A new book by journalist Jonathan Karl paints a picture of a Trump administration operating on fear, control, and retribution. Alex Blumberg talks about how the White House is weaponizing the DOJ, and why it s time for President Trump to testify publicly.
00:00:00.000Let him testify publicly. It's a question with added weight amid revelations in a new book by journalist Jonathan Karl.
00:00:08.340The ABC correspondent says Smith had access to handwritten notes from former Vice President Mike Pence, scribbled down on January 6th.
00:00:17.360And Smith was prepared to use those notes to prosecute the president.
00:00:21.680We should add, MSNBC has not seen those notes or confirmed their contents.
00:00:25.780With everything the president has imposed on the federal government since he got back into office, his first term now looks like a model of restraint, as in looks a whole lot tamer back then.
00:00:37.440The president himself sees it, too. Quote, everyone is on my side now, he says. They were fighting against me last time.
00:00:45.220One of my next guests argues the president is now on his way to creating a new world order during this second term.
00:00:52.380Financial Times Ed Luce says he interviewed dozens of lawmakers, CEOs, military leaders, lawyers, diplomats and Trump insiders, all of whom described an administration operating on fear, control and retribution.
00:01:08.040Jack Smith has been talking lately and he has been revealing interesting tidbits.
00:01:13.120And I think the Republicans bring Jack Smith to testify publicly at their peril because he's a forceful and articulate narrator of what happened with criminal investigations into the now sitting president.
00:01:26.560And here's the thing, you know, the Republicans have been saying over and over again that Jack Smith weaponized.
00:01:31.440He was he participated in the weaponization of the Biden Justice Department, that essentially this was all a plot by Democrats to target Jack Donald Trump based on bogus allegations.
00:01:41.660Jack Smith is living refutation of that. They produce no evidence to support those allegations.
00:01:46.480And when Jack Smith comes up and talks, they're still not going to have that evidence.
00:01:50.660And he's got a lot of evidence to the contrary, actually, many careful steps that were taken that show actually that this this investigation didn't move as quickly as it could have and didn't take some steps that it could have that would have made it perhaps more successful.
00:02:04.740And so it's going to be a really interesting moment if he does testify publicly.
00:02:09.020So I wouldn't I go light on the new world order.
00:02:12.220I would I think I was characterized the piece being characterized rather than by our headline writers rather than what I was writing about, which is Trump's domestic supremacy.
00:02:23.280Now, he can blow hot and cold to the rest of the world, vaporizing, you know, boats in the Caribbean.
00:02:29.640One moment and saying arranging a Gaza ceasefire and saying he deserves the Nobel Prize the next.
00:02:36.900But at home, it has been pretty much all in one direction.
00:02:40.400And that direction has been towards challenging the rule of law in some cases, just blatantly ignoring court orders and rearranging the senior military brand,
00:02:51.220hiring people who stand in his way and indeed casting a chill over law firms, corporations, employers that to try and intimidate them from standing up to him.
00:03:03.420So I think this is the really massive difference from his first term.
00:03:08.160And I think that the speed with which this has happened and this piece was looking at Trump's first year dating from November the 5th, his election victory, not from his inauguration in January the 20th.
00:03:20.120I think the speed with which he's moved forward on his agenda and the punch drunkenness of a lot of American civil society, not everybody.
00:03:32.800Some people are standing up. There are some a couple of small law firms that represent, you know, people who are suing the Trump administration.
00:03:41.700But basically, there's been pretty much people keeping their heads down.
00:03:46.700And I think that's a very striking difference between Trump 1.0 and Trump 2.0.
00:03:52.480There are no adults in his administration.
00:03:55.660Do you think he will ultimately be indicted or at least charged with a crime, at least an effort to be indicted?
00:04:03.440And and what is to stop this administration from weaponizing the DOJ?
00:04:09.180There's not much to stop it. First of all, I do see him trying to do that.
00:04:12.900I think Jim Jordan and somebody in the White House, maybe Donald Trump, have come up with this plot to get him behind closed doors, get some snippets of testimony,
00:04:20.880do the same thing they did with Letitia James, taking information out of context and statements out of context, out of her mortgage writer.
00:04:29.060The same thing they did with Jim Comey and making it into some kind of a substantive and look, at least appearing substantive indictment to just charge him with having brought two prosecutions against Donald Trump.
00:04:42.940This doesn't kind of ring right in terms of a criminal prosecution.
00:04:48.700But a perjury prosecution is a little bit more technical and it distracts the public and it distracts the press.
00:04:56.220They haven't even, you know, properly reported on the details of both of those prosecutions to show that they're just totally unfounded,
00:05:05.220totally bogus because they've taken information selectively out of certain documents.
