Speaker 1: America has always been a nation that believes in the
Speaker 1: power of prayer, and we will never apologize for our
Speaker 1: faith ever, ever, never, never, We will never surrender our
Speaker 1: God given rights. We will defend our liberties, our values,
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Speaker 1: this the Olden Age.
Speaker 2: And if you're listening to the forty seven Morning Update
Speaker 2: with Ben ferguson.
Speaker 3: Good Tuesday morning, so nice to have you with us
Speaker 3: on the forty seven Morning Update. And we've got two
Speaker 3: major stories for you coming out of the White House
Speaker 3: that you need to know about. First up, it's a
Speaker 3: smoking gun. We're now finding out a lot more because
Speaker 3: of the investigation into the Biden administration about what was
Speaker 3: actually going on in the final days when the auto
Speaker 3: pen was well catching on fire and apparently the President
Speaker 3: knew nothing about it. How do we know this? There
Speaker 3: were people raising concerns within the Bidman illustration, so just
Speaker 3: how bad did it get?
Speaker 4: We'll have all that for you as well.
Speaker 3: Also, the man in charge of the Pentagon, Pete head Seth,
Speaker 3: visits Puerto Rico without telling people in advance line. Well,
Speaker 3: apparently it's connected to fighting the drug cartels that have
Speaker 3: now been declared as terrorist organizations. So what does this
Speaker 3: mean next? We'll have that story for you in a moment,
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Speaker 3: two Patriot. It's the forty seven Morning Update and it
Speaker 3: starts right now.
Speaker 2: Story number one.
Speaker 3: House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said his panel is
Speaker 3: now wrapping up its investigation to President Joe Biden's use
Speaker 3: of the auto pen after a new report revealed major
Speaker 3: concerns that were raised within the former Biden administration itself.
Speaker 3: The new records reveal the President Biden's own administration at
Speaker 3: the highest levels closest to the president, raised significant concerns
Speaker 3: about not only the autopin use, but especially for to
Speaker 3: grant thousands of pardons. This is a historic scandal with
Speaker 3: massive repercussions, is what James Comer said in response to
Speaker 3: the newest report quote as President Joe Biden declined his
Speaker 3: aide carried out executive actions without his approval, casting even
Speaker 3: more doubt on the legitimacy of thousands of pardons and
Speaker 3: also other executive actions. Comber added the House Oversight Committee
Speaker 3: is in the final stages of its investigation, and he
Speaker 3: said there must be accountability for this scandal now. President
Speaker 3: Trump has also weighed in on this newest breaking news, saying, quote,
Speaker 3: the Biden autopin scandal is big. Not as big as
Speaker 3: the Russia Russia Russia hoax or the rig twenty twenty
Speaker 3: president show election, but nevertheless one the biggest ever. Now,
Speaker 3: don't worry the left is pushing back. In fact, a
Speaker 3: former White House Biden staffer said, the pardon process, oh,
Speaker 3: it was totally fine, saying quote, Republicans like to talk
Speaker 3: about Biden whenever news hits that. They don't want to
Speaker 3: talk about today. They don't want to talk about what
Speaker 3: is it the worst job.
Speaker 4: Game since twenty twenty. Instead, they want.
Speaker 3: To talk about Biden because Trump, he says, responsible for
Speaker 3: the latest numbers. Now let's go back to what the
Speaker 3: reality of the situation is. I want you to hear
Speaker 3: from Mark Smith. He's a constitutional attorney on Fox News Channel,
Speaker 3: and here's what he had to say about the developments,
Speaker 3: especially when it comes to Biden and top aid, saying
Speaker 3: they rarely saw or even talk to the president while
Speaker 3: giving out thousands of pardons.
Speaker 5: Let's bring in constitutional attorney Mark Smith. Mark, thank you
Speaker 5: so much for being here. This story just keeps on
Speaker 5: going and going. Let's bring up this snippet from this
Speaker 5: Axios report that says that there were people within the
Speaker 5: bidenministration who had major concerns about this quote an email
Speaker 5: from Biden's chief of staff, Jeff Zeenes at ten thirty
Speaker 5: one pm the night of January nineteenth, less than fourteen
Speaker 5: hours before Biden was to leave office, confirm the use
Speaker 5: of the presidential autopen for those pardons. I approved the
Speaker 5: use of the autopen for the execution of all of
Speaker 5: the following pardons. Thanks Jay Z. That was an email
Speaker 5: from Biden's chief of staff. What do you make of
Speaker 5: this latest Axios report, Mark.
Speaker 6: Brian, I think the big picture here is this is
Speaker 6: very good news politically and legally for President Donald Trump.
Speaker 6: As you know, there are a series of these Supreme
Speaker 6: Court cases over the power of the president to control
Speaker 6: Article two the executive branch. And historically in the last
Speaker 6: several decades, Brian, as you know, the deep state, these
Speaker 6: unelected bureaucrats have been running them uck, controlling the executive
Speaker 6: branch and running the government in many respects.
Speaker 4: And this is just a.
