The border security and illegal immigration crisis has hit cities all over America. One sanctuary city in particular is none other than New York City, America s largest city, taking a beating by illegal immigrants. A Staten Island Supreme Court judge ruled that a former high school that had been turned into an illegal immigrant facility has to shut down and immediately.
00:02:58.780In doing so, we will keep government open and solve these problems.
00:03:03.620The border security and illegal immigration crisis has hit cities all over America.
00:03:08.920One sanctuary city in particular that is taking a beating by illegal immigrants is none other than New York City, America's largest city.
00:03:17.460And as of today, New York is caring for more than 60,000 asylum seekers, so-called, who were sent to the Big Apple from Texas.
00:03:26.920The city has contracted more than 100 hotels for the illegals, and the city is spending more than a billion dollars.
00:03:34.360This astronomical price tag doesn't take into account other government and private facilities New York has taken over all across the city to house and shelter the illegals.
00:03:45.960One borough in New York City, Staten Island, is fighting back against the Marxist Dems and their inept mayor, Eric Adams.
00:03:55.020A Staten Island Supreme Court judge ruled that a former high school that Adams had turned into an illegal immigrant facility has to shut down and immediately.
00:04:04.840One of the lawmakers who have been fighting to have it closed down is Staten Island City Councilman Joe Borelli.
00:04:14.520Joe, give us the latest on Staten Island and its stand against illegal immigration.
00:04:19.320Well, thankfully, hopefully we don't have to go to an appeal.
00:04:22.960I'm hoping the mayor stands down and decides that it's not worth the appeal in this case,
00:04:28.100because as a lot of people aren't aware, the mayor himself, the city's law department, is in court trying to undermine the right to shelter himself so that he could give people 30-day evictions and 60-day evictions.
00:04:40.480This settlement today, this decision today, gives him that as it stands right now.
00:04:48.580He could take this decision and use this to implement whatever policy he wants to, to basically alleviate some of the long-term residents of these shelters.
00:04:57.340And by the way, Lou, one point that's not getting mentioned, this judge today was a Democrat.
00:05:02.300He's a Democratic elected judge from Staten Island, and this is a lawsuit that was bipartisan in nature.
00:05:08.020So it's a good thing for the whole city.
00:05:32.280I mean, the president granted these temporary work authorizations, which is unfortunate.
00:05:37.960That's not going to help alleviate the problem.
00:05:40.280If you give 50,000 Venezuelans work authorization tomorrow, that doesn't solve anything if 50,000 more Venezuelans and whoever else can just cross the border in the next week or two and take all the places in the migrant shelters as is.
00:05:55.980That's what we're afraid of, that Democrats are just really offering nothing but half-cocked solutions that aren't going to actually result in the decrease or the basically decommissioning of all these migrant shelters around the city.
00:06:10.900And that looks like what may follow, because if Adams takes the out that your successful lawsuit has given him, he won't need any further judicial approval.
00:06:24.280He can just simply start moving on it, correct?
00:06:27.940He can start giving people 30-day evictions or 60-day evictions, maybe if they have kids or something, and then can go from basically 208 shelters and 10 cities down to almost nothing over time, which should be his goal.
00:06:40.900We're spending more in the next fiscal year than the entire budget of Phoenix, Arizona.
00:06:46.880The largest city in America is going to pay for the biggest city budget in America, ours, and we can also pay for the fifth largest city in the country's budget as well.
00:06:56.120We can basically pay to run every service the city of Phoenix does for the same cost we're actually sheltering these migrants for.
00:07:03.420It's actually even bigger than the whole budget of Mississippi, a whole state.
00:07:07.580It is incredible, and he's done it not just in New York.
00:07:10.900But across major cities all across this country, chaos is reigning.
00:07:17.420There is, without any question, a backlash that is building, and I mean building strongly in this country.
00:07:24.740What in the world must the Democrats have been thinking to simply throw open a border and have this approach to millions of illegal immigrants that are in the country?