00:05:10.220And the only real kind of potential that we have here is, one, if one of the judges in one of these cases felt that they had to do this,
00:05:22.140they could actually appoint a private attorney as a special counsel to investigate the matter.
00:05:28.420So a judge could go and do that. It wouldn't have to come from the DOJ like we've seen appointing special counsel.
00:05:34.120There's a Supreme Court case right on point where in terms of contempt of court,
00:05:38.480which this would be using court processes to go after your political enemies to seek retribution.
00:05:44.960That is not valid. That is contempt of court.
00:05:48.300And it would permit the judge to actually appoint a special attorney to look at that.
00:05:53.480And if he determined there was evidence, he could go ahead and prosecute that case right in front of that judge.
00:05:58.760They don't have to give it to the Department of Justice.
00:06:00.920This is the primal scream of a dying regime.
00:10:19.340Okay, Ben, what did we just see there?
00:10:21.920It looks very dangerous, certainly, to the officers, both in the initial arrest and then afterwards, with the folks kind of crowding around and getting all worked up by these lefty protesters.
00:10:38.000Well, sadly, it's what we're seeing across the country where you have these activist organizations that are training people on how to undermine law enforcement, undermine ICE.
00:10:47.260So in this case, this was an illegal alien that was stopped at a traffic stop.
00:10:51.160He fled with his vehicle, as you heard from the agent there, the PIO, and got to the house, got out.
00:10:57.360Him and two others went running inside the house.
00:10:59.960And at that point, the ICE officers surrounded the home.
00:11:05.560And they were actually planning on going into the home, got word that there were kids in the house.
00:11:11.180And within minutes, you've got this rapid response network, they call it.
00:11:15.520It's this network of leftists, communists, all of these organizations across America, the same NGOs that invited the invasion into our country, that profited off it.
00:11:24.020Many of the same organizations that sent people to your communities around the country are on the phone.
00:11:38.880And sadly, this is what we're seeing, not just here in Houston, but everywhere across the country now, this idea that ICE doesn't have a right to go out and catch the bad guys.
00:11:46.380And by the way, Steve, these guys have no idea who is inside that house, why ICE is there to pick them up, any of the background, what their criminal history is.
00:12:20.900I think the biggest plan is not to spend too much time in any particular area.
00:12:25.260We like to try and hit different areas, get in, get out, before you give the protesters time to organize and the activists time to organize and get into the area.
00:12:32.680So I think the quick hits are the best way to do that right now.
00:12:37.380We're working a lot with our partner law enforcement agencies here.
00:12:39.800We have a 287G program with a lot of our local PDs and local sheriffs that we're working with so that we can actually use those force multipliers.
00:12:47.900Because you're right, we're not going to get enough people ourselves to go out there and solve this problem.
00:12:51.580We've got to work with our partners out here to do it.
00:12:55.620I hear that most of the communities are working with you guys, are supportive of this.
00:13:02.020But it's where they have these agitators and where they've had these lefty organizations go in, train people for resistance to the ICE efforts.
00:16:50.640Sign up for free and be part of the movement.
00:16:52.600Okay, from Houston, we just saw a ICE enforcement operation earlier today with Ben Burquam is Brett Bradford.
00:17:02.780He's the field office director for ICE.
00:17:04.840So, Brett, how do you keep morale up and how do you keep these folks motivated to go in harm's way when I think it was just Friday on the steps of the U.S. Capitol?
00:17:15.580You had this huge group of Democrats saying that – Democrat congressmen saying that they're launching an app that outlines or gets in front of every ICE raid in the country so people can see it real time and so agitators and protesters can get there to work up people.
00:17:35.840How does that play with these brave ICE officers who are going in harm's way every day?
00:17:41.760Well, the first thing I would say to that is it really drives me crazy that these members of Congress are calling us names, coming up with these apps, doing all that stuff, and we are enforcing the laws they put on the books.
00:18:09.840I'm proud of the work that these folks do every day.
00:18:12.160Last year, and these aren't official numbers, but I think we arrested it was around 18,000 or a little over 18,000 people last year, just the Houston field office, and removed them from the United States.
00:18:21.040And I believe in that, and again, I'm just going off my recollection, I think it was about 1,500 folks that actually had convictions for assault or aggravated assault.
00:19:15.680And, again, part of that goes to this being a fairly friendly environment, and we get a lot of cooperation from our partner agencies here and the community as a whole.
00:19:25.220Brett, you have social media or as a field office.
00:19:28.320How can this audience have your guys back?
00:19:54.140We've got to quit trying to demonize the folks here that are keeping our communities safe and enforcing the law.
00:19:59.740We've got to show them that we appreciate what they do.
00:20:02.020Like I said, there's a lot of crimes that are prevented because of the work that these brave men and women do every single day.
00:20:08.540Ben, you're doing what you do best, going harm's way to report these stories.
