BLOGJune 13, 2017

O'Reilly's Takeaways From Comey Testimony: 'He Destroyed Any Sense of His Nobility'

Bill O'Reilly joined Glenn on radio Tuesday to analyze the headlines of the day. Top on the list was James Comey's testimony in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

"What did you pull out of Comey's testimony last week? Give me two highlights that you thought people didn't really understand, or the news media didn't get right," Glenn asked.

O'Reilly offered his opinion, including one bombshell.

"The amazing thing is when he dropped the bomb --- and it certainly was that --- that he is a leaker, that he took notes that he wrote on an FBI computer and gave them to The New York Times," O'Reilly said.

O'Reilly, who live tweeted with more than three million followers during the testimony, took note.

"My head bolted up, and I immediately tweeted, 'That's huge. That's enormous. He just admitted that he's a leaker.' The head of the FBI, going to The New York Times, a paper that hates the president? So there's got to be vitriol there. He didn't go to some neutral place," O'Reilly said.

The second takeaway: Comey straight up called Trump a liar.

"He did that because he was truly insulted, Comey, that Trump said the FBI is chaos, that it was mismanaged. So, look, I understand the emotion there. But, you know, that was a pretty big thing for an FBI chief to do," O'Reilly said.

Bill O'Reilly joins Glenn every Friday on radio to discuss current headlines. Visit Bill O'Reilly.com to follow Bill, subscribe or purchase his wildly successful "Killing" book series.

Enjoy the complimentary clip, listen to the full segment or read the transcript for details.

GLENN: The one, the only, Mr. Happy Pants himself, Bill O'Reilly joins us, beginning right now.

(music)

GLENN: From BillO'Reilly.com. The one, the only, Mr. Bill O'Reilly. Hello, Bill.

BILL: Beck, you back to work, huh? After, what, an eight-week vacation?

GLENN: Wow, I was going to start with something nice, but you go right for the throat.

BILL: Yeah, no. Everybody missed you Beck. People were just stumbling around here in New York City going, where's Beck? Where is he?

GLENN: Right. Right.

So how have you been, Bill? How is your summer going? Hello.

STU: That was it --

GLENN: There he is. Wait. Wait. We lost you for a second. How has your summer been going?

BILL: Everything is good. Just a lot of stuff going on that I have to deal with every day.

GLENN: Like you have to take the dog out to walk. You've been on quite a vacation.

(laughter)

BILL: I'm tweeting. And tweeting makes me nervous because I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing. But this is amazing.

GLENN: Yeah.

BILL: We do live tweets. We're going to do them today in a Sessions hearing. And we did it with the Comey hearing. You heard about that on your vacation.

GLENN: Yes, I did. I watched it. Yeah, I did.

BILL: More than 3 million people were following my tweets.

PAT: Wow.

BILL: And I don't even know what tweets are.

GLENN: Right. Right. Right.

BILL: You know, but I have the machine in my hand, and I'm watching and then I write little comments like, he's lying, or this is ridiculous, or this is a pinhead right here.

GLENN: Yeah.

BILL: Whatever. 3 million people.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

BILL: And then I understand that one of the Trump sons then was retweeting what I was tweeting, which I don't know what that means either.

GLENN: Right. You have to check the machine for that.

BILL: There was a whole avalanche of things that happened. So that's my life.

GLENN: Well, sounds -- sounds -- sounds good.

BILL: Yeah.

GLENN: So today -- so today you're going to be doing this with Sessions. And what should we expect? Less on the tweets, more on the actual substance.

BILL: You know, Sessions is going to have his rap down, number one. He knows what's coming. So he's got to explain the three meetings that he had as a senator with the Russian people. So he's got -- you got to do that.

GLENN: That's easy.

BILL: So number one, you're looking at a predictable set of Q&A at the top. But then it will get interesting because he has to then say, okay. What do you know about Comey's firing? What did you know about that?

