The Dan Bongino Show - The Dan Bongino Sunday Special 04/17/22

Episode Date: April 17, 2022

First up today we talk with Christopher Rufo who got hold of the Disney internal videos showing how higher ups at the company were pushing the trans agenda to young children. Next we have North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson talking to us about a powerful speech he made in a church about protecting our children from those pushing extreme agendas. Finally we had Julie Kelly from American Greatness who talked with us about the DOJ’s failure in the prosecution of the “Michigan Militia” in the supposed plot to kidnap Gretchen Whitmer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From the kitchen to the laundry room, your home deserves the best. Give it the upgrade it deserves at Best Buy's Ultimate Appliance Event. Save up to $1,000 on two or more major appliances. Shop now, in-store, or online at BestBuy.ca. Exclusions apply. Get ready to hear the truth about America on a show that's not immune to the facts with your host, Dan Bongino. Thanks for tuning into the podcast this weekend. Hope you enjoy this special podcast we put together for you to enjoy on this most holy of weekends in the Christian calendar, Easter Sunday, Easter weekend.

These are some of the interviews we did on the radio show this week with some really great guests. You can hear these interviews live, of course, in your local radio station. Just check out Station Finder at pagino.com, and you can find out where we're on near you. Before we get to our first interview with Christopher Rufo, let's go to one of our sponsors. If you're looking for a firearm, I wholeheartedly recommend Henry Repeating Arms. They make 200 models of rifles, shotguns, and revolvers,

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rights he got a hold of those disney internal videos showing how disney higher-ups at the company were pushing the trans agenda on kids. On kids. This made national headlines. Chris was the first one to get these. He came on to talk to us about it. Don't miss this interview. So I want to welcome to the show a guy who's done just yeoman's work in transforming the country into a far more liberty-oriented, prosperous place where we can regain custody over our own lives, our kids, the things that matter to us.

It's an important mission. I want to welcome Christopher Rufo. Christopher, welcome to the show. We appreciate you spending some time with us. It's great to be with you. So, Chris, you got a hold of these now infamous disney videos this looks like some kind of an all hands on deck video conference call with these executives proudly discussing what appears to be introducing uh inappropriate sexual topics into content for kids um i disturbed a lot of us they

pretend to be a family-friendly company um But I'm wondering, after hearing this, are there people inside of, without giving up any sources or anything, Chris, but there are people inside of Disney who are, you know, sane, conservative types who are tired of this stuff? Is that one of the means by which you continue to get a lot of this material on these places?

Yeah, that's exactly right. I have multiple sources within the company, and they tell me very clearly most Disney employees, especially the working and middle-class employees that are at its theme parks and other kind of consumer-facing entities, they hate this. They don't want this.

They feel silenced by the company, which has really empowered these groups. You know, last year I reported on Disney's practice of creating racially and sexually segregated groups, empowering activists, really the executives delegated moral authority to these activist organizations within the company. And now they've been held hostage. to these activist organizations within the company. And now they've been held hostage. And so the small number of activists can really call the show and call the shots.

The executives kowtow back to them, even though we know that they represent a small fraction of people and the values that they're trying to promote are not in line with the majority of the American citizens. We're talking to Chris Ruffo. Chris, you know, the social media is typically panned by people on the right like me, and deservedly so because of their efforts to censor people. But there has been a pretty positive externality generated from the explosion of microblogging and the immediate availability of data like this.

You know, I think of guys like you and Corey DeAngelis on School Choice. I mean, you two guys, between School Choice and your focus on CRT and the pushing of transgender and other type of ideologies into kids' schools, you guys have really used social media and the internet. I'm not kidding. I'm not trying to, this isn't puffery. You've really changed the national conversation. I mean, I can make a strong case that the elections in Virginia and in New Jersey, that you had a lot to do with it.

I mean, you can, you know, just dive on that if you would. But I think there is a positive to social media in that you're able to take these videos and get them around quick. Yeah, that's absolutely right. You know, I'm happy to take credit for at least playing a part in this narrative. And really, social media, despite its problems, despite its flaws, is the great equalizer. You have more opportunity than ever to get information into the bloodstream of the American information economy. to get information into the bloodstream of the American information economy.

