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Speaker 1: Welcome. Its verdict was Centator Ted Cruz. Ben Ferguson with you,

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Speaker 1: and much of the nation center has been focused on

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Speaker 1: this balloon, This Chinese spy balloon that was spotted all

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Speaker 1: the way back on January the twenty eighth over Alaskan airspace,

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Speaker 1: over America's airspace, that, according to senior military officials, now

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Speaker 1: one of the earliest sightings, was confirmed in Montana on

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Speaker 1: February the first. That balloon then continued to fly over

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Speaker 1: the country to Kansas City area, where it drifted eastward

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Speaker 1: on February the third, and then finally on February the fourth,

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Speaker 1: the balloon was shot down by US fighter jet off

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Speaker 1: the coast of South Carolina, and that was where it ended.

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Speaker 1: More of the story is and less I'm wrong. This

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Speaker 1: looks like it was mission accomplished. The mission was completed

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Speaker 1: by the Chinese, and then we shot it down after

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Speaker 1: it gotten everything it wanted on the American landscape. Whatever

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Speaker 1: they wanted, they got it well. Ben, that could very

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Speaker 1: well be the case. I will say this was not

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Speaker 1: a good week for the Biden administration. It was not

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Speaker 1: a good week for the country. I will say, you know,

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Speaker 1: I rarely am in the business of commending Joe Biden,

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Speaker 1: but I do at least have to command that he

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Speaker 1: had the guts to shoot the thing down, which given

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Speaker 1: the last two years, there was very little to think

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Speaker 1: that he would have the guts to give that order.

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Speaker 1: That was the right thing to do, So I'm glad

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Speaker 1: he shot the balloon down. It would have been worse

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Speaker 1: if he hadn't shot it down at all. That being said,

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Speaker 1: he waited a week to shut it down. January twenty

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Speaker 1: eighth is when this Chinese spy balloon first entered American airspace,

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Speaker 1: and from January twenty eighth to this weekend he did

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Speaker 1: not a damn thing. And unfortunately, on that entire journey,

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Speaker 1: this spy balloon was collecting information. It was hovering over

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Speaker 1: sensitive US military bases. It was collecting information both photographs

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Speaker 1: presumably infrared and also very potentially attempting to intercept communications,

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Speaker 1: and the data presumably were in turn being beamed upwards

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Speaker 1: to a Chinese spy satellite and set back to Beijing.

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Speaker 1: So we don't know the extent of what they captured,

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Speaker 1: but they had an entire week to spy on our

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Speaker 1: military basis, while the Biden administration did nothing There's another

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Speaker 1: even more troubling consequence, which is the Biden administration sent

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Speaker 1: a very clear message of weakness to She and the

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Speaker 1: Chinese government. Why is that, Well, ask the simple hypothetical, Ben,

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Speaker 1: what would have happened if nobody had spotted this balloon?

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Speaker 1: If nobody on Montana, If no private citizen in Montana

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Speaker 1: had looked up and said, hey, what's that giant thing

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Speaker 1: sixty thousand feet up there? If there hadn't been pictures

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Speaker 1: on the internet, if there hadn't been pictures on the news.

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Speaker 1: The answers obvious. If the public hadn't noticed the balloon,

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Speaker 1: Joe Biden would have done nothing, zero, nada. That's what

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Speaker 1: they did for the entire week. That's what they did

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Speaker 1: before the public spotted. If they didn't tell anyone, they

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Speaker 1: didn't make a public disclosure, They didn't try to shoot

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Speaker 1: it down. It was only after it began driving the

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Speaker 1: news that Biden made the decision to shoot it down.

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Speaker 1: But shoot it down after it had gathered all the

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Speaker 1: intelligence it was sent together. In other words, for this

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Speaker 1: White House, it wasn't a national security question. It was

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Speaker 1: a politics question. It was a pr question. And it's

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Speaker 1: because in this White House it's always politics all the time,

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Speaker 1: rather than putting America. First question I've got to ask

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Speaker 1: you now is and it's a question I want to know.

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Speaker 1: Can Congress get an answer to this? You mentioned that

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Speaker 1: if it wouldn't have been spotted by average Americans, and

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Speaker 1: then it wouldn't have gone viral on the internet, we

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Speaker 1: probably would have never known about this. Right. That brings

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Speaker 1: up the question, has this happened before? And they allowed

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Speaker 1: these balloons to just completely own America's airspace, go across

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Speaker 1: our country from one side to the other, and collect

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Speaker 1: any data that they want to that we don't even

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Speaker 1: know about. So it is entirely possible. I will say

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Speaker 1: this first entered American airspace in Alaska on January twenty eighth.