And that's where it gets interesting. Because, you know, you figure Sessions was in on the discussions to sack Comey. You figured that. And how he phrases that, how he puts that, you know, why was he fired, what was the real reason, then you get into interesting territory.

GLENN: What did you pull out of Comey's testimony last week? Give me two highlights that you thought people didn't really understand, or the news media didn't get right.

BILL: Well, the amazing thing is, when he dropped the bomb -- and it certainly was that -- that he is a leaker, that he took notes that he wrote on an FBI computer.

GLENN: Yeah.

BILL: And gave them to the New York Times. Because, you know, that's what he did. He did it through an intermediary. A friend of his.

GLENN: Yeah.

BILL: But if you looked at the senators, they didn't even follow up on it. I don't even think they were paying attention. It was like they were somnambulant. And I bolted up. My head bolted up. And I immediately tweeted, "That's huge. That's enormous. He just admitted that he's a leaker." The head of the FBI, going to the New York Times, a paper that hates the president. So there's got to be vitriol there. He didn't go to some neutral place.

GLENN: Yeah, it did show that he wasn't the innocent little Boy Scout.

BILL: No. He's a double dealer.

GLENN: He's a political player. He knows exactly how that works.

BILL: Absolutely. Absolutely.

GLENN: Yeah.

BILL: And it just destroyed any sense of nobility that he might have had because he was trying -- and every senator -- oh, you're the biggest senator. Paul Revere has nothing on you. You know, all of this crap. All right. And then, oh, by the way, I'm a leaker. I did a leak, that I wanted the president of the United States to look bad and hurt him.

And I went, "Whoa." So that was the biggest thing.

GLENN: What was the second --

BILL: Second thing was he called Trump a liar straight out. And he did that because he was truly insulted, Comey, that Trump said the FBI is chaos, that it was mismanaged. So, look, I understand the emotion there. But, you know, that was a pretty big thing for an FBI chief to do.

GLENN: So, again, you didn't pull what I pulled out. And this is the biggest thing of all, especially with the news that's coming from Bloomberg today. And that is the Russians are coming.

We spent all last week with everybody, talking about Comey and Trump and Hillary Clinton, when we should have been talking about the Russian hack. I don't know if you saw the report that came out today from Bloomberg. It's an exclusive. Thirty-nine states. Now, it didn't affect the election. But as Comey said last week, it will affect 18 or 20 if we don't do something.

They got into 39 states. That's double the amount that has been previously known. And they got into the actual counties -- or, sorry, statewide systems, thinking that it goes statewide up, instead of at the grassroots. That's the only thing that saved us, was they were thinking like Soviets, and not thinking like Americans.

And they -- they hacked in, as many as 7 million voters in Illinois. Could have had their registration wiped clean. That's -- that's significant.

BILL: Absolutely. That's a huge thing. The reason I believe that that didn't get more attention --

GLENN: Sounds sexy.

BILL: And I don't think the Bloomberg thing is going to get a lot of attention either. But you're very smart to point it out, because it is frightening how dependent we are on this technology. And how this technology can be used by criminals, and that's who these Russians are. To, you know, harm a nation.

GLENN: Right.

BILL: But people I think know that. I think they know that espionage was --

GLENN: Yeah, but, Bill, this was different. There was no evidence that they were trying to work for Trump or for Clinton. They were just trying to cause chaos.

BILL: Chaos. Don't you think most Americans know that?

GLENN: I do.

BILL: Don't you think they know?

GLENN: I do. But I think we need to stop all this political nonsense and start focusing on, okay. Wait a minute -- that -- in any -- tell me during Ronald Reagan, that wouldn't have been called an act of war.

BILL: Different world now.

GLENN: It is a different world.

BILL: The primary goal of the opposition party, the Democrats, and the media, the national media, their primary goal is not holding Putin accountable for anything. It's destroying Donald Trump. So anything that doesn't play into that narrative is shunned to the side.