00:07:38.400Estimates range from additionally in the three years of the Biden administration almost three to up to 12 million illegals in the country as a result.
00:07:48.020Yeah, and I mean, this is entirely their doing.
00:07:51.700I mean, back in 2020, Joe Biden ran on undoing the Trump border policies by anyone, unfortunately.
00:07:59.280Well, you know, maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but he's the president.
00:08:02.240And in January of 2021, they changed 89 customs and border administration policies, as well as ending MPP.
00:08:11.160And now we have this problem, like you said, not just in New York City, but in so many of our large cities across the country, not to mention the problem that has existed in these border states.
00:08:21.900So this is more people than we can ever have imagined.
00:08:25.220By the way, this didn't happen in the Trump administration, honestly, but we've never seen it this bad in the Obama administration.
00:08:30.440We didn't see it this bad in the Bush administration.
00:08:35.460You have never seen this bad in this country until Joe Biden decided in January of 2021 to change these policies.
00:08:43.360Well, Joe Biden and whoever is is the puppet master for all of this, because Joe Biden's incapable of bringing together even these destructive policies that have been been orchestrated over the course of his administration.
00:09:00.740I mean, it's this has been an effort to destroy America, plain and simple.
00:09:06.120What are the people of Staten Island going to do here?
00:09:08.580This this this high school, as I understand it, is right next to another school, a grammar school.
00:09:17.660I mean, it's outrageous that they would even think to do that, to put in all of those illegal immigrants next to school children.
00:10:29.020We're also in courts, by the way, on the parkland that the mayor wants to use to house these migrants.
00:10:34.000Because you can't just alienate parkland.
00:10:36.660I mean, there's severe federal laws and state laws against that.
00:10:40.260So I think we'll be successful in that one, too.
00:10:41.860Well, I have to tell you, Councilman, I'm not surprised at Staten Island that's standing up and telling the mayor to go to hell.
00:10:50.560It's also refreshing to see a community defend itself rather than sort of suck air through their teeth and watch as they're overrun by this disaster nationwide.
00:11:02.900You're here, to be complimented, I have to say, for your leadership and the way that you and the community have moved ahead to protect yourself and to stand up against a presidential administration and a mayoral administration that, frankly, I think are out of their ever-loving minds.
00:11:30.240And you can't leave out the governor who just decided to basically bring on another 150 National Guards men and women to basically be social workers in camouflage so we can bash the mayor, we can bash the president.
00:11:43.660We can't leave out our dear governor, Kathy Holcomb.
00:11:54.160Councilman Joe Borelli, thanks for being with us.
00:11:56.520Well, the world's richest man, Elon Musk, says that the open border has created a severe crisis for the nation.
00:12:03.440Musk is going to the border this weekend to see firsthand just how bad it is.
00:12:08.600Musk says he'll head to the Eagles Pass sector of the border to see what has happened to a small town of 28,000 people who've had 7,500 illegal immigrants flood into the town in just the past 48 hours.
00:12:35.280We're back, and thanks for staying with us.
00:12:43.360The Marxist Dems have taken over the federal government, as we've documented here, and nearly every quarter of our society and economy.
00:12:51.520They are ruining this nation and will ultimately be responsible for its demise.
00:12:56.360It's up to the Republican Party to save the republic, and it's far from a sure thing.
00:13:02.180But at least the American people have awakened to what the Marxist Dems are doing to this great country.
00:13:08.540A new poll from Morning Consult supports just that conclusion.
00:13:13.340Americans say Democrats are more extreme than Republicans and are losing faith in the Marxist Dems to govern it all and keep this country safe.
00:13:21.560In that poll, most say by 47 to 44 percent, Republicans are more capable, and by 47 to 41 percent, voters say Republicans are more likely to keep the country safe.
00:13:34.520More awakening, less woke, a very good thing.
