The Charlie Kirk Show - January 05, 2026


The Great Venezuela Caper and America First


Episode Stats


Length

44 minutes

Words per minute

171.12613

Word count

7,598

Sentence count

616

Harmful content

Misogyny

9

sentences flagged

Toxicity

11

sentences flagged

Hate speech

16

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Andy Biggs joins us in studio to talk about his campaign for Governor of Arizona and why he thinks Hakeem Jeffries should have been briefed on the Venezuelan crisis. We also talk about the latest in the Hacking of the Panama Papers scandal and why the media is covering it like a sieve.

Transcript

Transcripts from "The Charlie Kirk Show" are sourced from the Knowledge Fight Interactive Search Tool. Explore them interactively here.
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:03.000 My name is Charlie Kirk.
00:00:05.000 I run the largest pro-American student organization in the country fighting for the future of our republic.
00:00:11.000 My call is to fight evil and to proclaim truth.
00:00:14.000 If the most important thing for you is just feeling good, you're going to end up miserable.
00:00:19.000 But if the most important thing is doing good, you'll end up purposeful.
00:00:24.000 College is a scam, everybody.
00:00:26.000 You got to stop sending your kids to college.
00:00:27.000 You should get married as young as possible and have as many kids as possible.
00:00:31.000 Go start a Turning Point USA college chapter.
00:00:33.000 Go start a Turning Point USA High School chapter.
00:00:35.000 Go find out how your church can get involved.
00:00:37.000 Sign up and become an activist.
00:00:39.000 I gave my life to the Lord in fifth grade.
00:00:41.000 Most important decision I ever made in my life.
00:00:43.000 And I encourage you to do the same.
00:00:45.000 Here I am.
00:00:46.000 Lord, use me.
00:00:48.000 Buckle up, everybody.
00:00:49.000 Here we go.
00:00:56.000 The Charlie Kirk Show is proudly sponsored by Preserve Gold, the leading gold and silver experts and the only precious metals company I recommend to my family, friends, and viewers.
00:01:09.000 All right.
00:01:10.000 Welcome back to the Charlie Kirk Show.
00:01:11.000 It's our first show of the new year.
00:01:14.000 I can't tell you how excited I was for 2025 to come to an end.
00:01:19.000 Joined as always by Blake Neff, the producer on the show, and we are honored to have the great Andy Biggs in studio here in Phoenix, Arizona.
00:01:28.000 Welcome back to the show.
00:01:29.000 Thanks, Andrew.
00:01:30.000 Great to be with you and Blake.
00:01:31.000 Thank you for having me.
00:01:32.000 It's an honor to have you.
00:01:33.000 We thought it was appropriate.
00:01:35.000 You know this.
00:01:37.000 Your race for governor was truly, it's hard to put into words, actually, how important it was to Charlie that you become the next president.
00:01:46.000 That was his Project 2026.
00:01:47.000 Project 2026 was make Andy Biggs governor of the great state of Arizona, state 48.
00:01:53.000 And so it just felt fitting to have you here.
00:01:56.000 And, you know, I was prepping for you coming in studio.
00:01:59.000 I was looking at the polling, and I was the latest one from Emerson has you up like huge in the, I want to get the actual number here.
00:02:10.000 PIC 152 has you at 50% within the GOP primary.
00:02:16.000 So that's, I mean, this is the last independent poll that we have to go off of in this primary.
00:02:21.000 So things are looking good.
00:02:22.000 Yeah, yeah.
00:02:23.000 And, you know, I tip my hat to Charlie, and I'm working hard not just for the state, but because Charlie was a friend and he went out on a limb to support me.
00:02:35.000 And so we're going to win big for Charlie.
00:02:38.000 And the polls do look good.
00:02:41.000 The polls look good.
00:02:42.000 How many, you were just telling me, how many independent polls have there been conducted on this race?
00:02:47.000 I believe it's 17, and I've led by at least 30 points in every one of those.
00:02:51.000 Oh, God bless you.
00:02:52.000 That's great.
00:02:53.000 So we're very excited about that.
00:02:55.000 We're going to get into some Arizona specifics in just a few minutes here, but we have so much breaking news over this holiday break, this holiday weekend.
00:03:03.000 Of course, the big news is that Nicholas Maduro has been deposed, the dictator of Venezuela.
00:03:09.000 He is being arraigned right now in a Manhattan courthouse, federal courthouse.
00:03:15.000 You know, there has been much made about the fact that Congress, you're still a sitting congressman, was kept in the dark about this.
00:03:23.000 What do you think about that as a member of Congress?
00:03:26.000 Well, so we're going to get briefed this week, but let's just face the facts.
00:03:30.000 I have literally sat in skiffs where they've had all of Congress sitting there and walked out.
00:03:36.000 And for some reason, somehow, the media is telling the world exactly what I just heard in the skiff.
00:03:43.000 Yeah, Congress leaks like a sieve.
00:03:46.000 And that was wise.
00:03:48.000 Yeah.
00:03:48.000 Well, so let's play this clip.
00:03:50.000 156.
00:03:52.000 Was the administration justified in this case in not briefing Congress?
00:03:56.000 Well, there's been no evidence that the administration has presented to justify the actions that were taken in terms of there being an imminent threat to the health, the safety, the well-being, the national security of the American people.
00:04:11.000 So you've got the minority leader here, Hakeem Jeffries, saying there was no imminent threat and that Congress should have been briefed.
00:04:20.000 So your response to your colleague in the House there.
00:04:22.000 Well, number one, he didn't answer the question because he knows Congress should not have been pre-briefed.
00:04:29.000 Number two, that's not the legal standard.
00:04:32.000 He knows that's not the legal standard.
00:04:33.000 He's going to try to distract because that's their mantra.
00:04:37.000 Everything is bad.
00:04:39.000 They didn't question Winoriega in Panama, which is the case law that we rely on.
00:04:44.000 Yeah, I think he was bogus from start to finish, but that's Hakeem's way. 0.99
