RADIOJuly 16, 2024

“This Should Have Been Identified”: Security Expert Explains Failures at Trump Rally

It's clear that many things went wrong with security on the day of Trump's near-assassination at his rally in Pennsylvania. "The Secret Service, in my view, is inept," Glenn says. Former Department of Defense intelligence analyst Jason Buttrill, who spent years planning and leading protective details for politicians, stars, and other high-profile people, joins to explains what he believes the biggest failures were. Why weren't law enforcement officers placed on the rooftop the attacker used? Should the Secret Service have shot first? Why has it taken so long for the government to release more information on the killer? And — scariest of all — did he work alone?

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: All right. We have Jason Buttrill with us. Who is my chief researcher.

And also, in charge of national security, and -- and -- and global wars and everything else, that we have to look at. He has extensive background in military intelligence. And that's why you know military intelligence was a joke, because Jason was involved in it.

But it was also -- you were never a lead of my detail, right? Of my protective detail?

JASON: I was never the lead, but I was the manager on your detail, and I led many other details in the past.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

So the reason why I'm still alive today, is Jason was not in charge of the detail.

JASON: That's good. That's good.

GLENN: Yeah. But I will tell you, that we have had many dealings with Secret Service. And without getting into any of the details, but I would be running to testify on it, the Secret Service is in my view, inept. It's nothing against the agents or anything. I think the people who run it, they rely on money and technology, and they just don't think.

And we have seen things that could get people killed, quite honestly. We've experienced it, with the Secret Service ourselves.

And I've been warning about this, for a very, very long time.

Now, Jason, you have actually planned events like this with the Secret Service. You have been with major politicians, and done major events, not only with me, but with others. And worked side by side with the Secret Service. How could this have happened?

JASON: I'm glad you had me on today, Glenn. Because I saw a lot of speculation. I think it's important to understand how these things happened.

How did we get to where we got to on Saturday. And I just want to briefly run down.

I will reveal a few tricks of the trade here. I think it's good for crazy people and potential attackers to know this as well, to know how difficult it is.

It should be almost impossible to pull off what happened on Saturday.

But, as you know, Glenn. You've seen this work, an advance team is always sent out. This is copied from the Secret Service level all the way to the governor's protected details. All the way to public officials. Or, you know, personalities like yourself.

But an advance team would go out. Secret Service would go out, weeks in advance. They would go out and set up a multi-tiered security plan. So basically, like let's say you see a president on a rope line. And he's shaking hands.

And, you know, patting people on the back. That's political smoke and mirrors.

Those are not people that just randomly show up. Those are friends, family, highly trusted people that have been vetted. That talks a little bit of the sexiness out, but that's the same way as when Donald Trump is on a stage. The people right in front of him are supposed to be there.

They have been given access. They have a wristband or lanyard. They're wanded. They're checked. They're fully vetted, trusted people right in front of them. There's another tier beyond that.

They're usually high level donors. They're also very, very trusted. Vetted. They've been searched. Then once you get beyond that, there's not a thousand Secret Service agents out there. So they have to delegate to law enforcement officers. Local law enforcement officers, SWAT, just regular beat cops. They designated those areas.

Now, as all this is happening, they also identify further out threats. And they -- they identify sectors of fire. Positions of fire.

Potential sniper positions. Going all the way to like a thousand yards.

130-yard sniper position. Absolutely, which -- which is where this attacker was. Would have been identified.

And there would have been several designated. They would have said, this is alpha position. This is bravo position. Whatever.

They can go through them. So they can quickly address the situation. They would also, in this instruct the witness not to answer plan, have local law enforcement guarding those areas to make sure no one would gain access to those areas. And they would number contact with the Secret Service.

Now, there's multiple different questions here, that need to be asked. As you said in full transparency. Knowing this entire complex plan, A, did the Secret Service designate those sniper positions as they always do, and as they're supposed to?

Now, let's assume they did. The second question. Did law enforcement adequately man those positions?

It does not appear so, on the videos that we have seen.

I mean, we've got tailgaters, basically, screaming at law enforcement. The only thing missing was like a couple of beer cans hanging off their helmets. And they're chugging down beers. That's basically -- hey. Look over there. There's a guy climbing up there. How did no one respond? That breaks the entire plan. There should have been a law enforcement officer or officers watching it.

GLENN: Right. So there's also the fact that when you have a position like that.

First of all, that position, if it was left open.

They keep saying. Well, it wasn't part of the secure perimeter.

