July 7, 2025 - The Benny Show - Benny Johnson
52:38
Participants
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| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
| President Trump is going for a two-fer today. | ||
| He believes he can end the war in Gaza and strike a permanent deal with the state that has been sponsoring Hamas in Gaza for decades, Iran. | ||
| But we're working on a lot of things with Israel. | ||
| One of the things is probably a permanent deal with Iran, which they have to give up all of the things that you know so well to confirm that every bomb hit its mark perfectly. | ||
| And they would have to start all over again at a different location. | ||
| This one is, you know, the word I use was the correct word. | ||
| Obliteration. | ||
| So today it's Trump and Netanyahu. | ||
| Tomorrow it's Speaker Mike Johnson and Netanyahu. | ||
| He dismissed the House after they successfully passed the big beautiful bill, but decided to stay back in D.C. just for this. | ||
| And there are various reports that Netanyahu is going to meet with some Democratic lawmakers while he's in town as well. | ||
| But so far, Democrats on relevant committees have been extremely critical of the way Trump and Netanyahu have addressed winding down this war. | ||
|
unidentified
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Part of why people sort of on the fence voted for Trump is because they're like, well, you know, we do have too many wars, and he says he's going to stop. | |
| Well, he's not bringing peace in the Middle East, for that matter, despite everything they talk about there. | ||
| Warriors continue. | ||
| The war in Gaza continues. | ||
| But crucially, Trump made decisions when he came into office that have prolonged this war. | ||
| For the record, the historical record, Joe Biden didn't end the war either, and he was the president for more than a year after the October 7th attacks. | ||
| Paris. | ||
|
unidentified
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Not a yes, sir, not a follower. | |
| Fit the box, get the mold, have a seat. | ||
| Oh yeah, I took a number I was lightning before the thunder Thunder, thunder Lightning and the thunder Yeah. | ||
| you Lightning and the thunder. | ||
| We are ready. | ||
| Here we go. | ||
| There's lightning and thunder here. | ||
| And Danva. | ||
| The studio literally shakes. | ||
| Poor Klein's like sweating. | ||
| He's looking up at the ceiling because it means that there's going to be potentially a power outage. | ||
| And that's just the way it goes when you live in a tropical environment. | ||
| Not today. | ||
| Not today, Satan. | ||
| Satan's had enough victories today with letting all the Epstein criminals off. | ||
| And ladies and gentlemen, that's something that we talked about for two solid hours on our morning stream. | ||
| We have a Caroline Levitt stream that will be coming up very soon. | ||
| Caroline Levitt! | ||
| We were able to finally meet her. | ||
| You know, we didn't meet her. | ||
| We had never met her, actually. | ||
| And we were able to meet her down in Alligator Alcatraz last week. | ||
| It was really fun. | ||
| Now, here's what she told us. | ||
| And I'm going to repeat this again and again and again until we manifest it. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| She told us, Benny, you're welcome to come up and sit in the new media seat anytime. | ||
| Well, hot damn. | ||
| This would have been a great day to do that. | ||
| Here's the issue. | ||
| And here's the photo. | ||
| I love it. | ||
| This photo went weirdly viral, actually. | ||
| The reason that we are not on the new media seat today at the White House press briefing is because this briefing was not known about until about an hour ago. | ||
| And I can't get from Tampa to DC that fast. | ||
| So trust me, we've already reached out to the White House and we're locking in. | ||
| We're going to get into that briefing. | ||
| And we're going to ask questions. | ||
| Man, hot damn. | ||
| Today would have been a perfect day to ask questions about Jeffrey Epstein. | ||
| I have a feeling what Carolyn would have said is I'm going to refer you to the DOJ on that one. | ||
| I'm getting a lot of messages from people internally. | ||
| They are not happy with the way that this is been going down, let's just say. | ||
| There's a lot of people who feel very hosed here and that there were a lot of self-inflicted wounds and a lot of mistakes that were made that didn't need to be made on this front with Epstein. | ||
| And so we'll see how it shakes out. | ||
