The StoneZONE with Roger Stone

00:00:00.160 Did you know that St. Luke's University Health Network, based in the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania,

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00:00:30.380 The Stone Zone, entertaining and informative on the Red Apple Podcast Network.

00:00:37.580 Welcome to the Stone Zone.

00:00:39.820 Today is indeed a historic day, a day that will warm the hearts of Cuban Americans and lovers of freedom everywhere.

00:00:48.860 The United States has issued a federal criminal indictment against former Cuban dictator Raul Castro.

00:00:56.260 That, of course, is the brother of Fidel Castro.

00:01:00.000 showing that the Trump administration's pressure campaign against Cuba's communist government is very real.

00:01:07.660 And, in fact, it's rapidly intensified.

00:01:11.040 The 94-year-old former president is charged in Miami with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals,

00:01:18.760 specifically four counts of murder and two counts of destruction of aircraft.

00:01:23.480 Five others were also charged, including a fighter pilot tied to the 1996 shootdown of two small civilian planes operated by the Miami-based Brothers to the Rescue.

00:01:38.100 Here we have exclusively the audio of Raul Castro ordering the shootdown of the plane.

00:01:53.480 Fare, thank you.

00:01:57.020 Hay que descertalizarlo si queremos que eso jugara su papel y a 5 generales que le es de las Facultades.

00:02:02.320 Yo decía que traten de tumbarlo arriba del territorio.

00:02:06.620 Bueno, entran en la banda y se iban... la ciudad.

00:02:10.340 They came to the bottom of the fire and they were going to fall in the city.

00:02:15.340 They were going to fall in the city and they were going to fall in the city.

00:02:17.340 And they were going to consult the faculty.

00:02:20.340 That day I was going to go to the area occidental,

00:02:23.340 I was going to go to Managua.

00:02:26.340 That morning, they were going to be met in the water.

00:02:30.340 They came to the water and they were like,

00:02:32.340 and then, what happened is what you know.

00:02:36.340 They said it was in the water international,

00:02:38.340 You can get bet that that piece of evidence will be played in a Miami courtroom.

00:02:59.100 The Miami-based volunteer group made up of Cuban exiles

00:03:03.380 searched the waters between Cuba and Florida for refugees, fleeing communist depression.

00:03:09.600 Then on February 24th, 1996, Cuban MiG fighters, which was supplied, of course, by the Russians,

00:03:17.220 fired missiles at the aircraft, killing four men, Armando Alejandra Jr., Carlos Costa, Mario de la Pena, and Pablo Morales.

00:03:30.480 Prosecutors alleged that Castro authorized the attack.

00:03:33.660 We just played an audio that proves that point.

00:03:36.800 The announcement came today against the symbolic backdrop of Miami's Freedom Tower,

00:03:43.780 where hundreds of thousands of Cuban refugees have been processed after fleeing Fidel Castro's brutal revolution.

00:03:51.740 Castro stepped down as president in 2018.

00:03:54.800 that's Raul Castro, later resigned as the head of Cuba's Communist Party, but he remains a

00:04:02.280 powerful figure within Cuba's politics and government. Secretary of State Marco Rubio,

00:04:08.720 himself of Cuban-American descent, also delivered a message directly to the Cuban people,

00:04:15.820 saying their suffering is not caused by America, but by the corrupt communist rulers who have

00:04:21.480 plundered billions while leaving families without electricity, food, or fuel. Ruby, of course, is 0.73

00:04:29.320 absolutely correct. The Don Roe Doctrine is leaving no harbor for communism or Marxism in the Western

00:04:36.780 Hemisphere. We will see this scourge ended, and America's enduring legacy of freedom will emanate

00:04:45.260 for generations to come.

00:04:47.240 The story is very close to my own heart

00:04:49.520 because my own wife, Nidia Bertrand de Espinoza's father,

00:04:56.220 Lieutenant Colonel Joaquin Bertrand,

00:04:59.280 was the military attache in the Cuban consulate

00:05:03.940 in Washington, D.C.