It was 130 yards away. You know, when you are on rooftops and sniper positions, you don't have to be on just the building right across the street. You can be watching all of the rooftops, all the way around, that have any kind of angle at that street. So not only should they have somebody there, or at least had a team around. And it looks like they had local police. And I don't know if local police failed.

But they also, when you have a position like that, and, for instance, there's woods in this same venue area.

You always put up something that blocks the view, so you would go up on that roof. And you would say, okay. There is the podium.

So let's put up a big screen. Or a big sign, or something, that blocks that view from that position. They didn't do that either.

PAT: Yeah. To say, as an excuse, that it was outside the secured perimeter, is absolutely ridiculous. I cannot believe someone would say that. I've been at events where Secret Service was there. Where there was a river, hundreds of yards away. But they still had local law enforcement driving Zodiacs up and down the river, because they were worried about potential snipers coming from a boat. That was not inside the perimeter, but that was a potential firing position that they had identified.

Now, that's the key right here. They would have identified all these positions, especially 130 yards, with a clear line of sight to the president. That would have been identified. There would have been a team of law enforcement officers, or should have been, protecting that area. Now, did they leave that -- this is the second question. First question was, did Secret Service identify them? I'm assume they did.

Second question, did law enforcement adequately man those positions? Third, and this is probably the scariest part of the question, was there a law enforcement officer there?

Was there help given to the shooter? Now, this is not a conspiracy theory. It's a question. It needs to be asked. Because we heard people saying, there's the shooter, no one did anything about it.

So they -- look, this has to been done in full transparency. Can you imagine, Glenn? And the JFK assassination. All these weird things that happened. Right?

You have, let's just say, there were cell phones and camera phones. And they were like, again with their beers and helmets. And they're like, look at that. And they're film the grassy nothing like. Look, officer, there are guys at the grassy nothing like. They have fedoras on. They have sniper rifles.

And they're about to shoot. Like, can you imagine, if we had all of this evidence, what would the conspiracy theories be like then? This is what we have right now. We need to ask these questions. It's very, very rational to do so.

GLENN: So we're about to have Dallas Alexander on. Do you know who he is?

JASON: Oh, yeah. Very, very famous sniper here.

GLENN: Yeah. So he's a sniper, and he says, there's no way this happened without help. I don't want to go there. I don't want to believe that.

Because that takes us into an entirely different world.

JASON: Yeah.

GLENN: Do you believe that as a realistic possibility?

JASON: Okay. Okay. I think it is a possibility. There are also the other random possibilities that it was just lackadaisical security, by the local law enforcement, in my opinion. I'm not jabbing law enforcement. But I don't think they make great security guards because they're primarily reactionary.

GLENN: Right.

JASON: The Secret Service aspect of security like that is not reactionary. It's preventing the attack before it happens. The law enforcement, as a security --

GLENN: It's why they -- it's why the shooter, which I don't believe was a Secret Service sniper, may have only shot after shots were fired.

JASON: That's what I mean.

GLENN: Where Secret Service. You're in Secret Service, you have permission. You see a guy with a gun, pointed at the president, shoot him before he shoots.
Where, law enforcement would need the permission to shoot, unless he shot first. Would they not?

JASON: Right. That's exactly right. Secret Service is a different mindset than other law enforcement. Basically, they don't manage a situation with a firearm. If you see a Secret Service with a firearm, it typically means someone is getting shot. Law enforcement is completely different.

But I will not rule out the fact that it could just be very lax security. Maybe they were big Trump fans. Maybe they weren't fans at all. Maybe it was the exact opposite.

And they weren't as vigilant as they could have been, and someone was able to sneak over there. That is possible.

But the most random things in assassinations happen. Who would have known that Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian activist, would have been posing as, or blending in with hotel staff, and would have been in the right place at the right time, and caught RFK going through that private areas. You've been through those areas yourself, in public events? It's chaotic. Who would have known? Things like that happen.

Who would have thought that a crazed Hinckley would have -- looking to gain the support of Jodi Foster. Had no political ideology at all, just was a crazy guy looking to impress a movie star, would have been able to get to Ronald Reagan. These things do happen.

GLENN: So I want to ask you about the things that are being said now about the shooter, that we really don't know who he is.

I don't believe that for a second. If so, what the hell is the CIA and NSA doing with all of the eavesdropping on all of our communications? I don't believe that at all.

And this ruse, this lie, that, well, we just don't know. We don't know anything about him. We don't. You know, it smells of the Nashville shooter. Now, it's still early. But if they don't come out with the full detail on this guy, they're going to lose all credibility.

