You won’t believe why a former Speaker of the House just got indicted

Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was just indicted, and the circumstances are more than a little bizarre. Not only has he been accused of covering up `prior misconduct’ by paying $3.5 million to an unnamed person, he also tried to hide it by withdrawing the funds in amounts below $10,000 (also illegal) and lying to the FBI. Pat has the full story on radio and his reaction.

Get the latest from TheBlaze, and watch Pat's reaction below:

Below is a rough transcript of this segment:

PAT: Pat Gray in for Glenn on the Glenn Beck Program. He's back -- the show will be back together on Monday. 877-727-BECK.

A lot to talk about today as we get into the weekend. Of course, we have the former Speaker Denny Hastert being indicted on charges of -- this is bizarre. It's bank fraud, I guess, now to withdraw -- first of all, if you withdraw more than $10,000, it has to be reported to the federal government.

JEFFY: Right.

PAT: You know, they're looking for drug dealers. Terrorists.

JEFFY: But, my friend, if you withdraw less than $10,000 --

PAT: Then it still has to be reported because now you're skirting the law.

JEFFY: More times than one.

PAT: More times than one. Is that written into the law, that you can't withdraw more than $10,000 and you can't withdraw less than $10,000 more than once?

JEFFY: The indictment -- which is what he did -- the indictment charges him with one count of evading bank regulations by withdrawing -- well, he withdrew $952,000 in increments of less than $10,000 to skirt reporting requirements.

PAT: That's madness! How is that American?

JEFFY: It's not America.

PAT: It's my money. I can withdraw whatever increment I want and do with it whatever I want within the law.

JEFFY: Well, when the FBI comes to you, pal, and says, hey, Pat, what are you doing with that money? Why are you withdrawing it? And you don't tell them the truth, you can be indicted for it.

PAT: Well, the truth is, it's none of your business. I'm not going to tell you what I'm doing with my money. I'm doing whatever I want with my money. Shut up. That's not America.

JEFFY: One count of lying to the FBI about the reason for the unusual withdrawals.

PAT: Wow, that's bad. That is bad.

JEFFY: Each one of those counts, maximum penalty. Five years prison. 250,000 dollar fine.

PAT: Wow. That is crazy. So, anyway, he withdrew $950,000 in small amounts. So he did it over and over again. Now, I don't know what -- he's obviously being blackmailed by somebody.

JEFFY: Some kind of hush money. We don't know what for.

PAT: It would be interesting to know what he did to this unidentified person and they're blackmailing him and he's trying to silence them. So that's a separate issue. I don't know what he did. I don't know what happened there.

But the banking issue is outrageously ridiculous that you can't withdraw -- okay, so there is a regulation in place. We all understand it now. If you take out $10,000 cash, it's going to be reported to the government. But if I withdraw $9,999.99 cents in cash, it's none of your business what I'm doing with it. I don't have to report that. It's $10,000 or more. I didn't take out $10,000 or more. Get off me.

JEFFY: But you know --

PAT: And if I want to do that every day of the week for a year -- if I had that kind of money -- I should be able to.

JEFFY: Well, you can. You can.

PAT: They'll just visit you and ask you what you're doing with it. And it's none of your business what I'm doing with it.

JEFFY: All right. Put your hands behind your back.

PAT: That's exactly what would happen. That's why this is no longer America. That and so many reasons. That's a big one. I don't know what he's doing with the money.

JEFFY: Yeah, and it went way back to his hometown of Yorkville, I guess. Yorkville Illinois. Because it talks about the indictment -- it talks about the -- it said here that the federal prosecutors noted that -- about his ten-year in Yorkville. He was a teacher back in the mid-'60s into the early '80s. And it talked about individual A having known him for almost all his life. So it was something that happened, you know, early on in his life. We don't know what that was. I mean, it could be something someone related to him. It could be something about him. We don't know what that is. However --

PAT: We do know he's being charged with some kind of skirting bank regulation.

JEFFY: Right. Come on.

PAT: Which is madness. That's madness.

JEFFY: Come on.

PAT: We have to revisit that. We must revisit that law, I think.

JEFFY: Oh, my gosh.

PAT: I mean, if you're catching drug dealers, fine. How many drug dealers are --

JEFFY: Former Speakers of the House?

