Now, on 105.9 FM and streaming worldwide on the WMAL app, O'Connor & Company. It's 6.07. Good morning. Thanks for tuning in here. It's the 26th day of February, Thursday in your nation's capital. O'Connor & Company will get you informed and entertained as you go about your morning duties. Coming up at 7.05, Matt Schlapp will join the conversation. At 735, Ron Halber of the Jewish Community Relations Council. At 805, KT McFarland will join us. And then at 835, Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman. Larry O'Connor with Cassie Smedley in this morning. Cassie, of course, a political communications professional, wife, mother of two. That's pretty much it. Sometimes I have to use my, that's pretty much it. That's pretty much it. Sometimes I have to use my political communication tactics on my toddlers. But never on your husband. Never, I'm sure. Never. He wouldn't know. So here's the big headline out of Fox News. The FBI, under Merrick Garland and Joe Biden, subpoenaed Kash Patel and Suzy Wiles' phone records in 2022 and 2023 when both were private citizens. This was part of a federal investigation into President Trump. It's been confirmed by Fox News. I think Reuters has reported this. It's it's out there. And in fact, Kash Patel, now the director of the FBI, has taken some actions with regard to this story that we'll share with you in a moment. In a statement to Fox News, Kash Patel said that the move was outrageous and deeply alarming. He said, it's outrageous and deeply alarming that the previous FBI leadership secretly subpoenaed my phone records, along with those of now White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, using flimsy pretexts and burying the entire process in prohibited case files designed to evade all oversight. Now, that's the second part of this story that should give people's attention. Number one, that they did this. Number two, that they then sort of buried it and covered it up so that nobody could find it. FBI Director Kesh Patel has now fired 10 FBI agents involved in the seizing of the phone records. And one would suspect the firing, and of course, I don't know if we have it yet from the FBI, was more related to them sort of burying this so it wouldn't be discovered. Because, listen, if the FBI was ordered to do this by the Justice Department and they had a judge sign off on it and all that stuff, it's like that's bad. They probably should be fired. But I doubt they were fired because of that. My suspicion is they were fired because they covered it up. Here's Brett Baier reporting on the firings last night. FBI Director Cash Patel out with an allegation that the prior FBI obtained his phone records and not only his. What can you tell us about that? Brett, this has been breaking in the last hour or so. We are told that according to Kash Patel, the FBI director, the prior bureau leadership obtained his phone records and phone records to current White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles back in 2022 and 2023. This eventually led into the Jack Smith Special Counsel investigation into then former President Donald Trump. We're told that some of these records are just toll records which don't have specific information other than times and dates. They don't have the actual content of calls. But two sources in the FBI say that Susie Wiles' attorney agreed to be recorded by FBI agents in 2023. She did not agree. We've reached out to her for comment. FBI Director Patel, in a statement to Fox News, calls this outrageous and deeply disturbing. And I will add, Brett, that we are told at least 10 bureau employees have been fired just today over this incident, with more potentially to come. All right. Now, you probably heard in there the third big blockbuster in this story. So number one, that Merrick Garland, Christopher Wray, DOJ, FBI under Joe Biden pulled phone records on Suzy Wallace and Kash Patel in their investigation of Donald Trump when they were private citizens. And again, you can excuse that away and say, hey, we were investigating a crime. Crime happened. This is basic police procedure. That's fine. All right. But still, obviously, this is in the throes of it. You're right. If a crime has been committed and you have to investigate it, sure. But when you find out that the target of that investigation involves political operatives that are involved in a political campaign and happen to be the prime candidate against the current president of the United States, a whole lot of barriers should be up there that need to be crossed and remedied, I's dotted, T's crossed before you cross that Rubicon into using the state to investigate your political opponent. Right there, that's kind of a big deal. Right. Absolutely. It feels like a minimum amount of work that we should expect. We really went above and beyond. As Susan Rice would say, let's do this by the book, right, if you're going to do that. Because here you've got obviously an investigation into all of the people involved in the political apparatus of Donald Trump in 2022 and 2023 when Trump was the chief outspot. He announced his candidacy, by the way, for president, if