The Charlie Kirk Show - Minnesota, Root of All Evil?
Episode Date: January 7, 2026After listening in on an eventful White House press briefing on Venezuela and more, the show talks to Senator Rick Scott about President Trump's desire to acquire Greenland and the endless flow of fra...udulent money going to immigrants in Minnesota. As if on cue, they react to breaking news of a ICE-involved shooting in Minneapolis, where far-left agitators have relentlessly harassed federal agents with the full support of local lawmakers. Watch every episode ad-free on members.charliekirk.com! Get new merch at charliekirkstore.com!Support the show: http://www.charliekirk.com/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
My name is Charlie Kirk.
I run the largest pro-American student organization in the country fighting for the future of our republic.
My call is to fight evil and to proclaim truth.
If the most important thing for you is just feeling good, you're going to end up miserable.
But if the most important thing is doing good, you will end up purposeful.
College is a scam, everybody.
You've got to stop sending your kids to college.
You should get married as young as possible and have as much.
many kids as possible.
Go start a turning point U.S.A. College chapter.
Go start a turning point you would say high school chapter.
Go find out how your church can get involved.
Sign up and become an activist.
I gave my life to the Lord in fifth grade.
Most important decision I ever made in my life and I encourage you to do the same.
Here I am.
Lord, use me.
Buckle up, everybody.
Here we go.
The Charlie Kirk Show is proudly sponsored by Preserve Gold.
leading gold and silver experts and the only precious metals company I recommend to my family,
friends, and viewers.
All right, welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show.
It is January 7th.
Lots going on.
We are going to throw right here at the top to the press conference that Caroline Levitt
is leading and the White House press briefing room.
It's the first one since the deposition of Maduro in Venezuela.
So we're actually getting a lot of information.
Let's go ahead and throw back to Caroline.
I have maximum leverage over the interim authorities in Venezuela right now, and the president
has made it very clear that this is a country within the United States, the Western Hemisphere,
close by the United States, that is no longer going to be sending illegal drugs to the United
States of America.
It's no longer going to be sending and trafficking illegal people and criminal cartels to kill
American citizens as they have in the past.
And the president is fully deploying his peace through strength foreign policy agenda.
So we're continuing to be in close coordination with the interim authorities, and their decisions are going to continue to be dictated by the United States of America.
Just one follow-up when you talk about that leverage there.
Has the Venezuelan government fully committed to turning over its oil to the United States indefinitely?
And what happens if they do not?
Well, as you saw the president announced last night, this was a deal.
This was a deal made by the president and his team with the Venezuelan interim authorities.
This will benefit both the American people and the Venezuelan people.
And Secretary Wright and the Department of Energy are working with the interim authorities
and also with the private oil industry to execute on this historic energy deal.
That's not only good for the United States, but it's also going to revive the prosperity,
the safety, the security of both the United States and Venezuela as well.
Ed.
Following up on the oil part of this, the 30 to 50 million barrels of oil, how exactly is that going to work?
You're getting it out of Venezuela into the United States?
Yes.
That's exactly right.
know, Ed, as the president announced last night, this was the sanctioned oil that was basically
just sitting in barrels, sitting on ships because of the effective quarantine of the United
States of America. And the interim authorities have agreed to release that oil to the United
States, so it will be arriving here at home very soon. The United States government has already
begun marketing Venezuelan crude oil in the global marketplace for the benefit of the United
States, engage the world's leading commodity marketers, key banks to execute and provide
financial support for these crude oil and crude product sales. All proceeds from the sale
of Venezuelan crude oil and products will first settle in U.S. controlled accounts at globally
recognized banks to guarantee the legitimacy and integrity of the ultimate distribution of
proceeds and those funds will be dispersed for the benefit of the American people and the
Venezuelan people at the discretion of the United States government.
It sounds like it requires a lot of private sector engagement and agreement.
from the oil industry and the banking industry.
Do you have that yet?
There's a lot of private sector engagement that's happening right now.
As you know, Secretary Wright, our energy secretary who's heading up this big project, is in Florida today,
meeting with some of these oil executives.
And as we confirmed earlier, they will also be at the White House later this week.
So they are absolutely eager to invest.
They're eager about these opportunities.
And Secretary Wright is a very well knowledgeable guy when it comes to oil and energy,
and he's the perfect man for the job.
Another corner of the world there, real quick, on a run.
Go ahead. Go ahead. So just to follow up on the oil, 30 to 50 million barrels is an initial
tronk, if you will, and then what happens after that? What are the plans? I won't get ahead of
the plans that the president and his team are currently speaking what the interim authorities
about. But rest assured, there is a long-term plan here. Secretary Rubio and the entire team
are working diligently on it, and this is just sort of the first action that you all are seeing.
So in order to get these oil companies to invest billions in Venezuela, how will the U.S. reassure that their workers will be safe in Venezuela? Could there be troops involved?
At this point in time, as you know, there are no troops on the ground in Venezuela. The president, of course, reserves the right to use the United States military if necessary. It's not something he wants to do. Diplomacy is always the first option, as you saw. He tried that with Nicholas Maduro, but unfortunately he was an illegitimate dictator and an unserious person. And so, he wants to do diplomacy is always the first option, as you saw. He tried that with Nicholas Maduro. But unfortunately, he was an illegitimate dictator and an unserious person. And so. And so,
President Trump authorized this law enforcement operation, and now Nicholas Maduro is sitting
in a prison cell in New York. So certainly the president is going to do what's in the best
interests of the American people, and that includes workers from our energy and oil industry
as well. With that meeting tomorrow, what is the message the president is going to give to
the oil executives, and what does we want to hear? Well, the meeting is on Friday, and it's just
a meeting to discuss, obviously, the immense opportunity that is before these oil companies
right now.
