Julia Manchester, Neil Low & Jeremy Finley on the State of the Union, Cobain, and DUI Arrests

Westwood One presents America at Night. Here's your host, McGraw-Milhaven. And good evening to you. My name is Dan Mantis, in for McGraw-Milhaven. Again, this is indeed America at Night. By the way, McGraw will be back tomorrow night. The phone number remains 8442-MGRAW, 844-262-4729. I host a morning show in Nashville, Tennessee on Supertalk 99.7 WTN. You can follow me on the socials at Dan Manda Show. President Trump has a big task ahead of him tomorrow night. It is the State of the Union, and he's going in at a rather tumultuous time in his presidency. His polling numbers are down, and he's got a lot of convincing to do. Julia Manchester is White House reporter at The Hill. She's been on Fox News, MSNBC, and a lot of others, and she is indeed our guest here on America Night. Julia, thanks for joining us. Thanks so much for having me. So the president, as I said, he's got a lot to sell to the American people. His polling is down. Many don't pay attention to the polling. The president does. Do you feel like the president is feeling pressure to convince the American people that his policies are working? No question. He's feeling pressure. And, you know, he might not be feeling pressure in that he's not on the ballot. However, the results in November's midterm elections will impact the last two years of his administration and really what he's able to get done. And tomorrow night, he needs to make the case that Republicans are getting the most done for the American people and are the most effective. However, polls show that Americans are unhappy with the state of the economy. They're unhappy with his approval rating. In fact, a Washington Post poll released yesterday showed him with a 60 percent disapproval rating, you know, an all time low for President Trump. So he has a tough hill to climb. But as one source was telling me earlier today, tomorrow night marks the beginning in many ways of campaign season. Well, that is certainly true. You know, the Democrats have made the notion of affordability one of their key issues to campaign on, of course, heading into the midterms, economic and job numbers. You know, they're up, they're down. Some days conservatives can celebrate, other days the news is more sobering. Is this really the key issue that he does have to hit tomorrow night? It is the key issue, and the White House knows it's the key issue. President Trump made it the key issue in his election bid in 2024, and he won on the issue of affordability. The problem, though, is that he and other Republicans, and we might say other Republicans, I mean Republicans that were in special elections last year, off-year elections, they lost on the issue because Democrats were able to flip back the narrative in their favor. So tomorrow night is really President Trump's chance, I think, to present a blueprint to House Republicans, to Senate Republicans, to down-ballot Republicans about how they should be messaging on this issue. You know, it is interesting. I'm no economist. Trust me, I'm a radio guy. But there have been some cities where rent has gone down. The price of gasoline, of course, has gone down as well. inflation isn't anywhere near the top of where Joe Biden had it. Real wages are going up, and that's the wages versus the cost of inflation. So the president has had some economic successes going into the midterms. What exactly is it that people want from this notion of affordability? Is it literally what they're paying for the goods in their grocery basket? Yeah, absolutely. It's the price of goods and services. And right now, we've seen that even though inflation has somewhat ticked down, it's not where it was years ago. And Americans aren't used to that. So I think it does come down to, you know, being that literal. You'll hear people talking about the price of eggs, for example, the price of milk, et cetera. I don't have those prices in front of me, but that's what you hear when people are on the campaign trail. I mean, I remember there was a campaign appearance or event President Trump did when he ran in 2024, where he, at Mar-a-Lago, basically put out grocery products in front of him and started pointing out the prices of each product. You are seeing Democrats do that as well right now. But one thing you'll hear President Trump likely talk about tomorrow night and something he's talked about before is his work on affordability when it comes to prescription drug care prices. and most favored nation status. You have, you know, this idea of Trump accounts and opening savings accounts for young children in an effort to benefit them later on in their life. You have President Trump talking about housing and how to make housing more affordable. So it's not just about those costs of goods and services, even though that's a major part of it. You know, it is interesting. Julia Manchester joining us, White House reporter at The Hill previewing. A President Trump's State of the Union tomorrow night. Do you believe that Donald Trump has to speak directly to the independents? Because, I mean, unless you're John Fetterman, if you're on the left, you more than likely, your mind is made up on Donald Trump. People on the right, more than likely, your mind is also made up on Donald Trump. And so it feels to me like really he does have to speak right to the independents. Because I don't know if he's going to convince anyone on the left or the right to change their minds about the president. I think that's right. And he's speaking to the independents, I would also argue, in a small number of key swing states and key swing districts. You know, when it comes to the race for control of the Senate, I would say that Republicans certainly have more of an advantage there. I think Republicans are more likely to keep control of the Senate. But it's really the House of Representatives where we're going to see the battle lines drawn and which, you know, Republicans obviously have a very narrow majority. So President Trump needs to make sure he's talking not only to independents, but independents in those swing districts. And I think we're still figuring out what those swing districts are as we see redistricting efforts take place across the country. But you'll likely hear President Trump talking about not only the economy and how that's impacted Americans and how he messages towards independence, but also crime. He'll also be talking about border security and what he's done to shut down the border, essentially. And he'll probably sprinkle in a little of foreign policy as well and really try to link all of these issues together. I think one common thread you've heard President Trump try to link all these issues together on is national security, whether tariffs and economic issue are a national security issue in terms of leverage and protecting the American worker. You'll also hear him talk about, you know, crime. Crime is an economic and national security issue as well. He'll link that back to foreign policy because, of course, you know, when you talk about drug cartels and what's happening in Mexico or Venezuela or even Cuba, you have the president trying to link that back to foreign policy as well. So he's going to touch on all of these issues, but really the economy is going to be the overarching issue. You know, it's interesting, Julie, because the president, to me, he's done a lot of things right. I do understand that he's also had some missteps as well. What do you think are his biggest accomplishments and his biggest missteps here in the first, what has it been, year, year and a half or so in his second term? You know, I think one of his biggest accomplishments and, you know, a lot of second term presidents, you know, want to see this is to an extent foreign policy. I mean, that has yet to be decided. But particularly on Venezuela, I think he surprised a lot of people how he was able to carry out that strike and how he was able to, you know, have such a seamless transition in Venezuela. The administration will also point to Operation Midnight Hammer, for example, and talking about how, you know, they were able to strike Iran's, you know, a good portion of Iran's nuclear program. Of course, there's a question as to whether, you know, the president will decide to strike Iran. There's a question, you know, what happens when the Russia-Ukraine war. So it has yet to be decided, but I think there's been some foreign policy wins there. Some of the bigger missteps, though, I think are a lot of unforced errors the president made. And, you know, this plays into foreign policy as well. I think about the whole Greenland fiasco and what's happening there. Again, we don't really know how this is all going to pan out. But I think it created maybe more of a headache for Republicans than they wanted to deal with when it came to Greenland and their relationship with NATO, et cetera. So I think there's been some unforced errors on the president's part. However, you know, he certainly had some wins as well. Well, what do you think of tariffs? Tariffs, I feel like both sides have their arguments on whether or not tariffs are effective, whether or not tariffs are attacks on the American people. Where do you think that's going to land? You know, look, that's a good question, because we know that President Trump has, you know, even before he was president, before he got into politics, he was talking about tariffs. And he's always had this very protectionist point of view when it comes to the U.S. economy and jobs. He's been floating tariffs for quite some time. So that tells us, number one, the president is not going to back off on that issue. He's going to continue to sell it. The thing President Trump needs to address is how does this help Americans in the long term? And how does he do this without, you know, how does he figure out a way to do this without using those emergency powers that the Supreme Court struck down just last week? to add another layer onto the State of the Union. All of these Supreme Court justices, including those who voted against or voted to strike down or moved to strike down, I should say, those tariff powers, they will be present, including two conservative justices, Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch, who President Trump appointed or nominated at the Supreme Court during his first administration. So tariffs are going to be a huge part of tomorrow night. All right, Julia, I'm going to hold you over the brakes. I think you have some great things to say. I'm going to ask your opinion on what Katie Porter said. She is, of course, running for governor of California. Simple, powerful message that we can all agree on. Say it with me. Are you ready? One, two, three. Yeah, that's right. Trump. Yeah, it seems to me, Julia Manchester, White House reporter at The Hill, that the Democrats are suddenly, they've got their slogan heading into the midterm elections. It's not the first time I've heard a Democrat use the phrase F Trump. We're going to talk about that straight ahead. My name is Dan Mandis, in for McGraw-Milhaven. This is America at Night. Live from coast to coast, this is America at Night with McGraw-Milhaven. This is America at Night with McGraw-Milhaven. My name is Dan Mandis, and for McGraw, he does return tomorrow night. You can find out more about me on the socials at DanMandisShow. So welcoming back to this segment, Julia Manchester, White House reporter for The Hill. So, Julia, right before the break, I played you this piece