And then as a outsider, as a person who's trying to push back against these large institutions, as long as you have access to the tools, which I think we should fight to maintain equal and fair access, information wins. And if you have sources, if you have ideas, if you have a kind of political belief that have a constituency but don't have support in the mainstream institutions, social media is absolutely it. And this Disney story is the perfect example. I released the Disney videos on social media. I had more than 10 million impressions, even on just one of those videos alone. And it's driven the news cycle.

It's been the top of every Fox news show uh for the past two days the new york times was forced to cover it in an article they published today and so we're leading the national conversation just by having good information and by being willing to fight i was talking to christopher rufo um activist for liberty and freedom and a darn good one. You know, Chris, I found the New York Times and the liberal media's coverage of Disney's response to the Florida bill. Hilarious leftist groups out there eagerly push Disney because of their market power in Florida leftist groups to get involved. Disney then gets involved. Conservatives then respond to Disney and the york times and the other outlets the flavor of their article chris's republican sees republicans bounce on disney we didn't push disney

to get involved they did yeah exactly i mean it's really amazing you know it's like uh uh you know i punch you in the face uh you punch me back. And then I say, hey, look, this guy just punched me in the face. I mean, they have no no sense of basic causality. And they say, oh, Republicans are stoking a culture war. It's like, no, no, no. Just listen to the videos. The videos are shocking. One of the one of the executive producers says we are inserting a, quote, not at all secret gay agenda into content. She said that she was, quote, queering all of the children's content, reaching kids as young as two years old. And one of the most bizarre things, Disney has actually created an internal tracking tool to make sure that they're having

enough bisexual, asexual and transgender characters. This is a specific attempt to engineer content, to engineer children, and they even admitted it. One of the production coordinators said in this call on video, controlling the information that reaches children, that bypasses parents, is a very powerful thing. And we should use it. We should exploit it. And we should be pushing this ideology onto kids before they can even speak. We should be pushing this ideology onto kids before they can even speak. So to present that and then to present conservatives who are reacting to that as somehow the aggressor in the culture war is total nonsense. And I think it really just shows the weakness of The New York Times opinion. They can't defend this stuff on the merits. So they seek to project it onto others. Chris, what do you make of the Disney's hypocrisy in this entire thing?

I mean, Disney clearly has done a significant amount of business in China where, you know, they torture and imprison minority Uyghurs. They do business in a number of countries around the world which are actively anti-gay. I mean, they don't hide it. It's actually built into some of their their uh their governance systems there i mean the hypocrisy is is is kind of damning and uh i'll let part one and part two of the question i'll ask um is i read an article in the washington examiner where this was a very calculated business decision by disney where they think the loss of conservative consumers will be offset by an explosion in new woke liberals who will pour into their parks.

So on the hypocrisy and on the business decision, your thoughts on that? Yeah, I agree on the hypocrisy. And, you know, I just published a piece yesterday that shows the hypocrisy goes even deeper. Disney is presenting itself as the moral arbiter about children and sexuality. But I spent all of yesterday digging through court records and arrest records, and I discovered that Disney has had dozens upon dozens of employees who've been arrested for child pornography, child sex exploitation, even heinous child rape crimes, and that Disney's lobbyists through their trade association actually lobbied

the cruise line industry and lobbied Congress to try to water down reporting requirements for the rash of sexual assaults on Disney's cruise ships. And so I'm not going to sit here and take moral guidance from a company that is hiring, and then of course firing after the fact, the most heinous child predators in the country. And on the business decision, I don't think that's right, actually. I don't think they're making a calculated business decision by somehow alienating conservatives or alienated people who are a little bit more in the middle. I think what's clearly happening is that they've empowered these activist organizations within the company. They have the kind of racially segregated affinity groups, sexually orientation segregated affinity groups.