GLENN: So then shouldn't we as, you know, defenders of what we believe is true, shouldn't we then be saying, "Okay. Stop -- watch the other hand. Don't pay attention to this. Pay attention to this, because this is going to actually affect our republic, where the -- where the nonsense of, you know, did Donald Trump -- was he in collusion, that's nonsense. This is important?"

BILL: But here's the problem with a story like that: You don't have any other follow other than what Bloomberg has put out and what we really already know, that Putin and his hackers were trying, as you put -- create as much chaos in our election. Is that an act of war? You could say it's a hostile act. I mean, I don't know whether it rises to the fact that we start to, you know, lob...

GLENN: No, I'm not saying that we do. But I know that in any other time period, that would have been an act of war.

BILL: Yes. I'll cede that point to you, Beck. And it pains me to do it.

GLENN: You seem -- may I say something, getting away from the grind every day, you seem happier than I've possibly ever even suspected you could be.

BILL: Happier.

GLENN: Yeah. You seem almost, dare I say it, less morose.

BILL: I don't have to commute into New York City every day. So that is enormous.

GLENN: Yes.

BILL: The rest of it, I'm not going to comment on. Although, I will tell you that over a 20-year period at Fox News, I worked as hard as a human being could possibly work. And now I don't have to work --

GLENN: No, I saw you. I saw you arrive and I saw you --

BILL: So, you know, those things make you a little more buoyant. Word of the day, "buoyant."

GLENN: Yes. Buoyant. We'll say it with you.

BILL: So another good observation from Beck, after an eight-week vacation. He's refreshed. And ready to go.

(chuckling)

JEFFY: And more buoyant.

GLENN: Yeah.

When is your vacation up, Bill?

BILL: I never go -- I mean, I have -- somebody has got to keep an eye on this country.

GLENN: Right. Right. So let me go here. It came out last night that Donald Trump may be considering -- may be considering dumping the -- the special counsel Mueller. What do you think of that idea, and what will happen if he does?

BILL: Well, number one, I really don't analyze gossip, and that's what that is. So that would be a bad move if Trump did that.

PAT: Very.

BILL: I don't think he will.

I think there's mischief afoot. Mischief afoot. I think that these kinds of things get out there for a reason.

GLENN: Well, okay. Hang on. Here's how it came out --

BILL: Yeah, I know how it came out.

GLENN: Yeah. The head of NewsMax met at the White House, left, went to PBS. Said it on the air.

BILL: Right.

GLENN: So somebody in the White House was talking to him --

BILL: But Ruddy was clear -- head of NewsMax, Christopher Ruddy. I know him. You know him. He's an honest man. He was clear that nobody told him that. He just surmised it.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

BILL: Or he took something -- or this is a deduction of his.

GLENN: Hang on just a second. Wait. Wait. Wait. Just a second. I've been to the White House. I've been in the Oval. You've been in the Oval. That's a condition of even being in the Oval. You can't ever quote the president.

BILL: Yeah.

GLENN: You can say I felt that this might have been what he was thinking. Even if he said it to you. That's the way you have to phrase it.

BILL: You know, I just don't -- I just don't analyze gossip and stuff like that.

GLENN: All right. All right.

BILL: To me, if there is an official announcement -- there's something going on because Spicer dealt with it too in a coy way. "Coy," another word of the day. C-O-Y, coy.

Spicer, who is a zombie of the greatest order, you would -- you know, he -- when he starts to play those kinds of games, well, we didn't really say that. But, you know, let's see what happens -- you know that they're trying to create mischief. Which is what the Trump White House does. It plays like a cat and a ball -- plays -- you know, and throws these things out. I don't think that's a good thing for President Trump. I think he probably disagrees with me on that. But they do this, you know, to be provocative. I don't know why. But right now, I don't think Mueller is going anywhere.

GLENN: Okay. We'll be back with Bill O'Reilly. And he's got a book or something for Father's Day that will be great. And it's at BillO'Reilly.com. It's Killing fill in the blank. And your father will love it. Who are you killing this time, Beck?