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Speaker 1: Congress was in session last week. I was in DC

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Speaker 1: last week. They didn't brief us. We had no briefings

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Speaker 1: in Congress. We had no classified briefings. I'm on the

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Speaker 1: set at Foreign Relations Committee. They didn't say a word

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Speaker 1: to us. Now this coming week we're going to be

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Speaker 1: in session as well. They damned sure better have a

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Speaker 1: classified briefing this week. I have every expectation that they will,

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Speaker 1: because I think members from both sides of the aisle

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Speaker 1: want to know what the heck happened, but they did

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Speaker 1: zero to inform Congress, even in a classified setting. Now,

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Speaker 1: I will say, once this became public, there are a

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Speaker 1: series of talking points that the Biden White House began

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Speaker 1: putting out. Remember they treated this as a communication and

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Speaker 1: political challenge, not as a national security challenge. And one

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Speaker 1: of their talking points is they said, well, this has

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Speaker 1: happened before, and they also said, in particular, it happened

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Speaker 1: under the Trump administration. I will tell you, sitting here today,

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Speaker 1: I don't know if that's true or not. I have

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Speaker 1: not received any classified briefing or unclassified briefing that confirms that.

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Speaker 1: All I know is what the administration is telling the press,

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Speaker 1: trying to deflect responsibility my view. Now, even as they've

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Speaker 1: spun that story, they've conceded that, well, they were very

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Speaker 1: different contexts in the Trump administration. So I don't know

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Speaker 1: what that means exactly what it means that they're very

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Speaker 1: different contexts. What we know is that this balloon was

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Speaker 1: over US airspace for a week, that it repeatedly hovered

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Speaker 1: over very sensitive military installations for an extended period of time.

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Speaker 1: If the Chinese had done it previously, we should have

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Speaker 1: shot the damn thing down previously. But right now they're

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Speaker 1: doing the same sort of thing they do on the

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Speaker 1: classified documents at at Joe Biden's house or compared to Trump's,

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Speaker 1: which is they selectively leak and then make it impossible

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Speaker 1: for you to compare the severity of what you're talking about.

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Speaker 1: I am perfectly happy to say that any president, Republican

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Speaker 1: or Democrat, if the Chinese send a spy balloon over

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Speaker 1: America and begin committing major acts of espionage that are

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Speaker 1: threatening US military secrets, we need to act to prevent it.

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Speaker 1: And Joe Biden didn't do that. We don't know whether

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Speaker 1: or not the prior administration did. I want to ask

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Speaker 1: you about dereliction of duty because there have been some

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Speaker 1: of your colleagues that are now hauling at that. And

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Speaker 1: before I get to who said that, I want to

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Speaker 1: of your colleagues again, I know a friend of yours,

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Speaker 1: Marco Rubio. He said Biden's failure to address the nation

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Speaker 1: on Chinese balloon is the beginning of a dereliction of duties,

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Speaker 1: saying the fact he's not even addressing us. We got

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Speaker 1: to say, the Union coming up on Tuesday, and it's like,

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Speaker 1: who's running this country right now? If it's not him, Well,

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Speaker 1: unfortunately that follows a pattern where Biden does not address

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Speaker 1: the nation, he doesn't take on these challenges directly. And

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Speaker 1: the consequence of that it may be that, look, I

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Speaker 1: assume at the State of the Union that Biden is

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Speaker 1: going to try to victory lap this. He's going to

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Speaker 1: try to say, the Chinese sent a balloon and I

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Speaker 1: shot it down, and he's gonna beat his chest on that.

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Speaker 1: But what a responsible commander in chief would do is

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Speaker 1: number one, assess what was the damage to US national security?

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Speaker 1: What valuable intelligence did they gather? And you know, the

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Speaker 1: Biden administration is using a series of talking points. Their

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Speaker 1: surrogates are pushing out one they're saying as they're saying, well,

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Speaker 1: it was actually good for the United States to have

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Speaker 1: the balloon in the air longer because we blocked its

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Speaker 1: intelligence gathering and instead we gathered intelligence about the Chinese.

