In the first episode of War Room Texas, host Stephen K.K. Banno and guests Ken Paxton, Aaron Reitz, Chip Roy, and Mays Middleton discuss the Texas AG primary debate, which was streamed live from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
00:00:00.000Islamic Jihadis are plotting against you.
00:00:11.180Why in the hell do you think they're in Houston and in the north of Dallas?
00:00:14.220They are working together to overthrow Western civilization.
00:00:18.500Sharia compounds, which are areas governed by religious rules.
00:00:22.400We know who you are, we know what you are, and we know what you're trying to accomplish,
00:00:27.360and it is not going to happen in the jewel of the crown of the union of this republic.
00:00:33.140We purge any attempt to impose Sharia law in Texas.
00:00:36.500They are not coming. They are already here.
00:00:39.280You are not here properly, and you're going to leave.
00:00:44.520On the 3rd of March, Sharia law goes on the ballot in the state of Texas.
00:00:50.420The United States Constitution and Sharia are fundamentally at odds with one another.
00:00:54.580We're going to tell them, take your Sharia law and shove it.
00:01:00.060Islam will never dominate the United States, and by the grace of God, it will not dominate Texas.
00:01:07.000As Texas goes, so goes the nation. As the nation goes, so goes the world.
00:01:12.780Are you prepared to fight for this state? Are you prepared to fight for your country?
00:01:17.720War Room Texas, where your host, Stephen K. Bannon, starts right now.
00:01:27.600Okay, welcome to War Room Texas. It's Wednesday, 18 February, in the year of the Lord, 2026.
00:01:34.300Last night was the only debate in this entire race, in the primary at least, for the Texas Attorney General.
00:01:42.460Remember, the Attorney General in Texas, you being part of the War Room Posse, Ken Paxton, is absolutely essential to the fight to get President Trump back into the presidency, as you all remember.
00:01:57.040As Attorney General of Texas, he was our first guest on the afternoon show of 20 January, 2021.
00:02:04.940President Trump left the tarmac from Andrews Air Force Base on Air Force One.
00:02:09.980We had that very dramatic show in the morning that ended at noon, right when Biden was going to take the oath of office.
00:02:16.380President Trump kind of went into exile for a while down in Mar-a-Lago.
00:02:21.500And what we did in the afternoon, the very first guest we had was Ken Paxton of Texas, the Attorney General.
00:02:27.580And why we had Paxton, we knew that the Attorney Generals, the State Attorney Generals, are going to be so important.
00:02:32.560And Texas is the jewel of the crown, so Texas would be the most important.
00:02:36.780Now, tonight, we're going to break down the debate that we live-streamed last night.
00:02:41.640The central figures are Aaron Reitz, who is endorsed by Ken Paxton, former Justice Department guy, Marine Corps, former Marine officer.
00:02:50.240Chip Roy, who we've had on for years, part of the Tea Party Chief of Staff at Ted Cruz.
00:02:55.440Chip is also part of the Freedom Caucus, been one of the fighters in the Congress.
00:03:01.180And, of course, Mays Middleton, more, I think, of kind of a Bush guy.
00:05:19.740President Trump used that as the model for the executive order he signed this last year to designate cartels as terrorist organizations.
00:05:26.500I worked alongside President Trump to draft and move forward through the House, the Save America Act, and we're going to get it through the Senate.
00:05:33.480And I'm fighting to make sure every day that we deliver for the people of Texas.
00:05:37.680As attorney general, I'll be one of one instead of one of 435 fighting for you, the people of Texas, and I'm asking for your vote.
00:05:45.940I'm running for attorney general because I believe that we're in a battle for the soul of our state and our nation.
00:05:51.960And I know from long-fought personal experience that the primary arena in which we fight the dark forces of the left is the justice system.
00:05:59.860President Trump understands this better than anyone, and as one of his very first orders of business in his new administration was to elevate me to the senior ranks of his Justice Department.
00:06:10.260And when he did, he said Aaron Reitz is a true MAGA attorney and a warrior for the Constitution.
00:06:16.700Because of my battle-tested record leading legal troops into legal combat to deliver legal victories for Texas and for Texans.
00:06:25.200Attorney General Paxson has served our state effectively and faithfully for over a decade, but now the time has come to choose a new chief legal officer.
00:06:36.480Remember, under the Texas Constitution, this is a legal, law enforcement, executive branch job, not a legislative job.
