BLOGMay 09, 2017

The Untold, Pivotal Role Faith Played in Jackie Robinson's Life

Ed Henry, chief national correspondent for Fox News Channel, joined Glenn on radio Tuesday to talk about his new book 42 Faith: The Rest of the Jackie Robinson Story. While the 2013 movie 42 was excellent, it barely covered a key component to the Jackie Robinson story: faith. Henry set out to correct the record.

"I found out new information, which is why I wrote this book," Henry relayed. "Branch Rickey, right before signing Jackie to the first contract in 1945, secretly had doubts --- he had second thoughts, he almost pulled out. But it was a secret meeting with the minister in Brooklyn at a wonderful church that still stands today, Plymouth Church, which was a stop on the Underground Railroad in the 1800s."

The iconic church was pivotal in ending slavery in the 1800s, as well as launching the career of Jackie Robinson, the first African-American player in Major League Baseball, in the 1940s. In 42 Faith: The Rest of the Jackie Robinson Story, Henry explained how Rickey, the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, needed to be in the presence of God to know he was doing the right thing.

"After pacing and praying on all of this . . . Branch Rickey finally sits down, starts crying and says to the minister, I've decided to sign Jackie to the first contract," Henry said.

Throughout Jackie Robinson's life, faith played a major role --- saving him as a young man and changing the course of history as a baseball player.

It took Henry nearly 10 years to research and write the book in his downtime. 42 Faith: The Rest of the Jackie Robinson Story is available in bookstores everywhere.

Enjoy the complimentary clip or read the transcript for details.

GLENN: Welcome to the program, Ed Henry. How are you, sir?

ED: Good. Thanks for having me on, Glenn.

GLENN: You bet. I would love to talk to you about politics and what you see going on. But I really want to spend some time talking about Jackie Robinson. Because I think until we get the story of America right and the story of our heroes, we're never going to be able to -- we're playing games, and we're never going to be able to fix our country.

ED: Yeah.

GLENN: So I'm glad you're here. And your book is absolutely fantastic. I don't -- I don't follow -- you know, I don't follow sports. But even I know who Jackie Robinson is.

ED: Uh-huh.

GLENN: At least that's what I thought until I read your book.

ED: Well, I appreciate that because I think there's a whole lot more to the story.

And Hollywood doesn't want, as you know, better than anyone, to touch faith and God. They don't want to talk about that. And so there was a movie, 42, about Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey, the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, who signed him to the first contract to break the color barrier in major legal baseball, which obviously, as you suggest did not just change sports. It changed America for the better, forever.

GLENN: Yeah.

ED: But Hollywood, you know, the 42 movie was wonderful. But it did not -- it barely mentioned God. I found out new information, which is why I wrote this book, that Branch Rickey, right before signing Jackie to the first contract in 1945, secretly had doubts. He had second thoughts. He almost pulled out. But it was a secret meeting with the minister in Brooklyn at a wonderful church that still stands today, Plymouth Church, which was a stop on the Underground Railroad in the 1800s.

So when you talk about getting our history right, this was a pivotal church in helping end slavery in the 1800s. And then in 1945, Branch Rickey, I learned -- and it's in 42 Faith -- basically goes to this minister and says, "I don't know if I can go through with this," because this was such a controversial move in '45 to move to integrate Major League Baseball. And after pace and praying on all of this, a 45-minute meeting that I uncover the details of, which this minister in Brooklyn, Branch Rickey finally sits down, starts crying and says to the minister, I've decided to sign Jackie to the first contract. I needed to be in your presence, he says to the minister. I needed to be in God's presence to know it was the right thing to do. I thought --

GLENN: Okay. So if this were story were told today or happened today, here's how this story would be spun: That Branch Rickey wanted to do it because he was going to have all kinds of publicity and that would be good for the club. And he made this pilgrimage to a black church that was a perfect church because of the history so everybody would know. And he was only doing this for show.

ED: Yeah.

GLENN: Correct?

ED: Yeah, I think --

GLENN: Correct that.

ED: Correct, that that would be the way it might be played now. But the fact of the matter is what this led me to do was go on a journey and think and figure out and research. And I spent almost ten years doing this on the side, you know, on the back-burner, while covering politics, as you said at the top. It made me say, wait a second, how much did God and faith in God play in this monumental decision, that, again, wasn't just baseball? But maybe more importantly, how much did faith play in helping Jackie Robinson overcome people shouting the N-word at him, literally threatening his life because he wanted to play baseball.

And I found a lot of new information. I'll tell you one quick story about Branch Rickey. In the early 1900s, he grows up on a farm in Ohio, along the Kentucky border. And he goes to his mom, Branch Rickey does, and says, I want to become a Big League ballplayer. She says no. She was a Methodist and said, "All baseball players do is drink and swear and party, and you're not doing that."

Well, Branch Rickey goes back to her the next day. This is somebody who didn't take no for an answer obviously, or he might have backed down and not integrated the game of baseball, decades later. But in the early 1900s, he said, mom, if you let me chase my dream to play Big League Baseball, I will never play on Sunday.

And do you know that Rickey became a big league player before he was a famous executive? A lot of people don't know that. He never played on Sunday. It's one reason why he got cut because owners of various teams said, "Why am I paying you a full week's salary when you won't play on Sunday to honor God?"