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Speaker 1: To the best of my knowledge, there is no evidence

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Speaker 1: for that assertion that that strikes me as a talking

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Speaker 1: point drafted by a political operative rather than anything that

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Speaker 1: is in fact accurate. They tried to cover this up

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Speaker 1: because Tony Blincoln was planning to travel to China. He

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Speaker 1: was going to be here, be in China this week,

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Speaker 1: and they wanted the trip to happen. And then once

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Speaker 1: the news broke publicly, they were stuck. And so on

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Speaker 1: Friday they downplayed the threat, said no big deal. Now

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Speaker 1: that the has been shot down, they're acting like Biden

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Speaker 1: got there with a sniper rifle himself. It took the

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Speaker 1: damn thing out over the Atlantic that they can't make

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Speaker 1: up their message because they're trying to treat it as

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Speaker 1: politics rather than national security. There's another aspect of the

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Speaker 1: politics and national security of this, and that is the

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Speaker 1: response from China. I think some Americans were taken aback

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Speaker 1: by China's response to US shooting down their balloon. They've

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Speaker 1: said it's there as they try to claim it was

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Speaker 1: some sort of weather balloon that got off course. And

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Speaker 1: now they're saying they basically reserve the right to respond

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Speaker 1: with military ask action. Their words after coming into and

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Speaker 1: spying on our country are stronger than our own commander

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Speaker 1: in chiefs words about what happened here. That is concerning

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Speaker 1: to me as well. Sure that there is some real

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Speaker 1: risk of Chinese retaliation. Their language is suggesting that they

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Speaker 1: are going to take action in retaliation, and part of

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Speaker 1: the reason why the likelihood of that is not zero

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Speaker 1: is that the Biden white House's response was so weak

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Speaker 1: throughout this. They shot down the balloon after its mission

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Speaker 1: was complete, after it had gathered the intelligence it was

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Speaker 1: sent to gather, presumably after it had already transmitted that

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Speaker 1: intelligence back to Beijing. Only then did Biden shoot it down,

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Speaker 1: and that lesson the Chinese Communist government took They observed it.

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Speaker 1: And what this White House doesn't understand is that weakness

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Speaker 1: is provocative. The weaker the president is, the more likely

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Speaker 1: our enemies are to be aggressive and hostile. We saw

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Speaker 1: President Biden's weakness and foreign policy in Afghanistan with the

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Speaker 1: great disgraceful surrender and withdrawal of Afghanistan, surrendering to the

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Speaker 1: Taliban andandening Americans behind, leaving thirteen servicemen and women to

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Speaker 1: be murdered because they botched the withdrawal so badly. That

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Speaker 1: weakness encouraged our enemies. It encouraged China, it encouraged Russia,

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Speaker 1: it encouraged Iran, and encouraged North Korea. Biden's weakness played

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Speaker 1: a major part in Putin invading Ukraine. Biden's waiving the

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Speaker 1: sanctions on the nord Stream two pipeline, sanctions that I

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Speaker 1: authored into law, that President Trump signed into law that

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Speaker 1: had prevented a Russian invasion. Biden waived those sanctions, and

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Speaker 1: the direct result of waving those sanctions is We've had

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Speaker 1: the most significant land war in Europe since World War Two.

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Speaker 1: Weakness is provocative, and Biden's weakness this week on the

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Speaker 1: spy balloon significantly increases the chances of the Chinese military

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Speaker 1: doing things like harassing American planes and ships in Asia,

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Speaker 1: doing things like trying to find American assets to do

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Speaker 1: damage to. I think those are real possibilities because the

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Speaker 1: Chinese government will assess that the US commander in chief

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Speaker 1: will not respond with any meaningful response. You'll look at

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Speaker 1: Joe Biden, and I'm going to ask you from a

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Speaker 1: Senate perspective, solely here has there been a single issue

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Speaker 1: to date where the President has shown true leadership with China,

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Speaker 1: standing up to China. I mean, we know that we've

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Speaker 1: given them oil from our strategic oil reserves. That happened

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Speaker 1: right before the election, that was shocking to many Americans.

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Speaker 1: We know that many believe that he and certainly a

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Speaker 1: center compromised by the Chinese Communist Party. They have billions

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Speaker 1: of dollars and loans going to the family business and

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Speaker 1: millions and millions of profits. We know what happened with

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Speaker 1: this Chinese oil company CEFE, and we know that they've

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Speaker 1: never really answered those questions. But there are people that

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Speaker 1: believe that they're clearly compromised. Has there been a single

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Speaker 1: issue yet that's been significant where this administration has stood

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Speaker 1: up to China to date. Well, look, I suppose you

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Speaker 1: could say they shot down a spy balloon after it

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Speaker 1: had finished its espionage ignission. So that's something that's not nothing.