| Obviously, there are people inside of the Trump administration who were feeling the pain. | ||
| And we would have brought the pain. | ||
| We would have asked some major questions today. | ||
| Is that the clip? | ||
| Is that it? | ||
| Can I see that? | ||
| Okay, so something very interesting that was put up by an account that follows very closely the TikTok of the internet. | ||
| It's a CoffeeZilla account. | ||
| Here we go. | ||
| This is a guy who famously called out, Hawk to a Girl. | ||
| The glory days. | ||
| Remember the simpler time with the American Airlines girl? | ||
| That ain't real, right? | ||
| That MF isn't real? | ||
| And then Hawk to a girl? | ||
| Remember simpler times? | ||
| Now we have to deal with messy things like this. | ||
| Here's what he says. | ||
| He says, there's one minute missing from the Epstein security camera footage right here. | ||
| I mean, that would mean potentially that something could happen in that one minute. | ||
| An assassination team could have headed into the Epstein cell block. | ||
| And so I asked the team, can you clip me this? | ||
| All he did was put up skills. | ||
| And I guess we just got this. | ||
| Let's look. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Is that directly from the DOJ? | ||
| That's insane. | ||
| It's like two different clips. | ||
| Wow. | ||
| So this is so this is from Goodness gracious. | ||
| I mean, you could absolutely gag. | ||
| Klein's a pretty athletic guy. | ||
| How quickly can you get in and out of a doorway like that? | ||
| Klein says he killed someone in 30 seconds. | ||
| So you get it. | ||
| So this is, of course, the tier block. | ||
| That's not Epstein's cell. | ||
| That's the tier block that houses Epstein along with 12 other prisoners. | ||
| Nobody's ever done any interviews with those prisoners. | ||
| Nobody's ever asked a question. | ||
| We've never gotten a list of who they were. | ||
| Nobody's ever had any interest in finding out what they saw that night. | ||
| They were just disappeared into the ether. | ||
| They could have been Epstein. | ||
| We don't even know. | ||
| But there's your missing minute. | ||
| Wow. | ||
| Goodness gracious. | ||
| The conspiracies, ladies and gentlemen, are raining down. | ||
| I say conspiracies because it is a conspiracy. | ||
| It's clearly a conspiracy in order to cover up something very dark and malevolent. | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| And so we hope that this gets asked about. | ||
| We really do. | ||
| We hope it gets asked about. | ||
| It's a very simple, it's a very easy out for Caroline Levitt. | ||
| Here's Peter Ducey doing his hit. | ||
| It's a very easy out for Caroline Levitt because she can say, hey, listen, you know what? | ||
| That's why we got the DOJ. | ||
| They were in charge of this, and so I got to refer you to them. | ||
| They're managing this, okay? | ||
| And I don't speak, you know, we don't speak directly for them. | ||
| They got to speak for themselves on this. | ||
| We'll see. | ||
| I have a feeling that Caroline Levitt will definitely get asked this. | ||
| You can see a very, very stacked room there. | ||
| And now the White House monitors are on. | ||
| Something that we may hear about and most likely will hear about is the horrific tragedy in Texas. | ||
| There's an awful, awful occurrence in Texas that happened over the weekend while many people were celebrating. | ||
| There was a tragedy that is unspeakable. | ||
| 75 dead in Care County, Texas. | ||
| 10 girls from a summer camp for little girls they're missing. | ||
| You can see here, Camp Mystic. | ||
| This is a famous summer camp there in Care County, Texas. | ||
| Officials have recovered 75 bodies following catastrophic flooding throughout central Texas. | ||
| Washed through an all-girl summer camp, sparked a desperate days-long search for survivors. | ||
| Across the state, close to 90 people have been killed in flash flooding. | ||
| That began on Friday, Guadalupe River. | ||
| Water surged more than 2 dozen feet in less than an hour. | ||
| That is an extreme flash flood. | ||
| Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on Sunday briefing that 41 people in the area throughout the state remain unaccounted for. | ||
| So this may well rise to a death toll, close to 150 people, 150 Americans. | ||
| So sad. | ||
| 75 reported dead in Carey County. | ||
| 48 were adults. | ||
| 27 were children. | ||
| Ah, that was awful. | ||
| 15 of the adults and nine children are pending identification. | ||
| Search and rescue operations continue throughout the county. | ||