00:06:44.280So while my opponents may spend tonight talking about their legislative record or bills that they've worked on, you'll see a glaring absence of any real legal record.
00:06:53.260That might be fine if you're running for re-election to the House or Senate, but it's wholly inadequate to the task of attorney general.
00:06:59.860In contrast, my record, litigating, investigating, suing, defending, and appealing on all the major issues that we Republicans care about throughout the justice system sets me apart.
00:07:09.960It's that record that led Attorney General Paxson to endorse me to succeed him, and it's that record that can give Texans the confidence that I'm ready to lead the fight in court.
00:07:19.880It's great to be here tonight. I'm excited about the opportunity to introduce myself to you.
00:07:25.180I'm Joan Huffman. I started my career in 1981 as a secretary at the Harris County District Attorney's Office and put myself through law school at night.
00:07:33.900Once I graduated, I was hired as a prosecutor where I served Harris County for over 15 years, tried over 100 jury trials, including death penalty cases, was chief gang prosecutor, chief of the organized crime narcotics task force,
00:07:47.840and then I ran for criminal district court judge where I was twice elected, served two terms.
00:07:53.380In 2008, I ran for the state senate where I've served ever since.
00:07:57.620In those years, I have served as chairwoman of the major committees in the senate, state affairs, jurisprudence, redistricting.
00:08:06.660I'm currently the chair of finance and have been for the last four years where I write the state's $340 billion budget.
00:08:15.500During that time period, I've led on major conservative fights.
00:08:19.400I passed the first voter ID bill that passed court muster in Texas.
00:08:24.420I passed the first Sharia law bill when people weren't paying attention.
00:08:29.120I passed campus free speech and have led the funding, led the fight with President Trump on border security as chair of the committees and the finance committee that focus on all the border security.
00:08:43.340I have the qualifications, the will, and the work ethic to be your next attorney general and be the fighter that you need and you want as your attorney general.
00:08:53.700Really, all you need to know about me in this race is I'm the only one that's been protested at the Texas Capitol during this campaign.
00:09:04.380They had these big, ugly green signs with my face on it and they called me the bathroom bigot.
00:09:11.340Why? Because I don't want men in my little girl's restroom or locker room or shower.
00:09:27.060I'm only here to serve and fight for the conservative values that we believe in.
00:09:32.240And that's what I've done since day one in office.
00:09:35.360I've always been ranked as the top one or two most conservative members in the House.
00:09:39.460Now the Senate, I was chairman of the Texas House Freedom Caucus and President Trump called me a MAGA champion and my conservative record second to none.
00:09:49.180And this is a show me, don't tell me business.
00:09:53.520I took on the woke left's gender ideology, won, stopped men from playing women's sports, kicked perverted men out of women's private spaces like restrooms and locker rooms, defeated the atheists and put prayer and the Ten Commandments back into our public schools, and took on our foreign adversaries in Austin, stopped China from buying our land, designated cartels as terrorists, tripled border security,
00:10:17.880and I'm now taking on our most growing threat, which is Sharia law and Islamification.
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00:33:08.980And when I say geopolitically, that means, hey, I think we're going to go to a shooting exercise here in a kinetic war unless President Trump is able to really pull it out on a negotiation.
00:33:17.460Right now, with financial turbulence and geopolitical turbulence and maybe on a path to war, now is the time for you to talk to experts about the ownership of physical gold.
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00:33:34.220And now recently, let's say over the last year or two, has become really another financial asset like it was a financial asset back in the 19th century.
00:33:51.820Philip will be with us tomorrow night to talk about the U.S. dollar coming under more pressure.
00:33:56.800If you make a qualifying purchase and talking to Philip Patrick and the team at Birchgold, you can get a free copy.
00:34:03.380We've actually put the first seven installments that we started back five or six years ago when gold was about a thousand bucks into book form.
00:34:11.500The Patriots edition, you get it for free.
00:34:30.740So, don't be fooled when Chip tells you that he was Paxton's chief deputy and he wants to cite his record there.
00:34:37.460Remember, he was so ineffective, so bad at serving as Paxton's deputy that Paxton fired him.
00:34:45.600Now, that's not often covered in the media, but I hope that the media pool does their due diligence because they will realize that even though he wants to cite that experience, it was so bad he shouldn't be running on it today.