New York just CROSSED A LINE

"Are you part of a culture of death, or a culture of life?" Glenn Beck exposes a new lawmaker-approved bill in New York that puts death over life in the name of "compassion" amid the loneliness epidemic.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: When you look at everything that is going on. The choice in front of us is so clear. And it is so easy to make.

It's just, which do you just, life or death? Life or death? Are you part of a culture of death or life?

Are you fighting for life in all of its forms? Or are you fighting for death in all of its forms?

And it's really clear to see which side is which. It really is.

You know, isn't that what God said, when the Israelites went into the Promised Land.

Choose life!

Isn't that what lakai (phonetic) means? Delight, delight. I think it is. Choose life. I don't know. Everything I learned about Hebrew, I learned from fiddler on the roof.

But that's a different story. Not exactly true, but almost true.

True in this case! Anyway, you have to choose life!

And the left is becoming more and more about death! In every way. Today, the more enlightened left. I mean, the more enlightened they become, the more left the doctrine. The more barbaric it actually becomes.

We've seen it on the streets of LA, right?

Look at that. That's not about life. That's about destruction of everything. According to their doctrine, the left believes that the only -- you know, that -- that not doing a thing to police, illegal immigration.

Is the only solution to compassionate, you know, service.

You know, you just can't do anything about it. That way, we're compassionate. And we're loving. And we're handling the situation. Okay?

And you can't do anything about it. And if not, well, we're going to prove how compassionate and loving we are, through mob violence. And arson and theft. And assaulting officers. It doesn't make any sense. Let alone standing up for the people who have -- who have horribly raped 14-year-old children.

I don't understand. How are you doing that?

How is that choosing life at all?

Now, in New York, things are even worse. In the legislature, where the people's representatives have passed a bill to make it easier for people to kill themselves.

The US Surgeon General's office calls loneliness and isolation in America an epidemic. How many people do you know that have either killed themselves or have had their children almost kill themselves?

I don't think I can count them on two hands. My mother killed herself when I was a child, and she was the only one I had ever heard of doing that except at TV shows and movies.

Now it's an epidemic. Yet, New York is choosing to declare open season on anybody vulnerable.

This bill is assisted suicide. And it is dressed up as always, as compassion.

But it's not mercy. It is absolute madness.

It's now sitting on the governor's desk of New York. Kathy Hochul. Waiting for her signature to make it law. But this bill is an absolute nightmare.

It requires no waiting period, after the first -- after the person's first request to die.

So, in other words, hey, I've got some bad news for you. You have cancer. Oh, and it's probably untreatable. Oh. I just -- I just want to die. Okay.

No waiting period. Nurse, can we bring that in?

No waiting period. Somebody who has a term I believe diagnosis, one day, can be handed the lethal cocktail the very next day.

Unlike -- unlike other states that are at least nodding to some other health evaluations, you know. No. New York will just check, make sure that it's an informed decision. What you know they're saying? Right? You want to kill yourself? Yeah, I do.

Okay. Good. You're informed.

I mean, when people are staring death and depression in the face, despair and depression clouds everything. You don't make a decision, when you're like that. And as somebody who has had major depression when I was young, you -- it is insane!

It's insanity.

And as somebody who was older, who has -- I mean, this week, my back has been so bad.

I went to my doctor, and I said, I can't live this way. I just -- I can't walk.

I can barely breathe. I just can't live this way. And I didn't mean I want to kill myself.

But I understand how people can get there. I get that. But is that who we are? Is that as a society, is that who we are?

I mean, it's crazy. You know, since when is the left concerned about patience being informed.

They don't want a woman who is considering an abortion to see an ultrasound of their baby.

I don't know.

Is that informed consent?

One guy, he's a bio ethicist from Washington State.

He's tracked these laws down for 40 years.

New York bill.

The bill in New York.

It's probably the worst law of its kind in the US.

What a surprise, their last governor, was killing people in nursing homes.
The language that is in this bill. The lies are disgusting.

They call prescribing poison, a quote, medical practice.

And the poison is medication.

Now, listen to this: It also prohibits referring to this practice, as suicide.

Hmm!

In the worst part of this bill, and remember, we're talking about killing people.

This shows you how they know they're lying.

Even when I write out the death certificate of a person who dies, through assisted suicide, you were only allowed to list the person's underlying condition or illness as the official cause of death. You cannot say it had anything to do with suicide or any medical aid in dying.

So if I have cancer, and I'm not going to treat it, and I just want to die.