of audio from Katie Porter. She is running for governor for the state of California. Simple, powerful message that we can all agree on. Say it with me. Are you ready? One, two, three. Yeah, that's right. Trump. Julia, not exactly what I would call dignified. Is this, and I've seen a couple of other politicians use this, is this really, do you think, a winning formula for the Democrats heading into the midterms? I don't think it is. And, you know, to be fair, I don't think a majority of Democratic candidates are going to use this formula or use that language in their messaging to win. I think you're more likely in the competitive seats, I should say, In competitive, close races, you're going to see Democrats maybe more so replicate what you saw in 2025 from Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger, New Jersey Governor Mikey Sherrill, even New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani, and talk about the issue of affordability, like we were saying in the last segment, and really make that key to their issue. We've seen time and time again in the past when candidates make the race about Trump instead of them and what they're selling, it backfires. Now, in a state like California, a very blue liberal state, certainly with some conservative pockets, but in general, a blue state, obviously, you know, Katie Porter is saying that to an audience. She's revving up her liberal base because she's in a very competitive, crowded primary for that seat. So that's something to keep in mind as well. But I don't think this is going to be a message you see a majority of Democratic candidates, particularly Democratic candidates running in competitive races, use. John Fetterman, of course, he is saying now that he, Democrat, a senator from Pennsylvania, He is saying that he will go to the State of the Union, but a lot of other Democrats are going to be skipping the State of the Union. This is what he said. And I do plan to go to the State of the Union. And I do hope all the other Democrats that choose to come that we don't do the same kinds of things that happened at the last year. It was really undignified. And just the thing, I don't care who the president is, don't yell and disrupt that. It's like you really should respect the office. You don't have to like the occupant, but respect that, and we should be better than that. So last year, of course, you no doubt remember, Julia, last year or last couple of years, the Democrat Al Green had to be escorted out. Word is the party is actually trying to tamp down these types of outbursts. Number one, Republicans have been guilty of this as well with Marjorie Taylor Greene and Joe Biden. Do you think the Democrats are going to be successful in trying to tamp down the outbursts? You know, that's a good question. I think they want to tamp down the outburst because they don't want this to be a distraction. I think, you know, I mentioned Abigail Spanberger in the last, you know, just a few minutes ago talking about how she would be an example. She's giving the Democratic rebuttal to tomorrow night's address. I think Democrats, Democratic leaders, would rather have people the next morning at the water cooler talking about Abigail Spanberger's response versus some outbursts in the chamber. You know that the president's team, Republicans, are going to be looking for those sort of outbursts to really try to amplify that and use it as a distraction of some sort. We'll see what happens. I know that a lot of Democrats are boycotting the speech. They will not be in attendance. But, you know, for the last number of state of the unions during the Trump and Biden presidencies, we've seen, you know, lots of outbursts. They've sort of become run of the mill. I remember during, I think it was President Obama, former President Obama's state of one of his state of the union address, or it might have been an address to the nation. And there was a Republican lawmaker who yelled out, you lie during those remarks. And then that was seen as, you know, a huge scandal. Not anymore, though. All right, Julia. Thank you very much for joining us here on America at Night. My name is Dan Mandis in from McGraw-Millhaven. Lots to talk about straight ahead right here on America at Night. This is America at Night with McGraw-Millhaven. Thank you. Hi, I'm Joe Salci. I host of the Stacking Benjamins podcast. Every week we talk personal finance trends. I think it's tough finding like a stock certificate from 1987 in grandpa's drawer. Wait until you need the face ID to unlock cash app. It's so sad what money does to people. It happens. That's why you don't tell anybody what you got. That guy had the brilliant idea. I don't want my relatives to know how much money I have. So every time I go to Thanksgiving, I ask them if I can borrow more. Stealth wealth. Stacking Benjamins. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You're listening to America at Night with McGraw-Milhaven. My name is Dan Mandis and looking forward to McGraw-Milhaven returning tomorrow night. I've been filling in the last couple of nights. Always a pleasure. Find me on the socials at Dan Mandis Show. I host a morning show in Nashville, Tennessee, Supertalk 99.7 WTN. The phone number remains the same, 844-2-MGRAW, 844-262-4729. What in the world is going on in Mexico? We saw this happen over the last 24 to 36 hours. So basically what happened, I know you've probably seen a lot as far as what is going on with the violence. And a lot of people watching what's going on, of course, on our television screens. We see buses on fire. We see roads blocked. We see stores on fire. We see and hear gunshots and the whole thing. Well, that seems to be pretty much par for the course in Mexico. But this time it's different. So the leader of this Mexican drug cartel, El Mencho, they call him, he was killed by the Mexican army using U.S. intelligence. Now, I'm here to tell you that clearly I am pro-America and anti-drug cartel. And as such, I am all for whatever Mexico needs to do to take out these cartels. So El Mencho, he was, again, taken out. And the cartel, they didn't take this too kindly. See, the cartels, they are so used to the Mexican government just allowing them to do whatever the heck it is that they want. And so, as you know, if you pay attention, these drug cartels, they ship thousands and millions of pounds of drugs into our country every single year. And so, you know, the violence is now erupting everywhere. And his cartel starts lighting cars on fire. They're lighting gas stations on fire. They destroyed a Costco. They're blocking roads. And from what I read, they're also hunting Americans. Americans are trapped in Mexico. They're stranded. They're sheltering in place as all of this violence is crashing around them. It's happening in, and I know that you've heard of these areas, Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, to name just a couple. I was actually reading about some folks from here in Nashville, where I live, and they were on a snorkeling trip in Mexico. And I know who goes on a snorkeling trip to Mexico when all of these problems are in this nation. I mean, everybody knows that Mexico, I'm not blaming the victims, but I'm saying the last place I would ever go is Mexico. Anyway, so they're on this snorkeling trip and the bus drivers told them that they couldn't take them all the way back to the hotel because of the violence and the fires. And these ladies had no idea what the bus drivers were talking about. Then they look off into the horizon, and they start to see, of course, the smoke. And the closer that they get, they start to see and sense the panic. And their hotel was right in the middle of all of this violence. And the bus drivers are saying, it's not safe to drive to your hotel. They called the hotel, and the hotel said, there's no way that we can ensure or guarantee your safety. And these folks from Nashville, their phones are dying. They can hear the gunshots. They can hear the explosions. They can smell the fire. And they're surrounded by chaos. Now, amazingly, they were able to make it back in one piece to the hotel, but it was incredibly dicey. It was close. But we have a lot of Americans that are stranded in Mexico, and they're calling our State Department. They're trying to figure out how to get back to the airport safely and try to get out of there. Now, we do have, and there is a whole bunch of airlines that just simply stopped operating. Now, the airlines, at least some of them, are up and running again. And everybody knows, though, and in my opinion, I think you probably know, you're smart, you listen to McGraw-Milhaven, you listen to America at night, you know that Mexico is by and large run by the cartels. I mean, this has been talked about forever. Now, there is a senator in Mexico. Her name is Lily Tellez, and she was on Fox News, and she does admit that Mexico is indeed a cartel state. Now, what that means is that this senator, she is basically saying that there are politicians, including the president of Mexico, that are essentially cooperating or working with the cartels. Is Mexico a narco state? Yes, it is. And we all Mexicans know about it. And Mexicans are afraid of the alliance between the Mexican government and the cartels that have infested our nation. Yeah, it is her claim that Mexico's president, Claudia Scheinbaum, doesn't actually want help from America. and effectively what this senator is saying is that because Scheinbaum has explicitly come out and said no, no, no, we don't need a lot of help from the Americans that she's not really working hard to rid Mexico of the cartels and what she is doing is ineffective against the cartels And so some are interpreting all of that as saying that she's basically acquiescing to the cartels. At least that's how some are interpreting what this senator from Mexico is saying, essentially accusing the Mexican president Scheinbaum of essentially cooperating with those very cartels. Can you explain this alliance between the president, her party, the Morena party, and the cartels? Yes, the party has financed, has given, the cartels have given so much money to these politicians, narco-politicians of Morena, to get into office, to get the power. So they protect, the Mexican government protects the cartels. That is why President Sheinbaum doesn't want the strong American leadership to help Mexico defeat the cartels. And also Sheinbaum doesn't want the rest of the world to know what is happening here in Mexico. We are on the steps to be the next Venezuela. Yeah, now that is quite the statement, saying Mexico will be the next Venezuela. Remember, Maduro was working with the drug trafficking networks in Venezuela. We were able to arrest him. And so now this senator is saying that's where Scheinbaum is headed towards being like Maduro. And this would be right on the other side of our southern border. But the thing is, and this is where she's getting a little bit of a pushback, this senator, Scheinbaum did turn over a bunch of cartel members. The Mexican army did take out this drug lord, El Mencho, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the absolute fiercest, one of the absolute deadliest cartels in Mexico. But there is something to be said as far as turning over those cartel members. I think that there were 26 of them. There is something to be said to be doing just enough to cooperate with America and cooperate with the authorities there in Mexico to make it seem like they are cooperating with the United States of America to try to take