Ghouls Blame Texas Flooding on Trump, Shock Epstein Announcement, and Assassination Attempt Secrets, with Andrew Klavan and Salena Zito | Ep. 1102

26:35We actually pulled the news report. It looks just like William Shatner doing this report, tossing to this. I'm not sure if that could be. Maybe he did a stint in news for a time, or maybe this guy is just a lookalike. But here is Sot 2 from 1987. On Friday morning, July 17th, 1987, the small town of Comfort, Texas, became the scene of a heroic rescue and tragic loss. Much of the footage you will see was taped on that day by the banks of the Guadalupe River. It was the day they were supposed to go home. The more than 300 children at the church camp were awakened early. The river was flooded. If they didn't leave soon, their buses might not be able to leave at all.

27:15We started going around the corner. We would go down the hill, then water started coming in the bus and stuff. We tried to back up, but then the bus got stuck, so they made all of us get out of the bus. And that's when the first wave hit us and started scattering people to different trees.

27:37kids clinging onto the, you know, the trees like ants surrounded by rushing water. Masterman tried repeatedly to rescue 14 year old Melanie Finley, but she was ripped away by the river.

27:54Oh, it's awful. You see these people floating in the river. When we're seeing those scenes today, it was William Shatner. He hosted a show called Rescue 911 at the time. Um, okay. So that's, so there's a history and that wasn't the only time it's flooded repeatedly this river. Um, so there was some level of warning built in. I don't know that all the parents sending their kids to this, you know, camp were considering it, but it's certainly if you're running the camp, I'm not blaming anybody. I'm just saying these are definitely things that need to be looked into, but that's different from saying, let's figure out how this happens so that we can build in protections at other camps where other kids are vulnerable than what's happening with these just partisan hacks on the left in the media who immediately need to find a way to blame it on Trump or to see one of their other pet core projects or issues of their life confirmed like climate change.

28:43You mentioned Dana Bash. Here she is. How much do you think the changing climate is part of what we are seeing go on here? Just talking about the federal government and even the local government, two Texas National Weather Service offices involved in forecasting and warning about flooding on the Guadalupe River are missing some key staff members. A director of the NWS union told CNN that the Austin San Antonio office is missing a warning coordination meteorologist due to the Trump administration's buyouts. Right. And did she get to the part about how but the the area, the office responsible for this area was overstaffed and hasn't made any complaints about missing key personnel in order to predict this tragedy, which it did.

29:38There were also reports that the Trump big, beautiful bill, which hasn't even gone into effect, had cut down on satellite reporting, which is also untrue. It was there is some something in there about the DOD not wanting to use classified satellites for weather reporting, but had nothing to do with any of this. It's a sickness. It really is. I mean, it obviously look, it obviously should tell you that your philosophy is wrong, that something is wrong. If your politics, if my politics turned me into somebody who would do that, I would change my politics. I would immediately say, what have I become?

30:14What have I done? That is the way you maintain some sort of decency in your life by checking your actions against some kind of moral measure. But they've convinced themselves that this is morality, that standing up for climate change is some important thing to do, even while they build their mansions on the side of other rivers and other coastlines, saying those coastlines are going to overflow. It really is a sickness. And I really do believe this. I believe that we have gone into a period of mental illness in this country, of widespread mental illness, and some of it is being spread by the news media, but some of it is also being demonstrated by the news media.

30:53How do you sleep at night when you do a report like that? I don't understand it. I really don't. I mean, I think I understand that people's hearts get twisted. I understand that people do evil things. But you're being paid a lot of money to actually live up to a certain standard of reporting. And I'm not seeing, I don't see this on the right. Why is she bringing climate change in here? Was it climate change in 1987 when I was 16 and a junior in high school? Was it that like, that was 40 years ago. Well, not quite, but almost like what they ignore all this. That's her pet issue making its way into her coverage.

31:27And then there was just the abject like celebrations of this. I'm just going to read you a couple. Now, worst among them, because this guy actually has a very popular podcast called The Midas Touch. It's a left leaning one. His name's Ron Filipowski, and he tweeted out the people in Texas voted for government services controlled by Trump and Greg Abbott. that's exactly what they're getting. And he went on to say in a one, I think he deleted this one or the other one. Also, when you have an entire political movement like MAGA, who has sneering contempt for experts who have spent decades in a profession like weather forecasters and the need for government to use those experts to save lives, the results of that too often are that many people died.

32:10Then there's more highly followed leftist X account, Brooklyn dad defiant, um, says the death count in Texas is now up to 32 people. Now, of course it's up above 80 at the moment from flooding that could have been projected earlier, if not for the devastating doge cuts to Noah months ago. Really? What, where'd you get that, sir? Cause that's not true. Trump has blood on his hands and should be held accountable. Here's a couple, a couple more for some, from some more prominent left wing accounts. Um, okay. This one guy, I can't read his name, but it's Mike. I can't read it, but in any event he writes good.

32:45I'm glad. Did it take Rogan with it too. I can only hope Texas deserves it. It's God's will. Of course, that's what God would have wanted. Right? Republicans. Ha ha ha. My empathy for these red, redneck reject states is zero. So fuck them. I hope more come. Let's start the hurricanes. I mean, there are little girls dead. And this is the reaction from this guy. Um, here's another one. It's not awful. It's what Texas deserves. Cry harder says another one. Texas deserves it. Here's another. I'm kind of happy the National Weather Service gave incorrect predictions when it came to how much rain would fall, especially since the best and brightest from that organization were let go due to Doge, Elon, and Trump, and on and on and on.

33:29They're celebrating, they're celebrating that little girls are dead, that that pair of sisters died holding one another. They can't think about the suffering of those parents, about the one mom who said that her family will miss her, especially her mommy. having to write that, having to like write an off the cuff eulogy for your eight year old, because you're standing down all the good people and all the good Samaritans who have been out there for the past four days now searching night and day for the missing. I mean, of course, in all these stories, Andrew, you find against those awful soulless people, you find the great ones, you know, the ones who died trying to save the little girls or like this guy recently out of the National Guard who said to save over 160 people, like first day on the job and rescued over 160 people.

34:22Like you're hearing more and more stories like that, but it really is a juxtaposition of good and evil, a story like this. Yeah, I'm a firm believer, and maybe I just believe this to keep myself sane, but I have witnessed it in life. I'm a firm believer that the people who tweet those things, that they were glad these children died, that there's something, there's some kind of justice in life that you have to live with that inside yourself. You know, I can't imagine what it would be like to live with that much hatred, even for the people I oppose, you know, to down to my heart and soul. I don't feel that way about them.

34:53I don't want them to lose their children. The people I disagree with, every word out of their mouth, I still don't want tragedy to befall them. I'm never rooting for that. I'm never rooting for death. It comes to us all. I've always believed that there's something that the worst thing about having those feelings in your heart is what they do to you is what they turn you into, what you're like inside, what you're walking around with inside yourself. I consider myself a righteous person. I don't think anybody's really righteous, but I would hate to have to live with that inside me. I would hate to have to live with that kind of anger and rancor just every day.

35:31It would be like having a stomach full of acid all the time. Yeah, it's like a cancer, a cancer that will eat you alive. Let me just mention this quickly because I mentioned him. Not National Guard, Coast Guard. This is Marina Medvin posted about him online, as did others. American hero Scott Ruskin saved 165 people on his first Coast Guard mission in Texas, sometimes carrying two girls per arm onto rescue helicopters. Those are the ones you need to focus on. He's a true hero. And there are many more like him who risked their lives. You see some of these rescue videos. There was one, do we have it cut you guys with where there's an elderly woman.

36:09We do it's V six, an elderly woman. They described her as elderly. I can't totally tell, but she looks like she has gray hair in this water for the listening audience. You can see the raging waters. You can see a rescue or these two men, they're wearing their life jackets around their necks and they've gotten a life jacket on her. And then there are men holding a rope on either side, trying to like do something to either pull her out. I, it's not exactly clear to me, but they're really struggling given the current. And if you watch this full video, Andrew, you can see at one point, like she keeps going under and then the men, the men get sucked, sucked under the strong rescue rescue or men get sucked under.

36:45And at some point during this, like four minute video, most of them become in serious danger. And then there's people steps away on the shore, but there's only so much they can do because it's just, it's like getting caught in like a riptide and finally they get her out. But I mean, every rescue puts many lives at risk for the rescuers. And you still have guys like Scott, Scott Ruskin, who did it over and over and over again. You can, you can be standing in two feet, three feet, four feet of water and be washed away. It has happened to me. You can be knocked right on your backside. You have no power against the power of a river and against the power of running water.