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Speaker 1: But I will tell you more broadly, it's not just

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Speaker 1: Joe Biden in this White House. There are obvious personal

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Speaker 1: issues dealing with allegations of Biden family corruption, the Biden

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Speaker 1: family making millions of dollars from Communist China, from Hunter

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Speaker 1: selling access to his father when he was vice president.

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Speaker 1: There are those issues, But there's a broader issue about

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Speaker 1: the Democrat Party, which is the Democrat Party is structurally

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Speaker 1: pro China. And there's a reason for that, which is

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Speaker 1: the major stakeholders who support the Democrat Party, big business,

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Speaker 1: big tech, big Hollywood, and big universities. All of them

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Speaker 1: are fully in bed with China. As a consequence, Today's

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Speaker 1: Democrat Party is fully in bed with China. In the

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Speaker 1: last Congress, I forced to vote on the Senate floor

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Speaker 1: to block the US government from purchasing electric vehicles or

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Speaker 1: batteries that were manufactured with slave labor in concentration camps

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Speaker 1: in China. They're right now, over a million weekers being

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Speaker 1: held in concentration camps in China. I forced that vote.

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Speaker 1: Every single Democrat except one, Every Democrat except Joe Mansion

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Speaker 1: voted no. They all voted in favor of the federal

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Speaker 1: government buying products from concentration camps made using slave labor.

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Speaker 1: I gotta tell you, Ben, I don't think histories why

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Speaker 1: would they do that? Why? I mean, people hear that

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Speaker 1: the way you just described it. You also mentioned this

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Speaker 1: on facinations. You had an appearance there on Sunday morning.

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Speaker 1: Why is it that more people are not asking the question,

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Speaker 1: what was their logic on that one to say we're

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Speaker 1: going to keep buying from slave labor camps when we

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Speaker 1: claim that we're in favor of protecting basic human rights

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Speaker 1: around the world. Well, I think it's two things. I

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Speaker 1: think it is number one, the dynamic. I just described

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Speaker 1: that the Democrat Party structurally is unwilling to stand up

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Speaker 1: to China because too much of their support, their financial support,

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Speaker 1: their intellectual support, their manpower is dependent on China. But secondly,

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Speaker 1: when it comes in particular to electric vehicles and batteries,

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Speaker 1: Today's Democrat Party has handed much of his agenda over

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Speaker 1: to the radical environmentalist left, and so those issues trump

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Speaker 1: human rights. John Kerry, who is supposedly the climates are

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Speaker 1: in the White House, when he was asked about are

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Speaker 1: you troubled about buying products made with slave labor in

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Speaker 1: concentration camps, he said with the haughty aloofness of a

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Speaker 1: man who married his mill. He said, well, that's not

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Speaker 1: my department. I don't have to worry about that. I

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Speaker 1: have suggested previously that John Carey should be named the

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Speaker 1: concentration camp Customer of the Year. And I want you

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Speaker 1: to pause and think for a second. What is history

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Speaker 1: going to think? What are historians going to think ten years,

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Speaker 1: twenty years, thirty years from now. Imagine concentration camps in

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Speaker 1: the back in the past, imagine concentration camps where if

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Speaker 1: you have businesses purchasing products made by slave labor. Today's

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Speaker 1: Democrat party is very big on seeking reparations. Does that

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Speaker 1: mean the weagers can sue John Carey and Joe Biden

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Speaker 1: because they are funding the concentration camps. Not one hundred

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Speaker 1: years ago, not fifty years ago, not ten years ago.

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Speaker 1: Today John carry and Joe Biden are funding concentration camps

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Speaker 1: with over one million people enslaved. It's immoral, but yet

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Speaker 1: the press by and large won't cover it. Let's talk

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Speaker 1: about the spin of this. You mentioned political operatives a

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Speaker 1: moment ago. You did believe that the President on the

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Speaker 1: State of the Union Tuesday night is more than likely

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Speaker 1: going to be like, look, I shot this down, and

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Speaker 1: the Democrats will stand and applause. But they also seem

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Speaker 1: to be kind of pushing out a narrative that we

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Speaker 1: waited so long to shoot down also because we were

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Speaker 1: just trying to keep you safe. Mayor Pete was on

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Speaker 1: this morning with Jake Tapper on CNN, and he basically says,

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Speaker 1: to the American people, you owe us we kept you safe.