out the cartel members. When in reality, it's almost like, well, this is what the accusation is, that Claudia Sheinbaum is essentially, you know, working as a double secret agent, if you will, really working or cooperating or acquiescing to the cartel members and doing just enough to keep the United States off of her back as well. It's pretty crazy when you think about it. 100,000 Americans die every single year. I haven't seen the more recent numbers, but in the last several years, 100,000 Americans die every single year from the drugs that come across our southern border. So now in Mexico, we had all of these Americans being told to shelter in place, you know, stay safe and don't go outside. and all of those things as the cartel was destroying Costco's and blowing up gas stations, blowing up cars and blocking roads, and as some said, hunting Americans. But now things at least in some areas are getting back to normal slowly but surely Remember by the way President Trump did designate these cartels as foreign terrorist organizations Now, I don't have to, again, I don't have to tell you how dangerous these cartels are. They kill many, many people in Mexico. Now, there's a congressman, and one of my favorites, as a matter of fact. As I told you, I host a morning show in Nashville on Supertalk 99.7. Tim Burchett is a congressman from eastern Tennessee, from the Knoxville area. And so he's got a piece of legislation that has been submitted. It's him and Mike Lee over in the Senate. And it has to do with letters of Mark. And basically what it does is it allows the president, it seems to me, and I'm going to play some audio for you from Congressman Burchett, but seemingly what it does is it does allow the president to hire, as he calls them, privateers to take out the cartels. Listen to how he describes it. It's called Letters of Mark. It's actually provided for in the Constitution that the president can get privateers, and it's happened throughout history a few times. I believe they went off the Barbary Pirates, which later became the United States Marine Corps, if I believe what happened there. And what it does is allow the president to hire privateers. And these would be, they're going to go get first-tier operators, former SEALs, former airborne rangers, folks like that, Marines, Marine raiders, folks like that, that would maybe still active in some sort, more or less private contractors, and allow them to go after these cartels in other countries. because you can't send our military into another country unless it's been ordained by their government for their military to attack us or threaten us or our civilians. So what you're seeing is a cartel. It's a private entity, allegedly. But anyway, that's a bill that needs to pass. It's called Letters of Mark. Yeah, so basically what that means is that the president doesn't have to use our own military. He can use these private contractors, that legislation, that policy, if you will, as he just said, letters of Mark. We'll see if that passes the House of Representatives and the Senate as well. As far as El Mencho goes and the death of El Mencho, the big question is, okay, so with him dead, then is there going to be someone else that is going to take his place? Well, you know what? Like ISIS and like Al Qaeda, there's always someone else to take over these cartels. And so the battle, of course, will continue. The phone number is 844-2-Mcgraw, 844-262-4729. Coming up, all the latest on the guy that tried to break into Mar-a-Lago. And what is the latest in that investigation? and what Donald Trump had to say earlier today. It is all coming up next here on America at Night. From the heart of America, this is America at Night with McGraw-Milhaven. Welcome to America at Night with McGraw-Milhaven. And my name is Dan Mandis. In for McGraw, the phone number 8442-McGraw, 844-262-4729. All right, just real quick, coming up in the next hour, I've been looking forward to this interview for a week. I'm going to speak to a guy named Neil Lowe. He is a retired Seattle Police Department captain, and he's also a best-selling historical fiction novelist. But you know what else he is? He is an expert in the death of Kurt Cobain. And as you perhaps know, Kurt Cobain, it is said that he committed suicide, but there are a lot of people that are out there saying, and they have been for a long time, that there's more to Kurt Cobain's death than the authorities perhaps are willing to admit. And Neil Lowe is one of those guys. So looking forward to that interview coming up here on America at Night. And my name again is Dan Mandis in for McGraw-Milhaven. So you have probably heard what happened over the weekend. We're finding out more about President Trump's would-be assassin. Guy's name is Austin Tucker Martin. He entered Trump's Mar-a-Lago property with a shotgun and a gas canister. He comes from, they say, a family of Donald Trump supporters and became obsessed by the administration's handling of the Epstein files. And so how did he get into Mar-a-Lago? That is one of the big questions that a lot of people are asking. The latest reporting is that as an employee who was driving into Mar-a-Lago through the gate, he just followed that person right on in. And so then he, as you probably know, he had a gun, as I mentioned, and a gas canister. He put down the gas canister. When he was confronted by Secret Service and he put the gas canister down, raised the rifle, and they shot him and they killed him. The president spoke about this earlier today at the White House. Here's part of what the president said. But they only go after consequential presidents. They don't go after non-consequential presidents. You know, you read about all these crazy shooters, but they only go after consequential presidents. They don't go after non-consequential presidents, you know. If you take a look, Abraham Lincoln, some big one. John Kennedy, in a certain way, was very consequential. He represented something very important. He was there for a thousand days, as you know, the book, a thousand days. But he was consequential. There was glamour. There was something good for our country. But they're consequential. And I was told that. I saw that the other day. They said they only go after consequential. So maybe I want to be a little bit less consequential. Can we hold it back a little bit, please, Tom? Can we just, like, nice and easy, let's be a normal president for a little while. I don't know how long I'll be around. Got a lot of people gunning for me, don't I, huh? So that last comment was one that a lot of people were talking about. President Trump saying that he maybe, perhaps he won't be around for much longer or something to that effect. And, you know, there's a lot of talk about the rhetoric that surrounds Donald Trump. Scott Besson just said this on Sunday morning. He was on with Maria Bartiromo. I just want to say, why don't we look back here and think two would-be assassins dead. one in jail for life, and this venom coming from the other side. Look at this terrible, profane Senate commercial in Illinois. I would call for them to take that down. Take that down because it is that kind of venom that we don't know whether this person was a mastermind, unhinged, or what. But they are normalizing this violence. It's got to stop. Yeah, and we're now, I was a little surprised at this, although I don't know why I'm surprised at it. But now we have people that are debating over whether or not this was actually an assassination attempt. Donald Trump wasn't even in Mar-a-Lago. That is a fair point. Was the guy attempting, though, to take out Donald Trump? Seems to me, yes, he was. By the way, lots of speculation going on. Supposedly, this guy came from a family of Donald Trump supporters. He himself was said to be a Trump supporter. I'm not sure if I buy that. I'm also seeing stories that are saying that the would-be assassin was very quiet and didn't really talk about politics much. But apparently he was all about the Epstein files. Texting to a friend, he said, I don't know if you read up on the Epstein files, but evil is real and unmistakable. Martin said, the best people like you and I can do is use what little influence we have and tell other people about what you hear about the Epstein files and what the government is doing about it and raise awareness. Got a lot more straight ahead. This is America at Night. Dan in from McGraw-Millhaven right here on America at Night. Westwood One presents America at Night. Here's your host, McGraw-Milhaven. Dan Mandis is in for McGraw this evening. He'll return tomorrow night. This is America at Night. The phone number, as always, 8442-MGRAW, 844-262-4729. You can find out more about me on the socials at DanMandisShow. I've been looking forward to this interview for days now. Neil Lowe, retired Seattle Police Department captain, best-selling historical fiction novelist, and our guest, Neil. Thank you for being here, and you've got quite the history. You've written books on crime. You served in Vietnam. You've consulted for attorneys and police agencies on really complex legal cases. And tonight, we are going to look at the death of Kurt Cobain. Thank you very much for being here, sir. Oh, I'm glad. Thank you for having me. So you've made some waves for talking about the death of Kurt Cobain, of course, that people know, Nirvana Singer. And I want to get into some details here because I paid attention to this story for a long time. And the more that you read or you find out about this case, the more documentaries you watch, the more suspicious it looks. So as someone who looks at complex legal cases like you have, number one, just right off the top, how complex would you say the Kurt Cobain death is before we get into the details? Complex enough to fool a lot of people, including myself, when I first heard about it, when I first audited it 10 years later, and it wasn't for another 10 years that I finally go, Oops, I think we made a mistake. We got led down the wrong path. So that was pretty complex, pretty sophisticated, because I'm looking at some pretty distinguished homicide investigators who were taking in on this, too. And again, I like to think I'm pretty smart, but I went for the fake. I got deep on this and was thinking it was a suicide, too. Well, yeah, this was deemed as a suicide within hours of his death. But now you say that this could very likely have been a homicide. Yes. Let's start with why did we think it was a suicide? I was a patrol lieutenant in a different precinct. I just made lieutenant. And we got a message at roll call that we read to patrol officers, you know, things to watch out for, license plates, robberies, stuff like that. And this one message came in just kind of routine. It said Kurt Cobain's mother, remember that, called to say that she was worried about her son, that he might be back in town and that he was from drug treatment and he was suicidal. Well, that's not a real popular topic for cops anyways, but we just kind of filed it away. And then right off the bat, when the, I don't want to mention her name, But the public information officer who came down the driveway ahead of Dr. Ray is stopped by a national reporter, and she says what she's not supposed to say. A, she's not supposed to announce the death. That's what's come from the medical examiner. And then she says, yeah, it was a suicide note and the shotgun was laying on the body and whatnot. Oh, my, way too much information. But that started the narrative, and the police department went with that. And