Will Cain Country - Miranda Devine: President Biden Lied, Hunter pardoned! PLUS, Kash Patel to shake up FBI!

Episode Date: December 2, 2024

Story #1: President Joe Biden pardons his son, Hunter, after months of claiming that he wouldn't. Will breaks it down with the author of ‘The Big Guy: How A President And His Son Sold Out America�� and ‘Laptop From Hell’ and Columnist at the New York Post, Miranda Devine. Story #2: Who is Kash Patel and why is the establishment so afraid of him? FBI Director Nominee Kash Patel's plans to dismantle the FBI and deep state.  Story #3: What do Special Force veterans think of Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth and the impact he can have on the Department of Defense? Will sits down with retired Green Beret Lt. Col., Scott Mann, Former Delta Force and Army Special Operations soldier, Brett Velicovich, & former Navy SEAL Bear Handlon, to share their thoughts.  Tell Will what you thought about this podcast by emailing [e-mail] Subscribe to The Will Cain Show on YouTube here: Watch The Will Cain Show! Follow Will on Twitter: @WillCain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One, Joe Biden pardons Hunter Biden. We break it down with the author of The Big Guy, the New York Post, Miranda Devine. Two, new FBI director nominee Cash Patel would dismantle the Hoover building and use it as a museum to the deep state. Three, what do a Green Beret, a Navy SEAL, and a Delta Force operator think about Pete Heggsett as Secretary of Defense? It is the Will Kane show streaming live at Fox News.com on the Fox News YouTube channel and the Fox News Facebook page. Streaming on radio across this great United States of America, but always on demand by subscribing at Apple or. on Spotify or join us every Monday through Thursday at 12 o'clock Eastern Time Live at Fox News,

Facebook and Fox News, YouTube by hitting subscribe. They lied. Of course they lied. Joe Biden, after promising and all of his surrogates repeating that he would not pardon Hunter Biden yesterday. Late yesterday afternoon on the 1st of December, Joe Biden issued a proclamation, pardoning his son, pardoning Hunter Biden. We're going to get in that today.

Plus, what does the new nominee as FBI director, Cash Patel, think about the deep state? What does he think about the Department of Justice? What does he think needs to be done at the FBI? We're going to bring in some top-tier operators, a Green Beret, a Navy SEAL, and a Delta Force operator to tell us what they think of Pete Heggseth at DOD. I hope you had a great vacation. I hope you had some time off to spend with friends and family. We've got some leftovers in the fridge because we did spend Thanksgiving away from home.

We went to Broken Bow, Oklahoma, the mountains of Oklahoma, some 20-odd together for Thanksgiving. And it was great. I returned to New York for Fox and Friends Weekend and was promptly chastised for the fact that I have not yet seen. It's a wonderful life. By the way, I'm going to bet that I'm not alone, any of you, perhaps, young dudes out there, part of the Willisha, anybody who listens to the Wheel Can Show, I'm going to bet that I'm not alone and having not seen It's a Wonderful Life. If I went to New York, if I went to the boys in New York, all of whom's age range between 30-something and 20-something, what are the odds?

Guys, let me just take a quick survey. Have you seen It's a Wonderful Life, two days? I have not seen it Young Establishment James No I know it's when you're supposed to watch TIN foil pack I know we're starting the process of watching Christmas movies Christmas has officially begun

The season is extremely short So you're getting your shopping today on Cyber Monday You're getting your shopping done On Black Friday You've probably already started the process of Thinking about Christmas Well as part of that it's what movies do we watch for Christmas.

Thanksgiving is pretty much owned by one exclusive movie. I think that's planes, trains, and automobiles. But, you know, I think we both need newer entrants into the Christmas canon, but also I've been told I'm not a real American if I haven't seen It's a Wonderful Life. So I'm going to, as a homework assignment, I think in the next week and a half, two weeks, make sure that I watch, it's a wonderful life. So you can do that with me. We can, I guess, become Real Americans.

fully pardoned by the audience for not seeing it's a wonderful life, which is a wonderful transition into the fact that Joe Biden has now pardoned his son, Hunter Biden. Let's get into that with story number one. Joe Biden issued this statement yesterday, December 1st, late in the afternoon, on the White House.gov website. it reads as follows statement from president joe biden today i signed a pardon for my son hunter from the day i took office i said i would not interfere with the justice department's decision making and i kept my word even as i watched my son being selectively and unfairly prosecuted

without aggravating factors like use in a crime multiple purchases or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It's clear that Hunter was treated differently. The charges in his case came about only after several my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. Then a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveling in the court, room, with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political

pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution in Hunter's case. No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter's case can reach any conclusion other than Hunter was singled out because he is my son, and that is wrong. There's been an effort to break Hunter, who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they've tried to break me, and there's no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough. For my entire career, I've followed a simple principle. Just tell the American people the truth. They'll be fair-minded. Here's the truth. I believe in the justice system. But I have wrestled with this. I also have raw politics, has infected this

process and led to a miscarriage of justice. And once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense and delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision. The truth is, I think most Americans would understand why a father would come to this conclusion. I know that I would do anything to protect my sons. There is a debate about what it means to protect your son. It is enabling and forgiveness always mean the best path forward for your son, but I know that I would do anything to keep my son safe. No, I don't forgive Joe Biden, not because he made a mistake as a father, but because he made a mistake as a president. Joe Biden promised the American people on numerous occasions that he would not Hunter, pardon Hunter Biden. Here's Joe Biden

on June 6th talking to ABC. As we sit here in Normandy, your son Hunter is on trial. And I know that you cannot speak about an ongoing federal prosecution. But let me ask you, will you accept the jury's outcome, their verdict no matter what it is? Yes. And have you ruled out a pardon for your son? Yes. You have. Clearly. Yes. Clearly. Joe Biden and Hunter Biden are saying, and Hunter Biden has said on Sunday that his troubles have been exploited to publicly humiliating, and shame me and my family for political sport. Joe Biden wasn't just clear on June 6th. He was clear on June 11th, talking about pardoning Hunter Biden.