I remember right, at the midterms, right? Wasn't it like in 2022, November, when he said, I'm running again in 24. So he was a political candidate. I mean, at least that early, yes. Yes. All right, that's number one. Number two, you're one of those FBI agents. Trump wins in 2024. He announces Cash Patel as the new FBI director. You know that you, Cash Patel, the guy whose phone records we were just looking at? So what do you do? You bury it and you make it so hard to discover that here we are over a year after the swearing in of the president and Kash Patel as FBI director. And this story is just now being discovered. So you hit it. That's blockbuster number two. But then blockbuster number three, you just heard there that Susie Wiles' phone conversation with her lawyer was secretly recorded by the FBI. the lawyer knew about it and didn't tell his client that they were being recorded i have questions you think i mean and if i i don't want to get the wrath of suzy wiles like i don't want to be tardy to a meeting with suzy wiles can you imagine being her lawyer yeah who didn't tell her she was being recorded by the FBI, say more. Absolute. This is how more corrupt can you get? And again, listen, Democrats today will be saying, well, listen, Donald Trump broke the law. We needed to see, you know, that when you investigate somebody who broke the law, he was like, oh, really? What law? Well, he led an insurrection. Oh, really? So over a thousand people on January 6th were arrested. Some of them should have been arrested. They, you know, broke things and vandalized and got into scuffles with police officers, et cetera, et cetera. That's fine. Over a thousand people were investigated. And how many people were charged with insurrection? And the answer is none. With all the money and all the investigators and all of the efforts that they had on the events of January 6th, and yet not one person got charged with insurrection, except Donald Trump is the person who led the insurrection, we're told, that nobody ever got charged with. Oh, and by the way, you had your special prosecutor, you had Jack Smith before his charges got thrown out and before his appointment was even questioned by a judge in Florida. But he was able to charge Donald Trump with insurrection. He did bring charges against Donald Trump. Guess what? He never charged Donald Trump with insurrection. So stop telling me there was an insurrection because no one was charged with insurrection. Now you take that off the table What exactly was the extent of this crime And did it really lead to the FBI secretly recording the political apparatus of Joe Biden chief political opponent That's going to be a pretty tough case to make, I think. Thankfully, they have a very compliant media welcoming that argument, and they probably won't ask any challenging questions. But also, hopefully, because Kash Patel, as you noted, these were marked prohibited. So somebody told him, hey, there's something you need to look at. There's people talking because how else would he have known other than him just having a hunch one day to say, get me all the stuff, Mark, prohibited. But hopefully with him, with Congress, with DOJ, there will be a concerted effort to figure out what was what. Because as much as people say, oh, stop rehashing 2020, stop rehashing 2023, this is the kind of stuff that we all should be concerned about happening in the future. Because as we say often, if it can happen to them, what about you? That's right. You have no defense or recourse. Thank you. 100% right. And you're right. We need to make sure that we do a thorough investigation so we see what happened. Also, it wouldn't hurt if some people actually faced some sort of criminal justice for doing this. What a concept. What a thought. Absolutely. Let's find out what happened and what they did. And while you're at it, maybe bring some charges. 6-15. It's the biggest game on the planet and nobody breaks it down like Jim Rome. Super Bowl run. Who do you think will be the last one standing this year? Fearless debate and the best callers in sports. I'll tell you what you say. Defense wins Super Bowl. That defense absolutely is Super Bowl caliber. The quarterbacking sure as hell wasn't. He's the spitfire of sports smack. A lot to get to and I'm not sure you're going to like all of it. Honestly, I don't even care if you like all of it or not. I have a job to do. The Jim Rome Show. Get up in here. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. It'll be a historic day today in Chappaqua, New York, as for the first time, a former president will be compelled to testify under oath under a congressional subpoena. Now that, of course, Bill Clinton, well, Bill Clinton's, you know, he's made history by breaking a few norms and being the first to do various things, I suppose. So this sort of falls under that. But, of course, not only he, but also the former First Lady, former Secretary of State, and former failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is also scheduled to give her deposition for the House Oversight Committee. This is a result of a negotiation that was made. Remember, they refused to show up. There was going to be a contempt of Congress vote, and Democrats, many Democrats, were going to join in that vote in holding the former Secretary of State and her husband, the former president, in contempt of Congress. So at the last minute, 11th hour, there was a negotiated settlement that they would, in fact, be deposed. It's going to happen at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center. I don't know why that was the place that they chose. Can I get a ticket to this? I ain't exactly going to go on StubHub for that, baby. I want to be right there. My guess is that, you know, they insisted that it take place in Chappaqua, you know, where they live theoretically together. And my hunch is that, you know, because of the media, because of all the congressmen and because he's a former president, it's like, you know, what's the best place for security and secret service and egress? It's like, well, how about the Performing Arts Center? So I don't think it's going to be on stage, but who knows? My hunch is that there will be video of the depositions. That's pretty standard these days. Whether those videos will ever be released, who knows? And obviously this all has to do with the first couple's relationship with and to what extent that relationship was with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Now, many observers will say that their evidence suggests that President Clinton, though he did obviously have some level of relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, and it was all under the guise of him, Epstein, donating to the Clinton Global Initiative and to all these charities and foundations, which, of course, we know was really a political operation, too. So I'm sure there was some political relationship there. But we also see multiple pictures of Bill Clinton doing a lot more than just raising money for children in Africa. He's getting shoulder rubs from young girls. He's in a hot tub with young girls. There are multiple flight records showing that the former president was on the plane that is now referred to as the Lolita Express. But defenders of the president will say that all of that occurred before Jeffrey Epstein was ever charged with any criminal misconduct. Clinton knew nothing of this outrageous and illegal and immoral behavior. And the moment Jeffrey Epstein was charged with criminal behavior, he cut off the relationship. And as of now, the paper trail suggests that that is true. Here's the problem. Ghislaine Maxwell. Ghislaine Maxwell is the problem because Ghislaine Maxwell was at Chelsea Clinton's wedding. The picture is right there. She was on the aisle. So and she's been convicted of trafficking children for Jeffrey Epstein. So it should be interesting to see what comes of this testimony. I'm still not clear exactly Hillary's connection. Are you? Well, right, because that would suggest that she was aware of what her husband was doing on any given day and that they do live together. But I guess they had family trips to his ranch, it's saying here. So maybe there is something there. What I think is interesting is how the Democrats – this just shows you that this is not Bill Clinton. It's not even Barack Obama's Democrat Party. They don't mind serving up the Clintons for this. Oh, they don't care about the Clintons anymore. No. And I think the Clintons thought they would always be protected by these people, by the party apparatus. And they're like, no, no, you're going to have to come in. I think that's an interesting piece of this. Do you think about where the power structure is in the House right now, Democrats? It's not Pelosi's party anymore in the House. You think about the AOCs and the Ilhan Omar's, Rashida Khalib's, and even Hakeem Jeffries to a lesser extent. They're more – when they think of Hillary Clinton, they think of a woman who stole the nomination from Bernie Sanders. That's what they think of. And so they're hostile. And by the way, since what the Whitewater hearings, we have grown accustomed to Hillary Clinton's approach to testifying before Congress and the very carefully chosen legal words that she uses to answer a question from Whitewater to Benghazi and everything in between. and the questions about her using a non-secure server for her official emails as Secretary of State that had classified and top-secret information. And then, of course, those drives all ended up getting wiped with documents destroyed. And whatever she's asked about it, we have grown accustomed to her approach and the way she answers questions. So now listen to this. She was asked about Jeffrey Epstein. Listen to her answer, and you tell me if there's something there. Cut six. Do you regret the links that there have been? You know, we have no links. We have a very clear record that we've been willing to talk about, which my husband has said he took some rides on the airplane for his charitable work. I don't recall ever meeting him. I don't recall. I did on a few occasions. On a few occasions. Thousands of people go. My daughter's wedding. So it to me is not something that is really at the heart of what