Former Cuban President Raul Castro is charged with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, including four counts of murder and two counts of destruction of aircraft. Five others are also charged, including a fighter pilot tied to the 1996 shootdown of two civilian planes operated by the Miami-based Brothers to the Rescue.
00:00:39.820Today is indeed a historic day, a day that will warm the hearts of Cuban Americans and lovers of freedom everywhere.
00:00:48.260The United States has issued a federal criminal indictment against former Cuban dictator Raul Castro.
00:00:56.480That, of course, is the brother of Fidel Castro, showing that the Trump administration's pressure campaign against Cuba's communist government is very real.
00:01:07.600And, in fact, it's rapidly intensified.
00:01:11.020The 94-year-old former president is charged in Miami with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, specifically four counts of murder and two counts of destruction of aircraft.
00:01:23.460Five 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.
00:01:38.100Here we have exclusively the audio of Raul Castro ordering the shootdown of the plane.
00:02:41.600You can bet that that piece of evidence will be played in a Miami courtroom.
00:02:59.100The Miami-based volunteer group made up of Cuban exiles searched the waters between Cuba and Florida for refugees fleeing communist depression.
00:03:08.960Then on February 24th, 1996, Cuban MiG fighters, which was supplied, of course, by the Russians,
00:03:17.800fired missiles at the aircraft, killing four men, Armando Alejandra Jr., Carlos Costa, Mario de la Pena, and Pablo Morales.
00:03:30.460Prosecutors alleged that Castro authorized the attack.
00:03:33.660We just played an audio that proves that point.
00:03:36.780The announcement came today against the symbolic backdrop of Miami's Freedom Tower, where hundreds of thousands of Cuban refugees have been processed after fleeing Fidel Castro's brutal revolution.
00:03:51.740Castro stepped down as president in 2018.
00:03:55.100That's Raul Castro, later resigned as the head of Cuba's Communist Party.
00:04:00.560But he remains a powerful figure within Cuba's politics and government.
00:04:06.640Secretary of State Marco Rubio, himself of Cuban-American descent,
00:04:11.520also delivered a message directly to the Cuban people,
00:04:15.800saying their suffering is not caused by America,0.91
00:04:18.360but by the corrupt communist rulers who have plundered billions0.73
00:04:22.640while leaving families without electricity, food, or fuel.0.75
00:04:28.320Rubio, of course, is absolutely correct.
00:04:30.860The Don Roe Doctrine is leaving no harbor for communism or Marxism in the Western Hemisphere.
00:04:38.120We will see this scourge ended, and America's enduring legacy of freedom will emanate for generations to come.
00:04:46.720The story is very close to my own heart because my own wife, Nidia Bertrand de Espinosa's father, Lieutenant Colonel Joaquin Bertrand, was the military attaché in the Cuban consulate in Washington, D.C.
00:05:05.360Although he was a civil servant, when the Batista government fell and Fidel Castro came to power, he was ordered to return to Cuba for debriefings.
00:05:19.180His bags were packed and he was ready to go.
00:05:22.000The night before he left, a friendly CIA agent knocked on the door to tell my father-in-law that he should not return to Havana because he was on a list of people to be eliminated.
00:05:36.200Therefore, he lost everything, his savings, his home, his insurance,
00:05:42.320essentially all the rudimentaries of his basic life, lost forever in Cuba.0.92
00:05:49.120He also spoke little English, and therefore he employed himself as a fuller brush man.
00:05:55.580Some of my older listeners will know what that is.
00:05:58.620a house painter, a printer, and of course the deep and abiding disdain for the Castro regime
00:06:07.340is deeply embedded in all of my in-laws. So this is a day of justice. It'll be even greater
00:06:15.780when Raul Castro is ultimately convicted. It is also, I think, evocative of the situation
00:06:25.220in Venezuela. In other words, Raul Castro may believe that he is safe within the island
00:06:31.480gulag, but our incredibly capable and stealth military has demonstrated their ability to
00:06:39.220extract a criminal like Maduro, like Castro, and therefore if I were Raul Castro, I would not sleep
00:06:46.520well tonight. Meanwhile, President Trump emerged from yesterday's Republican primaries with a
00:06:53.160stronger claim than ever on the MAGA movement, as Republican voters again rewarded candidates
00:06:59.640aligned with him and punished those who had crossed him. The clearest signal came in Kentucky,
00:07:06.940where Trump-backed Navy SEAL Ed Gowrain defeated longtime Congressman Thomas Massey,
00:07:15.460one of the party's most visible Trump critics. The race had become a referendum on loyalty to
00:07:21.780the president, and Massey's loss underscored that even a supposedly conservative voting record
00:07:28.280cannot save you if you don't have President Trump's backing in the crucial junctures.