I'm extremely proud of my son Hunter. He has overcome an addiction. He is one of the brightest, most decent men I know. And I am satisfied that I'm not going to do anything. I said I abide by the jury decision. and I will do that, and I will not pardon him. Of course, if he did that, if he lived up to his words, he would be living up to something that he put out on multiple occasions,

statements, tweets, posts when it comes to Donald Trump. No one is above the law. In fact, that's what he said in regards to Joe, to Donald Trump. Apparently, no one is above the law except if your father is president. Now, we heard this echoed in the mainstream media. I could play a montage 20-D of people from MSNBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, reiterating as though it is fact, because it was stated by the President of the United States, that Joe Biden will not pardon Hunter Biden. But if I played you a montage of the media, it would simply be repetitive.

It would be exactly what you heard from Joe Biden, or what you heard from the White House press secretary, Corrine Jean-Pierre, on numerous occasions. Watch. Second one, would the President pardon or commute his son if he's convicted? answered this question before. It was asked of me not too long ago, a couple of weeks ago, and I was very clear, and I said no. I'll go back to the first question of the briefing. I know you said not a lot's changed since yesterday, and that it's a personal matter, but from a presidential perspective, is there any possibility that the president would end up pardoning his son?

No. You've also said several times that the president would not pardon or commute sentences for his son, Hunter. I just want to make sure that that is not going to change over the next six months. the president's saying it's still it's still a no it's still a no it will always be a no it's still a no and i don't have anything else to add will he pardon his son no they lie boy do they lie tom kinkade tony kennett actually on twitter pointed out all the lies that have come from the white house press secretary that have come from the president that have been repeated by the media it's transitory inflation.

Afghanistan was a success. The border is secure. Robert Hur lied. Biden is fine. Those videos are cheap fakes. Biden had jet lag. Biden had a cold. Biden isn't going to be replaced.

Biden isn't going to pardon Hunter. That's just a sampling, by the way, of the lives. But the real insult here, the real scandal isn't that the administration has set a record when it comes to lying and then projecting virtue and moral authority, it's actually the nature of this pardon. I want to read from you now the actual words of the pardon, because I read you a statement Joe Biden attached to his pardon. But here now is what he said in the pardon. He said, Robert Hunter Biden, a full and unconditional pardon for those offenses against the United States, which he may have committed or has committed, or has committed, or

taken part in during a period from January 1st, 2014 through December 1st, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted, including any that have resulted in convictions. He has been pardoned for anything that happened over a decade, starting in January 1st of 2014 the same year that Hunter Biden was appointed. pointed to the board of Burisma. The real controversy, the real question is exactly what? Not felony gun charges, not tax evasion, but what Joe Biden is now pardoning Hunter Biden. Let's get into that.

Let's talk about that with New York Post columnist and the author of The Big Guy, how a president and his son sold out America and also the author of Laptop from Hell. Miranda Devine now joins us on the Will King show. Good morning, Miranda. Good morning, Will. Very interesting that date, isn't it? It's not 10 years. It is interesting. It's 11 years. It's 11 years. And that goes back to 2014, the beginning of 2014. And what happened in 2014? You had the Medan revolution in Ukraine, after which the Biden swooped in and did their grift. And Hunter Biden was placing. on the board of that corrupt energy company Burisma in April of 2014. And then, of course, this pardon protects Joe Biden as well, because Joe Biden was involved in his sons and his brothers' influence peddling racket while he was vice president around the world.

And in Ukraine, remember, there's that very precarious situation still for Joe Biden. Biden, which is that he ordered the Ukrainian president to fire the prosecutor, Victor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma. So dating back to this time period, Miranda, this is now the subject of a congressional investigation, obviously multiple books like yourself, like yours. It is now the subject of a pardon by the president of the United States for what, I don't know, right, when we have some idea, but it's almost as this pardon. is an admission.

Yeah. Everything. It's an admission for these. But what I was also going to say is this time period is also the result of an impeachment of Donald Trump as he attempted to begin to look into whatever was happening here in Ukraine in this time period. Exactly. Donald Trump was impeached for Joe Biden's sins.

That is what happened. Joe Biden did exactly what Donald Trump was impeached for. He actually threatened to withhold. billion dollars of US aid unless Ukraine bent his wishes, to his personal wishes, which was to keep the grift going, to protect his son and to protect the corrupt oligarch who owned Burisma, who was being investigated. Mikhailis Lechewski was being investigated by the Ukrainian prosecutor because the Ukrainians, more full them, believed, I guess, Joe Biden when he came to town all the time he was flying into Kiev. And what was he doing? He was lecturing them about

corruption. He said corruption is a cancer while his son is sitting on the board earning a million dollars a year of the most corrupt company in Ukraine, which is saying something because that is the most corrupt country in Europe. You said a moment ago that this pardon doesn't just protect Hunter Biden, but that it protects Joe Biden. I did see something interesting on that front I want to hear your reaction that this could be a miscalculation on the part of Joe Biden in that now Hunter Biden cannot plead the fifth because he cannot self-incriminate himself on anything that he's questioned about from this time. Now he can always, I don't know, he can decline to talk about these things, but he can't plead the fifth. So let's say that a Republican Congress brought