I'm thinking, how are you qualified to evaluate notes for handwriting, suicide? How do you know it's not planted? But that's way in the back of my mind. I'm not giving it a whole lot of thought. And then 10 years later, I audited the case for the Chiefs because I was told a shotgun was missing, that somebody had kept it as a souvenir, and I went down and examined it. And mostly that was the extent of my audit, just to make sure that all the film was undeveloped and accounted for, and that the shotgun was back in evidence where it should belong. And then later somebody said, did you follow the paper trail on that? Do you know how long it was gone? I was like, ah, I'm just an opportunity. But then another 10 years go by, and now we're on the 20-year anniversary, and my publisher came to me and said, Ann Rule is dead. I want you to write a true crime or something closer to true crime. I want you to write about Kurt Cobain. It's a suicide, Kristen. I'll look at it, but if there's nothing here, I'm not going to write about it. I'm not going to try to make something out of nothing. And so I watched Soaked in Bleach. Oh, my goodness. Let me watch it again. So this time I watched it like I was back in college, and I was taking notes and saying, oh, this is wrong. This is wrong. Well, they got that wrong. Oh, my, we screwed up. And then I started looking at it more like a detective. Did they even bag his hands? Did they scrape fingernails to see if he was in a struggle with anybody? Did we have gunshot residue? What happened with the evidence? Who analyzed the note? Did somebody give it back to him? Why would they do that? So there were just a whole lot of things that were somewhat was misinformation, and that's what I tried to correct when I wrote my crazy love. And the other was, you know, then I get to a point where, you know, it's not going to have a happy ending in my book. So I had a fictionalized ending in my story. But I tried to stick to it and analyze the facts as best I could. Well, that documentary that you mentioned, Soaked in Bleach, you and Tom Grant, who was in Soaked in Bleach. I don't know if he's the guy that produced it, but he was a big part of it. He has appeared in various documentaries. You two have appeared together, and one of the things that I would ask is, let's go back a little bit. Why were you asked 10 years after the death of Kurt Cobain to audit the case anyway? That would be my question. People have always been suspicious that his death was ruled a suicide quickly. Why did they ask you to audit the investigation, if you will? Okay. I was the commander of internal affairs at that time. And so I was so promotable. And the chief will give you tasks to see if you have the stuff he wants for to sit in the office next to him. And I used to have a lot of – I had one of the best captain jobs. I had a lot of face time with the boss. And I liked that. And so he kind of opened the door. But I knew this had been a topic. But he said, you know, you pick one. And this is my chance to go take a look because I want to straighten this out. Is the shotgun gone or is it back? And I was frankly relieved when I found the shotgun. Yeah, because I was told by somebody who would know that it had been gone a long time. And so I was relieved of that. So I actually picked it, but it was the chief telling me he wanted to see what I could do with an investigation. So I took a look at that. You know, the official report says that Cobain shot himself with that shotgun, but you say the blood splatter at the scene was inconsistent with that analysis. Talk a little bit about that. Okay, so now this is subject to interpretation depending on who you talk to. But imagine you're shaking up a bottle of Coca-Cola. I don't know if kids still do that anymore. Oh, I have a 12-year-old. They do. Okay, so he puts it through his mouth. The Coca-Cola is going to come out his nose. And so if you know the crime scene, you know that Kurt's head did not explode. It was birdshot. It was contained by the skull. But all that force going in has got to come back out. It's going to come back out the hole it went through. I'm hoping this doesn't upset your listeners. But I had expected to see his hand up by the barrel of the shotgun covered in blowback, spray from brain manor, bud, and whatnot. And I also – this is where I ran into loggerheads with my department. I want to see the evidence. And they said – they put me off for a year. This is after I'm retired. And I was filing a public disclosure request. And then after a year, they give me the standard routine. It's all out there. You can see the photos and whatnot. And I go, it's not all out there. I know because when I first audited it, there were no photos. They were still in the little tubes. They hadn't been developed. And now I never did get to see him. I wanted to see if there was a pattern on Kurt's shirt, particularly what we would call a negative pattern. Like if his hand was over his chest and we had all that blowback, which I suspect you would have seen where his arm had been. It would be like spraying a stick on top of a piece of cardboard. Then you pull a stick up. You can see where the stick had been. It would be a negative pattern like that. But the department blew me off. In fact, they weren't taking my phone calls, which – Well, you know, so here's one of my questions is, you know, there's a lot of – I'm not going to say evidence. I don't know what you would call it. But, you know, a lot has been made about the amount of heroin in his system, three times a lethal dose. So it's like 150 milligrams. Right. So it's all right. So is the feeling that he had so much heroin in his system that he would not have been able to pull the trigger himself? That is my opinion. And others agree with me that know a little bit about drugs. I believe they report that he had 150 milligrams and you think about how much a needle is that's maybe like 50 milligrams so he had to shoot himself up three times people have called in and talked to like Tom Grant told him that there's no way you can do a second needle yourself and so if you look at the photos you see Kurt's sleeves are pulled down and buttoned Really? Okay, so I have a little bit of arthritis. I have trouble with buttoning my shirts now. I wouldn't have messed with that. So he buttoned his shirts. His heroin fit kit is packed up neat and tidy next to him. Well, gee, if he was that lucid, why didn't he just pick it up and throw it over the fence so nobody would find it? It's like this is too deliberate for it to be that packed, tight, neat, and sitting right there. And so, well, it's probably a poor joke, but I say, you know, what do you have, a crock pot to cook all that heroin at one time? Who helped him shoot it up? He would have been, by all standards, unconscious. And I think now I've seen there's more reports from the group that's got access to their own forensic people that had some brain damage indications that maybe he was already dead when the gunshot was done. And that's going to bring me to my next question coming up next. Neil Lowe, a retired Seattle Police Department captain, best-selling historical fiction novelist as well. Headline is former Seattle officer calling Kurt Cobain's death a homicide. More with Neil Lowe coming up next right here on America at Night. America at Night with McGraw-Millhaven. Join the nightly conversation, America at Night, with McGraw-Milhaven. My name is Dan Mandis in Fort McGraw. By the way, coming up in just a few minutes, sober drivers being arrested for being drunk. It is happening all across the country. Details straight ahead right here on America at Night. Wrapping up our conversation with Neil Lowe, who is a retired Seattle Police Department captain. And he's been looking into the death of Kurt Cobain for years. And he is among many who believe that this was not a suicide. It actually could be a homicide. One of the things that I wanted to ask you, Neil, knowing what I do know about Kurt Cobain, you've talked about this. He was not a violent person. And I think that if Kurt Cobain wanted to end it all, he could have done it. And he had the means, certainly, to do it in a far more peaceful way. Oh, absolutely. Without trying to get too philosophical, if you've read the book, we read it in college. It was in dubious battle, very much like the Great Sparach by Steinbeck, and it has the protagonist getting shot in the face with a shotgun, and, you know, that's like the end of the story for him. And so I asked the professor, why shoot him in the face with a shotgun? That's pretty graphic stuff for a novel of that era. And he said, well, it was to erase his identity. And I go, well, that's, yeah. That's why it was done or somebody would do that. So I'm looking at what I learned about Kurt doing this investigation. I go, I don't see that. I don't see that in him. And if you're going to do all that heroin, you know, his clunky old Volvo was down in the garage right below where he was at, somebody flat in the tires. I'd like to know more about that, why. And he could have just gone down there, shot up at the heroin, turned on the engine and gone peacefully into the night. Why did they have to try and arrange? I'm sure whoever shot him thought it was going to, they couldn't have an open casket after that, you know, because his face would have been destroyed if that was the, I think that might have been an intention was to deliberately destroy his face, but it didn't. It went into their mouth and I think it came back down. So hearing all of this, he had heroin. Somebody may have given him an abundance of heroin and incapacitated him, put the gun in his hand and put it to his head, pulled the trigger, essentially murdering Kurt Cobain. And that's something a lot of people have said, and a lot of people accuse his wife, Courtney Love, of that. And I don't know, what is your thought on all that? Okay, I absolutely agree with where you're going on this. I think it took more than one person to do it. And again, we're back to that. Why not, you know, if he's dead already, which there seems to be some lab people who think he might have been, why destroy his face? So I'm stuck on that. And why not? Why didn't he go peacefully? I never saw anything violent about him before that or nothing really violent. And now back to Courtney. I had hypothesized that she could have made it up here, but I've been corrected by somebody who knows and did his homework and says, no, there's proof she was down in California. That doesn't mean she didn't pull the strings because we see on soaked in bleach. I think that's where I first saw where Tom Grant talked about her calling, was it Dylan? Yes, Dylan, Dylan, yes. Yeah, Dylan Carlson, and that he was taking orders and direction, and they went out to Carnation, and they found another heroin kit all nicely packed up. So it was like they're trying to set a narrative here, and poorly, that he's got these heroin kits everywhere so he can shoot up, and they're all nice and neat. And I just thought that was too tidy. And then something that I'm really hooked on is the gun, the shotgun. Dylan, spotting Dylan's name, just before Kirk went down to L.A. to his rehab, And so I doubt, I really doubt that he had a conversation with Courtney and said, oh, by the way, I put a shotgun up near our bedroom. But Tom Grant in that Silk and Bleach said he overheard Dylan talking with Courtney and she told him to get the shotgun. How does she even know who's there? Well, if she's talking with Dylan, Dylan