00:00:28.820I wish in my soul, I wish that any of these people had a conscience.
00:00:34.700Ask yourself, what is my task and what is my purpose?
00:00:38.460If that answer is to save my country, this country will be saved.
00:00:44.840War Room. Here's your host, Stephen K. Band.
00:00:51.680It's Thursday, 16 April, in the year of our Lord, 2026.
00:00:55.880Thank you for joining us for the late afternoon, early evening edition of The War Room.
00:01:00.100We have Attorney General of the great state of Texas, Ken Paxson, by phone.
00:01:06.200Attorney General Paxson, thank you for joining us.
00:01:08.060A couple of things to go through on our punch list here.
00:01:10.160Number one, you led a great victory yesterday, but the concentration of corporate power.
00:01:16.400First time in 45 years, I believe, a jury sat in judgment of a corporation that they said it was an illegal monopoly.
00:01:23.460Now, the reason this is so extraordinary is that the federal government opted out in the first couple of days of the trial, something that's been worked on for a long time in the states.
00:01:32.400You guys had to make a decision where the punch and just go with the federal government's settlement, which no one was happy with, particularly the people and or step in.
00:01:41.860And extraordinarily, you guys stepped in in the middle of a trial, picked it up and we were victorious.
00:02:16.660It was clear that they were colluding, clear that they were violating state and federal law.
00:02:21.540And we just felt like we had a really good chance of winning that case.
00:02:24.100And we wanted consumers to be protected.
00:02:26.020We want them to have an opportunity to go to these concerts and pay fair prices and have competition and not have it all rigged and expensive.
00:04:56.080But we didn't want to give in and accept less than what we were seeking, which is we want damage for what's been done.
00:05:04.360And in the end, we're going to be seeking, of course, we still have to get to another little trial and damages.
00:05:09.160And as to whether Live Nation and Ticketmaster can even stay together, my preference would be we break them up and let them compete against each other.
00:05:21.960The attorney general in Tennessee said about the same thing yesterday.
00:05:26.340You've come to the conclusion that in the penalty phase, which you're going to be very involved in, you want to see the break over the company, correct?
00:05:33.840Yeah, there's just not enough competition right now.
00:05:36.200It's controlled by Live Nation and Ticketmaster together.
00:05:39.440When you end up with less, you know, only one real competitor, you're not going to get fair prices.
00:05:45.400And so that's what antitrust laws are all about.
00:05:48.460It's about protecting consumers, providing competition, and unshackling competition so that these big companies just don't all buy each other and then rig the market, which is exactly what's happened here, and it's happened in other cases.
00:06:02.960It's the reason we have both federal and state laws protecting consumers against this type of action.
00:06:09.580And when would the penalty phase actually start?
00:06:12.260When can people anticipate you'll start to see actually a potential breakup of Ticketmaster and Live Nation?
00:06:18.460I don't know the exact timing. The judge will have to set the next hearing. So I would assume
00:06:24.740it would not be long from now. And then it'll just be a matter of what's determined, what penalty is
00:06:30.880determined to be appropriate. All I'm telling you is what I'm asking, what I would ask for,
00:06:35.220what I would hope for, whether we get that or not, we'll see. But that's, you know, the fact
00:06:39.380that we won on all counts of liability, I think is an encouraging sign that we're headed down the
00:06:45.000right path and that we made the right decision, giving the jury a chance to hear our case
00:06:48.920and giving regular citizens an opportunity to make their decision about whether this
00:08:35.500and he shouldn't have run in the first place.
00:08:37.520He's been there. I mean, this is going to be the first guy in Texas if he were elected to serve five terms.
00:08:43.260That's 30 years in the Senate. No one's ever done that in Texas.
00:08:46.280And he's not the right guy to have ever done it, let alone, you know, break the record for how long a U.S. senator is serving.
00:08:55.040But you see, here's what and I spent, you know, I think almost three months down there and I tell people I've never seen anything like it.