They've given them moral authority, and executives can't say no. So, you know, you have a kind of situation where the white male executive of Disney has given power to the black Disney employee group, the LGBTQIA employee Disney group. And then whatever they say, he has to kind of grovel and agree. And even if it's a bad business decision, which I think this is, you know, they've really ceded all moral position based on identity, based on skin color, which I think is wrong. I think it's harmful. I think it, you know, we should all be treated equally as individuals. But they've made their bed, and now they're laying in it.

Yeah, I don't think it's going to be pretty. One more question. Let me promote your newsletter here. Folks, if you want to follow Christopher Rufo, and I strongly encourage you to. You know I hate Twitter, but this is one account worth following. It's at real Chris Rufo, R-U-F-O. Also follow his newsletter.

It's Christopher, common spelling Ruffo, R-U-F-O.com, ChristopherRuffo.com slash newsletter. Please check it out. This important stuff. Chris, last question. You've been generous with your time and I'll let you go. You know, it's kind of weird again, the hypocrisy on the left who fought for decades

to keep any kind of religious instruction or even any mention of religion at all out of school altogether. And yet the same left that doesn't want you to mention the word God in school is obsessed with the idea of indoctrinating your kids with sexual topics their young brains aren't prepared to handle. topics their young brains aren't prepared to handle. It's almost as if they're following the old Marxist theory of dividing the children from their parents by intentionally trying to make them feel different and like outsiders. So it makes it easier to develop them as future activists. You know, your thoughts on that? Yeah, I mean, it's absolutely true. You can see it in the literature. If you read the academic papers from queer theory, they say this explicitly. It's not a secret. They're not hiding it. And just as Disney is hosting internal meetings where they're saying it out loud, the intellectuals who are forming this movement have said it out loud for years.

And that's what we're starting to see. And even Terry McAuliffe said that parents should not have the right to dictate what's happening in their children's education. This is what they believe, and now we're starting to see it. And luckily, though, the solution to all this is for parents and everyday people to get organized, to fight back, to understand who they're voting for, for school board, for Congress, for the presidential elections, and then for policymakers and intellectuals and the conservative movement to start figuring out how to design policies to push back. And I think one of the most important things is universal school choice, because if these schools are promoting critical race theory and gender ideology, we need to give parents a guaranteed right to exit so they can

take their education dollars and they can put them in a school, private school, public school, charter school, religious school that reflects their values. That's how we break up this ideological regime. That's how we win. That's a perfect segue. That's actually what we're going to talk about in my next segment after we hang up. Folks, please follow Christopher Rufo. He has been ahead of the curve on CRT, on this inappropriate sexual instruction of kids. It's ChristopherRufo.com slash newsletter to join his newsletter

and follow him on Twitter at Real Chris Rufo. Chris, thanks for your time. Thanks for all your great work. We really appreciate it. Thank you. You got it. Folks, this is an important topic. That was a perfect segue.

I didn't tee him up for that jim's shaking his head because that's where exactly we're going to talk about next how there are two fights for our future politics is downstream of culture you lose the culture forget the politics doesn't matter who you vote for if a and b both suck right i mean i can't say it any clearer than that we have to fix the culture and the two most important ways to do it are school choice and school curriculum you get the kids you got everything we can't give up the kids that was eye-opening information from chris rufo we've got another great interview coming up next with the lieutenant governor of north carolina mark my words a rising star in the gop you will hear this man's name in the future

but before mark robinson let's get to our next sponsor. Okay, here's North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson talking to us about a similar topic. He had a powerful viral speech in a church about the sexualizing of kids in school. Please listen to him on this really, really important issue. All right, welcoming back to the show one of our favorite guests, the Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina, the great state of North Carolina, home to my father who loves it. He lives up in Cary over there. Mark Robinson, Lieutenant Governor, welcome back to the show.

Hey, Dan, how are you doing? Can you hear me okay? Yes, sir. We hear you, Lima Charlie, loud and clear. It is so great to have you back. You know we're big admirers of your guts and gusto. You know, I've been an admirer of yours ever since you gave that Second Amendment speech that propelled you into the public spotlight. You're just a real truth teller.