37:24You know, one thing this really brings up, and you and I have talked about this before, is the power of ideology, what ideology does to you. If you have an ideology that dehumanizes people, that sets standards of good and evil, according to your opinions of things, instead of according to like the moral law that's in every human heart, this is what happens to you. You know, you become dehumanized, You forget all this stuff. Whereas if you if you have a an ideology that is based in love, even if you make mistakes, even if you go astray, you're ultimately going to be called to service when people are in trouble and when people are hurt or when their people are, you know, suffering through tragedy.

38:05I think it's just something that has happened in this country. I did not grow up in a country that had this kind of ideology throbbing through it like this. It was always there. Obviously, there's always bad ideology and evil people. But somehow at the level of the establishment, at the level of the people who went on the newscasts and talked and wore ties and jackets and were the guys who were supposed to be responsible to us for information, they were not swept away by the river of ideology and not swept into evil by it. And I just think that it's just something that really needs to be addressed because of the First Amendment and God bless the First Amendment.

38:43It's very hard to reform the media. But you just think that somewhere, somewhere at the top of these organizations, human hearts would say, you know, we've got to reform a media that is speaking evil into the world. You know, when you when you see those guys going out there and doing what they do and you talk about that guy who's on his first day of work at the Coast Guard saving over 100 people, you know, you understand that there is something called decency and heroism. These things really do exist. And not all of us can live up to our heroes, but we can all live up to some level of decency.

39:15And I think that that is something that has really disappeared from the establishment in the country. It hasn't disappeared from America. You only have to travel in America and meet people and talk to people to see all the decency in the world you want to. But it's at our leadership level. And the guy who was complaining, by the way, about the Republican distrust, the conservative distrust of experts, might want to consult the experts like Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci, who lied and lied to us and undermined the power of expertise and the credibility of experts. Because I agree, there are such things as experts.

39:46But right now they're in bad odor because of the fact that they betrayed the country. And so, you know, where you place the blame for these things is a question of how far back in time you're willing to go into the actions of the people who are being blamed. I see those guys in the water, Andrew, and I think, OK, you know, Scott Ruskin, God love him. He's he's a professional rescuer. Day one, indeed. But he's a professional rescuer who signed up to rescue. The odds are those guys we just saw in the water trying to save that that older woman. They're probably volunteer firemen. Those are the overwhelming odds.

40:21It's a very rural town. I mean, I spend my summers in a more rural New Jersey beach town. And if there is an emergency of any kind, they sound the fire alarm. There's not some there's not a firehouse where they're all sitting around. They sound the loud alarm and all the volunteer firefighters and EMS guys go running and they put their lives in the line at a moment's notice. I guarantee you it's a situation not unlike that. You see these guys in the water. They're not like the completely fit. That guy looks like he's straight at a top gun. To his credit. I'm not mocking him. But, you know, those guys in the water, they look like normal guys.

40:54They look like maybe a little older, maybe a few extra pounds. Still, they went into that water. Still, they risked their lives. They probably have families. they risked their role as dads to save somebody else's important person. And for me, I know this is a weird, not possible non sequitur, but like I went to mass on Sunday yesterday and they do this every year down here. And I love it. I love it. I love it. We, we went, we listened to the mass, we observed mass and it ended this year as it did last year. And the year before that, before they sing the last hymn and at the very tail end of that hymn, as soon as it ends.

41:30Um, And by the way, it was Be Not Afraid, which was just, it's such a great one. So, so moving. They burst into the whole congregation led by the cantor. God bless America. And it was just, it just makes you feel something from deep within God bless America. And I look at those guys. That's what I think those Texans risking their lives, probably volunteer. Like God bless America. God bless them. God bless the helpers. I have almost no use for these, sorry, fucking cretins online who don't understand us or what we're here for, what we're really about, or the goodness of this country at its heart and soul, irrespective of partisan politics.

42:12Oh, wait, I'll give you one more. And this is an emotional journey of a comment because you've got these wonderful people and you've got these terrible people, but I've got to, I've got to get this person in. Her name is Sadie Perkins. She is a fellow. She's a non-resident fellow at Princeton University, previously one of our most respected institutions. It means that they've given her a big grant. I think it's a$1 million grant she got a couple of years ago, post George Floyd, 2022, to research how black religious leaders and communities responded to COVID climate and environmental crises or struggles for racial justice.

42:46Any one of those three will do. They give grants from this project. So that makes her a fellow at Princeton University. And here is what Sadie Perkins, non-resident fellow at Princeton, was concerned about as she watched children die. I know I'm probably going to get canceled for this, but Camp Mystic is a whites-only girls' Christian camp. And I think that context needs to be said in this matter. It's not to say that we don't want the girls to be found, whatever girls that are missing or whatever right now, but you best believe, especially in today's political climate, if this were a group of Hispanic girls, especially with them being in East Texas, it should be most likely Hispanic.

43:36If this were a group of Hispanic girls out there, this would not be getting this type of coverage that they're getting. No one would give a fuck. and all these white people, the parents of these little girls, would be saying things like they need to be deported. They want you to get out of your bed and to come out of your home and to go find these people and to donate your money to go find these people. Meanwhile, they are deporting your family members. Meanwhile, they're setting up concentration camps and prisons for your family members. And I need you all to keep that in mind before you all get out there and put on your rain boots and go find these little girls.

44:11oh god oh just people with no shut up button in their hearts you know it's unbelievable amazing it's unbelievable she's truly depraved there's something depraved princeton university must do something i don't know if she's still on her million dollar grant what it is but whatever it is must be pulled it absolutely must be severed princeton university must make a statement she's calling the parents of the dead children racists based on absolutely nothing but a figment of her imagination and the and the pictures she's seen that they're white and the information she heard that they're Christian and discouraging while she does the cover her ass oh it's not to say we don't want them to be found she finishes it up with you better think about this before you get out there and you put on your raincoats to try to go find these girls you think about how they're racists and how they'd be letting your people die if you're Hispanic.

45:07Holy shit. Yeah, I like the word that I'll probably be canceled for this, you know, cancel culture, which conservatives complain so much about was really a culture in which if you disagreed politically, you were deemed to be immoral. But it's not wrong to cancel people when they're actually immoral, to tell people that before you go out and try to rescue children, you have to take some kind of bizarre, you know, critical race idea into your head. You know, even if there was some kind of truth or legitimacy to critical race theory, which there isn't, but even if there were, there would be nothing that should stop you from putting on boots and going out and helping people if you can do it.

45:44So this idea that you're being canceled if you do something that's actually immoral, that if you do something that is actually cruel and stupid and evil, that's not being canceled. That's simply just human decency and society basically regurgitating something that it shouldn't have swallowed in the first place. And you're absolutely right. Princeton is responsible for addressing this. I think that in some ways, whoever these people are who are saying these things that you're reading that are legitimately shocking, they're legitimately mind-blowing that people could do this. Whoever is in charge of those people, whoever is giving them money, whoever is giving them support, should really take a look at what they're doing and giving them a platform because I don't understand why we have to, I understand that people are free to say evil things, but I don't think that we are, I think we are equally free to react to those evil things and turn them off and withdraw our support from them.

46:37I don't believe this should be censored at all. I actually don't believe they should be censored. I want those people to expose themselves. I want them to say what they have to say, but we as an audience and we as the people who pay people to say things, I think we can shut people down when they say things like this. There is another woman who bears mention. She's a pediatrician. Unbelievable. A pediatrician in Texas who suggested that these Texas flood victims got what they deserved. she posted as followed. Her name is Dr. Christina B. Probst, P-R-O-P-S-T, S-T. She drew widespread scorn, quoting here from the New York Post, following her disparaging since-deleted Facebook post under her old name, which was Christina.

47:21That was her username. May all visitors, children, non-MAGA voters, and pets be safe and dry, she wrote. As she goes on, Kerr County MAGA voted to gut FEMA. They deny climate change. May they get what they voted for. Bless their hearts. And first, at first, her employer, Bluefish Pediatrics, said she'd been suspended and then announced she's no longer employed there, saying there's no room for politicization of a tragedy like this. No word on what's going to happen with the Texas Medical Board. She's in charge of taking care of children. Do the parents who bring their children to her as their pediatrician know this is how she feels if you voted for Trump.