this matter is about. They are accused and in both cases were convicted of horrific crimes against girls and women That should be the focus And we are more than happy to say what we know which is very limited and totally unrelated to their behavior or their crimes. All right, Cassie Smedley, like I said, we've grown accustomed to hearing how she is able to parse things down and use very selective language to still give her wiggle room. So my question for you is, who do you expect to have the upper hand in this? Bill and Hillary Clinton or James Comer and the Oversight Committee Republicans? Well, I'm hopeful, of course, for Chairman Comer. But we remember how Hillary, yes, in Benghazi, in Whitewater, how she gets around this. But I have one question, Larry. When she deleted the emails, remember the excuse was, it was just about my daughter's wedding. It was a bunch of emails about wedding planning. Yoga appointments and wedding plans. Do we think they were emails with Jelaine Maxwell about wedding planning? Do we think that that was the line and all the time it was really about this? So she was – yeah, exactly. I was telling the truth when I said I was deleting wedding-related emails because it was all connected to Epstein. Just a thought. Just asking questions. 624. Now on 105.9 FM and streaming worldwide on the WMAL app, O'Connor and Company. 6.37 on this Thursday morning. We're chugging along here. Coming up at 7.05, Matt Schlapp, president of the American Conservative Union and CPAC conference. 7.35, Ron Halber with the Jewish Community Relations Council. 8.05 is KT McFarland. and 835 Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman, Larry O'Connor here with Cassie Smedley there. Good morning, Cassie. Good morning, Larry. The ongoing concern over illegal aliens obtaining not just driver's license, but commercial driver's license and being able to drive long-haul semi-trucks and delivery trucks in this country continues to be a major issue that I truly believe that Republicans would be very wise politically to seize on because, again, it's one of those things where it's pretty hard to defend. It's pretty hard to defend why a person who is in the country illegally not only, you know, suddenly has the right to live, work, get benefits, get a driver's license, which, by the way, of course, could very well lead them to voting, but a commercial driver's license as well. Now, you know, we were told that they were we wanted to give them driver's license state by state so that they could, you know, they're going to drive cars anyway and they're not going to be insured. So let's at least make sure they know the rules of the road, these illegal immigrants, and they can insure themselves so if they get in an accident, they'll cover it. And somehow we made a very short hopscape and a jump from there to, oh, yeah, well, they should be long haul truck drivers with commercial driver's license. And by the way, that whole argument about how they should learn the rules of the road and be a safe driver, not so much because we have even more stories now about illegal immigrants with commercial driver's license causing fatal accidents in this country. In the latest one, there's a video in Missouri of a semi-driver going the wrong way on the highway. Like driving – what is he from the UK? He's going down against traffic on the highway, just barely avoiding a head-on collision. I mean this is – and this was I think for – I mean it was miles. I thought I – oh, an 80-ton truck. yeah was driving the wrong direction for miles and secretary duffy and dot has made a really big issue of this and i think secretary noem has been a good partner in that but this was a really big moment for me brought tears to my eyes of state of the union when that little girl delilah was one of the president's guests and her dad is holding her up and she's giving him a kiss and she's working on waving and you see how she has been i mean their lives just altered hopefully not forever. It looks like she's making great progress, but there's real impact. Families have been lost from head-on collisions with these semi-trucks. It's a real issue. You've got people like Gavin Newsom who say, this isn't a thing. This isn't happening. Not in my state. And here again, another instance of it. It's heartbreaking. By the way, it's his state, which is infamous for handing out these commercial driver's license, these CDLs to illegal immigrants who then end up either getting arrested or caught on viral video or causing you know, mayhem, maiming and death because of their their reckless driving on the highways. But in this case, you know, I saw this race that, oh, here we go. Another California commercial driver's license. Nope. Wasn't California. But can you guess what state it was? What who would be your second guess after California? Oh, don't put me on the spot. I mean, Illinois, New York. What's ground zero for ice activity been? Oh, sure. Minnesota, Minnesota. This guy got his commercial driver's license in Minnesota. And then he got caught on a viral video. Now take a listen to it as he, this illegal immigrant with a Minnesota commercial driver's license, driving for miles in the wrong direction on a divided highway. Right? So it's not like he drifted into the lane or anything. He deliberately went onto the divided highway heading in the wrong direction. Take a listen to the sound. 