So this weekend, I'm putting my show together, Lieutenant Governor, and I'm looking around for some material, going through social media, and I see Mark Robbins. Whenever I see Mark Robbins, I know I got to stop and listen. So I start listening, and there you are at a church in North Carolina and man, you were bringing it. Even for Mark Robinson,

one of the most gifted speakers I've heard, you were bringing it even by your standards. What was the speech about? Why were you so fired up? It was just really well done. Talk to us about it. Well, you know, I guess some people would say it wasn't really a speech. It was more of a

sermon, I guess. I don't really like to give it that moniker because I'm not a pastor, but I was speaking in a church, and I was speaking about social issues that are facing our nation is facing.

And the context of the speech was we were talking about how the folks in the church who say they believe in the tenets of our faith need to speak up and tell the truth. And, well, that's what we were at the church to do, to encourage folks inside the church to speak up and tell the truth. Well, I noticed, Lieutenant Governor, that the response was incredible. I mean, you can only see you on the camera, but you can hear it. There's no mistaking what's going on there. They ain't boos, believe me. And you spoke out specifically about a topic very sensitive to me,

which is this puzzling push by the left to constantly want to talk to our kids about sex, sexual orientation, personal lives of teachers, sex lives. Sir, listen, you and I are probably roughly around the same cohort. I don't remember any of this. Do you? I mean, do you remember going to school asking your teacher about their sex lives or their personal life, who they were dating? I mean, they're there to educate the kids. Like, when did this start? I don't remember any of this. No, that never occurred when I was in school. Teachers were much more mature.

They kept their private lives private. They knew that we were there to learn how to read, write, do and do arithmetic. Let me say this first off, Dan, about this issue. Number one, this is the United States of America. We're not a theocracy. And people have the right to identify as they see fit. And I will protect their right to identify as they see fit. But the problem is this. their right to identify as they see fit. But the problem is this. People are now beginning to think that because they have the right to identify, that now they have the right to force me to agree with them. And not only that, we're seeing people being threatened, their jobs being threatened,

their livelihoods being threatened if they don't go along with it. And we're seeing it being pushed on to our children in public schools that they are compelled to go to and that is what we stand up against you have an absolute right to define yourself as you see fit but you do not have a right to tell me that i have to agree with it and you absolutely do not have a right to try to force it onto my children jim can we uh do you have that cut from yesterday? We don't need it now, but I want to play it later because I want the audience to understand

how just powerful your speech was. You know, sir, you know, you happen to be black, which is totally non, you know, that doesn't really, we conservatives, we don't really care. I mean, that's not how we judge people, but to the left, it's everything. And I know you've probably experienced racism in your life. It's a real thing. It's not how we judge people, but to the left, it's everything. And I know you've probably experienced racism in your life. It's a real thing. It's not a figment of our imagination,

but what I find so fascinating about you is you've never defined yourself by it. You love the country. You realize it has its flaws. It has its flawed, you know, flawed people who do really dumb things, but you've never defined yourself as a victim at all. You're a proud American. You're so vocal about it. And that's what I find so dangerous about these attempts to sexualize kids in schools. It appears to be a way, again, to create yet another class of victims and victimology. own story, you know, from your rather middle class upbringings to now the lieutenant governor of North Carolina. And you're always careful to say how you were never a victim. Your parents never taught you to be a victim. And that's what worries me about it, sir. I feel like this is what this is, an effort to tell kids, hey, you're different.

Nobody respects your victims. Look, you're the. And that's what really bothers me about your thoughts on that. It is. It's very multilayered. There is that victim that preaches again that victim mentality. But I think more than that, what it really does is it's another way to silence people's voices. You know, nothing drives me crazier than to think that folks think that it should, people think that it should be legal

for someone to teach young children about these highly adult sexual topics in a public school, but they will demonize me for preaching my gospel at my church, which is totally voluntary and protected by our First Amendment. And that is part of the problem. They want to silence voices. They don't want a conversation in the

room that includes someone like me. They want to silence the voices that oppose them so they can continue to push the victimization agenda, the elite agenda, all those agendas that they have on the left. In order to push those things they have to push all other voices out of the way and as you said one of the most dangerous things about this is the fact that they're trying to silence voices yeah and they're trying to silence you you know i've noticed this another reason i want to have you on is as your profile has grown significantly many of your speeches and sermons, whatever they want to call them, it doesn't matter to me, they go viral. You're a powerful speaker. You speak from the