Hunter Biden back for more testimony on this. Well, if he chooses not to testify, that would be contempt of Congress. If he lies now, that's perjury of Congress, but he can't decline by invoking the Fifth Amendment now that he's got this pardon. Well, I'm not sure that's right because he could claim that he needs immunity from state prosecution. I mean, you're a lawyer. You would know more than I do, but that seems to me logical. And, you know, the Biden's anything, you know, call them anything, but they're slippery. They know their way around the law. And so I would imagine that he'll find some way to do that. I'm sure that Joe Biden will next cab off the rank start pardoning others of his relatives. He can leave that until the traditional time of

pardons towards the end of his presidency in the last couple of days. But he needed to do Hunter, get that out of the way because Hunter in 11 days was set to be sentenced over the gun felonies in Delaware and a few days after that over the tax fraud in California. So that was something I was going to ask you. It sounds like your answer is yes. You would anticipate, for example, Jim Biden before this presidency is over, getting a pardon? Absolutely. Jim Biden was of all the family members, the most intimately involved with Hunter in the influence peddling scheme, particularly around China and in the, it wasn't in Ukraine, but definitely in China. And then he did have some involvement in Romania and a few of the other

countries there. So again, Jim Biden also was doing a few grifts of his own using, invoking his brother's influence and power. So he's under investigation at the moment. We don't quite know the status of that investigation, but he gets pardoned. That just kills that stone dead. You know, Miranda, the response today is pretty fascinating. There has been some democratic pushback, but the pushback basically amounts to, well, this really sets a bad precedent for Donald Trump. It's the, the projection onto Donald Trump today is pretty fascinating. Well, you know, Trump has lowered the bar. And now this is what happens in politics. And it's a shame that Donald, that Joe Biden has done this, but he's really only doing what Trump has kind of set the standard

of. And then the second is, well, he has to do this because Trump is threatened to weaponize the Justice Department. I mean, by the way, that's also ridiculous because Joe Biden's claiming the Department of Justice is weaponized against his son. His Department of Justice, his attorney general is weaponized against his son. But today what they're trying to say is, well, you have to do this because Trump has said he's going to send this, send the DOJ on all of his political opponents. Yeah, I mean, you're so right. The sort of pretsal logic that you have to engage in to follow the trail of this justification for Joe Biden, pardoning Hunter for 11 years, it just drives you mad. And I guess that's what you're seeing on MSNBC and CNN.

People just lost their minds. They're trying to justify this. They're pretending that, oh, Joe Biden didn't really lie. He just came to a snap decision over the Thanksgiving weekend. I've heard that one that's just preposterous. And I just, it's just so feeble that people will continue to try and propagate this myth of Joe Biden as Honest Joe and a man of decency, a great family man. He's never been that.

He's an inveterate liar. And so I guess, you know, the only surprising thing is that anyone is surprised that he's lied again. And I heard you here. You think this has been in the works all along? Like when he's, when he's making that statement, because it's pretty obvious now. Like, I mean, wow, that's a blatant lie. You know, you're not going to pardon your son. Now clearly you have pardon your son. Do you think he was telling himself at the time, well, I'll win the election, so it's not going to be a problem? Or there was just always a long, all along, a lie. He knew he was going to pardon Hunter Biden. Always knew he was going to pardon him. And Hunter did as well because,

I mean, there's no other explanation for the sort of reckless nature of his and his lawyer's actions right up to the point where, if you remember, last year, was it last year, I might have even been this year, that they came and staged that stunt in the hearing room at the Oversight Committee, having snubbed their nose at a subpoena, then decided to invade the hearing room when he wasn't scheduled to appear adjust for the TV cameras and then even though he was subject to a subpoena decided to go and set up a podium on the Senate side and give a press conference. Again, this narrative of his

being unjustly prosecuted by his father's DOJ. And we know from the IRS whistleblowers that the opposite is the case, that, you know, what Joe Biden says about his son being. singled out because he is his son is correct, but he was singled out for favourable treatment. We saw that investigation into Hunter in Delaware that dragged on for five years that encompassed accusations of money laundering and foreign agent violations and bribery as well as tax and gun charges. That was obstructed and slow walked by the Department of Justice. The investigators every time they tried to follow a trail of evidence that led to Joe Biden, they were blocked. Everything from, they were blocked from getting a search warrant for a cottage on Joe Biden's

estate that Hunter had been living in. Another search warrant for a storage locker of hunters, the prosecutors tipped off Hunter's lawyers when the investigators wanted to geolocate Hunter Biden's phone to see if it was true that as he said, he was sitting with his father. when he sent that shakedown WhatsApp message to his Chinese business partner and saying that his father was angry and wanted to know where the money was and that would make this guy's, this Chinese guy's life a misery if he didn't come up with the bucks, which he did very shortly afterwards.

They weren't allowed to do that geolocation to ascertain if Joe Biden really was sitting there. There was so much, they weren't allowed to ask witnesses, who is the big guy? They weren't allowed to ask anything about Joe Biden. And of course, Joe Biden was the big guy. That was the code name that Hunter's partners were told they had to use to hide Joe Biden's involvement in the family influence peddling operation. Right. Miranda, last question for you.

How do you think history will look at the presidency of Joe Biden? There have been attempts to say he's a modern day George Washington who stepped aside from power when he thought it was best for democracy. and by democracy, they meant winning elections for Democrats. There is, I believe my history is correct, presidents, and I haven't researched them, but there are presidents like William McKinley, who are known as some of the most corrupt presidents in American history, who oversaw things such as the Teapot Dome scandal. I think I have my history correct on that. How do you think history will look at the presidency of Joe Biden?