00:13:38.840The House Oversight Committee holds their first impeachment inquiry hearing this Thursday, and just yesterday they released their list of witnesses who will be testifying.
00:13:47.780Among them are Bruce Dobczynski, a forensic accountant with more than four decades of financial investigations and expert witness experience, who's testified in more than 80 trials.
00:14:00.440Eileen O'Connor, former Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice Tax Division.
00:14:05.660George Washington Law Professor Jonathan Turley.
00:14:08.520And House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith has also reportedly scheduled a vote for today to release further relevant information on the Hunter Biden investigation.
00:14:19.400Our guest today is an FBI whistleblower, former FBI agent Steve Friend.
00:14:25.120He was suspended from the Bureau when he decided to blow the whistle on the FBI's abuses of innocent Americans involved in the January 6th protest.
00:14:34.460Steve, it's great to have you here on The Great America Show.
00:14:37.160Your thoughts today on the FBI's so obviously corrupted, politically corrupt.
00:14:45.880Last September 19th was the day that I walked in the office and was unceremoniously escorted out for making my protected whistleblower disclosures.
00:14:54.360That's not their actual official reason.
00:14:56.680The FBI found its way around the Whistleblower Protection Act by suspending my security clearance for looking at the employee handbook improperly.
00:15:04.600And I think just as a retrospective, looking at the last year and how the FBI's reputation has just been so sullied by an innumerable number of weaponization examples we've seen around the country.
00:15:17.640I think that I got out while again was good, because now at this point, I think there's just a reputational problem that's going to hound so many people that have stayed behind.
00:15:31.520So it was about eight and a half years that I was an agent.
00:15:34.920First seven was spent in Iowa working on Indian reservations.
00:15:39.580Then relocated to Florida to work on child pornography before being reassigned to work on domestic terrorism.
00:15:46.280It's it's it's it's just amazing to me that an agent who had come up through the ranks and had the experience you did because you stood on principle saying that you didn't think it was appropriate to to go in with a tactical team for a misdemeanor arrest.
00:16:10.260That that set off what was to be your separation from the FBI.
00:16:16.980Well, I actually had a twofold concern.
00:16:18.900One was that the FBI was manipulating its statistics when it came to domestic terrorism is using the January 6th cases and spreading them around the country to make it look like there was a greater risk of domestic terrorism.
00:16:31.360And that was an effort done to enhance the statistics because the FBI has a quota system.
00:16:38.640And that's why January 6th was such a boondoggle for the bureau.
00:16:41.580And secondly, as you touched on, we were sending SWAT team to arrest an individual.
00:16:46.620And in this case, he actually was alleged of committed a felony.
00:16:49.380But my objection was, and I said this as somebody who was a SWAT team member for five years, he had pledged to be cooperative a year and a half before when we had actually interviewed him for the investigation.
00:17:01.340And that lapse in time and plus sending the enhanced risk of the more more risk of use of violence when it comes to a tactical team.
00:17:10.900I thought presented an unnecessary risk to his safety and to ours was very much like I could see a Waco happening.
00:17:16.940And we always like to Monday morning quarterback those incidents.
00:17:19.700And I said, guys, I'm here on Saturday saying what you're doing is wrong.
00:17:24.140Yeah. And, you know, projecting to today, we're talking about a couple of incidents in the last month in which tactical teams from the FBI went out for arrest and and shot and killed two two people.
00:17:40.320They were serving a warrant on and it's gotten to be.
00:17:44.400And as far as I know, there's been no investigation whatsoever, but a 6 a.m.
00:17:49.740Tactical, you know, approach to to taking into custody a a a person that they know to be having mental troubles, one of a veteran with post-traumatic stress syndrome.
00:18:03.000And the other, again, a man, a fellow, I think he was in his late 60s.
00:18:11.100These are considered risks that you bring a tactical team in and try to get bring them out at six o'clock in the morning.
00:18:17.820I mean, this is this is crazy stuff they're doing.