BILL: You, Beck. You. You. But I'm going to miss you probably more than anyone.

GLENN: Oh, I feel like the end of Wizard of Oz. That is so sweet. Why are you going to miss me? Are you going away?

BILL: No. But I -- in the book, if you --

GLENN: Oh, if I get offed --

BILL: Yeah.

GLENN: Okay. All right. At least we know how it ends.

BILL: No, but I would never do that because I'm your biggest defender, and you know it.

GLENN: The killer was Bill O'Reilly.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

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What was Jeffrey Epstein's operation all about. If he was at the center of a massive blackmail operation to compromise those in positions of power, who is in possession of that information now? Glenn Beck and ATF Whistleblower John Dodson analyze the details of this situation and give their thoughts on what is the most likely reality surrounding Epstein.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with ATF Whistleblower John Dodson HERE

WARNING: How America Elects a Socialist President in 2028 | Glenn TV | Ep 444

The rise of Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old socialist who just won the Democratic primary for mayor, is not just a political earthquake shaking New York City — it’s a warning for the rest of America. Backed by Bernie Sanders, AOC, and the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani promises free everything, to tax the rich, and to dismantle capitalism. There’s nothing new about this tired strategy, but the media is propping him up as a new political genius. And with Democrat leaders lining up behind him, it’s clear: This radicalism isn’t fringe anymore. It’s the Democratic Party’s future. Mamdani’s rise is part of a larger movement that’s rewriting America’s values. Glenn Beck explains how New York is the prototype for the Left’s socialist makeover of America. Victor Davis Hanson, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Standford, gives a terrifying prediction on Mamdani’s mayoral race chances and warns the revolution is coming for mainstream Democrats. He also dives into MAGA’s frustration with the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files.

RADIO

INSIDE Trump’s soul: How a bullet changed his heart forever

“I have a new purpose,” then-candidate Donald Trump told reporter Salena Zito after surviving the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. Salena joins Glenn Beck to reveal what Trump told her about God, his purpose in life, and why he really said, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”, as she details in her new book, “Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America's Heartland”.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Salena, congratulations on your book. It is so good.

Just started reading it. Or listening to it, last night.

And I wish you would have -- I wish you would have read it. But, you know, the lady you have reading it is really good.

I just enjoy the way you tell stories.

The writing of this is the best explanation on who Trump supporters are. That I think I've ever read, from anybody.

It's really good.

And the description of your experience there at the edge of the stage with Donald Trump is pretty remarkable as well. Welcome to the program.

SALENA: Thank you, Glenn. Thank you so much for having me.

You know, I was thinking about this, as I was ready to come on. You and I have been along for this ride forever. For what?

Since 2006? 2005?

Like 20 years, right?

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

SALENA: And I've been chronicling the American people for probably ten more years, before that. And it's really remarkable to me, as watching how this coalition has grown. Right?

And watching how people have the -- have become more aspirational.

And that's -- and that is what the conservative populist coalition is, right?

It is the aspirations of many, but the celebration of the individual.

And chronicling them, yeah. Has been -- has been, a great honor.

GLENN: You know, I was thinking about this yesterday, when -- when Elon Musk said he was starting another party.

And somebody asked me, well, isn't he doing what the Tea Party tried to do?

No. The Tea Party was not going to start a new party.

It was to -- you know, it was to coerce and convince the Republican Party to do the right thing. And it worked in many ways. It didn't accomplish what we hoped.

But it did accomplish a lot of things.

Donald Trump is a result of the Tea Party.

I truly believe that. And a lot of the people that were -- right?

Were with Donald Trump, are the people that were with the Tea Party.

SALENA: That's absolutely right.

So that was the inception.

So American politics has always had movements, that have been just outside of a party. Or within a party.

That galvanize and broaden the coalition. Right? They don't take away. Or walk away, and become another party.

If anything, if there is a third party out there, it's almost a Republican Party.