I think in time, history will see him realistically. for what he is, which is profoundly corrupt, a very flawed man, a pathological liar, and really that every sort of mythology about him was constructed out of whole cloth and that he was also an incompetent and very damaging person. I think there will be attempts at hagiographies and he's trying to extract sort of legacy preservation in his deal with Nancy Pelosi to step down. But I'm not sure that his party is particularly happy with him at the moment. And so I don't know that they'll be working terribly hard to try and polish that legacy. I think this pardon of Hunter is really the final nail in the coffin

for that legacy. Everyone sees it for what it is. It's not just a father doing the right thing by his son. This is an 11-year pardon without precedence in history, and it can only be seen as just a manifestation of the corruption of Joe Biden and the corrupting influence he had on all the institutions that are supposed to keep us safe. Well, she's written about it extensively, including two books, The Laptop From Hell and The Big Guy, How a President and his son sold out America. You should check those books out, and you can always catch her. at the New York Post. Miranda Devine,

thanks for being on the Will Cain. Thank you, Will. You are already chiming in on YouTube and on Facebook. Perla Mora says, it's okay for a father protect his son, but a full pardon is absurd. The father is as guilty as his son, two peas in a pod.

Ricky Lefleur said he's protecting himself. He had his son do his dirty work. Mike Holsey says he isn't protecting his son. He's excusing his son's behavior. There's a difference. Stacey Tuomi says, Biden and his words don't align together at all. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Why City Last 64 says he's enabling him by not making him pay for his crimes. That alone is a huge mistake. Would the Bidens have been concerned about the new leader of the FBI?

Cash Patel has been nominated to be the new director of the FBI. Who is Cash Patel? And what does he promise for the Department of Justice coming up on the Will Kane show? Fox News Audio presents Unsolved with James Patterson. Every crime tells a story, but some stories are left unfinished. Somebody knows. Real cases, real people. Listen and follow now at Fox Truecrime.com. The new nominee to be director of the FBI promises to tear down the Hoover building

and turn it into a museum of the deep state. It's the Will Kane Show streaming live at Fox. The Fox News.com, the Fox News YouTube channel and the Fox News Facebook page, hit subscribe at Apple or Spotify, and then whenever you like, listen to the Will Kane show. Cash Patel nominated to be the new director of the FBI. Christopher Ray, dating about to 2017, is your current director of the FBI with a 10-year contract extending into 2027. But he will either resign or be fired by President-elect Donald Trump and be replaced by Cash Patel. 44 years old, went to the University of Richmond, got his law degree from Pace University. Cash Patel served as a public defender for quite some time in the state of Florida.

He went on from there to serving as an official with the U.S. National Security Council. He was an advisor to the acting director of national intelligence. He was chief of staff to the U.S. Secretary of Defense during the first Trump. Trump presidency. In the interim there, he worked for Congressman Devin Nunez of California, wherein he helped author the 2018 Nunes memo, which showed that the FBI failed in its application for surveillance warrants of Trump's 2016 campaign, that they issued illegal surveillance warrants and fought against by this memo from Devin Nunes, authored by Cash Patel. now cash patel is yet another disruptor sent by donald trump to washington to what extent well cash patel

has been on the will cane show on numerous occasions he's talked about his vision of the government he's written a book called government gangsters about big tech elites billionaires permanent washington dc um and government bureaucrats inside the doj and the fbi he sat down with sean ryan on a very popular show where he talked about the extent of the extent of the the problems within the FBI. Intel shops. I'd break that component out of it. I'd shut down the FBI Hoover building on day one and reopening the next day as a museum of the deep state. And I'd take the 7,000 employees that work in that building and send them

across America to chase down criminals. Go be cops. Your cops. Go be cops. Go chase down murders and drug dealers and violent offenders. He talks about all the intelligence departments within the FBI collecting intel on American citizens, which is a relic and not a relic, but was started and grown under Herbert Hoover instead of simply catching bad guys for federal crimes spying on American citizens, including a would-be president of the United States and Donald Trump. Whether or not you're talking about Cash Patel or Dr. J. Batacharia or Dr. Marty McCarrie or Pete Hegseth or Tulsi Gabbard or Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. The through line isn't political party. It's not even political ideology.

What the left would have you believe is the through line is Trump loyalists. That's how Cash Patel is being described today by people on the left, being described as dangerous and a Trump loyalist, as though presidents go in appointing backstabbers and double crossers to their cabinet positions. Yes, I think every president would like someone who is loyal to them, loyal to their agenda. No, the through line is, instead, disruptors, each and every single one of them, disruptors to the status quo in Washington, D.C., Cash Patel to the FBI, Pam Bondi to the Department of Justice, Pete Heggseth to the Department of Defense, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to the health and human services,

Tulsi Gabbard to national intelligence. These represent a change in the status quo, which was a mandate given to Donald Trump by the people of America. Every single one of us, I have to think, even those of you on the left that are listening today, understand, do you want business as usual? Do you think it's efficient? Do you think it's devoid of corruption? Do you think that these agencies,

these institutions couldn't use a disruptor? This is a morning in America type of moment with these nominees to the cabinet of Donald Trump. Let's get into what Pete Heggseth could bring to the Department of Defense. have three guests ready to go to talk to us with some serious experience. We have a Green Beret, we have a Navy SEAL, and we have a Delta Force operator lined up to talk to us about Pete Hegsett, Secretary of Defense. Next on the Will Cain Show.