If I have depression, I just want to die. I would die of depression or cancer.

You know what that does?

That hides the actual stats. It hides the crime. You won't be able to track, how bad is this getting?

They're trying to memory hole suicide. Making doctors lie about it. No!

Helping doctors lie about it.

I'm sorry. If you're a doctor. And you are going along with this. And you're not standing up. Where is your Hippocratic oath?

First, do no harm.

Are you kidding me?

Abortion, you excuse that. Now we're going to get on the other side and excuse that. And you don't even have to medically evaluate the person.

And then you cover it up. Wow!

New York State has been, you know, developing this culture of death, since 1970.

Three years before Roe vs. Wade they were doing it. More than half a century of month pro--choice messaging.

It greased the slippery slope. And we're now at the bottom of it.

According to the left, the compassionate thing, toward a pregnant woman is to allow her to kill her unborn child, that's just the short jump to assisted suicide being considered the compassionate way out for the terminally ill or mentally ill. After all, it's my body, my choice.

Right?

Dr. Lydia Dugdale, she's from the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, New York City. She wrote an op-ed last month. And she said, this is not compassionate policy.

Instead of investing in the infrastructure of support for the lonely, the depressed, the disabled, and the poor. We just offered them a prescription for death. And we call it autonomy. But it's nothing, but abandonment. The art of dying well cannot be severed from the art of living well.

And that includes caring for one another, especially when it's hard, when it's inconvenient or costly. It's not enough to offer the dying control. We have to offer them dignity.

And not by affirming their despair. But by affirming their worth!

Life is worth it!

She went on to say, even when they're suffering.

Even when they're vulnerable. Even when they are in worldly terms, a burden, to anyone who has common sense, left in New York. And California.

I mean, you seemed to be outnumbered by barbarians. It must be an awfully hopeless feeling. I'm glad we can be there for so many of you today.

Just don't give up.

Don't give up.

You are not without hope.

As long as you're still in the fight.

So I live in New York. Call your governor's office.

Urge her to veto this evil bill of death.

Choose life! Do not give up on trying to salvage a culture of life. Because once you do, we're completely done. Choose life!

The REAL reason Democrats FUMED over Sen. Padilla arrest

Democratic Senator Alex Padilla was arrested after heckling DHS Secretary Kristi Noem during a press briefing, and his fellow Democrats are furious! But is this more “theatre” than anything? Glenn Beck breaks down the hysteria.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: You know, every show today, can talk about the theatrics of Senator Padilla. And senator Warren yesterday. But it takes the special podcast to introduce to masterpiece theater! Tonight, we present a spectacle so sublime, so stupendous, it shall sear itself into the annals of human history. Behold, America's greatest thespians. Nay! Titans of the stage. Senator Alex Padilla, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and Senator Cory Booker. Prepare yourself for a torrent of theater, a deluge of tears, a veritable hurricane of histrionics.

First, witness Senator Alex Padilla as the poor, downtrodden, utterly helpless, yet inexplicably powerful senator from California. See him bum-rush the stage in a mostly peaceful, chaotic sort of way.

Then Senator Elizabeth Warren takes the stage, with her heart-wrenching monologue, which we've dubbed the trail of tears.

Watch as she channels the anguish of a thousand ancestors. Her voice trembling with the weight of a nation's sorrow.

Or possibly just a really bad day at the Capitol cafeteria. And finally, Senator Cory Booker unleashes the full outrage in our climactic opus, the Coming of a Tyrant. Feel the earthquake beneath his righteous fury.

Marvel as he roars defiance. His every move to the heart of despotism.

Or at least, the heart of anyone who forgets to mute a Zoom call. So dear audience, gird your loins. For an evening and episode of passion, pathos, and possibly a few pulled hamstrings. Because this is masterpiece theater! We join the action now in California, at a Kristi Noem press conference, and in the room, somewhere in the back, Senator Alex Padilla. Let's listen in!

VOICE: -- the burdensome leadership, that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country, and what they have tried to insert into the city. So I want to say, thank you to every single person that has been able to do this.

VOICE: Senator Padilla.

I have questions for the Secretary.

Because the fact of the matter is, half the dozens -- that was on your -- on your --

GLENN: Okay. How dare them -- how dare them, indeed!

Okay. So here he is. He's identified himself after he bum-rushes the podium for a live press conference. He comes in, bum-rushes. He is not wearing his Senate pin which would identify him. They have no idea if he's a senator or not.