Because it has changed in so many viable and meaningful ways. And the Tea Party didn't go away. It strengthened and broadened the Republican Party. Because these weren't just Republicans that became part of this party.

It was independents. It was Democrats.

And just unhappy with the establishment Republicans. And unhappy with Democrats.

And that -- that movement is what we -- what I see today.

What I see every day. What I saw that day, in butler, when I showed I happen at that rally.

As I do, so many rallies, you know, throughout my career. And that one was riveting and changed everything.

GLENN: You made a great case in the opening chapter. You talk about how things were going for Donald Trump.

And how this moment really did change everything for Donald Trump.

Changed the trajectory, changed the mood.

I mean, Elon Musk was not on the Trump train, until this.

SALENA: Yeah.

GLENN: Moment. What do I -- what changed? How -- how did that work?

And -- and I contend, that we would have much more profound change, had the media actually done their job and reported this the way it really was. Pragmatism

SALENA: You know, and people will find this in the book. I'm laying on the ground with an agent on top of me.

I'm 4 feet away from the president.

And there's -- there's notices coming up on my phone. Saying, he was hit by broken glass.

And to this take, that remains part of this sibling culture, in American politics.

Because reporters were -- were so anxious to -- to right what they believed happened.

As opposed to what happened.

And it's been a continual frustration of mine, as a reporter, who is on the ground, all the time.

And I'll tell you, what changed in that moment.

And I say a nuance, and I believe nuance is dead in American journalism.

But it was a nuance and it was a powerful conversation, that I had with President Trump, the next day. He called me the next morning.

But it's a powerful conversation I had with him, just two weeks ago.

When he made this decision to say, fight, fight, fight.

People have put in their heads, why they think he said it. But he told me why he said that. And he said, Salena, in that moment, I was not Donald Trump the man. I was a former president. I was quite possibly going to be president again.

And I had an obligation to the country, and to the office that I have served in, to project strength. To project resolve.

To project that we will not be defeated.

And it's sort of like a symbolic eagle, that is always -- you know, that symbol that we look at, when we think about our country.

He said, that's why I said that. I didn't want the people behind me panicking. I didn't want the people watching, panicking.

I had to show strength. And it's that nuance -- that I think people really picked up on.

And galvanized people.

GLENN: So he told me, when he was laying down on the stage.

And you can hear him. Let me get up. Let me get up.

I've got to get up.

He told me, as I was laying on the stage. I asked him, what were you thinking? What was going through your head? Now, Salena, I don't know about you.

But with me. It would be like, how do I get off the stage? My first was survival.

He said, what was going on through his mind was, you're not pathetic. This is pathetic.

You're not afraid. Get up.

Get up.

And so is that what informed his fight, fight, fight, of that by the time that he's standing up, he's thinking, I'm a symbol? Or do you think he was thinking, I'm a symbol, this looks pathetic. It makes you look weak.

Stand up. How do you think that actually happened?

SALENA: He thinks, and we just talked about this weeks ago. He -- you know, and this is something that he's really thought about.

Right? You know, he's gone over and over and over. And also, purpose and God. Right? These are things that have lingered with him.

You know, he -- he thought, yes.

He did think, it was pathetic that he was on the ground. But he wasn't thinking about, I'm Donald Trump. It's pathetic.

He's thinking, my country is symbolically on the ground. I need to get up, and I need to show that my country is strong.

That our country is resolute.

And I need people to see that.

We can't go on looking like pathetic.

Right?

And I think that then goes to that image of Biden.

GLENN: You have been with so many presidents.

How many presidents do you think that you've personally been with, would have thought that and reacted that way?

SALENA: Probably only Reagan. Reagan would have. Reagan probably would have thought that.

And if you remember how he was out like standing outside.

You know, waving out the window. Right?

After he was shot.

GLENN: At the hospital, right.

SALENA: Had he not been knocked out, unconscious, you know, he probably would have done the same thing.

Because he was someone who deeply believed in American exceptionalism.