And then fast-forward to after he signs Jackie Robinson, and he's this famous executive for the Brooklyn Dodgers. I interviewed Branch Rickey's grandson. Branch Rickey III, who is still alive, he said that in the '40s and '50s, Rickey would never go to Ebbets Field on Sunday, even though he was running the team. His parents had died. Glenn, he had already -- that commitment he made to his parents was basically null and void, but he felt like he needed to honor that. That shows commitment, character, we don't see today. It shows a commitment to God that people are frankly scared to talk about and say out loud today. But Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson, they were one white, one black, different generations. Didn't have a lot in common, but they both had a deep faith in God. And that's why I think there's a lot more to this story that people didn't want to talk about.

GLENN: So let's talk about Jackie Robinson. I had absolutely no idea that, A, he was a Sunday teacher and that he gave a lot of sermons.

ED: Yes. And I want to tell you about some of them. First of all, in terms of Sunday school, this is a man, Jackie Robinson, who grow up -- you know, he's raised by a single mom in Pasadena, California. We hear about this a lot today, not just in the African-American community. Communities all around the country. And say, "Well, these kids end up joining gangs. And they've got no hope." Well, guess what, Jackie Robinson joined a gang. He's a teenager in Pasadena. He has a criminal record. He was arrested several times, Glenn. And people don't know that about the story. And you know how he got out of it? His mom Mali, Mali Robinson was a woman of faith. She happened also to be a Methodist, like Branch Rickey and his family. Interesting connection. Coincidental perhaps, but still interesting.

And a Christian minister named Reverend Carl Downs in Pasadena pulled Jackie aside as a teenager and said, "You're going the wrong way. Unless you get your life back on track, you're going to waste all this athletic talent."

So the Sunday school you mentioned is, I find in my research that Jackie becomes this four-letter man at UCLA: Baseball, basketball, football, and track and field. He stars as a football player at UCLA on Saturdays. Gets up Sunday.

He's a running back. So he's beaten and bruised, like any other running back. And what does he do on Sunday morning? Gets out of bed. Gets off that UCLA campus and goes back to Pasadena in order to teach Sunday school with the Reverend Carl Downs. This minister had saved his life, and he felt like he had a commitment to him.

Again, to me, there was a wonderful parallel there with Branch Rickey about that commitment to his parents about faith and not playing. Not working on Sundays.

Jackie Robinson -- how many athletes today, either college or pro, get out of bed on Sunday morning and say, you know, I'm going to teach Sunday school before I go to the game or before I do this or that? This is somebody who gave back and understood it. We can get into the sermons as well that he did after his playing days. But I think faith in God is at the center of the story and that's why we call it 42 Faith.

GLENN: I will tell you that I teach Sunday school, and it is impossible -- almost every week, I think, I'm going to call in sick. I just -- I've got so many things going on. Blah, blah. I'm not Jackie Robinson.

ED: Right.

GLENN: Jackie Robinson is not only playing and doing all these things, but also, throughout his life, he is pushed up against the wall. When he first comes out and he's set to make his debut, there's a sniper that has threatened and said --

ED: Yep.

GLENN: -- I'm taking him out. If he steps up to bat, I'm taking him out.

ED: Yep.

And you know what happened? We see in the movie, 42, that there white players from the deep South who circulated a petition and said, "If Jackie gets promoted to the Big Leagues in 1947, we're going to walk." And so we can't sanitize that history. There were white players, teammates who didn't want to play with them.

But you know what I found in my research is there were white teammates like Ralph Branca, a very tall pitcher. And you're right. There were these reports that came into the Dodgers. April 15th, 1947. This is now the 17th anniversary that we're celebrating, of Jackie's first game. He said, there's a sniper. Going to be at Ebbets Field. They're going to kill Jackie when he goes on the field.

And Ralph Branca made a show on the field of standing next to Jackie and kind of throwing his arm around him. And Jackie, thankfully, is not shot. But after the game, one of Branca's brothers comes rushing up to him. He had a big family.

Said, Ralphie, what were you thinking? You were standing right next to this guy. This black player, who was going to get shot. There's a sniper out there, and you were standing next to him. What are you thinking?

And he said, there are worse ways to go than to stand up for a teammate. That was a white pitcher. He was like 6-3, 6-4. He was a big target for a sniper. That's why I mentioned his height.

And yet this white player said, I'm going to stand up for a black teammate. That to me is all about not just faith, but about America, number one. And, number two, you talk about commitment from Jackie. You talk about yourself teaching Sunday school. Jackie's wife Rachel is still alive, about 95 years old. And she remembers that first year when Jackie had snipers out there. He had people sending him letters, saying, we're going to kill you. People shouting the N-word from the stands.

She says that after playing at Ebbets Field every day -- afternoon, he would take the subway home to the small apartment they had in Manhattan. And before he went to bed, do you know what Jackie Robinson, this famous ballplayer did? She says he got down on his hands and knees and prayed to God.

And I think, again, that commitment -- I'm not saying that faith was the only thing that enabled him to play in the athletics field. He had courage. He had character. But faith in God was at the center of Jackie Robinson's life. And it was not something that a lot of people talked about before for various reasons. And I think that image of this famous ballplayer getting on his hands and knees, praying to God every night before bed, shows that he got that. He understood that despite his fame, despite him becoming a civil rights icon, he was imperfect and still wanted to bow down before God.

GLENN: I will tell you that I know -- Penn Jillette is a friend of mine, an atheist, and he has courage and principles. And I know a lot of religious people who don't have courage and principles. But somebody like Jackie Robinson, it's hard to believe that it didn't -- that wasn't what was really driving. We're talking to Ed Henry of the Fox News Channel. Written a new book called 42 Faith: The Rest of the Jackie Robinson Story.

As you were researching this, did anybody come to mind at all? Are you seeing these people, Ed, in your everyday life? Are you seeing them anywhere in positions of power?

