RADIODecember 02, 2024

Did “The Chosen” Director just release a new CHRISTMAS CLASSIC movie?

Dallas Jenkins, the director of "The Chosen," have released a new movie with Lionsgate that many are saying could become a new Christmas classic. The film, called, "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever", is based on the hit book and tells the story of misbehaved kids who put on a Christmas pageant and shock their community. Dallas Jenkins joins Glenn Beck to go behind the scenes of the film, which is in theaters now!

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Dallas Jenkins joins us. Hello, Dallas.

How are you?

DALLAS: Good, I'm actually wanting to write down what you were just talking about. It sounds great.

GLENN: I'm telling you, every school should have these things. Nobody wants to arm teachers. If you put your hand around the corner of the door. And somebody in the hallway. Yes, kids will be hit with tear gas. But nobody will die.

And the police can take that guy down.

It's crazy.

DALLAS: Yeah. No. It sounds amazing. I'm literally going, I'm going to get them for my home.

GLENN: Yeah, yeah. They're great. How are you?

DALLAS: Here's the thing. I'm looking at you, and you're a handsome guy. But behind you is this big picture where you look phenomenal.

And it's -- it's like, it's not good for you to put it right behind you.

Because I'm like, wow. Wait a second. There's a difference. Like, you're -- again, you look good in person too.

GLENN: That's me happy.

DALLAS: But over there you look happy and rugged and handsome. Wait a minute.

GLENN: Yeah. So tell me -- tell me the story of the film Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

I have -- I admit to you. I have not seen it. I have others who have seen it, and just rave about it. I've seen the trailer.

This is before you ever sent me anything.
I didn't know who it was. And I watched the trailer.

And I'm like, this looks fantastic.

It looks heartwarming and funny. And all of it. And it's true!

DALLAS: And I really think -- we talked before. This is your kind of movie. I really think you will really love it.

I read this book almost 20 years ago to my kids. My wife brought it home. And the first couple of chapters, it's been around 50 years. I read it in public school, which is why I was so surprised by what happened when I read it again to my kids. First few chapters, I'm laughing. It's very witty. Very nostalgic. Just a terrific story.

And I get to the last chapter. And I'm going, I don't remember how Jesus-y this was.

Like I don't know how we got away with reading this in public school. I guess because of the Christmas of it all.

GLENN: Right.

DALLAS: I get to the last chapter.

GLENN: You get to Oklahoma?

DALLAS: Yeah. Illinois. I don't know. Yeah, a little different.

GLENN: Okay.

DALLAS: But, anyway, the first -- the story is the six Herdmen kids. The worst kids in the world. The ones that everyone is looking down on.

GLENN: This is -- I just want to read it -- it's not true? Okay. Somebody told me it was a true story.

DALLAS: No. That's The Chosen.

GLENN: Okay.

DALLAS: But this -- she captured, it feels very real. It's very nostalgic. Remember the movie, the Christmas Story. Very much that feel to it.

In this case, these six kids. They're on the wrong sides of the tracks. They're in poverty. They're mean.

They're feeler.

And this church and had this town, don't want them around. And they hijack the town's Christmas pageants. They take over the roles. They bully the other kids into saying, we will play these roles of Mary and Joseph. So of course everyone is scandalized and thinks it will be the worse Christmas pageant ever.

GLENN: Because they're so un-Christ-like.

DALLAS: Right. And so much like Mary and Joseph.

Like you can't have this awful girl playing Mother Mary. Mary is beautiful and sweet and pretty, and always looks clean.

So they get to the performance of the pageant. And I don't want to give anything away.

Of course, it's called The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

But we get to that last chapter. I start crying so hard.

I can't see the pages. My kids are looking at me like, what is going on? And my wife Amanda goes, give me the book. Let me read it.

She starts reading it. She starts crying.

We are passing the book back and forth to each other, while the other one recovers.

The story is just so beautiful.

It's because of these kids' poverty, because of their outsider status, they're actually closer to the heart of the true story than anyone else is.

And so it ends up transforming this town and the town, of course. So everyone is learning something new, because these kids have never heard the story before.

So they're asking all this question.

GLENN: Oh, that's a better ending than I thought -- I thought that it was they -- the -- the people that were helping the kids, actually kind of changed the kids to have those kids transform the -- it's fantastic.

DALLAS: That's the thing. The chump learns from these outsiders.

We've taken for granted the Christmas story and the Christmas pageant, and we think of the sweet little nativity.

And the halo around everyone's head. And the kids are going, why wouldn't they let a pregnant woman into the inn? And they're asking all these questions, that we take for granted. And so their perspective on the story is just closer to the truth of it.

Because of their unique perspective. And outsider status.

And so it just was so beautiful. There's a very common connective thread between that. And the chosen.

My passion has always been. And we talked about this before. I'm taking Jesus and the apostles down from stained glass windows.

Down from the pretty paintings that we've seen. And try to give you the most active direct portrayal of the humanity of these people, and their true story. And that's what really stood out to me, about the best Christmas pageant ever.