And American exceptionalism does not go lay on the ground.

GLENN: And the symbol.

Right. The symbol of the presidency.

SALENA: Yeah. Absolutely. And I think that affects him today.

GLENN: So let me go back to God.

Because you talked to him the next day. And your book Butler.

He calls you up.

I love the fact that your parents would be ashamed of you. On what you said to him.

The language you used. That you just have to read the book.

It's just a great part.

But he calls you the next morning. And wants to know if you're okay.

And you -- you then start talking to him, about God.

And I was -- I was thinking about this, as I was listening to it. You know, Lincoln said, I wasn't -- I wasn't a Christian.

Even though, he was.

I wasn't a Christian, when I was elected. I wasn't a Christian when my son died.

I became a Christian at Gettysburg.

Is -- is -- I mean, I believe Donald Trump always believes in God, et cetera, et cetera.

Do you think there was a real profound change at Butler with him?

SALENA: Absolutely. You know, he called me seven times that day. Seven times, the take after seven.

GLENN: Crazy.

SALENA: Talked about. And I think he was looking for someone that he knew, that was there. And to try to sort it out.

Right? And I let him do most of the talking. I didn't pressure him.

At all. I believed that he was having -- you know, he was struggling. And he needed to just talk. And I believed my purpose was to listen.

Right? I know other reporters would have handled it differently. And that's okay. That's not the kind of reporter that I am.

And I myself was having my own like, why didn't I die?

Right?

Because it went right over my head.

And -- and so I -- he had the conversation about God.

He's funny. I thought it was the biggest mosquito in the world that hit me.

But he had talked profoundly about purpose. You know, and God.

And how God was in that moment.

It --

GLENN: I love the way you -- in the book, I love the way you said that as he's kind of working it out in his own he head.

He was like, you know, I -- I -- I always knew that there was some sort of, you know -- that God was present.

He said, but now that this has happened.

I look back at all of the trials.

All of the tribulations. Literally, the trials.

All of the things that have happened. And he's like, I realized God was there the whole time.

SALENA: Yes. He does. And it's fascinating to have been that witness to history, to have those conversations with him. Because I'm telling you. And y'all know, I can talk. I didn't say much of anything.

I just -- I just listened. I felt that was my purpose, in that moment.

To give him that space, to work it out.

I'm someone that is, you know, believes in God.

I'm Catholic. I followed my faith.

And -- and so, I thought, well, this is why God put me here. Right?

And to -- to have that -- to hear him talk about purpose, to hear him say, Salena. Why did I put a chart down?

I'm like, sir. I don't know. I thought you were Ross Perot for a second.

He never has a chart. And he laughed. And then he said, why did I put that chart down?

By that term, I never turned my head away from people at the rally. That's true.

That relationship is very transactional. It's very -- they feed off of each other.

It's a very emotive moment when you attend a rally. Because he has a way of talking at a rally. That you believe that you are seeing.

And he said, and I never turn my head away.

I never turn my head away.

Why did I turn my head away?

I don't remember consciously thinking about turning my head away. And then he says to me, that was God, wasn't it?

Yes, sir. It was. It was God.

And he said, that's -- that's why I have a new purpose.

And so, Glenn. I think it's important, when you look at the breadth of what has happened, since he was sworn in.

You see that purpose, every day.

He doesn't let up.

He continues going.

And it brings back to the beginning of the book.

Where you find out, that there was another president that was shot at in Butler.

And that was George Washington. And how different the country would have been, had he died in that moment.

And now think about how different the country would be, had President Trump died in that moment. There would be --

GLENN: We're talking to -- we're talking to Salena Zito. About her new book called Butler. The assassination attempt on President Trump. And it is riveting.

And, you know, it is so good. I wish the press would read it. Because it really explains who we are, who Trump supporters are. Who are, you know, red staters. It is so good at that. She's the best at that.

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INSIDE Trump’s soul: How a bullet changed his heart forever

Transcript