probably told her. There is so much to this, and unfortunately our time, Neil, has run short. There is so much to it. Neil, real quickly, how can people, just in 10 seconds, how can people find out more about you? Oh, I'm on Amazon, and I've got a new distributor, too. But if they want to find that out, and my Facebook page, they can look me up. I have an author page, and they can get on that. I'll try to update that. All right, Neil, thank you very much. Neil Lowe investigating the death of Kurt Cobain. Man, so much to talk about, so little time. We'll return next. Coming to you from the heart of the nation, this is America at Night with McGraw-Milhaven. Join the nightly conversation, America at Night, with McGraw-Milhaven. It is America at Night Welcome on in My name is Dan Mandison from McGraw He returns tomorrow The phone number remains the same 844 844 Across America, sober drivers are being arrested as drunk drivers. This is turning into a major national story. I've got the investigative reporter on the line right now, Jeremy Finley. Thanks for joining us here on America at Night. And I thought it was fascinating. You and I have spoken about this on the local level during my morning show in Nashville, Tennessee, where in the state of Tennessee, seemingly we've been overrun with these incidents of sober drivers being arrested as drunk. And now this story is starting to, unfortunately, spread across the country. So let's talk real quick about what you found in Tennessee. Then we'll zoom out to what's happening across America. Sure. And Dan, I appreciate you having me on as well. So this all began really in 2022. We found a singular case of a young mother who lost temporary custody of her child when she was arrested for DUI. And it turned out she was sober the entire time. And we kind of thought at that point it was a one-off case where this was just a really unfortunate mistake that police had made in a town outside of Nashville here in Tennessee. And then I started to hear about other cases. You know, I found a second case, then a third case, and then a fourth case. And then I thought, okay, well, this might be something that we need to look at. And then we found out what was ultimately happening in Tennessee is that people were being wrongfully charged with DUI. But the problem is that the blood test takes so long to get back in the state of Tennessee that as people were waiting to prove their innocence, their lives were literally falling apart. They were being fired from their jobs. They had lost their insurance. They had lost their standing at church. They had lost friends, lost custody temporarily of their child. So we did a story about that. And then, Dan, it kind of just blew up. We started hearing from so many people across the state of Tennessee that it ultimately caused a lawmaker to pass, introduce a bill that became law that then required the state of Tennessee to report each year how many sober people had been arrested for DUI. And long story short, we have now documented more than 2,500 cases of sober people in Tennessee being arrested for DUI, which means once they were arrested, their blood tests came back showing they had neither alcohol nor drugs in their system. And these are people who range from people who have absolutely nothing in their system and perfectly healthy to people who also have nothing in their system but have other health issues like, you know, they may be bowlegged or they may have back problems or they may even be diagnosed on the autism spectrum and have trouble performing field sobriety tests. And so in the state of Tennessee, it's really become a major kind of eye opening of, wow, this can really happen to anybody. And then so once we documented it there, that's when we decided to look and see what was happening nationwide. Yeah, and I've got to ask and, you know, hearing these stories, I guess the question I have is I know that you have roadside tests. Some places you've got the breathalyzer. So I'm just trying to figure out why does this keep happening? And number two, is this amongst all law enforcement agencies across the state of Tennessee? Sure. I'll get to both your questions. The first one is it's police agencies across the map in Tennessee. We have documented it in dozens of and I mean, actually more than that police agencies. But the people that are making the most sober DUI arrests, according to data just released from the TBI, which is our state version of the FBI, is that the state police are making the highest number of these sober DUI arrests, hundreds of them. But the issue is that it's really across police departments. The mistakes are being made across police departments. And you asked a really good question about the breathalyzer. In Tennessee, they have moved away from using breathalyzers in a lot of different police agencies. The reasoning why of that is in this day and age, ultimately, when someone is arrested or when someone is suspected of a DUI, they can no longer just suspect that they may have been drinking alcohol. They may also be on drugs or they maybe they took too much of a prescription drug. So in Tennessee, they said, OK, well, we can't just do breathalyzers anymore. We also have to test for blood. Long story short, what happens is in Tennessee, you get arrested. You are then immediately, your blood is tested for your alcohol level. Well, that can take two to three months. If it comes back negative, they then test you for drugs and other intoxicants. That can take more months. So you're looking at five to six months, sometimes eight months, sometimes nine months, depending on how backlogged the system is, to even find out that you're completely innocent, that you're completely sober. So it's not an issue of the breathalyzer's not working. It's the fact that they're not being used anymore. And, you know, we've spoken to the TBI about this. They very much are encouraging police departments, go ahead and do the breathalyzer. We'll offer you breathalyzers for free so you can at least know that the person doesn't have alcohol in their system. And then if you need to test them for blood, then it won't be as long of a wait. But again, we have found police agencies across the state just are bypassing breathalyzers altogether and just relying on the blood tests. So is it something that is nefarious that's going on? Are they looking for a money grab? I mean, I am a very much of a supporter of the police. I just I don't understand this. When you reach out to the local police agencies, the law enforcement agencies, what do they say? So it's really interesting. Nobody wants to talk about it. Nobody wants to go on the record, discuss that there may be a problem. We had one police chief that did do an interview with us early on that ultimately said, you know, we need to review these arrests. The head of the THB has – he did not agree to an interview for quite some time, more than a year. We finally caught up with him outside of a legislative hearing where he was called in to testify about this. And he ultimately said, hey, we've reviewed all of the cases that have been presented to us, and we believe we're doing everything right. and more so he doesn't believe that all of these people that have come back and had their charges dropped were necessarily sober. He said that the TBI doesn't test for everything and therefore that there may be substances that these people were on that didn't show up in the test. The problem is that in every one of these cases, once the data comes back showing that the sober driver had neither alcohol nor drugs in their system, The charges are dropped. So the courts are relying on what the TBI is saying. But again, the head of the state police says, I suspect that they weren't sober. So I think the obvious follow up question is, well, what is it that they aren't testing for? Well, the TBI won't say. They're not going to release what substances they don't test for. But I have seen what they do test for. And it's extensive. It's every prescription drug that you can think of, every illegal drug that you can think of. So but to get to the heart of what you're asking, which I think is the question that we've been asking since we've done all these stories, and that is, is there something fundamentally wrong with the field sobriety test itself? So we've all seen in many cases it works perfectly. It gets it gets drunks off the road. It does exactly what it should be doing. The problem is, is that it's also resulting in innocent being people charged, the innocent people being charged as well. I just spoke to an expert who is a former police officer, DUI expert. I mean, he still is a DUI expert. He essentially is hired now by law firms to be an expert witness. And he says there is no good research, again saying research, that shows that field sobriety tests accurately every time show when someone is intoxicated. And I thought that was really interesting. So he's essentially saying there is no there have been no studies, no research that shows this works. What we're relying on is an age old step by step process where where it has, in fact, busted drunk drivers, but it's also catching innocent people in the net. And I think that is the kind of eye opener here. I think we've examined so many of these cases and we've seen cases throughout police agencies across the board. And I don't think there's anything nefarious being done. What experts are telling me is that a lot of times and we've seen this in the body camera because we've obtained the body camera footage in a lot of these cases in most of these cases. And from the get go, the officers have suspicion from the get go. So they're having conversations saying, man, I think this guy's – some things are adding up. I've never arrested – I've never seen somebody come out of a pool hall who wasn't drunk. So there's all these preconceived concerns that the police officers have. And at the end of the day, I've heard this so many times. Police officers say, look, I've got to take you in because I can't have you drunk on the road. And the person says, look, I'm not drunk. I just can't – I can't do well on a field sobriety test. And the officer has to say, look, I can't take the chance, so you're going in. The problem is we found schoolteachers being arrested on their way into work. We just profiled the gentleman who was arrested on a Saturday morning at 9 o'clock in the morning going to work. So it's catching innocent people in the same net that it's catching people who were actually drunk. We've got more with investigative reporter Jeremy Finley and just more incredible stories coming up. Sober drivers being arrested for drunk driving. Stay close. My name is Dan Mandis in for McGraw-Milhaven. This is America at Night. America at Night with McGraw-Milhaven, where the nation comes to talk. Relax. You're listening to America at Night with McGraw-Milhaven. All right. So is training the issue then? I mean, how can we fix this problem? That's question number one. And we've been talking about Tennessee, but these same concepts apply now in states across the country. Yeah, that's right. So one of our latest investigations where we found in 22 states, sober people have been arrested for DUI. The problem is, Dan, is that there is no national there is no nationwide database. No one has been tracking this in any state in the country. So Tennessee is kind of the pioneering state in this, and that's only because lawmakers saw our reporting and thought we needed to do something about this and look at the data. So