00:04:49.000 Yeah.
00:04:49.000 So there's a larger issue here because you're kind of an America-first guy.
00:04:54.000 You are part of this larger coalition.
00:04:58.000 We are not neocons.
00:05:00.000 You are not about foreign adventurism.
00:05:02.000 And it's a question that we all sort of have to grapple with.
00:05:05.000 And I thought Rubio put this very well.
00:05:08.000 I'm going to play a clip here, have you respond to it, where he's talking about basically the Monroe Doctrine and Western Hemisphere domination.
00:05:14.000 Donroe Doctrine.
00:05:15.000 Donroe Doctrine.
00:05:18.000 Yeah, Trump did call it that.
00:05:20.000 Some are calling it the Donroe Doctrine.
00:05:22.000 I don't know.
00:05:23.000 145.
00:05:24.000 We don't need Venezuela's oil.
00:05:26.000 We have plenty of oil in the United States.
00:05:28.000 What we're not going to allow is for the oil industry in Venezuela to be controlled by adversaries of the United States.
00:05:34.000 You have to understand, why does China need their oil?
00:05:36.000 Why does Russia need their oil?
00:05:38.000 Why does Iran need their oil?
00:05:40.000 They're not even in this continent.
00:05:41.000 This is the Western hemisphere.
00:05:42.000 This is where we live.
00:05:43.000 They are not going to come from outside of our hemisphere, destabilize our region in our own backyard, and us have to pay the price for it.
00:05:50.000 Not under President Trump.
00:05:52.000 So, I mean, I think that was a pretty good articulation, essentially, of the Monroe Doctrine.
00:05:57.000 Where do we draw the line, Congressman, and where do you draw the line on when we should get involved, when we shouldn't, and how does this one sit?
00:06:05.000 You know, it feels like the comparisons to Iraq and Afghanistan are not apt here.
00:06:11.000 They're unfair comparisons, but we still want to be cautious, skeptical, and not give in to foreign adventurism, the neocons.
00:06:19.000 Yeah, right.
00:06:19.000 So the first thing to remember is Maduro was indicted.
00:06:24.000 This was a legal issue.
00:06:26.000 And what you're going to find is that the feds now took him over legally.
00:06:31.000 So the second that the military essentially had control of Maduro, they gave him to the law enforcement.
00:06:38.000 That kind of obviates all of those other issues.
00:06:41.000 The question now is, going forward, what do you do?
00:06:44.000 And do you leave a vacuum there for China, which literally was meeting in Venezuela at the time, to do what?
00:06:52.000 To take over the oil, just the way they've done the alternate canal in Panama, the way they are trying to basically take over.
00:06:59.000 So for us, it shouldn't be viewed as a typical American adventurism type of issue.
00:07:07.000 What we're doing is we're enforcing the law from a guy who was the head of a cartel that was coming after the U.S.
00:07:15.000 Yeah, I think that's well said.
00:07:17.000 I mean, the reaction has been mixed.
00:07:20.000 You know, Blake, you're the contrarian in the room.
00:07:23.000 I mean, you know, what are your concerns?
00:07:26.000 And do you have a defense of the administration's actions?
00:07:30.000 Well, frankly, the best defense is that so far it's worked very well.
00:07:34.000 I think that stands apart because the biggest argument against most interventions is they're unpredictable.
00:07:41.000 They can have a lot of downside and the upside isn't always as clear as it seems.
00:07:45.000 So far, it looks pretty straightforward.
00:07:49.000 They got Maduro out quickly.
00:07:51.000 There were no casualties on our side.
00:07:54.000 And ideally, they could install a friendly government in Venezuela, and we're in a better situation.
00:08:00.000 My concern would be: right now, we still don't actually run Venezuela.
00:08:04.000 I know the president said we're going to run it, but right now we just spirited out one guy.
00:08:09.000 So we either have to threaten them into making concessions or we're going to need more military effort there.
00:08:16.000 And at that point, you're asking, okay, are U.S. troops in Venezuela long term?
00:08:20.000 Are they trying to control the interior of the country?
00:08:23.000 How difficult is that?
00:08:25.000 Those are questions that are still going to need to be answered.
00:08:27.000 And those are the ones Charlie would care about as well.
00:08:29.000 Yeah, exactly.
00:08:30.000 And a reporter asked the main question, Congressman, here that is, why is running Venezuela America first?
00:08:37.000 President Trump was asked about this at the press conference 136.
00:08:41.000 Mr. Brother, why is running a country in South America, America first?
00:08:46.000 Well, I think it is because we want to surround ourselves with good neighbors.
00:08:49.000 We want to surround ourselves with stability.
00:08:53.000 We want to surround ourselves with energy.
00:08:55.000 We have tremendous energy in that country.
00:08:57.000 It's very important that we protect it.
00:08:59.000 We need that for ourselves.
00:09:00.000 We need that for the world.
00:09:01.000 So that really does become the central question.
00:09:04.000 I think the success of this is going to be determined in the coming weeks and months ahead.
00:09:09.000 You know, to Blake's point, how costly is this going to be from a military standpoint, from just a cost of doing this?
00:09:16.000 And will the people still in charge in Venezuela, will they cede control?
00:09:20.000 Will they cooperate?
00:09:21.000 Will that transition happen?
00:09:23.000 Well, we don't have a great track record of that, but President Trump does not have a bad track record.
00:09:28.000 That's right.
00:09:29.000 And I would just say that nation building is not what we should be engaged in here.
00:09:33.000 And I don't think that's what the president intends.
00:09:36.000 And don't forget that ostensibly, pre-Hugo Chavez, Venezuela was a democratic regime.
00:09:43.000 They had regular good elections.
00:09:45.000 Even Chavez and Maduro nodded to elections, right?
00:09:49.000 So, but maybe what we want to do is just make sure they have good elections.
00:09:54.000 And if they get good elections, then we can work with them.
00:09:56.000 You're tempting me to go down a rabbit hole here.