48:05She thinks your child deserved and deserves any death that she can blame on climate change or a Trump doge or big, beautiful bill initiative, because that appears to be how she sees the world. They're lurking. We saw this after 10, seven, Andrew, you know, we're like, people weren't just saying I've got real problems with Israel. I don't condone the death that, you know, this terrorism we saw in 10, seven, but you know, these people can't live under blockade, right? That which would, which have been it would have been a reasonable way to react if you're pro-Palestinian. Nope. They loved it. They loved the hostages.

48:38They tore down their pictures, wanting them to remain in captivity and to suffer. Like, I don't, I know maybe I'm beating a dead horse, but there's something dead inside people. I talk about politics all day for a living. You do too. I've been doing this for 20 plus years, immersed in the most vicious political battles for that time. It hasn't hardened my heart. I recognize insane people. I try not to generalize too much about the left as being awful because I, I love people on the left. You know, my mom's still a registered Democrat. Some of my best friends are liberals. There's a hardness happening here.

49:13And there's something else happening on the left that was in the news this weekend. Gallup showing for the first time ever, the Democrats don't love America. They're not patriotic. They're not proud to be Americans. Republicans have remained steady at 92, 93 % for 20 plus years. Democrats have gone off a cliff. More people now say they hate America on the left than say they're proud to be American. It's all part of the same sickness. It is. And it's, it is an ideological sickness. It is something you can blame on ideology when ideology trumps morality. Look, we are built, we are built to know right from wrong.

49:47We do know right from wrong. The struggle we have is not knowing it, it's doing it. Sometimes, you know, doing the right thing interferes with our personal interests. And so you're tempted to follow your personal interests instead of doing the right thing. But ideology is the single force. And Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote about this. Ideology is the single force that can wipe that knowledge out of our minds and out of our hearts. And that is the problem that the left has. Yes, there are people on the right, but on the far right, people on the fringe who have this problem, but the center of the Democrat party, the center of the left has now basically let ideology wipe morality out of their hearts.

50:22And this is the result. It's just so awful. There's much more to cover and we will do that. We're going to take a quick break. More with Andrew right after this. We'll get into Jeffrey Epstein and the FBI. Plus, Selena Zito is coming up on her new book about Butler, Pennsylvania. As we approach the one year mark, she's got some chilling information in there about Donald Trump and about the shooter who actually did take a shot and hit Trump that day and killed Corey Compitore. We talk a lot about personal freedom on this show. Well, part of that is owning your privacy. And let me tell you, if you have ever Googled your name and found your home address, phone number, or even your income floating around, it's not a coincidence.

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53:24Andrew, this FBI thing has got tongues wagging all over the country today. It's FBI and DOJ coming out with a shocking announcement for many. Well, I've talked to others who are closer to the case who say they're not shocked. And they've been saying that there's really this is just the stuff of conspiracy theories all along, that he had some blackmail list, some long client list that was going to wow everybody, that there wouldn't be videos that would incriminate necessarily Epstein or those around him, but, and that he was, the non-conspiracy theorists say, obviously he killed himself. Okay, so here's the story.

54:03DOJ, FBI have concluded they have no evidence that Epstein blackmailed powerful figures, that he kept a client list, or that he was murdered. according to a memo detailing the findings that was leaked to Axios. So clearly our friends who we love, Bongino and or Patel leaked it to Axios, which is interesting. I mean, why Axios? That's not really a Republican friendly site. They probably aren't steeped that deeply in all things Epstein. I don't know, but it was leaked to Axios. Maybe I'm wrong. No further charges are expected in connection with the probes into Epstein as investigators, quote, did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.

54:48The DOJ and FBI say in the memo, no further disclosure of Epstein related material would be appropriate or warranted. So we are done getting any Epstein material. The memo says much of the material relates to child sexual abuse and details of Epstein's victims, as opposed to like other third parties who were swept up into his awfulness. The files related to Epstein include a large volume of images of Epstein, images and videos of victims who are either minors or appear to be, and over 10 ,000 downloaded videos and images of illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography. Through this review, we found no basis to revisit the disclosure of those materials, will not permit the release of the child pornography, obviously.

55:30Consistent with our prior disclosures, this review confirmed Epstein harmed over 1 ,000 victims, but they're not expanding those conclusions to anything beyond Epstein. They've also released video. What they say is 10 hours of raw and also enhanced videos, meaning enhanced just, just so we can see it a little better and the colors better that they say indicates no one entered the area of the Manhattan prison where Epstein was held the night he died. Many are pouring over this video footage right now, which goes from between 10 40 PM on August 9th, 2019, when he was locked in a cell to around 6.30 a.m.

56:05the next day when he was found unresponsive. They say that it shows no one entering the area and or leaving the area, but already loose online or suggesting there are cuts or jump cuts. We have not independently examined it, so we're not in a position to comment on that. Here's why it's causing such a problem, including amongst many people who love and Gino and Patel. Maybe not so much Bondi, because we've been told over and over and over again that they did have materials. And I'll take you through some of those. Here's Pam Bondi in February of this year talking about Epstein's client list that they now tell us does not exist.

56:50SOT 7. DOJ may be releasing the list of Jeffrey Epstein's clients. Will that really happen? It's sitting on my desk right now to review. That's been a directive by President Trump. I'm reviewing that. I'm reviewing JFK files, MLK files. That's all in the process of being reviewed because that was done at the directive of the president from all of these agencies. So have you seen anything that you said, oh, my gosh? Not yet. She explicitly said the Epstein client list was sitting on her desk. And now they explicitly say they have no evidence that he kept a client list. Okay. So that's one. Then she brought a bunch of conservative influencers to the white house.

57:34And I'm told this was a Pam Bondi operation that didn't have like the, the blessing of the FBI or necessarily the white house staff either. She brought them to the white house, gave them binders that said it was like the Epstein files. And they all were embarrassed because it turned out that there was no more than I think 200 documents of materials that were already public, which in these influencers defense, they did not know they were trusting the attorney general of the United States, who for some reason thought it would be a good idea to humiliate some of president Trump's most ardent supporters and people who helped get him elected, which for which she hasn't been forgiven by a lot of these folks.

58:14I know many of them. Then she came out a little later in February and said on Hannity, the following, SOT 8. You're looking at these documents going, these aren't all the Epstein files. You know, there were flight logs, there were names and victims' names. And we're going, where's the rest of the stuff? And that's what the FBI had turned over to us. And so a source said, whoa, all this evidence is sitting in the Southern District of New York. So based on that, I gave them the deadline, Friday at 8, a truckload of evidence arrived. It's now in the possession of the FBI. Cash is going to get me and himself really a detailed report as to why all these documents and evidence had been withheld.

58:57And, you know, we're going to go through it, go through it as fast as we can, but go through it very cautiously to protect all the victims of Epstein. So that's her blaming the FBI. There were additional files. I didn't mean to embarrass the influencers. It's the FBI's fault, but I'm going to get them. Then you have Pam Bondi caught on tape by James O 'Keefe. And as soon as it came out, like that he had this and was about to hit, it was about to hit. He went to her for comment, obviously. She got on camera and affirmatively said it as though she, she meant to say it all along. It was like, it seemed to me to be a CYA.

59:34Like I said, nothing special to James O 'Keefe. I'll say it right now on camera. And I happen to know that this caused a lot of consternation inside, um, some of these national security socials where they didn't know what she was doing. Here is SOT 10. There are tens of thousands of videos of Epstein with children or child porn, and there are hundreds of victims, and no one victim will ever get released. It's just the volume, and that's what they're going through right now. The FBI is diligently going through that. Okay. So that piece of it is somewhat consistent with what they said in this statement, which is there's a lot of child sexual assault material online, but she left it open like hundreds of victims of Epstein's or of others that Epstein has.

1:00:28This is the kind of thing you need to be really specific about. And we were left with yet another question mark. Now here's Alina Habba, whose were also now working at DOJ on Piers Morgan. But in this case, in Epstein's case, it is incredibly disturbing. We have flight logs. We have information names that will come out. Is it going to be shocking? I don't see how it's not shocking that there were so many individuals that were hidden and kept secret and not been held accountable. Let's talk about the reverse. I believe in accountability. So you have to now go through your process. Now, I won't say they're guilty until they go through their time in court.

1:01:16But again, now it's time for accountability. We have seen for so many years, Pierce, in this country, many investigations, subpoenas, testimonies in Congress, et cetera, et cetera. But there's a general frustration with accountability. We take it halfway. We don't take it home. And I really believe that now with Cash and Pam, there will be accountability. That was February. So now she says they have information and the names too will come out. So many individuals who have been hidden, kept secret, haven't been held accountable. She won't yet say that they're guilty until they've had their time in court.