00:05:05.840 Although he was a civil servant,

00:05:08.860 when the Batista government fell

00:05:11.320 and Fidel Castro came to power,

00:05:13.760 he was ordered to return to Cuba for debriefings.

00:05:19.400 His bags were packed and he was ready to go.

00:05:21.980 The night before he left, a friendly CIA agent knocked on the door

00:05:26.840 to tell my father-in-law that he should not return to Havana

00:05:31.380 because he was on a list of people to be eliminated.

00:05:36.300 Therefore, he lost everything, his savings, his home, his insurance,

00:05:41.200 It's essentially all the rudimentaries of his basic life lost forever in Cuba. 0.90

00:05:49.120 He also spoke little English, and therefore he employed himself as a fuller brush man.

00:05:55.580 Some of my older listeners will know what that is.

00:05:58.620 A house painter, a printer, and of course the deep and abiding disdain for the Castro regime

00:06:07.320 is deeply embedded in all of my in-laws.

00:06:11.760 So this is a day of justice.

00:06:14.660 It'll be even greater when Raul Castro is ultimately convicted.

00:06:20.660 It is also, I think, evocative of the situation in Venezuela.

00:06:26.780 In other words, Raul Castro may believe that he is safe

00:06:29.860 within the island gulag,

00:06:32.680 but our incredibly capable and stealth military

00:06:37.240 has demonstrated their ability to extract a criminal like Maduro, like Castro,

00:06:43.520 and therefore if I rode Castro, I would not sleep well tonight.

00:06:48.460 Meanwhile, President Trump emerged from yesterday's Republican primaries

00:06:52.800 with a stronger claim than ever on the MAGA movement

00:06:56.040 as Republican voters again rewarded candidates aligned with him

00:07:00.560 and punished those who had crossed him.

00:07:02.740 The clearest signal came in Kentucky, where Trump-backed Navy SEAL Ed Gowrain defeated longtime Congressman Thomas Massey, one of the party's most visible Trump critics.

00:07:18.200 The race had become a referendum on loyalty to the president, and Massey's loss underscored that even a supposedly conservative voting record cannot save you if you don't have President Trump's backing in the crucial junctures.

00:07:34.340 President Trump's influence also showed in Alabama, where my good friend Senator Tommy Tuberville, Coach Tuberville as we like to call him, a longtime Trump ally, easily won the Republican nomination for governor with more than 85 percent of the vote.

00:07:51.260 Then in Kentucky's Senate primary, Andy Barr won decisively, while in Georgia, Trump endorsed Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, advanced to a Republican gubernatorial runoff.

00:08:05.860 The results reinforced a larger reality inside the modern Republican Party.

00:08:11.700 MAGA is no longer just a faction with the GOP.

00:08:15.540 It is the organizing force within the Republican Party.

00:08:19.100 The Republican Party is no longer the party of Wall Street, the party of the country clubs, the party of the financial elites.

00:08:27.940 We are now the party of working class Americans.

00:08:32.840 Candidates are still competing for Trump's endorsement, running on his record and framing themselves as America first conservatives because Republican primary voters continue to respond to that brand.

00:08:45.440 President Trump claimed a perfect endorsement record from the highest from last night,

00:08:52.180 boasting that 37 of his endorsed candidates out of 37 won yesterday.

00:08:58.180 The political message is unmistakable.

00:09:00.520 After Tuesday night, President Trump's grip on the Republican movement is actually tighter than ever.

00:09:06.700 Witnesses recent endorsement of Anthony Constantino running in the 21st district.

00:09:12.700 That's the seat being vacated by Congresswoman Elise Stefanik.

00:09:19.260 That has shaken that race up.

00:09:21.520 A new polling that I looked at showed Konstantino pulling out to a long lead.

00:09:27.260 So the Republican Party has changed.

00:09:29.660 It is no longer the neocon Bush-dominated party of the country clubs.