00:34:57.160Congressman, would you like to respond?
00:34:59.120Well, that's simply not true, but I know someone who both of us work for that's endorsed me, and that's Senator Ted Cruz.
00:35:06.640And he has put his full confidence in me to serve as the Attorney General of Texas, Ted having served as Solicitor General for this great state.
00:35:17.820He knows what is necessary in that office, and I'm proud to have his full support and endorsement.
00:35:23.560So, what specific steps would you take as Texas Attorney General to stop the CCP from infiltrating, to take control over Texas land, and doing other things that might make Texas a foothold for their influence in the United States?
00:35:40.560While Sharia is the greatest civilizational threat that we're confronting right now, China and its ruling Chinese Communist Party is the greatest geopolitical threat that we're facing right now.
00:35:54.760And they are reaching out the tentacles of its red dragon directly into Texas.
00:36:04.460They want to demoralize us, and they want to do it at a high dollar value.
00:36:08.800I'm proud that Texas has banned the incursion of the CCP into land sales, critical infrastructure, and important technologies.
00:36:18.760I'm also proud of the fact that Attorney General Paxton is already leading the way and showing what it looks like to muster the full weight of the Attorney General's office,
00:36:29.860to investigate the pushers of CCP spy technologies, and is actively litigating against them.
00:36:36.600If we want to continue that fight, you need Paxton's endorsed successor to do that.
00:36:43.180And you need someone who just came from the Justice Department to partner with the federal resources to make it a full frontal assault on the CCP.
00:36:52.240The red dragon's head is getting chopped off on my watch.
00:36:54.280In 2019, as a freshman member of Congress, I talked to my staff about how ridiculous it was that we weren't stopping the CCP from owning land,
00:37:05.020and not just within 100 miles of military bases, but generally.
00:37:07.880So I introduced legislation to ban ownership of lands by the Chinese Communist Party or anybody affiliated with it.
00:37:13.400Now, everybody at the time said, well, that's awfully aggressive.
00:37:38.580It mattered that some of us in Congress stood up and said, no, the Chinese Communist Party is not going to be able to comb over all of the information and the data collected on our children and use it by virtue of TikTok.
00:37:53.360So now we've gotten some reforms in place.
00:37:55.040And by the way, I think we need to go further.
00:37:56.660We need to review all that's been happening with the deal making.
00:37:59.120But it's important that we look at the corporations, the corporate ownership.
00:38:02.420And by the way, it's not just the Chinese Communist Party.
00:38:04.860I don't know why any foreign nationals, frankly, are able to own American land.
00:38:43.540And I would certainly follow up with that.
00:38:45.220But I think it's so new to us that we need to dive in.
00:38:49.720We need to do an assessment of what's out there.
00:38:52.280Because I don't think we really know, right?
00:38:54.440It's been going on, to your point, for so long.
00:38:57.040We need to do work with the land commissioner's office, look through the data, figure out who owns what and where,
00:39:03.560and do a serious assessment as Texans so that we have that information and then go about the procedures that have been put in place by the legislature to actually enforce this law.
00:39:21.660That law did not pass in 2023, by the way.
00:39:24.280And I'll never forget getting phone calls in my office saying, I'm afraid to show up and testify for this bill stopping China from buying our land because of what could happen to our family back in China.
00:39:36.240Does that not show you we're on the right side of this?
00:39:39.320But not only that, we found out that WeChat, which is a Beijing-based social media company, was interfering with that law, trying to stop it, organizing the opposition through Gene Wu,
00:39:51.440who's actually in the Texas House, working with mainland China.
00:39:55.560They mean us harm, and they interfered with the Texas legislative process.
00:39:59.880But I was on that conference committee.
00:40:01.680We got it done this time, and there was something very important I wanted in there.
00:40:05.360And that was to make sure that the AG has the power to bring an action to force them to divest of this real property, not just land, minerals, water, timbers.
00:40:17.380And it's an in-rim action that we have to have, and I will enforce, to make sure these enemy entities do not buy Texas out from underneath us.
00:40:30.280Crime is a top concern for many Texans.
00:40:33.920Would you use the Attorney General's office to investigate or challenge district attorneys if their leniency appears to be contributing to rising violent crime?
00:40:44.300Crime is spiking in Texas, in all of our big blue cities, and our big blue counties.