Carolyn.
Thank you, Caroline, and congratulations again.
Thank you.
The New Yorker had a story yesterday on the vice president, and it questioned his, quote,
notable absence on Venezuela, and the subheadline asked, was the vice president's exclusion
from the operation in Venezuela an expression of this anti-interventionist ideology or political
calculation?
Would you be able to discuss the vice president's role in Venezuela policy?
I did see that report in the New Yorker, and quite frankly, I laughed
out loud because it's very clear it's a fake report that's trying to so distrust in division
amongst the president and his team. Let me just be very clear. The vice president has been
involved in all policy. He is the right hand man of the president on all policy matters,
including Venezuela policy. He was, of course, read in and deeply involved in this operation
from the very beginning. And he was present on the night of the operation via secure communication
at a different location as to not damage the operational secrecy of this mission.
That was so incredibly important to ensure that this mission could be carried out successfully
without endangering our troops.
Sure.
The U.S. seized a tanker recently.
Russia specifically asked the United States not to seize that tanker.
Does this action risk a larger conflict with Russia?
I believe you're referring to the Bella One tanker that was seized this morning.
The Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security in coordination with the Department of War
did announce that seizure this morning for violations of U.S. sanctions.
I've spoken about the enforcement of our sanctions policy at the podium prior to the new year,
and this administration is going to fully enforce the sanction policy of the United States.
The vessel this morning was seized in the North Atlantic pursuant to a warrant issued by a U.S. federal court after being tracked.
And this was a Venezuelan shadow fleet vessel that has transported sanctioned oil.
And the United States of America under this president is not going to tolerate that.
I would also just add the vessel had a judicial seizure order.
And the crew, so that means the crew is now subject to prosecution for any applicable violation of federal law,
and they will be brought to the United States for such prosecution if necessary.
Kelly.
Caroline, happy new year to you.
Thank you.
You too.
I'd like to talk to you about a couple of things real quickly.
The first question about the Venezuelan people.
As you know, there's some 8 million Venezuelans here, some of them celebrating in the streets.
There are Venezuelans on the ground who are concerned about their safety.
What does the Trump administration, what is it doing to actually help people in Venezuela understand that they will be secure throughout this transition?
I think the fact that this president actually follows it.
actually followed through on the long-held promise of the United States of America.
The bipartisan promise to take down the illegitimate Maduro regime
should give assurance to the Venezuelan people
and also Venezuelan Americans who fled this communist regime
for a better life here at home,
that this is a president who is serious about taking down illegitimate regimes
and who is also serious about securing the security of the United States of America,
including the Venezuelan American people.
And I would just add that this is something that not just Republicans and President Trump have talked about for a very long time,
but it is also something that Democrats have advocated for. In 2020, Chuck Schumer said that at the time President Trump had not brought an end to the Maduro regime.
The Maduro regime is more powerful today and more entrenched today than it was when the president began.
Now you hear Chuck Schumer out there saying this is reckless. The American people and the Venezuelan people should be in fear.
But this is something that Chuck Schumer has long advocated for. Senator Chris Van Hollen, same thing,
had said that the United States is going to use its leverage and influence to push for negotiations
to transition to the truly elected leader. This was under President Biden. We know Maduro and his cronies
don't want to go quietly into the night. The U.S. needs to work to ratchet up the pressure.
Now, Senator Holland says it's an illegal act of war to get rid of Nicholas Maduro. So the hypocrisy is
really astounding here. And thank you for giving me an opportunity.
to point it out.
Kayla.
I mean, sorry.
Go ahead.
Yes.
So there are reports that the administration is demanding that Venezuela cut ties with China, Russia,
Iran, and Cuba.
Can you confirm?
I'm sorry?
It reports that the administration has essentially demanded that Venezuela cut ties with China,
Russia, Iran, and Cuba.
Can you confirm that?
Well, those alleged demands were made in a classified briefing by Secretary Rubio,
and I know that there's a lot of leaks coming out of these classified briefings,
so I'm not going to confirm.
deny or get into what the Secretary has said in classified settings to members of Congress.
But I think that the administration has made it quite clear to the interim authorities in
Venezuela that this is the Western Hemisphere, and American dominance is going to continue under
this president.
MS.
I just ask, there have also been reports that the U.S. could potentially buy
Greenland as one potential option on the table.
What would such an offer look like?
Is there anything monetarily you could provide any details there?
MS.
Well, that's something that's currently being accurate.
discussed by the President and his national security team.
And I would point out that the acquisition of Greenland by the United States is not a new idea.
This is something that President's dating back to the 1800s have said is advantageous for America's national security.
The President has been very open and clear with all of you and with the world that he views it in the best interests of the United States to deter Russian and Chinese aggression in the Arctic region.
And so that's why his team is currently talking about what a potential
purchase would look like.
Caroline.
Jackie.
Thank you, Caroline.
Following up on Greenland, why not rule out taking it by military force?
I know that past presidents and past leaders have often ruled things out.