00:09:36.220 MAGA is firmly in the saddle heading into these midterm elections.

00:09:41.820 Meanwhile, President Trump's family is getting some protection from lawfare.

00:09:46.360 The Justice Department has reportedly granted President Trump his family and his businesses protection from ongoing tax inquiries, ending pending claims tied to audits and potential prosecutions.

00:09:58.780 The provision was added as part of a broader settlement connected to Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns during his first term.

00:10:11.980 Now, every American citizen is entitled to the confidentiality of their tax returns, unless your name is Donald Trump.

00:10:20.820 Trump, two of his sons, and the Trump family business sued after a former IRS contractor

00:10:27.860 disclosed private tax information regarding the Trumps, including their tax milings,

00:10:33.320 to the New York Times and an outfit called ProPublica.

00:10:39.420 Under the new one-page addendum signed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche,

00:10:44.700 the founder of government would be barred from pursuing pending tax claims against Trump.

00:10:48.780 his relatives, and his affiliated businesses.

00:10:52.780 Democrats particularly are accusing the Justice Department of acting in Trump's personal interests,

00:10:58.020 but their analysis misses the forest for the trees.

00:11:01.640 A sitting American president and his family had their confidential tax returns leaked,

00:11:07.000 weaponized, and splashed across the media as part of a deliberate campaign to undermine them.

00:11:12.480 After years of investigations, audits, lawsuits, and political targeting,

00:11:18.780 Nothing could stick, despite billions of dollars of resources being spent in an effort to destroy Donald Trump and his candidacy.

00:11:28.380 The administration is now moving to settle the matter and close the books.

00:11:32.420 Federal agencies must never be used as political weapons like they clearly have been against President Trump, General Michael Flynn, well, and myself, among others.

00:11:44.600 Accountability should not only be to taxpayers, but also to the bureaucrats who abuse their governmental power.

00:11:52.820 Meanwhile, the FBI posted the lowest violent crime statistics in nearly 100 years.

00:12:00.140 U.S. violent crime fell sharply in 2025.

00:12:03.520 Remember, Donald Trump promised to be the law and order candidate, and indeed he is,

00:12:07.900 with FBI nationwide data showing the largest decrease in violent crime and murders since

00:12:15.440 1937. According to the FBI's preliminary uniform crime reporting data, violent crime dropped about

00:12:23.840 9.3 percent nationwide, murder and non-negligent manslaughter fell by more than 18 percent,

00:12:31.300 robbery dropped by 18.5 percent, rape declined nearly 8 percent, and aggravated assault was

00:12:40.000 down by more than 7 percent. Property crimes also moved in the right direction, falling roughly 12.4

00:12:46.840 percent from the previous year. This data, collected from more than 17,000 law enforcement

00:12:54.220 agencies, covers about 96 percent of policing across the country, points to a major public

00:13:00.780 safety turnaround. My good friend, FBI Director Cash Patel, said the numbers show huge decreases

00:13:08.000 across the board and credited major changes at the Bureau over the last 14 months. This makes it

00:13:15.080 clear that law and order is the word of the day. Compared to 2024, the country saw about 1.1

00:13:21.960 million fewer violent crimes and roughly 5.2 million fewer property crimes under President

00:13:29.980 Donald Trump. Law enforcement also cleared more than 400,000 violent crimes with arrests along

00:13:37.280 with 868,000 property crimes. The drop in crime is a powerful reminder that Democrats deliberately

00:13:45.280 empower criminals as a way to destabilize our society. Listening to The Stone Zone,

00:13:51.060 don't go away because we'll be right back.

00:13:53.960 it's the family and friends event at shoppers drug mart get 20 off almost all regular priced

00:14:02.680 merchandise two days only tuesday may 26 and wednesday may 27th open your pc optimum app

00:14:09.340 to get your coupon the stone zone entertaining and informative on the red apple podcast network

00:14:22.000 Welcome back into the Stone Zone.

