Will Cain Country - Will's Strong Defense Of Pete Hegseth! Plus, House Oversight Chairman James Comer & Kurt Schlichter

Episode Date: December 4, 2024

As Will's former colleague and President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, faces a slew of malicious anonymously sourced attacks, Will takes to the stand to defend his friend, highlighting his personal experiences with Hegseth, and noting that over two dozen have publicly come to his defense calling the NBC News story blasphemously false.  Plus, Will brings on author and Retired Army Infantry Colonel, Kurt Schlichter, & House Oversight Chairman James Comer to discuss Hegseth's nomination and delve into the truth surrounding President Joe Biden's pardon of his son, Hunter, and the timeline of the Biden family's actions in Ukraine.  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, two, three. Normally, I'll lay out for you the three stories. I'm going to work through with you today on the Will Kane show. Today's going to be a little bit different of a show. Today, I don't have an outline. I have very little plan. Today, I'm just going to talk to you. I'm going to shoot off the cuff.

We're going to talk about NBC News. anonymous, erroneous, and bull-h-attack on my former colleague Pete Hegseth. We're going to talk with Kurt Schlichter from Breitbart. We're going to talk to Congressman James Comer. We're going to talk about the U.S. and Ukraine, the U.S. and border policy. We're going to talk about Hunter Biden and Burisma. But most importantly, we're going to talk about Pete Hegseth. It is the Will Kane Show streaming live at Fox News.com on the Fox News YouTube channel and the Fox News Facebook page.

Hope you're streaming this live on Facebook or YouTube. And if so, I'd love you to set a reminder so that every 12 o'clock, Monday through Thursday, Eastern time, you'll get a notification to turn on the Will Kane show. We have a community that's growing day by day. We're now placing ourselves among the top digital shows in terms of numbers. and we're happy to welcome you in to the Willis show. If you're listening to us on the ever-expanding footprint of the Wilcane show on Terrestrial Radio, welcome, we love you, all across the country. We'd love for you to subscribe to our show on Spotify or Apple,

so if you don't catch us live, you can always listen to the Wilcane show. What's up, fellas? I thought I might just say hi, bring you in, the boys in New York. There's a lot going on, and normally I would come in with my one, two, three stories that I want to go over on today's. show. I can't really come to today's show with that level of organization. In some ways, my brain is scattered. In some ways, my energy is focused. I've just been very, very focused on what feels like a circular firing squad and a reputational assassination attempt by the likes of

the New Yorker, the New York Times, and NBC News. And so I've been singularly focused on one story, and that is Pete Hegg said, which we will get to today here on the Wilcane show. But there are other things happening, and I want to just acknowledge tinfoil, Pat. There was an incredible story that we want to be paying attention to in the coming days where the CEO of United Healthcare appears to have been assassinated. He was shot and killed in an obvious murder, but it's hard not to come away from this that he was targeted, in which case I think it would be fair to call this an assassination, on the streets of New York City.

I have that right, tinfoil. It sounds like it's what happened, so. It's right outside our building here, a few streets down in Fox. It's not that far at all. Crazy. Walk by that every day. Something like 6.30 a.m. this morning,

right down the street from Fox. That story has layers that need to be unpacked. There's more going on. I mean, there's some stories that have caught my attention. that maybe in the coming days I can give a little more time. Taylor Lorenz formerly of the New York Times, their social media influencer has thrown a, I believe it's a book launch party.

She's wanted to assure everyone who might be in attendance that there will be masks, there will be COVID testing. Everyone who enters the book party will be cleared. She's put this out on social media. She tweeted the following. I love when people find photos where my mask is off for five seconds.

for a photo at my book party where every single attendee had a PCR test. She said, by the way, as part of this book party, is she spending her own money to ensure testing, outdoor space, UV lights, and a litany of other precautions. As a reminder, it's 2024. This was hyperbolic and insane in 2020. This is committable. in 2024.

There's also a story that I'm paying attention to out of England. Everyone knows I'm a bit of a fan of English soccer. So I was watching this week as Manchester City took on Liverpool, the captains of both teams,

so the captains of the entire Premier League, wore rainbow rainbow armbands. I was like, wow, look at that, as I was watching. That's fascinating. That's woke English soccer. but the story that came out afterwards is that captain of crystal palace

Mark Gouy wrote on his rainbow patch, I heart Jesus. To that, there were threats of charges from the F.A., the English governing soccer body. Ultimately, they declined charges, but issued him a warning that you cannot display openly religious messages in coordination with your uniform.

Apparently the only religion that's allowed now on the world's stage is the religion of woke LGBTQ. So these are fascinating stories that I want to pay attention to. And I don't want you to think that the world of news has stopped and everything else that we should be discussing. But I would be lying to you if I were not telling you that I am focused on one story. And that is the reputational assassination attempt of my former co-host, the current nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. Let's get to that with story number one. reports at the wall street journal last night said that donald trump was considering replacing pete heggseth as his nominee for secretary of defense with florida governor ron dsantis there seems to be

six republican senators intransently set against pete higseth those senators include the likes of mitch mcconnell john thune lindsay graham joney ernst the motivations for these senators are something to analyze. On one hand, they could be and might be focused on the media attacks, reputational attacks on Pete Heggseth. Let's take a moment and talk about what's been put out about Pete Hegset in the past, oh, 24 to 72 hours. The New Yorker has an article up tracing Pete throughout his history as the CEO of Concerned Veterans for America and Vets for freedom. They talk about his time. They allege mismanagement of finances. They allege partying, drinking, and infidelity. To come on the heels of that, NBC News published an article yesterday

with 10 anonymous sources from Fox News. Apparently 10 former, three current anonymous employees of Fox News suggesting Pete Hegg said drinks inside the article. They said that he would often show up over a dozen times with alcohol on his breath, that he showed up late for Fox and Friends, that he made producers nervous and scared, that he was irresponsible and had a problem with booze. So, in response to that, I have done the following. I have said, as somebody who sat on the couch next to him for five years, eight hours a week, starting at 6 a.m., this story is total horse shit. The only real debate I ever had was whether or not to call this

bullshit, dog shit, or horse shit. I ultimately settled on horse shit because it's the most obviously false. You know, everyone's got a little good BS in them. But if you're out there spewing horseshit, then I think you are absolutely guilty of giving us nothing

but pure unadulterated lies. Laffable, comical lies like the kind that come out of the back end of a horse. Rebuttable lies. Here's I know because I sat next to him. And let me tell you something. Never once late for the show. Oh, we all come, you know, rushing in at the last minute. We play the national anthem on Fox and Friends weekend. I can remember one time that he was called and said, hey, where are you? And he said,