| Officials say stressing that it is critical for those seeking volunteer with the Careyville Salvation Army. | ||
| Ted Cruz said on a Monday briefing that there's been 850 high water rescues since the floods began, applauding the stories of local heroism. | ||
| Camp Mystic is a private Christian girls' camp, confirmed on its website that 27 campers and counselors had died following the flooding. | ||
| Our hearts are broken alongside of the families and enduring this unimaginable tragedy. | ||
| The statement read, we are praying for them constantly. | ||
| Oh, man, the camp said that there are 10 campers that are still unaccounted for. | ||
| President Trump addressing this saying that it's terrible, it's shocking. | ||
| He's working with the governor. | ||
| Oh, that's terrible, the funds. | ||
| It's shocking. | ||
|
unidentified
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They don't know the answer yet as to how many people, but it looks like some young people have died. | |
| You'll be in a federal aid. | ||
| Oh, yeah, we'll take care of it. | ||
| We'll work. | ||
| I got you! | ||
| So we want to show you, obviously, President Trump locked in on this, and we expect that there is going to be many questions of Caroline Levitt today on this topic. | ||
| There's the good, the bad, and the ugly on this, as ever with any tragedy. | ||
| President Trump is being blamed by you-know-who. | ||
| Rosie O'Donnell blames Trump for causing Texas flooding, you see, because it's the same party that says that Barack Obama can raise or lower the levels of the ocean. | ||
| Remember that? | ||
| Barack Obama, I'm going to raise the, I'm going to raise the. | ||
|
unidentified
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Have you looked at me? | |
| See, the waters recede. | ||
| This is what Obama declared. | ||
| And now that same party is saying that Donald Trump can cause catastrophic flooding. | ||
| Put the U.S. in so much danger, says Rosie O'Donnell, who self-deported Ireland. | ||
| She blames President Trump for the devastating flash flooding that may well lead to hundreds of deaths. | ||
| In a TikTok video, O'Donnell criticized Trump for gutting all the early warning systems and weather forecasting abilities of the government, adding that flash flooding in Texas were the results of people would see more often. | ||
| O'Donnell continued to claim that Trump has put the United States in so much danger with horrible decisions by signing the big beautiful bill. | ||
|
unidentified
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What a horror story, she said. | |
| From the United Kingdom, from Ireland escaping, like fleeing her home country. | ||
| What a traitor. | ||
| What a wicked and horrible thing to do. | ||
| In fact, many people and local reporters who work within these systems say that there was ample warning, that there needs to be obviously work on getting those warnings to the campers and so on, but that the systems worked as intended. | ||
| So I suppose we'll see, ladies and gentlemen, what happens next. | ||
| Flooding is terrible. | ||
| 63-year-old Ireland resident Rosie O'Donnell blames Trump for flooding ahead of tragedy. | ||
| These are the results we're going to start seeing on a daily basis. | ||
| It is wild that you can move so far away from your home and still be constantly obsessed with Donald Trump. | ||
| Rosie O'Donnell is truly a broken individual. | ||
| There are beautiful stories, actually, out of this Texas flooding disaster that have nothing to do with Rosie O'Donnell, actual true heroism, what many would call toxic masculinity, which we need more of in society, in fact. | ||
| Scott Rushkin is a Coast Guard cruise swimmer who helped save 165 people during the devastating Texas floods at Camp Mystic. | ||
| I had about 200 kids scared, cold, and terrified the worst days of their lives, and he was able to go and save them. | ||
| God bless this man. | ||
| Coast Guard Petty Officer Scott Ruskin heroically saved 165 campers during the Central Texas floods. | ||
| The Finance Bureau in New York was his first official rescue. | ||
| Remarkable. | ||
| True American heroes. | ||
| True American heroes still exist. | ||
|
unidentified
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Wild. | |
| Ladies and gentlemen. | ||
| Okay, let's look. | ||
| American hero. | ||
| That's right. | ||
| The White House is saying, so expected Caroline wanted to talk about this. | ||
| Scott Ruskin and his air crew saved 165 lives on their first mission during the Texas floods. | ||
| From the U.S. military to first responders and volunteers, these brave Americans remind us of who we are when disaster strikes. | ||
