Capitol Report Full Broadcast (Dec. 21)

Good evening and welcome to the Capitol Report on Entity Television. I'm Steve Lance. Here's a look at what's coming up. An escalating war of words. Former President Trump hitting back at President Biden after Biden accusing him of supporting an insurrection. We have the latest fallout from the Colorado ruling in a new move by special counsel Jack Smith. And former President Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani declaring bankruptcy. Find out what his lawyers are saying about the $148 million in damages a jury ordered him to pay. And House lawmakers reportedly moving closer to impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. This as some Republicans talk about removing President Biden from the ballot in 2024. We bring you an update on immigration. Both former President Trump and President Biden now accusing each other of being an insurrectionist. That's as the Supreme Court faces a growing list of questions over Trump's legal cases. Right now we have Iris Tao from the White House. So Iris, what is the latest from the fallout from the Colorado ruling? And how is Trump reacting? Good evening to you, Steve. So former President Trump today on True Social wrote that quote, I'm not an insurrectionist, citing his own speech on January 6th when he told supporters to quote, In that same post, he also accused President Biden of being an insurrectionist. And that's after President Biden yesterday said this about Trump following the Colorado Supreme Court ruling that would bar Trump from getting on that state's ballot. Watch. But he certainly supported the insurrection. No question about it. None. The White House today condemned new threats facing the justices of the Colorado Supreme Court following yesterday's ruling. Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley today had this advice for the U.S. Supreme Court. Watch. I think Colorado's wrong. I think the Supreme Court's going to shoot it down. And I think they need to shoot it down quick before anybody else thinks they want to do that. And as Trump's already vowing to appeal the Colorado ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, it is most likely that a high court will have to weigh in on this case. But the court is also facing increasing pressure from special counsel Jack Smith to immediately step in to decide on another matter, and that is whether President Trump has presidential immunity for his actions surrounding the 2020 election. Jack Smith is asking the high court to immediately step in, saying today that is an immediate decision needed on an important constitutional question. And that's less than 24 hours after former President Trump yesterday urged the Supreme Court to reject Jack Smith's request, saying, quote, basically he's trying to rush to decide the issues with reckless abandon. So this is the latest debate over Trump's presidential immunity, in addition to the question facing the Supreme Court right now over Trump's eligibility to run for president again. Steve. NTD's White House correspondent Iris Tao reporting for us live from the White House. Thank you, Iris. Former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani has filed for bankruptcy. This after a jury ordered him to pay $148 million in damages in a defamation lawsuit. Giuliani said he can't afford to pay the massive judgment against him. He filed for bankruptcy in federal court earlier today. Last week, a jury awarded that huge sum to two former Georgia election workers. They successfully argued Giuliani defamed them when he said that they helped rig the 2020 election against Trump. Giuliani's bankruptcy filing lists debts between 100 and 500 million dollars. He claims assets worth up to just 10 million dollars. Giuliani spokesperson says the bankruptcy filing should, quote, surprise no one because of the high punitive damages involved. House Republicans are reportedly moving closer to impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Meanwhile, some Republicans say President Biden should be taken off the ballot in 2024. That's over his handling of immigration. NTD's Arian Pasdar has an update on the border crisis. The House Homeland Security Committee on Thursday released this report saying that housing illegal immigrants in hotel rooms, canceling construction of the border wall, and other measures resulted in massive overspending. A committee staffer told The Daily Caller that they're now moving swiftly into impeachment proceedings in the new year against Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis asks whether Florida could remove President Biden from the 2024 ballot. That's after Colorado removed former President Trump, despite the fact that he wasn't convicted of any crime. I mean, how does that work? What's the limiting principle for that? Why could we just say that Biden can't be on the ballot because he let in 8 million illegals into the country and violated the Constitution, which he has? Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick made similar remarks this week. Also on Thursday, House Speaker Mike Johnson sent a letter to Biden. He urges the president to take executive action to tackle the border crisis. Johnson wants Biden to end the catch-and-release policy, expand the use of expedited removal, renew construction of the border wall, and more. This comes as more than 10,000 immigrants entered the U.S. illegally on Monday, possibly setting a new single-day record high. The Democratic mayor of El Paso spoke on the situation on Thursday. And no country really can withstand and continue to withstand the broken immigration process that we look at today. And lastly, Texas transported around 100 illegal immigrants to Chicago by plane this week. Governor Greg Abbott says from now on, he will send planes instead of buses. Arin Pasdar, NTD News. Earlier today, President Biden and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador talked about the ongoing immigration crisis in a phone call this morning. They both agreed there needs to be more enforcement at the southern border. This comes as top U.S. officials are set to meet with Lopez Obrador in Mexico in the coming days. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Alejandro Mayorkas are among those scheduled to head south. Lawmakers in D.C. have recessed for Christmas without giving the American public a plan for dealing with the border crisis. We sat down with Sheriff Richard Mack at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest earlier this week who offered solutions based on his firsthand experience. Sheriff Richard Mack, thank you so much for taking a moment to sit down with us. Well, thank you for having me. The border crisis hasn't gone away as much as people like yourself have been talking about it. Give us an idea. You've been studying this. You've been working there for many years. How has the border situation evolved over the years from, say, 10 years ago to the way it is now? Well, let's even go back to the Ronald Reagan days. You know, it was nothing. It wasn't even an issue. Reagan gave immunity or amnesty to 3 million illegals. It had no impact, really. Should he have done it? Now, that's debatable. I don't think he should have. But now it's a monster that the corrupt politicians have created in Washington, D.C., that's now biting us and destroying our nation. It's literally destroying our country. Because you look at the types of people coming in. They don't even know who's coming in. And five years ago, I went to training by former FBI intel officer John Guandolo, and he was talking about that over 100,000 international terrorists had, at that time, already infiltrated America. All we should be doing as citizens of the United States is asking ourselves, why? Why have they come here? You know damn well why they've come here. Because they're waiting. They're waiting for the most opportunistic time to take down our country. And right now, they've already made it known how easy a target our grid is. There's three main power sources in America. If they hit all three at the same time, the American grid and power is gone. It's gone. And so that's why you have so many different companies, and myself included. Be prepared. You must have an independent supply of food for you and your family. You have to know what's coming, because the economy, sooner or later, it can't sustain what's going on. The $33 trillion in debt is not sustainable. And look at all the drugs coming into America. The death by suicide alone and by overdose is absolutely phenomenally high. What do you say to the narrative that is oftentimes spoken on other networks, mainstream media networks, that this is just Republicans' fearmongering and xenophobia and racism about letting people from other countries come into this country? Well, that's just proof that they're trying to politicize the issue. Stop blaming Republicans or Democrats and start looking at the problem and do something about it. We're talking about the security and the perpetuity of our country. You could settle that argument with what Joe Biden said to Trump. The country is your country. And Trump was trying to say, I didn't do that. It's your country. Well, Joe Biden, it's your country, to use your words. This is your doing. This is your leadership. And you have to blame Biden to an extent because he's let this happen. And not one time have they said illegal immigration is against the law. We're going to deport all illegals. You're seeing not only many prominent Democrats speaking out against this, Mayor Eric Adams of New York City. You also have the governor of Arizona, Katie Hobbs, activating the military now. When you get progressives like Adams and Katie Hobbs speaking out against what's going on, you know it's a problem. And it has been. And look at all the sanctuary cities are going, well, maybe not so much now, OK? You need to back off. And it just proves they had no clue what was coming. And true leadership looks into the future and says, if we do this, what happens? Kamala Harris said Congress needs to fix this problem. It's broke. How about considering this, Kamala Harris? Enforce the laws that are on the books. That would be a unique perspective for these corrupt politicians. What is the situation, the current situation right now, with local law enforcement and Border Patrol and their ability to do what is legally at their disposal? Well, they've made it impossible. There's just too many here now. More illegal aliens get away and get through without being detected than the ones they're actually detecting. The problem has got to be fixed in one way. We have got to quit telling Latin Americans from Central America, South America, Mexico, doesn't matter. We need to stop telling them, we have too many, don't come here. But we'll still give you all the freebies you want. We'll give you free jobs and free school and free housing, free food and free driver's licenses. They offer all of this to the illegal aliens and say, but we told them