They've often been very open about ruling things in and basically broadcasting their foreign
policy strategy to the rest of the world, not just to our allies, but most egregiously
to our adversaries.
That's not something this president does.
All options are always on the table for President Trump as he examines what's in the best interests of the United States.
But I will just say that the president's first option always has been diplomacy.
Again, look at Venezuela.
He tried ardently to strike a good deal with Nicholas Maduro, and he told him,
I will use the United States military, and you will not like it if you don't take such a deal.
And look at what happened.
With respect to Iran, the president said the same thing, right?
he tried to have serious interest in a deal with the Iranian regime with respect to their nuclear
capabilities. They were not interested. And so Operation Midnight Hammer happened, which was another
remarkable military success under the leadership of this commander-in-chief. So the president keeps
his options open, but diplomacy is always the first.
Very quickly, just one additional follow-up on that. Does the president recognize Denmark's
ownership as part of the kingdom? Because there have been some Republican,
senators questioning, you know, the claim that Denmark has to Greenland. Is the president in
that camp with them, you know, questioning the legality of... I have not heard him question
it personally, but you're welcome to ask him yourself next time you have the chance.
And these are being lifted for Venezuela. We've got to lift some sanctions to let the oil come in.
Can you talk about that just very briefly? Yes. So the U.S. is selectively rolling back sanctions
to enable the transport and the sale of Venezuelan crude and oil products to the global markets, yes.
Hey everybody, this is Andrew Colvette, executive producer of The Charlie Kirk Show.
Burnah is proud to continue supporting Charlie Kirk's mission and the important work of Turning Point USA,
because empowering Americans to defend their freedoms begins with protecting themselves, their families, and their communities.
The Burna, less lethal launcher looks like a firearm, but it isn't one.
It fires powerful, chemical, irritant, and kinetic projectiles that can stop a threat in its tracks,
giving you the time and space you need to get to safety.
And now you can hear from Charlie in his own words.
Burna is about preventing tragedy and preserving life without the consequences of using lethal measures.
It's legal in all 50 states requires no background checks and over 500,000 units are in the hands of responsible citizens and law enforcement.
Burna can be shipped directly to your door.
I've personally tested the Burna pistol and can vouch for its effectiveness and its ease of use.
Be prepared, be confident, be safe.
Go to Burna, B-Y-R-N-A.com.
That's burna.com.
see why tens of thousands of Americans are choosing Berna for peace of mind.
Annie.
Thank you.
There are some reports from Venezuela that the country's leaders are cracking down on the population,
specifically suppressing public expression of support for Maduro's ouster.
Is that kind of behavior consistent with what the president wants to see,
how the president wants to see the leaders to take on the population?
It would not be consistent.
and I'll let the President's national security team speak further on that.
I know they are well aware in tracking.
Kelly.
Two questions.
One, on the seized vessels, the bella the Sophia, can you tell us where they're headed,
what happens to any existing cargo, and you reference personnel,
potentially facing prosecution?
That's one thing I'd like to follow on.
Yes.
Okay.
And on Annie's question, if I could also ask,
does the administration believe that the interim regime should release all political dissidents
and prisoners?
and return detained Americans.
That's not a question that I've personally spoken about the, to the president with.
So I will let him answer that question.
I don't want to make new policy at this podium today with respect to Venezuela.
With respect to the two ships that you mentioned, I spoke with you about the Bella One.
There was another vessel this morning, the Sophia, that in coordination with the Department
of War, the Department of Homeland Security apprehended it.
This is a stateless, sanctioned, dark fleet, motor tanker.
And this occurred without incident.
This vessel was operating in international waters
and conducting illicit activities in the Caribbean Sea.
The US Coast Guard is escorting the Sofia
to the United States for final disposition
to answer your question, Kelly, directly.
This was through Operation Southern Spear.
The Department of War is unwavering in its mission
to crush illicit activity in the Western Hemisphere.
And as the president has repeatedly stated,
we're going to defend our homeland
and restore security and strength.
across the Americas.
Dasha.
Thank you.
And happy new year.
Thanks to two.
Two questions, one on Venezuela, one on Greenland.
You repeatedly at the podium called the current leadership in Venezuela interim leadership.
There are Republicans and Democrats alike that say they want to see elections in Venezuela.
The president had said it's too soon to do that right now.
But is there a timeline for elections in Venezuela?
Is he committed to seeing that this year, for example?
You just said the president has answered that question.
So I will reiterate what the president has said a few times now to all of you, which is
is that it's too premature and too early to dictate a timetable for elections in Venezuela
right now.
Madam Caroline, you just talked to Jackie about diplomacy first, right?
The dates have repeatedly said they are willing to collaborate on all of the concerns
that the president has, whether it's more troops, mineral rights, intelligence sharing.
Why does the president feel he needs to own Greenland and put out the threat of military action
when this could be done through diplomacy?
Well, who said diplomacy isn't taking place behind the scenes, DASH?
I mean, the president is interested in diplomacy.
His national security team is as well.
And, of course, he's always willing to pick up the phone for everybody and hear out their concerns.
But the president is the president of the United States of America.
And he's always going to be very clear about what he's views as being in our nation's best interest.
Reagan.
Thanks, Caroline.
I have a question for you on Venezuela.
And then I'd love to ask you about Minnesota and Tim Walz.
Sure.
