistan since we sort of sympathetically left there. And the idea that, you know, it was reported, CNN and other networks were also reporting about fathers selling their daughters in order to, you know, feed the family, which of course, I can't wrap my head around. I remember I read

the story. I said to Sean, like, I think I'd rather, I don't think, I know we're all going to starve. We're not selling our daughters. But that is a culture and an idea. I mean, we're just so lucky that, A, we don't have to make those kind of choices. And, B, that we, you know, have a culture and respect for women and, frankly, children. That's not even a possibility. I mean, there's just so much to be grateful for and we're surrounded all the time Shannon especially you as you report the news by so much bad news

and I think it's so important I guess that's my question for you is you are reporting on really tough stuff all the time how important is it for you to have your faith and to have really the meaning of Christmas as a central part of who you are in your life so that you can still have hope through all these bad, bad, bad new stories, right? Exactly. And it is that, that we have an eternal hope that's aside from our jobs, from our circumstances, from what's going on in the world. People have lived through all kinds of different trying times. I think about our generation really hasn't had to live through a war where half your neighborhood, the guys were gone and women were at home and no communication and really sacrificing in different ways. Now, we have a ton of military members, many in my

family, probably in yours too, who go through those periods of being separated and being on deployments. And it's very difficult. But I think our generation has been spared some of the more all-encompassing, like a World War I or World War II. In fact, it makes me kind of sad that there are so many Americans who don't have a family member or a loved one in the military. So they don't understand that experience and what we're asking these people to sacrifice. And I think about that so much during the holidays, especially kids being separated from their moms and dads because they're willingly and voluntarily serving this country. That's what our volunteer military force is about. And what a huge blessing.

But it is difficult to report on things like Afghanistan and other tragedies and shootings and natural disasters. But I have to constantly reset in that eternal hope of knowing how the story ends, that good will triumph over evil. And the truth is, I, for example, last weekend was out of town visiting family and friends in Nashville. And I had multiple people during the weekend say to me, hey, I just want you to know that we pray for you every day. We pray for you when we see you come up on the screen. And I thought, what an amazing thing that we have this kinship with our viewers and with our extended family out there of people who do pray for us so that we can do our jobs

and so that we can be a light wherever we're planted and be able to carry out the tasks of the day, but to still be rooted in something so hopeful and so much bigger than ourselves. I don't know if you feel that, Shannon, but when I was running for Congress, I had a lot of people praying for me as well. And it was amazing how many people would come and tell me the same thing. And I could feel it. It's amazing when you have people praying for you. I don't know what happens, but there's something there that you feel as you have people out there praying on your behalf. I want to change gears. people out there praying on your behalf. I want to change gears. So tell us a little bit how you celebrate Christmas. What are the fun things that you do? What are the things that you do to remind you of the true meaning of the season? Give us an insight into Shannon Bream.

I am never not celebrating Christmas. It's a problem. I mean, I just... Listen, I'll watch a Hallmark movie. If they're running Christmas movies in March, why not? I have it on my playlist. So the Christmas music comes out a lot. I could be out running or working out at the gym or whatever, and it comes on. I'm like, nope, not going to skip it. I really just love it all year long. So there's always some thread of it going. But just before I was talking to you guys today, I was wrapping some family presents. And so I'm trying to just focus on the little things here and there that lead you all through the season. Because some years I feel like, oh my goodness, it's December 25th and it's here and it's over and it's gone so quickly. So I try to make time where I can to have those little moments of really

just sort of appreciating what it is. I have a beautiful advent box that someone gave me this year called the Christmas Cabinet. It's gorgeous. And you open it and every day there's a little drawer that you pull out as part of Advent where you'll maybe have a wise man or Jesus or Zachariah or somebody's in there and the story that goes along with it. So I love that kind of stuff. As far as traditions though, I mean, I married into an amazing family that has the best traditions. So Aunt Dink on Christmas Eve, after we go to services, we go to her house and she has a jam-packed party. Her house is decorated already.