18 wheeler going the wrong way down southbound 61. He is on the northbound lanes of 61, going the wrong way. You can see I'm going southbound on 61. He's in the northbound lanes on Highway 61. Yeah, the guy is amazing. Am I the only one seeing this? Am I in the Twilight Zone? You mentioned Delilah, five years old, when she got into this car accident with an 18-wheel tractor trailer traveling 60 miles an hour, slamming into the vehicle she was in. Crash left her with a fractured skull, a broken femur, a traumatic brain injury. This obviously falls under interstate commerce. States should not be allowed to do this because in almost all the instances, one accident, a fatal accident happened in Florida. They got the driver's license in California. This incident is in Missouri. Got the driver's license in Minnesota. There was a fatal accident in Washington, the state of Washington. Got the driver's license in California. And it involves long-haul semi-tractor trailers, which are designed to go across state lines. That's the whole point. This happens on the interstate freeway system. This obviously is under the federal government's purview. It is a no-brainer for Congress to pass this law. And by the way, again, not to be crass, it's a no-brainer politically, Republicans. Make Democrats stand up and say, nope, we want to make sure that untrained illegal immigrants are getting commercial driver's license so we can have more little girls like Delilah Coleman with fractured skulls because of it. For God's sake, do you not know how to play the political game? Put them on the spot and make them defend the indefensible. Write the bill and vote on it today. Yes, amen. And as we were talking about earlier with how President Trump uses the State of the Union so well to tee up these moments to put pressure on Democrats, Congress now has that opportunity to carry that to the next step. Get them on the record. Get the vote on the record. You mentioned Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, rising star in this administration. He tweeted out a photograph of little Delilah and merely said this is our why Yeah if you can do this for delilah and the other little girls who are facing these kind of dangers then what the hell did you run for congress for the first place gentlemen and some of the ladies 643 this isn't your average podcast this is one of the most if not the most controversial podcast this is full send you like party ever i think post malone told me once he went to like one of your parties what This is the biggest after party you guys ever did. We had one with you guys. I know. Unfiltered conversations. I'm not going to say any names, but. We got Dr. Phil pulling up. Jake Paul's coming in today. Benjamin Netanyahu. He's about to walk into the podcast right now. I feel like he leaves. Yeah, maybe. The Full Send Podcast. This is so crazy. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Oh, Chris Plant, why are you so harsh? After all, they had a dude dressed up in a giraffe onesie singing and rapping about the president. It's a very serious event. Very serious party. The Democratic Socialists of America, the DSA, that's basically – are they going to officially change the name of the Democratic Party to the Democratic Socialists of America? Is there a difference anymore between them? I believe there's no difference, but they're going to try and make us – the wolf and sheep clothes will continue to play out, I think. Or giraffe's clothes, for that matter, in this case. So we're not socialists. We're the Democratic Party. You remember the great moment when Chris Matthews asked then DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz during the 2016 primary between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. And Bernie was getting so much attention and excitement. And Chris Matthews said to Debbie Wasserman Schultz, what's the difference between a Democrat and a Democratic socialist? And she could not answer. Could not answer. And that was 10 years ago. Now you've got AOC and you've got Zahra Mamdani. And everyone says Abigail Spanberger is the moderate. What did she win on? Affordability. Oh, what did Zora Mamdani win on? Affordability. And what are the solutions to affordability? Government takes over things and taxes the rich. They're the same. So this story revolves around the Democratic Socialists of America, which is its own separate entity for now. But this really is a reflection of where the Democratic Party is right now. Now, there's a new – this is the statement now, a questionnaire that Metro DC DSA candidates have to answer. You know, these organizations, before they give an endorsement, they give you a questionnaire and say, you know, where do you stand on this, that, and the other thing. the DSA has put a statement, or excuse me, a questionnaire out for the candidates here in America, and it has a