I've never even heard of this clown. Certainly would not have recognized him.

He looks like someone you would find I don't know, sitting in the center of a Wendy's, you know, for a lunch. I don't know who this guy is.

And so they get him out of there, as they should.

I don't know if you know this. But this was his big stage debut. This was his moment!

But before Israel could strike in those waning moments of his fame, Elizabeth Warren takes the stage.

And here, in the episode, we call the Trail of Tears, she says this.

VOICE: When Senator Padilla had pushed, shoved, thrown to the -- handcuffed. Because he is asking questions, because he is engaging. In the very oversight that senators are supposed to engage in. Then what we're really talking about here is a Trump administration that just wants to shut down the ordinary functions of government.

VOICE: We went there to observe and ask questions.

GLENN: Oh, here's a bonus.

VOICE: And I watched with horror, on this video, seeing these agents grab my colleague, my fellow senator from California. Grab him.

GLENN: Oh.

VOICE: Push him out of the hearing. And I am -- I am shocked.

GLENN: Shocked!

VOICE: By far how we have descended in the first 140 days of this administration.

GLENN: Oh. Oh, my goodness. He's never seen this.

VOICE: House Padilla forcibly --

GLENN: Now Cory Booker.

VOICE: Before his executive. When does it stop?

GLENN: When! When, dare I ask!

VOICE: Attempt to kneel to his knees, violently. When does it stop!

GLENN: When!
(laughter)

VOICE: This is a crossroads.

GLENN: This is it.

VOICE: This is a day in which the character of his body will be defined.

GLENN: I say, dare I say a day which will live in infamy. I shall not boy, or even introduce myself. Or, you know, just I'll crash the press conference, and then just try to hijack it. That's you all I'm going to do. That's all I'm going to do.

How dare you stop me!

When did the Senate lose its decorum?

May I expect this now from the Congress?

Generally, we've always known there are a few clowns in Congress, but now the senators are all doing it.

STU: I mean, there's nobody better at it than Cory Booker though. You want to talk --

GLENN: He is good. He is good.

STU: Pathetic, in every single way. I love it.

GLENN: A titan of the stage.
(laughter)

STU: Glenn, now, you're -- you're a bit of a historian. You own a museum. Right?

You've been looking back at our history and throughout it. At any point in the Federalist Papers, or in our founding doctors, was there a path created for a senator to talk to a government official, other than interrupting a press conference?

Has anyone ever thought of a way for them to meet and discuss an issue of importance?

GLENN: No. No. No. It's in section two, subsection three.

STU: Okay.

GLENN: Of the Constitution.

STU: Right. From the back.

GLENN: Where they say, you've got questions. You've got questions.

You've got to storm the room.

You've just got to storm the room.

STU: Don't tell anyone you're coming. Don't announce yourself in advance.

Don't talk to security.

Hey. I have to talk to --

GLENN: Or if -- if you did say that.

And they said, sir, this is a closed press conference. She's not taking any questions. This is just a live broadcast.

You can wait for it. She will talk to you after.

And then you say, I have the right to storm the room!

STU: Now, I --

GLENN: How pathetic is it, that they only have this little -- they have this pathetic little 20-minute period, and now nobody is talking about it.

STU: Oh, I will say, the greatest party heard by the -- Israel's actions overnight, was not Iran.

But it was Alex Padilla's fundraising.

Because this was his big plan. This was his big moment in the sun.

He will take in millions of dollars, and get all this attention, and get all these MSNBC hits. And all the things that every senator seems to go to Washington for these days. Certainly, it's not making laws. And he was going to have this wonderful wave of attention. Instead, he remained the giant zilch, he remained yesterday.

He will remain a giant, pathetic, empty nothing of a senator. That I might note, you as a Radio Hall of Fame member and a person who follows this every day, did not even know who this was.

GLENN: I mean, it was kind of like, you know, this guy named Alex Padilla. Maybe. I don't know.

STU: Heard the name.

GLENN: He's a senator!

GLENN: Is that the --

STU: From where?

GLENN: Is that the ball club in Washington, DC?

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: No!
(laughter)

STU: It's incredible.

And that's who he is.

And it's funny. The successful version, I suppose all of this. Is Cory Booker.

Like he did this -- he did this, you know, big speech, a few months ago.

That, you know, everybody was -- was talking about.

GLENN: Oh, everybody.

STU: And, you know, it's on the heels of his 2 percent presidential run.

Effort. Which was impressive as well.

Back in the day. I think he has a huge future, as well.