00:10:02.000 Howdy, Blake here.
00:10:03.000 You know, in moments like this, truth really matters.
00:10:06.000 The truth was important to Charlie.
00:10:08.000 So we want to share with you a new documentary that's caught our attention, not because it's political, but because it refuses to shy away from the questions that so many Americans are still asking.
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00:10:27.000 He digs through thousands of documents, sits down with scientists, intelligence insiders, and whistleblowers, and exposes what may be one of the most significant public health cover-ups of our lifetimes.
00:10:40.000 This film isn't about scoring partisan political points.
00:10:43.000 It's about transparency, accountability, and the courage to follow the evidence wherever it leads.
00:10:48.000 If you've ever wondered what really happened behind closed doors, this is something you need to see for yourself.
00:10:54.000 Angel Studios was the only platform willing to release it, and that's because you, not Hollywood, decide what gets made.
00:11:02.000 Join the Angel Guild today at angel.com/slash Charlie Kirk.
00:11:06.000 Become a member and stream Thank You, Dr. Fauci, today.
00:11:12.000 For the audience that doesn't know, Andy, tell us why you are running for governor of Arizona.
00:11:19.000 So I've got a vision for the state of Arizona to restore the American dream, which has been priced out here in Arizona by this governor, the current governor, Katie Hobbs.
00:11:29.000 And so she took down border protections for Pete's sakes.
00:11:35.000 And so we'll restore border protection so we're the safest state in the country again.
00:11:39.000 But we'll also put the American dream back out there so young people, this really gets to me, they can buy a house.
00:11:45.000 They can afford to buy a house.
00:11:47.000 And we won't have sticker prices that cause shock.
00:11:51.000 We're going to create jobs again.
00:11:53.000 She's taken us down, Andrew, as far as job creation from the fourth highest in the country to number 47.
00:12:00.000 That's the problem that we have. 1.00
00:12:03.000 She's not doing anything with our infrastructure. 1.00
00:12:05.000 She's not doing anything with our education system. 1.00
00:12:07.000 She's basically hermetized herself, except for some radical environmental issues where she's gone after her own state trying to stop our economic development growth. 0.99
00:12:20.000 That's shocking, actually.
00:12:21.000 You know, a lot of the sticker shock, I mean, you know, somebody who's newer to the state has actually impressed me.
00:12:28.000 Like, I've been floored at how expensive some of the just basic items, the rent, the housing market is, at least where people want to actually live, you know?
00:12:39.000 And, you know, is some of that because we're just getting flooded with Californians, like, you know, myself.
00:12:46.000 Some of it is that, but that's not, the demand is high.
00:12:50.000 But historically, we've always met that demand and been able to keep prices rational. 0.98
00:12:55.000 But what she did is this governor imposed land and water management restriction areas. 1.00
00:13:01.000 So in the Phoenix metro area, in some places, you can't even build a single-family home because of her restrictions. 0.99
00:13:07.000 So prices get jacked up.
00:13:10.000 Transport prices, because so much has got to be done by gas, and we don't have any natural gas resources.
00:13:20.000 We have to basically pipe in from California and Texas.
00:13:24.000 And we're at capacity right now.
00:13:27.000 And we've got a great jobber who wants to expand, but the mayor of Phoenix and the state will not let him expand.
00:13:36.000 He wants to do it on his own dime, for Pete's sakes.
00:13:39.000 And this would give us greater storage, which helped bring down gas prices overall.
00:13:45.000 Yeah, it just feels like, to your point, that a lot of this is just a regulation issue.
00:13:51.000 It's a green new scam issue.
00:13:54.000 It's an anti-it's just kind of hatred of civilization, hatred of development, hatred of grudge.
00:13:59.000 Anti-human.
00:14:00.000 I would say it's anti-human.
00:14:01.000 Sorry if this is a total wildcard, but while we're talking about maybe bossing around Latin American countries, I know for the long-term growth of Phoenix, the biggest concern is always water.
00:14:10.000 And I've read a lot that the best thing to do to get water for Phoenix is you build a desalination plant in Mexico and you pipe it here.
00:14:17.000 And it's basically regulatory apocalypse that would prevent this from ever happening.
00:14:21.000 But while it's on the table, could we get Mexico to help us with that?
00:14:26.000 Actually, there is a plan to bring it up from CF Cortez, and they have some of their permits now.
00:14:34.000 The question is, since Mexico is ostensibly run by cartels, and I asked the operators of this company, what are you going to do about the cartels?
00:14:42.000 And they said, well, we're an Israeli company, and we're going to work with some Israeli security forces.
00:14:47.000 And I said, okay.
00:14:48.000 That's interesting.
00:14:49.000 That's very interesting.
00:14:51.000 But I'll tell you, Blake, and Andrew, what people need to understand is even Katie Hobbes' own water resources department said we have six to seven hundred million acre-feet of water underground in Arizona, but they just don't allow us to access it and treat it here and get it into the stream.
00:15:09.000 By the way, that's about 300-year supply at growth levels, including industry.
00:15:15.000 But it gets, again, to management and stopping the myth that she's created that we have no water.
00:15:25.000 Sia Cortez, Israel Security Forces.
00:15:30.000 This is a complicated.
00:15:34.000 I see a mini-series movie.
00:15:36.000 It's one of the funny things.
00:15:37.000 Israel's really good at making their own water.
00:15:39.000 Yeah, of course.
00:15:40.000 They have a lot of experience with that.
00:15:42.000 They made the desert blossom, certainly.
00:15:45.000 So, head to head, you know, again, I don't want to look past the primary, but you are dominating in the primary polls, which is going to continue.