00:14:24.020 Well, former FBI Director James Comey is asking a federal judge to delay his criminal trial

00:14:31.120 as his lawyers prepare a series of motions seeking to throw out the case.

00:14:36.820 It's funny, when I was charged and asked for a delay in my trial, the judge continued to deny our motion.

00:14:43.880 Also, interestingly enough, initially, Comey and I were both indicted on the exact same charge,

00:14:49.760 allegedly lying to Congress. In his case, there's very little question that he was guilty.

00:14:55.860 He specifically said under oath that he had never instructed any third party to take

00:15:02.680 sealed information and leak it to a third party media source. But prosecutors had an email in

00:15:09.720 which he, Comey, had very specifically directed a legal colleague, Dan Richman, to leak sealed

00:15:18.320 information to the New York Times in an effort to embarrass President Trump. That case never

00:15:24.740 went to trial, but before we even get there, why is it that Comey was allowed to turn himself in

00:15:30.660 10 days later without any media notification, but my home was stormed at six o'clock in the morning

00:15:37.140 by 29 heavily armed FBI agents wearing night goggles and fully brandishing automatic assault

00:15:44.900 weapons. In this case, a new case, which is a very serious case, Comey was indicted by a grand jury

00:15:51.860 in the Eastern District of North Carolina on two felony counts relating to an Instagram post he

00:15:57.760 made last May showing the numbers 86-47 arranged in shells during a beach walk. Comey would have

00:16:07.180 us believe that he just happened to wander upon this. That's unlikely. Prosecutors allege the

00:16:12.980 post amounted to a threat against President Donald Trump, the 47th President of the United States,

00:16:18.360 anybody who has any expertise in law enforcement, that would include James Comey, understands that

00:16:25.260 the term 86 means to eliminate, to kill, to whack, to do away with, and this is a serious threat

00:16:33.720 against the President. The indictment charges that Comey willingly and knowingly made a threat

00:16:40.040 on the life of the president, to inflict bodily harm on the president, and then transmitted that

00:16:46.360 threat through interstate and former commerce by putting it on the internet. Comey's post,

00:16:51.400 of course, included the smart-ass comment, cool shell formation on my beach walk. There was an

00:16:58.500 immediate outrage over the fact that 8647 is obviously a coded call to eliminate President

00:17:05.560 Trump. Sooner or later, Comey will be brought to justice. It's only a matter of time. Judge

00:17:12.760 Louise Flanagan, appointed by President George W. Bush, of course, had tentatively scheduled

00:17:17.820 Comey's trial for July 15th, but in a filing Wednesday, Comey's legal time asked to move

00:17:23.640 the trial to October as he attempts to delay the inevitable. I'm Roger Stone. You're listening to

00:17:30.320 Stone Zone, wherever you do, don't go away, because we'll be right back with more of today's

00:17:35.280 politics.

00:17:39.780 The Stone Zone, entertaining and informative on the Red Apple Podcast Network.

00:17:46.860 Welcome back into the Stone Zone. Remember when President Joe Biden told us that it required

00:17:53.820 entirely new laws in order to seal our southern border. And then his ally, Republican Senator

00:18:02.140 James Lankford, put forward a piece of legislation that would have actually godfathered two and a

00:18:09.520 half million illegals into the country. They tried to call it an immigration bill. Really,

00:18:15.820 it was an open borders bill. Fortunately, President Trump strongly opposed that bill,

00:18:21.600 as did the Republicans in the U.S. Senate.

00:18:23.620 Now, interestingly enough, illegal border crossings have dropped down to virtually none.

00:18:31.160 There are fewer border crossings within one hour of the Trump administration than ever before,

00:18:45.240 whereas Joe Biden's policy was essentially an open borders policy.

00:18:50.860 Some people I respect believe that as many as 36 to 38 illegals got into the country, completely unvetted.

00:18:59.420 We have no idea how many of them were terrorists.

00:19:01.980 They also brought with them an enormous amount of weaponry.

00:19:05.900 We have no handle on that.