1:01:53But there's been a frustration with accountability. Okay. Now we get there's no client list. there's no evidence that he blackmailed anybody and there's nobody else who's going to be charged and no additional information that will be released. I'm sorry, but I fully understand why people are extremely doubtful and frustrated with what's being released right now by the administration and what's being told to them. This is extremely upsetting. I mean, I'm a big Dan Bongino fan. I judge him to be a man of integrity who really is committed to doing the right thing. I've met Kash Patel, but I don't know Kash Patel, but I've always been favorably impressed by him.

1:02:32So there's so much to talk about here. Let's just go back to what you talked about of the leak to Axios. Nevermind their political leanings. It was released at the end of a holiday weekend, which is when you dump information you're hoping no one will pay attention to. That's the first thing. There is Pam Bomdi and this list. There's Kash Patel two years ago calling for this list to be brought forward. I am willing, because of my respect for Dan and my respect for Kash Patel, I am willing to stipulate that Jeffrey Epstein did not commit suicide. If I can include the idea that it was some kind of Godfather II situation where suddenly all the cameras went off, suddenly all the guards disappeared, suddenly all the cellmates were removed from his cell, so he was allowed to commit suicide and maybe protect some other interests that he had beyond his own life and avoid going to prison for the rest of his life.

1:03:24So, all right, I'll buy that he didn't commit suicide and the evidence says that he didn't commit suicide. But when you tell me that there's no list, my questions just get broader and bigger. They don't get less. If there's no list of people who did things, are there no witnesses? Are the people, the children and the young people who were abused, have they made no accusations? Can they not be questioned? Can they not be asked who was it who raped you who was it who used you again and again some of these women have come forward when and said you know i was raped again and again well by whom you know did you recognize the person can you identify him in a in a photo array galaine maxwell is in prison for 20 years is there no deal that she would expect uh that she would accept to get less prison time and come on and say you know yeah let me tell you who i who i brought into this uh to this Island.

1:04:15You know, this is something that is so widespread in America and maybe throughout the world, this abuse of young people, this use of young people for your own personal pleasure, that I think it really has to be addressed at the highest level and has to be addressed in the harshest possible way. So I'm not satisfied with you saying, you know, Pam Bondi misspoke or whatever the hell she did when she said, yes, this list is on my desk. All right. So there's no list, But is there no way of attaining names and information from the people who were victimized? Are there no accusations that are going to be made?

1:04:50Is nobody willing to make these accusations? I mean, this thing has been covered up so completely, including at ABC News, where we were talking before about George Stephanopoulos and why he was hired, being hired because he silenced women for Bill Clinton. And then then we know from Amy Robach, the tape that was released of Amy Robach, that that was spiked during Hillary Clinton's run. And they say, well, she said we had it all. We had it all. Including Clinton. She mentioned him. That's right. So so I'm sorry. This is not holding together. And I think a guy of the quality of Dan Bongino should be coming forward with it.

1:05:25I know, you know, people who know him inside the administration. I know he's working like a dog. He's trying hard to rejigger the FBI from the corrupt state it fell into under Biden and under Obama as well. I think they are working hard to clean out the FBI. But something about this case, there is a stumbling block here. And by the way, I don't believe that it's Donald Trump. I actually believe that Donald Trump was not part of this situation. If Donald Trump were in the Epstein files and in any meaningful way, Joe Biden would have told us. You betcha. And also he threw the guy out of Mar-a-Lago.

1:06:01He made jokes about the fact that he likes him young. Those are not the words of somebody who's participating in this abuse. This goes on in Hollywood. It goes on in churches. It went on in England when Muslims were collecting these little girls for their own personal use. And the government covered it up. This is something that is endemic right now. There's a story just today about Taliban, some Taliban leader wanted to marry a six-year-old. And they said, oh, you got to wait till she's nine. She's nine, like Muhammad. You know, I think that this is something that is somehow so interlaced in our society that maybe there's no way that maybe it would just take a superhero to say, I don't care who I bring down.

1:06:43I don't care what threats I'm given. And, you know, every now and again, they arrest some poor schmuck who's got, you know, child porn on his on his computer. And yes, that's evil. That's wicked. You should be arrested for it. But why is it that the guys who actually do this stuff are powerful people who are people of substance and people of money and who are using innocent girls who don't have that kind of influence and don't have that kind of money? Why is it that they are never arrested and never named? This is a moment for Cash and Dan to really stand up. It's not enough to leak this at the end of the Fourth of July weekend.

1:07:20You've got to come forward and tell me why you cannot get the names of people from the people who were abused. Do you recognize this guy? Do you recognize anybody in this photo array? Was this the person who raped you? I don't understand. And I don't understand why Ghislaine Maxwell was not offered some kind of deal to get the names out of her. So maybe she doesn't have to serve 20 years. Ghislaine went to prison for helping Jeffrey Epstein and, you know, in his sex trafficking and his behavior toward these young women. But the trial evidence against her was about procuring young women for Jeffrey.

1:07:57It wasn't for others. It wasn't like she was the main sort of. But she was she was there. She was she was on. No, I know. I'm just saying, like, just people online are like, what'd she get convicted of? She got convicted of funneling girls to Jeffrey. and I'll play devil's advocate for a minute though. And we should, and we should explore this. Okay. Let's explore the possibility that you have to put Pam Bondi statements to the side in order to go down this lane with me, because I don't know what she's doing. I got to be honest, but I really do trust Dan. Dan, Dan is a wonderful guy and he's a very straight shooter.

1:08:30He's, he's all heart. He's totally earnest. I don't believe Dan is lying to us. I just, I don't, I don't know cash as well. I don't mean to indict him at all. I'm just saying, I don't know him the way I know Dan who's been coming on the show for years. We've had long, many long hours and hours and hours. It's like you, I know him like I know you, like I just, no one's going to convince me he would go out there and just blatantly lie. I don't believe it. So let's go down the line of he's telling the truth and cash is again, we're checking Pam Bondi's weird statements for now. Um, I know somebody very close to the Epstein case.

1:09:02I've never said who this is, but this is a very, very well-informed person. And this person from the beginning has told me that Epstein was into young girls. I don't know what he looked at online. I, I believe he probably did look at what now they just call child sexual assault material. We used to call it child pornography. I believe he was probably into that, but, but this person was saying in terms of what Jeffrey wanted brought to him at his mansions and his, you know, Island, it was the barely legal type. It was like the 17 year old girl or the 16, I'm not justifying any of this. I'm just telling you what's been told to me by a very reliable person that that's what he was into.

1:09:41And in many States, that's not unlawful. You know, the 17 year old sex partner for a grown man is actually not illegal. Now in some it is, and he got in trouble in Florida. Um, so that's, it is a possibility that that was his thing when it came to actual sexual interactions, forget what he was looking at online. And it is a thing that, you know, he had some of those girls who weren't committing crimes with powerful men. And that while he had a very interesting black book that had names, including Donald Trump's in it, that doesn't amount to a client list. And there aren't young girls who can point the fingers.

1:10:19There is Virginia Giuffre, who recently died, who was the girl pictured with Prince Andrew in those infamous Daily Mail photos that we've all seen, where she was, I think, 17 and with Prince Andrew. This is why he got excommunicated from his family. She says they the girls were being funneled out to third parties to other men and that she was one of them. But I'm sorry. Virginia Dufresne is a proven was God rest her. I'm sorry. Liar, a proven liar. And not only do I firmly believe she lied about Alan Dershowitz and she admitted she might have been confused about him. But there's a lot of stuff she said turned out to be just totally false.

1:11:01It's complicated because these victims, you know, these predators choose them for a reason. They'll choose a girl like that because they know maybe she's going to have credibility problems and so on. So I'm trying not to be disrespectful to her, but there's no question that Virginia Jufre did tell a lot of lies. And then there's a lot of other people who, when Jeffrey Epstein went down, saw dollar signs in their eyeballs because he must not I forget he was very rich and said, I know something I I want to pay out or I was a victim and I want to pay out. And it wasn't always true. All of these are complicated factors, complicating factors in like the lure around him.

