Trump's triumphant trip to China, trade deal with China, the government shutdown, and much more! Subscribe today using our podcast s promo code POWER10 for 10% off your first pack and a free Fubarbie!
00:01:10.860Well, just as President Richard Nixon leveraged a trip to China in order to secure a strategic arms limitation agreement with the Russians,
00:01:21.040President Donald Trump has had a triumphant tour of China and he's come back with the goods.
00:01:26.720The president went there pursuing major economic deals with China, seeking to get greater Chinese purchases of American goods and establish a U.S.-China Board of Trade to try to stabilize bilateral relations.
00:01:43.060The centerpiece, of course, this was China's commitment to buy 200 Boeing aircraft alongside their commitment to take on and buy expanded U.S. imports of agricultural products such as soybeans, beef and pork.
00:01:59.260Discussions, of course, also center beyond trade tensions to the ongoing situation regarding Iran and Taiwan, both of which were evidently on the agenda.
00:02:13.060While the White House emphasizes that progress on economic cooperation and market access are continuing, the Chinese, of course, said once again that Taiwan is off the table.
00:02:24.220But it is clear the president did secure key agreements during his visit to China aimed at resolving the impasse over the Strait of Hormuz.
00:02:33.520That's where the Iranians have closed down that crucial waterway through which almost 30 percent of the world's oil must flow in terms of shipping.
00:02:43.760China agreed not to send weapons to Iran and committed to help end that conflict
00:02:48.900With President Xi Jinping reportedly offering to provide
00:02:52.720Quote, whatever Trump needs, close quote, to achieve a resolution
00:02:57.020China is, of course, Iran's largest oil producer
00:04:56.320Under the resolution, the Secretary of the Senate would withhold senators' pay during any shutdown
00:05:01.660and release it only after the government reopens.
00:05:04.740The rule takes effect after the midterm elections, meaning it could apply to a potential end-of-year shutdown, but not before the fiscal year ends in September 30.
00:05:16.820The vote comes after a months-long partial shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security as Democrats push ICE reforms and sought to restrict funding for immigration enforcement and the Border Patrol.
00:05:29.040With the likelihood of immigration enforcement and intransigent Democrats
00:05:33.960Looking to undermine the country at every turn
00:05:35.960It is irresponsible, to my opinion, for U.S. senators to keep taking a paycheck
00:05:40.080While essential government employees suffer
00:05:43.400Washington politicians should not be insulated from the consequences of their own gamesmanship
00:05:48.900If law enforcement, border agents, and military families are expected to feel the pain of a shutdown
00:05:54.840Well, I think senators should feel the pain too
00:05:57.200The ruling class has spent too long protecting itself while ordinary Americans pay the price.
00:06:03.180Senator Kennedy's resolution sends the right message that senators deserve no special treatment,
00:06:08.540no protected paychecks, and no more Washington privilege during these future shutdowns.
00:06:14.580Meanwhile, the historic progress from the Trump administration at the border,
00:06:18.480the Department of Homeland Security says that April 12 marked 12 straight months of zero releases
00:06:25.120of illegal aliens apprehended by the Border Patrol at the southwest border of the United States.
00:06:31.260The Department of Homeland Security has called it one of the clearest signs yet
00:06:34.900that President Trump's border policies are working.
00:06:38.200Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen said the days of catch and release are over
00:06:41.820and the illegal aliens are being sent back to their home countries
00:06:45.260instead of being released into the United States.
00:06:48.680The numbers show a dramatic reversal from the Biden era,
00:06:51.340According to the Department of Homeland Security's latest reports, southwest border apprehensions in April were down 94% than the monthly average under Biden and 96% below the December 2023 crisis peak.
00:07:08.080In April, border patrols recorded 8,943 apprehensions along the southwest border, less than what agents encountered in just three days of April 2024.
00:07:19.260So the daily average was 298 apprehensions, lower than what agents saw in a single hour during the worst of the Biden border crisis.
00:07:31.180The Border Patrol Commissioner Rodney Scott contrasted that with two years ago, when more than 68,000 illegal aliens were released into the United States interior in just one month.