We were there over Thanksgiving, top to bottom, beautiful stuff everywhere. A lot of it, she's made herself. There is Aunt Joan's secret punch that finally I got the recipe because I asked for it specifically for the book and I was granted it's in there. Um, but really as Santa comes to the party, everybody gets presents. It's just so much fun. And his family has counted on that more than 50 years. His aunt has been doing this. The only year we missed was last year because of COVID and really wanting to protect older relatives and vulnerable people. And so, um, we took a little break, but it's back this year.

So, so many great traditions on the Bream side of the family. Yeah, I think that's happening to so many families across the country that had to maybe have their traditions on pause last year, and now they're back. Frankly, I think that's why our book is doing so well, Shannon. I think we are ready to embrace it. I've talked about this on TV. I've met a lot of pastors that have said, you know, and priests who have apologized to their parishes and said, I will never close the church again when the government tells

me. I did it once. I'll never do it again. And I think people are really ready to embrace their faith, their traditions, and this beautiful season. By the way, one tradition from the book that's happening is that a lot of people are taking on some of the traditions that they're learning from so many of the chapters in our book. So I'm going to offer one up for you to consider

because you said when the 25th happens, it feels like it's over. I know you have your brother's birthday the next day, but in Hispanic tradition, Christmas continues until Epiphany, which is the 6th of January, which sadly has taken on a different meaning politically, but there's a real religious meaning on the 6th of January, which is Three Kings Day. And in our home, Shannon, we have another big meal on the 5th of January, on the eve of it. And that night, our children put their little shoes under the family altar and they put sugar in the shoes for the camels, for the wise men's camel. And then when the wise men come, when the three kings come that night, they give them each three little gifts, just like the baby Jesus. I love that. And see, that's the thing

about the book is that you see these and hear these beautiful traditions that add something to what you and your own family already do to hear something new. I love that. And I've got a friend who celebrates and there's a big epiphany party. So I'm going to ask her about the whole night before and the sugar and the shoes and everything else. Absolutely. You can take it on. You can keep the party going, Sharon. I love it. There might be some little part of me that's Latina. I don't know because I do love Christmas. And if I can have a chance to keep it going, I will. I do like you a lot. And so I think there is something in there. I can be drafted in.

Yeah. We love having you on. And we just, again, are so grateful that you are willing to be part of the book. Sean, I know you want to jump in there too. Yeah. We love having you on. And we just are, again, are so grateful that you are willing to be part of the book. Sean, I know you want to jump in there too. No, I want to say thanks too. And I just want to, I mentioned this to you when I did your show, Shannon, but I came late to White Christmas. Rachel brought that about 10 years ago and I'm like, I don't want to watch it. No, it's an old movie. And it has, I love it. And the Bing Crosby snow with whatever the clue is. We started singing it. Snow, snow.

I can't sing. So thank God you took over the singing. But it is a great, it is on my playlist like four different times. So it keeps coming back up. Oh, I love it. It is, like I said, it's one of the best movies because it's got like Christmas and America and sacrificing for each other and our military. And I'm like, it's so beautiful.

It is the best. It's so awesome. By the way, can I just say this? I know you got And I'm like, it's so beautiful. It is the best. By the way, can I just say this? I know you got a wrench in it, but the lodge, I mean, if you love interior design and, and all that retro stuff,

I mean, just everything, the costumes, the everything is so amazing. So if you haven't seen white, white Christmas in a long time or at all, Pete Hegeseth, Will Kane,

I can't believe they've never seen it. What? I know. They should be embarrassed. Embarrassed. Exactly. I come from a family of immigrants and we watch White Christmas.

So I want to say everyone should watch that. And Shannon, thanks again. And I just want to wish you a very, very Merry Christmas. You are one of my favorite people at Fox News. And we're just blessed to be a colleague of yours, but also to have you be part of our book. Well, thank you, guys.

God bless you. Merry Christmas to all of you. I'm going to try out your tradition this year. And thank you guys for just being such a bright light. Thanks, Shannon. Merry Christmas. All right. Thank you so much, Cash and Shannon, for joining us at the Kitchen Table.

We've enjoyed the conversation. And if you did, too, let us know. Subscribe, rate, and review this podcast at foxnewspodcast.com or wherever you download podcasts. Hope to see you around the Kitchen Table soon. The Fox News Rundown. A contrast of perspectives you won't hear anywhere else. Your daily dose of news twice a day.

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