On Venezuela, I'm wondering, does the administration hope to start sending more Venezuelan migrants back?
home or have them self-deport if the situation of the country improves.
As far as I'm concerned, the policies of the Trump administration and the Department
of Homeland Security have not changed.
All those illegally present in the country are subject to deportation.
And I would just like to add, you know, how we got here.
The president was very clear on the campaign to the American public, and it's one of the many
reasons they resoundingly re-elected him back to this office, that he was not only going to
crush foreign drug cartels, but that he was not going to stand by and watch as the illegitimate
Venezuelan regime was sending illegal criminals and gang members and rapists and murderers to
our country, which happened to the tune of thousands under the previous administration and
president. And so there could be nothing more America first than this operation that took place
last week. And I would just remind all of you in this room that there were innocent Americans
like Jocelyn Nungare, who lost their lives at the hands of dangerous Venezuelan criminals
who were sent here by the Maduro regime. And that has been the president's North Star and
guiding principle throughout his entire policy since January 20th.
And the administration believe that Tim Walls potentially dropped out of the governor's race
because he could be under a criminal investigation?
I don't know if there's a criminal investigation. If there was, I wouldn't be able to comment
on it from up here.
to be honest with you. But I think Tim Walls probably dropped out of the race because he realizes
he no longer has the support of the people of his own state, which is a remarkable downfall
considering he was the number two on the Democrat Party's ticket just about a year ago.
When it comes to Minnesota, the fraud that we have seen, the wide scale of fraud is really
remarkable. It's egregious. I would encourage every single journalist in this room to go
to Minnesota and to cover it yourselves. As for the Trump administration, we,
We have officials who have been on the ground almost every day.
Secretary Noem was there yesterday.
Secretary Besson will be traveling there later this week to talk about the fraud and to
do a roundtable on this very topic.
And I would just like to leave you with an update.
To date, the Department of Justice has charged 98 total defendants in several Medicaid
fraud and related case programs.
64 were convicted and 85 of the 98 charged were of Somali descent.
The GOJ has also issued over 17,000.
100 subpoenas executed over 130 search warrants, and they have now added more attorneys to their
office there to absorb the case flow. DHS is on the ground going door to door, conducting
large-scale criminal and HSI investigations. They have also sent approximately 2,000 agents
to Minneapolis to assist with law enforcement and immigration enforcement. As I said,
Secretary Nome was on the ground yesterday. The Department of Health and Human Services has also
begun requiring a justification and photo evidence for all child care related payments
nationwide, and they required Minnesota to conduct a full audit of all child care centers.
They also froze $185 million in funding to Minnesota. And Dr. Oz, who was just here,
also notified Governor Walls. They're going to begin auditing Medicaid recipients and deferring payments
on claims based on waste, fraud, and abuse. The Department of Labor is also conducting a targeted
review of Minnesota's unemployment program. Department of Agriculture requiring Minnesota
to conduct recertification for SNAP recipients, and HUD has launched investigations into the public
housing. SBA has also suspended nearly 7,000 borrowers amid suspected fraudulent activity.
So with all of that, rest assured, this is an all-hands-on-deck effort from the entire administration
to get to the bottom of this and to ensure that the ripping off of taxpayers in the state of
Minnesota, and it won't just be Minnesota.
It'll be any state across this country where
fraud has taken place, and we are protecting,
law-abiding, tax-paying American citizens.
Phil.
Thank you, Caroline.
Just to follow up on Greenland, there are treaties
already on the books that give the United States access
to the island that can construct and maintain
military bases there.
We can house personnel on the island, the US has control of
landings, takeoffs, anchorages, et cetera.
So I'm curious if you could
just spell out for the American public, what specifically would the U.S. gain by taking control
of Kremlin that the U.S. doesn't already have access to right now?
More control over the Arctic region and ensuring that China and Russia and our adversaries
cannot continue their aggression in this very important and strategic region. And there would be
many other benefits as well that, again, the president and his national security team are currently
talking about.
Thank you.
Thank you.
A broad for a standback question on foreign policy.
Are you concerned about increasing tensions with Russia because of the tanker seizures?
And how does the U.S. action in Venezuela impact the ongoing relationship with China and the President's relationship with President Xi?
I think the President has very open, honest, and good relationships with both President Putin of Russia and also President.
Russia and also President Xi of China. He has spoken with them numerous times, as you know,
since coming to office about a year ago, and I believe those personal relationships are going
to continue. But as for the President and the United States, he's going to enforce our policy
that's best for the United States of America. And with respect to these ships, seizures,
that means enforcing the embargo against all dark fleet vessels that are illegally transporting
oil and only legitimate commerce, to answer your question much earlier, Rachel, determined by
the United States is going to be permitted.
And that's the policy of this administration,
and he's not afraid to implement it.
One more stand back.
Go ahead.
Last one.
I remember asking the President here
he gave him his term if he was committed to Article 5
and NATO, and he said yes.
Has his stance on NATO or his commitment to NATO changed?
Could you see his statement earlier today?
He said, we will always be there for NATO,
even if they are not there for us.
And I think that answers your question directly.
Yes.
Just to follow up on much.
to follow up on what I'm saying there will the president commit that if any NATO members are attacked
the United States. Again, the president addressed this directly himself this morning after
seeing the coverage from all of you in this room on television, and he made it very clear.