00:18:20.800And it's an a search warrant starting to be a death warrant, isn't it?
00:18:24.420It is. It is. The FBI has made the process the punishment.
00:18:28.080And that is not in keeping with traditional law enforcement.
00:18:31.740It's your job to bring a subject into custody using the least amount of force necessary.
00:18:36.600And that requires you to be nimble in your thought processes.
00:18:39.620As it was a case, as we saw in Utah, that was a gentleman who was not ambulatory.
00:18:44.040He was elderly. He was in poor health.
00:18:46.720And it would have been completely appropriate to contact him by the phone or to send a deputy locally or to just interdict him when he was on his way to the mailbox with a couple of agents.
00:18:57.620But unfortunately, there is a thought process problem that exists within the FBI where they no longer view themselves as case agents that you see on TV and movies where they chase after the bad guy, investigate him and then take him to jail.
00:19:11.360Now you're a case manager. So if you need financial analysis, you send it to the forensic accountant.
00:19:16.320If you need evidence collected, you send the evidence team.
00:19:19.420And when it comes time to make the arrest, you send the arrest team, which is the default option now is the SWAT team.
00:19:24.660And that's, again, a risk, an unnecessary risk to so many people.
00:19:31.400And I think most people are not even paying attention to what is happening.
00:19:34.940But these tactical teams going in like, you know, it's the landing on the beaches of Iwo Jima for an old man who, as you say, wasn't even ambulatory, who had been making threats, I guess, over the over the Web.
00:19:49.700I'm not entirely sure of the details, but then to end up shooting him up and flashbangs in the house and tear gas and all of the usual nonsense.
00:20:01.440It's a terrifying and, you know, I can only imagine the fear in that man's heart is that was taking place as he was probably awakening to begin his day.
00:20:10.840I don't understand how people I don't know how the men and women of the FBI can put up with being being the people who who killed it.
00:20:20.480I really I just don't understand who these people are, who they've become.
00:20:25.180And I hope that they're questioning who they've become, because it's ugly and it's a blight on a storied institution that is itself so solid and corrupt.
00:20:38.080I think that too many people have compartmentalized their objections and they've justified what's going on by doing the old tried and true.
00:20:46.720I'm just following orders and I have bills to pay and mouths to feed.
00:21:21.820We all went to the Holocaust Memorial and the MLK Memorial.
00:21:24.320And we learned that it's incumbent on you to throw the flag if you think that the FBI is off the rails, because those sorts of atrocities only happen when people just follow orders.
00:21:37.300And we know the orders coming out of out of FBI headquarters.
00:21:42.280They were to find more domestic terrorists.
00:21:45.400That was the new cry in 2020 during that campaign year, for some reason.
00:21:52.060And and and suddenly you were amongst the very first, if not the very first to point out that they were cooking the books, trying to create the so-called, quote unquote, domestic terrorism cases.
00:22:10.000This is a practice that's been going on for a long time.
00:22:12.220It started with homegrown violent extremists that we heard about in the early 2000s.
00:22:16.680And you have the Liberty City 7, which is still the largest Al Qaeda takedown in the history of the FBI.
00:22:21.860But unfortunately for those gentlemen, none of them were actually a member of Al Qaeda.
00:22:25.620And the FBI is now focusing on what they are labeling domestic violent extremists.
00:22:30.500And last September, President Biden said that those people are anti-government white supremacists.
00:22:36.080And that is also, interestingly enough, how we characterize Republican voters.
00:22:40.160So the FBI is really just doing the bidding of preserving the status quo for who is sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, as opposed to combating real crime.
00:22:48.540And they're manipulating the stats to do it and saying that the threat is far greater than it actually is in the country.
00:24:00.600And ultimately, though, I applied for and was accepted as a fellow at the Center for Renewing America,
00:24:06.040where I'm advising on domestic intelligence and domestic security services and hoping to push out more information to as many Americans as we can about the rampant abuses that we're seeing every day at the hands of the FBI.