heart. Again, you speak about the power of America and the ideas of freedom. It's not unusual for you to get millions of views on a speech. And I've noticed as your profile has grown that you've become the subject of just what now appear to be relentless attacks on you, your family, everything. It's got to be, you know, it's got to be a little bit painful to have to deal with this. I mean, you were never a public figure before this. You were a hardworking American citizen. You gave a viral speech on gun rights. People loved it. So it's got to be kind of tough to deal with all that. It is. And more than anything, like I said, more than anything, what really drives me crazy about it is the absolute hypocrisy of those on the left. I mean, let's just say it plain, Dan,

if I was a liberal Democrat, the news media would love me. And they wouldn't have cared what happened in my past. And they wouldn't have cared what I had done in my past or what I was saying. It's all about agenda for these folks. It's never about doing the right thing. And sadly enough, it's not even necessarily about telling the truth. Because they will skirt the truth, ignore the truth, or twist the. If it means demonizing those people that they don't like. And so I, I've handled it well. My wife has handled it well and our family has handled it well and we'll continue to because we believe we're doing the right thing.

Well, I believe in you too. I just remember again, years ago, I lived in a different house. That's how I know it was long ago because I've lived here for a long time. And I just remember your speech on the Second Amendment thinking, my gosh, man, this guy's gifted. Like you just have an ability to put into words what I think a lot of people are thinking. And now, you know, the second most powerful executive in North Carolina, one of the nation's most important states. But I think you get it. I think being a businessman before this, you get it.

You understand it. And one of the things I think you get is that they're treating the schools like activist camps, sir. I mean, this is North Carolina. This is a huge state. These are our schools. They're there to learn social studies, history, proper English, how to do math. We're failing at that. proper English how to do math we're failing at that and ironically sir we're succeeding at indoctrinating the kids into racial CRT crap and this

sexualization trans agenda stuff like that's not the stuff you're supposed to be good at in school keep that for your personal life absolutely you know the one statistic that I always keep hammering home is this. In North Carolina, we spend half of our state budget on education and we're failing to teach our children to read on a grade level. That that is not what we need. And we do not need to focus on social agendas. We need a focus on teaching children what they need to have in order to succeed once they get outside the classroom. And I submit to you that starts with learning to read, learning to write, learning to do mathematics, learning how to comprehend what you read, learning how to do mathematics,

mathematics skills that will help you operate through life, learning those common sense principles in mathematics. Those are the things that are going to help our children succeed in life. This confusing adult topics, these X-rated situations that we're laying in front of our children, it is not beneficial to them. It slaps the parents in the face, and it flies in the face of decent education. And that's why we've got to change course in this state and in this nation and get back to giving our children what they need in the classroom,

which is the tools they need in order to succeed once they leave the classroom. We're talking to the Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina, Mark Robinson. Last question, sir, and I'll let you go. You know, the tell here that this is inappropriate content, it's an obvious one. I don't know if you've seen the video, sir, but in various jurisdictions around the country, people go to school board meetings

and they'll start reading out loud from these sexualized books at the school board meetings what they're teaching kids in third grade and below. And what happens? The school board member shuts it down. That's inappropriate for this meeting. So think about that. Adults can't hear it, but you can teach your down. That's inappropriate for this meeting. So think about that. Adults can't hear it,

but you can teach your kids. That's the tell, is it not? Absolutely. We did that when we had this whole controversy earlier in the year when the news media and others came after us with comments again that we made in church. They asked us what we were referring to

and we showed them the filthy content that we were referring to right here on the porch of our office. We called a press conference. We showed the objectionable materials on camera. The news media, when they aired it, they blocked the material. It was not good enough for their viewers, but somehow it's good enough for the students of North Carolina. You know what, Mark, I did not know that. And I did not. Was that a setup question?