Following Fox's initial donation to the Kerr County Flood Relief Fund, our generous viewers have answered the call to action across all Fox platforms and have helped raise $6.5 million. Visit go.com forward slash TX flood relief to support relief and rebuilding efforts. I'm Janisteen. Join me every Sunday as I focus on stories of hope and people who are truly rays of sunshine in their community and across the world. Listen and follow now at Fox Newspodcast.com. The attacks have been launched. They're furious against Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defend.

There's a reason for these attacks. Those that are the biggest threat are the ones who will receive the harshest treatment. It's the Will Kane Show streaming live at foxnews.com on the Fox News YouTube channel on the Fox News Facebook page. Hit subscribe at Apple, Spotify, or on YouTube. I want to get into this. I want to talk about what is such a threat. Why is so dangerous?

Why the fine-tooth comb over the life and the mistakes and the qualifications of someone like Pete Hags at there? I'm sure there will be similar attacks on Tulsi Gabbard, on Robert F. Kinney Jr., on Cash Patel. But for now, after the withdrawal of Matt Gates' nomination of Attorney General, the primary heat seems to be on my friend and former co-host at Fox & Friends Weekend, Pete Heggsett. So I thought, let's bring in some people who know something about military service, who know something about high-level operations within the military, and who have something to say, I would think about Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense. So I want to start with Lieutenant Colonel Scott

Mann. He is a retired Green Bray. He's also the author of Nobody is Coming to Save You. And he joins us now on the Will Ken show. What's up, Scott? Hey, Will. Thanks for having me on. What do you think, man? When you first heard Pete Hegseth's Secretary of Defense, what did you think? I watched Sean Ryan's interview with Pete. And there was that one part where he talked about firing the generals and I thought holy cow like uh that that that could just easily be a job interview right there um and sure enough like he got he got he got the tap on the shoulder um i was i will be honest i was surprised i didn't see that coming i didn't i didn't i just didn't um not for any reason other than i just didn't see it coming but when i heard it i was i was happy i was

glad to hear it i i you know like you i know pete personally i've literally known pete almost since I got out of the army. He was one of the first guys who offered me an opportunity to speak from the stage after he heard me speak at a non-profit event for concerned veterans from America

and I've known him through the years with the Afghanistan withdrawal and everything else. So yeah, man, I was based on the level of disruption that needs to occur in the Department of Defense right now, I was glad to hear it.

Yeah, I met you through Pete, and we should say that outright. You and I have since, come friends on our on our on our own level doing things together that that have not involved people i met you through pete um so what kind of disruption you just referenced pete represents something that is needed disruption what kind of disruption is needed at the dod um well you know he spoke i thought he spoke to the woke stuff pretty good so i'm gonna i'm gonna take my time with you to speak to something along the same lines that i think is really significant is and it's this is that over

the last three years, I think we've seen the Department of Defense practice a level of systematic wholesale abandonment of a 20-year partner in a conflict, unlike the modern world has ever seen, certainly not since, you know, the departure from Vietnam. And I think this was worse. I mean, we literally left 30,000 Afghan commandos and special forces troops to be killed, to be hunted down, to have to live in squalor like animals. And we made no effort at all to put them into any kind of resistance mode, to have any kind of mechanism for them to get their families out. We literally walked away from them as if they didn't exist.

And then we allowed a veteran population who fought that 20-year war to get on the phone with these individuals and try to keep them alive. like and then scratch our heads and go damn i wonder why young people aren't joining the military you know as if the legacy service uh of the nephews and nieces and sons and daughters of those veterans who suffered that moral injury didn't affect readiness um it is just such a it is such a tone deaf uh action that has occurred over the last three years will and where i'll end on that one is as a result of that we have completely taken our eye off the ball. We are not tracking what's coming out of Afghanistan in terms of

Islamist violent extremism and the threat that that could potentially manifest here at home. We've just completely taken our eye off the ball institutionally as to what the real threats are out there. And we need some serious disruption and a wake-up call on the actual threats that we're facing, not what we want the threats to be. what do you mean by that what we want the threats to be the focus is on what we want the threats to be not the actual threat well for example when we left afghanistan you know you had milly and austin telling the world that we were leaving afghanistan to go focus on the near peer adversaries like china and north korea and russia and deal with what is truly the emerging threat in the world

Well, while we're saying that, as Chinese cargo planes are landing at Bogram Airfield as our last C-17 takes off. You know, black sedans are rolling out of vehicles at Kabul International Airport heading to the Russian embassy. Like we literally surrendered our agency, our access and placement, 99% of our intelligence to the Russians and the Chinese in the country that has been the great game for over 100 years. You know, and we've taken on. this mantra that the next great fight is going to come from China or Russia. And that very well may be true. But in doing so, we have completely dismissed Islamist violent extremism in the form of al-Qaeda and ISIS as if it were a surf pro commercial like it never even happened. And we allowed for three years those organizations to reconstitute. They are now knocking on the gates in Syria. They're,

they're they're they're they're they're they're toppling several governments in africa and we are on the verge i think of looking at a at a at a caliphate structure that is worse than anything we've ever seen including pre nine eleven and our d posture has allowed that to happen and and certainly other other factors are to blame as well intelligence i hope Tulsi gabbard disrupts their homeland security i hope there's disruption around how we secured the border but all of these factors will you mark my words man i listen I'll put it this way. I just gave a talk on Pineapple Express and the Rising Threat in Afghanistan at the, you and I interviewed shortly before this, but it was to the special forces association of America. And there were a thousand green berets in the room dating all the way back to the Korean war, Vietnam, Cold War, just cause. And I asked them one simple question. How many of you think we are facing an imminent threat of Islamist violent extremism on the the homeland. Every hand in the room went up. One thousand hands from green berets across five generations went up. How in the world we can get to a point where like that is the disposition of