there is no nationwide database. So what we did is we analyzed media reports, lawsuits, and other legal kind of reporting and documented all of these cases across the country and created a map where you can get onto our website, WSMB.com, and you can look. You can go to the story about the nationwide sober DUIs, and you can look in each state and see. But again, there is no mandatory reporting of this. So there is no database. We just know that it's happening. That's really sad because lives and full disclosure, a family friend of mine got caught up in all of this, and Jeremy profiled her. And I can tell you, lives are destroyed. It does impact custody battles. It does impact jobs as well. Are the issues consistent across the board, Jeremy Finley, or does it does it vary by state? It's across the board. I mean, it really is. I mean, the cases that I've studied and analyzed across the nation, it's all there's one case of a college football player who is completely sober and he's now suing. And it's just textbook. People are saying the same thing. They'll say, look, you know, I'm not on anything. And I'll do your field sobriety test. And sometimes they feel like they did really well. And the police officer doesn't feel like that's the case. And they're arrested. And then it's resulting in lawsuits. And that's what we're finding now is that people can't get justice. There is no recouping their losses. And sometimes these cases can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 to defend yourself when you're innocent the entire time. There is no way to recoup the losses. So now these people are suing. And it's lawsuit after lawsuit ever since our reporting started where it's really now become this issue of all these police departments are now being faced with litigation as a result of it. So it's going to be really interesting to see as this thing, you know, as we continue to document cases, if police agencies are finally going to take a hard look at, okay, you know, if innocent people are being arrested, then we got a problem. And we need to either conduct more research or we need to go back and retrain to say, look, we're in a society now where people are and should be open about their autism diagnosis or their back pain or whatever. So they're going to come forth and say, listen, I don't think I can do a field sobriety test because of whatever these issues are. And we've got to come up with a plan here. Are we going to arrest these people for DUI because they can't follow directions well or they can't perform a field sobriety test? I think those are the questions that police departments across the country are now having to wrestle with. Investigative reporter Jeremy Finley joining us. So I guess last question here, knowing what is happening to these people, I know we talked about police training, But is there more of maybe a self-awareness on the side of law enforcement realizing this is an issue and maybe changing their tactics? I think so, because I think that I should say this, that every time a DUI is performed, the officer is supposed to ask someone, do you have any medical problems that would prohibit you from doing a field sobriety test? And in most of the cases, we're finding that's the case. But here's the thing. If you know anybody that is on the spectrum, on the autism spectrum, they don't necessarily see that as a disability. They don't see that as a medical problem. But it is, and rightfully so, because there are so many successful people living on the autism spectrum. But if it prevents you from being able to follow directions well, then, you know, that's something that you have to, that police departments have to take into consideration. I mean, if you're pulling over a 95-year-old man who has trouble getting out of the car, I mean, obviously that's something you're going to take into consideration. But we are finding cases of people in their 70s and 80s who are being asked to do field sobriety tests and are not doing well on it. So I think what this truly is opening up is police departments have to look at, okay, yes, I've got to catch people who are drunk. Yes, I've got to catch people who are on drugs by the wheel. No doubt about it. But I've also got to take into consideration, man, if somebody's like health issues or challenges prevent them from doing a field sobriety test, and do we really just need to make sure that that person gets them safely? And not, you know, maybe we're at a point where we say, okay, we're going to take you home, and then you can get a car, somebody to come pick out your car tomorrow, or something like that, as opposed to just throwing somebody in the DUI system, ruining their life, and then finding out at the end that they're innocent. And again, there is no recoup. There is no apology. There's no money back. You can't do anything to repair your reputation. So I think that's something the police departments have to take into consideration. Jeremy Finley, investigative reporter. Thank you very much for joining us. You can find him on the socials. Jeremy Finley reports. You can also find him at WSMV dot com. Jeremy, thanks very much for being here. And I just appreciate you having me on, Dan. I mean, what an incredible investigative report. And it's interesting because I've been talking to Jeremy about this during my local show in Nashville, Tennessee, Supertalk 99.7 WTN for I think it's been at least a year when this story first came out. As you heard, it was one driver falsely accused of drunk driving. That turned into two. That turned into a dozen, two dozen, now 2,500, and it continues to grow out of Tennessee and now across the country. Amazing story from investigative reporter Jeremy Finley. My name is Dan Mandis in former Grand Millhaven. This is America at Night. Thank you. Westwood One presents America at Night. Here's your host, McGraw-Milhaven. My name is Dan Mandis, and for McGraw, this is, as you just heard, America at Night, and he'll be back tomorrow. It's been my honor to fill in the last couple of days. The phone number remains, and this is, if I'm not mistaken, this is open lines here in the last hour. 8442 McGraw 8442624729 and again McGraw will be back tomorrow and I know that I'm looking forward to it and I know that you folks are as well well this is open line so let's go to Robert in New Haven County, Connecticut on America at Night Robert thanks for calling in, go ahead yeah thank you I appreciate you the time and I like the subject I can tell you if you have a few minutes what happened to me with the police, I was pulled over, me and, you know, I have a couple cars, my son, my kids, daughter, son, and me, and pulled over 18 times. 18 times? Robert, what are you doing behind the wheel, man? Never been arrested. So have you, okay, let me ask you this, because 18 times that's... And some of them were my children. My children were probably, my son was probably four times. My daughter was driving my car maybe five times, and I was driving my car. It's a difference of, and this is all documented, because once they get out of the car, they've got to register. They put the plate down so in case God forbid something happens. And so anyway, nothing happened. One particular day down the road, you know, they were a little bit hostile because, you know, I don't know what they're looking for. Well, whatever. I know, but, you know, I catch somebody doing something bad. It was bad. It was an officer. But anyway, I try to be quiet. I was. So I'm driving, and I got pulled over for the 19th time. And they said my headlights were out. And I pulled in with this vehicle, which wasn't mine. And then I got out of the vehicle. And I was maybe 50 yards away. The police almost ran me over. And they said, get in that vehicle. Get in that truck. I said, that's not my truck, but I was driving it, but I was already 50 feet away. My brother lives in this house for 14 years. He was already on the deck of the house. So I started to walk towards the truck to go. The cop told me to go in it. And my brother's like, dude, they're going to pop you. They're going to shoot you. Don't reach in the truck. And I'm like, whoa. So I turned around, put my hands up, gave my license, And I said, that's not my truck. I don't have the keys. I don't have keys. They threw me in the ground and searched me and blah, blah, blah. And went to jail for winning one day, came out the next. And everything was dismissed. All charges dismissed. Well, Robert, I got to ask Robert. I mean, hey, Robert. So you're saying that the police have pulled you over many, many, many multiple times. Same with your kids, your son, your daughter. Well, are you saying that the police in your neck of the woods, are you saying that they're corrupt? Are they targeting you? What's going on? Yes, yes, yes, exactly. Now, how about this? I had a call. There was someone in my backyard. I have a house. I rent a section of my house. It's eight bedrooms. I don't need eight bedrooms, but I have, like, you know, a side, all legit in-law side. And so anyway, this girl says, hey, Robert, there's someone in your backyard. I think he's got a gun. Is he your friend? I'm like, what do you mean he's got a gun? She goes, I see something off his hip. So she calls me back 20 minutes later. She says, he's still there. He definitely has a gun. So I called the police. The police, three cops showed up. And guess who this guy was in my backyard with the gun? Off-duty state police officer. They removed him from my property. Six weeks later, a Meriden detective shows up on my front yard, plainclothes, and tells me to come out of my house. And I saw his gun. So I called the police again. Six weeks later, this time, it was a Meriden detective. So talk about paranoia. So now they pull me over and say my headlights are out. I get a lawyer, Norman Pattis, very good lawyer. I don't know if you've ever heard of him, Norman Pattis. He represented Alex Jones. And he said, dude, your headlights are on. Why did they pull you over? Go to court. Prosecutor asked the cop which headlights are out. They're both on. All charges dismissed. So I bring them to federal court, blah, blah, blah. You can't sue these guys. But the family has a DUI franchise in Toxaloc. That's their incentive for pulling people over. So if you got your brother-in-law owns Intoxaloc, where you got to breathe into the thing, that's it. You're done. And here's another thing, totally different, but now about the blood test. If you shoot up a school in Columbine, whatever, Sandy Hook, they do not test those kids to see if they have Ritalin or Adderall. It's against the law because of the HEPA law. But they could blood test you assuming you are drinking. But if you shoot up a school and kill 20 goddamn kids, excuse me, 20 children. Hey, Robert, we're going to let you go. Thank you, though. I appreciate it. Listen, I don't know why the cops are harassing Robert. I have no idea out there in New Haven County, Connecticut. I'm sure that there is some stuff going on. I have no idea. Have I told you how much I like open phones? Eduardo is in Tampa, Florida. Totally kidding. I love talking to you folks. Eduardo is in Tampa, Florida. Eduardo, go ahead. Thanks for calling in to America at Night. Yeah, good evening. Thank you for taking my call. I wanted to get a little bit into what happened over the weekend in Mexico. Yes. Obviously, we had this Mr. Cervantes, a leader of that cartel. Yeah. And the president previously, and they were talking about this previously, about possibly us having a limited role as far as, you