ED: No. I think that's something that -- and I'm an optimistic story. But as someone -- as I research, as I thought about men of character like Branch Rickey, like Jackie Robinson, like Ralph Branca, who I mentioned, who stood up on faith -- and, you know, you mentioned the sermons that Jackie gave. I mean, I found in his personal papers at the Library of Congress, all of these sermons that Jackie gave at churches all across America in the 1960s. He had hung up his glove in the beginning at '57. The baseball glove. So in the '60s, he's retired. He's working for Chock Full O' Nuts. He makes the baseball Hall of Fame. But, again, he gives back. He goes to churches. Not just black churches, but churches all around America. And let me read one quick passage, where he talked about how he was skeptical about federal government assistance programs being what would help deal with the civil rights crisis, would deal with the long hot summer of 1967.

This was a sermon in '67. And he said, my dear friends in this congregation, I think the black man is just a little weary of this constant help of helping him. I think to a large degree, the poverty programs have fallen flat on their face, coming to resemble just some more handouts, a cut higher than welfare.

God helps mankind, Jackie Robinson said. But he helps those who helps himself. So here is this civil rights icon saying that in 1977. Not in a public square, but in a church, number one, Glenn. And number two, 1967, 50 years ago. Think about that statement today. We don't have a lot of people in public life saying that. And here's a black leader saying that. A black ball player who made the Hall of Fame and an icon.

GLENN: So, Ed, you and I both know what the last -- since 9/11 has been like. Especially at the Fox News Channel. You've been there for a long time, longer than I was.

ED: Yeah.

GLENN: And you know what it was like when I was there. And mainly because of me causing all the trouble. Sorry for that, by the way.

(chuckling)

GLENN: Was this --

ED: I don't know where you're going with this.

GLENN: Is this -- was this your way of searching for some sort of bedrock that made life make sense, that gave you courage to stand? Was this just a -- was this just your stamp collecting thing just to take your mind -- what happened to you with this?

ED: It started in my stamp collecting, in that I have a passion for baseball. And a lot of people ask me, "Well, why in the world did you write a baseball book?" I mean, number one, I don't think the world is begging for a book about Obamacare from Ed Henry. I don't feel like -- you know, how many politicians are out there -- no offense to any of my colleagues or anyone. And number two is, you know, it's not really a baseball book.

GLENN: Yeah.

ED: It's a book about faith in God. And I'm a Catholic. I'm imperfect. But you always strive to be better. And Jackie Robinson said in these personal papers, I found, there are better Christians than me. I'm imperfect. And here's Jackie Robinson, who's pretty darn close to perfect.

But he said, I just did the best that I knew how. Paraphrasing. And I didn't want to let down my mother or Mr. Rickey. He always called him Mr. Rickey.

And what did Mr. Rickey, the general manager have in common with Jackie Robinson? Again, different generations. Different skin color. Came of age in different parts of the country. But they both -- you know, both the Robinson families and the Rickey families had deep faith in God. And when Jackie Robinson says, "Look, I'm not perfect, but I did the best I knew how." For me, this is a kind of project that finds some deeper meaning. And I think in Jackie Robinson, it's not just a baseball story. It's a story about life. And it's a story about how faith in God is at the center of our lives, whether people want to say it out loud or not.

GLENN: I will tell you, the book endorsed by Bill O'Reilly. Brad Thor. Juan Williams and Larry King. You couldn't get more eclectic than that. Oh, and Jim Brown. So no more eclectic than that.

ED: Jim Brown.

Well, I appreciate it.

GLENN: Ed, thank you so much. The name of the book is 41 Faith. A great read.

STU: 42 Faith.

ED: Forty-two.

GLENN: 42 Faith.

STU: That's the prequel. It's coming out next year --

GLENN: Do I understand 42 if I only read 41?

ED: 43 is going to be the best.

(laughter)

GLENN: All right.

Ed Henry, thank you very much. And much success.

ED: Thanks, buddy.

RADIO

Has Elon Musk Gone TOO FAR with Insane New 'GROK 4' AI System?

Elon Musk's new Grok 4 Artificial Intelligence has again accelerated the technological arms race which may soon become beyond our control. Glenn Beck breaks down what’s coming in the next year with AI, which even Elon Musk called “terrifying.”

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Last night, Elon Musk is touting this -- this AI.

And all of the solutions.

And then he says.

Hmm. Probably three times.

Something like this.

And I'm quoting. This is one of them.

It's somewhat unnerving to have created intelligence that's greater than our own.

He then goes on to call it terrifying, twice.

Now, this is a man who has launched rockets, you know, into orbit.

Going to Mars.

And he says, twice!

You know, after he sees the results of it. He says, you know, it's really -- in a way, quite terrifying to see what it's doing.

But we just have to make sure that it remains good!

Oh, okay.

All right. Sure.

Now, the key point in the announcement was the mention of ARC-AGI.

I had never heard of ARC-AGI. I had no idea what it was. But I noticed AGI. And I went, uh-oh. That sounds important. So this is the gold standard. The bench mark testing for artificial general intelligence.

Okay.

As I've said before, AGI. Artificial General Intelligence is a machine that matches all human cognition, across all domains.

Reasoning, creativity.

Problem solving. Not just specialized tasks like playing Go or analyzing x-rays. Everything. For instance, Musk said by mid-next year to the latest end of next year, it will be able to create a full length movie, just from a text prompt.
And do it all at once!

So, in other words, it will say, create a movie, and you just explain the Godfather.

It will do the casting. It will do the writing. It will do the filming, if you will. It will -- score the music, and it will happen that fast.