1:11:35And it is possible this guy did not want to spend the rest of his life in prison. He was used to all the trappings of wealth. You know, Arthur Idala has talked about this. He represented Ghislaine Maxwell, that that it's a terrible place where he was being held. You know, he spent a couple hours in there and felt dark and depressed and, you know, sad. And he wasn't getting sentenced. He was there as a lawyer. It is very possible he was extremely depressed, realized that he was going to go to jail forever and decided to take his own life. So all of that really is possible. And, you know, conspiracy theories do spring when we're not being told to straight skinny as we weren't for years after Jeffrey died and so on.

1:12:12So I'm leaving room for the possibility that it really is less nefarious, not not not nefarious, but less nefarious than we were told. And maybe we've just been so spun up by so many spinners that now when you have people you can trust telling you what's real, it's hard to believe. But, you know, my problem with that explanation, and again, I'm putting the suicide aside because I agree with you about this. I do think it's possible that he that he killed himself, although I do think it's kind of interesting that every camera went off, every guard was gone, every cellmate had been removed. I think maybe it was convenient for him to kill himself.

1:12:50But still, I'm perfectly willing to believe that. Let's let's just say that everything you said was true. You're Kash Patel. And again, like I really like these guys. I like both of them. And I know more about Dan than I know about Kash Patel. But still, they both favorably impressed me. And I trusted them and I trust them still. But a couple of years ago, Kash Patel is on the air saying this is a conspiracy. There's a list. We got to get this out. And now he's the head of the FBI and he finds out, oh, all of these things that I said to the public are untrue. You leak that to Axios at the end of the Fourth of July weekend?

1:13:26Or do you come out and you face the cameras and say, you know what? No one could be more surprised than I am. You know, I put this stuff forward. I put these ideas forward. I was wrong. And this is why I was wrong. And this is why I can't show you everything and just really lay it out for you and take responsibility for the things that he said, because he's one of the people who made you think like, gee, something is going on behind the scenes. And you're also right, by the way, that you have to leave Pam Bondi out of this because I don't understand what the hell she's been talking about. And that's something that she should be really held responsible for.

1:14:00She did go on and say, you played that clip, but she went on and said at other places as well that she had a list that she was just going to check out. We're on the verge of finding out. And it's just been strange, Megan. And I mean, yeah, it's possible. It is possible that all of those bricks fall into place. But it's still true that, you know, it's still true that even if he didn't break the law, even if he just skirted the law by finding girls who were just within legal limits. No, he broke the law. Why aren't they talking? You know, why aren't they coming forward and saying things? Why is it that - Well, many of them have sued him.

1:14:37I mean, he actually had, he's dead now, but he was facing civil suits from some. And Virginia Giuffre, she had the civil suit. And Ghislaine has gotten sued. So there are some who have come forward. It's not like two dozen. and most, I think a lot of women want nothing to do. They don't want their names associated with this case whatsoever, but we don't have some full list of victims. Presumably the FBI knows more than we do, but so far what they seem to be saying is it was Jeffrey. It was Jeffrey. It was Jeffrey and Prince Andrew. I don't know what the truth is, Andrew. I wish I did. Let them come out and talk to people.

1:15:14Let them come out and take hard questions from people. You know, that's this leak to Axios at the end of the July 4th weekend. Let him come out and face the music and say, look, this is what we found. I was surprised. You know, aren't they motivated? I would think they are motivated to prove that the things that they had been saying to the public before they got into office, they should be motivated to prove those things are true. And if they're not true, they should come out and say, yeah, you know, like I misled you. I didn't mean to, but I said the wrong things. I just don't like the way this is unfolding.

1:15:45And again, like you, I am a big fan of Dan's and I'm a fan of Kash Patel's. I have nothing to say negative about him, but this doesn't sit right. It doesn't taste right. They're going to do it. They are going to come out. I just don't believe those two guys will say. They're not afraid. These are not like cowardly men. They're going to be out there probably this week, I would imagine. And I believe there will be a full-fledged vetting. I mean, I was talking to Dan not long ago about coming on with us, maybe both of them, soon. I didn't I don't think we anticipated July, but I'll definitely ask both of them about it.

1:16:20And I think they'll answer me. I don't think they're afraid. I do think it's possible, however, that they've learned more since becoming government administrators that they can't reveal. I mean, some information would be classified. There are many who believe Jeffrey Epstein and or Ghislaine Maxwell had connections, to example, the Mossad, you know, out of Israel and that it's possible. Now, that's also been debunked. Well, not debunked, but like the they've thrown cold water on that saying it's not true. I haven't seen any evidence of that. But I mean, there are possible reasons why they might have to mislead and that we do need to look for.

1:16:57I mean, Cash was on Joe Rogan in June. It was June 6th. And he definitely sounded to me like he knew more than he was revealing. And I thought, OK, it's harder when you're actually in charge and you're responsible for maintaining classified briefings and so on. But here he is in SOT 13 in June. But what about the video from the island? Again, we're going to give you everything we can. And people have to remember, we're not going to re-victimize women. We're not going to put that shit back out there. It's not happening because then he wins. Not doing it. You want to hate me for it? Fine. Again, logical play out.

1:17:37If there was a video of some guy or gal committing felonies on an island and I'm in charge, don't you think you'd see it? If you have access to it. If I have it. Period. If I have it. If I have it. So... Where else would it be? Right. If you have it. Right. But you can't say that you have it. No, we're giving you everything we have. So far. Everything we have so far is... Have you guys gone over all the video that's available? Yeah, that's what I'm telling you. That's what takes so much damn time. Right. And... And is there video from the island? Not of what you want. the people out there have filled the void with can't wait to see X, Y, or Z.

1:18:26Right. Speculation. Now, I understand that you would never re-victimize these women and show this footage, but is there footage?

1:18:38Outside of... The only thing I can say right now is if there was footage of anyone doing anything else, we would have opened a case. so he just doesn't sound like himself you can hear him being careful he's not like a lot of those are not fully direct answers he's not volunteering information and you are you can see joe rogan really trying to like kind of like pulling teeth trying to get like full answers so it's clear to me it's just different when you're in charge yeah no i i completely understand that i'm willing to be understanding right down the line but not where we're standing right now i mean I'm willing to hear what they have to say.

1:19:20And again, like I said, you know, three times, I'm fans of these guys. I trust them. But I do not think that they are handling this the right way as it stands. I do not think that this is the way this information should get out there. And because the abuse of young people by the powerful is so endemic, and because the stories never get to the surface somehow. You know, when I was working in Hollywood, these stories would bubble up, they percolate up, and you start to see little paragraphs of them in variety. the Hollywood trade paper. And then they disappear again. They just vanish because Hollywood, you know, variety depends on advertising from the Hollywood studios.

1:19:56And then you think like, all right, so that just got covered up and it would happen again and again. And it happens, you know, we still don't know all the things that happened in the Catholic church. We still don't know all the things that are happening in Britain with the Muslim rape gangs. All of these things just seem to get killed somewhere along the line. And I guess I would like these two people who I trust and who I believe in to come forward and explain to me bit by bit how exactly they got from, yeah, we're going to release this list to there is no list. How exactly they got to, you know, yeah, we're going to put this woman in prison for 20 years, but we're not going to offer her a deal if she'll name some names.

1:20:32How do we get to those places? Fair, all fair questions. Andrew Klavan, what a pleasure. Thank you so much. I miss talking to you. I'm glad you came on. Thank you. That's great to see you, Megan. Thanks a lot. So, okay, coming up next, Selena Zito is here. We're going to talk to her about the news, and we're also going to get into her new book on being with Trump the day of the Butler rally. We're coming up on the one-year mark. Remember that? Do you remember where you were when you heard Trump was shot last July? She certainly does. It was within steps of the then candidate, and she's got some incredible stories from the day, which you have not yet heard.

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1:23:06It was almost one year ago that President Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. It was on July 13th, 2024, which would be this Sunday. It'll be one year. Do you remember where you were? I do. I remember I was down here at the beach and my then 10 year old was walking by my phone and saw my phone lighting up like a Christmas tree with messages from my team and saying, Mom, Trump got shot. and that feeling of just your stomach dropping, you know, like, no. And then he said in his ear, and I didn't know what to make of that, right? In his ear is bad, like on his earlobe, far less troubling.

1:23:52And the news would come rapid fire after that. I'm sure you remember it too. Well, today we're joined by a reporter who remembers it in especially a cute way. She was literally a couple of feet away from the president that fateful day. She saw and heard the shots fired, the immediate aftermath, the resilience of president Trump and of the crowd, how they, how they behaved, um, in this time of panic and violence. And it was unlike what you might expect of a typical crowd and unlike what you might expect of a Trump crowd. If you read the New York Times exclusively. Selena Zito's new book uncovers how President Trump's messaging changed following that attempt on his life and more.