00:07:43.120DHL also says drug seizures are up shortly
00:07:46.700With agents no longer overwhelmingly processing and releasing illegal migrants
00:07:51.540The Border Patrol has seized 61% more drugs through this fiscal year, through April
00:07:59.860Than during the same period of last year0.99
00:08:01.820This means that the immigration crisis was always a crisis of will
00:08:06.220When Joe Biden insisted he needed new laws in order to close our border
00:08:11.860All we needed to do was to enforce the laws that were already on the books.
00:08:17.000Let's face it, the Biden administration wanted the illegals to come over because Democrats want the demographic collapse of America.
00:08:24.180They want the refuse of the third world so they can buy them off with welfare and allow them to commit Medicaid fraud so they ultimately will vote Democrat in perpetuity.
00:08:34.720Borders can be easily secured when leaders choose enforcement over surrender.0.98
00:08:38.760President Trump ended catch and release, reinstated consequences, and freed agents to do their jobs.
00:08:45.880And the result is a miraculous outcome that is making America stronger and safer.0.83
00:08:52.720Meanwhile, the Center for Disease Control says that 41 people in the United States are now being monitored for antivirus after an outbreak tied to a cruise ship, the Hondias.
00:09:05.080Most of those watts were aboard the vessel, which sailed from Argentina on April 1st to remove destinations, which sailed, including Antarctica, I believe.
00:09:16.180The ship experienced a hantavirus outbreak that has now drawn international attention, has been speculated to be the next COVID-style public health emergency that had been foretold in this case by the globalist elite.
00:09:30.38018 people were recently flown to medical facilities in Nebraska and Georgia for quarantine during the virus's incubation period, which can last up to 42 days.
00:09:40.720Others had already left the ship before the outbreak was detected and are now being monitored in home states such as Arizona and California.
00:09:48.300A third group includes people exposed during travel after coming into close contact with these cruise ship passengers, including on airplanes.
00:09:56.800According to the World Health Organization, 11 passengers worldwide are confirmed or suspected to have contracted this hantavirus.
00:10:08.380Hantavirus is usually spread from infected rodents to humans, but health officials believe person-to-person transition may have occurred aboard the ship.
00:10:17.820The Center for Disease Control says the risk to the general public remains extremely low and no mandatory U.S. quarantine orders have been issued.
00:10:25.300But still, state officials in Kansas, Maryland, New Jersey, and Washington, as well as elsewhere, are monitoring the possible exposures.
00:10:34.340It does seem strange now that humans are allegedly transmitting a virus between each other when they told us that couldn't be done.
00:10:42.020Perhaps there has been some kind of gain-of-function experimentation going on to weaponize a strain of this virus, similar to what was done with COVID-19.
00:10:54.040All we do know is that nobody has been held accountable for the crimes of COVID-19, so what is really stopping them from doing it again?
00:11:02.240Our society is continuously being held hostage to the whims of demonic, God-hating technocrats.
00:11:10.240Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Cuba's communist regime rejected a $100 million U.S. humanitarian aid package that would have gone directly to the Cuban people through the Catholic Church.
00:11:26.280Rubio told Fox News that Trump administration officials offer the assistance to help Cubans suffering under food shortages, fuel scarcity, medicine shortages and a collapsing economy.
00:11:38.840The State Department says the offer also included support for free satellite internet, but Havana refused to allow the aid to reach the people directly.
00:11:47.940That internet access is what they fear the most.
00:11:50.760You see, the communists do an excellent job of blocking any radio transmissions or television transmissions from the United States.
00:12:00.000Therefore, the Cuban people have been told for decades that all of their problems,
00:12:04.400from the shortage of food to the shortage of gasoline, all of their problems are the fault of those angry Yankees.
00:12:12.280They feel like accepting the kindness from the United States would undermine their communist, anti-American narrative,0.91
00:12:17.740and they must continue to oppress their own people to keep them under their thumb.0.52
00:12:22.600The department publicly renewed the offer this week, saying the choice now rests with the Cuban regime.
00:12:28.200The United States and the Catholic Church have already proven this model can work.
00:12:33.520Earlier this year, USA distributed through Catholic channels delivered food, hygiene supplies and other essentials to Cubans affected by Hurricane Melissa.