some of the greatest unconventional warriors in the world who know this enemy like no other. And yet DOD completely tone deaf to it. And that is an egregious thing after 20 years of fighting this war. So that's where I'm hoping to see disruption, not just in the woke stuff, but in a reorientation of the threat that isn't just what we want it to be, but the actual will and capacity of an enemy that might not be as popular to face because they're harder to fight. Right. And I should point out, Scott is somebody that knows he served in Afghanistan. He's written book on Village Stability Operations. He is a lieutenant colonel and a retired Green Beret. So when he's says what he knows and what he's seen and who he's talked to thousands of green brays you're

hearing it from someone directly all right scott it's always great to see you to talk to you thanks so much man thanks will thanks for what you're doing okay let's now bring in brett velikovitch he's a fox news contributor he's a drone expert brett's also a former delta force and army special operations soldier as well brett great to see you here on the will cane show hey will nice to see you thanks for having me so i'm going to start not with an open question want to get to that with you, but I'm going to ask you, actually, a follow-up from the conversation I just had with Scott Mann. And that is, he said, when he saw Pete Heggseth, our new nominee's Secretary of Defense, interview with Sean Ryan. And Pete was talking about the high-level generals

that need to be fired within the Pentagon. Scott said, that right there looked like a job interview. That looked like a response that you need to hear from somebody that's ready to make a change inside the Department of Defense. What do you think about, not just what Scott said, but what Pete had to say there, about high-level generals that need to see some turnover at DOD? Well, Scott's exactly right.

I mean, Pete's nomination, he's disruptive, and that's what exactly Washington needs right now. Washington, frankly, is destroying our military because of all these different woe policies. I mean, what did Secretary Austin do? I mean, really, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, he was hospitalized once, but then kept it completely secret.

I mean, America right now lacks competent leadership at the helm of its armed forces. I mean, remember when Austin was absent from the public view, that speaks a lot of volumes about more leadership. A secretary of defense should not be hidden and cloaked in the shadows. They're, you know, they're supposed to be embodying this military might, and that's what I think Pete will do. He's clearly competent. I mean, well, you know how Fox News hires, right? You know the great people behind that show. They do their vetting and they only hire rock stars. That's why the show is so successful. And just even the competence of being able to host a show over and over, I think speaks volumes to Pete. He's met with individuals at different levels, heads of state, you name

it, all the kinds of people that go on that show. He's having to talk to them and interact with him. He's already interviewed for this job and been doing it for years successfully. That's a great point. I mean, I always personalize it because I know that I've sat next to him for five years for eight hours every weekend talking to him, not just about football during commercial breaks, but talking about what we see as a vision of America and the purpose of the United States military. But to your point of actually what it is to host that show, I mean, he's conducted thousands upon thousands of interviews with people like yourself, both on camera and off, by the way, to know about stuff that's happening. Set aside his personal experience

of serving, but to know what's happening. You and Scott have both described him, as of I, by the way, as a disruptor. I think we can look at a lot of Donald Trump's point as disruptors. What needs to be disrupted, though, at DoD? There's so much. I mean, frankly, a lot of the people at the heads of the Pentagon and within the White House, they come from an old generation. I deal a lot with drone technology. I deal a lot with the real technology that is operating on the battlefield, and that's really causing a lot of people to completely rethink how we fight battles in the future. We're spending billions of dollars on tanks and naval warships and, and,

stuff that right now go look at what's happening in ukraine go look at what's happening uh you know with israel and in taiwan you know you've got drones for a couple hundred dollars that are destroying multi million dollars systems very easily and that's an old mentality to think that we need fancy new fighter jets in the billions of dollars we don't we need drones that we can frankly uh you know blanket the enemy that are already proving extremely effective on the battlefield and uh you know pete is that is that youth. He brings that energy with him that that I don't think we have at the level that can really disrupt change. I mean, think about it too. Pisa graduate of Princeton, Harvard. He's a combat vet. I mean, he joined right after 9-11, like I did. I know what that's like to have that calling

to serve after seeing what happened then. And that's exactly when he joined. He spent years within the National Guard. He served tours in Guantanamo, Iraq, Afghanistan from 2011 to 2012. So he is the right person for this job. And frankly, I've gotten to know him off camera as well. And he's just a fantastic guy. And you know he's got this love and loyalty for his country and a duty to his soldiers. I don't know if you remember, but, you know, Pete was one of the guys that helped really push to get a lot of these soldiers that were accused of these war crimes, you know, released. You know, he worked with the White House to push for that because we had soldiers that were doing their job to protect American forces overseas. And they were punished.

very harshly, and Pete worked heavily to support those guys and get them out of prison. And that speaks volumes to who he is as a leader and who he is to help and have the backs of our soldiers. Yeah, and I definitely remember that, Brett. You know, real quick, back to the drone technology and advancing our military in a direction to fight tomorrow's war, as opposed to yesterday's war, that seems to be what Elon Musk is talking about, right? I mean, he's showing videos of these drones.

I don't know if anybody's seen this scrolling through your X-Feed, but these drones doing highly choreographed, coordinated aerial maneuvers talking about this is the future of warfare. I assume that's a sentiment you share and it you hope is an example of the disruption brought to DOD. Yeah, I'm seeing it every single day, and it's slowly changing, but we really need to send shockwaves through the Pentagon to understand what they should be funding, what they should be spending American tax dollars on it, what they should be spending on is what is working on the battlefield right now.