00:24:59.760You just look at the FBI's rulebook for itself, the domestic investigations operations guide, the DIOG, and it lists intelligence collection, first and foremost, ahead of actual law enforcement, criminal investigations.
00:25:12.700And finally, a parrot with the integrated program management, which is the FBI quota book.
00:25:18.080It's the ticket quota for the traffic cop.
00:25:20.520And you combine all those forces together.
00:25:22.900The oars are pulling in the same direction.
00:25:24.400And the FBI has looked at the internal population as opportunity targets of opportunity for its needs, for cases, for arrests, for informants, all above board in their book.
00:25:37.080And unfortunately, that has departed from what we expect of our law enforcement.
00:25:42.100And you hire a police chief and elect a sheriff in your county to bring the crime numbers down.
00:25:46.980But the FBI is perversely incentivized to bring the crime numbers up so it can justify an ever expanding budget.
00:25:53.720And executives actually within the FBI get compensated because the quota numbers are hit.
00:25:58.720They get compensated on what, like salesmen on commission?
00:26:02.820Yes, the senior executives in all the field offices, and there's 56 around the country, they are no longer on the GS pay scale that all the government workers normally are.
00:26:11.500They're on the senior executive service pay scale.
00:26:29.780And I have to say, Steve, as you may hear the surprise in my voice, I have never heard of this before, that they are actually incentivized by the federal government.
00:26:42.980It is not only one-time annual bonuses, but also goes in by some formula into their pensions.
00:26:50.900Yes, your pension is calculated on your highest years of earning within the FBI, which normally is towards the end of your career, as you've ascended the ladder.
00:26:58.760And now, as they sit in these senior executive service positions, that's where they're earning the lion's share of their highest years of earning.
00:27:06.180And as a result of that, they retire from the FBI, and the percentage calculation is based on those years.
00:27:12.840So it's something that the American taxpayer are on the hook for for decades, as opposed to just a one-time payoff, which on its own is pretty egregious.
00:27:21.120And it also interferes with the day-to-day operations.
00:27:24.040It's not just the number of cases that have to be open.
00:27:27.700So it's very common when you're in the field to be pressured by frontline supervisors to work cases that are going to end with a wiretap, because using a wiretap is one of the quota items.
00:27:39.120So that is the most invasive tool in the tool belt of a law enforcement officer.
00:27:44.180And now you've incentivized or pressured your subordinates to use everything they can in order to utilize it so that the boss can get a bonus.
00:27:53.140And finally, it's also structuring around the calendar, which is completely inappropriate.
00:27:57.580I've had experiences where I was told to delay indicting certain subjects because we'd already hit our numbers for the year.
00:28:03.560We didn't want them to get bumped up for the following year.
00:29:37.660I have never seen such a disheartening organization turn into something unrecognizable, certainly unrecognizable with the movies that the FBI is putting out on television, their series.
00:30:07.540It's now, I find out, actually financially corrupt.
00:30:11.880How much worse is this going to get, Steve?
00:30:16.020You know, its reputation is everything.
00:30:17.760I think we were told when I first got hired that the FBI logo was one of the most recognizable images around the world, and the reputation precedes it.
00:30:26.260And as a result of that, I was able to do my job very effectively in talking to people.
00:30:33.540They surely exist now where people are refusing to talk to the FBI.
00:30:35.820But how long before a jury immediately acquits anybody brought before them because they doubt the legitimacy of the charges because they were brought by the FBI?
00:30:44.400So I think that there's a case we made, and I certainly share your sentiment.
00:30:48.080I think that the FBI needs to be broken into a thousand pieces and scattered to the wind.
00:30:52.220But I've also proffered one potential avenue if they lack the appetite to actually defund the agency entirely.
00:31:01.060And that would be for Congress, which they can do today, defund the armed special agent position and make it an unarmed position, and then force the FBI to partner with local sheriff's offices in order to do investigations, use their personnel, because they would be the armed law enforcement officers present.