We're always going to be there for NATO, even if they have not done right by the United States
of America. And they have not, they have finally increased their defense spending at the
request of this president, but it was only because of this president that they did that.
I'll take a problem more.
Michael, go ahead.
Thank you, Caroline.
Happy New Year and congratulations.
Thank you.
Two questions.
One on health care, one on Mexico.
On health care, the president says he wants Republicans to be flexible on the Hyde Amendment
in order to pass health care legislation.
What is the White House's message to pro-life voters who say federal funding for abortion goes against their values?
Well, the president did not change the administration's policy.
It was President Trump who signed an executive order protecting the High Amendment.
It's the Trump administration that is,
taken multiple actions on various fronts to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not funding the
practice of abortion. What the president was saying yesterday was Republicans, and frankly,
Democrats too, need to show a little bit more flexibility so we can actually get something done
with respect to the issue of health care. Republicans have amazing ideas. The president himself,
as we spoke about earlier, has launched this most favored nation drug pricing initiative,
has cut good deals with big pharma. He wants to see Republicans, and Democrats,
to, if they're willing, codify those executive orders into law so that these good deals can
remain and these prices can continue to be lowered long after this president and this dealmaker
in chief is gone. You've presidents talked a lot about health savings accounts and giving more
money back to the health care consumer rather than to these giant insurance companies. And he's been
very outspoken and tough on them too. And I think you'll see more and hear more from him directly
on that issue. So he wants to see Congress get something done with respect to health care. And that
was the point that he was driving home yesterday.
So go, Caroline.
President Trump says that the drug cartels are running Mexico.
What action does he need to see Mexico's president,
Claudia Scheinbaum, take to prove that she's in control of that country
in control of those cartels?
And does the White House believe she's able to do that
without US intervention?
Look, I think the president was speaking very candidly
and frankly about the reality on the ground in Mexico.
Haley.
Hi.
I want to ask you about the C's tanker, the Bella.
There were reports before this that Russia had
and a submarine to sort it. Was there any engagement with that submarine? And then was the
deconfliction aligned with Russia used ahead of boarding that? Again, this was a Venezuelan
shadow fleet vessel that has transported sanctioned oil. The vessel was deemed stateless after flying
a false flag and it had a judicial seizure order. And that's why the crew will be subject to
prosecution. Mary. Mary, the president talked over the week and he said,
that you'll be open to an operation there.
Should the President of Columbia be expecting Delta force
anytime soon, and then another one to do on California?
That would be a very unwise question for me to answer,
to weigh into.
What's your next question?
On California, can you share any more about the broad investigation?
The President said that there was one, who's being investigated,
and where is it starting?
Again, this is going to be a all hands-on-deck government-wide effort.
The President has directed all agencies across the board
to look at federal spending programs in not just Minnesota,
but also in the state of California,
to identify fraud and to prosecute,
to the fullest extent of the law,
all those who have committed it.
Take one more.
Sure.
Carolyn, yesterday was the five-year anniversary
of January 6th.
Democrats and mainstream media continue to push their big lie
that it was an insurrection
and that police officers died that day.
The reality is that four Trump supporters died
on January 6, and two women were killed by January 6th
police. Everybody knows Ashley Babbitt was shot in cold blood by Capitol Police Officer Michael
Bird, but there was another woman. Her name is Roseanne Boyland from Georgia, and she was
Pepperbald, gasped, and ultimately brutally beaten with a stick by January 6th police officer,
Lila Morris. The Biden administration and mainstream media lied and told Americans
Roseanne Boyland died of a drug overdose on Capitol steps. Her family is now asking for an
investigation. Is the administration aware of the circumstances of her death, and will there
be an investigation, finally? Well, for investigation, I will have to defer you to either the FBI
or the Department of Justice, and I'm sorry to have to do that. But with respect to all of the
facts that you just laid out, the White House relished the opportunity yesterday to actually
create a new website to share the facts with the American public, but also all those in this room.
We knew the media would be covering January 6th quite a bit because they think it's something
that the American people are still believing their lies on. They think it's something that
still helps their case against this president, obviously not, or else he wouldn't have been
reelected in an overwhelming fashion in November of last year. And so I would encourage everyone to
take a look at the website. It's quite well done. And thank you all very much. It's great to be back
with you. Thank you. Massive amount of breaking news there. It was the first White House press
briefing that Caroline has done since the Maduro, I guess you would call it attack, a seizure,
deposition. Also, we've got two tankers that have been basically apprehended, boarded by
U.S. military. A lot of questions about that.
My Pillow wants to say a heartfelt thank you to our listeners for your continued support.
To show their appreciation, they're offering an incredible after-Christmas sale with some of the
best prices that they've ever had. And all when you use promo code Kirk, K-I-R-K. Right now,
you can get their luxurious Giza Dream Sheets for as low as 2998.
That's pretty insane.
You'll also find cozy blankets, comforters, and duvet covers, starting at just $25.
Six-pack towel sets are only $39.98, making it the perfect time to refresh your home.
But the savings don't stop there.
Everything is on sale from dog beds and socks to couch pillows and much more.
This is the best opportunity to the year to stock up on My Pillo Favorites.
Take advantage of these unbeatable specials.
Don't wait. Head to Mypillow.com or call 800875-0-425 now.
And don't forget to use promo code KIRK.
These offers won't last long.
Call 800-875-0-4-25 or visit My Pillow today and use promo code Kirk.