It's funny, it's witty. It's a traditional Christmas classic. Bits got this -- it's probably the only of the movies that I would consider to be Christmas classics. And hopefully, this becomes one of them.

That really does put a spotlight on the true story of Jesus.

But in a fun way.

GLENN: It's amazing to me how snotty Christians can get.

And maybe it's because they either -- they either didn't have that kind of experience, or didn't need the redemption of Christ as much as others do.

But the -- you know, Christ came for -- for the ones that needed redemption. We all need it.

But needed the redemption really badly.

He -- he was always around those kinds of kids.

GLENN: Yeah. He came for the sick. Not for the healthy. There's a line in the trailer or the movie.

Where the mom is volunteering to do this pageant. Everyone in the church is telling her, no. Just get rid of the Herdmans. We need to protect our sacred Christmas pageant. And at one point, her daughter says, shouldn't we just get rid of them?

You know, and she says, I think that would contradict the whole point of the story.

GLENN: Right.

DALLAS: And she said Jesus came for the Herdmans as much as he came for you and me.

GLENN: Right. He was -- everyone in that story was rejected and despised.

DALLAS: Yes. And there was also a moment where the herd men walk out on stage. And they are wearing the clothes.

They cobbled together at home.

To portray Mary and Joseph instead of the pretty costumes that were given to them by the church. Right?

And one of the girls in the choir, who is against them, goes, look at them. They look like refugees. And the main character is looking at them. Yeah. They do.

And she's smiling going, this is what Mary and Joseph were. They were refugees. They were outsiders.

It's those kinds of moments that unlike some of these other Christmas classics that I love.

You know, Elf and Christmas story. Home Alone. They're all great.

But this is a movie that has all those elements of humor and what not. But then there's these moments that they go, oh, my goodness. That is the true story. I think the moment about Christians and those in America. I think sometimes we -- it's not that we need redemption less. If anything, we need it more.

It's our awareness of our need. Which sometimes goes away if you live comfortably.

Comfort can sometimes cause you to take for granted. What -- who came for us. Not comfortable.

Jesus was born into a stable, into a rough environment on the run.

Hiding. Outsiders. Refugee. All that stuff. He came as a suffering servant.

Not as a conquering king.

And we sometimes forget that.

GLENN: Yeah. And it's -- it's remarkable to me, the best Christians -- I put -- I put a few people like Billy Graham into other categories.

But the best Christians I have met.

Regular people.

Are those people usually from the Middle East. Or from China.

The ones who are just like, oh, they -- they have to know God. Because it's literally all that gets them through their day.

DALLAS: Oh, yeah. I have a friend who runs this ministry. Called world relief.

And he said, the church in Iran is cool, man.

GLENN: Oh, I bet it is.

DALLAS: He said, we just had another great bopping. They were like, what? We had a bombing of one of our churches. We've never been closer to God.

We've never been more desperate for him.

We've never -- and I'm like, man, I wish I could reach that level of passion and desperation. Without needing to be oppressed for it.

GLENN: Yeah. I went to Iraq years ago, and we were rescuing the Yazidis. And I was supposed to come and pick them up.

And then we were going to take them to some other country in Europe.

And so when I get on the plane in New York. I'm told, you may not be able to go see them.

Because ISIS has just targeted the church, at the time, you're supposed to arrive, and they're having a final service.

And so I'm on the plane. Wondering, I mean. What am I going to do when we get there?

And I get there, and they say -- I say, so where are we meeting?

I said, oh, the church. Did ISIS?

They said, no. They're not changing their plans.

And I said, okay.

And then halfway through church, Russia said that they were going to start bombing that city.

And I --

DALLAS: You laughed at this, and said, this is not something we think about in America.

GLENN: Shh should we all maybe -- is there a shelter around here?

They just kept singing and praying.

And they said to me, oh, if we die, we're with God. Right now, we're fine.

This is great.

It was amazing to see it.

DALLAS: Very humbling. And so that's the kind of thing I'm hoping, not only that it reaches me. But the viewer, when I do the chosen. When I do a movie like best Christmas pageant ever.

It's, can we somehow remove these -- sometimes it's religion. Sometimes it's our sin.

Sometimes it's our art. That gets us -- gets us further away from that -- what actually happened. And from that desperation. And from that authenticity.

So in this case, it's wrapped in a fun, PG-rated Christmas movie. But it's all the same intention of, man, I would love to get that level of direct connection.

So connected to Jesus. That everything around you is so irrelevant.

GLENN: This is so important. This Christmas. I mean, I've been fighting Santa.

Not in a -- I didn't want to be that bad dad. We want Santa. Santa.

You know, I had fun as a kid with Santa. But I -- it was a different culture. The culture said, Christmas was about Jesus, not Santa. And Santa was just the fun part.

And it is so important. And this is a fun way to bring your kids to the true story of Christmas.

It's called the best Christmas pageant ever. It's in theaters now.

Are you going to release it, on video, on demand before Christmas or not?

DALLAS: Just close to around Christmas. But I do hope the people see it in theaters now. We want it to last in theaters for as long as possible. But yes eventually, shortly before Christmas, it will be available at home as well.