00:12:43.040Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez denied that rejecting good faith assistance and claimed that the regime merely wants details while blaming U.S. sanctions and demanding an end once again to the embargo.
00:12:56.220But these are just excuses from a failing regime that's desperately trying to cling on to power.
00:13:02.800Aid rooting through the church would prevent self-serving communist officials from diverting foreign assistance from the people who need it the most and then putting it in their own pockets.
00:13:12.980Mexicans reportedly previously found that donated supplies intended for Cuba were sold in military-run stores at unaffordable dollar prices.
00:13:23.160This is what an operation in Venezuela was like and what inevitably happened in Cuba
00:13:31.220There's no reason why the people in Cuba need to be oppressed any longer
00:13:34.600The Donro Doctrine is on its way and it will end the suffering and end the narco-Marxism going on just 90 miles from our shore
00:13:46.100My opinion, and remember I'm married to a Cuban-American, this could be Trump's greatest single legacy
00:13:52.320You see, there is an industry in Miami of those who oppose Castro.
00:13:57.920They get hundreds of thousands of dollars from USAID.
00:14:01.440They get millions of dollars in campaign contributions.
00:14:04.720Yet the plight of the Cuban people doesn't get any better.
00:14:08.540It's time for President Donald Trump and Secretary of State of Marco Rubio to open the door to a free Cuba, Cuba Libre.
00:14:17.040I'm Roger Stone. You're listening to The Stone Zone. Don't go away because we'll be right back.
00:14:22.320The Stone Zone, entertaining and informative on the Red Apple Podcast Network.
00:14:35.020I'm joining you today from Washington, D.C.
00:14:37.880Only yesterday, I visited Arlington National Cemetery to visit the gravesite of my political mentor,
00:14:44.740former Connecticut Governor John Davis Lodge.
00:14:47.700Now, John Lodge, of course, was the brother of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge,
00:14:51.820the grandson of Henry Cabot Lodge, who was Theodore Roosevelt's best friend and also a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, like his son, Henry Cabot Lodge.
00:15:02.100But John Lodge was an interesting guy.
00:15:05.840He was most famous for his role opposite Marlena Dietrich in The Scarlet Empress.
00:15:11.720He also played Shirley Temple's father in The Little Colonel.
00:15:15.200But beyond his career as an actor, he was a congressman, then one-term governor of the state of Connecticut, followed by his service as the ambassador to Spain under Dwight Eisenhower, the ambassador to Argentina under Richard Nixon, and then lastly, the ambassador to Switzerland under President Ronald Reagan.
00:15:40.060It was John Davis Lodge, who I met as a young man, who was really my political mentor.
00:15:46.420It was Lodge who got me my job with Richard Nixon, working in his 72 re-election,
00:15:54.240also working as the chairman of youth for Nixon when I lived in Connecticut.
00:15:59.180Lodge was actually the progenitor of the famous saying that politics is the art of inclusion.
00:16:05.880And it was Lodge who, ironically, in a juxtaposition of our careers, he helped my early career.
00:16:16.060But in 1979, when I was sent to Connecticut, New York and New Jersey to organize those states for Ronald Reagan,
00:16:23.400I sought the former governor and ambassador out to chair Ronald Reagan's campaign in the Nutmeg State.
00:16:30.220That, of course, was a great affront to the Bushes as governor of Connecticut when there was a vacancy in the U.S. Senate caused by the death of U.S. Senator Brian McMahon.
00:16:45.200John Lodge had actually declined to appoint Prescott Bush, George H.W. Bush's father, to the U.S. Senate.
00:16:53.480Although they were all Brahmins, there was no love lost between the Bushes and the Lodges.1.00
00:17:43.280You are now re-entering The Stone Zone.
00:17:46.740Well, according to explosive testimony yesterday before the Senate Homeland Security Committee,
00:17:52.020the CIA was accused of taking back 40 boxes of documents pertaining to the Kennedy assassination
00:17:58.940and the controversial MKUltra mind control program from the offices of the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.
00:18:08.380Documents reportedly being prepared for declassification and public release.