| They don't run from the storm, they run into it. | ||
| Here's a photo of Scott Ruskin looking like an extra on Top Gun. | ||
| It's amazing to see the iconoclast American hero male is still alive and well. | ||
| And, you know, who do you think has more testosterone in these photos? | ||
| Like, this is Alejandro Mayorkis, the former DHS Secretary, and this is Crisino, our current Homeland Security Secretary. | ||
| Yeah, we feel like we're in good hands, ladies and gentlemen. | ||
| With the Trump administration, disasters can and do strike all over the world, and the best that you can possibly ask for is strong men to be in charge and strong men to literally go save lives. | ||
| Here is Scott Ruskin explaining what he did this morning on Good Morning America. | ||
| Hey, yeah, good morning, everyone. | ||
| Yeah, so I'll kind of give you guys a quick synopsis of what was going on. | ||
| The Coast Guard launched us and decided to send a rescue crew from Air Station Corpus Christi at about 6.30, 7 a.m. on Friday, the 4th of July. | ||
| I just happened to be on the duty crew with Ian Hopper, Blair Woojfor, Seth Reeves, some of our crew members in the Coast Guard. | ||
| And yeah, they sent us out. | ||
| We kind of encountered some pretty serious weather, some of the worst flying we've ever dealt with personally. | ||
| It took a... | ||
|
unidentified
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The Secretary is live. | |
| Good afternoon, everyone. | ||
| Hope you all had a great weekend. | ||
| I want to start by addressing the devastation from the tragic flash floods in Texas. | ||
| Moments ago, the Department of Homeland Security provided an update that 91 innocent souls have now perished. | ||
| Everyone here at the White House, including the President of the United States, is praying for the victims' families and friends during this unimaginable time. | ||
| President Trump swiftly signed a major disaster declaration for Care County, Texas to ensure our heroic first responders have every resource they need in the relief and recovery efforts. | ||
| Secretary of Homeland Security Christy Noam traveled to Texas over the weekend, and the entire Trump administration is working hand in glove with state and local officials to provide every assistance available. | ||
| The situation on the ground remains dangerous, and there could be additional public safety threats with potential incoming heavy rain. | ||
| So we encourage everyone in the area to remain vigilant, listen to all warnings, and respond accordingly. | ||
| Unfortunately, in the wake of this once-in-a-generation natural disaster, we have seen many falsehoods pushed by Democrats such as Senator Chuck Schumer and some members of the media. | ||
| Blaming President Trump for these floods is a depraved lie, and it serves no purpose during this time of national mourning. | ||
| Here are the facts. | ||
| In the lead-up to this tragic natural disaster, the National Weather Service did its job. | ||
| Despite unprecedented rainfall, the National Weather Service executed timely and precise forecasts and warnings. | ||
| On July 3rd, the National Weather Service Office in Austin, San Antonio, Texas conducted forecast briefings for emergency management in the morning and issued a flood watch in the early afternoon. | ||
| Flash flood warnings were also issued on the night of July 3rd and in the early morning of July 4th, giving preliminary lead times of more than three hours before flash flooding conditions occurred. | ||
| And the National Weather Service office in New Brunfels, which delivers forecasts for Austin, San Antonio, and the surrounding areas, had extra staff on duty during the storms, despite claims of the contrary. | ||
| So to any person who has deliberately lied about these facts surrounding this catastrophic event, you should be deeply ashamed. | ||
| At this time, the administration's focus will be on giving the victims in their communities the support they deserve during these recovery efforts in this tragic time. | ||
| May God bless the great people of Texas, especially the parents who have lost their children. | ||
| President Trump loves you. | ||
| We are praying for you, and he will be traveling to see you later this week. | ||
| Moving along to some further scheduling announcements. | ||
| Tonight, President Trump will host the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, for dinner, where they will discuss the positive developments taking place in the Middle East region. | ||
| Tomorrow, the President will host his sixth cabinet meeting of his second term. | ||