00:19:07.920 That's not to mention the flow of illegal drugs.

00:19:12.440 Meanwhile, sanctuary jurisdictions could soon see more ICE agents in their communities

00:19:19.300 if they refuse to let local law enforcement cooperate with federal immigration officers.

00:19:25.420 Border Czar Tom Homan, a good friend of mine, says the policy is very simple.

00:19:31.340 If states block cooperation inside jails, ICE will send more personnel into neighborhoods

00:19:38.240 to track down criminal illegal aliens after they're released. 0.97

00:19:43.240 Holman pointed specifically to New York, where disgraceful Governor Kathy Hochul, 0.74

00:19:49.140 a gift from Andrew Cuomo, I might add, pointed specifically to her legislation,

00:19:55.640 which pushed preventing state and local law enforcement from entering Section 287G agreements with ICE.

00:20:03.980 Those agreements allow trained local officers to help identify and detain illegal immigrants under federal oversight.

00:20:13.600 You see, Hochul is pandering to the AOC, radical left wing of New York's Democrat Party.

00:20:21.420 The term moderate Democrat has become an oxymoron, even in New York State.

00:20:28.500 Chuck Schumer knows that if he's challenged for the U.S. Senate by AOC, he's toast.

00:20:34.420 That's why he, too, is moving as quickly as he possibly can to the radical left.

00:20:39.680 It also explains this desire by those in power in New York State to thwart the efforts,

00:20:46.880 which are completely legal, to deport dangerous illegal criminals from the United States.

00:20:52.860 Tom Homan warned that ending jail cooperation makes everyone less safe.

00:20:57.680 Instead of one ICE agent arresting one criminal alien in a secure jail setting, federal officials may have to send teams into the community to find that same person later.

00:21:10.100 He also warned that more field operations could mean more collateral arrests of other illegal immigrants encountered during the initial enforcement actions.

00:21:19.420 The Department of Homeland Security says New York has already failed to honor thousands of ICE detainer requests, resulting in the release of criminal illegal immigrants accused of assaults, robberies, weapons offenses, sex crimes, burglaries, and even homicides.

00:21:39.800 Tom Homan also pushed back on proposals that would restrict federal officers from wearing masks,

00:21:45.900 saying that threats against ICE personnel have skyrocketed and federal law takes priority.

00:21:53.760 Homan's actions and words show a man who's serious about immigration enforcement

00:21:58.240 and has the gravitas needed to effectuate President Trump's tough immigration policies.

00:22:05.140 The bottom line is that sanctuary policies do not protect communities.

00:22:10.580 They merely protect lawbreakers.

00:22:13.360 Local police must be allowed to work with ICE. 0.54

00:22:16.280 Criminal aliens should be removed.

00:22:18.900 And American families cannot be forced to pay the price

00:22:21.720 for this anti-American scheme of the radical Democrats.

00:22:27.060 Meanwhile, my good friend President Donald Trump

00:22:29.540 used his commencement address at the U.S. Coastal Guard Academy on Wednesday

00:22:33.860 to deliver a clear message to America's next generation of military leaders

00:22:39.280 that the country is back on the right track.

00:22:42.680 Speaking in New London, Connecticut,

00:22:45.260 President Trump praised the graduates

00:22:48.440 and highlighted his administration's record on border security,

00:22:53.100 jobs, investment, public safety, and trade

00:22:56.740 while drawing a sharp contrast with the Biden years.

00:23:01.140 President Trump blasted the previous administration's handling of illegal immigration,

00:23:05.340 saying Americans can never forget the damage that was done through the open border policies of sleepy Joe Biden.

00:23:14.300 He told the crowd his administration has removed thousands of criminal illegal aliens, including murderers,

00:23:20.380 and said that border enforcement has dramatically improved, as we said earlier. 0.71

00:23:25.500 Trump noted that they can come in, but they have to come in legally.

00:23:29.320 Yes, we are a nation of immigrants, but my relatives, as well as the relatives of so many listening here today, came here legally.