Without further ado, I'm very excited to bring in our next guest, Senator Rick Scott from the great state of Florida.
It's good to have you back, Senator.
How have you been?
I've been great.
Happy new year, Andrew.
It's going to be a great year.
I've never been so ready to turn the calendar over to the next year. I will tell you, 2025 was a absolute doozy. But there is so much breaking news here, Senator. You know, there's Greenland. There was a shooting that I want to actually inform our audience about involving an ICE officer in Minneapolis. As you know, we've been surging ICE DHS personnel over 2000 on the streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Massive, massive reaction from the federal government.
It appears that it was a ramming and a shooting.
This is breaking news, a ramming and a shooting.
So a lot of times these citizen activists, these volunteers on the left, they will follow
around ice vehicles, trying to alert the public.
And sometimes they ram them.
And sometimes they try and get in their way.
Sometimes they play fast and loose with their own vehicle.
It appears initial indications, we're waiting for more information here, that that's what
this was.
But, Senator, let's start there.
there was a House Oversight Committee hearing on the Somali fraud and the complicity within the local politicians there covering it up.
Maybe they were getting political kickbacks.
What's your take of it?
You have run the state of Florida.
You know these processes.
You know how the bureaucracies work.
What's your reaction?
Well, I'm not surprised, number one.
When I became governor of Florida January 2011, I started going agency by agency.
Now, my background is I'm a business guy.
And in business, you don't waste your money, right?
And you solve your customer's needs.
They don't want to pay you a little extra money because you wasted money or did stupid things.
So what I watched agency by agency, there would be, they wouldn't worry about fraud against the agency.
They wouldn't worry about improper payments.
They, you know, look as free money.
The way is so many people looked at it.
So I went agency by agency and fixing.
Then we got all this free federal money.
It's free.
By the way, the attitude that many governors have is if the federal government is paying for it,
it's free.
It doesn't cost you anything, right?
And so I watched it like after a hurricane.
People would say, well, if we just got to, you know, we can go get all this free federal money.
So I watched unbelievable fraud attempts with regard to debris pickup after hurricanes.
But that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Every government program, and especially thorough programs, the oversight is pathetic.
It's horrible.
We have studies.
We know that there's, you know, hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud.
We know there's tens of billions of dollars worth of improper payments, and we don't get the money back.
And then we know people lie, cheating, steal, and we're just sitting there and people say, well, it's free.
Why do you worry so much?
about this. Well, we should worry about it because
38.5 trillion dollars with a debt.
Your interest rates are too high because of that.
Inflation is caused
by all this wasteful spending.
And it's unfair. It's not fair.
It's not fair. The hardworking kid that's out there
or a family that's out there busting their butt
every day. And then somebody else doesn't want
to work. So they take advantage of
a state government, a local government, a federal
government. It's wrong. Yeah. I mean,
it keeps getting worse. The deeper
this rabbit hole goes, Senator,
it looks like Keith Ellison, there
was a leaked tape released of him that he was basically, you know, said he was going to cover up
for these Somalis if they kind of gave them political kickbacks and he was going to, they were
going to run cover for them. There's multiple questions here. I'm going to play David Marcus from
Fox News. He had a great take on it. I want to get your reaction to it because we had Senator Ron
Johnson on the show yesterday. I know a friend and colleague of yours in the Senate who said that
these were, these systems are designed to fail. They're designed.
to be looted. They're designed to have wealth extracted from working class Americans, from the
white man, however you want to look at it, to be given to marginalized communities. I thought
David Marcus made an incredible point here at 245. This is not standard Tammany Hall patronage
and kickbacks. We've always had that. That was meant to keep people in power. That was not
meant to be a massive redistribution of wealth. What we're seeing here is a massive redistribution of wealth.
when these blue states allocate billions of dollars for marginalized communities and then fail
to put in place any safeguards to stop theft, that's Marxism by fraud.
That's taking money from corporations, from rich people, saying we're going to send it over here.
We're not going to pay any attention to what's happening to it.
That line sticks with me.
This is Marxism by fraud.
Is this intentional?
Is this in a blue state in a blue setting?
Is this the outgrowth of?
of a really sick ideology that is based on racial grievances,
that's based on systemic oppression,
that's based on CRT, all of these ideologies,
is it intentionally lacking oversight?
Oh, absolutely.
I mean, think about this is,
most of the taxes are paid by hardworking middle class Americans.
That's who's paying most of the taxes in this country, right?
And it's taken their money and given it to somebody else.
And then their goal is,
politicians that give all this away oh vote for them because they're giving you something for
free because it's it's free and it doesn't cost anything so absolutely i mean let me tell you a
quick story i became governor of florida i ran my whole campaign in 2010 on jobs i go to the
agency that does employment right after i won i said how's unemployment work they said well you have to
i said she said we're open six days a week because unemployed frians don't have enough time to apply
during the week. Really? I said, if you get on unemployment, you have to do anything.
They said, yeah, apply for, you have to fly for five jobs a week. I said, do you enforce that?
Well, no. I said, so I said, if you somebody was on unemployment and you found them
to have a job, would you, you know, accuse them or fraud and get the money back? Well, no.
I said, what's your purpose here? Is that our purpose is to get as many people on the program
as we can, right? Because we don't, you know, because we'll feel good. Who cares? It's free.
By the way, they explained to me that at the time the federal government was paying the excess money.
So it's free.