I'm rushing in and he sat down before the end of the national anthem. Every person that works on morning TV understands you work with the fear of missing your alarm. It's everyone. And by the way, everyone has done it. I've been called at 515 because I set my alarm accidentally to PM instead of a.m. in the morning. It's a common iPhone mistake. I've made it more than once, but only once when it comes to Fox and Friends. But it's not just talent. It's producers. It's bookers. It's green room producers. Everyone has missed the alarm. Everyone has rushed in. Here's one thing I can say about Pete Higgseth in my tenure. Never missed the show. Never obviously late to the show. And never, never drank on the job or to such an extent the night before that he smelled of alcohol on

the job. That is absurd. If anyone's ever worked morning TV, the show starts at 6 a.m. Your alarm sets off somewhere between 4 and 5.15, depending on who you are and what your morning is like. You cannot do this job if you're a drunk. You can't. It's simply, drunks don't get up at 6 a.m. They just don't. You know a drunk? Is he an early riser? Is he get straight to work? It doesn't work this way. And if you don't trust my word, I give you the word of my co-host, Campos stuff you sat between, literally between. So technically in closer proximity, me and Pete for Rachel's been there, I think, now four years. Who also says, total horse pucky from NBC News. But I don't want to leave you with just our testimony. So I asked on Twitter, everyone who's ever

worked with Pete Hagsuff to let me know what they think. Well, I think currently, if you go to my Twitter feed, my ex feed at Will Kane, I'm up to over two dozen former employees of Fox or frequent guests of Fox who have testified that he never lived up to the reputation painted by NBC News. Dan Bongino, Dr. Nicole Sapphire, Joey Jones, Guy Benson, Carol Roth, but not just on-air talent, former bookers like J.P. Decker, Kyle Becker, Brianna Morello. people that appeared on the show frequently as guests like Alec Lace, Avic Roy. There are over two dozen names

and what they have to say right here for you to go look at. NBC News offers you 10 anonymous people. I offer you over two dozen who have worked with him over time. One of the allegations put out by the New Yorker this weekend is, or the New York Times, rather. They got a hold of an email that Pete Higgs says, Mother Penny,

sent to him in 2018, telling him he needed to get his act together, that his behavior with his wife, his infidelity, is beneath him. I mean, I think there's a legitimate and interesting debate about, whoa, that's extremely personal. Is that something that is newsworthy? I think we know the answer, by the way. What does this have to do with A, who he is today as a man? But B, what kind of job would you do as Secretary of Defense? Regardless, Penny Heggseth, Pete's mother, felt compelled this morning to go on Fox and Friends. Here's the mother of Pete Heggseth. It sounds like you're a little disillusioned.

Have you lost trust in how things happen? No, listen, I came to take on New York City, to take on the New York Times, to be a mother, a strong mother, a fighter. What's your message to the New York Times? I would say, I don't think the way you operate is, it feels almost criminal when reporters call you and threaten you. I don't think a lot of people know that's the way they operate. And they are in it for the commission, for the money, and they don't care who they hurt, families, children. And I just, I don't believe that that is the right way to do things. Do you think that's just the way they try to get the story?

Oh, of course. It's their job. But I can take the opposite view. I can take the high road. That is Penny Heggseth, the mother of Pete Heggseth. She said that within hours of sending Pete that email, she sent him a follow-up, apologizing for her characterization of her son. She said she's a passionate person, as is her son. And she also is somebody that lives to a high standard and expect her children to live to high standard. I respect that from the Heggsets.

I don't think Pete would ever look you in the eye nor me and suggest that he's been a perfect person in this life. He's made his mistakes. And for those mistakes, he had the type of mother that would call him out for his mistakes. The question for you is, is he that same man? You can take anonymous sources from NBC, or you can take the people that have been closest to him for the past five years, including yours truly, as to the type of man he is today. But I think more importantly, what you should be asking yourself is what kind of man is nominated there as Secretary of Defense? Well, I just got off the phone with Bill Brown. Bill Brown is a member of the Navy SEAL Foundation,

a leader in the Navy SEAL Foundation. He's a combat veteran. He is the leader of the Navy SEAL Swim, which you and some of you who are listening and watching, members of the Lishia have participated in, like Brent Seriano. If you've ever participated in this, you know something about honoring America's warriors. I just got off the phone with Bill Brown moments before I came on air.

Part of the reason that I come to you today is sort of free. I don't mean free like I'm unencumbered or just want to tell the truth. That's me every day. But I don't have an outline. I don't have my one, two, three. I just have what I'm pouring out to you today. Well, Bill just told me moments before the beginning of this broadcast, that over 100 Navy SEALs have organized and committed to March on Washington, D.C.

Over 100 Navy SEALs are prepared to throw their support openly behind Pete Heggshead. I would suggest if your name is Joni Ernst, Lindsey Graham, John Thune, Mitch McConnell, Kevin Kramer. If you are a senator from North Dakota, Iowa, South Carolina, you might want to look out your door. Because if you're standing in the way of 100 Navy seals, how about two dozen of Pete Higgs' former colleagues who work at Fox News? If you're standing here today, taking the side of the New Yorker, the New York Times, in NBC News, as opposed to, for example, Well, one more piece of evidence I'd like to enter into this equation. How about the testimony of David Belavia?