I did not know. I'm going to have to go watch that because that is that is the tell right there. A bunch of adults who watch the evening news, a demo of probably 30 to 80 years old. They can't see it. But a bunch of third graders, no problem. Tee it right up. That is perfectly said. Lieutenant Governor Robinson, thank you so much for your service to the country.

We really appreciate you doing yeoman's work. And I'm going to make a prediction. I say it every time you're on the air. Your political future has just begun, sir. I'm telling you right now. I am sure of it.

So thanks for spending some time with us. We appreciate it. Thank you for having me again. We look forward to next time. You got it, folks. That was the lieutenant governor of North Carolina, Mark Robinson. I kid you not. One of the most gifted speakers I have ever heard. There he is. North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, one of the most powerful speakers I have ever heard. That's saying a lot. Up next, we talk with Julie Kelly, America Greatness of American Greatness

and the author of January 6th. She's going to talk to us about the Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping case, January 6th and others. This is a really good conversation, but first, our next sponsor. Here's Julie Kelly from the radio show who talked with us about the DOJ's failure

in the prosecution of the Michigan militia in the supposed plot to kidnap Gretchen Whitmer. You don't want to miss it. All right. Welcoming back to the show. Good friend to the show. An incredible reporter who has been all over some of the federal law enforcement bureaucracy malfeasance over the last few months and years. Our good friend, Julie Kelly. Julie, welcome back to the show Dan how are you thanks so much for having me on of course you're terrific Julie is the author of a tremendous book called January 6th which has an explanation of events outside of the fake news mainstream media

narrative that I can't recommend highly enough she also has a piece up at American Greatness about what we're going to discuss today. This Michigan alleged kidnapping plot. Julie, the trial could not have gotten any worse for the FBI, which has had, I think it's an understatement to say, a really bad five years. Give us a summary. What happened? Why did the case fall apart? And what happens going forward? Are they going to try to retry any of them? And what happens going forward? Are they going to try to retry any of them?

So this was, of course, the plot to kidnap and kill Gretchen Whitmer, a case that made wall-to-wall national headlines as people were voting in the 2020 election. The arrests were made in October 2020. What was revealed through these defense attorneys, six men were arrested, charged on federal counts of conspiring to kidnap and also use a weapon of mass destruction. But what defense attorneys uncovered months of filing motions detailing very compelling case of FBI entrapment. had at least a dozen undercover agents and informants working out of numerous FBI field offices across several states who concocted this plot, stitched these men together who did not know each other prior to the FBI's involvement, stitched them together, induced them into attempting to commit this crime. But at the end of the day, during Western Michigan, rejected the government's

case. Not a single conviction. Two men were completely acquitted and two men remain in jail. This DOJ amazingly is planning to retry both of these defendants after the jury came back as a hung jury on the accounts for those two men. We're talking to Julie Kelly. She writes at American greatness. She has a piece out about this Michigan case, the alleged kidnapping plot against Democrat governor Gretchen Whitmer. Julie, you said something fascinating there that the men didn't know each other. So it's kind of hard. Wouldn't you say, I mean, you, again,

you've been all over the January 6th case. And without you, I mean it, without you, forget it, the fake news would have dominated. You have done more to open people's eyes here. But regarding this case, how can it be a plot started with the men if the men didn't know each other before the source tied them all together? Kind of confusing, no? It really isn't. It was fascinating, Dan, to listen to this trial. And I have several pieces dating back to last fall talking about the entrapment case. But the fact that, in fact, at one point, the FBI handler commends the main informant,

who, by the way, was paid at least $60,000 for putting this group together and helping to execute this plot, commends him at one point saying, look at you bringing people together. In fact, by August of 2020, this band that they stitched together wanted to break up because one guy didn't like this guy, didn't trust that guy. You have one guy who is from Delaware. You've got a guy from Michigan, a couple of guys from Michigan. And so they urged their FBI informants, no, you've got a guy from Michigan, a couple of guys from Michigan. And so they urged

their FBI informants, no, you've got to keep this group together. We need to keep moving forward. Then they introduced another undercover agent who was an explosives expert, they said, who brought a video to show the men to get them all ginned up, how they could blow up a bridge by Whitmer's house. The video had been produced by the FBI. There wasn't a single angle of this plot that did not have the FBI fingerprints all over it. And God bless us during Western Michigan, they saw right through it, not a single conviction, complete humiliation for this Justice Department and FBI for what they did to these innocent men, and quite frankly, did to the country and to Trump's presidential campaign and the homestretch of the 2020 election.