00:18:13.500A CIA whistleblower, one James Erdman III, has claimed the agency not only seized the files,
00:18:20.140but also monitored the computers and phones of Gabbard's investigators as they examined an alleged cover-up surrounding the origins of COVID-19.0.53
00:18:31.100Now let's be abundantly clear, Tulsi Gabbard has been doing exactly what the American people deserve,
00:18:36.680pushing sunlight, accountability, and truth in a government too often addicted to secrecy.
00:18:42.040It was, after all, Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, who declassified all the documents that proved once and for all that the claims of Russian collusion in the election of Donald Trump in 2016 were entirely a hoax.
00:18:56.880She followed that up by declassifying documents that proved, without any doubt whatsoever, that the two impeachments were also based totally on fabricated evidence.
00:19:06.760So all of those attacking Tulsi Gabbard now should be looked on with suspicion as the deep state really fears her
00:19:14.280She's been incredibly brave and effective in her role with the DNI
00:19:18.020And all those who are trying to subvert her, such as the reality-detached ghoul Laura Loomer
00:19:24.440I think they should be ashamed of themselves
00:19:26.480Former CIA officer Robert Kiriko told Fox News that the agency has no authority
00:19:32.880to overrule either the president or the director of national intelligence.
00:19:37.620He said the files were mandated for declassification
00:19:40.320and that Americans have the right to know what is inside.
00:19:43.560Congresswoman Anna Polina Lunar said the CIA has 24 hours to return the records
00:20:08.300They lie and deny, it's what they're best at
00:20:10.940After decades of secrecy, destroyed records, discredited denials around the controversial MKUltra mind control program0.98
00:20:20.740By the way, CIA Director Richard Helms destroyed most of those documents on the very day that the existence of the program leaked to the Washington Post and was published on page one.
00:20:44.380We can no longer be allowed to hide under the cloak of national security.
00:20:48.360It's time for the CIA to face public scrutiny has been skirting since its very inception.
00:20:54.540People don't know this, but on the day after Kennedy's assassination, President Harry Truman wrote an op-ed piece for The Washington Post in which he said that signing the CIA into law was the greatest single mistake that he had ever made.
00:21:10.400And went on to say that they had violated their charter, which determined that they were only to operate abroad and they were not to operate in the United States.
00:21:22.400That op-ed by a former president of the United States only ran for one edition before it was spiked by the Washington Post,
00:21:31.180leading to my longtime suspicion that the Washington Post is also controlled by the Central Intelligence Agency.
00:21:38.100Glad to see that my good friend Rudy Giuliani is back on the air after having made a miraculous recovery following a life-threatening health scare.
00:21:48.100America's mayor says the experience was a deeply spiritual one for him.
00:21:52.540The 81-year-old former New York City mayor, perhaps the greatest mayor in New York history, revealed Wednesday that he had battled a serious case of pneumonia that sent him to the hospital, according to friends,
00:22:30.440Giuliani said Powers spoke meaningful words to him
00:22:32.980and that he recorded their memory shortly after he woke up.
00:22:36.320He also woke up with a priest at the hospital because they did administer last rites to New York's greatest mayor.
00:22:43.080Powers, a good man who died in 2016, was Giuliani's high school friend, campaign manager, and his first deputy mayor.
00:22:51.300Giuliani was hospitalized in critical condition on May 3rd with viral pneumonia,
00:22:55.940Apparently worsened by the respiratory problems dating back to the aftermath of the September 11th terror attacks
00:23:03.140Now Giuliani says he's making a strong recovery and feels like his old self
00:23:08.040He's resumed light exercise, walked stairs and says he feels 100%
00:23:13.060Even if doctors may not quite agree yet
00:23:15.820He also thanked President Trump calling him a terrific friend and a godsend to this country
00:23:21.560Rudy Giuliani's story is one of faith, friendship, resilience, and gratitude,
00:23:26.580and a fighting spirit of a man who helped lead America through one of its darkest days.
00:23:31.860Rudy Giuliani still has a lot more good work to do to help this country
00:23:35.280and the Magna Renaissance that's going on.
00:23:38.420We need fighters like him on the front lines for our nation.
00:23:41.860The Lord has answered our prayers, including mine,
00:23:43.940and Rudy Giuliani will be continuing to fight alongside us as a result.