GLENN: Yeah. I will tell you, that the -- it -- it speaks a lot -- I think this came out November 5th. Yeah, eighth.

DALLAS: Right after the election.

GLENN: And it is doing really well.

This early in the season.

DALLAS: New York Times liked it, Glenn. It's got a 91 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

GLENN: Wormhole.

DALLAS: I know, there's a glitch in the Matrix.

There seems to be this reaction of, wow. This movie does take me to where Christmas should be about. And it's been a really, really cool -- really cool experience, to see the reaction.

GLENN: That's great. Can you hang on just a second? I have to take a one-minute break.

We are with Dallas Jenkins, the creator/director of the Chosen. And the new movie, must-see, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

See it this week in theaters. It will be great to kick off the holiday, and kind of also remind us. Hey, God just played a big role in our lives here recently. We saw some miracles. Let's thank him. Let's thank him for that.

GLENN: That is part of the Christmas album done by my daughter with the Czech Symphony Orchestra.

Comes out, Black Friday.

It's called home For Christmas. Can we play the trailer of the Best Christmas pageant ever?

Please.

Listen.
(music)

VOICE: They're advertising it on TV now?

VOICE: The pageant is an especially big deal this year. It's the 75th anniversary.

VOICE: I want to be of special mention to Grace for volunteering to direct it.

VOICE: You did, what?

VOICE: Oh, no. Did somebody die?

VOICE: It's worse than that, son.

VOICE: It's going to be the best Christmas pageant ever.

VOICE: Oh, no. It's the Herdmans now.

VOICE: The Herdmans are absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world.

VOICE: What did they do now, dear? Break another window?

VOICE: Set something on fire?

VOICE: Steal your lunch. And then punch you for not having any candy.

No, even worse.

We're going to be in your Bible.

VOICE: Herdmans in church.

VOICE: Oh, boy.

VOICE: We take the pageant seriously.

VOICE: It's about community and tradition.

VOICE: What do you all suggest? That I kick the Herdmans out of the church?
VOICE: Yes.
VOICE: I want to be Mary, and Ralph wants to be Joe.

VOICE: And the angel of the Lord.
(laughter)

VOICE: The Herdmans shouldn't be here. They're a poor influence.

VOICE: You don't look like any Mary I've seen before.

VOICE: Don't touch him. I'm happy to take over the part at any time.

VOICE: I can't just kick them out.

VOICE: I thought you might all be interested in one of my stops.

VOICE: You never told me you visited the Herdmans.

VOICE: I got the biggest ham for you guys. Is your mom home?

VOICE: Not when the sun is up.
(music)

VOICE: What if the Herdmans ruin this for you?

VOICE: They probably will, but it's not about me. Jesus was born for the herd man's as much as he was for us. We will be missing the whole point of the story if we turn them away.

GLENN: The best Christmas pageant ever. It is playing in theaters, right now.

And I've never heard this before. The people that I know that saw it. And that I trust.

They said, Glenn, I saw the trailer. And I saw the trailer. I thought it was great and funny.

I saw the trailer. And it seemed like a little holiday, you know, Hallmark kind of thing.

And they said, the movie is so much better than the trailer. And I've never heard anybody say that about any movie. Ever.

DALLAS: Yeah, typically the trailer is the very best -- the highlights of it.

GLENN: Yeah. So I can't wait. I'm making reservations at the theater for Thanksgiving. After we've -- we have our Thanksgiving. We'll go to the theater at night. And watch the best Christmas pageant ever.

I have to get you to correct something. There was somebody that I was talking to, that goes to a Christian school, here in Dallas.

And they were talking about it. With a more and more friend, who has a child in that school.

And it came up that the Mormons distorted The Chosen because they were involved. And so you can't believe The Chosen scripturally.

And I want you just to verify that you used the set, I think for the first year, from the Mormon Church.

And there -- all churches are involved. But you have -- I said to them. You need to go back to the classroom and say, that Dallas Jenkins has a group of Bible scholars, that look at it from all angles.

And they argue, make sure it's exactly Biblically correct. Correct?

DALLAS: Yes, 100 percent. And number one, I'm an evangelical Protestant. I have the final say and control of every single piece of content in the show. It's not influenced by anybody.

And as I'm sure you wouldn't be that surprised. But all of the Mormon friends or people that I have, that I work with.

I mean, I have people of all backgrounds.

GLENN: Yeah. All faiths.

DALLAS: And lack thereof.

Half of my cast weren't believers. But there hasn't been any arguments. None of them said, well, we wished we would do this instead.

Like, it's the gospels. It's the story of Jesus.

GLENN: It's pretty cut and dry.

DALLAS: The arguments we have about Jesus. Are based on things that took place after he was here. Or before he was here on earth.

It was astonishing some of the rumors. I use a set that was owned by the church.

It's not like they said, okay. Now, if you will use our set, you have to Mormon this up --

GLENN: Yeah.

DALLAS: Because this set doesn't come free.

GLENN: That was the first time I ever had to defend my Christian friend. Against like the Mormons.

It was weird.