David Belovia is a Marine. David Belovia hired Pete Heggsat at Vets for Freedom. Guess what? I spoke with David Belovia this morning. This as well as on my Instagram and on my Twitter feed, so you can see this. David told me that opposed to me or Rachel Campos Duffy or anyone else that I know of, who was directly contacted at Fox News, he was contacted. see david ran vets for freedom and david hired pete hegg said so they asked him about pete's

tenure because this is supposed to be a big you know detraction for pete's qualifications the way he handled for vets for freedom well david told them in a 20 minute phone call i've seen the phone logs and i've shared them with you on instagram and on twitter that in a 20 minute phone call he made it very clear to them it's all nonsense your story is from disgruntled employees and it's all nonsense. I would ask you to guess how many words of David Belavilla's interview with NBC was included in the final story for NBC. Guess what you put the over under? Three, five, ten. The answer is zero, zero words, zero mention of the interview with David Belavia. There should be one more detail I should offer you about David Belavia. David Belavia was awarded the Medal of

Honor for his fight in Fallujah in Iraq. How many recipients of the Medal of Honor, the Medal of Honor, were anonymous in that NBC report? I know who NBC is. I know who the New Yorker is. I know the New York Times. What I want to know now is, who are you, Republican Senator? Who are you, Joni Ernst? Who are you, Lindsey Graham?

Do you take the side of NBC News over? The recipient of a Medal of Honor for the war he fought, clearing the United States. out a building single-handedly in Iraq. Do you take the side of the New Yorker over two dozen Fox News employees? Do you take the side of the New York Times over 100 Navy SEals prepared to march on Washington, D.C.? Or maybe there's another motivation. I said one could be taking the side of NBC, of New York Times, the New Yorker. The other could be, you want the job yourself, dirty, ugly, backroom politics. One of these senators wants the job themselves instead of Pete a third option a senator i don't know from the south might be so embedded in the pentagon in the war

machine and the do d and the department of defense lobby that anyone who represents real disruption or as a change agent would see pete higseth as a threat see i wonder i wonder about any republican senator today decides he's going to draw his line in the sand over pete higseth because it's not a line in the sand by the way oh they took out matt gates now they're not there's not a attention turns to Pete Hegg said. You think it ends after that? You think so? No. You know better. The attacks move to Tulsi Gabbard. If not Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr. If not RFK Jr., Cash Patel. If not Cash Patel, Sean Duffy. And maybe in that order, you fold and you'll fold forever. And we'll debate why? Because you have no spine, because you're weak, because you believe NBC over Medal of Honor,

recipients? Because you're invested in getting the job yourself and you're looking out for yourself and not the people of Iowa? Because you're so embedded in the DOD and the Department Defense lobby that you never want to see real change? Well, guess what the American people just voted for? Real change. Disruption. That's what they asked for. And an overwhelming vote for Donald Trump. And Donald Trump believes the way to execute change is to put Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in charge of HHS, is to put Cash Patel in charge of the FBI, is to

put Tulsi Gabbard in charge of D&I, John Ratcliffe in charge of CIA, and Pete Heggseth in charge of DoD. Oh, we're about to see exactly who some people are. We already know who they are in New York.

We already know who they are in the high rise of the times. We're about to see who they are in Iowa and South Carolina and North Dakota. We're about to see exactly who you stand with. Do you stand with Pete Hagseth? Do you stand with America? All right.

I'm going to be getting into this a little more. We'll talk about Ukraine and many other issues in the news. We're going to be joining just moments. You don't want to miss it. We'll continue this conversation with Kurt Schlichter on the Will Cain Show. Listen to the all-new Brett Bear podcast featuring Common ground in-depth talks with lawmakers from opposite sides of the aisle along with all your brett bear favorites like his all-star panel and much more available now at foxnewspodcasts.com

or wherever you get your podcasts what's it all about why is the republican office as the secretary of defense Milcane show streaming live at Fox News.com on the Fox News YouTube channel and the Fox News Facebook page. We hope you'll hit subscribe. I know we're active. I know we're high in concurrence. I know you're in the comments section. We bring you into the show. We make you a member of the Willisha. If you hit subscribe on YouTube or on Apple or on Spotify, we welcome you into the Willcane show, as we do, by the way, a columnist at townhall.com. Kurt Lichter is the author of Attack. He's a trial lawyer. He's also a retired Army infantry colonel. Kurt, I followed you for a long time.

I don't think we've ever had the pleasure of shaking hands or meeting a person. And this might be the first time we've ever spoken. But I've followed you for a long time. I've appreciated your work. And I appreciate you today being on the Will Kane show. Well, thanks for having me. I'm glad to be here. I'm glad to stand up for a fellow infantry officer, Pete Hegseth,

who's exactly what we need in the Pentagon. And this disgusting smear campaign. I don't know whether I'm more appalled, Will, as a merely an American citizen, or as an attorney or as a retired Army officer. I guess I'm just appalled across the entire range of possible roles that I've assumed in my life. But this is disgusting. It's outrageous.

And we cannot let them win. They don't get to win, Will. I mean, they're used to it. They haven't won a war in 30 years. But they don't get to win this fight. So we've got to stand tough for Pete Higgs out. Why do you think Pete Hagseth, as you just said to us, is perfect for DOD? DoD, look, there's two kinds of, there's really two kinds of leaders that you're talking about at the Department of Defense.

You have a technician, a good technician would be Rumsfeld, a bad technician would be Robert McNamara. Guy goes in there and can run the, you know, developmental pipeline on anti-aircraft missiles. That's one kind of guy. And sometimes you need that guy. The other times you need a leader and an infantry officer, a combat arms officer is perfectly suited for that because Will, the big problem with our military today is not just that we are underfunding it. And it's not just that it's strategically lost. It's that the military culture is gone, poisoned in large part by DEI, but also by the general weakness. and fecklessness of the command and staff at the Pentagon. And you need a guy who's going to go in and not take no for an answer. You need a guy to walk in and take command. And that's what infantry officers done. I've taken command many, many times.