00:31:17.880And then the sheriff would have a sort of bulwark position against an out-of-control weaponized government, and he would direct those investigations because, again, he knows where the criminals are.
00:31:28.000He knows where the needs of the community are, and he's responsible for his constituents, and he wants to bring the crime down.
00:31:33.760He said that instead of answering to a quota system that's coming from headquarters in Washington, D.C., we're going to answer and empower, not defund the FBI, empower local agencies.
00:31:45.280And that might be the course correction that's needed because the FBI is not the magical police.
00:31:50.020There's far superior actual law enforcement professionals who are working in people's towns every single day.
00:31:57.180And who put their lives on the line every day holding that blue line.
00:32:01.880And I'm a great believer and fan of sheriffs all over this country who are elected by their communities, who I think represent those communities, and who do an amazing job.
00:32:17.680And the state patrol, the state troopers, the local police departments are magnificent.
00:32:22.920They have been reduced to agencies that, well, I frankly don't know how anyone can work right now in local law enforcement in some cities, particularly the Democratic-led cities, where they're under immense pressure, facing horrible crime rates in communities that are indifferent to their welfare or that of others.
00:32:45.920It's a mess, and I want to commend you before we go to break here.
00:32:52.160You've put forward the first solution I've heard.
00:32:54.680When we come back, I'd like to know how Congress reacted to your advocacy for what seems to me to be the smartest solution I've heard offered by anyone.
00:33:06.220We're talking with Steve Friend, whistleblower, great American.
00:33:44.400Steve, how did Congress react when you gave what I think is the most sensible, intelligent, and likely most effective approach to both rein in what is a corrupt organization and to support, importantly, local law enforcement?
00:34:03.220Well, I only talked about that with some of the members of the committee briefly after testifying, and they definitely entertained that idea.
00:34:11.540They seemed to think that it was novel and something that was maybe worth taking up.
00:34:14.900But really, again, back to what I really said, have not heard very much from them.
00:34:20.040I realize that they're spread really thin, and they have other things on their plate, and this is really central to my focus and my heart.
00:34:26.080That's why I've put out some op-eds regarding it, and I've tried to speak out to folks such as yourself or across the media, hoping that this sort of idea could gain traction.
00:34:34.560I think that too many of our elected officials lack the political capital or the political will to push for major reforms, and they're scared of being labeled as a defund the police representative.
00:34:46.680And I think that you could message this one properly to the American people because so many people have tremendous respect and admiration for local law enforcement.
00:34:54.320So empowering a sheriff, empowering local police or state authorities, I think, is something that most people would be willing to go on and get on board with.
00:35:02.980And this sort of reform stops short of a defund the FBI, and I think it's a happy middle ground that would please the most amount of people.
00:35:10.700Well, it is a time where we hear very few answers to what are egregious and deeply troubling divisions and conflicts within our law enforcement, our governments, and particularly the federal government I'm talking about.
00:35:30.480Those agencies, whether it's the FBI, whether it's the intelligence community agencies, the CIA, NSA, DIA, et cetera.
00:35:38.520It is a time of, I think, historic conflict within the government itself.
00:35:46.320The government is pervasively corrupt, I believe, fundamentally.
00:35:51.240And I think we have a Congress that doesn't quite yet appreciate how extensive and profound the corruption is, even though they're making great headway and these congressional committees are doing magnificent work.
00:36:04.680I still don't think that entirely they grasp the dimensions of what is the Democrat Party, what it's become under the Marxist Dems who lead it.
00:36:15.980This is a perilous time in our nation.
00:36:18.700I'd like to get your perspective on the society as well as our governmental institutions.
00:36:25.580I am a firm believer in the doctrine of the lesser magistrate, and I think that the weaponization that we've all witnessed and, in many cases, been victims of over the last few years have laid bare that the necessity for that sort of governing philosophy to become the predominant philosophy once again.