00:15:53.000 We're going to help make sure that that happens to the best of our ability.
00:15:58.000 But this was what floored me.
00:15:59.000 In a head-to-head with Katie Hobbs, they have, you know, they say the first top issue is the economy.
00:16:07.000 It's considered the top issue facing the state, 34% of voters, followed by immigration, 18, threats to democracy, 11, housing affordability, 10, education, 9, and healthcare, 9.
00:16:17.000 In a matchup between Hobbes and Biggs, voters who say the economy is their top issue break for Hobbes 45 to 41%.
00:16:26.000 And by the way, those who find immigration to be the top issue break for Biggs, 81 to 6%.
00:16:32.000 So why do you think that that is?
00:16:34.000 And what's the message to fix that?
00:16:38.000 Well, it's hard to comprehend it, except for I think some people on economy, they think they're in the status quo.
00:16:46.000 They don't really like to see change.
00:16:47.000 They aren't quite sure what's going to happen.
00:16:51.000 And the reality is we're going to deal with income taxes.
00:16:56.000 Our income taxes are pretty low, 2.5% flat tax.
00:17:00.000 We're going to reduce those significantly as the governor.
00:17:03.000 People also have a concern about property taxes.
00:17:06.000 I have a plan to reduce property taxes as well.
00:17:10.000 And I just think that people sense that they should be doing better, and they're not doing as well as they'd like.
00:17:20.000 And that's a reflection that comes that is the Republicans in charge now.
00:17:25.000 And that would be better.
00:17:27.000 So we're holding the bag for the last four years of terribleness under Biden, basically, and the inflationary environment that was created.
00:17:34.000 And I mean, listen, things are too expensive, but the way you get those prices down, or at least, you know, real earnings start to outstrip inflation, even the inflation during the Biden years, you've got to have a pro-growth candidate in office.
00:17:50.000 It is boggling to me that you are the pro-growth candidate.
00:17:54.000 You are obviously the candidate that is going to be expanding housing permits, expanding, decreasing the cost of doing business, making this more of a pro-growth state, pro-jobs, obviously more income, more tax base, all of those things. 0.57
00:18:07.000 She's the anti-growth candidate.
00:18:09.000 So she's the one that's stopping Arizona from being unleashed to its full potential.
00:18:14.000 And here you go, people are, I think, taking it out on anybody with an R next to their name because we're still getting out from under the Joe Biden years.
00:18:23.000 Exactly right.
00:18:24.000 I mean, inflation under Biden was about, real inflation was about 22%, 20%, 22%.
00:18:30.000 Trump's taking it down.
00:18:32.000 Real inflation rate under him is a little over one point, actually.
00:18:37.000 But we got so high, and people want it bent down.
00:18:41.000 And the reality is we've got to catch up to the level of inflation.
00:18:46.000 You see that with that GDP number that came out just before Christmas.
00:18:49.000 It was 4.3% growth, which actually outstrips inflation.
00:18:53.000 So real wages, real incomes are going up.
00:18:56.000 We're on the right path.
00:18:58.000 This ship does not turn overnight, but we are on the right path now.
00:19:02.000 Hopefully, I mean, Charlie was always very clear about this.
00:19:05.000 We're in a race against time.
00:19:07.000 We have to show that these ideas work, and we have to do it quickly so the electorate starts feeling the relief in their pocketbooks.
00:19:07.000 Exactly.
00:19:15.000 What other issues do you want our audience to know about, and how do they get behind your campaign to support you?
00:19:20.000 Well, so I think it's important for them to understand that we have to use our resources in the state.
00:19:26.000 So when I talk about tax policy or talk about water or land policy, all of those can be ameliorative to our current affordability issue because that's what it is.
00:19:39.000 If we don't fix that, Andrew, we're not going to win this.
00:19:44.000 But it's going to turn around in this first quarter, probably because of the big, beautiful bill and some new tax breaks coming in.
00:19:51.000 I'm not going to say that.
00:19:53.000 So we're going to make sure that we're the safest state.
00:19:57.000 We restore the American dream.
00:20:00.000 But I have a vision for the state.
00:20:02.000 I'm not going to veto everything that the legislature does because they also have some great ideas that need to happen that this governor's killing.
00:20:11.000 But if you want to get behind my campaign, it's bigsforarizona.com.
00:20:14.000 Bigsforarizona.com.
00:20:15.000 The number four.
00:20:17.000 Nope.
00:20:18.000 Spell it out.
00:20:19.000 Spell it out.
00:20:19.000 All right, good.
00:20:20.000 BigsforArizona.com.
00:20:24.000 Let's get that up for everybody.
00:20:25.000 Everybody needs to get behind this.
00:20:26.000 This was Charlie's mission 2026, Project 2026, whatever you want to call it, was Charlie's nearest and dearest passion going into 2026.
00:20:37.000 And Arizona has to be a red state.
00:20:40.000 It went for Trump by nearly six points.
00:20:40.000 It is a red state.
00:20:43.000 Turning point action is going to have our army of ballot chasers behind you completely.
00:20:48.000 And, you know, we have your back.
00:20:49.000 Anything we can do to help, we're here for you.
00:20:51.000 And we know that the state of Arizona will be in good hands if we get Andy Biggs elected as its next governor.
00:20:59.000 So, God bless you, sir.
00:21:00.000 Godspeed.
00:21:01.000 Thanks, Andrew.
00:21:02.000 Thanks, Blake.
00:21:02.000 And I look forward to serving the state again here in the state.
00:21:06.000 Well, we've got a lot of work ahead of us this year, but it's going to be fun.
00:21:10.000 And we're going to be behind you and we're going to get it done.
00:21:14.000 This is Lane Schoenberger, Chief Investment Officer and Founding Partner of YReFi.
00:21:19.000 It has been an honor and a privilege to partner with Turning Point and for Charlie to endorse us.
00:21:24.000 His endorsement means the world to us, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Turning Point for years to come.