I walk in and it goes my way. You know, you've got to deal with these guys with a whip and a chair will. Okay? It is the land of wolves. And it should be. These are warriors. These are fighters. And if they sense weakness on it, if they smell that they can get over on you, they're going to. So you need to be able to punch back. And the first general who comes up to you and says, well, sir, I know you told me to get rid of DEI, but that's where you say stop your relief for cause. Go report to the headquarters company here at the Pentagon. Don't retire. I'm going to investigate what rank you last performed acceptably at. And you can retire at that. Spoiler, it's not the one I just fired you at, because by definition, if I've relieved you for cause, you didn't perform adequately. And when you post that head

on a spike in the parking lot of the Pentagon, the other hacks, losers, and bureaucratic time servers are going to take notice. And things are going to start happening. And we're going to get our Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and even Space Force back. You know, that's a hell of an image, and it's one that one could relish seeing a major, who's now the Secretary of Defense, dressing down a five-star or four-star general who dares to question. But, you know, many have pointed out to me, Kurt, here, you know, Pete's military rank is actually a real net positive. That, you know, he ascended to the rank of a major. And it's one of the actual, like many people out there will say, whoa, what is a major?

You shouldn't be in charge. You should be looking at three, four, five-star generals, whatever it may be. but others have said, no, you don't understand. This is part of his qualifications that he ended at major. And I would guess, I don't want, you and I are both attorneys, and so I'm going to ask this question in a, not the best way, because it's a leading question. But I'm going to guess that's, Kurt, because often, not always,

but often what has to be done to arrive at those high levels of stars on your shoulders are the exact type of things you don't want once you arrive at the ultimate position of leadership, Secretary of Defense? No, you're absolutely correct. The fact that his rank doesn't matter. The fact that he understands how to take command, the fact that he understands how to take charge

is what's key. He doesn't have to ask the generals for permission to tell them what to do. He's been appointed by the President of the United States, who's commander-in-chief. he's second in the chain of command. They don't get a vote. They don't get an ask.

What the skill set allows him to do is to understand how to give orders, not suggestions, not hints, orders, generals, we're doing X. You're going to go out and do it, and you're going to come back Friday, and you're going to tell me that you've done it. Don't leave here without understanding what my intent is, because when you come back Friday, I expect it to be fulfilled. If you don't fulfill it, I'm going to fire you, and your deputy is going to do it. Is anyone unclear about how this works?

And you know what? They won't be unclear, not after the first time. Kurt, earlier in our conversation, your first answer to me was, I don't know Will if I'm most offended as an American, as a trial attorney, or as a retired army infantry. I can imagine, and I can fill in the gaps of why. you would be offended as retired army infantry. I can imagine, and I can fill in the gaps of why you would be offended as an American. I am fascinated by you offended as a trial lawyer because I am an attorney, at least by training. I can't award myself the stolen valor of many arguments won over in a courtroom,

but I certainly grew up that way watching my father. My whole life has been geared towards arranging my brain in a certain way so that arguments make logical sense. that's the real value for me. To be honest, people often ask me, you know, about law school. Law school is where I learned how to think, Kurt. I learned, and what I mean by that is not programmed. I wasn't programmed.

I wasn't endeared into an ideology. What I was taught was an outline of how to put my thoughts into a cohesive and logical framework. For me, that was constitutional. And so I understood which of my ideas contradicted one another, or how they fit with one another, or how they fit into the greater picture of America. So what I want to ask you, what I'm fascinated by, is how are you offended, Kurt, as a trial lawyer

by the attacks on Pete Hegg said? Well, you know, today is the 30th anniversary of me being sworn in in my mother's courtroom. My mom, Paula Schlichter, was a judge in San Mateo County, California. So I've done this for a while. I take facts. I take evidence. I apply them to the law. And I do it from both sides.

I have defended people accused of a sexual misconduct. I have brought lawsuits in favor of people accused of sexual misconduct. I look at this, and I look at all the alleged evidence that's being presented. I hear a lot of hearsay. I hear a lot of, I see a lot of anonymous claims that can't be cross-examined. I mean, what kind of journalist cites an anonymous source, someone who doesn't have the courage to get up there and expose his or her or whatever other weird gender they are? to cross-examination, to questions, to being asked, hey, tell me about your facts, tell me about the facts that you're asserting.

Let me challenge them. Let me test them. That's how we determine the truth. But this smear campaign is just disgusting. and it's un-American and we shouldn't tolerate it. And any Republican senator who puts up with this, who gives any credence at all to these hidden cowards who refuse to come out and get on the record is disgusting. Look at the people who've come on the record about their personal experience of Pete Higgs at. And I've never had the privilege of beating him.

He's not my pal. I mean, obviously, we're fellow army officers, but I don't know him. but I know people who know him, everyone from, I now know you, Jim Hansen, lots of people I know from Fox, lots of people I know elsewhere. And they're willing to come out and they're willing to testify. They're willing to allow themselves to be challenged. Of course, when you have the media with, you mentioned, Sergeant Belavia, a great Medal of Honor winner. One of the great honors of my life is we got to go shooting together and he shot one of my right.

I haven't cleaned it since. I mean, he's, he's such a, such an American hero. You have people of that quality coming out and putting their credibility on the line for Pete Hegesath as opposed to these phantoms, these mystery people, these hooded, masked cowards who won't speak in public. It's no competition. And any Republican senator who gives any credence to these, these, ugh, worms, is, it ought to be ashamed of his or herself. Unfortunately, there are too many invertebrates in the Senate. And we need to lean on them and let them know that their voters expect them to support Pete Heggseth and President Donald Trump.

One more note on the media than last question on the Republican centers. You know, you're talking about the anonymous sources. The interesting thing is anonymous sources have a role in media, but they don't have a role in former low-level producers that I can see would suffer no professional blowback by going on the record to put their name on what they've said.

Like if you have someone at the DOD that said we secretly bombed, you know, Russia, that person, I might understand you'd still need to, by the way, get a secondary source if they're only willing to be anonymous. But I would understand

the role of anonymity in this type of reporting. This is absurd. You've got an anonymous, what? Bookers from Fox News. why do they need anonymity? Like, I don't understand why that's the value. And if you can't get, it took me two hours on Twitter.