00:20:12.080Where are you going to be in the next couple of days?
00:20:13.440Well, I'm going to be in and around the Texas area covering ICE and working with ICE.
00:20:20.120Can't talk about everything we're going to be doing, but some major operations happening across the country.
00:20:24.720The numbers continue to increase, and that's what we're looking for is President Trump continues this exponential growth of deportations
00:20:32.000and changing tactics and utilizing different tactics in different areas and watching these guys as force multipliers, as the director said.
00:20:40.520So I'm going to continue to cover that all week here, and then actually later this week, I'll be at the end of the week,
00:20:46.060I'll be in Utah speaking at an event, utahspatriots.com, an event out there just not too far from where Charlie was assassinated.
00:20:55.640So we'll be doing, paying our respects, and I'll be speaking about everything we're seeing out here and all across the country,
00:21:00.780this move to restore America and save this country.
00:21:05.040Burkhoff, social media, where do people go to get your content, sir?
00:21:07.820At Real AM Voice on all Real America's Voice news platforms, our new episode, actually with our first time out here with Houston,
00:21:17.340will be next Saturday, and then my personal social is at Ben Burkhoff.
00:21:21.680Our substack is Frontline America, and my website's frontlineamerica.com.
00:21:27.360Brett Bradford, make sure you let everybody know in your field office and all the officers out there
00:21:32.340and troops doing these raids that America greatly appreciates this work, and 85% of this country have their back.
00:37:25.480So there was this report in the Washington Post today talking about how Jack Smith became the special counsel.
00:37:34.600And I think, Steve, it really demonstrated how desperate Jack Smith was to get his dirty hands on the two investigations into Donald Trump.
00:37:55.520He's in Amsterdam because he was at The Hague prosecuting, handling a war crimes case there.
00:38:02.680Merrick Garland calls him, asks him if he'll take the case.
00:38:05.920He agrees to do so and works from Amsterdam for at least the first eight weeks of the investigation, of taking over those investigations as special counsel.
00:38:18.280Well, DOJ prosecutors had to fly to Amsterdam to meet with Jack Smith because he was laid up and couldn't move.
00:38:26.140Then by the time he got back to the States, apparently this was late December, he was already plotting how to put together a prosecution memo to outline the charges against President Trump in the documents case.
00:38:40.960He barely had time to even get up to speed as to what was happening there.
00:38:46.060And then what was really revealed today is how there was disagreement in the special counsel's office about keeping that investigation, which began in Washington, D.C., even though the alleged crimes took place in Palm Beach in southern Florida.
00:39:02.380But they wanted to keep everything in Washington so they could get favorable rulings from Democrat grand juries and very favorable involvement and cooperation from Obama appointee Beryl Howell, who was chief judge, and then, of course, Jeb Bosberg, who took over for her in early 2023.
00:39:20.920Steve, there were discussions by Judge Cannon about an abuse of the grand jury process during the documents proceedings because the DOJ and Jack Smith conducted almost the entire investigation in Washington, D.C., and then moved it to southern Florida at the last minute to get an indictment because the alleged crimes in the timeline took place after the president left Washington in January of 2021.
00:39:50.920And then when Judge Cannon dismissed the documents indictment on July 15th, 2024, concluding that Jack Smith's appointment violated the Constitution, Jack Smith wanted to go directly to the appellate court, a very rare move, the Washington Post calls it, to have her recused, removed from the proceedings.
00:40:13.920Because, of course, because, of course, as you know, we talked about, she was already giving the DOJ and Jack Smith a hard time because she already knew how dirty and corrupt and dishonest they were, and she was calling them out every step of the way.
00:40:27.380So then after the documents case was dismissed, Jack Smith wanted to go to the appellate court to recuse her, and Solicitor General Elizabeth Preligar, a Biden appointee, told Jack Smith no.
00:40:38.400Is this guy obsessed – was this an obsession with trying to take down President Trump?
00:40:46.580I know the article – I want your opinion.
00:40:48.200Does this show an unhealthy obsession?
00:40:50.560Because he had a terrible reputation in The Hague of going after these supposed war crimes that he would – people considered him a nutcase.
00:40:58.860Is that why Merrick Garland reached out to him?
00:41:01.180You know, I interviewed John Loro, the president's defense attorney, in the J-6 case, and he said that Merrick Garland served up Jack Smith because he basically knew what a dirty prosecutor he was.
00:41:17.980And Merrick Garland wanted to wash himself of both of these investigations and cases.
00:41:25.220Why did Merrick Garland go to someone with such a – I mean, Jack Smith did not have a good record as a prosecutor in the Obama DOJ.
00:41:34.360He was unanimously reversed by the Supreme Court in 2016 in his prosecution of Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and his wife.
00:41:45.120And then he got a hung jury in the first case of Senator Menendez.