00:09:01.360He never the only time he brought up any issue at all is when he he jumped on the Sharia.0.86
00:09:06.460It's Prop 10. We went down there and put that on the on the ballot.
00:09:10.340And all of a sudden he's, you know, introducing anti-Sharia laws, although he's been there for 24 years, hasn't done anything.
00:09:16.820He's walking by the wall, which, as you know, he he worked so hard.
00:09:21.060And the clips are out there that Caroline Rand and others put up to fight the wall.
00:09:24.760But now he's he's like President Trump's best buddy.
00:09:27.400But the real center of gravity of his attack of the $100 million was just the personal destruction of you.
00:09:32.920And don't people realize it's all lies and all easily refuted, but it just makes it another additional thing we have to take care of in the fall against Tallarico.
00:09:44.060Can't anybody talk to this guy and say, hey, you're destroying your reputation, you're destroying your legacy, you're destroying the state of Texas, because what he's doing is, quite frankly, irrational and manic, sir.
00:09:57.400Well, look, you're right. He's hurting not just Texas, but he's hurting the entire country because he's sabotaging our efforts to keep the Senate majority because he spent, you know, $100 million in the first round.
00:10:10.220How much is he going to spend now? Millions and millions more, $30 million, $40 million.
00:11:10.980Attorney General, where do people go to find out?
00:11:14.620You're running a magnificent campaign for the simple reason you're doing it on a bootstrap.
00:11:18.980This is all enthusiasm of the grassroots, which I will tell you in Texas are simply some of the greatest patriots I've ever met.
00:11:25.360And you have got the people on your side like nobody's business.
00:11:28.840Where can people go now to find out more about what you've done on the situation with Live Nation, but also the other MAGA policies?
00:11:35.920Because I remember when you talk about, you know, you talk about the election fraud and Save America.
00:11:40.320It was Ken Paxson. You were the lead, trust me, I'm correct me if I'm wrong, you were the lead guy in those lawsuits that we put forward in early 21, late 20 and early 21 to combat this, right, as Attorney General of Texas?
00:11:54.420Yeah, we filed that case against the four states. I initially filed it by myself. Within a couple days, we had 17, I think 17 other states join us when it was clear that a lot of people were supportive of it. So yeah, we did lead that case.
00:12:06.860so where do people go i want people to go to your social media to your website if they can give some
00:12:13.400money great but more importantly to find out more about you and your cause sir yeah kentaxson.com
00:12:19.840that's a great place to donate we need everybody's help if they can give a little that's great
00:12:24.140and then at kentaxson tx for twitter and facebook
00:12:28.780attorney general paxton keep fighting uh you've got massive support not just from war and posse
00:12:35.640but from the grassroots across the country.
00:12:37.260Everybody I talk to, they tell me that Paxson race is everything.
00:13:03.000And this report that's come out, I think the Cook report, and look, Cook is a center-left or a liberal political analysis shop, but they've got a pretty good track record.
00:13:16.460They're talking about four additional states being in play and could be flipped from the Republican Party.
00:13:22.020Why? So much, so much of the resources to defend things is being put in back of Cornyn
00:13:28.620because it was part of McConnell's leadership and they have to defend, they have to defend their,
00:13:35.380their gang. This money is going in and it's out to destroy Ken Paxton. It's going to make the job,
00:13:41.540Ken Paxton is going to win and win big in the fall, but it's going to make it harder. Why is
00:13:46.420it going to make it harder? Because Cornyn's doing the Democrats work right now or trying to do the1.00
00:13:51.000Democrats work with lies and misrepresentation, all that.
00:17:01.540So when Lindsey Graham is not out there putting forward what his program has been, what he's fought for, what he's delivered for the folks in the great state of South Carolina.
00:17:12.120But it's got to go back to the endorsement of President Trump.
00:18:28.980You put up a tweet to counter the Lindsey Graham and if we can put it up on screen.