DALLAS: Yeah. No. It's been -- it's been wonderful. And a great, great relationship with everyone who was involved.

GLENN: Thank you so much for everything that you do.

Dallas Jenkins. Movie, Best Christmas Pageant Ever. See it.

Democrats in Congress CROSSED a Red Line that We Can NEVER Accept

America just crossed a constitutional red line — and Glenn Beck breaks down why this moment may be the one historians look back on as the final warning before national fracture. From Congress signaling military insubordination, to judges erasing separation-of-powers, to a cultural class obsessed with ideology instead of safeguarding the republic, the “Bubba Effect” is now in full force. Glenn explains why collapsing institutions, media silence, and public distrust are creating a perfect storm — and why citizenship, not rage, is the only path to restoring the republic. Are we witnessing the moment America snaps, or the moment Americans finally wake up?

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Welcome to the Glenn Beck Program.

We're glad you're here. I want to talk to you today. Today's theme of the show is the Bubba Effect. Because it's here. And we are seeing it in full force. I will show it to you in Dearborn, Michigan. I will show it to you with Nick Fuentes. I will show it to you, with Epstein.

And I just showed it to you, a different kind of the Bubba Effect, institutional Bubba Effect. With that statement that came out, you know, telling the troops to, you know, disown, you know, the president. Or don't -- don't follow orders.

Question orders.

And you should do that. And that is something they're taught in the military. But they're taught within the system.

You know, it's not just that they made a message to the military.

They sent that message.

Imagine if the Duma would have sent that message to Putin. And we received it, and saw it. We would be like, their government is fall apart.

Their military is falling apart.

Look at this. What message is that sending to China and Russia and all their allies.

It's bad. It's very bad. There is a moment in every republic. Every empire. Every nation. The historians will look back and say, yep. That was it.

That was the biggest warning. That was the last warning.

And I think we are living in that moment right now.

When Congress told active duty military to ignore the orders of the commander-in-chief, you've got a problem.

When you can't get a federal judge impeached, because he approved something that has never been done in American history.

Granting one branch of the government, the right to secretly surveil the other without notice.

You have to -- constitutionally, you must notify you're under surveillance.

Okay?

If they're doing a mass thing. You have to notify.

Because that's a second branch!

Otherwise, you break up the branches, okay?

These are not political stories.

These are constitutional earthquakes.

And no one is talking about them! So now the question is: What now?

What has to happen, if the republic has to survive the stress of these fractures. That everybody seems to be creating or dancing on.

Let me outline it plainly here. Because all of us have a role. One, Congress. Congress, you have to discipline your own. If lawmakers can publicly encourage military resistance without consequence, then Congress has surrendered its moral authority.

You cannot police the executive branch. You can't oversee the intelligence agencies. You can't demand transparency, if you cannot police your own members.

Censure is not vengeance. It's maintenance. It's routine. It's necessary.
Constitutional maintenance. And if Congress refuses to do it, then the precedent remains. It gets worse.

And history shows us, no nation survives a politicized military. Ever!

Two, the military.

You to have restate the -- the chain of command.

Publicly and immediately. The Joint Chiefs don't need a press conference. They don't need hearings. They just need to say, the United States armed forces obey all lawful orders of the president.

That sentence, those exact words, that's the firewall between an American republic, and every failed nation in history.

The silence so far is not reassuring.

Three, the judiciary.

Especially the Supreme Court. Close the door on the book -- the Boasberg case! He opened a door that is so dangerous.

No judge, no matter how noble his intentions, has the authority to rewrite the separation of powers.

If one branch can secretly spy on another, then you have no checks and balances! You had a surveillance government. The Supreme Court must intervene. Not Trump! Not even Congress. But for the survival of coequal branches, if they don't, this is the new normal!

And you don't come back from that one, either! And now, the hardest part, the that one everybody talks about. Nobody does. The role of the cultural leaders and people like me in the media. In a functioning republic, this is supposed to be where the media steps in!

This is where the cultural leaders. The voices, left, right, center, stop obsessing over click bait. And start explaining to the people, what just happened. Why it's unprecedented, why it matters. How we as citizens need to respond. But look around. Do you see anyone in the press doing that?

Do you see anyone in Hollywood, doing that?

Do you see anyone in academia doing that? No. You don't. Because America's cultural class no longer sees its role as the guardian of the republic. Who is the guardian?

They're guardians of ideology. So what do we do?

Well, we do what Americans have always done, when institutionals fail. We step in our self. But if we don't care, that's it.

The Founders never trusted the press.

They trusted the people.

So that's where we are now.

And we all have to model what a responsible media. Or a responsible citizen should be doing.

So let me show you right now, how a responsible broadcaster responds to a constitutional breach.

My fellow Americans. This is not about Donald Trump.

This is not about Democrats. This is not about Republicans.

It's not how you vote.

This is about whether the military stays under civilian authority.

Whether our adversaries overseas are given the indication that we are ripe for the taking. This is about judges, that want to erase the separation of powers!

The separation of power is what has kept this constitutional republic going for all of these years!