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00:22:02.000 Go to whyrefi.com.
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00:22:13.000 Go to yrefi.com.
00:22:15.000 That is why.com.
00:22:18.000 Private student loan debt relief, yrefi.com.
00:22:23.000 It was great with Andy Biggs.
00:22:24.000 We're honored to have him going to be the next governor of the great state of Arizona.
00:22:28.000 But we have so much news that is Tim Walz has announced that he is not running the first governor brought down by a YouTuber.
00:22:39.000 And apparently he is very upset this morning, held a press conference.
00:22:43.000 We'll get some of those clips.
00:22:45.000 But he didn't take any questions.
00:22:47.000 The reporters are very upset that he didn't take questions.
00:22:51.000 So that's happening.
00:22:52.000 Obviously, we have the Maduro arraignment.
00:22:54.000 We're going to have David Zere from Real America's Voice reporting live outside the courthouse in Manhattan.
00:23:02.000 The UN is condemning President Trump's attack against Venezuela.
00:23:09.000 Yeah, you have Somalia sort of leading the charge, which is an irony of Irones. 0.99
00:23:15.000 And Liberia was getting in on the action.
00:23:17.000 Pete Hegseth initiates proceedings to demote U.S. Senator Mark Kelly, a retired captain, over his seditious six video telling soldiers to refuse illegal orders.
00:23:27.000 So all of that is happening and more.
00:23:30.000 But I do want to just sort of start here, Blake, at this baseline that this was an incredibly impressive precision attack where no U.S. troops were killed.
00:23:43.000 We had no military equipment that was lost.
00:23:46.000 One helicopter was shot, but it maintained its flyability.
00:23:52.000 And it seemed to be just executed at a level that no other nation perhaps could even match.
00:23:58.000 China and Russia are probably looking on going on.
00:24:00.000 Yeah, I think that's the immediate most impressive thing.
00:24:04.000 You can remember in 2022, Russia did their attack on Ukraine.
00:24:08.000 They also tried to go for...
00:24:11.000 Not really a kidnapping, but a decapitation strike.
00:24:14.000 They landed troops in Kiev.
00:24:16.000 It seemed their belief was, and frankly, the belief in the West also at the time was that Ukraine would collapse quickly.
00:24:23.000 We apparently offered to have Zelensky flee the country. 0.67
00:24:27.000 We thought the whole thing would collapse in a matter of days.
00:24:32.000 And Russia thought that as well.
00:24:33.000 And it didn't work out.
00:24:35.000 And they're almost four years later, hundreds of thousands dead.
00:24:39.000 And that's still ongoing.
00:24:40.000 So by comparison, successfully spearing out Maduro, it's now coming out that last night, I believe, that he had this sort of Cuban Praetorian guard.
00:24:51.000 Yeah.
00:24:52.000 Apparently, 30-plus Cubans were killed in us capturing him.
00:24:58.000 Yeah, so that is like the interesting part.
00:25:00.000 I mean, you had Cuba.
00:25:01.000 Venezuela turned into essentially a playground for all the world's worst actors, right?
00:25:07.000 China, Iran, Cuba, Russia.
00:25:11.000 They were all trying to get access to the mineral riches that exist within Venezuela.
00:25:17.000 And it's fascinating to watch the left-wing reaction to it where everybody seems to be very upset that America is going in, that Trump's being honest, that we're going to control, the oil fields that were expropriated from American oil companies back when Hugo Chavez took over, that we're going to take those back, and that we are going to share the revenues with the people of Venezuela, but Americans are going to get their recompense.
00:25:40.000 So people are upset about that.
00:25:43.000 But I actually, I've been thinking about this all weekend long.
00:25:47.000 And the fact that we are asserting dominance in the Western hemisphere, it feels like a return to sanity from years of foreign adventurism in Iraq, Afghanistan, other places that have been catastrophic, that have been terrible for our country, terrible for our coffers, cost us blood and soil and lives. 0.87
00:26:09.000 And so this, but this does feel different.
00:26:11.000 People don't realize how close Venezuela, hold on, I mean, it's in the Western hemisphere.
00:26:16.000 They don't realize how close it is to Miami.
00:26:18.000 It's like a two-hour flight to Miami from Caracas.
00:26:21.000 And, you know, if you, if Venezuela fell into control of foreign agitators like China, which China was there visiting the day it happened and the day before it happened.
00:26:33.000 So it does feel like the then question is, how do you sell this to the American people when they're struggling to afford gas and groceries, right?
00:26:41.000 That is a fair question to ask.
00:26:43.000 And I mean, people do need to understand that when you control oil resources, mineral resources, energy resources within the Western hemisphere, that will ultimately make America a safer, more secure place.
00:26:55.000 But the question then becomes, we are running Venezuela.
00:26:59.000 That is, or at least in theory, we are.
00:27:02.000 And that is going to, that's going to be a tough pill to swallow for the American first crowd.
00:27:07.000 Well, again, I think right now the vibe is very good.
00:27:12.000 And the vibe is very good because it was easy.
00:27:16.000 There were no losses.
00:27:17.000 They got their guy.
00:27:18.000 They got out.
00:27:19.000 Everything looks extremely smooth, especially in comparison to Russia's own failed military ops, especially compared to our failed endeavors in the Middle East.
00:27:28.000 This is clearly better.
00:27:29.000 But our endeavors in the Middle East looked better early on.
00:27:33.000 When we took down the Taliban, they crumbled in a matter of weeks.
00:27:37.000 And we took over the whole country.
00:27:39.000 And then it was the following 20 years where everything went horribly wrong.
00:27:44.000 And Venezuela, it's a big country.
00:27:46.000 It's got 40 million people.
00:27:49.000 Well, 8 million people have left.
00:27:50.000 And so we'll say unknown number of people then.
00:27:54.000 A lot of people.
00:27:56.000 A lot of it is rainforest.