00:18:35.320But I want Mark, can you walk through you had a response to Lindsey Graham's ad.
00:18:40.140And can you can you walk our audience to it?
00:18:42.760Yeah. I mean, he's not coming to any forums or any debates. He, you know, he's very arrogant and he, you know, he tells everybody I'm a senior senator and he's, he knows it would be very risky to show up because everywhere he goes, he gets booed like he did in Pickens when he opened up for President Trump in 24.
00:19:07.480And, you know, when we retire Lindsey on June 9th,
00:19:11.560he's going to have to find another place to live
00:19:14.320or it'll be miserable for him if he's around South Carolina.
00:19:19.880Pickett, correct me if I'm wrong, Pickens,
00:19:21.960he's from a little town outside of Pickens.
00:19:23.860I mean, Pickens, you could argue, is his hometown.
00:19:25.680I know he's from a different, tinier town than Pickens,
00:19:29.500but Pickens is about as close as you could say is Lindsey Graham's hometown.
00:23:25.700And he's America last and Lindsey first.
00:23:28.340And people are tired of paying for the destruction of America through all of Lindsey Graham's special interest groups he's funding and the enemies of America.
00:23:38.980You know, in the fourth quarter, in the first quarter of 26, he voted for another bill in the budget for $5.7 billion to go to help illegal aliens in this country.
00:23:53.340And so all of the attacks have come because we're exposing the truth.
00:23:57.700I'm not afraid to say the hard things.
00:24:00.240Our campaign is bringing up real, true messaging of what all Americans and South Carolinians are worried about.
00:24:08.740And we're answering their questions with facts and a strong backbone to get it done.
00:24:17.240Mark, given his support of the Ukraine war, given how much time he spent the Munich Security Conference and over Ukraine every other weekend,
00:24:25.200And he started a couple of weeks ago, which which I thought was inappropriate, appeared he was inebriated on TV.
00:24:31.940He would go on. He started talking wild talk, crazy talk about a permanent defense arrangement with the Saudis, with the House Assad to get them into the fight in the in the Iran war.
00:24:44.480Given some of the things he's done in the Iran war and going to Israel so many times, do South Carolinians have a basic problem with the focus?
00:24:51.840his focus has always been overseas and less on these great wars we have here inside the wire in
00:24:59.760the United States, sir? Absolutely. Everybody understands he is a warmonger, and we're all
00:25:07.980tired of sending our men and women to needless wars that's costing us millions and millions and
00:25:15.460trillions of dollars that America doesn't have. And he's sick about it. It's evil. He starts
00:25:23.060salivating. His face changes. He's got a bloodlust for killing. And he talks about it openly.
00:25:29.880And so South Carolinians are ready to have somebody that's not going to produce more wars
00:25:37.200and help promote that. And we've all been asking, where has Lindsey been? He hasn't been at home in
00:25:43.540America. He hasn't come to South Carolina except these last few weeks before the election on June
00:25:49.8409th. And he's been AWOL. While we've allowed terrorist organizations to grow in America,
00:25:56.400and everybody's worried about that, if he's sworn an oath to defend the Constitution
00:26:01.120and defend against enemies, foreign and domestic, we have them in our home in America. And nobody's
00:26:09.700looking at that are talking about it and we can't we can't get a save act passed lindsey you know
00:26:15.560has the power in the senate and we we own the white house with president trump we own the house
00:26:22.180and we own the senate and we're allowing a man like john thune to block every vote that's going
00:26:28.660to happen it gets threatened with a filibuster and you know we need we need to make a motion to
00:26:35.300vacate and bring four other U.S. senators alongside me when I get there, and we'll remove John Thune
00:26:42.020and all the blockade to what President Trump's doing, because this is insane that we can't get
00:26:47.580a bill passed that requires ID and proof of citizenship for voters in this country to protect
00:26:54.540our elections. Sick. Sick. Mark, where do people go to find out more about your campaign? What's
00:26:59.560your social media? Where do they go find out more about you, sir? Yes, go to lynch4senate.