Most importantly, this is about whether your children will inherit a functioning republic. And if the mainstream media won't tell you, then I will!

That right there, is the job. To preserve the republic!

So our children and grandchildren and that is what we all should be doing. That's what the press should be doing. That's what the cultural figures should be doing.

You call out the violations of Constitutional order, no matter who benefits. No matter who gets angry. No matter what tribe demands your silence. This is what leadership looks like!

This is wrong! This has never been done before. This breaks Constitutional boundaries.

And it has to be corrected immediately!

Americans, you understand the Bubba Effect is here. And it's everywhere!

You're going to see people that you're like, well, he's really wrong on that! And that's really outrageous. And I don't agree with that.

But at least he's right on this one!

And it will always be to question the system. To break it down.

So what do you do?

Well, you don't riot. You don't panic. You don't is it fair. We're headed into Thanksgiving. Give thanks for the crosses that we bear. Give thanks because our liberty, our freedom, should we decide to keep it, will be more valuable to us.

But you should call your representatives. I'm so sick of calling my representatives. But you should do it anyway.

You need to demand transparency. You need to insist on consequences! Don't normalize what is happening. Well, they're all like that! Stop it!
Stop it.

If that's what you expect, that is what you will get. But understand this: The cure for Constitutional drift is not rage. The answer is not anger. It's not division. It is citizenship!

It's also not apathy. If we sleep through this, the system will break, guaranteed.

But if you wake up, stand up, and insist on boundaries, eventually it will happen! I know you're tired.

I know you don't want to do it anymore. I know you're just desperate for an answer. Because the time is running short.

But now is not the time to act in -- in ways where we dishonor ourselves. In ways where we -- we throw in with a lot. We're like, that's really bad!

But at least they're pointing it out. You point it out! Once you start standing up, once we as a people, all you need is 20 percent! Twenty percent. Anywhere between 15 and 20 percent of the American people. If they understand the Constitution, if they understand the Bill of Rights. If they understand that God has put us in this place, at this time, and each of us have a reason to live!

We're here for a reason!

Everything snaps back into place!

It always has!

From 1800 to 1868 to 1974.

Institutions bend.

People break. But the Constitution can be restored.

But if -- and only if, you know it, you love it. You never betray it yourself, and you demand it of the people who represent us.

5,000 missed wires? Epstein bank scandal just EXPLODED

New evidence suggests that JPMorgan Chase overlooked 5,000 "yellow ticket" suspiciouos activity flags connected to Jeffrey Epstein, which resulted in #1.$ BILLION in sketchy transactions. Glenn Beck explains why this may be the scandal that finally brings some of Epstein's enablers to justice.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So where does the real story lie with the Epstein story? And I think it's the money, okay?

That's the real story. I'll tell you about the billions who have gone to terrorists from the US and Minnesota taxpayers here in a second.

And when I talk about that, what most people will do, is they'll fight over ICE.

They'll say it's Islamophobia. They'll fight over CAIR. Whatever. USAID, when that went down. Well, that's just about feeding hungry children. It's all misdirection, to get you away from the money. So let me bring this now to Epstein.

When a banker detects suspicious activity, when they see something that looks like money laundering. Human trafficking. Tax evasion. Sending money overseas to terrorists. They don't send a polite note to the supervisor, in hopes somebody reads it.

They are required by federal law, after 9/11, to file what is called a SAR. It's a Suspicious Activity Report.

A SAR.

They have to report that directly to the US Treasury Department. Through FinCEN. Financial center of crimes. Okay?

Once a SAR is filed. The bank isn't even allowed to tell you that they filed it. They just hit send. It's locked. The Treasury is notified. Now, this system like I said, was built after 9/11.

Built after decades of financial corruption.

A system design that no single banker. No single executive. No single billionaire can make illicit money and then have it just disappear offshore.

This is -- this is activated. If you draw $10,000 out, of your account. You are moving $10,000. You get a SAR report. And it goes directly to the Treasury. And when the bank flags something suspicious, it's called -- the SAR is called a yellow ticket. And it's not a suggestion. It's not a memo. It is a federal alert. That triggers monitoring by the Treasury, the FBI, Homeland Security. Depending on what the flags indicate. Now, that you understand that, let me talk to you about Jeffrey Epstein.

Between 2002 and 2016, JPMorgan Chase filed seven SARS. Seven yellow tickets on Epstein. Seven! Over 14 years. Those reports flagged a grand total of $4.3 million in sketchy activity.

Okay. It's all -- you know, it's a decade replace plus, $4 million.

You can make all kinds of excuses for that. Right? But after Epstein died, when the government finally unsealed the sex trafficking details, details that they had held on to for years. JP Morgan Chase suddenly panicked. Because the floodgates suddenly opened. In 2019, two SARS were flagged. Two SARS were sent to the Treasury.

They flagged over 5,000 suspicious wire transfers. We're not talking $4 million.

This is 1.3 billion dollars. Five thousand suspicious activity transfers, and transactions, of 1.3 billion dollars.

Now, let me just say this clearly, so nobody really misses the gravity of this. You do not accidentally forget to report 5,000 suspicious wires.