00:23:40.620 He also added that immigrants must respect and love the country they seek to join and be allowed into America as a privilege, not an entitlement or a right.

00:23:51.240 The president also touted what he called historic gains for American workers and families.

00:23:57.140 President Trump said the nation is seeing record job strength, lower murders,

00:24:02.280 and a major wave of new investment, claving over $18 trillion,

00:24:06.960 has come into the United States in just 11 months.

00:24:10.500 He stated that we have the American dream back,

00:24:13.900 arguing that that dream was neglected during the previous four years.

00:24:18.420 President Trump also defended his aggressive use of tariffs,

00:24:22.420 saying they have helped put American workers and industries first.

00:24:26.380 The speech was vintage Donald Trump at his unapologetic best.

00:24:31.760 I read it last night, and I was moved at how consistent the president has been in the 50 years that I have known him.

00:24:38.880 He fully understands that our nation's military leaders must be unabashedly patriotic,

00:24:45.500 and they shouldn't be wearing skirts, not if they're men.

00:24:49.440 Nothing else will be tolerated.

00:24:50.960 His America First agenda, defending our military heroes, will secure that America is the world's preeminent superpower in perpetuity.

00:25:01.280 As he said to me on the phone the other night, I rebuilt our military in my first term, and now I'm using it appropriately in my second.

00:25:09.920 Couldn't have said it better myself.

00:25:12.360 Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers are renewing calls to cut all remaining ties between the United Nations and the UNRWA,

00:25:21.620 the controversial Palestinian aid agency accused for years as being compromised by Hamas.

00:25:30.100 In a letter to President Trump, 25 Republican senators urged the administration to fully dismantle this organization

00:25:36.680 and remove it from the U.N. budget, arguing that no aid organization should receive support

00:25:43.300 unless it is free of terrorist ties, completely transparent, accountable, and in fact committed to peace.

00:25:51.540 The push follows mounting evidence after the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attacks against Israel.

00:25:59.840 Israeli officers have accused the UNRWA employees of taking part in the massacre

00:26:07.820 and assisting Hamas operations in Gaza.

00:26:11.940 As a USAID inspector general summary recently found,

00:26:17.640 several of the employees of this organization were involved in holding Israeli civilian hostages

00:26:23.200 or participating directly in terrorist activity on October 7th.

00:26:29.080 The watchdog that reportedly submitted the names of the 21 staffers for suspension or disbarment from future American taxpayer funding,

00:26:39.600 those identified allegedly include school principals, teachers, and, of course, social workers.

00:26:46.840 Republicans have argued Hamas has used weapons, supplies, buildings, and facilities to hide weapons, support tunnel infrastructure, and even hold hostages.

00:26:57.100 You and I are all paying for this through the United Nations.

00:27:01.720 That's why it's time to put a stop to it.

00:27:04.740 The president moved in February 2025 to block direct U.S. funding to this arm of the United Nations

00:27:11.840 after the Biden administration spent as much as $1.5 billion for this particular program.

00:27:19.860 But Republicans say American taxpayers may be indirectly funding the organization

00:27:24.680 through broader U.N. contributions as well.

00:27:28.180 Humanitarian aid should help innocent civilians not prop up terror networks.

00:27:33.820 And if the United States cannot stop funding Palestinian terrorism,

00:27:38.240 well, it's time for the United States to leave the United Nations.

00:27:42.500 Looking at that beautiful United Nations building right there in Manhattan,

00:27:46.560 it occurs to me what a fabulous hotel that would make for the Trump Organization.

00:27:51.620 You're listening to The Stone Zone, and I'm Roger Stone.

