The Great America Show - April 17, 2026


Mid-Day Update： April 17, 2026


Episode Stats


Length

5 minutes

Words per minute

184.50844

Word count

929

Sentence count

56

Harmful content

Hate speech

5

sentences flagged


Summary

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

The Strait of Hormuz is now open to all commercial traffic. Former CIA Director John Brennan is no longer a target of a Russiagate investigation. The Justice Department has removed a career prosecutor who was stonewalling and slow-walking charges against Brennan. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is withholding a staggering $74 million in federal highway funds.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Hello everybody, I'm John Fawcett with This Great America Show, midday update for Friday, April 17th.
00:00:04.740 Happy Friday, folks. I hope you all had a great week and you're ready for the weekend just as much as I am.
00:00:09.360 But first, let's get to some news headlines that are dominating here in America today.
00:00:14.180 Peace between Iran and the United States has seemingly taken a step towards, I guess, the good,
00:00:19.720 as Iran has moved to reopen traffic on the Strait of Hormuz. 0.57
00:00:23.560 Last week, declared tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz was suspended after Israel continued hammering Hezbollah terrorists following the U.S. and Iran ceasefire agreement.
00:00:34.720 President Trump, of course, responded by ordering the U.S. Navy to immediately begin blockading the Strait, one of the most crucial and critical choke points in the world.
00:00:43.700 This move has significantly damaged Iran's already struggling economy.
00:00:48.040 Then, with the encouragement of Trump, Israel and Lebanon negotiated a 10-day ceasefire to stop the bloodshed over there.
00:00:53.820 Trump's savvy move appears to have worked because Iran has now declared that the Strait is completely open for the remainder of the ceasefire.
00:01:01.260 Quote, in line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage of all commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of the ceasefire on the coordinated route, as already announced by ports and maritime organizations of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
00:01:16.400 according to the foreign minister of iran now as a result of this announcement oil prices have
00:01:22.280 plummeted today president trump writing in truth social quote the strait of harmuz is completely
00:01:26.960 open and ready for business and full passage but the naval blockade will remain in full force and
00:01:31.720 full effect as it pertains to iran only until such a time as our transaction with iran is 100
00:01:37.520 complete this process should go very quickly and most points already negotiated thank you for your
00:01:43.720 attention to this matter. Just moments ago, President Trump tweeting out, quote, Iran has
00:01:48.920 agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again. It will no longer be used as a weapon against the
00:01:53.900 world. President Donald J. Trump. President Trump negotiating for the rest of the world and in turn
00:02:00.960 saving Europe, who they said in just five to six days could have run out of jet fuel for their
00:02:07.500 airplanes, which I think President Trump is far too kind. I would have let them learn the hard
00:02:12.320 way since they don't want to be there to help the rest of the world and they want to let Iran 1.00
00:02:16.240 have nuclear weapons and Iran dominate the show. President Trump says no thanks. The Justice 0.81
00:02:22.220 Department today removed a career federal prosecutor who was slow walking charges against
00:02:27.460 John Brennan. Former CIA Director Brennan is the target of a grand jury Russiagate probe in South
00:02:33.160 Florida. Last July it was reported that the former FBI Director James Comey and John Brennan were
00:02:37.780 under FBI investigation over their involvement in Russiagate.
00:02:41.840 CIA Director John Ratcliffe had referred Brennan and Comey for prosecution over the summer.
00:02:46.800 U.S. Attorney Jason Redding-Kanoez in the Southern District of Florida is in charge of this investigation,
00:02:51.920 and this afternoon it's reported that the DOJ abruptly removed a lead career Miami prosecutor
00:02:56.620 who was stonewalling and slow-walking charges against Brennan.
00:03:00.780 They put out the press statement saying, quote,
00:03:02.200 The Justice Department has removed the career Miami federal prosecutor leading the investigation into John Brennan
00:03:07.120 after she resisted pressure to quickly bring charges against a former CIA director
00:03:11.680 and prominent critic of President Donald J. Trump, according to people familiar with the matter.
00:03:17.340 Now, Brennan also separately referred for prosecution by the House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan.
00:03:22.760 Chairman Jordan referred Brennan to the DOJ for knowingly making false statements
00:03:26.080 during a May 2023 interview with the House Judiciary Committee.
00:03:29.400 It seems that Republicans are the only ones who get caught up in these crimes.
00:03:34.520 It seems Republicans are the only ones who go to jail for these crimes.
00:03:38.240 It seems Republicans are the only ones who are ever gone for these crimes.
00:03:42.540 The Democrats walk free every time, and it's because the Republicans allow them.
00:03:46.360 U.S. Transportation Secretary Son Duffy announcing this afternoon that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the FMCSA,
00:03:53.520 is withholding a staggering 74, almost 74 million dollars in federal highway funds from the state of New York.
00:04:00.320 Why, you may ask?
00:04:01.180 Because the far-left New York Democrats under Kathy Hochul have flat-out refused to revoke thousands of illegally issued non-domiciled commercial learner's permits and commercial driver's license that they handed out in violation of the federal law.
00:04:17.100 That's right, folks.
00:04:18.080 They handed out a driver's license to illegals, knowingly illegally doing so. 0.96
00:04:24.000 These people are on the road, insured, who knows if they have insurance, driving around all of us. 0.93
00:04:30.980 And New York now has to pay the price.
00:04:33.140 I think it's only right that they do so.
00:04:36.000 Mamdani and Hochul need to be held responsible before they get out of control
00:04:39.260 because it can only get much, much worse from here.
00:04:42.140 Folks, please be sure to join us tonight and each and every night.
00:04:45.280 That's right, each and every night, 6 p.m. Eastern Time for The Great America Show
00:04:48.500 on Rumble, YouTube, Twitter, wherever you guys get your podcasts.
00:04:52.420 You can find us there each and every weeknight, that is, for The Great America Show.
00:04:56.660 I'm John Fawcett with this midday update.
00:04:58.920 Have a great day, everybody.
00:04:59.840 If we don't see you tonight for the show, have a great weekend.