It's federal money.
They don't care.
And they think that's just how they're going to get elected.
And look, I've been up here seven years.
They don't, you know, the people, they don't set up the programs to work.
They intentionally allow it to be, allow the fraud.
And then we have earmarks that waste money.
We have programs that have no accountability.
When I was governor of Florida, 4,000 lines of the budget, every line had a written purpose.
If you didn't meet your purpose, I vetoed your money.
We can't even, I mean, it's hard to even get a copy of the budget up here, let alone, is there a purpose?
So we've got to get to the bottom of this.
This is unfair.
It's un-American.
This has got to change.
Senator Scott, we have to get to the bottom of this, but it strikes me that the most immediate pressing thing, we're not going to get Minnesota to reform itself, unless we can,
have a revolution in their state government, but we've tried several times. We're not going
to get Washington. Certainly we're not going to flip Washington. We're not going to flip fraud
in California anytime soon. It's what's the step, I guess first of all, what could the administration
do to have immediate accountability for this? Not just in terms of arresting perpetrators,
but I think a lot of people are asking, okay, we know the fraud is there. Can we bring a stop to
it in a quick way, even if that's something as simple as saying, Minnesota doesn't get money
anymore. Yeah. Well, they've cut off some of it. So right now, one thing they should be doing,
and they're focused on it, if you talk to Brooke Rollins, you've talked to Memonauts, you talk to them,
you know, they're going through program by program, and they're going to do everything they can't.
That's number one. Number two is we've got in Congress, we've got to pass measures to stop the
fraud and make sure when we pass things, it doesn't allow the fraud to happen. So what, you know,
people like Ron Johnson and Mike Lee and Cynthia Lummis, I are doing, we keep coming up with ideas of
how do you stop the waste? Now, part of it is stop the earmarks. Part of it is don't have
programs that have no accountability. That's part of it. And then the other part is let's make sure
that the, you know, executive branch has the ability to stop it. And then we need to be doing
investigations. We need to do real investigations of the, you know, each of these programs.
I've been, think about, I've, I've said for seven years that all this fraud with regard to debris pickup, and I can't get the Democrats to help me.
I'm on the right, I'm on the right committee, but I have to have Democrat votes to get this done to fix the unbelievable fraud and debris pickup after hurricanes.
Jeez.
I mean, it's, they don't want to do it.
Senator, they don't care.
I'm just, I wonder if you're going to get maybe a John Fetterman in the Senate, if there's laws that need to be changed.
is there's two little time here and I actually have to ask you about Greenland.
I had no idea you spoke with representatives from Greenland as much as you did.
$2.59.
Denmark is a great ally.
And I know every time I talk to them, I talk to their ambassador quite a bit, they want to work with us.
So we'll see what happens there.
All right, Senator.
So you know these people.
I know exactly what's going to happen.
Yeah.
What is going to happen next?
No, I do not.
So, I don't, you know, look, Denmark is a great ally.
I talked to their ambassador quite a bit.
Jester's a good guy.
So I think Trump is trying to be strategic.
I don't believe we're going to be invading Greenland,
but I do believe we're going to figure out how to work with Greenland
to have more military assets on there
so we can counteract what China and Russia is doing.
So something will happen there.
You never know exactly, you know, the process, you know,
the let's make a deal guy is going to do,
but something will happen there to put us in a better,
position yeah i mean we're going to have uh pete heggseth on in the second hour uh senator so we're
going to ask him about greenland so and again audience members if you have questions send them in
freedom at charley kirk dot com they've sent in a lot they're just they want the secretary of war is
like hey any question any question you want so it's fantastic um he's doing a great job yeah he's doing
a by the way he was our most popular uh cabinet secretary according to the amfess drop hole so
Tells you something. People love it. Yeah.
I think he's doing great job. I just saw him. We did a classified briefing on Venezuela just last hour.
Oh, well, shoot, now that you tell me that, I wish I could keep you for a couple more minutes.
Senator, thank you for joining. We'll have you on again soon. Thank you so much, sir.
Bye-bye. See you guys. See both of you. Bye-bye.
This is Lane Schoenberger, Chief Investment Officer and founding partner of Y Reefi.
It has been an honor and a privilege to partner with Turning Point and for Charlie to endorse us.
His endorsement means the world to us, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Turning Point for years to come.
Now, hear Charlie, in his own words, tell you about Y-R-R-R-R-E-F-Y-F-Y.
I'm going to tell you guys about Y-R-R-E-F-Y-F-Y.com.
Y-refi is incredible. Private student loan debt in America totals about $300 billion.
Why-refy is refinancing, distress, or defaulted private student loans.
You can finally take control of your student loan situation with a plan that works for your monthly budget.
Go to Y-refi.com.
That is Y-refi.com.
Do you have a co-barrower?
Why refi can get them released from the loan.
You're going to skip a payment up to 12 times without penalty.
It may not be available in all 50 states.
Go to yrefi.com.
That is y-R-E-F-Y.com.
Let's face it, if you have distress or default to student loans, it can be overwhelming.
Because of private student loan debt, so many people feel stuck, go to y-refi.com.
That is y-refy-fy-com.
Private student loan debt relief, y-refi.com.