00:40:50.640We're talking right now in Dallas County, where this district attorney is one of the worst in the state, if not the nation.
00:40:57.560He is part of a network of Soros-funded district attorneys who are intentionally and maliciously not prosecuting crimes, abusing their prosecutorial discretion, turning a blind eye, encouraging light sentences, and our families and our communities are the victims of their malfeasance.
00:41:23.320Of the local ordinances and statutes to which they are bound.
00:41:26.660As Attorney General, I have committed from day one that within the first month of taking office, I will seek the removal of the Dallas County District Attorney, Travis County District Attorney, and Harris County District Attorney.
00:41:39.660Because I will not allow these awful leftist, insurrectionist, communist Soros-funded district attorneys turn Texas into something it never was designed to be.
00:41:50.500I was visiting with Crime Stoppers down in Houston a couple weeks ago, and they told me a statistic that should turn your head, and that is that there are 222 Houstonians who have been murdered over the last seven years by multiple-time felons who were released and back out on the streets in Houston.
00:42:11.360And the fact is, we've got DAs and judges that are allowing it to happen.
00:42:15.440So, of course, we should enforce the law, and we should make sure that DAs and judges are held to account.
00:42:20.240I think the legislature ought to give greater authority to the governor, like Governor DeSantis has in Florida, to remove recalcitrant DAs and to have greater flexibility to do that.
00:42:29.720And we ought to be able to do that to judges.
00:42:31.600But importantly, I think the governor has been right when he's been talking about a state prosecutorial function.
00:42:36.680The Office of Attorney General has prosecutor's assistance.
00:42:39.780But for a state the size of Texas, with the eighth biggest economy in the world with over 30 million people, we ought to be able to have a function and not have to rely on Department of Justice as a backstop,
00:42:48.600but a state function to be able to make sure bad guys are in jail, that gang members are in jail, that cartel members are in jail, and not on our streets harassing the people of Texas.
00:42:59.080Well, there's a reason why I've been endorsed by Texas Crime Victims United and all the major law enforcement agencies in the state of Texas.
00:43:06.600That's because I've been fighting this fight for a very long time, for almost 40 years now.
00:43:12.280And recently in the Texas Senate, in the legislature, we finally got passed a major bail reform where we can hold those violent offenders from multiple offenders who commit violent crimes without bail.
00:43:25.220So thank you for bringing that up, Congressman Roy.
00:43:27.340And we've done other major things, but it's going to take time for all this to go into place.
00:43:33.960As far as the rogue prosecutors go, I wrote that bill.
00:43:48.660Yes, but I will say the vast majority of the prosecutors in this state are great people who have their constituents, good will at heart, their best interests at heart.
00:44:05.080Our laws, our constitution, those are not suggestions.
00:44:09.460And any time a district attorney is treating it that way, which they are, right, they're not prosecuting criminal trespass in Travis County, for example, the list goes on.
00:44:20.600They have violated their oath of office because they were supposed to put their hand on the Bible to protect and defend all of our laws, all of the constitution.
00:44:30.340And when they're choosing not to do that, they're choosing to violate their oath and they should be removed from office.
00:44:50.260And I wholly support Governor Abbott's idea for a statewide prosecutor.
00:44:54.600In addition, I would like to see for the AG be able to prosecute any violation of state law, which would require a change in the legislature.
00:45:04.420And I've been endorsed by 51 Trump-endorsed legislators.
00:45:08.080I'm best equipped to make that happen.
00:45:13.460So this idea that I'm saying things that can't be done is exactly the sort of loser mentality why Republicans often don't win.
00:45:25.460I'm the only one on this stage who, in my position at both DOJ and as Paxson's deputy, who has wielded the tools and the weapons of the law in creative ways.
00:45:35.960Don't be fooled by the kind of Republican that says, it can't be done.
00:46:20.800I am proud to have the endorsement of Chloe Cole.
00:46:25.260Chloe, I got to know when she came to testify about the brutal treatment that was levied against her.
00:46:32.280It's the first time I've seen significant members of Congress in the dais breaking down in tears on the testimony of someone coming before them.
00:46:40.700And the fact is, I've sat down with Chloe to understand what we can do.
00:46:44.480And we need to have aggressive legislation and aggressive defense of our laws in the state of Texas.
00:46:57.900I've been criticized for allegedly not being strong enough on this issue, despite supporting legislation, to remove funding and to stop these terrible procedures.