You don't like, where did we put that $1.3 billion.

Okay. You don't misplace a billion dollars in wires, to foreign banks and Shell companies, connected to then a convicted sex offender under federal investigation. It doesn't happen. It doesn't happen.

It doesn't happen, because a Jr banker made a mistake.

It doesn't happen because the compliance officer was sleepy. It doesn't happen because somebody's inbox was full.

To not report that level of suspicious activities directly to the Treasury, first of all, is against all federal law.

And at a minimum, multiple officers, multiple departments. Multiple signoffs, choosing not to look.

$1.3 billion. 5,000 suspicious activities. Hmm.

Why?

Why did nobody report that?

Well, now, according to internal emails, JP Morgan Chase held off the filing of the SARS. Now, let me ask you this: If you had one suspicious -- if you withdrew $10,000 from your bank, are you really clear that your bank would do what the federal government directs. And I have to report this.

And it's going to go to the Treasury. Are you clear that they would do that on you?

Because the answer is, yes, they would. Federal law requires it!

But the bank decided, well, we want to continue to work with Epstein. He's valuable. He's connected. He's a referral engine to some of the richest people in the world.

He had sensitivities according to the bank. Wire transfers to Russian banks. Wire transfers to Shell corporations. Wire transfers from a guy who is engaged in sex trafficking.

Links to top political figures. Relationships with two US presidents. Both of whom Epstein at various times claimed to be very, very close with.

Let me explain: Something that most people don't know. Banks file SARS, suspicious activity reports, to the Treasury, for far less than this.

$10,000. They flag it. A business wires to an unusual location. They flag it!

It's sent to the Treasury. A client sends repetitive round number transfers to an unknown entity. They flag it!

It goes to the Treasury. A wire connected to anything resembling terror or human trafficking or exploitation. They flag it right now.

Banks don't wait for a 5,000 -- for 5,000 suspicious transactions. They don't wait. They file over one!

So how did Epstein get through 5,000 suspicious activity reports without triggering any alarms.

Not because the alarms were broken. Because they weren't. It's because somebody turned them off.

I would like to know who turned those off.
I would like to know, why they were turned off? I would like to know, if it was just the leadership of the bank. I would like to know, that every single one of those bank officers. All the way to the top, go to prison!

Not some slap on the wrist. Not some, well, you're well-connected. So we're going to let this other guy pay for it.

I want all of them in prison. You broke federal law!

Something we all -- all of us have to abide by.

We -- we have had our Treasury. We've had our government snoop into our lives. Watch everything we do. And we're not connected to human trafficking. We're not selling children. We're not convicted felons.

We're not transferring 1.3 billion dollars after we've been convicted.

SARS are not -- these suspicious activity reports, they are not decided by a single teller. They have to pass -- they pass through compliance teams. Risk divisions. Bank lawyers. Federal liaison officers. This isn't one bad apple. It's an entire system. And Senator Wyden, no conservative firebrand, I might point out, is now openly saying what everybody knows privately. JP Morgan Chase should face criminal investigations, and it should go all the way to the top!

And it should not be civil. It should be criminal. Because if you or I did this, if we had sent just a handful suspicious wires, the bank would freeze your account, notify the Treasury, before you could blink!

But Jeffrey Epstein, a billion dollars worth of exceptions. Hmm. Hmm.

Wow. That seems much more important than a stupid birthday card!

Let me ask you this, the question the DOJ doesn't want to touch.

How many people does it take inside a bank to make 5,000 suspicious transactions just vanish for 17 years? Is it five people? Is it ten? Is it a department head, a board member?

Five thousand. 1.3 billion dollars. Was Epstein. Did it happen because Epstein was useful to the powerful?

So nobody wanted to know. Did this happen because others were involved?

Does it really matter what their excuse was?

Here's the terrifying question. If a bank can look the other way on $1.3 billion for a sex trafficker. What else have the banks learned to ignore?

Hmm.

I'm beginning to think the banks are a real problem. Hmm.

There's a new idea.

This story isn't just about Epstein.

This is about the machinery that allowed him to operate. All of the middleman. All of the financial networks. All of the institutions, that treated him like an asset, instead of a criminal.

And I do believe he was an asset. Intelligence asset.

I do believe he was probably an asset to our intelligence. Although, you I hear both sides.

No, no, no. That's not true. Oh, yes. It's definitely true.

I don't know what the truth is. I don't think it's unreasonable to say, he was an asset for a foreign government. Maybe Israel.

Maybe somebody else. I don't know.

But also an asset for us.

That helps all the. Apparently.

We do all kinds of horrible things. Why not?

Senator Wyden says, he wants to follow the money.

Well, good!

For the first time in a long time, maybe the money is finally pointing us somewhere. And it's not just here.

And, by the way, if anybody still believes this ends with one dead man in jail. I don't think you're paying attention!

Because this is where it really leads.

Are Antidepressants (SSRI's) Worsening America's Mental Health Crisis?