Well, that's important. We're talking to Julie Kelly, author of the book, January 6th. Please pick it up. Julie, that's an important point. This was all over before the 2020 election, all over the news, right before the election. Whitmer was all over the place talking about it. Listen, I get it. I mean, if I were the subject of even an alleged plot, I'd talk about it too. If you're okay, fine. But you'd at least think they'd have some kind of details of this thing locked down.

Biden talked about it. I played audio on my podcast yesterday of John Heilman and MSNBC, you know, losing it over this. Oh, Trump did it. He incited all this violence. And then we find out, as you said, that the men didn't even know each other and the FBI was involved. Kind of sounds like the Spygate case, the payments to Christopher Steele working with Stefan Halper. I mean, of any of these big cases actually started with anyone other than FBI informants? My gosh, what's going on here?

No, it's funny, Dan, because someone yesterday compared Dan Chappell, the main informant, to Stefan Halper. You know, it's the same M.O. But, Dan, as you know, as the expert on this subject, the fact that no one has been held accountable for Russiagate just put this agency on steroids. They took that. They accelerated it. No one paid any price. So, of course, they were going to repeat it in 2020. And that is exactly what happened. You're right. Whitmer was all over it. Joe Biden is ranting at campaign stops across the country, accusing Donald Trump of inciting domestic terrorists i mean and but you know it's funny dan all of this coverage has completely disappeared you won't find any news

about this trial and verdict in the new york times cnn or anywhere else talking to julie kelly uh author at american greatness and of the book january 6th julie i made the case on yesterday's radio and podcast shows that the damage the FBI has done to itself is really going to be generational. I mean, you have people from our generation out. I'm not just talking about Republicans. This is not a party issue. with the Spygate case, the collusion case, the failure to really do much of anything about Antifa and BLM, and yet this focused hyper-attention on January 6th, and candidly,

some people just walked in open doors. And it just seems like their credibility is so bad that I don't know how we go forward as a constitutional republic without a major house cleaning, because how do you bring a case now? I mean, just don't trust them this january excuse me the michigan case was just a total repudiation of their credibility in court it was stunning dan if you think now consider first the defense attorneys had both hands tied behind their back the judge

who did a very good job nonetheless sided with the government on numerous occasions to prevent the jury from seeing hundreds of communications between the FBI and their informants that would show this entrapment. The government threatened several defense witnesses with extra charges, so they ended up pleading the fifth. The DOJ had everything going for it, and this jury still saw right through this entrapment case because the entire defense argument rested on FBI entrapment. And that is what this jury concluded. The other thing to remember in Michigan is that the local news about what happened with Larry Nassar, the Michigan State gymnastics coach who got away for years of molesting,

sexually assaulting young girls and women, top U.S. Olympic gymnasts. And the FBI, including the Detroit field office, completely duffed this case. So they already had not just national, the FBI national lack of credibility, but certainly this was a local issue in the state of Michigan. And I wonder how much that contributed to the jury's view of this corrupt, incompetent agency. Yeah, that's such an excellent point. I hadn't even considered about the nexus between Nassar and that. You know, Julie, I remember going through this, you know, after I left, a lot of friends of mine, former Secret Service agents who were active at the time when the whole Columbia thing went down. It was a monstrous international scandal.

And people are only human beings. I mean, your credibility goes down the tubes when coworkers tarnish the reputation of your enterprise. And there's no question between Spygate, January 6th, and this Michigan case that this is a huge black eye. And I hope for the sake of the country they turn around. I want to move to January 6th and this Michigan case that this is a huge black eye and I hope for the sake of the country they turn around I want to move to January 6th I just want to make sure the audience if you'd like to read Julie's article it's terrific it's at am am greatness.com it's called questions loom after verdicts in Whitmer kidnapping trial check it out let's move on to January 6th something again you've been on top of from the start.