Two hours to get approximately two dozen on the record names, giving their testimony, as Pete Hegg said, it's just, it's horrific. It's not horrific because it is effective. The point isn't to be accurate. It's not horrific because they're not trying to be true. It is propaganda, fake, designed to take down Pete Hegg said. And it's propaganda designed to sign.

to support the failed military industrial complex. 30, gosh, I'm not great with math because I was in the infantry. About 33 years ago, I was in Desert Storm. I was at 7th Corps main headquarters when they annihilated the Republican Guard overnight. Okay. I was there present at the center. Well, actually, far in the rear. I mean, if you wanted to shoot me, you'd have FedEx the bullets.

But the fact is, I watched us win. a victory that was on par with the achievements of Hannibal, Alexander, and Julius Caesar. That is not overselling what the American forces did in the Gulf War. And the 30 years since have been an utter fiasco, a disaster. We got third world bandits running around in the Hindu Kush, you know, laughing at us. And now using our equipment, it's a disgrace. And it's all because the military industrial complex, including the generals and the admirals, have failed and they haven't been held to account.

I'm still trying to find somebody who's been fired because Iraq didn't go well or Afghanistan didn't go well. Who's the guy who got fired over that disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan? And I had the honor of being the lawyer for a brief time for one of the families of the Marines killed. It was a disgrace. and those people don't want the gravy train derail. They don't want this to end.

They are terrified that Pete Hegeseth is going to come in and hold them to the only standard that matters. Can the United States military beat our enemies? That's all that matters, but not to them. Not to them. And that's the problem. They want someone they can push around. They want someone who'll take no for an answer.

That's one more reason of many that we need Pete Hegse. I mentioned to Kurt Schlitter that I wanted to ask him as well about this Republican pushback, but I'd like to bring someone else in this conversation as well. Kurt, I'd love you to hang out for a minute more because I'd like to now bring in as part of this conversation, Congressman James Comer. He is chairman of the House Oversight Committee and he's Republican Congressman from Kentucky's first congressional district. Congressman, thanks so much for being with us. My pleasure. I'm glad to have you on with Kurt for a moment here. I'll return to the question which I wanted to ask

occur about why there seems to be some Republican reluctance within the Senate to confirm Pete Hegg-Seth. I see you shaking your head already, Congressman. What are your thoughts on whatever type of hesitations might be there with Republicans in the Senate? Well, you always have a few Republicans that just their whole life revolves around getting the endearment of the mainstream media. They want the media to write good stories about them. So they, anytime they stand up to Donald Trump or stand up to any Republican, the media doesn't like, then they get rewarded with positive stories and media attention. I think that's part of it.

And then I think there's an element in the Senate that don't want someone to come in and disrupt the Department of Defense. They want the status quo. They want to keep giving the Pentagon blank checks. They want to keep having military spread all over the world. And, you know, I think that's, I think it's a twofold there. I think it's as much to do with their, fear that he is going to go in there and disrupt and change the culture. I think that's a

big part of it as well. Kurt, I, at the outset of the show, which I know you were listening to in my opening monologue, I gave three reasons, two of which the congressman just laid out for why there could be Republican intransigence when it comes to Pete Heggseth. One is selecting the side of NBC News over Medal of Honor recipient David Belavia as an example, or 100 Navy Seals or two dozen former colleagues at Fox News. It's trusting the New Yorker over someone like me, to be quite honest, suggesting that the New Yorker and anonymously is more valuable on insight than someone like me speaking to you right now. The second is what Congressman Comer just laid out as well, that there's those people that don't want to see change in the DOD, and I think

that's very believable. The third category I suggested, Kurt, was that some of these people actually have their own personal interest and tied up in this as well, and that they may want the job that right now is scheduled to go to Pete Hegseth, Kurt. Well, Donald Trump shouldn't be appointing anybody from Congress or the House anymore. Our margins are too narrow. We don't need another fight. And frankly, there's a lot of talent out there. We don't need to take somebody out of a seat that we're going to need.

But, you know, the congressman is absolutely right. The problem with Pete Hegzeth is not that he's going to do a bad job. The problem with Pete Hegs for these hacks is that he's going to do a good job doing exactly what we elected Donald Trump to have done with our failed military. He's going to go in and he's going to clean it out and they don't want that. They don't want the change of the military culture. They don't want the change of the procurement pipeline. They don't want the change of the strategic failures. But they're going to get it. And it's going to be Pete Hegseth. Because Will, we're not going to back down. They got one scalp. Okay, you get one scout.

when you're doing nomination said has to stand up and claim one scout fine we understand how things work they don't get to doesn't happen this is the line this is where we fight let's go let's have this out and i'll see you guys in 2026 if you're up for re-election and you're not on board 110 percent he's a columnist for townhall dot com you got to check him out he's a trial attorney he is a retired army infantry colonel is kertschlichter and i really enjoyed this conversation today on the Will Cane Show. Thank you, Kurt. Thanks for having me, Will. All right. Congressman James Comer's not going anywhere.

Again, he is the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, and he's still with us on the Will Cane Show. Congressman, do you feel similarly to Kurt Schlichter that this is a line in the sand that you cannot fold on Pete Heggseth. Matt Gates' nomination was withdrawn. Today, as we sit here today, do you think Pete Heggsett's nomination will survive? I think it can. I certainly hope it does. I think we need a guy like him in there to disrupt it. And look, I just had a meeting with the Army Corps of Engineers. And it's just one thing after another with this military. There's no accountability anywhere, not just with our frontline soldiers, not just with our, you know,

top generals, not just with the Pentagon with their contract. Anything revolved around the military right now. There's no accountability. And we've got to have someone come in and change business as usual. And I think that is as big a problem as anything, and they're seizing on this other stuff. And I love what you said about unnamed sources and all that because the media are the most dishonest people in this town. They're more dishonest than the shadiest, lobbyist, than the worst politicians is the mainstream media. And they don't want to do anything to make Donald Trump look bad or whatever. So look, I think that he's the right guy. But, you know, it certainly, it's probably going to be a close vote.