Elizabeth Warren. Kind of a trail of tears, that we saw there.
(laughter)

GLENN: There's no acting involved in that.

STU: I know.

GLENN: She was just going into her kitchen, to grab herself a beer. And her husband will pop in.

Unexpectedly.

Hey. Whoa, whoa. Hey, husband.

You want a brew? (

STU: The fascinating part of this, obviously, they're bad at governance. But they're also bad at this.

Is there not convincing people, that anyone could take seriously, even if they tried?

GLENN: Well, they are -- all they are, now, is just story line.

They are just telling a story. You're watching a play.

When you're watching the Democrats and the left now. It is nothing, but a play.

What are they doing?

They're getting rid for the big no kings thing on -- on Saturday.

Right? All over the country. No kings.
He's a tyrant. He's a king. So they've been planning this one for a while.

So what do they do this week?

They make sure he's acting like a tyrant in Los Angeles.

Then they say, he's acting like a tyrant. Because he's scooping people in the middle of the night.

Then he's acting like a tyrant, because he has a giant missile parade, and nobody does that.

Nothing.

Nobody, but North Korea does that. And then this. They storm in. They know that they're going to be pushed back. They're hoping to be pushed back. And why?

What do they get out of it?

They all run to the -- run to the social media boxes. But, oh, my God.

He's a tyrant. He's a tyrant. That's all they're doing.

Is they're setting this up for him to be a tyrant. It's not working.

I mean, I'm not buying it.

There's really stupid people in the country, that look at that and go, I think those are real tears, coming from that squaw.

I think those are real squaw-like tears. By the way, I heard the New York Times, the Daily, with Michael Barbaro, wow!

They did the whole thing on the missile parade. Stu, you've got to listen to this. It will drive you out of your mind!
(laughter)
So this is what they said. They said, first, it was a bad idea. Why did he do this?
We're talking to expert on parades, on the missile parade. Why would he do this?

GLENN: Well, a lot of people are upset. Because no democracy does this. Only dictators. Well, actually, I will get to that here in a second. But we don't do these things.

And except -- except for Wilson, FDR, Eisenhower, JFK's inauguration, none during Vietnam, and then after the Gulf War with George W. Bush.

But we haven't done these things. We just don't do them. We never had.

Also, I would like to point out, the VFW and the foreign legion every year, and thousands of parades all around the country. But they don't usually have tanks.

But it's a really bad idea, because it's also Trump's birthday. You know, now it takes them almost eight minutes, before they also say, and it's the army's 250th birthday.

They never say, and, by the way, we're going into the 250th anniversary.

Of America. But it's just Trump's birthday. And then they say, it's a bad idea.

Because Washington, DC, is a dangerous place.

And people could get hurt.

Dangerous?

Since when is Washington, DC, dangerous to the New York Times?

Are you racist? My gosh, it's safe. And the new socialist mayor, who defunded the police and painted BLM on the streets has that city running like a top.

It's completely safe.

But then, it was too expensive.

You can't do that military parade. Because it's too expensive

Yeah. $45 million, it is.

My problem is, you won't cut anything from the budget.

Even the corruption. So how am I going to take you seriously about the budget?

And then my favorite, which is what they started with.

They said, Trump got this idea.

Because he was over in France. I can't explain France.

But no democracy does this.

This is just dictators.

We don't ever do this.

You know, Republicans, sorry.

Republics, or democracies.

You know, they don't have these military.

And they went on and on and on.

About how it doesn't happen. Except for our closest cousin. England.

Every year. I know because I got caught in it, last year.

Oh, jeez.

They have something called trooping the color.

And that's it official birthday celebration of the king or the queen.

And one of the oldest military traditions in the UK.

And they -- they have all these guys. Military.

And they do all these drills. And they march out into -- it's not even on his birthday. His birthday is, I don't even know.

In the fall. Is in a complete sham.

They don't have any missiles.

They have been dragging the troops out there. So prince Charles can stand there all day. And look at them and go, yep. Those are my boys!

Okay. So you do it in England. Then you also do it in France. They have been doing it. Bastille day.

Military parade.

Then you also do it in India. Didn't know that. Did you know that? They do it in India.

And they also do it in another democracy as well. I'm trying to remember which one it is.

So it doesn't just happen in North Korea. Uh-huh.

Shoot!

I guess they were wrong on all fronts, New York Times.

Could this be the END of Iran’s reign of terror in the Middle East?