PAT: Not many. No, not many. If the transactions are -- if you're transferring money from the United States to Mexico and on your account it says, Gulf Cartel, maybe we look into that, I don't know.

[laughter]

But American citizens need to be left alone.

PHOTOS: Inside Glenn's private White House tour

Image courtesy of the White House

In honor of Trump's 100th day in office, Glenn was invited to the White House for an exclusive interview with the President.

Naturally, Glenn's visit wasn't solely confined to the interview, and before long, Glenn and Trump were strolling through the majestic halls of the White House, trading interesting historical anecdotes while touring the iconic home. Glenn was blown away by the renovations that Trump and his team have made to the presidential residence and enthralled by the history that practically oozed out of the gleaming walls.

Want to join Glenn on this magical tour? Fortunately, Trump's gracious White House staff was kind enough to provide Glenn with photos of his journey through the historic residence so that he might share the experience with you.

So join Glenn for a stroll through 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with the photo gallery below:

The Oval Office

Image courtesy of the White House

The Roosevelt Room

Image courtesy of the White House

The White House

Image courtesy of the White House

Media cover-up: Why Clinton deported six times more than Trump

Genaro Molina / Contributor | Getty Images

MSNBC and CNN want you to think the president is a new Hitler launching another Holocaust. But the actual deportation numbers are nowhere near what they claim.

Former MSNBC host Chris Matthews, in an interview with CNN’s Jim Acosta, compared Trump’s immigration policies to Adolf Hitler’s Holocaust. He claimed that Hitler didn’t bother with German law — he just hauled people off to death camps in Poland and Hungary. Apparently, that’s what Trump is doing now by deporting MS-13 gang members to El Salvador.

Symone Sanders took it a step further. The MSNBC host suggested that deporting gang-affiliated noncitizens is simply the first step toward deporting black Americans. I’ll wait while you try to do that math.

The debate is about control — weaponizing the courts, twisting language, and using moral panic to silence dissent.

Media mouthpieces like Sanders and Matthews are just the latest examples of the left’s Pavlovian tribalism when it comes to Trump and immigration. Just say the word “Trump,” and people froth at the mouth before they even hear the sentence. While the media cries “Hitler,” the numbers say otherwise. And numbers don’t lie — the narrative does.

Numbers don’t lie

The real “deporter in chief” isn’t Trump. It was President Bill Clinton, who sent back 12.3 million people during his presidency — 11.4 million returns and nearly 900,000 formal removals. President George W. Bush, likewise, presided over 10.3 million deportations — 8.3 million returns and two million removals. Even President Barack Obama, the progressive darling, oversaw 5.5 million deportations, including more than three million formal removals.

So how does Donald Trump stack up? Between 2017 and 2021, Trump deported somewhere between 1.5 million and two million people — dramatically fewer than Obama, Bush, or Clinton. In his current term so far, Trump has deported between 100,000 and 138,000 people. Yes, that’s assertive for a first term — but it's still fewer than Biden was deporting toward the end of his presidency.

The numbers simply don’t support the hysteria.

Who's the “dictator” here? Trump is deporting fewer people, with more legal oversight, and still being compared to history’s most reviled tyrant. Apparently, sending MS-13 gang members — violent criminals — back to their country of origin is now equivalent to genocide.

It’s not about immigration

This debate stopped being about immigration a long time ago. It’s now about control — about weaponizing the courts, twisting language, and using moral panic to silence dissent. It’s about turning Donald Trump into the villain of every story, facts be damned.

If the numbers mattered, we’d be having a very different national conversation. We’d be asking why Bill Clinton deported six times as many people as Trump and never got labeled a fascist. We’d be questioning why Barack Obama’s record-setting removals didn’t spark cries of ethnic cleansing. And we’d be wondering why Trump, whose enforcement was relatively modest by comparison, triggered lawsuits, media hysteria, and endless Nazi analogies.

But facts don’t drive this narrative. The villain does. And in this script, Trump plays the villain — even when he does far less than the so-called heroes who came before him.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Exposed: America’s ancient power grid is a national security disaster

Allan Tannenbaum / Contributor | Getty Images

If America wants to remain a global leader in the coming decades, we need more energy fast.