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Speaker 1: Now center, you and I have flown together several times

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Speaker 1: I've taken flying lessons, and when you're in those little

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Speaker 1: assessin one seventy twos, you realize there's a lot of

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Speaker 1: places where there aren't a lot of people in this country.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's a very big country, and when you're flying,

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Speaker 1: you see a lot of areas where there's not dense populations.

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Speaker 1: The idea that from Alaska all the way to New

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Speaker 1: York we couldn't shoot this thing down anywhere because we

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Speaker 1: were keeping you safe, I think maybe one of the

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Speaker 1: most absurd lines I've heard so far. Yet they're testing

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Speaker 1: it out on TV this morning. Listen. It states infrastructure,

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Speaker 1: there's moms from Air Force Base and nuclear ballistic missile

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Speaker 1: fields in Montana. If you look at the map, there

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Speaker 1: Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, Scott Air Force Base

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Speaker 1: in Illinois, Fort Bragg, and Camp Lejune in North Carolina.

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Speaker 1: Is the assumption that the balloon was able to gather

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Speaker 1: sensitive information and transmit it back to the Chinese government. Well,

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Speaker 1: the US has stated that steps were taken to prevent

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Speaker 1: any problems in terms of intelligence collection. Remember, we are

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Speaker 1: talking about a country that has a space program, so

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Speaker 1: I don't know all the ins and outs of what

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Speaker 1: this balloon was doing or what its capabilities were. I

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Speaker 1: do know that when the President gave the order to

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Speaker 1: have this handled, the military gauge the different risks and

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Speaker 1: the different benefits of different approaches, made the decisions that

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Speaker 1: they did brought this thing down without incident. Right. But

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Speaker 1: the presumption has got to be that the Chinese were

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Speaker 1: able to gather intelligence hovering over the United States for

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Speaker 1: day after days, actually over some of these sensitive sites.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure there's a similar presumption about what spy satellites

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Speaker 1: do that is well outside of my lane. I'm just

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Speaker 1: glad that nobody was heard as this thing came down.

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Speaker 1: When did the Biden administration first learn about this balloon?

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Speaker 1: This spy balloon entering US airspace, so we're told it

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Speaker 1: first did so. It first entered to US airspace over

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Speaker 1: Alaska two saturdays ago. Is that when the Biden administration

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Speaker 1: learned about it? I really can't speak to that. What

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Speaker 1: I can speak to is the great cooperation we have

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Speaker 1: between the FAA and the Pentagon to make sure that

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Speaker 1: when you have a special military operation like what it

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Speaker 1: took to bring down this balloon, that it happens without

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Speaker 1: any threat to American lives or property. I mean, you

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Speaker 1: hear that, and it's like we just you can apparently

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Speaker 1: now fly anything you want to over America and they're

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Speaker 1: gonna tell you we kept you safe and there was

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Speaker 1: nowhere that we could have even thought about taking out

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Speaker 1: a balloon. So let me make a couple of observations.

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Speaker 1: One just something I noticed listening to that. Did you

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Speaker 1: pick up on Buddha Jig's case that he is mimicking

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Speaker 1: Barack Obama? There must be a similar presumption about what

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Speaker 1: spy satellites do. He's doing this sort of speed up

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Speaker 1: and pause, speed up and pause, and it's interesting. Hakim Jeffries,

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Speaker 1: the new Democrat leader in the House, has the exact

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Speaker 1: same cadence he did he did down the night when

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Speaker 1: he was having to hand over the gavel to Gavin Newsman. Finally,

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Speaker 1: in his long long speech he did it said it

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Speaker 1: almost exactly like Barack Obama, and Buddha Jedge didn't used

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Speaker 1: to speak that way. I think he think he's getting

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Speaker 1: ambitions of sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue. And there's there's no

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Speaker 1: real mystery about that. But it is a little amazing

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Speaker 1: given the train wreck he's presided over at the Department

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Speaker 1: of Transportation for two years, that his ambitions have stored

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Speaker 1: so high. But let's focus on the substance of what

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Speaker 1: he said and not the the amusing cadence that the

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Speaker 1: affectation that he's put on. UM, I do not know

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Speaker 1: the military's assessment of what the realm of civilian damage

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Speaker 1: would have been from shooting it down earlier. If and

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Speaker 1: when we have a classified briefing this week, I intend

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Speaker 1: to ask that question. And obviously, if the military briefs

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Speaker 1: that there's a risk of significant civilian damage or lives lost,

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Speaker 1: that's a significant factor. That being said, the point you