The only two that I think remaining that are going to have any controversy are headsmith and Tulsi Gabbard. And I think that has as much to do with a bunch of old senators just don't want to go down this new path of America First and, you know, ending every, you know, never ending wars and things like that. I think that's their biggest problem, masked into other scandals that the media is trying to coordinate with the Democrats that make Donald Trump look bad. And to that point, I would suspect, should Republican senators fold on Pete Heggseth, all that would happen is the crosshairs would be retrained on Tulsi Gabbard, to your point, tomorrow, if Pete Heggsett would withdraw, then on Friday, the hit stories would start to be published on Tulsi Gabbard. to your point, tomorrow, if Pete Hegg says would withdraw, then on Friday, the hit stories would start to be published on Tulsi Gabbard. That's right. You're exactly right. There's no question about it. And, you know, hopefully Head Speth will survive this. I personally think if you force the senators to vote on it, that he'll get 50 votes. And then then Vance can break the

tie. That's my prediction based on, you know, what I what I've seen around this town for the last eight years since I've been here. But a lot of senators are probably telling the Trump administration, they can't vote for him. They have concerns. Make them vote on it. Make them vote on it. And let them face the voters. Make them vote.

And it's a different category then. So I think he can get it. Make them vote. I love that message. I just want to share this with you, Congressman, and everyone watching and listening on YouTube and Facebook Live. You'll hear this when it airs on Apple or on. Spotify or Terrestrial Radio. This is according to the New York Post as of moments ago. Zero Senate Republicans are opposing Pete Heggs as confirmation.

Sources told the post on Wednesday, as the defense secretary designee was making the rounds on Capitol Hill and defiantly proclaiming he will never back down. Quote, there are zero nose right now. One GOP source familiar with the matter said, ripping smears against the former army combat infantrymen in the press as BS. I don't know if that's true, Congressman, but that would certainly speak to whatever meetings are taking place right now on Capitol Hill with Pete Eggset, and perhaps some of the pushback on the nonsense in the media. Yeah, the media, I mean, they're always wrong. They still are shocked that the American people

actually did want to secure the border and deport the illegals. They really thought that was a issue that was going to hurt the Republicans because it was racist. I mean, these media people are from a different planet. They don't have real friends in the real world. So they want to create stories and you've got senators, you know, there's three or four that are always going to be, you know, doubters and try to, you know, get in the news. Well, you know, I'm very concerned about these allegations and things like that. But at the end of the day, if you, the Gates was a different deal.

But with Hedgespeth and with Tulsi Gabbard, you put it up for a vote and I'm pretty confident they'll get the votes. be confirmed. That's my advice to Donald Trump. Put it up for a vote, President Trump. All right, I know you're a busy man, Congressman, but I want to run this last thing by you because you're the perfect person to address something that's appeared and come up here on the Will Kane show over the last two days. On Monday, with President Biden offering a pardon to his son, Hunter Biden, we had on the program Miranda Devine, who is the author of Laptop from Hell and The Big Guy. I want to play for you something that was said by Miranda about this blanket pardon going back to 2014, an 11-year pardon, suspiciously the same year that Hunter Biden joins the board of

Brezma. Watch this from Miranda Devine. 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 placed 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. Okay, Congressman, now, if you'll just bear with me one more moment, then on Tuesday, we had on Michael LaRosa, who was a former, a special assistant to President Joe Biden and the former press secretary for Dr. Jill Biden. Here's what he had to say, not only about the pardon from Joe Biden to Hunter Biden, but what Miranda Devine said on Monday here on the Wilcane show.

Go ahead and tell me what she got wrong. There was no investigation of Burisma by that prosecutor. I assume she's aware that anything related to Burisma was dormant for six years. There was an investigation into Burisma by Ukraine's anti-corruption practices group from 2010 to 2012 and nothing since. Now, Hunter Biden didn't join the board, of which he has every right to do to join a private company's board. in 2014. So, Congressman, you looked into all of this. You led the oversight committee.

I obviously know that you have a partisan lens. You're a Republican, but you definitely were someone who's seen the evidence when it comes to Hunter Biden, and now the pardon he's received from Joe Biden. What say you on these dueling narratives? Miranda Devine's right. Look, everyone knows Burisma was a corrupt company. they've seen the character of the owner and they know that the only reason Hunter Biden was put on that board was because the owner of Burisma was in trouble for corruption. His assets were seized in Britain. He was in trouble in Ukraine.

He was in trouble in Russia. He was in trouble everywhere that they were doing business. And there was a special prosecutor hired. to go after him in i believe it was 2015 and 2016 that twin hunter called the dad we have you know testimony from an associate devon archer said they were they were talking and uh who david after who was also on the board of barisma and said that uh you know hunter's purpose was to was to get the prosecutor off barisma's back which is what happened joe and this is in as you said just for the timeline you said this is 1516 because

That special assistant to the former special assistant to President Biden on our show said basically everything had stopped in 2012, so Burisma was under no pressure. But maybe in two, I don't know anything about Burisma in 2012. I know that Barisma put Hunter Biden on the board when other countries started the process of taking their, seizing their assets and shutting them out and threatening to prosecute, including their Ukraine. And that's when Hunter Biden came into the picture for one reason and one reason only, for his father, the sitting vice president of the United States to do exactly what he did, fly to Ukraine and leverage U.S. foreign aid to the tune of a billion dollars if they didn't fire that prosecutor. And that's exactly what Joe Biden did. So the $5 million that Barrisma paid Hunter Biden, which he never paid taxes on, was a very good deal for Burisma because they got what they wanted. they got the prosecutor fired. Okay, last two questions for you, Congressman James Comer.