Speaker 6: Recent, more recent example and a very good example to
Speaker 6: highlight the problems with an unelected people run the auto pen,
Speaker 6: run the White House, and so on. And I think
Speaker 6: all this is going to be very good in terms
Speaker 6: of atmospherics to helping Donald Trump continue to win these
Speaker 6: cases before the Supreme Court, because the one thing Donald
Speaker 6: Trump is doing very very well is reminding people that
Speaker 6: as the President of the United States, all of the
Speaker 6: executive powers in Article two of the Constitution is vested
Speaker 6: in him as the president, the one person that's elected
Speaker 6: by all the people, voted on by all Americans. And
Speaker 6: I think this is very helpful in front of the
Speaker 6: US Supreme Court, which is why Donald Trump keeps winning
Speaker 6: for the Supreme Court these questions of executive power and
Speaker 6: his authority.
Speaker 5: Well, atmospherics and politics assign what about legally by the law.
Speaker 5: Is there any sense here that these more historic record
Speaker 5: number forty two hundred and fifty pardons and clemencies that
Speaker 5: were signed with this autopen do they get thrown out
Speaker 5: the door?
Speaker 6: Well, at a very high level, certainly, a president is
Speaker 6: allowed to use an auto pen or an electronic signature.
Speaker 6: I mean, people use electronic signatures to sign contracts every
Speaker 6: day in American life, and that is legally fine. But
Speaker 6: this all assumes, Brian, that the person who is doing
Speaker 6: this is signing off on this is actually approved the
Speaker 6: use of in this case, the autopen And that really
Speaker 6: gets into did Joe Biden actually approve these parts using
Speaker 6: the auto pen or not? And I think the only
Speaker 6: way to know whether or not this is true is
Speaker 6: would be if somebody comes forward from the Biden administration says,
Speaker 6: you know what, he really didn't know what was going
Speaker 6: on there being these partns were being issued with an
Speaker 6: autopen by people that lack the authority from the President
Speaker 6: to do so, and it's going to be very difficult
Speaker 6: to get those inside facts, I suspect, but the Oversight
Speaker 6: Committee is certainly working on trying to get to the.
Speaker 4: Bottom of this.
Speaker 6: But the question is did Joe Biden as president really
Speaker 6: authorize these or not? That's the factual question that's key.
Speaker 3: There is a very good chance this is going to
Speaker 3: work its way all the way to the Supreme Court.
Speaker 3: And you heard him mention there that the President keeps
Speaker 3: having big victories at the Supreme Court.
Speaker 4: That is true.
Speaker 3: I'll give you a breaking news update on that the
Speaker 3: Supreme Court has allowed ICE agents we're now being told
Speaker 3: to keep arresting illegal aliens in the sanctuary city of
Speaker 3: Los Angeles So whether it's on the auto pen or
Speaker 3: on this issue of arresting legal immigrants in LA, the
Speaker 3: Supreme Court keeps backing the President of the United States
Speaker 3: of America, and they granted the request from President Donald
Speaker 3: Trump's administration to override a lower court's ruling from an
Speaker 3: activist judge that barred Immigration and Customs enforcement known as
Speaker 3: ICE agents, from carrying out federal immigration enforcement operations under
Speaker 3: the claim that such raids could constitute racial profiling. So,
Speaker 3: whether the courts say no, we're not buying it California
Speaker 3: and they can still do their job to keep Americans safe.
Speaker 2: Now story number two.
Speaker 3: Pete ed Seth. He is a Defense secretary. He has
Speaker 3: arrived in Puerto Rico amid the US Venezuela tensions that
Speaker 3: are continuing to rise. This is an important visit because
Speaker 3: it was unannounced and not only was the US Defense
Speaker 3: Secretary there, but the Joint Chiefs Chairman, General Cain also
Speaker 3: was on the trip. It was an unannounced visit, an
Speaker 3: unplanned visit for the public to Puerto Rico as the
Speaker 3: US has ramped up military activities in the Caribbean aimed
Speaker 3: at drug trafficking networks. They met officials at the one
Speaker 3: hundred and fifty six Wing Air National Guard Base head
Speaker 3: Seth address roughly three hundred service members. Why was there
Speaker 3: and the question you may be asking yourself is this why?
Speaker 4: Now? Well, it's pretty simple.
Speaker 3: The trip follows a September the second US military strike
Speaker 3: in the Southern Caribbean that sank a vessel departing Venezuela,
Speaker 3: with US officials saying eleven suspected members the Trend de
Speaker 3: Ragua Cartel they are also a terrorist organization, were all killed.
Speaker 3: Some regional leaders back the action, others urged more transparency.
Speaker 3: Venezuela also denied the US allegations and criticized the operation,
Speaker 3: and that's exactly what should be expected. So now the
Speaker 3: question is why is the Pentagon weighing Puerto Rico as
Speaker 3: a hub or is this more about spanning counternarc Kottak's
Speaker 3: operations all together. Now we also know that plans include
Speaker 3: deploying ten F thirty five fighter jets of the island
Speaker 3: and conducting military flights out of Puerto Rico. An unusually
Speaker 3: large cluster of US warships, about eight is already operating
Speaker 3: in the region as well.