00:23:48.540More good news for the American economy. Kevin Walsh has been narrowly confirmed by the Senate as the 17th chairman of the Federal Reserve, replacing the Trump-hating partisan hack Jerome Tulate Powell, who, by the way, is a lawyer and not even an economist.
00:24:04.940Eight years of Powell were marked by crisis, conflict, and growing frustration over the central bank's mismanagement of the American economy
00:24:13.600Warsh, a Trump appointee, was confirmed this past Wednesday by a 54-45 vote, mostly long party lines
00:24:21.320Only Democrat Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania crossed over to support him
00:24:26.160The vote was one of the most partisan confirmations for a Federal Reserve chair in the history
00:24:30.900showing once again how Democrats will stop at nothing to try to sabotage President Trump,
00:24:36.200even if it means hurting the American people and our economy.
00:24:39.800Kevin Walsh is widely seen as more aligned with Trump's economic agenda
00:24:43.560and is expected to bring long-overdue reform to an institution that has become bloated,
00:24:49.360opaque, and much too insulated from Democratic oversight.
00:24:55.140Warsh has supported shrinking the Fed's massive $6.7 trillion balance sheet, cutting back Washington staffing, policies, meetings, and holding fewer press conferences, ending the Fed's habit of constantly telegraphing interest rate moves, and otherwise ignoring the two criteria for an interest rate cut, unemployment and inflation.
00:25:20.420Walsh has argued that years of massive bond buying made the Fed too entangled with government spending in the financial markets.
00:25:28.120His first meeting as chair is scheduled for June 16th and 17th.
00:25:31.960And incredibly, Powell will remain as a governor for now because he remains doggably obsessed with helping to undermine President Trump.
00:25:40.400Only twice in the Federal Reserve's 113-year history has a Federal Reserve board governor remained on the board after no longer serving as chairman.
00:25:51.740After Warsh is officially confirmed, it may be time to fire back up the investigations into Powell and his multi-billion dollar federal renovation of his already palatial headquarters.
00:26:03.520There is no question whatsoever that Powell lied before the Congress.
00:26:09.140It's hard to believe that that Warsh could do any worse than his predecessor.
00:26:14.180I think we're going to get the Federal Reserve interest rate cut that America believes.
00:26:18.700But how the Senate gets away with hearing Chairman Powell say very specifically that his multi-billion dollar renovation of the already palatial Federal Reserve headquarters does not include a private elevator for the Fed governors.
00:26:38.160that was a lie does not include a private dining room for the fed governors that was a lie and did
00:26:44.720not include a palatial roof garden reserved only for the federal reserve members three simple lies
00:26:51.140all under oath when the entity like the fed has the ability to print money out of thin air with
00:26:57.300no limits they tend to abuse that power which is why perhaps it's time to end the federal reserve
00:27:02.860forever, as former Texas Congressman Ron Paul has frequently urged. We should perhaps just repeal
00:27:09.220the Federal Reserve Act and do away with this monstrosity. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump
00:27:14.920says Cuba is asking for help and the United States is willing to talk. In a true social post on
00:27:20.120Tuesday, Trump called Cuba a failed country, headed down, adding that Havana is seeking
00:27:26.100assistant that talks will happen, but so far the Cubans have refused a $100 million offer of
00:27:33.020assistance unless that assistance was handed over to the Cuban government rather than a third party
00:27:38.860such as the Catholic Church. Presidents made Cuba a major focus of a second term, increasing pressure
00:27:45.200on the communist regime through sanctions, an oil blockade, and repeated warnings from his
00:27:50.440administration. Trump said that Cuba is not doing well. That would be an understatement
00:27:56.600and said the issue would be addressed at the right time. See, when the president essentially
00:28:02.600ended the flow of oil from Venezuela to Cuba, Cuba lost its access to cheap oil.
00:28:10.520A White House official went further, saying within a short period of time, Cuba's regime
00:28:14.420could fall and that America would be there to help. President Trump has imposed multiple sanctions
00:28:20.200aimed at choking off the communist leadership and enforcing real concessions.