00:07:34.340President Trump's influence also showed in Alabama, where my good friend Senator Tommy
00:07:40.140Tuberville, Coach Tuberville as we like to call him, a longtime Trump ally, easily won the
00:07:46.680Republican nomination for governor, with more than 85 percent of the vote. Then in Kentucky's
00:07:53.380Senate primary, Andy Barr won decisively, while in Georgia, Trump endorsed Lieutenant Governor
00:07:59.700Burt Jones, advanced to a Republican gubernatorial runoff. The results reinforced a larger reality
00:08:08.620inside the modern Republican Party. MAGA is no longer just a faction with the GOP.
00:08:14.980It is the organizing force within the Republican Party.
00:08:19.620The Republican Party is no longer the party of Wall Street, the party of the country clubs, the party of the financial elites.
00:08:27.920We are now the party of working class Americans.
00:08:32.860Candidates 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.
00:08:44.980President Trump preferred and claimed a perfect endorsement record from the highest from last night, boasting that 37 of his endorsed candidates out of 37 won yesterday.
00:08:58.180The political message is unmistakable after Tuesday night.
00:09:02.280President Trump's grip on the Republican movement is actually tighter than ever.
00:09:06.280witnessed his recent endorsement of Anthony Constantino running in the 21st district. That's
00:09:13.080the seat being vacated by Congresswoman Elise Stefanik. That has shaken that race up. A new
00:09:21.800polling that I looked at showed Constantino pulling out to a long lead. So the Republican
00:09:28.340Party has changed. It is no longer the neocon Bush-dominated party of the country clubs.
00:09:36.180MAGA is firmly in the saddle heading into these midterm elections. Meanwhile, President Trump's
00:09:44.040family is getting some protection from lawfare. The Justice Department has reportedly granted
00:09:49.020President Trump his family and his businesses protection from ongoing tax inquiries,
00:09:54.080ending pending claims tied to audits and potential prosecutions.
00:09:59.460The provision was added as part of a broader settlement connected to Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS
00:10:07.460over the leak of his tax returns during his first term.
00:10:11.840Now, every American citizen is entitled to the confidentiality of their tax returns,
00:10:20.820Trump, two of his sons, and the Trump family business sued after a former IRS contractor
00:10:27.860disclosed private tax information regarding the Trumps, including their tax milings,
00:10:33.320to the New York Times and an outfit called ProPublica.
00:10:39.420Under the new one-page addendum signed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche,
00:10:44.700the founder of government would be barred from pursuing pending tax claims against Trump.
00:10:48.780his relatives, and his affiliated businesses.
00:10:52.780Democrats particularly are accusing the Justice Department of acting in Trump's personal interests,
00:10:58.020but their analysis misses the forest for the trees.
00:11:01.640A sitting American president and his family had their confidential tax returns leaked,
00:11:07.000weaponized, and splashed across the media as part of a deliberate campaign to undermine them.
00:11:12.480After years of investigations, audits, lawsuits, and political targeting,
00:11:18.780Nothing could stick, despite billions of dollars of resources being spent in an effort to destroy Donald Trump and his candidacy.
00:11:28.380The administration is now moving to settle the matter and close the books.
00:11:32.420Federal agencies must never be used as political weapons like they clearly have been against President Trump, General Michael Flynn, well, and myself, among others.
00:11:44.600Accountability should not only be to taxpayers, but also to the bureaucrats who abuse their governmental power.
00:11:52.820Meanwhile, the FBI posted the lowest violent crime statistics in nearly 100 years.
00:12:00.140U.S. violent crime fell sharply in 2025.