1:24:35It's called Butler, the untold story of the near assassination of Donald Trump and the fight for America's heartland. And it's out tomorrow. Go preorder it right now. Trump is endorsing the book, urging everyone to read it. He doesn't talk that much about the assassination attempt. He said he was only going to talk about it that one night at the RNC. I think he did it one other time, but he doesn't like talking about it. He did to Selena who lived it with him. Selena, welcome back. Great to see you. Great to see you. Thanks so much for having me. Oh yeah. Congrats on the book and just what, what a scoop.

1:25:10I mean, I feel like the reason Selena Zito got this story and was with the president that day and spoke to him for over an hour within 24 hours of it happening is because Selena Zito has made a lifetime out of reporting on events and places and people that few others will. The mainstream doesn't. You were in Butler because you knew Butler mattered. You were in Pennsylvania because you knew the back areas of Pennsylvania would determine the next president of the United States in a way. Yes, the mainstream media knew Pennsylvania was important, but you knew the state, you knew the towns, you knew the flavor, you knew the feeling, your family's from there.

1:25:47But that's been your MO, your entire reporting career. And I just think like there was in the same way there was divine intervention to save Trump that day. There was something divine about you being steps away and having that front row seat to history, Selena. You're the perfect person to write this book. Congrats on the pub. And you tell me when you think back on it almost a year later, how do you see it? How do you feel it mattered? Well, first of all, thanks for having me on. I feel very honored to be able to tell this story in a way that I think is very authentic to the people and honors the people of Pennsylvania who were part, you know, they're part of this story, not only that day, but in the days leading up to it and the days after.

1:26:36And, you know, when you're a reporter, you don't always expect what you're supposed to do that day to be exactly what happens. I wasn't supposed to be standing in the buffer four feet away from the president. I wasn't supposed to see the president before he went out there. But through a series of like, we're going to do this, Selena, we're not going to do that. People will really enjoy having a front row seat to that back and forth about how I ended up there. But, you know, I was there for a reason. And I think I was there because I'm supposed to tell this story in a way that is meaningful and nuanced and understands not only Trump, but more importantly, the constituency of people, people that are very rarely seen, who placed him into office.

1:27:31As a reporter, I often feel like I straddle two completely different worlds. If I go on social media and I watch other or read other journalists and how they were talking about the race that last year, and then I'm on the ground in Pennsylvania and watching something completely different, you know, I think that's part of why I was there and why I ended up being so close. When I'll just start like later in the book, just for this first question, you point out that as you wrote into Butler, as you were looking around Butler, Pennsylvania, you actually tried to call attention by to, to what people were seeing, what's happening in the town, um, with the other reporters, the so-called mainstream reporters who refused to look up from their phones.

1:28:26They had zero interest in understanding Butler, Trump supporters, the rally crowd. Really those people, when I read that piece of the book, I'm like, they were too busy writing orange band, bad Trump, Hitler, fascist, right? Like that's the only narrative they understand the same as they're doing today with respect to what's happening down in Texas. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So that point you're talking about, it was in Erie, Pennsylvania. I have long argued that Erie, Pennsylvania is the most important county, not just in Pennsylvania, but also in the entire country. As Erie goes, so goes the country in a presidential election.

1:29:04It has been that way for a couple hundred years. Right. And we're in Erie. J.D. Vance had been there that day. It was his first visit to Pennsylvania after being named the nominee by President Trump. And he's at this event in this sort of old industrial area. And he he gets this massive crowd. Right. And there are people lining the streets to see his motorcade. And I'm thinking, you know, this matters. This is huge. This traditionally was a Democrat county. If they're coming to see this guy who they've been calling, you know, something about cat ladies and there was all kind of weird. He's weird.

1:29:47Right. And and and I'm pointing out to these journalists because I'm, you know, as a blue collar kid from Western PA, Lake Erie was our beach. OK, that's where we went on vacation. So I know Erie really well. I'm pointing out the old GE plan and all these industrial institutions that are gone and trying to show them like that matters, like place matters in this election. and and I'm like they're not paying attention to me at all and it's not about me I was trying to like be instructive and they didn't care they all had their heads down in their phones and um I was I was so frustrated they probably were writing another childless cat lady article right at that moment that's weird it couldn't be interrupted yes it was about so he said something that day oh, I know what J.D.

1:30:42Vance said that day. That was the day he said that Harris, he was really angry about Harris saying that she would do nothing different than Joe Biden did when it came to Afghanistan, right? And J.D. said something about that in strong words, and that's all they wrote about and how terrible he was for framing it that way. And I'm like, y 'all are missing this race that's going on right in front of you. There are people that are holding up signs and saying, I'm weird too. Nobody else wrote that. And I'm thinking you're not getting what's happening. So Trump, a week prior to that goes to Butler, Pennsylvania.

1:31:20You're there too. And you, you write about how there, you know, that was a, it was a joyful crowd. Like, like we always saw the Trump rallies, you know, not, not at all what the media would portray, but like truly joyful celebratory. They did not know that Trump was going to win. We did not know that We were told by everybody, including me, it looked like a very tight, tight race. All the polls suggested tight, tight, tight. But still, they were joyful just to be around him. His messaging, they felt seen, they felt heard. And then Trump gives the speech, and we've heard this before, but I want you to tell it, about how the turning of the head and how unusual it was for him to do that.

1:32:02Yeah. So he goes out, if you look at the cover of the book, my daughter actually took that cover. And I think that cover is very, very powerful. It's symbolic because it shows Trump facing the crowd and the crowd facing back at him. That is the transactional relationship that he has with rally goers. And Megan, you were in Pittsburgh on the night before you see that, right? And, and he never turns his neck away. Now, he might turn his body away to face a different side of the rally, different part of the stands, but he never turns his head away. Two things happen simultaneously. A chart goes down, and I remember turning to my daughter and says, what does he think, he's Ross Perot?

1:32:47Because he never has a chart, right? True. And then like a split second later, he turns his neck away. Again, something he never does. pop, pop, pop, pop went right over my head. I knew exactly what it was. I'm a gun owner. And I knew exactly what was happening. I saw the blood streak across his face. I saw him, most importantly, the thing that almost gave me immediate relief was that I saw him get down on his own. And I'm making this mental checklist. And I never get down. I'm eventually taken down by a campaign spokesperson because I'm just reporting, right? I have my recorder on. He was trying to protect you.

1:33:32Yeah, he was trying to protect me. He's a brave young man. I will always love him. But he does not get, he's not falling down. There are a sea of blue that surround him when the next four shots go off. And I just remember saying, oh, dear God, that podium is not going to protect him. that there's more shots. Please let him be okay. Please let everyone in the stands be okay. And I never, it never occurred to me to think about myself in that moment. And I'm not saying that like I'm selfless, but there's, there's this thing that happens when you're a reporter, um, that you just continue, you, you have to, you have to do your job.

1:34:13And that's what I continued doing. And, and so, you know, he passes me, they eventually take him past me. I'm on, I'm like four feet away, four or five feet away. They eventually take him past me. And there's some really interesting moments after that in the book. But the one thing I thought was so powerful, and I'm going to get in so much trouble with my parents for this one. Yes, even at 65, I worry about getting in trouble with my parents. But the next morning, the president calls me. I don't know. It was early. And he said, Salina, this is President Donald Trump. I didn't know it was him. And he says, are you okay?

1:34:59Is your daughter okay? Is your son-in-law okay? He says them by name. I can't even believe he remembers that. He's by himself. There's no one with him. So it's not like he has like a little crib sheet. Right. And, and he, and I, and I said, are you bleeping kidding me? You just been shot and you're asking about me. And then I'm like, Oh my God, I just swore at the president. And I got myself really upset. He ended up calling me seven times that day. We had a very in-depth conversations and people can read it, but why I want to go back to the cover of that book and why this moment's important because I asked him, um, and I asked him, I said, why did you say fight, fight, fight?

1:35:43And I'll never forget this. He goes, well, Selena, I wasn't Donald Trump in that moment. I, I was representing the presidency and I have an obligation. Yeah. I want to get, I get chills every time I say it. I just got the chills too. Yeah, I have an obligation as a former president and maybe potentially president again to show strength, to show people that we are resolved and nothing will hurt us or take us down. And we continue on. And I have that's amazing. That's that moment. I mean, we we have it here. It is. I mean, we've we've talked about the assassination moment. Let's just let's look at the fight, fight, fight moment in SOT 32.