Almost in realtime. We are nowhere near the computational power now, to do that separately.

But this will do it all at once. It will make a movie with all of it, simultaneously.

So the arc AGI system is the benchmark on how close we are to AGI. Remember, scary things happen at AGI.

Terrifying things happen at ASI. ASI could be a matter of hours, or days after we hit AGI.

Grok 4 scored 16.2 percent on the ARC-AGI scale.

Why is that important? You're like, well, only 16 percent away.

Because last time, it barely broke 8 percent.

And that -- they took that test, last time with Grok three.

And it took us forever to get to 8 percent.

Now, what is it? A year later.

We're at 16 percent. Remember, these things are not linear. The next time, we could be at 32, we might be at 64.

We are on the verge. This is the last year of -- I can't believe I'm saying this. Of normalcy. Okay?

This year is -- we're going to look back at this year, probably two years ago, gosh, remember the good old days, when everything was normal.

And you could understand everything.

This is how close we are!

Everything you and I talked about last night, Stu, about what we're doing in January, make -- put -- does it make it even more critical that that happens like, oh, I don't know.

Right now.

STU: Yeah. For sure.

GLENN: You are going to need to know your values, your ethics, your rights.

You are going to need to know absolutely everything.

Now, Grok 4 is not true AGI yet.

It lacks the full autonomy and the generalized reasoning of a human mind. But it is the closest that we've come.

It's a system that can adapt, innovate, at a level that outpaces specialized AIs by a wide margin.

This is a milestone. This is not a destination, but it's something that should jolt everybody awake. So here's what's coming over the next six months. By December 2025, that's this Christmas!

December 2025, he believes, Musk, that Grok 4, will drive breakthroughs in material sciences.

So, in other words, imagine a new -- brand-new alloy, that is lighter than aluminum. Stronger than steel.

And it revolutionizes aerospace and everything else, or a drug that halts Alzheimer's progression, tailored to a person's DNA.

Grok will drive breakthroughs through material science. So brand-new materials that nobody has ever thought of.

Pharmaceuticals that we never thought could be made.

And chemical engineering, putting together chemicals that no man has ever thought.

That's going for happen by December.

Imagine a chemical compound that makes carbon capture, economically viable. The climate change stuff, that's over.

It will be over.

Because this will solve that! These are not fantasies.

This is Grok 4.

Musk said something that he never thought. He believes that within the next year, by 2027, Grok 4 will uncover new physical laws.

So that will rewrite the understanding -- our understanding of the entire universe.

That there will come -- like there's gravity. Hey, you know what, there's another law here that you never thought of. Wait. What?

That, he says, will come by 2027. This is going to accelerate human discovery, at an unprecedented scale.

I told you, at some point. I said, by 2030. It might be a little earlier than that.

Things will be happening at such a fast rate, you won't be able to keep up with them.

And it will accelerate to the point to where you won't even understand what all of this means.

Or what the ramifications are!

Are you there yet?

RADIO

Trump just made a MAJOR CHANGE to his Russia & Ukraine strategy

President Trump just threatened Russia with a massive increase in tariffs if it doesn’t reach a ceasefire deal in 60 days, and also announced a new shipment of weapons to Ukraine through NATO. Glenn Beck and former Department of Defense intelligence analyst Jason Buttrill explain why this is a negotiation tactic, not a push for more war.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: The president is giving a -- a press conference right now. Very severe tariffs coming on Russia, if no Ukraine cease-fire deal is within 50 days. He's also sending weapons to Ukraine via NATO.

Which I don't know if that makes it better, does it, Jason?

JASON: No. It's basically the same thing.

GLENN: I guess it's not -- we know they're not going to be sold into corruption.

It won't go to some Nazi.

JASON: Right.

GLENN: That's an upgrade.

JASON: It's actually a very good point.

Because there was no transparency at all.

GLENN: None.

JASON: Just talk about chain of custody. I saw, was it Lindsey Graham over the weekend, talking about he was expecting an announcement today?

I don't know if this was what it is or not.

GLENN: Yeah. I think it is.

JASON: We all know at the core what President Trump is about.

Which is stopping war. Which is not having it happen.

I've seen a lot of negotiating power shifting in his corner.

Especially after the-Israel thing.

GLENN: Yes.

JASON: He's definitely got the -- I don't know. It's hard to describe his negotiating.
Or the way he does foreign policy. It's almost like shock. Shock --

GLENN: It's Overton window.

JASON: They don't really know what to expect.

I think this is feeding into that. I think that's part of it.

We know Trump is not wanting to go to war.

But now Vladimir Putin is not so sure.

So I think this is the president testing the waters here. Letting that, you know, what he's done, especially with Iran and Israel.

Let that speak for itself.

And see --

GLENN: This is one of the things that kills me about the critics of Donald Trump.

The ones who like him.

I heard all kinds of people saying, oh, now, look, we're going to go to war. Do you really think that's what Donald Trump is doing.

Do you really think he spent his whole life talking about two things.

His hatred for foreign war. And his love for tariffs.

That's been a lifetime ruse, just so he could get in, and then bring us to war?

He -- he is doing everything he can to stop this war.

You -- you saw it in the frustration he had, what was it?

A week ago. Where he let the F bomb go be into the reporters with his he's going into Marine One.

He just thinks, this is just stupid. This is just stupid in Israel and Hamas and Iran. And also, with Ukraine and Russia.

But he's got to -- you know, you -- peace through strength.

He's not going to send, you know, a pallet of cash to our enemy.

Not going to be like, hey, Glenn, you're Putin. Look what showed up on your tarmac. A trillion dollars, and expect that to work.