00:27:05.060That's all spelled out, L-Y-N-C-H-F-O-R-Senate.com,
00:27:09.260and you can discover us and follow us on Mark Lynch SC,
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00:29:11.320And I'll tell you this, the feedback from people listening to this show and watching
00:29:55.420Mo Bannon, Deloes Stallman. Deloes, first, we are having this event on Sunday. It's a thank you. You just heard Paxton and you heard Lynch. That's Texas and South Carolina.
00:30:11.740Remember, Lindsey Graham's got all the money in the world because he's got the Senate Leadership Fund in back of him. Same with Cornyn.0.98
00:31:41.620And now, because the grassroots have gone door to door with the most powerful thing you had is not a 30-second ad.
00:31:47.080The most powerful thing you have is voter contact.
00:31:51.020When somebody's sitting there, particularly a low-prefensory voter, and they sit there and they have somebody that's knowledgeable and passionate and has a sense of urgency, things happen.
00:32:10.660This is how we won the greatest comeback ever.
00:32:12.540President Trump won the primary in 24 and then won the general election in 24.
00:32:17.060It's all the same methodology that hasn't been lost.
00:32:20.680So, Deloes, tell us what's been going on in Virginia.
00:32:23.640We're having this gathering on Sunday from 4 to 7 in Hanover County, central Virginia,
00:32:28.460to thank the people that did it, but also if there's War Room Posse,
00:32:31.640want to come down and meet those folks and just have some camaraderie,
00:32:35.320have a little great Virginia food, listen to a couple speakers,
00:32:39.480maybe have a little music. You never know what we're going to do, right? We're playing this,
00:32:44.160we're making this up as we go along. But ma'am, tell me why it's important for what the grassroots
00:32:50.300did in the Commonwealth as we've drawn kind of to a dead heat against $80 million as a lesson
00:32:57.600for the country, ma'am. Yeah, Steve, thanks so much. We have had like a Herculean effort by
00:33:04.660just normal people, people who pitched in. I've gotten a lot of volunteers just standing out in
00:33:10.180front of early voting people on my clipboard. They'll sign up. So we have done, as you said,
00:33:15.480we've gone door to door. These are my lists. Oh, sorry. My lists are like, they're divided by street,
00:33:22.500by color. We assign them out. People hit the ground running. We're doing that all over the
00:33:27.380state. A lot of our signs, as you'll see, they're made by people in our own committees. I have a
00:33:33.480handout that was made by somebody we're going to be using on Election Day. Kind of gonzo, if I'm
00:33:40.360honest about it, people have become incredibly creative. We don't have these redundant
00:33:45.720mega C4 money signs like the other side does. We have got a lot of creativity on the ground,
00:33:54.620and I think that does let the voters we talked to know that we have an authentic message.
00:33:59.380And I know I talked the other day about the referendum that created the redistricting commission back in 2020 when we voted for the constitutional amendment.
00:34:09.240And I just want to remind people that 66 percent of Virginians put nonpartisan redistricting on the ballot.
00:34:17.320So that message and that sentiment still percolates among Virginia.
00:34:22.340know, we know what fairness is, we know, we know what it looks like. And it certainly does not look
00:34:28.240like a 10 to one map. So we are, we feel like we're very competitive in this race and it does
00:34:37.680come down to voter contact. So all of our people are just really working diligently to talk to
00:34:48.700You're coming down here graciously to rally the troops and steer us toward victory on Tuesday.
00:34:55.980I want to make sure we bifurcate this because we're going to run through the tape through Saturday.
00:35:01.760What assistance now for the war and posse?
00:35:03.760Let's make a call to action for anybody else that wants to help.
00:35:06.560You've got texting programs, phone banks, people will throw a few dollars at you.
00:35:11.080Anything there, because Saturday ends early voting and then we're going to have this gathering on Sunday to thank everybody that did it, but also to gear them up for Tuesday, which is the is game day voting and then to look forward to November.