1:36:34The fist up. Saying fight, surrounded by the Secret Service agents. It's his incredible combination of like, yes, he has hubris. Of course, every president does. But also understanding how to lead, how to be strong and how to lead, what people need in a leader. Yeah. We revisited that question two weeks ago. It'll be out in my Washington Post story on Friday. Very emotional interview between him and Helen Compitore, the widow of Corey Compitore, and myself. And I asked him again. I said, you know, you told me that. He goes, yeah, I did. I said, well, he goes, well, I mean, that's why I'm doing what I'm doing now.

1:37:23That's why I'm going full steam ahead. because I have purpose. God's hand was in that moment. And I have an obligation to be the best that I can be for this country. And again, I get goosebumps because people have all these different thoughts about who they think President Trump is. And as a reporter, and trust me, he's gotten mad at me too along the way. But as a reporter, there is a humanity and empathy in him. Always remembers your name. Always asks about your children and your grandchildren. Always puts you in time. Was obsessed with your hair, which is fantastic. By the way, something funny about Trump.

1:38:07Occasionally I do hear from the president in one way, shape or form. And if he calls me, he says the same thing. It's your favorite president by far, by far.

1:38:20he's funny you know that to me is actually not exactly hubris it's just funny it's almost self-deprecating because he's just sort of like yes i am yeah period yes yes he's very very funny there's a part in the book where he chases me around the green room with hairspray but yeah he really wants you to try hairspray because he loves your hair you can't believe you don't need Yeah, Mr. President, my hair is big enough. I do not need hairspray. And last week or two weeks ago when I was I wrote on Air Force One. Now, let me tell you, as a kid that grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, who went to who was a bit a waitress and worked in a sewage treatment plant and had been a cafeteria lady.

1:39:02Right. Like I've not exactly had this life of privilege. And to be on Air Force One is like, oh, my God, who am I? but it is where we're going from air force one into the beast which is the the vehicle that the president uses he asked me if i want to um diet coke and i scrunched my face i do not have a poker face obviously if anybody's watching this they can see that um and he goes wait you don't like coke i'm like no i don't like pop he goes pop and and so he couldn't believe i didn't like it because You try it. You like it. It's the best Coke ever. It's amazing. It's amazing. He's as healthy as he is at his age, subsisting on McDonald's diet Coke and Hershey chocolate bars.

1:39:43Keep going. Yeah. And so I tried it. No poker face. I made a face. He goes, I can't believe you don't like Coke. So, but you, you know, I think it's so interesting. You talk to him seven days, Oh, sorry. Seven times the day after the shooting. And for at least 10 minutes of time, to me, that tells me he needed to talk to you. Like he, he must've needed to talk to people who were there, who are rational, who saw it, who had a perspective on it. And you write something in the book to the effect of, I gave him the time and space to figure it out for himself. Like what the sort of the wisdom that would come from what had happened to him, because I'm sure it wasn't instantaneous.

1:40:31I'm sure it did take a while. We saw that a little at the RNC, which happened a week later. He still had the bandage on his ear where, you know, he was a little meandering in the speech, but you could see he was openly grappling with like, was I saved? You know, like maybe something extraordinary is happening with me. Maybe I actually, I believe Trump believes in God. I don't think it's particularly religious. But I do think that that experience started to reframe his own purpose here for him. Yes. And you were part of that in their early, early day. Yeah. And that's why I decided, I know other journalists would push him to talk and push him to say things, but I didn't think that was right.

1:41:14I knew he was going through something and I thought it was important for him to be able to figure that out while we had that conversation. And and there is this has been very humbling for him. The death of Corey has had a huge impact on him. And you'll find that throughout the book. But also purpose and God have really had had a spiritual impact on him in a way that I don't think people truly understand. But they can see in the way he is leading his presidency currently. currently. The book is called Butler, the untold story of the near assassination of Donald Trump and the fight for America's heartland.

1:41:58Please go out and order it now support Selena. As you well know, she will not be featured all over CNN or MSNBC who do not want to pay any attention to this story. She stays with me. Go ahead and buy the book Butler by Selena Zito. Remember when you were a kid with an iron stomach, pizza, ice cream, chips, PB, nothing fazed you. But these days, if you are like most people, you feel like your stomach can be a bear trap, one wrong bite and you're done. Here's the thing. Years ago, our ancestors ate lots and lots of bitter plants daily that made their digestion work nice and easy. But our modern diet has completely eliminated these essential compounds.

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1:44:06The wrongs we must right. The fights we must win. The future we must secure together for our nation. This is what's in front of us. This determines what's next for all of us. We are Marines. We were made for this.

1:44:35I'm Megan Kelly, host of The Megan Kelly Show on Sirius XM. It's your home for open, honest, and provocative conversations with the most interesting and important political, legal, and cultural figures today. You can catch The Megan Kelly Show on Triumph, a Sirius XM channel featuring lots of hosts you may know and probably love, great people like Dr. Laura, Glenn Beck, Nancy Grace, Dave Ramsey, and yours truly, Megyn Kelly. You can stream The Megyn Kelly Show on SiriusXM at home or anywhere you are. No car required. I do it all the time. I love the SiriusXM app. It has ad-free music coverage of every major sport, comedy talk, podcast, and more.

1:45:17Subscribe now. Get your first three months for free. Go to SiriusXM.com slash MKShow to subscribe and get three months free. That's SiriusXM.com slash MK show and get three months free. Offer details apply. I'm not supposed to be here tonight. Not supposed to be here.

1:45:59Thank you. But I'm not. I was there that night. My family was there. It was very moving. You could see a man still trying to still reeling. He was still. I mean, Trump is a human. He has emotions. He has freelties, just like the rest of us, even though he doesn't acknowledge them. There was a picture that made national news the other day on the Daily Mail catching him with reading glasses on. And they pointed out, you never see Trump with reading glasses on. He doesn't, you know, he likes to project strength and robustness, which he has. He does. I'm already using reading glasses and I'm much younger than Donald Trump, but that's just how he's built.

1:46:40So you can see it was an interesting moment, Selena, to watch him starting to come to terms with it. Like I literally almost lost my life like seven days ago. And then you point out, then he did come to terms with it. And here he is sounding more sure at the actual inauguration post the victory. That's SOT 37. Just a few months ago in a beautiful Pennsylvania field, an assassin's bullet ripped through my ear. But I felt then and believe even more so now that my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.

1:47:26standing ovation inside the Capitol of everyone except for the Democrats. How do you think it's affected him as president? Like, what do you see in him that you think is related to this event? He's just going, so, so this is technically a lame duck presidency at this point, right? You would never think that. He is so full charged and he is so determined to fix and sort of undo not only what Biden has done, but what has been done before by past presidents, Republicans and Democrats alike. And he is not putting the brake pedals on. And it's very unlike 2017. 2017 was like, oh God, now I'm here and these people are all telling me what to do.

1:48:18And he's like, I'm doing what I in my gut I know is right. Watching his face, Megan, then in that clip you just showed, I remember looking at his face that night and saying, Oh, yeah, I know that face. I have that face in the morning right now, because I don't know what just happened. And I don't know what I'm supposed to do. But I feel as though I'm called to do something bigger, bigger than self, right? You know, and not that I do anything big, but it ended up being this book. And I was reluctant initially to do this book. But, you know, I realized it was an important book. And it's not just about what happened that day.

1:49:03It's what happened before we find out that President Trump isn't the only president to be shot at in Butler. And it It makes us very reflective as to how different the country would be had George Washington died that day. And it has to make us think about how reflective we should be about if President Trump had died that day. There would be steel workers that wouldn't have a job anymore. There will be a flood of people because because Harris and Biden were both against that that that deal. There would be people still flooding across our border. There would be people in Western North Carolina that never saw any help or hope after those devastating floods that hit that area in September of 2024, right?

1:49:53And the continual help from FEMA. There would have been no annihilation of Iran's nuclear capabilities. There would be no Israel and Iran deal. the world would look very different in just the same way that the world would look very, very different had George Washington died in Butler in 1754. And we have to think about this now. So not only you point out, yes, this time around, he wanted competent, but loyal. You know, first time around, I think he just went for what looked like competent. He didn't factor in loyalty and he paid a price for it. This time around, I think, yes, he learned from term one.