A former FDA psychiatrist reveals what Big Pharma never told the public: the “chemical imbalance” story behind antidepressants was never proven — and SSRIs don’t fix a biological defect, they numb the brain. Glenn Beck and Dr. Josef Witt-Doerring break down how America became the most drugged nation in the world and how millions are being overprescribed medications that can cause paradoxical agitation, emotional blunting, and even suicidal behavior. With 15% of Americans — including millions of children — on SSRIs, are we facing a public health crisis hiding in plain sight?

Cracker Barrel's internal crisis EXPOSED

Cracker Barrel’s massive public meltdown didn’t happen by accident. Behind the scenes, the company was bleeding institutional knowledge, taking disastrous advice from DEI strategists, and making decisions that alienated the very customers who built the brand. A major board shake-up, the quiet removal of DEI frameworks, and the sudden resignation of a key DEI-linked board member reveal how deep the problems ran — and how desperate the company was to course-correct. This breakdown uncovers what really went wrong, how Cracker Barrel was influenced internally, and why the Glenn Beck interview triggered major internal moves that the public was never supposed to see.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So, Stu, you can just questions about the special tonight.

STU: Yeah, for sure. I'm interested in this.

It's a big -- you know, a big special. You're back and forth with it. With them there. Was kind of fascinating. Right?

You have a situation where they -- they do seem to be sort of avoiding the question there on DEI. Is that how you read it? Oh, we lost connection with Glenn. Is that what's about to go?

Well, that's how I read it at least. You know, you listen to that clip of them going back and forth and it does appear to be them just sort of avoiding the question. We should get back to Glenn. Because I know he has this breaking news on this happen. Should we go to another clip on the Cracker Barrel thing, while we're waiting for Glenn to reconnect? Because it sort of sets the stage. You know, it was interesting to see their approach here, which is to try to explain themselves and try to work themselves through what is one of the biggest PR disasters probably in our lifetimes.

And let's go to this next clip.

VOICE: If we came out of COVID, A, trying to hire 50,000 people, we have a lot of our employees, original -- we did -- we lost a lot of very long tenured employees. A lot of them, a little bit older, and scared to come back into the -- into the environment.

And so --

GLENN: That's a lot of institutional knowledge.

VOICE: Oh, it hurt. I mean, it really hurt.

And in '22, as we started opening back up, we had the new menu that we had. So we lost a lot of people. We put a ton of training into that new menu.

Now we're coming back to open up, guests, any way we can get them. We had patio dining. We were testing a rock garden.

They were going to sit out in the landscape. And I always say that co-ed even made Cracker Barrel start drinking alcohol.

Because that's how -- it was out of COVID, that it was like, how are we figuring out how to drive top line sales and try to get a guest in.

GLENN: Okay. So that is a good example of you don't know any of the story. You think Cracker Barrel has never served alcohol before. Why are you shoving alcohol? That's a cultural. So it's easy to think, you're selling people alcohol now. What other values are you --

VOICE: And it's fair.

GLENN: That one, is at least understandable. Now that I understand the story.

VOICE: Yeah. Exactly. And so as we got into '23, I came out of my office administration role, and came into operations.

And I was leading field operations. And the best way for me to describe it, we were throwing Velcro balls at a wall to see what would stick.

STU: And it's understandable. You know, it's easy to kind of look at the Cracker Barrel situation and get lost at how badly it went.

A lot of these decisions come down to the information they had at the time. Right?

And they're looking at the time as a place that maybe people aren't coming into as much as they would like.

They are trying to -- maybe it's fading a little bit. Maybe some people find it's stale.

They think the situation at Cracker Barrel is not one that they're not necessarily trying to get involved with on a week to week basis, like they used to.

Maybe they had those warm feelings of the past. But they're not going in it anymore. Well, we'll freshen it up. We will do all these new things.

This will be great! And you realize, sometimes, when you're in that moment, you hit a -- you hate a vein. Right?

You're trying to do something positive for the company. And you hit a vein, and everything starts bleeding all over the place.

Let me give you another piece of this interview. Glenn Beck, up in the headquarters of -- of Cracker Barrel.

And somehow, I will give Glenn credit. Not eating throughout the interview.

I kind of thought, when they put food in front of him. He would just be shoveling it down his gullet the entire time.

You wouldn't be able to hear him. It would be like talking with his mouth full.

He got through it, without taking as many bites. Here is Glenn with the CEO of Cracker Barrel.

GLENN: Let's just get this out.

VOICE: Okay.

GLENN: What happened to the choices that were made?

I said on day one of this. I remember when they rolled out new Coke. And I thought, that was the dumbest marketing move, the dumbest thing I've ever seen.

We're taking the original formula and ditching it. And let's start over with a brand that people love.

The day this broke, I said on the air, new Coke!

That's what this is. And it was -- no offense. Stupid!

Just stupid from start to finish.

Can you walk me through how that happened?

VOICE: Yeah. Sure.

Look, our guests have every right to be upset.

GLENN: Yeah. You want to watch this. And I -- you know, what I really want to you watch for is a moment where I said to her, are you surprised you haven't been fired yet.

That spoke volumes. Her answer, and I hope it is captured on camera.