00:41:51.400So Jack Smith has a terrible track record.
00:41:54.300But I think that maybe Merrick Garland, maybe again taking his cues from our favorite Lisa Monaco, tapped Jack Smith because he knew the guy has no scruples, he has no integrity, he has no morals.
00:42:06.040He was going to do and pull every dirty trick, and he did, in both cases, the documents case in Florida, where he didn't get away with it, and the J-6 case in Washington, where he did.
00:42:16.360Because, of course, he had Obama Judge Tanya Chutkin cooperating with him in those proceedings.
00:42:22.480So Merrick Garland, Lisa Monaco, maybe even Joe Biden knew that Jack Smith would go to the mats, the mattresses, every single time, pull every trick, bring in every dirty prosecutor under him, J. Bratt, David Harbaugh, J.B. Cooney, Molly Gastone, both of whom, the latter two, wrote to Bill Barr and threatened to quit if he was going to pursue 2020 election fraud investigations.
00:42:48.940They were at the DOJ at that time as well.
00:42:52.080And he certainly did pull in every dirty prosecutor investigator he possibly could, and threw everything he could at the president.
00:42:59.040And then, of course, Donald Trump won, and he had to drop the J-6 case in Washington.
00:45:53.000Fenton and I are adamant about naming a special.
00:45:55.980A special prosecutor and have it report to the Oval Office as part of President Trump's Article 2 powers, as Mike Davis keeps talking about.
00:46:05.640My initial thoughts, and actually they have been my thoughts for a few months, is that is a mistake because we see how quickly special prosecutors, special counsels can get away from the mission, even if you pick someone that you think will do a stellar job.
00:46:23.880Furthermore, because Judge Cannon tossed out Jack Smith's appointment in Southern Florida, finding that his appointment violated the appointments clause of the Constitution, that order still stands.
00:46:38.740Now, of course, Jack Smith was planning to appeal that, had to drop the appeal after the president won.
00:46:44.780But how the special counsel, there is no special prosecutor or independent counsel statute on the books anymore.
00:46:51.200As you know, that expired, I believe it was 1999.
00:46:53.880So what Merrick Garland did was kind of stitch together, and they did this with Robert Mueller, three or four different statutes, kind of random statutes, to say that this justified the appointment of a special counsel.
00:47:05.500That said, I think what we're hearing about a grand jury being impaneled in Southern Florida, starting in January, I think that that is very hopeful.
00:47:16.160The new U.S. attorney there sounds like a real stand-up guy and sounds like he's aligned with the mission there.
00:47:24.200They're going to have to work very quickly, obviously, to start calling people before grand juries and try to get some indictments.
00:47:32.200I don't think that a special counsel will expedite that process.
00:47:37.020There's a chance that it could be more problematic and slow down what needs to be a very orderly process so we can get something done before the time is up.
00:47:52.120So I'm not so sure that that's the best solution.
00:48:15.080What in the hell is going on with the pipe bomb, and what is this video?
00:48:19.020The video doesn't match the timeline, does it, ma'am?
00:48:21.500Well, the video is kind of, for the most part, I know that there's some new clips in there, but this is basically the video that we've seen for the last few years.
00:48:29.440There's this unidentified individual in a hoodie wandering around for about 45, 50 minutes on Capitol Hill close to both the RNC and then sitting down at least twice in front of the DNC.
00:48:42.740It looks like the video might show the suspect planting the pipe bomb.
00:48:47.760I had some very deep doubts about the authenticity of that video.
00:48:52.880This is when I miss him, and I wish that he was around.
00:48:55.220But they did – the FBI did post another public plea to help identify and convict that hoodie suspect saying that that individual planted the bombs that evening.
00:49:06.240However, and this is part of my report today on the woman who allegedly found the pipe bomb by the RNC.
00:49:13.300Steve, she told authorities as early as January 8th that the device by the RNC had to have been planted, and this is Carlin Younger, had to have been planted between noon and 1240 on January 6th because she did not see it on her first trip to this laundry room.
00:49:32.100There's the device right there that she said she spotted around 1240.
00:49:35.620But she said she did not see it at noon.
00:49:38.580So even that little tidbit contradicts the official timeline.
00:49:42.360But nonetheless raises questions about Carlin Younger and recently released FBI documents about her first contact with the FBI on January 8th, a follow-up interview on January 11th, and then contradictions and inconsistencies with media reporters afterwards, and contradictions in her statements and what the surveillance video shows,
00:50:05.420especially related to her allegations that a suspicious woman, that she encountered a suspicious woman on her way to spotting the device, trying to suggest that this woman was a MAGA supporter, a J6-er.
00:50:19.180However, surveillance video shows no such woman that Carlin Younger ever encountered or came close to during her laundry trips that day.
00:50:29.420That may be a projection by a suspicious woman.