You're seeing both the Russians and the Ukrainians use drone technology, very cheap, off-the-shelf drone technology to conduct, you know, to wreak havoc during these wars. I mean, I used to work with a lot of predators and reapers. These are multimillion-dollar drones that, frankly, would be relatively obsolete if we were to go up against China or Russia right now because they're easy to see. they're not stealth drones and they for you know one predator you can literally buy thousands of commercial off the shelf drones put bombs on them and and drive them you know right into a a vehicle if you needed to I mean right now I could literally take a drone and put it in the front

doorstep of the white house if I really wanted to and there's nothing anyone can do to stop it and there should be there should be things that can stop that right now but we don't have that within the Pentagon because we've spent years of focusing on on the wrong technology Meanwhile, China and all these other countries are light years ahead of us because they see the writing on the wall. They're able to move money fast. They're able to move resources fast. We need a massive shock and we need to do a hard reset on our Pentagon right now for how we're spending. All right.

Former Delta Force drone expert Fox News contributor Brett Velikovic, who also knows Pete personally and talked about some of the things that he's done there off camera, not just sitting on a couch, hosting a television show with me. I really appreciate your time, Brett. Thank you so much. Thanks. We'll appreciate you. Okay. Now finally, I want to bring in Bear Hanlon. He's a former Navy SEAL. Bear is the co-fander and chief executive born primitive.

It's a veteran-owned apparel company. I know Bear as well. So now, Bear, we've spoken to Scott Mann, all three of which, Brett Velikovic and you, all three of you guys know Pete. All of you guys are high-level special operators from various branches of the military. Scott, beyond the personal testament of knowing Pete Egg-Seth and the things that he's done, Scott talked about understanding our enemy and focusing on what he believes is the greatest threat to America. Brett talked about the technology that we bring to bear in these wars,

and that both of these things need a true disruptor to the mentality that exists right now within the Pentagon. What I'd love to ask you about, Bear, is this. Scott mentioned it, Brett seconded it, that we need a different way of doing business when it comes to who rises to the top and it ends up leading the Pentagon, and that is these generals who have been in their careers for decades, and there's a way that you get there,

and it often includes very little accountability for mistakes made along the way. Do you see that as a part of the appeal in your mind of Pete Hegseth at DOD? 100%. I think it with Pete as the sec-deff, it would change the reward mechanism for what these, you know, brass feel they need to do to ascend through the ranks. Because I think up until now, a lot of times that reward mechanism, particularly in the last few years, is to push, you know, these woke policies and this and that, and they know that's how they're going to get promoted. So if a guy like Pete comes in and kind of flips that on its head, I think we can get back to some sanity. And our military leaders will do what they're actually supposed to be doing.

And that is maintaining our readiness as a force to defend our country in its interest. Bottom line, that's it. That's the sole purpose. We don't need to be doing gender transition surgeries and this and that. Okay, that's a side show. But these guys know that's how they get a little feather in their cap. And oh, look what I pushed at my command. and before you know it we've completely lost track of the intent of our military in the first place

and then there's downstream effects on that then morale diminishes your recruiting efforts start diminishing people kind of throw their hands up like all right i didn't sign up for this i'm just here to defend my country um and and wear that flag on my sleeve right um so i think this is exactly what we need i actually love the fact that he's only a major because will it's something about you hit that 06 and above range these guys change man and it's because they're i think not all of them there's some great officers that are that are senior that kind of stay true to their ethos of when they were you know a young o three or or master chief or whatever e9 um but a lot of them get corrupted and i think it's because of that reward mechanism okay so that that leadership problem to me is twofold

bear and you know we've talked about it here we talked about it with pete which you can go back listen to those episodes at the Will Kane show, but the woke stuff, right, that's infiltrated the military. But then, to me, there's a secondary and maybe more umbrella problem with leadership. And that is essentially a lack of meritorious advancement. So the way that you keep going up, the once you get to five star and so forth. And again, I'm not, I'm not kneecapping every single five star, but rather it's an, as you pointed out, an incentive structure about how you get to the top. The job becomes political. And I think that even beyond the woke stuff,

one of the problems we have is that people can often arrive at those levels without the merit being the deciding factor on how you got up to that level. And not only that, no accountability for any mistakes you made along the way. People point out the withdrawal from Afghanistan, catastrophic by everyone's analysis, no one's been fired. One person's been fired. Stuart Scheller, who told the truth about it. and had criticism for the military.

But other than him, no one's been fired. And so you have a real accountability and merit problem at the highest levels of the military. 100%. And I mean, I had Afghanistan written down as the most glaring example. I mean, how do you do what we did and leave all of that equipment there?

And of course, have Americans die and do such a bad withdrawal and no one loses their job, right? And you can't defend it. There's no explanation other than what you use. said, you know, people are trying to, you know, get theirs and ascend to the top and get another star on their collar. And that goes back to that reward mechanism, right? So, you know, I love the fact that Pete is coming in and is going to take this position. I think, you know,

the Democrats, they'll sling mud at anyone. You look at what they did with, with Kavanaugh and anybody else. This is kind of become predictable. But we need to focus on the fact that the military exists for one reason. It's to defend our country and its interests. line, full stop, right? And I think Pete comes in with a fresh mentality that will get us back to focusing on warfighting and the sole purpose of, you know, the Department of Defense. And then there's another angle, Bear, I'm curious your response on this. And that's the recruitment angle. I mean, every single one of the four branches of military have had trouble meeting their recruiting goals. I mean, I don't know how many years running, but like year after year had trouble

meeting their recruiting goals. I mean, we've already seen some reports that reenlistments are up since the idea that Pete Hexeth could be the next Secretary of Defense. But, like, I know the guy I sat next to him. He bleeds red, white, and blue. He believes in all of this that we're talking about. He believes in that flag over your shoulder. He believes in military service.