We just had a verdict in the case. Not guilty. Julie, we found out unsurprisingly that it's very difficult to accuse someone of trespassing who was invited into the Capitol. This actually stunned people in law enforcement, which stuns me. Your thoughts on that? Yeah. So this was this was a rare glimmer of justice in Washington, D.C. Judge McFadden acquitted Matthew Martin, a man charged with the most common four misdemeanors related to January 6th. Not only when Matthew Martin took the stand and explained how Capitol Police waved him into the building, for the first time you had a Capitol Police official testify under oath that yes, officers did stand by and they did allow people into the building, claiming that they were so overmanned and overwhelmed. This official said, so we let people into the building.

We stood there just to make sure no one got hurt. Well, not only did that confirm that they let people in, but also that the people walking into the building had no idea, Dan, that they were committing a crime. They were never warned that the building was a gospel. Julie, why would you? I mean, I'm not being silly, and believe me, I have no dog in this fight other than truth and justice. I mean it. I'm not trying to be silly about it. But why would you?

If you're sitting there at a rally about an election you have questions about, and you're following other people who are a rally about an election you have questions about and you're following other people who are being waved into a building i don't understand what how that's beyond the reasonable doubt of guilt i mean am i is there something i'm missing here i it just seems like common sense well it does but unfortunately, the two jury trials that have gone on, both men have been convicted quickly, unanimously on all counts, including obstruction of an official proceeding. And this is why this particular defendant chose a bench trial in front of a jury trial, because these defendants have no shot of a fair trial in the city that voted 94% for Joe Biden and have nothing but contempt for Trump supporters. So, you know, how this plays out already, one man has pulled his plea deal based on what happened in Matthew Martin's trial and his acquittal. But certainly the defense

attorneys who are good are paying attention to the fact that this Capitol Police officer testified that they did let people in. And that really undermines the case in a lot of these prosecutions. We're talking to Julie Kelly, author of the great book, January 6th. Julie, these seem like political trials, not legal trials. I only got about a minute left. But, you know, listen, I get it that the judge, the pre-verdict rulings were not really great for the defendants, but you got to applaud him for doing the right thing. I mean, can you imagine the pressure this judge must be under to conduct

a star chamber there and just throw these people in jail no matter what? I mean, I really, I would, I would typically pick a jury over a judge trial, but in this case, I can't dispute them, them trying to pick a judge trial going forward. It seems like the common sense move at this point, your quick thoughts on that. You really do. And Judge McFadden, now I've been a critic of his. He's a Trump appointee. He's gone along with DOJ.

He's holding men under pretrial detention orders, including men accused of no violent crimes. But he gets a little bit of a cheer here. And I think that maybe he's realizing that the early narrative of this and the demands of this D.C. district court to make sure that they prosecuted and punished these defendants as harshly as they possibly could, that maybe he's got a little bit of a conscience and now realizing that that's not such a good idea certainly has nothing to do with justice or fair play, has everything to do with politically prosecuting political dissidents in the United States of America,

including sending them to a political prison in the nation's capital. Julie, thank you from the bottom of our hearts here. I know you're a big audience favorite. You don't play the political games. You've been on this from the start. Turns out, as usual, you were right about both Michigan and January 6th. Folks, pick up her book. It's easy to remember. It's called January 6th by the great Julie Kelly. Hey, thanks for coming on. We appreciate it.

You know we'll always have you back. Thanks for your time. You're the best. Thank you, my friend. You got it. That was Julie Kelly, folks. She has been on this from the jump, the jump about what really went down in Michigan

and on January 6 6th waving people through an open door that's beyond reasonable doubt of guilt of trespassing are you kidding on what planet julie kelly she's also doing an amazing job with her book january 6th you might want to check that out before we get to this let's get to our next sponsor let's talk about cancel culture on social media sites and what you can do about it. The left wants to silence and boycott any voices they don't agree with. So instead of letting social media sites cancel your rights to free speech, how about canceling them instead? Now you could just deactivate all of your social media accounts, but that would just be giving the left what they wanted

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