It's not going to work. It's not going to work.

He knows that has to be tough.

And that's what's got to happen.

I don't like sending arms to Ukraine. I guess I'm better with them going to NATO.

But then NATO will give them to Ukraine.

And what difference does that make. And I don't understand that one.

I will tell you, he is meeting with the NATO secretary general of the White House right now.

And he's talking about this.

And, you know, you've got to give the guy some credit on being a negotiator.

GLENN: Oh. Absolutely.

He's -- he set all of this up, through how he's dealt with all of our situations that has come before this one.

He's actually in a very, very good position. He's shown that he's willing to -- not only willing to -- but prefers to go to the negotiating table.

He tried to force Vladimir Putin, which he did a little bit. Got some concessions.

But they did something that they have not done since Russia invaded Ukraine. They sat down and talked.

GLENN: Yeah.

JASON: If anything, he should get credit for that right there.

But now, since this is not really working.

He's also showing, that he's willing to get tough.

He's willing to say, okay.

Fine, that's not working.

This has to work. Now the Russians will have to weigh these two things.

I don't want to see a B2 flying over some area. Any time in the near future.

No one wants to see that.

Maybe we should start looking at this negotiating thing a little bit more.

Now, all of the options appear to be on the table. And that's a good thing. The confusion is a good thing on the Russian side.

GLENN: So there's a lot of talk about, you know -- from our side.

On Donald Trump, and he's really -- and I've got to tell you. I don't see it this way.

I see Pam Bondi making some bad. And, you know, maybe I'm signaling her out, unfairly.

I don't think so. But maybe I am.

I see a real problem on that. Real problem.

And that's not a problem they can't correct. They just have to do it.

But I see, you know, now people are saying, see, he's just getting us into a foreign war.

You really -- maybe it's just me.

You don't understand what this guy is doing.

And, quite honestly, tell me one thing that is easy for him to solve?

How is he going to solve -- how do you solve the immigration thing?

How do you solve that?

He's already solved.

Nobody is coming in.

He solved that. Now he's got to fight with these kangaroo courts, all over the country. Where the Supreme Court said with be you can't do it.

You're still doing it.

You're dealing with actual Marxists and communists. Who are funded by our own government, in some cases. Who are putting radicals on the streets to burn things down. And to cause havoc and chaos.

You have -- you have people now in the press who would rather take down Donald Trump, and start a -- some sort of a ground war against ICE, by using video of children running from ICE, most likely not because of ICE. But because they were trying to escape. They were there without any parents.

They were there, as individual children.

God only knows what these people have -- what these kids have gone through.

And they were working illegal in the pot fields.

So I mean, it's bad enough, California. You have pot fields.

On top of that, now you have children.

You know, picking the pot fields for you?

And you're still standing with the communist radicals?

I mean, what do you do?

What do you do?

I mean, it's easy for an authoritarian. They say, he's an authoritarian.

He's, you know, Mussolini, he's Hitler. No, Hitler would have had all of this taken care of a long time ago. Trains would have been running on time by this point.

He's not. He's doing everything he can constitutionally. And, I mean, tell me the thing that is going on his way.

We wouldn't have to -- we wouldn't -- he wouldn't have had to waste his time, today, on Ukraine. In Russia.

He wouldn't have to waste his time on Iran, and Israel.

Had Biden not screwed both of those places up!

He's been working on other things.

Look how much time it's taken. And they love it. They love it.

And they love it, that we're tearing each other apart.

It's hard. You have to question these things. But you have to question them in a way, that you're not tearing them apart. And I don't know how to do that. I don't know if I'm doing a really good job or a bad job.

I don't know if, you know, you perceive me as a giant sellout. Or, you know, too tough.

I have no idea. No idea.

I don't really care. Because I'm just saying what I believe to be the right thing.

But the one thing I don't want to do is cause more problems. Because look at the problems, that the left is causing. And, no, we were not paying attention to it. We're not paying attention to it. We've got Mamdani.

Who is -- is -- he might be the next -- he's a communist! They're shooting themselves if the foot, over and over and over again.

I don't know. I don't know.

I don't -- I mean, you know, we talked earlier about, there are some things that we can do.
That we should be doing.

VOICE: I think that you always said to me way back when I started doing this job. When I was just -- came on with the chief researchers.

When you were finally -- if you're stuck, just start following the money.

GLENN: Yeah.

VOICE: That will tell you so much.

I feel like right now, we are stuck with the Epstein thing. Whether it's because of chain of custody.

Whether it's because it's been 15 years. Whatever it is.

I think that's something that a special counsel. And a grand -- a grand jury focused on weaponization of government, as a whole, so Russia-gate. Everything. I think a lot of the Epstein stuff will come out with that. I think if you just started following the money just on the Epstein stuff.

We can block out a lot of the other things that seem suspicious. Let's say the intelligence connections. Things like that. That we can't prove.

We probably will never prove.

We all think are there. Let's not go there for now. Let's just concentrating on following the money.

That could lead us to the intelligence connections.

That could lead us to a lot of the other things. Look at Epstein's financial network, for instance. It is a maze.

This is not how things are supposed to go. Offshore Shell companies?

These are facts. Offshore Shell companies in places like Bermuda, where we get money coming in by the millions. Then we get black. They're black coming in. They're black going out.

Why is that, Glenn?

Isn't that something that our financial experts, nerds can say, wait a minute. Let's focus on that. Maybe that will lead us --

GLENN: Yeah. The question to the Treasury, were there any warnings from banks. Because banks were supposed to warn. That's what happened with Hunter Biden.