First, just an open question. What do you think of this pardon issued by Joe Biden? I think it vindicates everything that we've discovered in our investigation. The Biden will run an influence peddling operation. Joe Biden was front and center. He lied to the American people in the debate when he said the laptop wasn't real. It was Russian disinformation. He lied when he said that he wasn't going to pardon his son.

and he lied about everything in between his knowledge and involvement and participation in all the scheme. So this is a corrupt family. Shame on the mainstream media for turning a blind eye and reporting that there was no evidence, no evidence of wrongdoing. If there was no evidence of wrongdoing, then Joe Biden would have just issued the pardon for what Hunter Biden was convicted on. But as I've been saying for months, Hunter Biden was only convicted for about 10% of the financial crimes he committed. We're not even talking about the drug crimes and the human trafficking crimes, just the financial crime. So that's why Joe Biden made the pardon so broad to cover anything dating back to 2014. Joe Biden himself should be in trouble. If you had a real

Department of Justice, which we're going to have in about a two months, if they would come in and look at that whole barista stuff, take our investigation and run with it, then Joe Biden would probably need to pardon himself in the next 40 days. Well, that's my last. question for you then congressman do you see a miscalculation on the part of joe biden there are those saying and i'm an attorney but my my legal training is enough in my rearview mirror that i don't even feel confident in my own expertise on this uh and so i asked this of moranda divine she said i'll defer to your legal training but the truth is you are the perfect person to ask this of do you see a miscalculation on the part of joe biden in that now hunter biden cannot plead the fifth amendment he has been

pardoned for many crimes. He suffers no legal jeopardy when it comes to these crimes now. So he could not appear, for example, before you in an oversight committee hearing and plead the Fifth Amendment. He could decline to testify, which would be contempt of Congress or contempt of a court, wherever this setting was, or he could lie. And then he'd be guilty of perjury. But he can't, he can no longer say, I plead the fifth. Do you see any kind of miscalculation here on behalf of Joe Biden for either your oversight committee or, as you mentioned, a new DOJ? No, and I'll tell you why. We had Hunter Biden in for a deposition, and he never pled the fifth, even though he could have. The reason he didn't is because he just lied. He lied to us

over and over and over. And as a result of his lies during the deposition, we issued criminal referrals to the Department of Justice for perjury, because that's what he did. He perjured himself. The Biden's are liar. Joe Biden has lied from start to finish about his family's shady business schemes, and Hunter inherited that tremendous gene from his father and his uncle, Jim Biden, of being able to lie and realize that there's no repercussion. So I don't think Hunter Biden would ever plead the fifth. He just lied. Look, this kid's gotten away with everything. What has he done for the last four years? Nothing. He doesn't have a job. He doesn't have any legal income coming in. But he lives in a a $40,000 a month apartment on the ocean in California. I mean, he eats at the finest restaurants, the nicest women, prostitutes, gifts, meals. This guy has gotten away with it his whole life, you know? I mean, it's the two-tier system of justice that we've been talking about. Luckily, the American people voted for change, and I think better days are ahead in the future.

All right. Congressman James Comer, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, we really appreciate you here on the Will Cain Show. You've enlightened us on many issues today, and we're always welcome back here, Congressman. Thanks for being on the Will Cain Show. Thanks for having me. All right.

Let's take a quick break. I want to come back. I want to bring you into the show. I want to bring your comments, you the Willis. I'm going to bring the boys in New York. We're going to break down what's been, I think, are very fluid with breaking news and, you know, off-the-cuff analysis of what's going on on Capitol Hill

when it comes to the nomination of Pete Higgs-Seth to Secretary of Defense. That coming up on the Will- Cane Show. Stop. Do you know how fast you were going? I'm going to have to write you a ticket to my new movie, The Naked Gun. Liam Nissan. Buy your tickets now.

I've got a free Tilly Dog. Chilly Dog, not included. The Naked God. Tickets on sale now. August 1st. Hey, I'm Trey Gowdy host of the Trey Gatty 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 News.

You know, I think there's a thing in media. It's like, do you promote other people's shows, maybe even if they're on the same time as you, I don't care. I'm not here for this, okay? There are things, meaning I'm not here from my own personal interest or to build this show. So I'm going to tell you right now, go watch the Megan Kelly show. Okay, hopefully after we're done here, I don't know exactly what time. Megan is live or when her show goes up, but let's go watch the Megan Kelly show. This is the Will Kane Show streaming live at Fox News.com on the Fox News YouTube channel on the Fox News Facebook page.

Hit subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or on YouTube. Here's why I'm getting notes already. I got notes starting this morning because I'm not sure what time this was taped. Pete Hagseth's mother was on Fox and Friends this morning. Pete Higgseth will be on Fox News tonight. I'm not 100% sure whether or not that will be with Brett Baer or Sean Hannity. Pete spent some of today in between meetings with Republican Senators with the Megan Kelly show. I started getting notes ASAP that he's absolutely killing it, that he is crushing it.

I have not yet gotten to see clips. I would play them probably without permission. I would play them for you, but I don't have them yet. So if that's true, I think that's something that we should all go check out. I think as is what's the case with any time you spent with us here on the Will Can Show, Pete was on an every other week basis. off the rails with Will and Pete. But he was also on the Sean Ryan show, very popular show where you got to really hear his vision

for what he wasn't nominated yet, but when he'd only written the War on Warriors was essentially a playbook for reforming our military, his vision for the DoD. So as is the case with Sean Ryan, I suggest you go check that out now today with Megan Kelly. I'm bringing the boys in New York,

tinfoil Pat, young establishment James, and two a days, Dan. I just got a lot of texts coming in. I'm somewhat distracted of stuff that's going on. But tell me real quick. We've had a fascinating show today. I mean, obviously, I had a rip-roaring monologue, which is going to have to be beeped out for radio

based upon my using. I know. I already got messages. Inappropriate language. Hey, just make sure you bleep that out. On it, sir. And then we had a great conversation with Kurt Schlichter from townhall.com and with House Oversight Committee Chair, James Comer, about all of this. I'm curious, though, as I always am, from the people.

I'm going to tell you, James, I know you're into betting markets and one of my very, very, very good friends in this world yesterday. And he's one of my, this is it, he's one of my guys. He called me yesterday and wanted to start telling me about betting markets. I don't want to hear about them, to be honest. I didn't know that. I don't know. No more. All I'm saying is, I mean, I don't want to hear about it, but I do want to hear about it.

I think, and I'm not talking about the betting. What's going on on betting markets when it comes to Pete? That when that NBC article dropped, his odds for confirmation went down. And the more you tweeted and the more you got, I think, now 27 on the record, very close to Hegset's sources. And it's that number's moving so fast up. We're not even sure what the exact number is anymore. Hegset's odds of confirmation went up a lot. So I think you getting people to tell their stories and that are going on the record and their experiences with Pete, I think it's made a difference.