00:12:03.520Remember, Donald Trump promised to be the law and order candidate, and indeed he is,
00:12:07.900with FBI nationwide data showing the largest decrease in violent crime and murders since
00:12:15.4401937. According to the FBI's preliminary uniform crime reporting data, violent crime dropped about
00:12:23.8409.3 percent nationwide, murder and non-negligent manslaughter fell by more than 18 percent,
00:12:31.300robbery dropped by 18.5 percent, rape declined nearly 8 percent, and aggravated assault was
00:12:40.000down by more than 7 percent. Property crimes also moved in the right direction, falling roughly 12.4
00:12:46.840percent from the previous year. This data, collected from more than 17,000 law enforcement
00:12:54.220agencies, covers about 96 percent of policing across the country, points to a major public
00:13:00.780safety turnaround. My good friend, FBI Director Cash Patel, said the numbers show huge decreases
00:13:08.000across the board and credited major changes at the Bureau over the last 14 months. This makes it
00:13:15.080clear that law and order is the word of the day. Compared to 2024, the country saw about 1.1
00:13:21.960million fewer violent crimes and roughly 5.2 million fewer property crimes under President
00:13:29.980Donald Trump. Law enforcement also cleared more than 400,000 violent crimes with arrests, along
00:13:37.280with 868,000 property crimes. The drop in crime is a powerful reminder that Democrats deliberately
00:13:45.280empower criminals as a way to destabilize our society. Listening to The Stone Zone,
00:13:50.920don't go away because we'll be right back.
00:13:54.000the stone zone entertaining and informative on the red apple podcast network
00:14:04.080welcome back into the stone zone well former fbi director james comey is asking a federal
00:14:11.600judge to delay his criminal trial as his lawyers prepare a series of motions seeking to throw out
00:14:18.440the case. It's funny, when I was charged and asked for a delay in my trial, the judge
00:14:23.260continued to deny our motion. Also, interestingly enough, initially, Comey and I were both indicted
00:14:30.800on the exact same charge, allegedly lying to Congress. In his case, there's very little
00:14:37.120question that he was guilty. He specifically said under oath that he had never instructed
00:14:43.800any third party to take sealed information and leak it to a third party media source.
00:14:50.680But prosecutors had an email in which he had, he, Comey, had very specifically directed a
00:14:57.620legal colleague, Dan Richman, to leak sealed information to the New York Times in an effort
00:15:04.340to embarrass President Trump. That case never went to trial. But before we even get there,
00:15:09.860Why is it that Comey was allowed to turn himself in 10 days later without any media notification, but my home was stormed at 6 o'clock in the morning by 29 heavily armed FBI agents wearing night goggles and fully brandishing automatic assault weapons?
00:15:29.060In this case, a new case, which is a very serious case,
00:15:33.140Comey was indicted by a grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina on two felony counts
00:15:37.800relating to an Instagram post he made last May showing the numbers 86-47 arranged in shells during a beach walk.
00:15:49.460Comey would have us believe that he just happened to wander upon this.
00:17:31.620Remember when President Joe Biden told us that it required entirely new laws in order to seal our southern border?
00:17:41.000And then his ally, Republican Senator James Lankford, put forward a piece of legislation that would have actually godfathered two and a half million illegals into the country.
00:17:55.740They tried to call it an immigration bill.
00:18:50.860That's not to mention the flow of illegal drugs.
00:18:55.380Meanwhile, sanctuary jurisdictions could soon see more ICE agents in their communities
00:19:02.240if they refuse to let local law enforcement cooperate with federal immigration officers.
00:19:08.360Border Czar Tom Homan, a good friend of mine, says the policy is very simple.
00:19:14.280If states block cooperation inside jails, ICE will send more personnel into neighborhoods
00:19:21.180to track down criminal illegal aliens after they're released.0.97
00:19:26.180Holman pointed specifically to New York, where disgraceful Governor Kathy Hochul,0.74
00:19:32.080a gift from Andrew Cuomo, I might add, pointed specifically to her legislation,
00:19:38.580which pushed preventing state and local law enforcement from entering Section 287G agreements with ICE.
00:19:46.920Those agreements allow trained local officers to help identify and detain illegal immigrants under federal oversight.
00:19:56.540You see, Hochul is pandering to the AOC, radical left wing of New York's Democrat Party.
00:20:04.360The term moderate Democrat has become an oxymoron, even in New York State.
00:20:11.420Chuck Schumer knows that if he's challenged for the U.S. Senate by AOC, he's toast.
00:20:17.360That's why he, too, is moving as quickly as he possibly can to the radical left.
00:20:22.620It also explains this desire by those in power in New York State to thwart the efforts,
00:20:29.800which are completely legal, to deport dangerous illegal criminals from the United States.