It's no secret that Glenn is an advocate for the safe and ethical use of AI, not because he wants it, but because he knows it’s coming whether we like it or not. Our only option is to shape AI on our terms, not those of our adversaries. America has to win the AI Race if we want to maintain our stability and security, and to do that, we need more energy.

AI demands dozens—if not hundreds—of new server farms, each requiring vast amounts of electricity. The problem is, America lacks the power plants to generate the required electricity, nor do we have a power grid capable of handling the added load. We must overcome these hurdles quickly to outpace China and other foreign competitors.

Outdated Power Grid

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

Our power grid is ancient, slowly buckling under the stress of our modern machines. AAI’s energy demands could collapse it without a major upgrade. The last significant overhaul occurred under FDR nearly a century ago, when he connected rural America to electricity. Since then, we’ve patched the system piecemeal, but it’s still the same grid from the 1930s. Over 70 percent of the powerlines are 30 years old or older, and circuit breakers and other vital components are in similar condition. Most people wouldn't trust a dishwasher that was 30 years old, and yet much of our grid relies on technology from the era of VHS tapes.

Upgrading the grid would prevent cascading failures, rolling blackouts, and even EMP attacks. It would also enable new AI server farms while ensuring reliable power for all.

A Need for Energy

JONATHAN NACKSTRAND / Stringer | Getty Images

Earlier this month, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt appeared before Congress as part of an AI panel and claimed that by 2030, the U.S. will need to add 96 gigawatts to our national power production to meet AI-driven demand. While some experts question this figure, the message is clear: We must rapidly expand power production. But where will this energy come from?

As much as eco nuts would love to power the world with sunshine and rainbows, we need a much more reliable and significantly more efficient power source if we want to meet our electricity goals. Nuclear power—efficient, powerful, and clean—is the answer. It’s time to shed outdated fears of atomic energy and embrace the superior electricity source. Building and maintaining new nuclear plants, along with upgraded infrastructure, would create thousands of high-paying American jobs. Nuclear energy will fuel AI, boost the economy, and modernize America’s decaying infrastructure.

A Bold Step into the Future

ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / Contributor | Getty Images

This is President Trump’s chance to leave a historic mark on America, restoring our role as global leaders and innovators. Just as FDR’s power grid and plants made America the dominant force of the 20th century, Trump could upgrade our infrastructure to secure dominance in the 21st century. Visionary leadership must cut red tape and spark excitement in the industry. This is how Trump can make America great again.

POLL: Did astronomers discover PROOF of alien life?

Print Collector / Contributor | Getty Images

Are we alone in the universe?

It's no secret that Glenn keeps one eye on the cosmos, searching for any signs of ET. Late last week, a team of astronomers at the University of Cambridge made an exciting discovery that could change how we view the universe. The astronomers were monitoring a distant planet, K2-18b, when the James Webb Space Telescope detected dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide, two atmospheric gases believed only to be generated by living organisms. The planet, which is just over two and a half times larger than Earth, orbits within the "habitable zone" of its star, meaning the presence of liquid water on its surface is possible, further supporting the possibility that life exists on this distant world.

Unfortunately, humans won't be able to visit K2-18b to see for ourselves anytime soon, as the planet is about 124 light-years from Earth. This means that even if we had rockets that could travel at the speed of light, it would still take 124 years to reach the potentially verdant planet. Even if humans made the long trek to K2-18b, they would be faced with an even more intense challenge upon arrival: Gravity. Assuming K2-18b has a similar density to Earth, its increased size would also mean it would have increased gravity, two and a half times as much gravity, to be exact. This would make it very difficult, if not impossible, for humans to live or explore the surface without serious technological support. But who knows, give Elon Musk and SpaceX a few years, and we might be ready to seek out new life (and maybe even new civilizations).

But Glenn wants to know what you think. Could K2-18b harbor life on its distant surface? Could alien astronomers be peering back at us from across the cosmos? Would you be willing to boldly go where no man has gone before? Let us know in the poll below:

Could there be life on K2-18b?

Could there be an alien civilization thriving on K2-18b?

Will humans develop the technology to one day explore distant worlds?

Would you sign up for a trip to an alien world?

Is K2-18b just another cold rock in space?