Remember, there were 80 some.

Or 180 some warnings to the treasury, from banks, saying, this looks like money laundering.

I would like to know from the treasury.

Were there any warnings on that?

Because with that many offshore accounts.

That's what those are for.

You know, it's either sheltering money against taxes, or something really nefarious is going on.

Money is going in and out, that shouldn't be going in and out.

And where is this money coming from?

And where is this money going to?

JASON: Yeah. Banks that were supposedly. Turning a blind eye to some of these transactions.

Maybe we look at some of those.

What about the charities. This is another thing.

I want to put some of these things -- maybe we can share it on Wednesday, on TV show.

Just the money alone. Is just a total mine screw.

It's insane. But like charities. Why were major billionaires, going to Epstein, to then funnel money.

Not -- I don't want to say funnel money.

But to have Epstein do major contributions to some of these charities.

Why?

Why would major billionaires. After Epstein has already been outed through a case.

What was that?

2008. 2009.

He's already been outed as this person. Which you then go to this guy. And then say, let's funnel money into some of these charities.

Why?

Unless you're trying to hide money. Unless you're trying to direct it many ways.

Again, these are tangible things that you can follow. This is money!

It tells a story. We can follow it. Now, why isn't the mainstream media concentrating on that?

Why isn't the New York Times saying, Bermuda?

There's money. And show companies in Bermuda.

The US Virgin Islands.

This makes no sense.

This is like cypress. And gangsters. And Ukraine. For crying out loud.

GLENN: Which they also didn't cover.

JASON: It's right there. Which they didn't cover. Come on, guys!

GLENN: I know. I know.

Well, we'll cover it, on the Wednesday night special.

Don't miss it. This Wednesday. Only Blaze TV.

And my YouTube channel. YouTube.com/GlennBeck.

RADIO

Everything the FBI is investigating about Democrats EXPLAINED

“Just The News” CEO and Editor in Chief John Solomon joins Glenn to explain the FBI’s new investigation into an “ongoing conspiracy by the Deep State and the Democrats” over the past 10 years. Could this investigation finally give us justice and answers on stories like the Russian collusion narrative, the raid on Mar-a-Lago, and the cover-up of Joe Biden’s mental decline? It might come down to Pam Bondi, he argues …

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: John Solomon, welcome to the program. John.

JOHN: Good to be with you.

GLENN: Hey, I just looked at the last time you were on with me was 2023. And I keep thinking, we have to have John Solomon on, more than that.

JOHN: I would love it. Count me in, any time you want.

GLENN: You are the best.

Okay. So I saw this report, and give me some hope. I so desperately want to believe, John.

Give me some hope.

JOHN: Yeah. Listen, this is a very real thing. The FBI has opened a predicated investigation. That means, there's enough evidence to support a belief that crimes occurred.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

JOHN: Viewing the last ten years as an ongoing conspiracy, an ongoing conspiracy by the Deep State Democrats to protect Democrats from possible criminal prosecution, people like Hillary Clinton and Hunter Biden and Joe Biden.

And to foist upon Donald Trump and his supporters. Investigations that weren't warranted by the evidence. And when I go through that, you can cycle through this. At the end, put a very clear pattern and time line.

Hillary couldn't get that off, on the email cases, even though the FBI got new intelligence early. Just a few weeks ago, before James Comey cleared her. That said, maybe there was a criminal matter. They ignored it.

They cleared her, on the same day, they start working towards putting Donald Trump under the boat. This Russia collusion investigation.

Fast forward to 2020.

There are three events that protect Democrats

The effort to call Hunter Biden's laptop disinformation, the impeachment scandal to make it look Donald Trump had a Ukraine problem when it was Joe Biden. And in August of 2020, the FBI gets an extraordinary piece of evidence, that China is trying to hijack the election. By creating bogus mail-in ballots for Joe Biden.

And they don't investigate. They pull back. And actually turn a blind eye to it.

Then you go all the way down to 2022. Jack Smith stuff. Joe Biden. Sticking the prosecutors on Donald Trump. When he himself has a classified document. And instead, they will project that on Donald Trump.

And you go all the way to '24, where Joe Biden's mental decline is covered up by the White House, to try to influence the election. Kash Patel's document. Or the FBI's document treats this as an ongoing conspiracy. Now, why is that important?

It allows you to go back and charge events that are outside the statute of limitations. And you can do this in DC. Many of the overt acts occurred in Florida, with the raid of President Trump's home. So you could potentially have a grand jury in the trial in Florida, where the jury is probably more likely to consider the evidence fairly.

GLENN: Okay. I don't want to get my hopes up. John, I heard this in the ongoing conspiracy, that that is remarkable. That will take care of everything that we have -- I mean, because nobody has been prosecuted. For anything.

And you just -- and you just list a lot of really important possible crimes.

And most of those are past the statute of limitations. But if they say this is an ongoing conspiracy, they can go all the way back, past that statute of limitations. And charge everybody.

However -- oh. And the other good part is, you could possibly do it in Florida.

So if you're not doing it in Washington, DC, or New York, you have a chance of actually a fair trial.

But we have been let down over and over and over again.

JOHN: Oh, yeah, many more times, than we've ever been given -- a moment --

GLENN: Right.

JOHN: I think this is going to turn on two very important events, in the next week or two. The first is, well, Pam Bondi appointed a special prosecutor, to give them the full authority and resources they do. You can't do this at the FBI, while you're also trying to stop criminals.

GLENN: Yes.

JOHN: You have to break this off. Give a person to focus on this full-time to do it. You panel that grand jury, and then treat this as a real investigation.