| Many of you will be invited to cover that. | ||
| And on Wednesday, the President will host leaders from five African nations for lunch in the state dining room. | ||
| In other news, after the historic signing on the south lawn of the White House on the 4th of July, President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill is now the law of the land. | ||
| Republicans in Congress met the once-in-a-generation moment and codified the Make America Great Again agenda into law. | ||
| After this monumental achievement, no other president in modern history has worked harder and faster to fulfill their campaign promises than Donald Trump. | ||
| The one big beautiful bill will get the United States of America firing again on all cylinders. | ||
| It's safe to say that over the past few weeks, the president has delivered on many, many wins. | ||
| For the fourth month in a row, jobs numbers beat market expectations with nearly 150,000 good jobs created in the month of June. | ||
| The American economy has now added nearly 700,000 jobs since January 2025, with American born workers accounting for all job gains. | ||
| President Trump drove illegal border crossings to another historic low in the month of June, and Border Patrol once again released zero illegal aliens into our country. | ||
| The Supreme Court stopped activist judges from imposing nationwide injunctions and cleared the way for President Trump to carry out his popular and common sense agenda. | ||
| The University of Pennsylvania agreed to all of the Trump administration's demands and will now keep men out of women's sports. | ||
| President Trump secured his trade deal with Vietnam, giving the United States total access to their markets. | ||
| Because of President Trump's unleashing American energy dominance, gas prices are at four-year lows. | ||
| And when adjusted for inflation, gas prices are near the lowest levels we've seen in the last 20 years. | ||
| NATO members agreed to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP, a foreign policy feat long thought impossible until President Trump made it happen. | ||
| The Operation Midnight Hammer obliterated Iran's nuclear capabilities, taking out this imminent national security threat not just to the United States, but to the entire world. | ||
| The president secured a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, ending the 12-day war. | ||
| The president brokered a historic peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. | ||
| Pakistan nominated President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his decisive diplomatic intervention to prevent a nuclear war between India and Pakistan. | ||
| Blue-collar wage growth has seen its largest increase in nearly 60 years. | ||
| And President Trump has defeated Joe Biden's inflation crisis with core inflation at the lowest level since March of 2021. | ||
| And just about all of that has happened in the last three weeks. | ||
| And I know you all know it because you've been very busy here covering it along with us. | ||
| So with that, I will take your questions today as we kick off another very busy week here at the White House. | ||
| We'll lead with our new media seat, Brian Glenn, who is, of course, very present in this briefing room. | ||
| He's put in a lot of hours covering this president. | ||
| So we're glad you finally have a seat today. | ||
| Brian, go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
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It feels great to sit down. | |
| Thank you very much. | ||
| I want to go back to the hurricane. | ||
| You said that President Trump is scheduled to go to Texas later this week. | ||
| Can you speculate on what day and what he has plans? | ||
| Sure. | ||
| The White House is currently arranging those travel plans. | ||
| We hope that it will be later this week, likely on Friday. | ||
| But of course, we want to do it at the most appropriate time on the ground for state and local officials. | ||
| We don't want to interrupt the recovery efforts, but we're planning tentatively for a Friday trip. | ||
| And when that becomes final, we'll let all of you know as we always do. | ||
|
unidentified
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And you gave a little bit of reaction earlier, but the National Weather Service, the union, actually publicly stated they had an adequate staff on hand to forecast and predict the storm. | |
| You shared your thoughts earlier on how the way the left has really weaponized this to blame the deaths in Texas on Trump. | ||
| Want to comment on that again? | ||