00:48:26.660I'm not just fighting against taxpayer-funded evil.
00:48:29.200And that's what his amendment would have done.
00:48:31.280And it's why Terry Schilling, who runs APP, said there was no greater ally to the transgender lobby than Chip Roy.
00:48:37.640Yeah, I'm glad that the Texas legislature has banned these sorts of monstrous procedures.
00:48:43.420But that couldn't have happened but for Attorney General Paxton and I providing the legal framework to give the lines within which the legislature colored.
00:48:55.480I'm proud of the fact that I was the lead author under Attorney General Ken Paxton's opinion that defined unequivocally these trans procedures as child abuse under the Texas Family Code.
00:49:08.520Once we provided the legislature with that guidance, they finally acted.
00:49:14.220Now, I hope that I get a minute in rebuttal to say this too.
00:49:19.800Chip did what exactly President Trump described about him, which was to make a mountain out of a molehill, to grandstand, to make nothing out of an issue.
00:49:37.720So the legislation in question was authored by Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was leaving Congress two weeks later and who has since gone on a tirade attacking President Trump.
00:49:45.700The fact of the matter is that legislation is dead.
00:49:48.220It is dead in the United States Senate, and it will not do any of the things that my opponents say it will do because it won't become law.
00:49:54.980The fact of the matter is, we had an amendment that was supported by a significant number of Republicans that would have stopped these grotesque procedures for being funded with taxpayer funds.
00:50:04.400And it is amazing to listen to Republican attorneys general candidates standing up saying they want massive federal laws to step over the state of Texas.
00:50:52.240Because I've worked hard, because I've been effective, because I have real results, I have strong support from law enforcement, from prosecutors, from the victims' organizations across the state.
00:51:04.620They know me, they know Joan, they know that I will fight with every breath of my being to make Texas safe and strong.
00:51:18.200I'm in this for one reason, and that's to win for the people of Texas.
00:51:23.720I'm not a trust fund kid spending my family's money.
00:51:27.600I didn't get a precious Senate-confirmed slot, spend 70 days in the administration so I could ladder climb back home in Texas.
00:51:38.740What I did do is survive cancer 15 years ago when I was diagnosed with stage 3 Hodgkin's lymphoma.
00:51:43.920And when I got through the other side of that, through the faith in God and through the love of my wife and family, I promised my kids, I promised my wife, that I would leave it all on the battlefield to try to save this great state and this great nation.
00:52:02.580We cannot lose Texas or we lose America.
00:52:05.100We need an attorney general who will put it all out there, who has a demonstrated track record of success, who is independent and strong, willing to work with this administration and willing to fight for the people of Texas.
00:52:21.000That's why I'm asking the people of Texas for their vote.
00:52:23.640The first time I ever swore an oath to the U.S. Constitution was as a brand new second lieutenant in the Marine Corps.
00:52:30.440I was 22 years old, my hair sadly fast approaching its current state, and I raised my right hand and I said,
00:52:37.700I, Aaron Reitz, do solemnly swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
00:52:45.520The next time that I swore that oath was in the West Wing, with my wife and four kids on my left and the Attorney General of the United States on my right.
00:52:52.720And I raised my hand and I said the exact same oath.
00:52:55.360Now, as a younger man, I primarily thought about the foreign threats to our Constitution, and I lived it as somebody who deployed to the Helmand province of Afghanistan.
00:53:04.560But I have come to fully appreciate that today the primary threats that we are facing are the domestic enemies of the Constitution,
00:53:12.800and they are fighting a vicious war against us in the justice system.
00:53:17.600We need an Attorney General who is battle-tested, who is proven, who's been endorsed by Paxton to succeed him,
00:53:25.420to wage war and win on behalf of our conservative, Republican, Christian, Texas, and American values.
00:53:32.020And that's Aaron Reitz for Attorney General.
00:53:33.920Well, you know what? Let me respond to that.
00:53:35.700What we don't need is someone as an Attorney General like Chip Roy,
00:53:38.780that has spent 10 years fighting President Trump, defending Liz Cheney, calling us MAGA-effers,
00:53:45.820and we could kiss his you-know-what-if we didn't like it.
00:53:48.600We can't afford that in the AG's office.
00:53:51.620And look, that's why I'm running here to defend Texas and defeat the left.