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Speaker 1: made Listen, this thing entered US airspace in Alaska. It

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Speaker 1: traveled over Alaska, it traveled over rural Canada, it traveled

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Speaker 1: over Idaho, it traveled over rural Montana. If if you

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Speaker 1: were to pick locations that have the sparsest population that

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Speaker 1: are the most suitable to shoot down a hot air balloon,

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Speaker 1: it would be hard to come up with locations better

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Speaker 1: suited to that. So I will say I will await

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Speaker 1: the classified briefing to get a military estimation, but I've

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Speaker 1: got a great deal of skepticism that they couldn't have

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Speaker 1: taken this down in the middle of the wilderness, in

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Speaker 1: the middle of nowhere before it had engaged in its espionage.

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Speaker 1: I think the problem wasn't the feasibility. The problem was

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Speaker 1: the lack of political will to carry it out. And

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Speaker 1: the only reason they got the political will was not

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Speaker 1: because they said, gosh, the risk of espionage is really significant.

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Speaker 1: I think they completely completely minimized the risk of espionage.

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Speaker 1: And it's not even because they said, gosh, if we

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Speaker 1: appear weak to the Chinese, that will be provocative and

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Speaker 1: encourage them to engage in more acts of hostility. I

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Speaker 1: don't think they care about that. I think they project

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Speaker 1: weakness every day of the week. The reason they finally

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Speaker 1: shot it down once it was over the ocean and

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Speaker 1: its mission was complete was because private citizens had spotted it.

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Speaker 1: It went viral on the internet, it was leading the news,

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Speaker 1: and suddenly everyone was aware of it, and then it

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Speaker 1: became hey, let's shoot the balloon down now that we've

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Speaker 1: already exposed exposed ourselves to espionage. And it was a

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Speaker 1: communication and media play rather than a military action to

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Speaker 1: keep America safe. Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more

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Speaker 1: on that one. I want to ask you about this

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Speaker 1: important meeting. In our last Verdict episode, we talked about

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Speaker 1: Anthony Lincoln and bringing up a hostage. It's been held

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Speaker 1: in China for a decade now ten years in American hostage.

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Speaker 1: How does that change. Sam's going to ask you about

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Speaker 1: You and I talked about this and it made a

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Speaker 1: lot of news, thank goodness, about an American it's being

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00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:57,200
Speaker 1: held hostage in China. You talked about this important meeting

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Speaker 1: with Anthony B. Lincoln meeting with the Chinese. Do we

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00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:02,000
Speaker 1: know the status of that meeting now that this has

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00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:05,000
Speaker 1: happened with this balloon and what can the American people

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Speaker 1: do now really to be an advocate for this American

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00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:12,560
Speaker 1: it's being held hostage. Well, unfortunately the meeting has not happened,

433
00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:15,040
Speaker 1: happening and we don't know when it will happen in

434
00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:20,439
Speaker 1: the future. Mark Swedan has been wrongfully imprisoned in China

435
00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:24,320
Speaker 1: for over a decade now. He's a Texan. He's from Luling, Texas.

436
00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:28,240
Speaker 1: I've spoken to his mother multiple times. His mother, Catherine,

437
00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:31,679
Speaker 1: is a wonderful woman, who loves her son, who has

438
00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:33,760
Speaker 1: been praying for her son, who's been speaking out for

439
00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:37,040
Speaker 1: her son. This past week, I introduced a resolution in

440
00:26:37,119 --> 00:26:41,040
Speaker 1: the Senate calling on China to release Mark Swedan, laying

441
00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:44,000
Speaker 1: out the facts of his case, that he was prosecuted

442
00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:47,480
Speaker 1: over a decade ago. He was sentenced to death on

443
00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:52,200
Speaker 1: very flimsy charges, charges for which there are little there's

444
00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:55,400
Speaker 1: little to no evidence. The State Department has concluded he's

445
00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:59,640
Speaker 1: unjustly detained. The United Nations has concluded he's unjustly detained.