Former IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus joins Glenn Beck with the latest information about Israel’s strikes on Iran. Lt. Col. Conricus reveals how many Iranian leaders were taken out, what the tipping point for the strike was, and whether he believes President Trump deceived Iran.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Friend of the program, and friend, lieutenant Colonel retired Jonathan Conricus.

John, how are you today?

JONATHAN: So far, so good. Thankful of everything happening. And happy to be on your show. And discussing about what we are about to discuss, Glenn.

GLENN: A lot of people were praying for you last night. A lot of Americans are a little freaked out. I kind of -- I'm not freaked out, but I'm very concerned.

You know, one of the things the president -- one of the things he really ran and won on is, we will stop all these endless wars.

And we don't have an end in sight for Russia and Ukraine. And this one, while this is your battle and a very important one, it is going to affect the entire world, what happened.

How -- what was the convincing evidence, if you can tell us, how close were they, to a bomb?

JONATHAN: Yeah. I think you're right. And I think the concerns of the Americans that you refer to, they are very valid. That this will affect other people in the world.

I think what Israel did had the potential to affect significant positive change in the region.

And currently, the ball is in the Iranian hands. They have now the option to choose how to respond, to what you incorrectly described as quite a magnificent and unprecedented military strike, surprise against Iran.

Taking out more than 20 of their senior leaders, conducting hundreds of strikes in -- all across Iran.

About eight, 900, a thousand miles away from Israel, we struck. And all of our pilots have come home safely, and there's many months of preparations.

And many years of collecting intelligence. Mossad. And Israeli Air Force cooperating together here.

Maybe also Special Forces on the ground.

But bottom line, this is really, I think a historic operation. That we will be studying by military experts.

But we will leave that side for a second, and address the concerns of the people. Now the Iranians have to decide, what are they going to do?
How are they going to respond? They have tried to respond by sending about 100 drones.

They have been intercepted. And we will see how the Iranians will respond. And the president correctly telling them, well, you have the options of going and making a teal. Because you the Iranians will not have a nuclear bomb.

And if you continue going downtown path of violence, then this will end badly for you.

That's what the US president is saying. Now, in terms of what the tipping point was Iran has been dark for the bomb for a long period of time.

I think the atomic agency report that verified that Iran is not only enriching uranium to weapon's grade.

And has enough material for at least ten bombs. But Iran is also in noncompliance when it comes to their obligations, to allow international supervision of their sites.

And I think that, and a lot of intelligence that I think we will have declassified in the future, was the tipping point, and at the end of the day, this has been, you know, months if not years in the making.

Iran has an open goal to annihilate the state of Israel.

They say clearly in Farsi. In their language. We know that they mean business.

And we also know that if we allow them to develop the tools to do so. They might be tempted to use them.

That's what Israel has today, started town ravel in terms of those Iranian capabilities.

GLENN: So I was a little disappointed today. Two Israeli officials. That's all it said. Axios article. That they said, President Trump was instrumental in all of this et cetera, et cetera.

But he and Benjamin Netanyahu were engaged in deception.

And I -- I read this as, I don't think Israel would have done something this massive without the United States, you know, in their corner.

But I don't think it's deceptive when the president says, you have 60 days to negotiate. And you don't want to see what happens on day 61.

I don't think that's deceptive to make plans, to go in, on day 61.

He kept giving them the same warning over and over again. Do you read that as deception? Or a negotiator that is telling you the truth?

JONATHAN: I think actually it's both.

It's deception in the good way of how to wage war. And how to capture enemy unaware of his.

And unprepared. And that is what Israel did.

Has the US president been deceptive?

No, I don't think so.

I think he's been very straightforward. Telling the Iranians time and time again, this is the best deal you can get.

You should relinquish all attempts to enrich material in Iran, and you should allow full comprehensive inspection of all of your sites, nuclear as well as weapons development.

And if you do that, nothing bad is going to happen. And we will probably free sanctions, and good things will happen to Iran. The Iranian dealership heard that, but didn't do it. And as you said, correctly, we are today on Day 61 of the presidential ultimatum, and this is what happens.

GLENN: Right. Yes. The president draws a red line and then actually meets it.

Ben Rhodes came out today and said, war is breaking out. Because Donald Trump pulled out of the Iran deal and got humiliated by Netanyahu while trying to negotiate his own.

And he will have a military parade for his birthday. This is the weakest strong man ever. Is that why this happened? Because Donald Trump pulled out of the Iran Deal?

JONATHAN: I think that sounds like a very bitter former personal influence, who, you know, was part in devising a lousy deal for America, a lousy deal for the world.