The second is there are two pieces of evidence.

It's remarkable given all the Russiagate. And other documents that we've gotten.

That these two highly classified documents have ever been released. But they are the admission point.

They are the events that would help the jury understand the beginning of the repetition of this pattern. In -- there is a set of documents. The inspector -- DOJ, inspector general report. Hillary Clinton being let off, in the email scandal.

That shows, that just before James Comey cleared her, the intelligence came in and suggested there was a serious criminal matter. And the FBI chose under James Comey not to investigate them.

The Democrat gets off in the face of perhaps really damning evidence. The second piece is a document --

GLENN: Wait. Wait. Wait.

Do we know what that evidence was?

JOHN: We only have the description of Chuck Grassley in one letter. Chuck Grassley has spent eight years trying to get this information released, and I think he is about succeed with President Trump. But basically they say, our intelligence came in. The FBI should have investigated, and it didn't. Instead, it just waved a magic wand and exonerated Hillary Clinton.

We don't know more than that. It's highly classified.

I believe it's top secret, compartmentalized level, so it's sensitive. But I think Chuck Grassley may have the president's attention, and this may happen. Now you know that maybe Hillary Clinton, there's another piece of evidence, that we didn't know about that Hillary Clinton perhaps got off on -- in fact, she might have been prosecuted. That establishes Democrats getting off, like Hunter Biden afterwards. All the other things happening. The flip side is that a piece of evidence. That John Durham, the special prosecutor, who tried to indict on DC but couldn't get them convicted. He writes in his final report about the Clinton planned intelligence. It's an intercept of the United States intelligence. Intercepted, in July, before -- before the FBI opened up the clearly corrupt crossfire hurricane investigation.

An unwarranted investigation of Russia collusion. A couple of days before that, the US intelligence community intercepts that Hillary Clinton had personally approved a plan, to hang a Russian shingle on Donald Trump's campaign. So basically create a scandal, to make it look like Russia is trying to help Donald Trump win the election, so they can get by Hillary Clinton's own Russia problems.

Remember, Bill Clinton, the 500,000-dollar speech fee from Russia. They got all the money for the foundation from Russian interest.

So the government knows before it opens up on Donald Trump, before it opens up on Donald Trump, that Hillary Clinton is concocting the very thing they are about to investigate.

And they go ahead and proceed with that.

Now, we don't know what the intercept is specifically. But if we get that released, and John Durham clearly was begging for it to be released in his report.

Those two pieces give us the ignition of this recurring cycle. Of let Democrats off. And pin down Republicans with a bogus scandal.

GLENN: The FBI has both of those?

JOHN: They do.

Well, they're both, believe it or not, in classified annexes of the report.

So the first one is in the possession of the justice department inspector general. He got access to that -- that intelligence. And that would be the easiest place to declassify from.

Pam Bondi and the president could do that. The second is in the John Durham Report.

He also created a classified annex to his report, that has that explosive Clinton planned intelligence. So Pam Bondi and the president could do that. The FBI is well aware of this.

It's part of the reason why Kash Patel and the FBI opened up the conspiracy case. But unless you can share it with the grand jury because it's declassified, you can keep the grand jurors in the dark in what may be two of the most explosive pieces of evidence, we haven't had!

GLENN: What makes you believe -- I'm really trying. I'm trying -- I'm trying to keep hope alive here.

What -- what makes you believe that this will actually happen.

JOHN: Oh, listen. I'm a reporter.

I start with a cynical look on everything. I do not know that if it will happen. I do know the events that they identify in the story, have happened.

Now, the investigation was opened about three months ago, by the FBI.

I had talked to some people that were consulted by the Justice Department.

Would you consider being a special counsel. Or deputy special counsel.

Now, remember, special counsels have to be Senate-confirmed so it would be better to have the US attorney and if you don't have a US attorney, maybe you go and name someone who is a cabinet secretary, who is a former prosecutor. Lee Zeldin at the EPA was a prosecutor earlier in his life.

He's Senate-confirmed. He was part of the team that broke the Russia collusion, delusion, out in the public.

GLENN: Wow.

JOHN: What if you named him and you just sped things up?

Those are the things that have happened. Now, the only reason I will believe it is if Donald Trump declassifies and Pam Bondi appoints the special counsel. Well, see if they do that, it won't take long.

Listen, this is not rocket science.

They can do this tomorrow, if they chose to.

GLENN: Do they have to do it before the statute of limitations runs out on people?

JOHN: Well, a lot of the events. Comey it goes back to '16. They would be wrapped into a conspiracy.

You can bring them forward.

There are plenty of events that have occurred in 2022, '23, and '24 that keep the statue alive for several years.

The raid on Mar-a-Lago, over the objections of the FBI. That could be an -- the -- there's a very small window left. On the China intelligence. The China intelligence comes in, in August.

That's still about six or eight weeks out.

If you open the investigation now, you might be able to toll the statute on that.

But there are several events that occurred between 2022 and 2024. The cover-up of Joe Biden's mental decline. That keep a long window for a special prosecutor to bring the whole kitchen in. This is basically a kitchen sink conspiracy case.

But that's how you point out to the mob, back in the '80s and '90s with Rudy Giuliani. You can tie them together. There are several years of statutes that are part of the alleged conspiracy. So they have time to do this.

But time is ticking, and it's up to President Trump and Pam Bondi. If they want to pursue what Kash Patel started. Just announce it this week. Get it going!

GLENN: Is there any reason you can think of, that Donald Trump would not want to do this?

JOHN: I haven't talked to him yet. I will try to interview him the next day or two, if they will allow me to. But I would like to find out. Would you declassify it?