know, using the U.S. military. That could still happen in the future. But I was telling you, I think, to a certain point, if it's limited, I don't want to go all the way, like, all the way in with, you know, troops on the ground. No. And, Eduardo, I don't. Special operations, but yeah. I don't think that's going to happen. I think part of what's going to happen, I don't know if you heard the segment that I did this where I was talking about this whole thing with the cartels and what's going on in Mexico. But the president is being encouraged to basically hire some independent contractors, if you know what I mean, to go down there and take care of business. According to Congressman Tim Burchard out of my state of Tennessee, there's legislation that is. you know, that is being put forward, hopefully, where it would allow the president to do to do just that, hire some contractors and, you know, do what they need to do. So I think that part of what we're going to do is we're going to just continue to supply Mexico with intelligence. And the more intelligence that, you know, we are able to supply, the easier it will be for the, you know, for the cartels to be found by the Mexican military. So, you know, we'll have to see. I would agree with you. I'm here to tell you that my opinion is that if the Mexican government allows us or welcomes us in to do whatever it is that we need to do to protect the American people, I'm OK with that as long as it's OK with the Mexican government. Where it's going to get sticky is the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, is being accused by people in Mexico of siding with the cartels. I mean, I guess my question would be with Sheinbaum, President Sheinbaum, is, okay, so the cartels have literally run Mexico for, I mean, decades. the cartels have been running Mexico. So we need a president in Mexico that is going to not only protect her country, but also protect our country as well by taking care of the cartels. Now, it is up to us, of course, to protect our own country. Donald Trump is doing everything that he can to not only protect our border, but also keep the drugs out. But we still have some drugs coming in. But, you know, as you know, Eduardo, the Biden administration, they let in all the illegals they could. They flew them in. They allowed them in through the tunnels over the border And also the cartels brought in a boatload of drugs as well We do still have a drug problem here in America I do understand not wanting to involve our military. I totally get it. But at the same time, if we're losing 100,000 Americans every single year, then I guess the question is, what is the solution then? I guess the solution is to continue to try and fortify the American border. And we have to help them. Possibly we can help them as far as, like, tourism. They got a FIFA tournament coming up in the summertime. You know, a lot of young people are going over there for spring break. So it's a mini PR, you know, problem with them. I don't know. Are kids still going to Mexico for spring break? I know when I was in high school, and I hate to admit this. I thought it was one of those destinations that they did. If they are, then I would seriously question that. Probably not. Yeah. You know what? I'll find out, Eduardo and Tampa. Thank you very much for the call. Good to talk to you here on America Night. 1986 is when I was in high school. And I want to say that my high school went to Mexico. I don't remember because I didn't go. because even as a senior in high school, I was nothing but a stick in the mud. And then I ended up being a talk show host, big shock. But my class trip was to Mexico. I grew up in Southern California, so it really wasn't a big jaunt to Mexico. And again, I forget what city they went to. I would find it hard to believe if classes are still going to Mexico. And if they are, they've got to stop, like, right now. It is. America at Night, 8442-McGraw is the phone number. It is open lines, 844-262-4729. Got a lot more. Straight ahead. Join the conversation. Call 8442-McGraw. America at Night with McGraw-Milhaven. The floor is yours. Call or text 844-262-4729. That's 844-2-MGRAW. My name is Dan Mandis in Fort McGraw-Millhaven. This is indeed America at Night, 844-262-4729. And I got to tell you, I think I dubbed the new term this morning on my morning show in Nashville, Tennessee. No watch regret or didn't watch regret. Didn't watch regret. Now, what that means is I regret that I didn't watch the Americans win the first gold medal in hockey since 1980. Now, you remember what happened in 1980, right? Five seconds left in the game. Do you believe in miracles? Yes! Yes, indeed. What a moment in American sports history. Not just Olympic sports history, but American sports history. Just an amazing moment, of course, Al Michaels with the call. And, well, you know what? Now, for the first time since 1980, the United States has another gold medal in men's hockey. Block across it comes. Jeff Hughes wins it. The golden goal for the United States. For the first time since the 1980 miracle, the United States takes the gold. Yeah, just an amazing moment. You sit and you spent a good part of the day actually watching the highlights of this Jack Hughes, the guy that scored that winning goal. Now, Hughes is the center for Team USA, as you just heard, scoring that winning goal. Such an epic interview. This went viral, and for good reason. This is all about our country right now. I love the USA. I love my teammates. It's unbelievable. The USA Hockey Brotherhood is so strong, and we have so much support from next players. I'm so proud to be American today. This was such an incredible game to grind out. I mean, you're bleeding right through it just looking at you right now. Can you just talk about how difficult this gold medal was to win? Unbelievable game by Hellebuck. He was our best player tonight by a mile. Unbelievable game. Unreal game by our team. That's just a ballsy, gutsy win. That's American hockey right there. That's a great Canadian team, but we're USA. We're so proud to be Americans. Tonight was all for the country. What does this gold medal mean to USA hockey? It's everything. Like I said, the USA Hockey Brotherhood means so much. Look at these guys. We're such a team. We've been together for two weeks. We're such a team. The USA Hockey Brotherhood is so strong, and we're so proud to win for our country. I mean, you know, it is nice that somebody like Jack Hughes and in the USA hockey team, a men's hockey team, clearly they love America. Clearly, they are grateful for the opportunities that America has given them in the Olympics. Now, Jack Hughes, do you know where Jack Hughes was born? Orlando. But he does claim Canton, Michigan as his hometown. He also grew up in Toronto. And so one of the best parts of this storyline was President Trump calling into the locker room after the game. Kash Patel is there. He's got the president on speakerphone. Unbelievable. And you were all unbelievable. And the team is pretty good you played. I don't know. You know, I'll tell you what. I just told people two minutes ago, I didn't know they'd be calling. I said, we're giving the State of the Union speech on Tuesday night. I could send a military plane or something. But if you would like to, it's the coolest night. It's the biggest. We're in. Can you pick us up in Miami on Tuesday morning? Tuesday morning. We'll be up there. Go to Northern border. We'll get cash and we'll get the military to get you guys up. Let's go. Oh! Boys are going to the State of the Union! player on the ice. And by the way, I know nothing about hockey. After the game, it was amazing with all of the various interviews that were going on. And clearly, again, these guys were proud to be Americans. But it's not without controversy. There's always going to be controversy. And there is some controversy going on actually just in the last several hours related to the president's call into the men's locker room. This is what the president said that has created a great deal of controversy. And we have to, I must tell you, we're going to have to bring the woman's team. You do know that. Absolutely. I do believe I probably would be impeached, okay? So, yeah, that invitation went out to the ladies hockey team, who, by the way, also won the gold. Well, now they have responded. Details straight ahead right here on America at Night. Thank you. Welcome back to America at Night. Call now, 844-262-4729. That's 844-2-McGraw. And yes, indeed, it is open lines here on America at Night. The phone number, 844-2-McGraw, 844-262-4729. My name is Dan Mandis, in for McGraw-Milhaven. Good news, McGraw returns tomorrow night. And we'll get to what is going on with the women's hockey team in a second. Marcel, though, is calling from Brooklyn, New York, and he is on America at Night. Hey, Marcel, how are you? It is A-OK, sir. Good to see you. How's yours? Mine are good, man. What's going on? Oh, about the poll for the Trump and the American people? Not very good. And so here is the poll from fake news CNN. I know CNN is the most disrespectful network on earth instead. When President Trump gave his State of the Union address tomorrow, he will face a public that increasingly questions his priorities and expresses broad doubts about whether his proposed policies are helping the nation, according to the poll from CNN and SSRS. So let me read the poll to you. So just 32% of Americans now say that Trump has had the right priorities, while 68% hasn't paid enough attention to the country's most important problems. That's the problems for the president, most negative reading on that question to date during either of his terms in office. And at the same time, Americans say 61% to 38% that Trump's policies will move the country in the wrong direction rather than the right one. And his job approval rating among all adults remains mired at 36. Wow. Yeah. 68% of Americans. Now, Marcel, let me ask you a question, though. Yeah. Are you a Trump supporter? I don't support Trump. I can't tell you. He won't try to make America great again. But instead for all those facing the problems, including the latest on the Middle East and the ICE deportations, I got to tell you, sir, and to everyone else listening out there, he will make no mistakes. The world is in trouble. The world leaders don't disrespect. They don't want to respect him. I don't think so. So you don't think the world leaders respect Donald Trump? Yes. Okay. And do you think that there is a healthy fear of Donald Trump? Oh, the fast-paced... Let me ask you. Hey, Marcel. Hey, Marcel. Hold on. Do you believe that the Iranian leadership fears Donald Trump? Yes, it is. Yes, it is. My God. Wait, wait. Yes, it is what? What does that mean? The answer, I don't say the yes one, but I say no. Iran didn't respect Trump at all. Really? That's right. Okay. Even though Trump at least temporarily destroyed their nuclear capabilities and they're currently negotiating with Donald Trump to continue down that path? Oh, the answer is no, sir. Okay. Do you think Mexico's president respects Donald Trump? Not this time. Not this time, no. Okay. Or how about this? Yes. Do you think, do I think the world leaders, like you said about Iran and Mexico, are respected Trump? The answer is no. No, no, no. I don't think so. Hey, Marcel, tell me why, why, why? Why don't you think, let's stick with Iran. Okay. So tell me why it is that you don't believe that Iran and their leadership does not respect Donald Trump. Remember, Marcel, and look, I'm just