Speaker 4: Marines are also on the island.
Speaker 3: Elements of the twenty second Marine Unit are in Puerto
Speaker 3: Rico for amphibious and flight training. We've been told Puerto
Speaker 3: Rico's governor estimated a thousand marines on the island, and
Speaker 3: the Guard says the training was pre planned and quote
Speaker 3: not tied to the new maritime force. CBS News had
Speaker 3: it this way on the unplanned visit and what it
Speaker 3: could mean.
Speaker 7: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint
Speaker 7: Chiefs Dan Kane arrived in Puerto Rico this morning as
Speaker 7: tension continues to build between the United States and Venezuela.
Speaker 7: They were welcome there by Puerto Rico Governor Jennifer Gonzalez,
Speaker 7: who said on in part on X we thank President
Speaker 7: Trump and his administration for recognizing the strategic value Puerto
Speaker 7: Rico as to the national security of the United States
Speaker 7: and the fight against drug cartels in our hemisphere perpetuated
Speaker 7: by Narco dictator Nicholas Maduro. For more on this, and
Speaker 7: I want to bring in John Burns. He is the
Speaker 7: strategic director for Concerned Veterans for America. After serving more
Speaker 7: than twenty two years in the Marine Corps and the
Speaker 7: Army National Guard. Thank you very much for joining us.
Speaker 7: What does this arrival here of Hexeth and Kane to
Speaker 7: Puerto Rico's signal.
Speaker 8: To you, well, thank you Nancy for having me on.
Speaker 4: I think there's a lot of signals there.
Speaker 8: One of the key takeaways for me, aside from just
Speaker 8: the situation with Venezuela and the drug situation in the Caribbean,
Speaker 8: is the National Defense strategy, which a little overdue, is
Speaker 8: said to be released within the next seven to ten days,
Speaker 8: and early reporting indicates that there's a large pivot towards
Speaker 8: defense of the American hemisphere and away from heavily being
Speaker 8: heavily engaged in other parts of the world Europe. I
Speaker 8: think there's probably still going to be an emphasis to
Speaker 8: a degree on the Indo Pacific, maybe not as much
Speaker 8: as we thought, but this is the key role that
Speaker 8: our Department of Defense, Department of War should be playing.
Speaker 8: Our primary interest is securing our hemisphere and our homeland.
Speaker 7: John. Of course, this arrival, this trip comes with the
Speaker 7: backdrop of the United States to point eight warships and
Speaker 7: fighter jets into that area, in addition to a massing
Speaker 7: troops off Puerto Rico.
Speaker 4: If this is a war on drugs.
Speaker 7: What kind of guardrails, if any, exists, for the President
Speaker 7: to send troops into Venezuela.
Speaker 8: Well, the President has said that he doesn't want to
Speaker 8: sit or he's not considering this a regime change mission,
Speaker 8: which I think was very very encouraging.
Speaker 4: That's right.
Speaker 3: As much as the media tries to lie to you
Speaker 3: and tell you that the President's going for regime change,
Speaker 3: that is not what this is about at all. This
Speaker 3: is all about fighting narco terrorism. And yes, they are
Speaker 3: terrorists that are killing Americans. So you may ask yourself
Speaker 3: this question, why Puerto Rico, Why would you choose this
Speaker 3: for this counter cartel operation. Well, it's pretty simple geography.
Speaker 3: Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Island sit inside the
Speaker 3: Caribbean transit Zone, historically a gateway for cocaine, fetnol, and
Speaker 3: other drugs headed to the mainland USA. That's position plus
Speaker 3: US sovereignty eases the basing, the logistics, and also the
Speaker 3: prosecutions of those that.
Speaker 4: Are caught alive.
Speaker 3: And then you just have access and response times from
Speaker 3: a military standpoint. From Puerto Rico, aircraft and ships can
Speaker 3: quickly reach the Mona passage. The Dominican Republic Puerto Rico
Speaker 3: Corridor and the sea lanes north of Venezuela, improving time
Speaker 3: to intercept for go fast boats and motherships. This builds
Speaker 3: on the intricacies and the model that has been used
Speaker 3: by the Coastguard there for years as well.
Speaker 4: What is this all really about.
Speaker 3: It's about setting a clear message at the present is
Speaker 3: going on offense that the literal war on cartels has
Speaker 3: just begun. And this is part of where Puerto Rico
Speaker 3: also comes in. You have additional air and maritime assets
Speaker 3: in Puerto Rico. This will help with surveillance and interaction
Speaker 3: coverage over the choke points where traffckers are most vulnerable
Speaker 3: at see the coastguards layered approach, as it was described
Speaker 3: by the White House, will have large cutters, aircraft and
Speaker 3: partner forces and all the benefits of the DoD platforms
Speaker 3: and their increased presence combined.
Speaker 4: So it's pretty simple.
Speaker 3: President the United States of America is saying we are
Speaker 3: going all in and we're going to do this with
Speaker 3: all of the technology and the forces that America has.
Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to the forty seven Morning Update
Speaker 2: with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever
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Speaker 2: and we will see you back here tomorrow