And he's bitter because the other perspective and the other line of thought is prevailing.

And I think that if we look at the current situation in the Middle East. The biggest destabilizing and terror-supporting country in the region.

That has its tentacles. Or had its tentacles in Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen, Iraq, Syria. And, of course, trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran is now being right-sized, and put in a tight spot.

Maybe Mr. Rhodes has sympathy for the Iranian regime.

I do not.

I do not wish to see what happens if that regime is allowed to develop. Because I know that they are a genocidal and absolutely crazy regime that might do the most horrible things.

And then, of course, Mr. Rhodes probably doesn't assess it like that, because he lives far away and he isn't an Israeli. But for us, Israelis, it's as tangible, and as existential as it gets. And so to the contrary. I think just one thing.

You know, President Trump in his first presidency, he gave the brave and correct order to take out Qasem Soleimani, the very important Iranian general at the time there was an entire chorus around the world American media, blaming President Trump for escalating. Opening World War III. And all matter of all other fabricated nonsense. None of that happened.

And what President Trump did, what he ordered. And what US troops did, was to take out the most important mastermind of Iranian expansionism.
And I think today, that is also important.

Because had he been around Soleimani. I'm pretty sure the Iranians would have fared better since October 7th, and we would have a more difficult situation.

He is not around, and I give credit for President Trump for doing that. And I give credit to President Trump for supporting Israel and for working together with Israel.

Of course, keeping America's interests first and Israel's interest second. That's what the US president should be doing.

But the interest here, they are aligning. And I think we are in a very good situation. I hope good things will come. I hope prosperity. I hope freedom for the Iranian people is just around the corner.

And I hope prosperity for all the people in the Middle East is around the corner.

It can happen, because the Iranian regime was standing in between that progress.

And now, there's a different time for the Iranian regime.

GLENN: It would be amazing, if we saw the regime actually topple and the people were free.

Because the Persian people are wonderful.

Let me ask you. You know, we're seeing -- we're seeing riots on our streets. We're seeing it in Europe. It always has a communist, socialist, anarchist. And an Islamist tit to them.

The Palestinian protests are growing everywhere.

And I just look at this and say, this is our future for the entire Western world.

Should we be concerned that this activity now, green lights will be given to let's say the 8,000 terrorists that we know are here in America. Let alone all over Europe.

JONATHAN: Yeah. I think that the West, Europe to a more severe extent, and the US to a certain extent. In certain states and certain cities, mostly along the coasts, unless inside the country, perhaps barring Chicago and the few areas of the Great Lakes.

But by and large, there's a significant threat to the Western-based system of democracy, civil liberties, law and order, and it is being implemented on the ground and carried and pushed forward, by many rogue elements.

One of them being Islamists that are espousing terrorist ideologies. And that deep down, do not agree with the Judeo Christian values.

That are today governing the world. And led by free democracies.

And they are trying to import their failed system of governance. And their outlook on life. Which they brought from the Middle East. And from other places. And enforce that on free democratic societies.

And they're abusing the system. The liberties.

The freedoms, and the rights that democracies like the US and in Europe, avail people. They're marching on the streets.

Under the guise of free speech.

They are advocating violence. They are trying to undermine the social fabric of society.

They are e- spousing terrorism.

They are glorifying violence. And, of course, anti-Semitism is also in that bag of negative things.

And I think it is high time, that there's a serious debate in the US. And in the west.

I think the situation in Europe is far worse than it is in the US.

I think Americans can look at the streets of London and Paris.

And heed warning.

And say, if we want to reach a situation where the streets are dominated by the Islamists. And an order white Christian or Jew or someone who isn't a Muslim extremist.

Can't walk the streets safely, in the streets of their own country, then we better look at what's happening in Europe.

And take action before.

Now, to be clear. I am not branding all Muslims as terror supporters.

There are many great Americans who are Muslim heritage. Who are local American citizens.

Who are not e- spousing terror pessimism.

But who those do. Those who seek to undermine western democracy.

Who those seek to undermine law and order.

And a free and bright based society.

And to import dark worldviews from the Middle East.

Based on all kind of extremist ideologies, they should be met with a firm response.

And in most cases, they are not met with firm responses. And then they expand.

GLENN: Lieutenant colonel. I know you have to run.

You have to a busy day. Thank you for spending time.

Is this over now?

Or is there more to come?

JONATHAN: No. No. This is not even the end of the beginning.

GLENN: Okay. Lieutenant colonel, thank you, so much.

God bless.