00:27:57.000 A lot of it is mountain.
00:27:59.000 A lot of it is urban hellscape, not well controlled.
00:28:02.000 It's not a super, it's not like taking over Japan or something where it's a pretty orderly society.
00:28:08.000 It's a chaotic society.
00:28:10.000 It has some of the highest murder rates in the world some years.
00:28:13.000 And it will be, especially when it's super easy early on, you have to worry about that temptation to get more invested.
00:28:21.000 Oh, if we put 2,000 troops here, it'll be okay.
00:28:25.000 If we add a few more, we can get this under control.
00:28:27.000 You're going to have to resist that temptation to get too involved, either in monetary terms or in military investment terms.
00:28:36.000 And so I think we'll have to watch out for that.
00:28:38.000 You'll also have to make sure you don't, in my opinion, overlearn from how easy it is.
00:28:43.000 So you've seen some takes, okay, well, is Cuba next?
00:28:47.000 Is Mexico next? 0.98
00:28:48.000 Is Colombia next?
00:28:49.000 Should we just forcibly seize Greenland?
00:28:53.000 I would say make sure Venezuela is actually a success before you start looking for new things to do.
00:29:00.000 And we were talking during the break that after Afghanistan and after the initial Iraq takeover as well, there was a lot of arrogance that, oh, we can remake the Middle East to our will.
00:29:12.000 Max Boot, I think he's still at the Washington Post, but he was this neocon guy.
00:29:16.000 And you can find his essays from that period where he's saying, yeah, we could topple Syria. 0.75
00:29:21.000 We could topple Iran. 0.97
00:29:23.000 We could topple Saudi Arabia. 0.86
00:29:25.000 He actually goes a little mad with power about all the countries that we could take out with our unlimited military might.
00:29:32.000 I would always say, calm down.
00:29:35.000 Remember what is truly America first and what is most America first is not getting us involved in foreign quagmires.
00:29:42.000 As long as this is not a foreign quagmire, that's great. 1.00
00:29:45.000 It's great if we are able to turn an extremely anti-American regime in our backyard into a pro-American regime in our backyard at minimal cost.
00:29:55.000 If it's true that this is a fragile regime, you take out the top guy and you can use your blockade to pressure them into something much more friendly, that is good.
00:30:05.000 But be careful because there will be people who try to sell us on a much bigger involvement, a much more expensive intervention.
00:30:14.000 And if we get into that, it's harder to get out than it is to get in.
00:30:18.000 And that's where you get the potential for negative effects for America.
00:30:21.000 And let's be frank, negative effects politically.
00:30:24.000 If this is a big win a year from now, it helps the Trump administration, helps us in the midterms.
00:30:28.000 But if this has become a conflict where U.S. troops are getting killed, where there's no obvious way out, then it's going to be bad.
00:30:38.000 Well, to your point, this is what makes, I think, a lot of people nervous.
00:30:41.000 You got Lindsey Graham.
00:30:42.000 We're grabbing the clip here.
00:30:43.000 You just wait for Cuba, he says. 0.58
00:30:45.000 Cuba is a communist dictatorship that's killed priests and nuns. 0.96
00:30:48.000 They've preyed on their own people. 0.97
00:30:50.000 Their days are numbered.
00:30:52.000 So now we are talking big game. 1.00
00:30:56.000 Lindsey Graham at it again.
00:30:58.000 Neocon of neocons, licking his chops at another possible invasions.
00:31:02.000 By the way, he's flanked by President Trump and Commerce Secretary Lutnick while he's saying this in a press gaggle.
00:31:08.000 So that's not a good sign.
00:31:11.000 But, you know, and you got President Trump talking about Colombia saying he needs to watch his backside to say it in a nice way to President Colombia.
00:31:19.000 So there are questions here, but certainly, and we need to, I think it's, listen, it's important to be skeptical because this stuff tends to spiral out of control.
00:31:31.000 If this can be done in a clean way, one of the things that I'm encouraged by is the fact that you have the Venezuelan diaspora, whether that's in New York City or Florida or Argentina.
00:31:43.000 These people are taking to the streets by the tens and tens of thousands celebrating the fall of Nicolas Maduro, who was a bad guy and who stole the election, who has militarized the military, but against the people of Venezuela.
00:31:58.000 The extreme poverty rate in Venezuela is over 50%.
00:32:02.000 Their oil production has fallen off a cliff.
00:32:05.000 Their inflation has been through the roof.
00:32:07.000 People can't afford jobs.
00:32:08.000 They're eating cats and dogs literally in the street.
00:32:10.000 And so this was a dictatorship that held on to power.
00:32:15.000 And as Andy Biggs described it, he is a head of a cartel, essentially.
00:32:20.000 It's a thug-based sort of boss-style mafioso tactic to maintain control of the country of Venezuela.
00:32:31.000 It's a good thing that Maduro is gone.
00:32:33.000 But what's interesting here is that you have all these clips now coming out from Democrats who before were talking tough on Venezuela, but now that Maduro is gone at the hands of Trump, it's suddenly a bad thing, right?
00:32:44.000 So let's play 154.
00:32:46.000 This is Democrat Chris Murphy doing exactly that.
00:32:49.000 In 2019, you wrote a not bad and you called for Maduro to be gone.
00:32:54.000 You said, let's get one thing straight.
00:32:55.000 There should no longer be any debate about Maduro's lack of democratic legitimacy.
00:33:00.000 The Trump administration is right to put restoring Venezuelan democracy at the center of our approach to this crisis.
00:33:07.000 A return to a stable democracy is in the interest of the Venezuelan people and the United States and the hemisphere.
00:33:16.000 We don't know what's going to happen with regard to the civilian leadership there.
00:33:20.000 Tom Cotton, which is here, saying that he hopes that there are democratic elections.
00:33:24.000 Isn't that what you want?
00:33:25.000 Well, the rest of that article was a criticism of President Trump's early moves to saber rattle around regime change.