446
00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:02,840
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you the case I made on the

447
00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:05,080
Speaker 1: floor of the Senate last week, and the case I

448
00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:10,359
Speaker 1: made on face the Nation yesterday, is that China aspires

449
00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:12,720
Speaker 1: to be a great nation. China aspires to be a

450
00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:15,760
Speaker 1: great power. China argues to the world it should be

451
00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:18,640
Speaker 1: considered a great nation and a great power. Well, great

452
00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:22,800
Speaker 1: nations and great powers don't hold hostages, they don't behave

453
00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:28,640
Speaker 1: like tinpot dictators by targeting hostages and political prisoners from

454
00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:33,800
Speaker 1: other countries. And so I have urged China very senior

455
00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:37,120
Speaker 1: levels of government to release Mark Suedan. I had urged

456
00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:40,200
Speaker 1: Tony Blincoln to press and use the tools we have

457
00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:43,240
Speaker 1: for China to release Mark Sudan, and I'm going to

458
00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:47,440
Speaker 1: continue pressing the Biden administration to move that forward. It

459
00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:51,399
Speaker 1: is unfortunate that b Lincoln will not be able to

460
00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:54,359
Speaker 1: make that case in person this next week. I don't

461
00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:58,440
Speaker 1: know when he will next have communications with his Chinese counterparts.

462
00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:01,720
Speaker 1: One last question on this. If you go back to

463
00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:03,840
Speaker 1: DC this week and it's the week of the stay

464
00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:06,280
Speaker 1: of the Union, obviously that sucks all the oxygen out

465
00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:08,720
Speaker 1: of the room. But when will you guys find out

466
00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:10,560
Speaker 1: if you are going to get a classified briefing on

467
00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:12,720
Speaker 1: what happened this last week? And if they if it

468
00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:16,400
Speaker 1: doesn't pop up on the schedule, can you guys request

469
00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:19,000
Speaker 1: it or can you demand it? How does the protocol

470
00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:22,320
Speaker 1: work with Congress from that perspective if they just decide

471
00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:24,080
Speaker 1: to say, we're going to mention to stay the Union,

472
00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:25,840
Speaker 1: but you guys aren't getting any intel out of us,

473
00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:28,560
Speaker 1: you know, I think it is likely that we'll have

474
00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:32,320
Speaker 1: a classified briefing. We can request it, we can press

475
00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:35,960
Speaker 1: for it. Sometimes the administration will come to Congress and

476
00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:39,160
Speaker 1: say we want to present a classified briefing. Sometimes those

477
00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:43,160
Speaker 1: briefings are presented to particular committees, So you frequently have

478
00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:47,920
Speaker 1: classified briefings presented to the intelligence committees. Those get the

479
00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:53,160
Speaker 1: most classified, the most sensitive briefings. You frequently have classified

480
00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:56,200
Speaker 1: briefings presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee or to

481
00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:58,800
Speaker 1: the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. I spent six years on

482
00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:02,080
Speaker 1: Armed Services. I'm currently on Foreign Relations, and so I'm

483
00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:06,000
Speaker 1: often in classified briefings on matters such as this. And

484
00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:09,800
Speaker 1: then periodically you'll have a classified briefing for all senators,

485
00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:12,800
Speaker 1: so all hundred senators are invited, and that happens, though

486
00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:15,880
Speaker 1: I don't know, probably once every two months or so

487
00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:19,560
Speaker 1: is about the frequency of those briefings. I can tell

488
00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:22,760
Speaker 1: you I and others have asked for briefings on the

489
00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:27,720
Speaker 1: classified documents that were found at Joe Biden's multiple residences

490
00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:31,800
Speaker 1: and also at Maralago and Pence's residence, to get classified

491
00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:34,600
Speaker 1: briefings on all those documents. What kind of documents are

492
00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:39,400
Speaker 1: we talking about and what where do things stand to date?

493
00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:41,960
Speaker 1: The administration is said, go jump in the lake. They

494
00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:46,160
Speaker 1: have only briefed the Intelligence Committee and the Intelligence Committee members,

495
00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:50,080
Speaker 1: both Republicans and Democrats are ticked off. They've said that

496
00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:55,320
Speaker 1: the briefing they got was woefully inadequate, so I and

497
00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:59,560
Speaker 1: others are pressing for a full briefing on this. Typically,

498
00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:03,080
Speaker 1: the way would work if Congress wants a briefing is

499
00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:06,400
Speaker 1: that you would get Schumer and McConnell to press the

500
00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:09,120
Speaker 1: administration and say we need a briefing on this topic.