00:35:26.660So for right now, between now and Saturday, what do you guys need?
00:35:30.940um well first of all you can go to virginia.gop and sign up to be of some value to the
00:35:40.700state organized team we do have calls call banking and text programs you can donate as well
00:35:48.840go to stop the gerryman stop gerrymandering and there are ways for you to get involved
00:35:53.000If you are in, you know, I'm in the first district, our Facebook page is facebook.com, York County Republicans. We're posting a lot on there. You can share our content. That helps get the message out farther than we are able to do it.
00:36:10.220um we do have early voting now through saturday and so there will be a very busy push um saturday
00:36:19.420is is going to be incredibly busy then we'll cut it off and if you want to support people who want
00:36:25.320to volunteer on election day we always would like additional people out there engaging with voters
00:36:30.980as they walk in so yeah you know you can message that facebook page we're going to have email me
00:36:35.940We're going to have people on here tomorrow, and Saturday we're going to be live, Saturday morning, to talk to some of your volunteers.
00:38:03.920We've had, and I will tell folks, we've had an extraordinary response to this, and we couldn't be happier.
00:38:13.260But we're going to take everybody that signs up for a ticket, but you guys signed up for a ticket.
00:38:17.020It's centrally located in Hanover County, which is in the central part of the state.
00:38:22.340So we'll make it easy for everybody.0.98
00:38:23.660We want as many people from the state coming, and we want the Warren Posse members.
00:38:27.340Even if you weren't part of this, we want you to come, enjoy it, meet the heroes and patriots.
00:38:33.560We're going to talk about Tuesday. Also, in addition, we're going to talk about November and what has to happen between now and November, because trust me, folks, this thing's a long way from over. Mo Bannon.
00:38:45.880Like you said, it is this Sunday, April 19th, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
00:38:51.980You go to warroomvarally.eventbrite.com.
00:38:58.600Warroomvarally, all one word, .eventbrite.com.
00:39:02.960We want to thank the grassroots and all their effort that they've been doing in Virginia
00:39:08.440and also talk about the way ahead and hear from the audience, hear from the grassroots,
00:39:14.480the people that have put time in, day in and day out to make sure that we save the Commonwealth of Virginia and this country.
00:39:25.760And like you said, it's not about the wording in it. It's vote no.
00:39:32.400And that is in order to save the Commonwealth.
00:39:35.000And I made this pitch when it came to early voting in Texas and game day voting in Texas back in February.
00:39:41.840But if you can hear the sound of my voice tonight and you have early voted, make sure that your friends and family get out and vote.
00:39:50.360If they haven't early voted by Saturday, make sure they get out on game day and vote no.
00:39:57.740DeLois, in closing, Hakeem Jeffries, at the end of the day, it will be almost 80 million dollars, you think, or even higher.
00:40:07.040$80 million. You can't cut on television in the Commonwealth of Virginia and not just be inundated with these ads.
00:40:17.080$80 million. You guys are on a shoestring.
00:40:19.920Of course, corporate Republicans have raised some money, but they've just also just wasted on these 30-second TV ads.
00:40:25.840And that's all just a grift off the system so the consultants can take their 20 percent carried interest.
00:40:32.380But the odds you were up against is $80 million, because Hakeem Jeffries understands something very simple.
00:40:38.820For him to become Speaker of the House and begin the effort to impeach Donald Trump, it starts and maybe ends in the Commonwealth of Virginia, does it not, ma'am?
00:40:51.200Yeah, I've been really frantic about this election, as you know, Steve.
00:40:55.260The Trump voters, maybe the lower propensity voters, they have got to understand that this vote is really to save the presidency.
00:41:05.640If they are allowed to steal four seats, that could undermine any majority that we could possibly have.
00:41:13.300And as you say, Hakeem Jeffries is trying to buy the speakership.
00:41:18.340They've thrown this referendum into April, which is a time that Virginia never votes.