00:28:25.780Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who family roots, of course, traced to Cuba,
00:28:30.360announced additional penalties back on May 7th.
00:28:33.140Earlier, President Trump broadened sanctions against regime officials, affiliates,
00:28:38.000and anyone tied to corruption or human rights abuses.
00:28:41.100There's also talk of indicting Raul Castro, now 94, the brother of Fidel Castro,
00:28:46.760and his successor in the violent shoot-down of the Brothers to the Rescue mission over Cuba some years ago.
00:28:56.300The administration has also targeted countries providing oil to Cuba,
00:29:00.300worsening pressure on Ivana's already fragile energy system.
00:29:04.320Blackouts are widespread, there's fuel rationing,
00:29:07.280and shortages have become part of daily life for Cubans trapped under the decades of socialist failure.
00:29:13.340Cuban Americans, including Fidel Castro's daughter, have urged Trump to turn his attention onto the island.
00:29:19.260President Trump has described the possibility of fleeing or even taking Cuba as an honor.
00:29:25.080With the removal of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela happening so quickly,
00:29:29.280and the new regime in Venezuela working closely with the U.S.,
00:29:32.680President Trump is in bold to embark on similar measures, I think, now to liberate Cuba, and the time is now.
00:29:39.040Communism has failed. Cuba is collapsing.
00:29:41.740If American hope opened the door to freedom without expending blood and treasure, we absolutely should do so.0.50
00:29:49.020Meanwhile, House Democrats are teaming up with a handful of turncoat Republicans to force another Ukraine funding vote,0.68
00:29:55.820defying Speaker Mike Johnson and the American first wing of the Republican Party.
00:30:00.960All 215 House Democrats signed a discharge petition to bypass the House leadership and bring Ukrainian support to the floor.
00:30:11.100They were joined by Republicans Brian Fitzpatrick and Don Bacon, those are what we call rhinos, Republicans in name only, along with California Independent Kevin Kiley and the anti-Trump taters of the caucus giving the petition the 218 signatures needed to proceed.
00:30:27.420The bill would send another $1.3 billion in military aid and assistance to Ukraine, with the possibility of up to $8 billion more in direct loans, a loan that critics warn will become loans in names only, as the money goes straight up Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's nose.
00:30:47.960The legislation also reaffirms U.S. support for Ukraine and NATO, backs reconstruction efforts, and expands sanctions and export controls against Russia's financial, oil, mining, and political sectors.
00:31:02.100The American people are tired of this war, and they're tired to pay for it, but Democrat Gregory Meeks urged quick passage of this new $1.3 billion present from Uncle Sam, saying Ukraine's fighters are waiting.0.57
00:31:16.620Ukraine soldiers are certainly waiting, waiting to die in a war being waged for globalists that has zero chance of victory.
00:31:24.180Many Americans are fed up as an arms in Washington, D.C.
00:31:28.380Swamp find more money to wage foreign wars, while America faces a projected $1.9 trillion deficit, an immigration crisis, struggling families and crumbling infrastructure here at home.
00:31:40.780Ukraine and Russia have resumed fighting after a short ceasefire.
00:31:43.800as Russia continues to make gains in Eastern Europe's Donbass region.
00:31:49.140Yet instead of putting an end to this madness,
00:31:51.780the D.C. War Caucus wants to write them another huge check.
00:31:55.940Sadly, the bill will likely pass the House,
00:31:58.280but it faces a tougher path than the U.S. Senate.
00:32:01.460That's where Republicans have to put their foot down.
00:32:04.080This war is only being weighed as a proxy
00:32:05.960because butt-hurt globalists hate Russia so much.
00:32:10.000Millions have died needlessly as a result.
00:32:11.940If we turn off the spigot of Abe, then the fighting can stop and Zelensky can face justice in the streets as he deserves.
00:32:19.400He's put off elections because he knows he would lose.
00:32:30.260The Stone Zone, entertaining and informative on the Red Apple Podcast Network.
00:32:36.320And you're back in the Stone Zone today, joining you live from Washington, D.C.
00:32:42.440Well, the U.S. government has admitted that it violated the First Amendment rights of a reporter by pressuring social media companies to suppress disfavored speech during the COVID-19 era.