501
00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:11,720
Speaker 1: As I said, I think the odds are pretty good

502
00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:16,200
Speaker 1: that they will schedule one because I think the interest

503
00:30:16,320 --> 00:30:20,080
Speaker 1: on this Chinese spy balloon is widespread, and I think

504
00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:22,240
Speaker 1: it's on both sides of the aisle. People have a

505
00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:25,600
Speaker 1: lot of questions and are irritated that we learned about

506
00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:30,160
Speaker 1: it via Twitter and noting the via the administration actually

507
00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:34,360
Speaker 1: telling us what the hell was going on. Tuesday night

508
00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:36,800
Speaker 1: is the State of the Union. I will be there

509
00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:39,480
Speaker 1: at the State of the Union. I've been at a

510
00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:42,080
Speaker 1: lot of state State of the Union addresses. You know,

511
00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:44,360
Speaker 1: I'll tell you. For the State of the Union, each

512
00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:47,600
Speaker 1: Senator is given the opportunity to invite a guest, and

513
00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:50,480
Speaker 1: so the guest I've invited to Tuesday State of the

514
00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:55,640
Speaker 1: Union is Lieutenant Levi Baird, who's a Navy surface warfare officer.

515
00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:59,120
Speaker 1: He's a Texas resident, he's a top rated officer, and

516
00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:01,760
Speaker 1: he's currently a signed as an instructor at the Navy's

517
00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:06,400
Speaker 1: Surface Warfare School. And in March of twenty two, he

518
00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:10,880
Speaker 1: faced a separation board because he declined to get the

519
00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:15,400
Speaker 1: COVID vaccine, and before they could kick him out, a

520
00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:20,440
Speaker 1: federal judge entered an injunction preventing them from kicking him out.

521
00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:23,320
Speaker 1: But now the Navy is trying to recoup from him

522
00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:27,480
Speaker 1: seventy five thousand dollars that they already paid him because

523
00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:30,440
Speaker 1: he wasn't named a department head and he didn't make

524
00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:34,560
Speaker 1: department head because he made the personal decision not to

525
00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:39,160
Speaker 1: receive the COVID vaccine due to his sincere religious objection.

526
00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:43,800
Speaker 1: And so I'm really proud to be welcoming Lieutenant Baird

527
00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:45,800
Speaker 1: to the State of the Union, and I hope that

528
00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:49,880
Speaker 1: his being there will cause those in the media to

529
00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:54,400
Speaker 1: tell his story because it really underscores how grotesquely unfair

530
00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:59,720
Speaker 1: Joe Biden's policies are that are punishing these American hero

531
00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:03,600
Speaker 1: these sailors and soldiers and airmen and marines and coast

532
00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:07,520
Speaker 1: guardsmen who spent their lives defending this nation, and yet

533
00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:13,680
Speaker 1: this administration is doing everything they can to punish them

534
00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:18,040
Speaker 1: for making their own personal medical choice, consistent with their

535
00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:22,000
Speaker 1: own conscience, consistent with their own faith. Yeah, it's a

536
00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:24,800
Speaker 1: perfect person invite to say of the Union and bring

537
00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:26,959
Speaker 1: light to that. We will be back with you, by

538
00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:30,080
Speaker 1: the way, doing a special show the night of the

539
00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:32,200
Speaker 1: Stay of the Union super late. You guys will get

540
00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:35,080
Speaker 1: that on Wednesday morning as well, So make sure you

541
00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:38,680
Speaker 1: hit that subscribe or auto download button. It makes you

542
00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:42,200
Speaker 1: tell your family and friends about this podcast. Please pray

543
00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:45,520
Speaker 1: for that American hostage and reach out to your congressman center.

544
00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:49,800
Speaker 1: We don't need this to lose any momentum right now.

545
00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:52,480
Speaker 1: We need to keep focusing on that. We'll see you

546
00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:55,320
Speaker 1: back here at Wednesday morning. Make sure you join a

547
00:32:55,360 --> 00:32:57,560
Speaker 1: send center, have fun to stay the Union as always,

548
00:32:57,640 --> 00:33:01,840
Speaker 1: and over under this a shorter long speech under thirty

549
00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:04,880
Speaker 1: minutes or over thirty minutes your thoughts. That's an easy one.

550
00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:08,720
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm gonna predict an hour and twenty

551
00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:11,000
Speaker 1: one minutes. Oh, I like it all right, hour and

552
00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:14,960
Speaker 1: twenty one. I'm gonna go fifty two minutes all right, Well,

553
00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:17,800
Speaker 1: you know you didn't quite prices right me. You didn't

554
00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:20,920
Speaker 1: say an hour and twenty minutes. So we'll see how

555
00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:23,440
Speaker 1: it shakes out. Done, I love it all right, We'll

556
00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:25,120
Speaker 1: see how you guys back here Wednesday morning,