00:41:23.860They segregated this referendum item from the three other ones that will be on the November
00:41:29.320ballot. They've worded it confusingly. And if we can impart upon the Trump voter, the infrequent
00:41:37.120voter that participate in a very unsexy April referendum to save Donald Trump. And I hope the
00:41:45.640president knows that we are all working very diligently so that his presidency is a four-year
00:41:52.160term not a two-year term so all of the trump voters anybody with trump voters in virginia
00:41:58.440call them up and encourage them to vote and bring a friend or five low low propensity voters we need
00:42:06.560you out they need the trump voters deloes where do people go one more time uh we're gonna have
00:42:10.880folks on tomorrow and saturday saturday live we're gonna be live following some of you folks
00:47:05.140Let's go ahead and play a great, in the press conference today, a hat tip to the United States Navy for its great blockade.
00:47:11.440Let's go ahead and hear from General King.
00:47:13.320These ships are run by the youngest sailors in our surface warfare Navy.
00:47:19.940The helmsman, the sailor on the watch at the bridge is normally just between 18 to 19 years old, and they are trusted to drive this warship through that supermarket parking lot without hitting anything.
00:47:35.640The conning officer, an equally young commissioned officer who's normally just a few years out of college, is the ones that are giving that young helmsman the orders on where to take that American warship to execute the mission that the secretary and the president has given us.
00:47:55.460These are incredibly well-trained sailors.
00:47:59.100They are led by incredible leaders, salty, experienced leaders, and trusted with deep responsibility.
00:48:07.300And I'm so humbled and proud of America's Navy.
00:48:11.000These sailors choose to take the road less traveled, to go into the historic surface Navy, and they deliver every single day.
00:48:20.500Finally, as I often do, I want to highlight one of those surface sailors today and remember our fallen.
00:48:26.860Today, we remember Ensign Robert Thompson of the U.S. Laffey, who died on this day in 1945 in the Battle of Okinawa.
00:48:35.680He was killed while fighting a fire, along with 31 others, as two Japanese kamikaze aircraft hit their ship.
00:48:44.040He passed away one week after his 22nd birthday and was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.
00:48:50.500We remember Ensign Thompson today and all of our World War II vets who continue to give us the gift of a great example.
00:48:58.100And those surface warfare sailors who are out there doing the job right now,
00:49:04.120take the courage, grit and determination that those World War II vets gave us into these actions and activities that they're tasked to do every single day.
00:49:15.580Wow. The block right there is my ship, the USS Paul F. Foster.
00:49:19.280And, yes, we had people at the helm that were 18, 19 years old, right?
00:49:27.720I think I'd fleeted up to be officer of the deck, but I was in my early 20s.
00:49:32.520Early 20s at first, and I think got to 24, 25 when we got to the Persian Gulf, where they are right now.
00:49:40.060But I really want to thank, and that great shout-out from General Kane is so appreciated by the historic surface Navy that's doing the blockade today.
00:49:46.860But particularly one of my passions is the USS Laffey, which I think took a dozen hits from kamikazes on that day, too, that really took the damage control team that Ensign Thomas, what, 22 years old, posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his heroism.0.81
00:51:04.320Where do people go to sign up for this gathering we're going to have on Sunday?
00:51:07.720You go to warroomvarally.eventbrite.com. And just to go back to the comment about the Army and the Navy, you know, General Kane was honoring the surface warfare.
00:51:20.360And I just want the audience to know that you were a surface warfare officer when they were talking about the newly commissioned officers.
00:51:26.720that's something that you did so it's truly an uh an honor to follow you in military service and
00:51:35.340uh that you were in the area that he was talking about but i just couldn't i couldn't go navy i
00:51:42.540had to be a little rebellious and join the army you had the better duty stations than i did i'm
00:51:48.040just admitting you had the better duty stations than i did but i enjoyed my time in the army
00:51:52.660That was always attractive about the Navy.