00:20:35.780Tom Homan warned that ending jail cooperation makes everyone less safe.
00:20:40.620Instead 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.
00:20:53.120He also warned that more field operations could meet more collateral arrests of other illegal immigrants encountered during the initial enforcement actions.
00:21:02.360The 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.
00:21:22.740Tom Homan also pushed back on proposals that would restrict federal officers from wearing masks,
00:21:28.840saying that threats against ICE personnel have skyrocketed and federal law takes priority.
00:21:36.720Homan's actions and words show a man who's serious about immigration enforcement
00:21:41.180and has the gravitas needed to effectuate President Trump's tough immigration policies.
00:21:48.020The bottom line is that sanctuary policies do not protect communities.
00:22:31.380and highlighted his administration's record on border security,
00:22:36.040jobs, investment, public safety, and trade
00:22:39.680while drawing a sharp contrast with the Biden years.
00:22:44.160President Trump blasted the previous administration's handling of illegal immigration, saying Americans can never forget the damage that was done through the open border policies of sleepy Joe Biden.
00:22:56.700He told the crowd his administration has removed thousands of criminal illegal aliens, including murderers, and said that border enforcement has dramatically improved, as we said earlier.
00:23:08.600Trump noted that they can come in, but they have to come in legally.
00:23:12.260Yes, we are a nation of immigrants, but my relatives, as well as the relatives of so many listening here today, came here legally.
00:23:23.560He 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.
00:23:34.180The president also touted what he called historic gains for American workers and families.
00:23:40.080President Trump said the nation is seeing record job strength, lower murders,
00:23:45.220and a major wave of new investment, claving over $18 trillion,
00:23:49.920has come into the United States in just 11 months.
00:23:53.440He stated that we have the American dream back,
00:23:56.840arguing that that dream was neglected during the previous four years.
00:24:01.360President Trump also defended his aggressive use of tariffs,
00:24:05.360saying they have helped put American workers and industries first.
00:24:09.320The speech was vintage Donald Trump at his unapologetic best.
00:24:14.700I read it last night, and I was moved at how consistent the president has been in the 50 years that I have known him.
00:24:21.820He fully understands that our nation's military leaders must be unabashedly patriotic,
00:24:28.440and they shouldn't be wearing skirts, not if they're men.
00:24:55.320Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers are renewing calls to cut all remaining ties between the United Nations and the UNRWA,
00:25:04.560the controversial Palestinian aid agency accused for years of being compromised by Hamas.
00:25:13.040In a letter to President Trump, 25 Republican senators urged the administration to fully dismantle this organization
00:25:19.620and remove it from the U.N. budget, arguing that no aid organization should receive support
00:25:26.220unless it is free of terrorist ties, completely transparent, accountable, and in fact committed to peace.
00:25:34.480The push follows mounting evidence after the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attacks against Israel.
00:25:42.780Israeli officers have accused the UNRWA employees of taking part in the massacre
00:25:50.760and assisting Hamas operations in Gaza.
00:25:54.880As a USAID inspector general summary recently found,
00:26:00.580several of the employees of this organization were involved in holding Israeli civilian hostages
00:26:06.140or participating directly in terrorist activity on October 7th.
00:26:12.020The watchdog that reportedly submitted the names of the 21 staffers for suspension or disbarment from future American taxpayer funding,
00:26:23.040those identified allegedly include school principals, teachers, and, of course, social workers.
00:26:29.800Republicans have argued Hamas has used weapons, supplies, buildings, and facilities to hide weapons, support tunnel infrastructure, and even hold hostages.
00:26:40.060You and I are all paying for this through the United Nations.
00:26:44.660That's why it's time to put a stop to it.
00:26:47.660The president moved in February 2025 to block direct U.S. funding to this arm of the United Nations
00:26:54.780after the Biden administration spent as much as $1.5 billion for this particular program.
00:27:02.880But Republicans say American taxpayers may be indirectly funding the organization
00:27:07.620through broader U.N. contributions as well.
00:27:11.120Humanitarian aid should help innocent civilians not prop up terror networks.
00:27:16.740And if the United States cannot stop funding Palestinian terrorism,
00:27:21.180well, it's time for the United States to leave the United Nations.
00:27:25.440Looking at that beautiful United Nations building right there in Manhattan,
00:27:29.500it occurs to me what a fabulous hotel that would make for the Trump Organization.