trying to, you know, go back and forth with you. It's not my job to defend Donald Trump, but realize what's going on in Iran. Joe Biden ignored the sanctions that were implemented by the Trump administration. Iran ends up getting a boatload of money. They use that money to attack Israel as they fund Hamas. Donald Trump comes in. He shuts off the money to Iran. He takes away their nuclear capabilities, at least temporarily. He's deciding whether or not he's going to go in. Iran has hundreds of thousands of people that are protesting in the streets. Donald Trump, and this is where I'm going to give it to you, Marcel, I'm going to give you a point. Donald Trump led the people on in Iran saying that he was going to back them up. And unfortunately, at least at that point in time, he didn't. He now has an opportunity to possibly go in. And that's part of the news cycle these days is, will Donald Trump go into Iran? But I do believe that they have a healthy fear and a healthy respect of Donald Trump. Now, you tell me why they don't. Oh, those Iranian people instead for protesting because of this? Let me give you one word. No, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on, hold on, Marcel. Hold on. Go ahead. Tell me why is it the Iranian people are protesting? Because of that economy. Economy. Economy. That is the problem. Well, okay, they also have a problem with their lack of rights, and women have to go around dressed in the full hijab, and the women have, as I said, very few rights, if any, in Iran. And you look at Iran now, and it is a complete and utter mess because of their government. It was a very disaster for the people of that country. One of the most dangerous ones in our world. Right. Exactly. And and they they fund all of that terrorism. So do you tell me, Marcel, why is it wrong? Why is it wrong that Donald Trump tries to disarm or destroy Iran? And by the way, I'm not a big fan of regime change. I am on record as saying, I believe on this show, on America Night, when I said the other night, I think it was Friday night, that I actually have concerns about the United States going into Iran. But that being said, tell me why Donald Trump should not try to take out Iran's government. Well, that's because of the protesting and the economy may be going on. And I have to say, because of that, one of the most dangerous countries on earth behind the Middle East. Right. It's all because of the frustration and the terrible maybe going on there in Iran. This is one of the most of them. Go ahead. Okay, okay, but try and answer my question, though. What is wrong? Okay, do we both agree that Iran's government is bad? I think agrees saying all of America, Iran is definitely bad. Okay. America agrees. Okay. So then what is wrong with trying to get rid of the current regime and try and make Iran a better place and try and do right by our ally Israel? As you know, Iran is always trying to attack our ally Israel, and Iran is also always talking about death to America. Just play along with me here. Wow! I can't believe you said the word death to our country! Wow! I'm shocked! Okay. Hey, Marcel, can I ask you a question? Have you been smoking anything or maybe drinking a little bit? Because you're acting a little strange. I'm not smoking. If I smoke, I go to jail. Wow, I'm in shock. But drinking, as a matter of fact, is a pure, safer place. Yeah, what have you been drinking tonight, Marcel? I've been drinking water and said it's a good living environment. What's a good living environment? New York is a good living environment? Hey, can I ask you a question? Are you, are you, are you, no, no, Marcel, are you one of AOC's constituents? Uh, no. Okay. Now I'm just asking. I have to say, yes, I have to say. I, oh my gosh, I know what's going on with you, Marcel. You have been stuck inside because of all of that snow, and you have nothing else to do, so you've just been sitting around drinking. Yes. Snow is a blizzard going on here in not just in New York or elsewhere, but around the northeast. They're saying to this, 12 inches to 3 inches, or should I say 3, 8 to 12 inches of snow taking place last night and into the early hours of today. Wow, I'm impressed. There's going to be more snow to go. Okay, good, good. So are you going out, Marcel, in your stupor, and you're going out and maybe building some snowmans as you think about Donald Trump invading Iran? No, no, no. No, my friend. I have to say, I will go to make a bill of snowman without, not without until asking about it. Hey, Marcel, have you seen the – there's a viral video. As a matter of fact, Marcel, follow me on X, at DanMandaShow. I just reposted a video. I think it's in New York. Of all of these folks, they're throwing snowballs at the local police. Do you think that's a good idea, Marcel? I think it's in New York. I could be wrong. But, yeah, I think it's in New York. it's bet it's good for a c the better viral i will go check to see your name is it dan manda show it close enough d-a-n-m-a-n-d-i-s yes dan manda show and the and these people it's in washington square park maybe that's in dc well no they say it's mamdani you like you like mandami is he working out for you are you are you can i ask are you are you hey marcel are you marcel are Are you a homeowner? No. Okay. Well, because homeowners in New York, they're going to get screwed because Mamdani wants to raise everyone's property taxes. He wants to raise taxes on it. You know that's true, right? That is not true. Really? Okay. You might want to check because Mamdani is talking about raising property taxes. He's talking about, you know, raiding the pension fund there in New York to pay for all of his giveaways. You didn't know that? Hey, Marcel, can I give you some advice? You've got a lot of time. You've got a lot of time to sit inside and do nothing because of all the snow outside. So you can do one of two things. You can, you know, stare at the snow outside or what you can do is you can get online and look at all the things that Mamdani is looking to do to destroy the city of New York. I would suggest maybe, Marcel, that you do it. You do a little research and you find out all of the controversies that's going on with Mamdani. Because remember, your mayor, Mayor Mamdani, wanted to do all kinds of things regarding, you know, freebies. You know, freebie trans surgeries for kids and adults. And they're all going to be free, free, free. Right. Remember that? And he wanted it. He wanted to freeze everybody's rent. And you wanted to have you all wanted to have government run grocery stores. And, you know, all the buses were going to free and all. Have you ridden the free buses yet, Marcel, in Brooklyn? Have you have you have you ridden the free buses? No. Hey, can I ask one more thing, Marcel? If Donald Trump's over, can I ask you this? So when the snow melted the first time, did you get a great whiff of all of that crap on the New York streets that Mamdani hasn't been able to pick up? I'm asking you. Listen, Marcel, I'm asking you a question. How do you like all the crap on the streets that Mamdani has yet been able to pick up? And you know what's going to happen is it's going to happen again. When all of this snow melts, I bet you're going to have a whole bunch of poop on the sidewalks again because Mamdani can't figure out how to pick up the poop in New York. Oh, that is totally no, no, no. And incorrectly. Why? It's not no, no. It is not incorrect. It's happening in New York, man. Oh, wow. I'm impressed. I'm shocked. This is very no respect. And that is definitely disgusting. Dan, for all of you, I hope spring is definitely comes. Yes. We'll see what happens if our Trump, along with the voters and the Republicans and the Democrats coming together here in our country and including right here in New York, including Mayor Saldani, will spring definitely rise and everything might be better for a living better place. and World 2. All right, Marcel, thank you very much for the call. I appreciate it. Have fun in the snow. My name is Dan Mandis in for McGraw-Milhaven. He's back tomorrow night, thankfully. This is America at Night. Call now, 844-262-4729. That's 844-2-MGRAW. This is America at Night with McGraw-Milhaven. McGraw-Milhaven will return tomorrow night. And I want to finish off this story that I was telling you about earlier real quick before I get back to the phones. Donald Trump talking to the men's Olympic hockey team about coming to the State of the Union tomorrow night. And then he threw this in. And we have to, I must tell you, we're going to have to bring the women's team. You do know that. Absolutely. I do believe I probably would be impeached, okay? So now what's happened is you've got a whole bunch of people criticizing the president for saying that. And the women's team, this is the headline. U.S. women's gold medal winning team declines invitation from Trump to attend the State of the Union address. And we'll see if the president can somehow convince them to come out. Basically, they said that they had other things going on. This is Paul in Boise, Idaho on America at Night. Hey, Paul, how are you? Good evening, sir. with radio there's never any paces to go by to recognize you I recognize your voice you filled in on I believe it was Red Eye about four years ago yes I am a guilty as charged I fill in on many syndicated shows I have a regular show in Nashville Tennessee on WTN and I am honored to fill in from McGraw-Millhaven and here at America at Night. Yeah, he puts out good products. He does. I'm a big fan of McGraw. I'm a big fan of McGraw and this show. He's got a great vocabulary to go along with it, and I think that's why it's so successful. Yeah, in fact, we talked. You brought up the topic. You wanted to know what you thought about the state of Oregon legalizing all drugs. and I was a caller that night, and, man, I couldn't believe that they were thinking about doing that. I thought that was the most insane, convoluted idea I'd heard in my lifetime, making people that were maybe sketchy drug abusers into full-fledged druggies. No, Paul, I get it. Well, I've lived in places that have wanted to do that, too, And that leads to nothing good, trust me. Yeah. But this thing about the drug drivers, you know, I believe I'm still a firm believer that marijuana is the gateway drug to all those other ones. Sometimes it can be alcohol as well. But for the most part, when you get started on illegal drugs, which are now legal as far as marijuana is concerned. Yeah. Well, you know, Paul, here's what I would say, and I appreciate you calling in. There are millions of marijuana users that don't end up on things like heroin and cocaine. I would say the same thing about alcohol. There's millions of people that drink alcohol, myself included, that have not made the jump to narcotics or drugs or whatever. But, Paul, I do appreciate it. And McGraw returns tomorrow right here on America at Night. Thanks for listening. The C.J. Pearson Show. Every week, we'll take on the biggest cultural, political, and moral battles in America head on. C.J. presents the most passionate voices in the black community. When you're going around and talking to people in actual communities, you get to know what people actually care about. As a black man, why can't I be the first one in my family to graduate from college? Why can't it be me? Shift the way that I think about the world. Bold truth, real conviction, zero permission. This is The C.J. Pearson Show. The C.J. Pearson Show. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.