But that answer was the first non, you know, when you're a CEO. You know, I've -- Stu, do you remember when we used to have to do really important interviews.

And our PR people would be like, drill, drill, drill.

No, don't say that. Don't say that. And we would be like, yeah. Whatever.

And when you are in charge of a Fortune 500 company. And you're in the trouble that they're in, you do -- you know, you follow the people that you have hired to make sure crisis management. You don't make any more mistakes.

And so everybody was very, very careful.

They were very honest. But, you know, like that DEI thing.

She didn't really answer the question.

Of course, we want everybody to be welcomed. Yeah. I know. But that's not answering the question.

When I asked her, are you surprised you still have a job, and you haven't been fired yet. Her answer spoke volumes.

Now, the other thing that you need to know, that while she didn't answer me on the DEI thing. And I -- I -- you know, I can't tell you exactly how this happened.

I just know that they knew, that they didn't answer the question.

And somebody has been in touch with my people. And said, hey. You might want to watch the board meeting that is happening.

We can't tell you that anything is going to be happening. But the DEI thing may be solved. At the board meeting. That happened this morning. And they were going to release something at 11:15 today.

We didn't know exactly what it was.

We had -- we had an indication that it might be about DEI.

And what they've done, at first.

Remember, in August. You know, they just deleted the Pride pages. And the DEI pages.

And they just got rid of it all, at Cracker Barrel. That is just hiding who you are. The real problem was, they had a guy who was on the board of directors. Named Gilbert Davila.

And he's just resigned from the board, today!

Okay? They had a meeting with the board, and shareholders and everything else. And they voted on all of these people. And they did not renew him. And so he is -- he has resigned.

Now, his job -- he was a member of the standing board committee.

And his job was to assess the social and political risk to the company's business.

Well, who is he?

Well, he's also the CEO of a company called DMI Consulting.

That's a DEI strategy firm, that's been in business since 2010.

So he's one of the guys. He was the guy who, his job as the CEO -- as the CEO of DMI, is to promote, you know, DEI.

To make sure everybody is living up to the DEI standards. So Robby Starbuck, who is a friend of the program and, you know, great conservatives, who has been responsible for -- you know, getting a lot of these people out of these companies, or at least drawing attention on what these companies are really standing for.

He's been asking trial. What does he do to deserve this seat on the board?

Well, that's it. He owned a DEI consulting and strategy firm. That was pushing DEI and DEI advertising. So what's happened here is I think while she couldn't answer that question at the time, because the board hadn't acted, I think it's -- I think it's not not coincidental that the day the interview with her drops. With us.

Which they've known for a couple of weeks. This is when this interview would drop.

They -- they announced that morning, that seat has been eliminated. DEI is gone from Cracker Barrel. So I think that's really, really good news if you're a fan of Cracker Barrel.

And the things that I saw at Cracker Barrel, I'm -- I'm going to tell you some stuff tomorrow.

I just have to make sure that it's exactly accurate. Because I don't want to cause more problems.

For us!

And I want to make sure that I get it exactly right. But there were some things that I learned in the show prep.

And, you know, studying up for this interview.

That no one was prepared to talk to me on camera about. And always says to me, oh, well, there's something there.

And so we have done even more homework on it. And tomorrow, I will tell you about something that you might have heard about. This guy who owns, what is it?

Steak and Shake?

STU: Yeah. He's a big activist shareholder, isn't he?

Kind of against some of the leadership there at Cracker Barrel. I think I read about that.

GLENN: Correct. Yes. Yes.

And he has an interesting history.

And I want to -- I want to take you through some of that tomorrow.

I think by tomorrow, you're going to understand, what you saw with the DEI vote on the board today. Get that gone. That's gone.

The interview that you'll see tonight with Julie. The CEO. She's not who you think she is.

It doesn't mean she didn't make huge mistakes. She says she makes huge mistakes. But she's not who you think she is.

You may not agree with her or whatever. But it's important you know who she is. And what she said.

And the key tonight is that question: Are you surprised that you haven't been fired yet.

And really, what happened after she answers the question. And she's very uncomfortable. Answers the question.

And then she immediately switches topics. And I'm like, wait. Wait. Wait.

Stop. Stop. Go back. Why are you switching topics here?

Because it was an amazing moment. Is she immediately changes the subject. After she answers. And then she comes back, and she he says a few things. You'll see.

And then I bring it back to her again. And she switches topics again. And I'm like, why are you doing that?

Why are you doing that?

And she said a very interesting answer on all of that.

That is one of the most honest things I think I've ever seen a fortune five company or CEO ever say.

It was really uncomfortable. But really, really honest.

I think once you see this. And then I tell you tomorrow about the -- the board member, on the things that I can verify. I'm not sure what we can verify yet.

But the things that I've heard. And the things I think I can verify tomorrow. You will see that -- that I think they made stupid moves. They have really bad advice from DEI people.

And they were set up.

To some degree.

They were set up.

The company was. Not individuals. The company was set up.

I think it will -- I think you will have every question you needed to know about Cracker Barrel and what happened answered.