00:33:35.000 And not only that, but Joe Biden put a $25 million bounty on Nicholas Maduro's head.
00:33:42.000 So this is Joe Biden, $25 million.
00:33:45.000 And now you have Democrat after Democrat after Democrat that is, and Chuck Schumer's guilty of this, Hakeem Jeffries, Chris Murphy, many that are now going back on that saying this is bad. 0.97
00:33:56.000 Yeah, obviously they're going to be hypocrites. 0.92
00:33:59.000 That's just inevitable with Congress, I feel. 0.97
00:34:01.000 People are interested to you, though.
00:34:03.000 It's less interesting. 0.99
00:34:04.000 We should focus, in my opinion, it won't matter if Democrats are hypocrites, if this is a win for us, because the win will overshadow whatever dumb stuff they do. 0.98
00:34:13.000 And if this is a disaster for us, the fact that they were hypocrites is definitely not going to bail us out from that. 0.95
00:34:18.000 So the number one focus always is make sure that this intervention is not damaging to America.
00:34:26.000 Make sure we achieve the America First Goal.
00:34:28.000 That has to be the number one focus, not winning any social media fight.
00:34:32.000 Yeah.
00:34:33.000 It'll be interesting to see the way this plays out, certainly.
00:34:36.000 Hopefully the saner voices prevail and we don't expand this too much.
00:34:43.000 But again, I think I agree with what something Jonathan Turley actually wrote, that whether we said it out loud that we were going to be running Venezuela or not, the truth was we were going to be running Venezuela.
00:34:53.000 After you do a mission like this, you got to see it through and you got to make sure the transition happens, which is a big if, which is a big if.
00:34:59.000 So we're about to be joined by David Zere, who's outside of the federal courthouse where Nicholas Maduro has just pleaded not guilty, not guilty, saying he's a decent man.
00:35:10.000 I mean, regardless of whether you support this intervention in Venezuela, regardless of how it plays out, Nicolas Maduro is not a decent man.
00:35:19.000 I'm a decent man.
00:35:21.000 By the way, some of my favorite parts of the videos playing over the weekend was, you know, Maduro like saying, come at me now. 0.98
00:35:27.000 Come now, coward.
00:35:29.000 And, you know, and then he gets that, you know, they fastened up. 0.97
00:35:31.000 Apparently, they changed his clothes 10 times in a 24-hour window.
00:35:35.000 Like, he keeps having a different outfit every time he's spotted.
00:35:38.000 Just to kind of speak people up.
00:35:38.000 Oh, really?
00:35:40.000 It's probably some Cuban Praetorian Guard defense measure that they've.
00:35:45.000 No, no, this is since we got him.
00:35:47.000 They keep changing his outfit, apparently.
00:35:49.000 That's fascinating.
00:35:50.000 Let's just talk about this, too.
00:35:51.000 Nicholas Maduro was given multiple off-ramps and he FAFO'd.
00:35:58.000 135.
00:36:00.000 Nicholas Maduro had his chance, just like Iran had their chance. 1.00
00:36:06.000 Until they didn't, and until he didn't, he effed around and he found out.
00:36:12.000 President Trump is deadly serious about stopping the flow of gangs and violence to our country.
00:36:18.000 Deadly serious about stopping the flow of drugs and poison to our people.
00:36:23.000 Deadly serious about getting back the oil that was stolen from us.
00:36:28.000 And deadly serious about reestablishing American deterrence and dominance in the Western hemisphere.
00:36:34.000 This is about the safety, security, freedom, and prosperity of the American people.
00:36:41.000 Yeah, it is.
00:36:44.000 I think the biggest challenge is going to be communicating why this is good for America.
00:36:49.000 I think that's going to be, I think the America first. 0.98
00:36:51.000 It's a challenge, although I don't, as long as it remains a clear win, that will be easier than it thinks.
00:36:58.000 Like, I think we took out a guy and we did it in one night with a few special forces and we took no losses makes it a lot easier to make that sell as long as that remains what has happened, especially if we follow up with a government that is friendly to the United States and we can point towards stuff.
00:37:15.000 It's going to be a harder sell the more there's clear downside to it.
00:37:19.000 So that's why you have to avoid getting enmeshed.
00:37:21.000 You have to avoid getting U.S. servicemen killed.
00:37:23.000 And even just the jump from zero to one is going to be very important in that regard.
00:37:28.000 If this is a thing where U.S. soldiers have been killed, that's very different from something where there are no casualties.
00:37:35.000 Yeah, I agree.
00:37:37.000 I just think, again, you've got this affordability crisis.
00:37:39.000 You've got a base that is clamoring for us to focus on domestic issues.
00:37:44.000 And here we are again.
00:37:46.000 But this is what I'm saying: the harder message to sell is that this will have downstream positive impacts on America.
00:37:55.000 And I would just not be too arrogant about how much the upside is.
00:37:58.000 Remember, George W. H.W. Bush won the Gulf War in February of 1991.
00:38:04.000 February of 91, after the midterms, wins a gigantic war against a big enemy, complete beatdown.
00:38:10.000 I think he has 85% approval or so at that time.
00:38:13.000 And he loses re-election.
00:38:13.000 Loses.
00:38:14.000 A lot of that was Ross Perrot.
00:38:15.000 Loses bad.
00:38:16.000 And he loses it thanks to a recession that itself ended in March 1991.
00:38:21.000 That's how much economic stuff beats out foreign policy stuff.
00:38:25.000 That victory was just totally forgotten.
00:38:27.000 Well, it was also Ross Perot stole a lot of his votes.
00:38:29.000 Well, yeah, but Ross Perot, why was Ross Perot stealing his votes?
00:38:33.000 Yeah, well, fair enough.
00:38:34.000 I mean, I'm just saying if it wasn't head-to-head, you know.
00:38:37.000 He would have lost worse.
00:38:38.000 You think so?
00:38:39.000 Yeah.
00:38:39.000 Ross Perot took, I think, more votes from Clinton, if anything.
00:38:41.000 Wow.
00:38:42.000 Well, we can argue that another day.
00:38:44.000 But I do think here's my basic thought on this.
00:38:49.000 We have to deal with Mexico. 1.00