And I think a lot of Republican senators and their staffers watch this. They're on Twitter. They all see it. And I think they see that people are fired up for this one. People are fired up. And, you know, I'm not going to take any kind of credit for that. This is people telling the truth.

I'll tell you guys a secret. I'm not going to say the name. Okay, but I'm going to tell you guys a secret. I got a message from someone, not a friendly last night. Okay? Not a friendly. who I follow and they follow me and so they can send you a private message

and this person has written a lot a lot about Fox and one of the things people say about Fox you can see this in an on-the-record tweet last night from a guy that writes for Mediite named John Nicosia this is not who I'm talking about in this situation because John Nicosia put it out there on the record said Fox leaks

it does and I don't know anything about that and that's the naive world I live in I also live in a world with I don't give a shit, go for it. Come get me. I am the same guy I'm on TV and on camera as I am off. So go for it. But I know the truth doesn't matter. It's all what it can be ripped into.

My wife was like, do you think this could happen to you? I'm like, absolutely it could happen to me. And it doesn't have anything to do with anything I've ever said or done. Because anonymously, can you find someone to say something negative and would a media source right? Absolutely. That's going to, that could happen. But I got this private message last night

Oh, what I was getting at with John DeCosier writes from media is he said That place is notorious for leaks Meaning Fox I don't know who you I don't know Vinny, you three are leaking I don't know what this leaking thing is But um

He said He said I've never heard anything like what they're saying about Heggseth Not in any leak And then this message I got last night from a non-friendly I would even go beyond non-friendly but pretty antagonistic to Fox sent me a private message and said I know I have a lot of sources I've written a lot I have never once heard anything over years and years

like what they're saying about Pete so I'm just telling you right now and I you know you talk about the betting markets in this issue the thing is this issue isn't honest James like that's why I have a question about whether or not me or anybody else giving honesty, giving truth to people is changing it, because the issue isn't trying to be honest. To me, it's giving an excuse to some Republican senators who have other motivations, ulterior motivations. And those ulterior motivations have to do with the lobbying, the DOD, and or their own personal ambitions. And I am watching them. Because whether or not they truly do take the side of NBC or the New York or the New York Times

over the American people, whether or not they, you know, believe the NBC news over a Medal of Honor winner like David Belavia, it doesn't matter because they're choosing the side of anonymous sources at NBC over 100 Navy SEALs.

So, I don't know. What are the folks saying on the chat, two days? Well, we did a poll question out. We got a thousand votes in. Would you vote to confirm Pete Hexeth as SECDef and 93% say yes, they would? percent no. So there's a lot of support in the chat. People are saying fight, Pete, fight. They're glad you're speaking out against this. And, you know, it's just a lot of positive feedback. And I'll be honest, too, you know, I have a lot of like liberal, democratic friends. I've gotten a lot of text from people I haven't heard from in a long time about this asking, hey, have you heard something? Because they want fodder to talk to other people about. And I said, absolutely not. I said, will, who I work with knows some very, well and you know all that yeah so they're basically asking you is he a drunk uh at the office

about the other yeah acting inappropriately with women at the office exactly stuff like that and it's just ridiculous and i hate it and i have shut everyone down at every chance and defended him not yeah it's easy when it's the truth i know you know i'm not i there's no cape i have no cape i have a friend and that's the end of the story yeah i have a friend and i have the truth and that's it and people's you know i talked to bill brown navy seal who's organizing these 100 navy seals right of march in washington dc and i said i'm gonna tell you something that people are telling me okay but um people are saying will i appreciate what you're doing or will thank you for you know if i'm like i'm not doing anything special nothing i'm telling the truth about one of my very good friends if

you can't do that well you're not a man so like this isn't high bar stuff for me this is low bar stuff Like, this is what you're supposed to do. And so I said to Bill, like, I'm going to do something that other people are saying to me, like, hey, man, I appreciate the support you're giving to Pete. I said, I know you don't need that because that's not why you're doing it. You're doing it because it's what you do as a man.

So you can choose these men, right? Or you can choose NBC. I don't know. I don't know. We'll see how it goes today. A lot of people in the chat. Looks like it's shaped. They appreciated what you said earlier about it.

And everyone came here and wanted to hear your words and really appreciate it. Just got a text that said Will was doing the Lord's Work last night. Not for nothing. Every time we have Pete on and we're supposed to have him on it, his hit starts at about 12.10. We say, hey, get here at 12 o'clock just to get ready and test down and everything. Every single time, he showed about 1157. He would get mad at me when I questioned it.

1157 every time. He thought it was going to show up right on time every time. The most punctual person I've ever seen. Which, by the way, that actually is a high bar. Like, how many guests do we have that actually are here early? You know? Not a lot. Like, it stood out how punctual he was compared to everyone else.

There was one time he didn't show up. Hard to do. It didn't tell us. Wow. And that was when he became Secretary of Defense. That's excusable. He sure is a punctual drunk. An early rising, high-performing, punctual drunk.

Those 6 a.m. ones are really good-you-old. Good job, NBC. All right. Well, we'll see how it goes today. According to the New York Post, it seems to be some positive movement there when it comes to Pete Hegg-Seth. If that's true, the New York Post reporting during the course of this hour together, we've had on the Will Kane show, that there are zero, now zero Republican senators opposing the nomination of Pete Hegg-Seth. Well, however this goes, I agree with our...

Our guest, Congressman James Comer, vote. Make them vote. I want to know. In the end, I want to know. Make them vote. All right, we appreciate you being with us today here on the Will Cane Show. Tomorrow we'll be live from the Patriot Awards on Long Island. We're going to have a big list of guests.

I think we're about five or six from the Fox News. I'm going to join us tomorrow right here live on the Will Cane Show. We'll see you at Spotify, Apple, YouTube, Facebook. We'll see you next time on the Will Cane Show. Listen ad-free with a Fox News podcast plus subscription on Apple Podcast, and Amazon Prime members, you can listen to this show, ad-free on the Amazon music app. It is time to take the quiz. It's five questions in less than five minutes. We ask people on the streets of New York City to play along.

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