00:27:54.140 Thanks for joining us today. House Republicans delivered a major win for American families this

00:28:00.000 week, passing a bipartisan housing bill by a commanding 396 to 13 vote and sending it to

00:28:08.380 the Senate for final approval. The White House says President Trump supports the House version

00:28:13.380 after key changes were made, given Republican leadership a victory over Senate pressure to

00:28:19.320 accept a rival bill that did not include those edits. At the heart of the measure is a conservative

00:28:26.340 priority, that is, helping working Americans buy homes by increasing supply, cutting costly red

00:28:33.840 tape, and limiting the ability of large institutional investors to crowd out families

00:28:39.320 in the single-family housing market. House Financial Services Chairman French Hill

00:28:45.320 said the bill prioritizes American families by expanding home ownership, improving affordability,

00:28:52.820 and reducing regulations that drive up costs. Legislation also keeps a ban on large institutional

00:29:00.220 investors buying up new single-family homes. This is a phenomenon that we saw very widespread

00:29:07.520 with operations like BlackRock and others buying up virtually all of the single-family homes in

00:29:14.320 the country. This has now been banned by the Trump administration. Importantly, House Republicans

00:29:20.780 removed a controversial Senate provision that would have forced large investors to sell off

00:29:26.380 rental homes within seven years. Critics warned that mandate could shrink rental supply and hurt

00:29:34.280 Americans who cannot yet afford to buy a home. Still, 13 conservatives opposed the bill over

00:29:40.500 concerns about the temporary ban on central bank digital currencies. Privacy hawks argue that the

00:29:48.320 ban should be permanent, warning that a short-term prohibition could leave the door open to federal

00:29:54.760 financial surveillance after 2030. My good friend Speaker Mike Johnson called the bill a strong

00:30:01.560 bipartisan package to put more families in homes, while Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Americans

00:30:09.000 will welcome lower housing costs. These are the sort of Republican wins we need to keep

00:30:15.700 racking up headed into the midterms, but nothing will help the housing market so much as a deeper

00:30:22.520 cut in the federal interest rates. Federal interest rates are supposed to be set based

00:30:28.240 on two criteria, unemployment and inflation, but under Jerome Tulate Powell, the outgoing chairman

00:30:36.840 of the Federal Reserve Board, neither one was taken into consideration as interest rates were

00:30:41.800 manipulated to the benefit of the Democrats. In other words, both the inflation rate and the

00:30:47.600 unemployment rate were either lower than or at the same level as they were when the Fed provided a

00:30:55.580 much deeper interest rate cut to try to boost the re-election prospects of Joe Biden. It's time

00:31:02.760 once again for us to have an interest rate cut based on the actual economic statistics on which

00:31:10.140 it is legally supposed to be based. And while we're at it, we should look into the $1.6 billion

00:31:17.440 renovation of the already palatial Federal Reserve building. Why we need to spend that

00:31:26.420 kind of money on a palace for bureaucrats makes no sense to me. Think how many single-family homes

00:31:32.700 we could build for that money.

00:31:34.940 Think of how many people we could help,

00:31:37.060 how many homeless veterans we could help for that money.

00:31:42.040 I favor, now that he is no longer chairman,

00:31:45.000 I favor the investigation into Jerome Tulay Powell

00:31:48.780 and the various lies he told the Congress

00:31:51.560 about the multi-billion dollar renovation

00:31:54.680 of his already palatial headquarters be reopened

00:31:58.080 and that he be held to account. 0.57

00:32:00.440 We should not have a two-tiered justice system.

00:32:05.160 One tier will do for all.

00:32:07.320 Thanks for delighting us on The Stone Zone.

00:32:09.280 I'm Roger Stone, and we'll be right back.

00:32:15.620 The Stone Zone, entertaining and informative on the Red Apple Podcast Network.

00:32:22.780 Welcome back into The Stone Zone.

00:32:25.260 Well, former Democratic Congressman Barney Frank has died at the age of 86.

00:32:31.980 Frank, a longtime Massachusetts lawmaker and one of the most far-left liberals in congressional history,

00:32:40.000 probably best known for the all-male callboy ring, was run out of his congressional office,

00:32:46.280 passed away Tuesday night, according to his friend and former campaign manager Jim Siegel.