00:36:53.400And you should have a say in what goes on in your community and care way more about what happens at the Board of Commissioners level in your county or the town council or the school board than what the goings-on are in Washington, D.C.
00:37:07.200But, unfortunately, it's been flipped on its head, and it's become sort of a circus and sort of actually, unfortunately, a means of entertainment for too many people.
00:37:14.480They view it as almost like professional wrestling.
00:37:16.860And I think that the only way that we can really course-correct as a country would be to pull back from the brink here and re-engage.
00:37:23.680I become fond of saying that we always hear America is not a country, that it's an idea.
00:37:29.160And I want to proffer that it's not just an idea.
00:37:38.060It means you have to get out of your comfort zone, and you're going to have to go and sit at those boring meetings and make sure that your voice is heard because sitting home and complaining about the problem is never a good solution.
00:37:52.060And, hopefully, more people are going to be activated and engaged and use this rage and frustration that they have with organizations like the FBI and with Congress.
00:38:00.060And as long as they direct that energy in a positive way and impact their community most directly, I think that that bodes well for the greatest overall outcome.
00:38:09.340When you were an agent and you worked with the local police departments, the local sheriff's office, they had to be resentful.
00:38:18.680And I'm going back to my youth as a young police and fire reporter.
00:38:23.360I knew the police department, the police officers, deputy sheriffs, they were deeply resentful occasionally when the FBI got into a case.
00:38:36.640They wanted to, you know, they protested a little bit, the interjection of the FBI, but it was not a, it wasn't the anger.
00:38:52.880It was just sort of a, you know, I guess I would say a friendly rivalry over jurisdiction is the best way to put it.
00:39:02.600There seems to be something else afoot today.
00:39:05.900This seems to be an FBI that means to take both the resources and the authority of local law enforcement from them and not even notify often.
00:39:17.040I mean, I can't tell you how many stories I've read and heard that they didn't even notify local authorities when they were making a raid.
00:39:26.040Yeah, I think, unfortunately, that that humility that's required and that I always tried to do my best to express to the local partners that we had, that's been lost.
00:39:37.340And what people in local law enforcement could and should realize is that they actually hold all the cards when it comes to the functionality of an FBI outside of so many of these large cities.
00:39:49.080My office in Daytona Beach was four counties, eight special agents, one million citizens.
00:39:57.140It was impossible to police at a federal level without the assistance of our local partners.
00:40:02.200And therefore, the local sheriffs and the deputies that were augmenting our manpower as task force officers, they had a tremendous amount of power because they had they brought a lot of local knowledge and experience that a lot of the agents didn't have.
00:40:15.560And they made our jobs that much better. And therefore, I think that the way to maybe bring the FBI and rein it in, it's certainly it's eccentricities at the local level might be for the sheriff here.
00:40:28.420And what one of them actually did, and that was to divest his agency from the FBI, which required some courage because there's funding available.
00:40:35.840But nowadays, you don't need an FBI. It's not the Bonnie and Clyde days where they could rob a bank and run over state lines.
00:40:41.640You can coordinate with other agencies at a state level, at a local level and and force the FBI to come into compliance with what you expect and what you need.
00:40:51.540And that is supposed to be an agency that makes your job easier as opposed to using you to boost its own image and accomplishments.
00:41:00.140Steve Wren, we thank you for being with us. And this has been our first conversation.
00:41:05.280I hope it'll be the first among many. We appreciate you being with us and God bless you, Steve.
00:41:11.640Thank you very much, Lou. God bless you as well.
00:41:14.400Thanks, everybody, for being with us today. Please join us here tomorrow and each and every day.
00:41:20.040Follow me on Twitter and true social at Lou Dobbs on Facebook and Instagram at Lou Dobbs tonight and visit our Web site, Lou Dobbs dot com.
00:41:29.980Thanks, everybody. God bless you and may God bless and save America.