What do you think about it?

At the end of the day, the president usually will keep my hands off the Justice Department. So it will come down to Pam Bondi, who has had a bumpy start to her tenure, for sure.

GLENN: You think?

JOHN: But at the same time, you know, she is smart. She understands things.

This could be a gift horse just showed up at her door. And if she runs with it, I think the American public will get an accounting that they've never gotten for it. Potentially, some of these bad actors, who had a fight, but they just kept going over and over again. Commit a crime.

Adjust the crime on the other guys. Create a false scandal. They did that several times.

Now is that time to unravel that. Great punishment so it doesn't -

GLENN: John, I -- I started the podcast earlier today with a phone call from somebody who I think really expressed what a lot of us are feeling.

About the Pam Bondi, you know, debacle here on Epstein.

And he said, look, there's nothing more important than crimes against children.

And all of our guts are saying, this is -- there's something really wrong here.

And now we're being told to shut up and sit down.

And we're -- and we're being told this, without giving us, as he said, help me believe. I want to believe.

Help me believe. What is your take on the Epstein thing? And why it's -- I mean, is it just Pam Bondi that has bungled this thing, or was it?

JOHN: Listen, the FBI has turned in everything it has. There's no doubt about that. I've done reporting on that.

I think Pam Bondi simply raised the expectation of this, maybe to have a Fox News moment, or just to have one of those excitement moments.

And wasn't well-prepared. And so overstated what was there. And then they've been rolling backwards ever since.

Now, I think there are two places that president Trump, Pam Bondi, and the American public could benefit by focusing on.

We focused on what the FBI got.

But probably the most interesting evidence is still under seal in the grand jury and the southern district of New York.

GLENN: Yes.

JOHN: Every time you see someone talking about this. Those documents aren't mentioned.

I think that's what people like -- the lawyers for Epstein were talking about Alan Dershowitz. They were talking about it the other day.

I think you look at the grand juries. There's two grand juries. And there's one in the Southern District of New York. State of Florida is out of Pam Bondi's control now. Though, it would have been in her control back then.

Get that information out. Get the information at the Southern district of New York.

Create a bond index of all the documents so that the people see, what's been releasing, what's not being released, the reason it isn't being released.

You have a moment of transparency, that would reboot the confidence of the American people. The trust going forward.

The second place to look, is that it is clear that Jeffrey Epstein had some interactions with the United States intelligence. I do not believe he was an asset. He wasn't a knock. He wasn't a controlled source for the CIA.

But at various times, he would have had interactions with the CIA, and the people around the CIA. By Jeffrey Epstein's own admission in an interview he did several years ago, before his death.

He admitted that he was working with the Saudi Arabian businessman named Khashoggi back in the 1980s, when Khashoggi was the main man for the Iran-Contra transactions between the Reagan administration in Iran and Contra rebels. It's impossible that Jeffrey Epstein, that level of relationship, didn't run into the CIA. And most likely, ran into the CIA.

Excuse me. Again, a few times, and my sources say, there were a few other interactions. But check that out too.

He's dead. There's no reason behind this information. So Florida Grand Jury.

Southern District, New York grand jury, it's unsealed. And whatever the CIA has on Epstein.
I think that would give great accountability.

Would get Pam Bondi and Donald Trump. And the FBI focused on other bigger things than this.

I don't think it's going to be a lot of surprises, but the lack of trust that they have created can be easily fixed with that.

GLENN: Thank you. Thank you.

This is why I had John on today.

Thank you. You gave me hope on Friday. You gave me hope today.

Thank you, John, I appreciate it. You've got it. John Solomon.

Just the news.

If you don't follow his reports. You should, justthenews.com. Justthenews.com.

He's also on X. J Sullivan reports. He worked for the New York Times and the Washington Post.

And the Wall Street Journal.

And he finally said enough is enough.

And he left. And he started his own thing. Because they wouldn't let them cover things.

And he does an outstanding job. An outstanding job. That's what we should be asking for. I wrote those things down.

Those are the things that we should be asking for.

And I think we should also perhaps start to ask the president and Pam Bondi, to open a grand jury on a grand conspiracy.

They'll know exactly what we're talking about.

And the FBI has done all the groundwork.

Now it's just up to Pam Bondi and the president to allow those two documents to be unsealed. Or to be declassified.

When it comes to Epstein, unseal the documents. In the courts!

And I don't need to know everybody's name. You can redact all of the names.

You know, when it comes to -- anybody who is a possible victim, just X out their names. I have no problem with that. I don't think anybody wants to know that.

We just need -- help us help you. Please.

Help us, help you. Because there is a real lack of trust. And if we don't repair this, the republic is once again at stake. As much and if not worse, than it was before.

Because we're now taking all of the people who believe in the country, and we're dividing them even more.

We can't continue to divide!

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Jeffrey Epstein's SHOCKING connections to intelligence agencies | The Glenn Beck Podcast REPLAY

Journalist Whitney Webb has worked to uncover some of the most dangerous stories of our lifetime, and she joins Glenn to reveal just how eye-opening it’s been. Her new two-volume book, “One Nation Under Blackmail: The Sordid Union Between Intelligence and Crime that Gave Rise to Jeffrey Epstein,” examines Epstein’s elaborate network of corruption and power, from Bill Clinton to Ghislaine Maxwell and many more. Her research into transhumanism has given her a terrifying perspective on the World Economic Forum and tech elites, including Elon Musk. And she tells Glenn the dark truth about Biden’s push for electric vehicles that she noticed while living in Chile.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with Whitney Webb HERE

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