not to come. How ridiculous can you get? Stop the freebies, stop using taxpayer dollars to promote a politicized illegal immigration and illegal invasion into the United States that the federal government is required by law, Article 4, Section 4 U.S. Constitution to protect our borders from invasion. Yes, this is an invasion. Sheriff Richard Mack, thank you so much. Thanks for having me. Coming up, top military officials from the U.S. and China speaking today for the first time in over a year. This as reports surface that Chinese dictator Xi Jinping asked President Biden to publicly support China's plans to take over Taiwan. What's the White House saying about their conversation? And ten Americans detained in Venezuela arriving back home just in time for Christmas. This comes after the White House brokered a prisoner swap in exchange for a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. That and more when we return. And experience art with 5,000 years of history. Inspired by the divine. Experience Xie Yun. 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And so earlier today, China and the U.S. were starting military talks after more than a year of disengagement. This is lawmakers are urging the Biden administration and Pentagon to act aggressively in bolstering Taiwan's defenses against Chinese aggression. The White House this week giving an eye-opening response to a question about Chinese dictator Xi Jinping's ambitions to take over the self-governing island of Taiwan. Here's more. The top U.S. military official today met virtually with his Chinese counterpart, reviving military talks after China had disengaged in retaliation against then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan over a year ago. Military communications are critical, Pentagon officials say, to prevent a miscalculation escalating into a conflict. This comes amid reports surfacing about China's ambitions to take over Taiwan. According to an NBC News report, Chinese regime leader Xi Jinping told President Biden Beijing would reunify Taiwan with mainland China, but that the timing has not yet been decided. Xi also reportedly wanted Biden to publicly support the communist country's plans. When asked to confirm the private conversation between Xi and Biden, the White House did not deny it, instead saying this. I think you can understand I'm not going to read out that private conversation. And the president was clear with you guys and with President Xi that we still adhere to the one China policy. We don't support independence for Taiwan. We also don't support a change in the status quo unilaterally and certainly not one by force. And as the president has said, there's no reason for this to come to close. The White House in the past has walked back Biden's comments on Taiwan, notably when Biden said last year that U.S. troops would defend Taiwan if Beijing launched an attack. The Chinese Communist Party has viewed the self-governing island as part of its own territory and has vowed to take it by force if necessary, but the regime has never ruled Taiwan. Congressman Tom Tiffany and other lawmakers are sounding the alarm about insufficient weapons to deter Chinese aggression. They're not getting some of the weaponry that they've already paid for. We need to make sure that we're fulfilling our commitments to Taiwan because that's one of the most important ways in which we can deter an aggressive China. The Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party writing to the Pentagon this week that recent war games simulating a conflict with China over Taiwan show that the United States will run out of long-range precision-guided munitions in less than one week. The committee is urging the Pentagon to take more aggressive action to bolster Taiwan's defenses, arguing the urgency of the moment requires nothing less. Ten Americans once detained in Venezuela are now arriving back home just in time for Christmas. This comes after the White House negotiated a prisoner swap in exchange for a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. So much gratitude for the moment, for the United States of America, for all of you, and for the opportunity to come home. All you think about when you're in prison is how you didn't appreciate being free while you were free. According to U.S. officials, the socialist regime of Venezuela wrongfully detained six of the ten Americans. For the U.S.'s part of the agreement, President Biden granted clemency to Alec Saab. He's a Colombian businessman arrested on a U.S. warrant for funneling millions out of a Venezuelan business. In return, Venezuela is required to extradite Leonard Francis, a defense contractor who orchestrated one of the largest bribery schemes in Pentagon history. The White House says it hopes the prisoner swap will lead to a more democratic Venezuela. And Democratic Senator Bob Menendez is asking for a delay in his bribery and foreign agent trial. He wants an additional two months to challenge the indictment. Lawyers for the New Jersey senator say they need time to go through 735 terabytes of data prosecutors turned over earlier. If the request is approved, it would move the trial to July. Menendez was indicted on charges that he conspired to act as a foreign agent for the government of Egypt. Menendez, his wife, and three New Jersey businessmen were also charged in a bribery scheme that alleges the senator and his wife accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, including gold bars from the men in exchange