00:38:51.000 If you really want to deal with the fentanyl flowing into the country, it has to be, you have to deal with Mexico. 0.92
00:38:56.000 That's where absolutely the most of it is coming from.
00:38:59.000 The precursors come from China.
00:39:01.000 They go into Mexico.
00:39:02.000 I have a whole theory that we need to threaten Mexico with reversing the Gadsden purchase, connecting Arizona to the Sea of Cortez, reclaiming Baja. 0.86
00:39:12.000 Yes, if they don't, they're going to FAFO as well.
00:39:15.000 But this, see, this is way better.
00:39:17.000 This is way better, Blake.
00:39:18.000 Don't look at me like that.
00:39:19.000 This is way better because this is actually contiguous with the United States, the lower 48.
00:39:23.000 We're just going to add land.
00:39:25.000 You just want us to extort Mexico? 0.99
00:39:26.000 Yeah, if they don't stop the fentanyl coming into our country.
00:39:30.000 I read a history of Mexico a year ago.
00:39:31.000 The number one moral I took from it is we should build a 1,000-foot wall around all of Mexico and keep it out. 1.00
00:39:38.000 And just not, no one goes in, no one goes out.
00:39:40.000 It's like escape from New York except with a whole country.
00:39:43.000 I don't know, Baja's pretty beautiful.
00:39:45.000 I'm open-minded to just building a way bigger wall.
00:39:49.000 I would invest in that.
00:39:50.000 1,000 feet high in Game of Thrones.
00:39:51.000 Yeah, I mean, so basically, you know, the point is.
00:39:56.000 So I guess we have David's here.
00:39:57.000 Let's bring him in really quick.
00:39:58.000 David, can you hear me?
00:40:00.000 Yeah, I got you loud and clear.
00:40:02.000 Awesome.
00:40:02.000 Tell us what you're seeing in Manhattan.
00:40:04.000 Well, we're outside the courthouse, heavy security, drones, helicopters everywhere.
00:40:08.000 I just walked out of the arraignment about five minutes ago.
00:40:12.000 No cameras or any recording devices were allowed in there, but I did take some notes and Maduro defiantly pled not guilty along with his wife, Celia Flores, saying that I am an innocent man.
00:40:25.000 I am a good man.
00:40:27.000 And he went on a speech in Spanish.
00:40:29.000 I only understood a little bit of it.
00:40:30.000 He said he's a prisoner of war and he wants to be treated, I think, according to Geneva Convention and Vienna Accords.
00:40:37.000 But don't quote me exactly on that.
00:40:40.000 But Judge Hellestine cut him off and said there would be plenty of time for such dialogue in the future, that this was just about the arraignment.
00:40:48.000 And the judge asked him if he wanted to request bail.
00:40:51.000 And he said, I don't want to request bail at this time.
00:40:55.000 And he reserves the right to do that at any point going forward.
00:40:59.000 The defense did say that this was a military abduction.
00:41:04.000 And also, they didn't look that healthy.
00:41:07.000 The judge didn't sound that healthy either.
00:41:09.000 You know, it's a 92-year-old Bill Clinton appointee Hellerstein.
00:41:13.000 But, you know, the attorneys for Maduro were requesting also medical help for Celia Flores, who may have sustained perhaps what they say is a fracture during the arrest from a few days ago and wanted her to get some treatment.
00:41:32.000 The case will reconvene in 60 days.
00:41:35.000 I believe that date is March 16th.
00:41:37.000 And they also discuss his right to consult with his counsel because as a foreign person, I think he has the right to consult with the consulate in Venezuela or other.
00:41:48.000 And they also talked about, and the prosecution agreed, I think because we're not allowed to take money from Venezuela attorneys in the United States, that the prosecution would make an exception, I believe, to be able to transfer funds to pay the defense team, Basilia Flores, and what Nicholas Maduro said he is, the rightful president of Venezuela.
00:42:11.000 A lot going on here on the ground, lower Manhattan.
00:42:14.000 Yeah, David, I'm curious if you've got any insight as to why this case was tried in Manhattan as opposed to perhaps the Southern District of Florida.
00:42:24.000 Do you have any insight onto that?
00:42:25.000 Well, the case, the crux of the case, and I know Florida District did participate in this under DOJ, but this goes all the way back to 2011 for the DOJ Southern District.
00:42:37.000 And we had other indictments and a recent conviction of top general Hugo Armando Caraval Barrios, also known as El Pollo, the chicken, who worked for Hugo Chavez.
00:42:50.000 This is a 15-year-old Southern District indictment.
00:42:53.000 And he said he's been working that Barrio has been working with the cartel since 1999 in a conspiracy.
00:42:59.000 I think his sentencing is coming up next week here.
00:43:02.000 He pled guilty to the same charges as Maduro, and he's facing life in prison.
00:43:08.000 And I was thinking maybe he sang like a canary.
00:43:11.000 I don't know that.
00:43:12.000 But the indictments, all four indictments, including narco-terrorism conspiracy, alleging a 25-year partnership with FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Colombia, weapons charges, corruption and violence, kidnappings, murder, and to protect trafficking ops.
00:43:28.000 All those indictments, he did plead not guilty to, as well as Celia Flores, who also said that she was an innocent.
00:43:36.000 She's innocent 100% in this case.
00:43:40.000 A lot more to come.
00:43:41.000 And I think maybe there will be an application to move the trial to Florida.
00:43:46.000 I'm not sure if that's doable or not.
00:43:48.000 Right.
00:43:48.000 So it's a sort of a legacy of when the indictments against Maduro started.
00:43:54.000 It sounds like probably in 2011, they were filed in the Southern District of New York.
00:43:58.000 So keeping with the legality and the indictments that were previously issued.
00:44:02.000 That makes sense.
00:44:03.000 David Zeir, thank you for the reporting on the ground in the federal courthouse where Nicholas Maduro has been arraigned and pleaded not guilty.
00:44:10.000 David Zeard, thanks so much.
00:44:12.000 Thank you, sir.
00:44:20.000 For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to CharlieKirk.com.