1:50:33But also I think when you've almost been killed, you probably do have a greater appreciation for people who are loyal to you, who you can trust, who are going to have your best interests, your family's best interests, and who are going to be totally aligned with your mission. Like now you're determined and you can't have anybody getting in your way. And then there's a certain grandiosity about what Trump does, but it's been magnificent. You know, I mean, Gaziera, like what? Maragaza, what do you want to what? Now, that's probably not going to happen. Let's get real. But what other American president would even think to say, I'll take it on?

1:51:12I actually think I might be able to fix it. Like, it's incredible. And or even like, you know, Greenland says no, but I say yes. Like it actually might happen or result in some sort of a compromise. you know, peace in the Middle East. I'm going to try to settle the Russia thing in a day. He realized he couldn't do that, but he's just taken on everything. Things that are politically toxic that most normal politicians wouldn't want to touch with a 10 foot pole because they don't have to. It's like somebody else's problem. I don't have to solve it. I got my own problems. Trump's like, I think I can fix it.

1:51:46I think I have that solution. I think we can be friends with the new Al Qaeda linked runners of Syria. I think I can renew hope and optimism and great relations with the Saudis. Like there's nothing he says, yeah, I can't. You're exactly right. And I think there would have been 70 % of that after surviving all the lawfare, right? There would have been an element of him that would be, I go in a China shop and yes, I'm breaking all the China and we're going to get new China, right? But you add on the assassination attempt, you add on questioning purpose and aspiration, right? Part of something bigger than self.

1:52:30And all of a sudden, you get the Trump 2025. And he is going to be the most consequential president in not just my lifetime, since FDR. Just think about this. He's going to own a space and time that stretches out at least 15 years where he was the dominant figure in American politics. That is unprecedented. And I don't know that we'll ever see anything like this again in our lifetimes, right? It was my parents who were children when FDR was president. But that was what, 70, 80 years ago? It took that long for another president to be that dominant in our culture. And strong. He was built for this moment.

1:53:21You write, and it was a good refresher about some of the things that we learned this time last year about how he'd been, he went down and then the secret service was all over him and they hit him so hard. I mean, in trying to protect him that they knocked him right out of his shoes. I had forgotten that. And you write about how you, you heard him. And even in that moment, it's really kind of the explanation, I think for why he went back up and was able to do the fight. Cause remember we're all like, why is it, what's he doing back up? Get down. Like I know why he did it, but like, you are also thinking, no, get down.

1:53:55You don't know if the threat has been neutralized, but initially he was like, get my damn shoes back. Like that's another thing. Like Trump, I'm sure he didn't want to seem be seen without his shoes. He's conscious of what the American people need. They need to see a strong leader, not somebody walking around in his sock feet. somebody with the reading glasses all the time somebody who says fight even when he might get shot he doesn't know for sure it's been neutralized you saw that all unfold in a second yeah and it's not even just about personal image which is i think is such an important nuance right yes it is about him but also he has this really granule understanding of the presidency needs to look strong, feel strong, feel robust, feel resolute, that he believes that is his obligation in this position.

1:54:47And, and that is what he did in that moment. And that's what he does every day. Yeah. It's, it's like all of the, the seams come together. I'm going to show you a video on that in just one second. When you read the book again, it's called Butler, the untold story by Selena Zito, Z-I-T-O. A couple other things I want to hit on that are very interesting. Thomas Crooks. What, where, why don't we know more? Where are the in-depth pieces about him? You know, we know more about Lee Harvey Oswald than we do about this guy. Yeah. Part of that is, and trust me, it wasn't for a lack of trying on my part.

1:55:26Part of it is, unlike most young people, he didn't really leave a social media footprint. There wasn't anything there. He didn't tweet. He didn't have a blog. He didn't have MySpace. Right. He didn't have anything. Very introverted young man and seemed to be fine until about six months before and then had a complete mental breakdown. but we don't know the details of it. I don't know that he was particularly a political. I don't know if this was because he wanted to get Trump. I think he wanted this attention. He craved being this historical figure, not a good historical figure, but a historical.

1:56:11So people would never forget his name again. And yeah, yeah. It's, I mean, his life was so lonely that when I went over the, um, um, from the Clareton sportsman club, when I went over the, um, the log of when he went to the gun club, it was every day, but it was also Thanksgiving and Christmas and Valentine's day days. You're supposed to be with your family or friends or loved ones. mm-hmm so why do you think we don't know more is it you know because a lot of people think it's because he was being paid by ukraine or he was iranian backed you know that there's an international conspiracy and it's been hushed up i mean the i would suggest your book tells a different story and it's something much more practical about why we don't know more yeah well his family lawyered up We don't we don't have any access to get any information about him, at least not now.

1:57:13I don't know whenever we will get it. I'm still waiting to hear about the Las Vegas shooter. And and so I don't you know, I pushed as hard as I could until I knew I'm hitting a brick wall and I've got a rest of a book to write. And maybe someone much better at investigative journalism can get in that. I couldn't get past the brick wall. I also think it's the point you raise about local news is going away. You know, for all of our ripping on how biased the news media is nine times out of 10, we're talking about the national media. Yes. The local news, they're not all focused on politics. They're mostly not focused on politics.

1:57:53They're mostly focused on crime and education and more local stories. And they're really important. They're important. They're far more important in many ways to the ways we actually live. And they're drying up. This is something I'm against. They're drying up from coast to coast. And this is exactly the kind of story that they would normally have had, you know, every single news organization in town on. But, you know, Pennsylvania and Butler are not immune to these national trends either. Yeah, there's news deserts everywhere. And they don't have the facility. They don't have the reporters that can do this.

1:58:27And so that that is the challenge. Speaking of reporters and on the national level anyway, and their cozy relationship with the Democrats, you have very interesting information in this book, Butler, the untold story by Selena Zito about what a bomb the Harris walls campaign was when they did come to Pennsylvania, they, which they knew full well was the most important state in the union. They're all important, but the swing states are most important in Pennsylvania, the biggest, most swingy of all. And it was just a very good window into how inept they were, notwithstanding the boatloads of money that were being thrown at them.

1:59:09Could you explain? They just made that. I mean, she spent an unbelievable amount of time in Pittsburgh and nobody ever saw her. If they did see her, she had an event where the all the events were closed. It was only people that they wanted to come to their events. It wasn't people that, you know, they didn't open up for people to be curious, for people to. It was SEIU members, you write. Oh, yeah. Yeah. They were all, you know. Yeah. And it wasn't like labor unions. It was a social justice union. And so it was so cautious. It was so poorly run. there were opportunities for her to, um, to, to be able to, you know, grow a coalition and none of that was done.

1:59:54You know, and then on the other hand, you have Trump out there glad handing with the people nonstop understands talking their talk, you know, does, does remind me of the story that we kicked off our show today, whether you weren't here yet, but we, we just touched on it briefly. what happened with the Venezuelan gang members out in Aurora, Colorado. You know, Trump was touting this story because they're Trenda Aragua members and they were committing crime and taking over apartment complexes in Aurora. And the mainstream media dumped on this story just as fast as humanly possible. It's not happening.

2:00:27It's a lie over and over the New York times. It's a lie. It's a lie. And even now the New York times has been forced to admit it's true. they're they are taking over buildings they are killing and committing violent felonies against americans out there but there'll be no apology there'll be no mea culpa all these political political fact fact checks we saw of trump after that debate on abc news where he raised this they tried to say it's not happening they're not going to go back and apologize to him selena but that's the way the news operates these days it's so frustrating as a reporter. It really is very frustrating to see how these things are run, to see the bias in them, and to see no accountability when you get the story wrong.

2:01:16If I get a story wrong, I'll be like, I got this wrong. I missed this. Mostly you miss things. And if you can't admit that, then you're not good at your job. Well, I think that's fair to say about the New York Times. On any story in which bias can affect them, it does. And they're not reliable. Okay. The book, again, is called Butler, The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America's Heartland. It is by the one and only Selena Zito, who you can trust, unlike all those mainstreamers. Go and get it now. Support her. Let's show the New York Times that they will have to put Selena on the bestsellers list, whether they want to do it or not.

2:02:02Great to see you, my friend. Great reporting. Thanks, Megan. Thank you. Bye-bye. All the best. Wow. What a story. I can't believe it's been almost a year. Thanks to all of you for listening, and we will see you again tomorrow. Thanks for listening to The Megan Kelly Show. No BS, no agenda, and no fear.

2:02:57Transcription by CastingWords Venmo balance account required to get a card and use a balance. The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank N.A. To realize the future America needs, we understand what's needed from us. To face each threat head on. We've earned our place in the fight for our nation's future. We are Marines. We were made for this.