00:27:34.560You're listening to The Stone Zone, and I'm Roger Stone.
00:28:05.820At the heart of the measure is a conservative priority, that is, helping working Americans buy homes by increasing supply, cutting costly red tape, and limiting the ability of large institutional investors to crowd out families in the single-family housing market.
00:28:25.040House Financial Services Chairman French Hill said the bill prioritizes American families by expanding home ownership, improving affordability, and reducing regulations that drive up costs.
00:28:39.840Legislation also keeps a ban on large institutional investors buying up new single-family homes.
00:28:47.340This is a phenomenon that we saw very widespread with operations like BlackRock and others
00:28:53.880buying up virtually all of the single-family homes in the country.
00:28:58.460This has now been banned by the Trump administration.
00:29:02.420Importantly, House Republicans removed a controversial Senate provision
00:29:06.200that would have forced large investors to sell off rental homes within seven years.
00:29:12.720Critics warned that mandate could shrink rental supply
00:29:16.100and hurt Americans who cannot yet afford to buy a home.
00:29:20.920Still, 13 conservatives opposed the bill over concerns about the temporary ban on central bank digital currencies.
00:29:29.160Privacy hawks argue that the ban should be permanent,
00:29:33.280warning that a short-term prohibition could leave the door open to federal financial surveillance after 2030.
00:29:40.700My good friend Speaker Mike Johnson called the bill a strong bipartisan package to put more families in homes, while Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Americans will welcome lower housing costs.
00:29:55.680These are the sort of Republican wins we need to keep racking up headed into the midterms, but nothing will help the housing market so much as a deeper cut in the federal interest rates.
00:30:08.580Federal interest rates are supposed to be set based on two criteria, unemployment and inflation.
00:30:15.380But under Jerome Too Late Powell, the outgoing chairman of the Federal Reserve Board,
00:30:21.640neither one was taken into consideration as interest rates were manipulated to the benefit of the Democrats.
00:30:26.900In other words, both the inflation rate and the unemployment rate were either lower than or at the same level
00:30:35.080as they were when the Fed provided a much deeper interest rate cut
00:30:40.200to try to boost the re-election prospects of Joe Biden.
00:30:45.080It's time once again for us to have an interest rate cut
00:30:49.560based on the actual economic statistics on which it is legally supposed to be based.
00:30:55.020And while we're at it, we should look into the $1.6 billion renovation
00:31:01.540of the already palatial Federal Reserve building.
00:31:07.780Why we need to spend that kind of money on a palace for bureaucrats
00:33:15.200It was supposedly the most sweeping Wall Street reform in a generation.
00:33:19.280In fact, it led to an era of hyper-centralization in the banking system as community banks were buried under red tape.
00:33:29.080Washington's control over the financial sector was expanded greatly, and smaller banking institutions were punished for failures driven by bad government policy.
00:33:39.480Some of those regulations were later rolled back after years of pressure from lawmakers and community banks.
00:33:45.480Frank's legacy also took an ironic term when he later served on the board of Signature Bank,
00:33:51.440the New York-based commercial bank that collapsed in 2023 after a panic among depositors during a
00:33:58.580wave of bank failures, showing how Frank became a creature of the Washington, D.C. swamp after
00:34:05.740entering Congress claiming to be a crusader for the little guy. Barney Frank laid the groundwork
00:34:11.680for what the Democratic Party has morphed into today.
00:34:14.960He may have been remorseful about it in his final days,
00:34:17.820but the culpability, of course, remains.
00:34:20.500His legacy is not a positive one for this country, to put as mildly,
00:34:24.200but nonetheless, may he rest in peace.
00:34:28.640Meanwhile, a federal judge has limited ICE's ability,
00:34:32.940handing down a ruling that limits immigration enforcement
00:34:36.580inside three Manhattan immigration courts,
00:34:41.320raising fresh concerns among conservatives about judicial interference
00:34:45.960with the Trump administration's efforts to restore law and order at the border.
00:34:51.600On May 18th, U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castell
00:34:56.620barred federal agents from making arrests at immigration courts
00:35:00.660located at 26 Federal Plaza, 201 Verrick Street, and 290 Broadway,
00:35:07.380except in limited circumstances involving serious threats to public safety.
00:35:13.940The ruling, which makes very little sense, at least common sense,
00:35:17.780came after a lawsuit filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union.