for the senator's influence. They have all pleaded not guilty to the charges. Menendez has refused calls to resign from Congress. A slowing inflation rate may look hopeful, but our guest says it's not reflective of what consumers are actually paying at the grocery store and elsewhere. And they're changing their Christmas shopping behaviors to survive. To talk about navigating an inflationary economy, we spoke to Andrew Kripschutz, CEO and founder of Red Balloon, a job board for non-woke businesses. Andrew Kripschutz, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for having me. Of course, Andrew. Let's talk about the state of the American economy. Americans are still burdened with heavy inflation, which did slow slightly to 3.1 percent in November, mainly because of gas prices falling. What advice do you have for people to make ends meet in this economy going into the coldest months of winter with the cost of electricity still up by more than 3 percent? I think a lot of Americans are feeling this right now. They see the inflation numbers coming out of the administration and they're like, man, I don't feel that. I feel like things are a lot more expensive than the 2 to 3 percent inflation that they're talking about. And in fact, when we surveyed our businesses and we have a Freedom Economy Index survey where we survey over 70,000 businesses and ask them how they're feeling, many of them are saying that prices are up significantly over the last 12 months and over the last 30 days. So we have over 30 percent of our businesses say over the last 12 months, they've had their cost of their goods and services be up 20 percent. And so these businesses are feeling that right now. And if you look at the jobs report for October coming into November, the amount of retail jobs that are actually down and generally retail is hiring pretty significantly coming into October, November, preparing for the holiday season. And to have both of those reports go down, I think the economy is not quite as good as the Biden administration says it is. So I think what a lot of our businesses are doing is they're tightening their belt. They're in a wait and see on the hiring. They are trying to pass some of their costs onto their consumers, but they're also eating some of that cost. So I think it's a bit of a mixed bag right now. And unfortunately, it's not nearly as rosy as the administration is saying about the economy at this moment. How can the American people navigate this inflation in shops specifically during the holiday season for Christmas, both in terms of buying Christmas presents and hosting and entertaining relatives while paying higher food prices? These are small businesses. They're the lifeblood of the economy. They're working with Red Balloon. What they're doing is they're saying, look, we're going to just spend a little bit less this year. We're going to go to a local butcher rather than buying from a big national brand when it comes to food for our relatives. They're just changing their behavior a little bit. But they're also realizing that we're all in this together because the economy is built off Americans who are working hard to try and bless their families, bless their customers, bless their consumers. And so they are still trying to spend because they realize that if we all stop spending, then the velocity of money slows down quite a bit. So I've talked to businesses all over this country who are saying, you know what? We're going to continue to try and support our local businesses. We're not going to be going to Target or spending as much on Amazon, but we are going to try and support local businesses because those are businesses we need for this country to survive. You're literally in the employment business. You started Red Balloon, which you promote and say is a non-woke job board. Are you seeing high numbers of candidates leaving jobs or being pushed out of jobs because of DEI and other woke ideas? Absolutely. In fact, a lot of people talk about wokeness in the workplace and they think, well, that's just a straw man that everyone's complaining about. But the reality is it is costing people jobs. It's costing them their ability to support their family, feed their kids, pay their mortgage because they are being fired because they won't use the right pronouns or they're not going to go to a DEI training. And so what we're seeing is thousands of new job seekers every week are looking for freedom on Red Balloon dot work. And in fact, a lot of employers, one of the things they're doing for savings is they're not using corporate recruiters anymore. They're either going to Red Balloon dot work and posting their jobs or Red Balloon recruiter actually saves them tens of thousands of dollars per hire. And so we're trying to innovate in this freedom economy. We're trying to innovate in this parallel economy and bring the cost down for hiring. But the reality is there are good people out there that are looking for jobs. And I just talked to a wonderful black woman recently who basically got fired because she didn't use the right pronouns. So we are in a very weird world right now. But there are opportunities for job seekers and for businesses that will protect the freedom of their job seekers. Andrew Kravich, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it. Thanks for having me. And that is all we have for you this evening on the Capitol Report. Thank you for watching. From Washington, D.C., I'm Steve Lance. Have a nice evening. See you back here tomorrow.