00:32:51.540 He had reportedly been in hospice care at his home in Maine while suffering from congestive heart failure.

00:32:58.820 Barney Frank served for decades as a powerful voice on the left, became one of the most prominent advocates for gay rights in America, and was not at all shy about it.

00:33:11.300 Earlier this month, apparently frail in a CNN interview, Frank surprised many by warning Democrats about drifting too far to the left.

00:33:21.800 Most remembered, of course, for his central role in crafting the Dodd-Frank financial reform law after the 2008 banking crisis.

00:33:32.400 It was supposedly the most sweeping Wall Street reform in a generation.

00:33:36.340 In fact, it led to an era of hyper-centralization in the banking system as community banks were buried under red tape.

00:33:46.140 Washington's control over the financial sector was expanded greatly, and smaller banking institutions were punished for failures driven by bad government policy.

00:33:56.540 Some of those regulations were later rolled back after years of pressure from lawmakers and community banks.

00:34:02.540 Frank's legacy also took an ironic term when he later served on the board of Signature Bank,

00:34:08.780 the New York-based commercial bank that collapsed in 2023 after a panic among depositors during a

00:34:15.640 wave of bank failures, showing how Frank became a creature of the Washington, D.C. swamp after

00:34:22.800 entering Congress claiming to be a crusader for the little guy. Barney Frank laid the groundwork

00:34:28.740 for what the Democratic Party has morphed into today.

00:34:31.960 He may have been remorseful about it in his final days,

00:34:34.720 but the culpability, of course, remains.

00:34:37.580 His legacy is not a positive one for this country, to put as mildly,

00:34:41.260 but nonetheless, may he rest in peace.

00:34:45.620 Meanwhile, a federal judge has limited ICE's ability,

00:34:50.220 handing down a ruling that limits immigration enforcement

00:34:53.640 inside three Manhattan immigration courts, raising fresh concerns among conservatives

00:35:00.760 about judicial interference with the Trump administration's efforts to restore law and order at the border.

00:35:07.980 On May 18th, U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castell barred federal agents from making arrests

00:35:16.320 at immigration courts located at 26 Federal Plaza, 201 Verrick Street, and 290 Broadway,

00:35:24.440 except in limited circumstances involving serious threats to public safety.

00:35:31.000 The ruling, which makes very little sense, at least common sense,

00:35:34.840 came after a lawsuit filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union.

00:35:38.460 Who else?

00:35:39.620 And other activist groups challenging ICE policies that allowed federal agents

00:35:44.360 to arrest illegal immigrants appearing in immigration court.

00:35:48.860 Judge Castell acknowledges the government has a strong interest in enforcing immigration laws,

00:35:55.080 but he also sided with the plaintiff's argument that organizations assisting non-citizens

00:36:00.320 should be able to help them pursue asylum claims and fight removal without fear of an actual courthouse arrest.

00:36:09.360 Pro-illegal immigration activists celebrated the ruling,

00:36:12.220 calling it a victory for non-citizens seeking to attend court safely, but the decision is in

00:36:18.300 actuality yet another example of the courts trying to tie the hands of federal agents

00:36:23.800 while the country continues to deal with the consequences of weak immigration policy.

00:36:30.120 As usual, the far-left ACLU is behind this measure to weaken our country. It's time for

00:36:36.340 this subversive group be stripped of their non-profit charter and put out of commission

00:36:41.500 for good or at least operate like everyone else. I would look very seriously at their tax status

00:36:48.480 at the IRS. Thank you for joining us today on The Stone Zone. I'm Roger Stone. We're here five

00:36:54.440 days a week talking news, history, politics, style, and yeah, sometimes proof are my other

00:37:02.060 favorite subjects. Thanks for joining us. Until tomorrow, God bless you and Godspeed.

00:37:32.060 social on instagram tiktok facebook and x see you next time for a new episode so you never have to

00:37:39.300 wonder what the heck is going on here

The Stone Zone ｜ 05-20-26

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