specific question about supporting the state of Israel and whether, and literally it's right to exist. That's how insidious this is. Because that's the power base right now in the party. Ron Halber, who's going to be joining us a little later with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, has called this basically a loyalty test. And you will not get the endorsement of the DSA if you support the state of Israel. Absolutely wild. I mean, it's very – it's not hiding anything. that's literally what it says that you're not able to go to any events in synagogues any events where zionists are present attend a gathering at a jewish community center risk crossing a political red line it is absolutely wild they are right to call it out but i also larry and i know we're going to get to more of this if you are a donor to the democrat party a jewish american donor of which there are many, are you going to move your dollars? Right. Because that's amazing to me that that shift still hasn't seemed to change. They're still voting Democrat, despite that they're doing this right in front of their faces. And they play the show game and say, oh, no, no, no, that's those guys over at the DSA. It's not us. And yet they do all this commingling of events and candidates and political power and activism and advocacy. They can't do that anymore. Take a listen to this questionnaire. Do you pledge to publicly support the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, BDS, which is absolutely roundly been described as anti-Semitic and anti-Israel? Do you pledge and it's all they're using words pledge, pledge. Do you pledge to refrain from any and all affiliation with Israeli government or Zionist groups like APAC, Christians United for Israel, J Street? Or will you not boycott any event whose content or purpose positions contravenes the anti-Zionism apartheid occupation or BDS? Do you oppose and pledge to oppose any legislation that harms Palestinians and supports the Palestine solidarity movement? In other words, that would be legislation that involves allowing Israel to defend themselves against Hamas. that would be described as something that harms Palestinians? Because, you know, members of Hamas terrorist groups, they're Palestinians, right? Do you pledge to support legislation that furthers the cause of Palestinian liberation? That would be from the river to the sea, right? This is, even for the Democratic Socialists of America, this is at least saying out loud what they've always said quietly and silently. But at least they're out in the open about it now. Well, I guess you can give them that. But again, this is on – it will be telling if the DNC, the DCCC say, you know what? You can ignore this questionnaire or we reject this questionnaire. But they won't. They won't and there will be pressure applied to every candidate to fill it out. By the way, they also claim they're against fascism, of course, the DSA, which by the way, every single communist government that has arisen out of the Marxist socialist movement can only be described as fascist. like what do you call the government in China right now? What did you call the Soviet Union? What do you call Cuba and Venezuela? Those are fascist regimes. They say our organization is ever-evolving to confront the challenges presented by capitalism. Right there. Fascism and systemic inequality. Have you seen the Hamas and Fatah and the various Hezbollah? Have you seen how they behave? Have you seen how they interact as the military arm of the government in Gaza and the West Bank? Do you know what fascism means? It all seems very welcoming to me. Everyone's living these lives of peace and harmony, rich. They have plenty of food and resources. The question is, will the Democratic Party be able to resolve this, answer to this, defend this, without ticking off and alienating AOC, Zora Mamdani, Bernie Sanders, and the power base there. Because they're all, I mean, Zora Mamdani, let's not forget, was the candidate for the Democratic Socialists of America, as is AOC. And that's exactly what's happening in the mayor's race in D.C. right now, where you've got one of the very strong candidates in that mold. She's going to be the DSA candidate. Will the Democrats themselves be able to draw this distinction? You know, coming up at 735, we'll ask Ron Halber of the Jewish Community Relations Council in Greater Washington. He put out a statement about this. We'll ask him about that and about how this affects the Democratic Party as a whole. That's coming up at 653. It's the biggest game on the planet, and nobody breaks it down like Jim Rome. Super Bowl run. Who do you think will be the last one standing this year? Fearless debate and the best callers in sports. Okay, what you say? Defense wins Super Bowls. That defense absolutely is Super Bowl caliber. The quarterbacking sure as hell wasn't. He's the spitfire of sports smack. A lot to get to, and I'm not sure you're going to like all of it. Honestly, I don't even care if you like all of it or not. I have a job to do. The Jim Rome Show. Get up in here. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.