00:32:54.500According to a May 11th legal settlement obtained by the Epoch Times, federal officials agreed to pay former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson $150,000 after he sued over his 2021 Twitter ban.
00:33:14.080Madness and the mandates, arguing that the shots did not stop infection or transmission.
00:33:19.020A claim once treated as a forbidden speech, but later proven to be absolutely true, as the lies from the American public ethics establishment continue to unravel.
00:33:30.780The settlement says the government averted substantial coercive pressure on platforms like Twitter and Facebook to suppress speech like Berenson's.
00:33:39.680When the government essentially commands entities to enact citizenship, that is, without a shadow of a doubt, a violation of our free speech rights and the First Amendment.
00:33:50.720Berenson thanked the Trump administration for acknowledging the unconstitutional actions taken against him during the Biden administration and for standing up for his rights as a journalist and American.
00:34:00.800Trudor had already settled separately from Berenson, acknowledging that he should never have been banned.
00:34:05.420Emails disclosed in other litigation showed that Biden officials and Pfizer board member Dr. Scott Gottlieb communicated with Twitter executives about Berenson's post and whether he should be silenced.
00:34:18.080Berenson says he will continue to pursue Gottlieb and Pfizer chairman Albert Bourla in legal action over their alleged role in silencing him.
00:34:27.540Their lawyers deny any wrongdoing, of course, but this case confirms what we already knew.
00:34:31.580The COVID regime used government power, big tech, and corporate influence to crush dissent.
00:34:37.900The same people who shouted, trust the silence, we're trampling our natural rights.
00:34:42.800They will do it again if they haven't given the chance.
00:34:46.040We must never give them that chance and resist their tyranny by any means necessary.
00:34:51.680Meanwhile, Vice President J.D. Vance announced Wednesday the Trump administration is withholding $1.3 billion in Medicaid aid reimbursements from California,
00:35:01.100citing serious fraud concerns and accusing the state of failing to protect the taxpayers.
00:35:05.980Speaking at a press conference, Vice President Vance said California has not taken fraud very seriously,
00:35:11.400warning that both California taxpayers and Americans nationwide are being defrauded
00:35:16.580when state officials failed to police abuse inside Medicaid.
00:35:21.180Vice President Vance said the problem is not just financial abuse,
00:35:24.940but fraudsters have pushed false prescriptions and unnecessary medication,
00:35:28.920meaning some patients may have received drugs they did not need because California failed to properly safeguard the program.
00:35:36.620The vice president said the anti-fraud task force he leads will now send letters to every Medicaid program requiring them to prove they are aggressively prosecuting fraud.
00:35:46.780States that failed act could lose funding for anti-fraud units and potentially other Medicaid resources if this problem persists.
00:35:54.820Vice President Vance emphasized that the goal is not to cut off health care funding,
00:35:58.740but to protect Medicaid and Medicare from waste, corruption, and abuse.
00:36:04.260He also pointed to states like Hawaii and New York, where he said Medicaid fraud convictions have been minimal in recent years.
00:36:10.980By contrast, Indiana, for example, with roughly one-third of New York's population,
00:36:15.780has reportedly had four times as many convictions for Medicaid fraud.
00:36:20.420Vice President Vance called the disparity absurd, asking whether anyone seriously believes that the people of Indiana are dramatically more likely to commit fraud than New Yorkers.
00:36:29.600Of course, the Democrats have been deliberately taking a blind eye to these offenses for a great number of years because this is how they repay their constituents.
00:36:38.760They're happy to allow illegals and other dirtbags to line their pockets with spoils from the U.S. taxpayers.
00:36:45.240That's their recipe for permanent political success.
00:36:47.800But the Trump administration is cutting off that gravy train and not a moment too soon.
00:36:53.200I'm Roger Stone. Thank you for joining us today in the Stone Zone.
00:36:56.260We're here five days a week bringing you the inside skinny on American politics.
00:37:01.360Until tomorrow, God bless you and Godspeed.
00:37:05.380Thanks for listening to the Stone Zone with Roger Stone.
00:37:09.300You can hear the Stone Zone with Roger Stone weeknights at eight on 77 WABC.
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