And he believes in a masculine, heroic vision of serving in the military. And I got to think, bear. I mean, you know, as a country, that's exactly what we need in order to incentivize people for service. absolutely and i think you started to see the opposite of that um as you know the the last four years have unfolded uh people kind of throw their hands up that the people that are in the service and say all right i'm not going to reenlist because enough of this and then you have that 17 year old kid in high school in middle america that thinks maybe joining the army is a good career path but he's saying all this and it said maybe maybe you know there's a different career path for me so i think this

will absolutely bring that morale back up and Pete, of course, can kind of set that culture from the very top. And then everyone below him has to fall in line, right? If he says, hey, this is the new priority. This is the new Department of Defense and forget the old way. Now the reward mechanism is back to where it should be, right? And that's merit-based and, you know, making sure that we're setting up our military in a way that protects our interests. And that's it. You know, it doesn't have to get political. We don't have to cater to any of these. buzzwords that are infiltrating our society right now that I think are starting to die off, thank God. It's just purely war fighting and protecting America.

All right. Well, last question for you, Bear. What did you, you know, again, like everyone else we've had today, you know, me personally, you know, Pete personally. I'm curious, what was your reaction when you heard Donald Trump's nominated Pete Hegset to Secretary of Defense? Oh, I was, I mean, I was shocked because I didn't even know it was in the consideration. You know, I had just talked with Pete, of course, when I was with you guys, like a day prior. And I was like, man, maybe I'm the good luck charm over here. 18 hours. But it was crazy.

So I'm thrilled for him. I know with any of these nominations, it's going to come with an incredible amount of stress because the other side is this going to sling mud. So I hope, you know, he can get through this. I know he's a strong dude. And he has a lot of good American supporting him. So I'm excited. And I think he's got to ride out the storm a little bit.

but I think he's going to get confirmed, and I think it'll be great for our military. All right, Bear Handlin. He's the co-founder and CEO of Born Primitive Veteran Owned Apparel Company. He's also a former Navy SEAL. Bear, always great to talk to you. Thank you so much. You too.

Thanks for having me. Will. All right, one of the things that I wanted to do today in that segment was so much of the public mindset and so much of the conversation is going to be in attack mode. This is what's going to happen. It's what happens when you nominate a disruptor, when you threaten the status quo and so much the conversation is going to be

you know on personal failings throughout Pete's life false and true they're going to be focused on mistakes that he's made they're going to be focused on so many things that don't really lend themselves to the question of what it means to be the Secretary of Defense what he brings to the job and what we're talking about here

and it's not just Pete at Secretary of Defense we're talking about with Cash Patel at FBI or Tulsi Gabbard or RFK or I mean any of them take a look at this cabinet we're not talking about marginal incremental change, and we're certainly not talking about yet another in the line of lineage of status quo operators in Washington, D.C. So, the potential upside is massive. Now, you could say, okay, disruption also comes with a risk, a potential downside. At this point, are you really worried about the behemoth that is Washington, D.C., collapsing under the weight

of some disruption? Or do you think you might lean more towards, wow, this thing, may need some disruption. And so what we heard today from what I wanted to bring in was people, I mean, you can't get more impressive than the guys what we just heard from, a Navy SEAL, a Delta operator, and a Green Beret, all of whom have gone on to, by the way, very different and very successful things in their post-life. Scott Mann is a stud out there doing things for Americans when the government fails.

And that means getting people out of Afghanistan when the government won't with Operation Pineapple Express, helping people in North Carolina, helping people in Florida, helping people in Maui. Scott Mann, today, know something about that. Brett Velikovic is a drone expert. Tomorrow's warfare, already involved in that, Delta Force operator as well. He knows about tomorrow's wars, having fought yesterday's wars at the highest possible level, Delta. And not only is bare handling a Navy SEAL, a stud that looks like Chris Hemsworth or Thor,

but he started a small business, successful small business in America. I mean, he is capitalism, American dream right now. So they all know and bring a certain level of expertise and personal experience to what we're talking about here today. And whether or not it's focusing on the right priorities, as we heard from Scott Mann, about the real threats to America, or how to fight those wars, tomorrow's wars, as we heard about with Brett Velikovych, or creating accountability and an incentive structure and the right recruitment mechanism, the United States military, which we heard from Bear Handling, the upside to this disruption weighs any of these outweighs immensely,

any of these personal attacks designed to keep out someone who would disrupt the status quo. I think that's the conversation that really should be had about whether or not this is an appropriate appointment to the Secretary of Defense or the director of the FBI or to lead HHS or D&I or CIA or any of the other cabinet nominees for Donald Trump. All right, that's going to do it for me today. Be here again tomorrow, 12 o'clock Eastern time right here at Fox News.com, the Fox News YouTube channel and the Fox News Facebook page, hit subscribe on YouTube so you can set yourself a reminder or just head over to Spotify and Apple and hit subscribe and you can listen to us whenever you like. I'll see you again next time. on Apple Podcast, and Amazon Prime members, you can listen to this show, ad-free, on the Amazon

music app. Hey, I'm Trey Gowdy host of the Trey Gatti podcast. I hope you will join me every Tuesday and Thursday as we navigate life together and hopefully find ourselves a little bit better on the other side. Listen and follow now at Fox Newspodcast.com.