Blake there's we got new information there is a tweet here from
Trisha McLaughlin who was just on the show actually she said today ice officers in
Minneapolis were conducting targeted operations very targeted there's over 2,000 that
have surged to that area following the Somali fraud ring basically following Nick Shirley's
expose and when riders began blocking ICE officers and one of these violent rioters
weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill
them. Certainly, or at least to block them. But yeah, certainly those things can be fatal and these
people lose their minds and they do crazy things. An act of domestic terrorism, says Trish McLaughlin,
an ICE officer fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of
the public, fired defensive shots. The alleged perpetrator was hit in his deceased,
the ICE officer who was hurt or expected to make full recoveries. And I told him,
totally agree with this, by the way, what she says next. This is the direct consequence of
constant attacks and demonization of our officers by sanctuary politicians who fuel and
encourage rampant assaults on our law enforcement. These men and women who are simply
enforcing the law on the books are facing a 1,300 percent increase in assaults against them
and an 8,000 percent increase in death threats. This is an evolving situation we're giving,
we will give public more information as soon as it becomes. And that's the most important
part because she says that. We'll see there all,
There's reportedly video, we'll see, we'll get more context on what fully happened.
But the big picture is this, which is the reason ICE has to go around all, like, acting like they're basically going to war, is because they're treated as an enemy force by these left wing cities, by these left-wing governments.
Their job would be a million times easier if they could pluck people out of jails.
Yes.
Like, focus on that, get the criminals who are getting arrested.
That's happening all the time.
They have treated them like criminals.
They've encouraged violence against them.
And they've harassed them.
And so regardless of how this incident went down, that is why it happened.
And that needs to be the focus.
The blood of this person is on Jacob Fry's hands.
It's on Governor Tim Walz's hands, period.
I totally well said.
A thousand percent agree.
I actually like it when we disagree on stuff a little bit because it makes for a live
and the way.
I just happened to completely agree with what you said.
You have to, so no sob stories here.
Absolutely not.
I have seen video after video.
There was an instance that really sticks out in my mind where I said,
saw a video of this guy ramming ice officers in California. They ram him back. They stop him
and arrest him. He gets released. He gets immediately, he's American citizen. So he goes over straight to
CNN about two hours later, cries victim on national television. And this is what they do. This is
their cycle. So you have these vigilantes. They call themselves citizen, you know, activist or whatever.
And they're working on behalf of illegal immigrants. Because, you know, why get off your
couch to help American citizens. They want to go help the marginalized, right? So then they do this
and they put lives on on the line. They put lives at risk of federal law enforcement. And by the way,
new today, ICE officers have surpassed their recruiting goals of 10,000, according to the one big
beautiful bill. They've hired 12,000. There's 12,000 new ICE officers on the streets of the United
States. And I want to underscore Blake's point here about this, the way that it was done. So you go back
to Obama was called the deporter in chief. Do you realize that 80% of those deportations were done the
old-fashioned way? What does that mean? It means that an illegal immigrant was arrested,
apprehended on the streets of his or her, you know, invaded city. They would go into jail.
The local officials would process that person. There would be an ICE detainer. They would hand
that person over to ICE safely, securely. There's no raids in the streets. There's no DHS rammings.
There's no, none of that stuff. It's secure. The person has handcuffs on.
they get put on a plane process put back in their country of origin when sanctuary cities and states
refuse to cooperate with federal law enforcement this is the result they have to go into the streets do
raids they have to go knock on doors they have to endanger the public in order to do the public a good
so this is completely blake's point the blood is on the hand of jacob fry who's by the way
demanding that these ice agents be removed from his city which is not going to happen by the way
And you hear Tom Homan saying, we're going to double down.
We're coming for California.
We're coming for Illinois.
We're coming for New York next.
So look out.
More of this is coming as it should be.
And just say a prayer for our brave men and women of DHS and ICE as they are forced to
not work in cooperation behind closed doors and safety, but instead have to go out
on the streets and conduct raids on businesses and homes and that sort of thing.
Because this is completely on the head and on the hand.
of local officials. It's absolutely infuriating. Blake, we had a, it's kind of related, but
there was a House Oversight Committee hearing, the first of its kind. Some explosive allegations
were made in this hearing by Republicans in the state of Minnesota that were saying they have
tried to conduct oversight and to deal with the fraud in Minnesota. We saw this, this went
viral the other day that there's in 2018 their inspector general did a whole report or the staff
they did a whole thing it laid out exactly how fraud happens they say they they have fake groups that come in
or not so much fake groups they have groups of like these daycares that come in and say we're interested
in stopping fraud but they're really trying to deflect investigations away they had a whistleblower
explain this to them they said we think half of all of our daycare money may be going to fraud if not more
And then the Inspector General just buries it.
Well, and get this, they are fabricating documents.
Play cut 262.
According to the nonpartisan legislative auditor, this is another case of mismanagement of taxpayer money.
But perhaps the most explosive revelation is that managers within DHS, the Department of Human Services,
tried to cover their tracks by backdating and creating new documents.
Backdating.
So they're trying to cover their tracks.
other testimony from this morning's hearing said that they were blacklisted, that it was
career suicide to call out fraud. The depth of the rot seems to no end here. It's truly
stunning. And I think we all knew this was going on. We all knew that there was fraud. We all knew
that it was bloat, but it was so amorphous and abstract. And now you're seeing in vivid technicolor
exactly how it works. And they get political kickbacks and they get promises for whole communities
like the Somalis to vote and block for them for re-election.
For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to charliekirk.com.