| Yeah, I just do think those comments are depraved and despicable, especially when so many Americans are mourning the loss of their children. | ||
| The National Weather Service, as I said, did its job. | ||
| Many experts, many meteorologists have said that. | ||
| Many of you in the media, in all fairness, have said that as well. | ||
| Unfortunately, not all. | ||
| And many Democrat-elected officials are trying to turn this into a political game, and it is not. | ||
| This is a national tragedy, and the administration is treating it as such. | ||
| We know the National Weather Service provided early and consistent warnings. | ||
| They gave out timely flash flood alerts. | ||
| There were record-breaking lead times in the lead-up to this catastrophe. | ||
| There is ongoing flood monitoring, and these offices were well staffed. | ||
| In fact, one of the offices was actually overstaffed. | ||
| They had more people than they need. | ||
| So any claim to the contrary is completely false, and it's just sad that people are pushing these lines. | ||
|
unidentified
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Can you just give one more? | |
| Kind of a little bit of breaking news. | ||
| The Department of Homeland Security is moving to end the TPS status on Honduran and Nicaraguan migrants. | ||
| Any plans to adding additional countries that you could be targeting? | ||
| Just a reaction. | ||
| Sure. | ||
| Well, I won't get ahead of the Department of Homeland Security on additional countries, but as you pointed out, they did end temporary protective status for Nicaraguans and Hondurans in this country because TPS, temporary protective status, is temporary by definition. | ||
| It is not meant to be a permanent path to residency or citizenship here in the United States of America. | ||
| It was originally granted to Nicaraguans following a natural disaster in 1999. | ||
| That doesn't sound very temporary to me. | ||
| And as well as Hondurans in 1999 after the impact of Hurricane Mitch in 1998. | ||
| And so this administration is doing what it promised to do. | ||
| And if individuals from these countries want to come here, they have a legal pathway to do it. | ||
| But temporary protective status was never meant to be permanent. | ||
| The previous administration abused this status and this parole program, essentially treating it as such. | ||
| And we're not going to tolerate that any further. | ||
| Thank you, Brian. | ||
| Megan. | ||
|
unidentified
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Secretary Besson said yesterday that countries will boomerang back to the April 2nd tariff level starting August 1st. | |
| Why did the president decide to have those tariffs not take effect Wednesday as originally scheduled? | ||
| And then I was also wondering if you could share, obviously we saw the letters the president sent out on Japan and South Korea, but if any other major U.S. trading partners are getting letters today. | ||
| Sure, yes, I can confirm. | ||
| In fact, I have those letters. | ||
| If you could get me the folder with the letters in them, Liz, they're right in the previous office. | ||
| I have the signed letters that went out to both South Korea and Japan today. | ||
| And there will be approximately 12 other countries that will receive notifications and letters directly from the President of the United States. | ||
| And weeks ago, I stood at this podium and I told all of you that the President was going to create tailor-made trade plans for each and every country on this planet. | ||
| And that's what this administration continues to be focused on. | ||
| The president will also sign an executive order today delaying the July 9th deadline to August 1st. | ||
| So the reciprocal tariff rate or these new rates that will be provided in this correspondence to these foreign Leaders will be going out the door within the next month, or deals will be made. | ||
| And those countries continue to negotiate with the United States. | ||
| We've seen a lot of positive developments in the right direction, but the administration, the president, and his trade team want to cut the best deals for the American people and the American worker. | ||
| That's what they're focused on. | ||
| And in the effort of transparency, these letters will continue to be posted to True Social. | ||
| So you can enjoy them yourself. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks, Caroline. | |
| Just about the visit of Prime Minister Netanyahu today. | ||
| I was just wondering why that is not open to the press. | ||
| Previous visits by him, we've had Oval Office press conferences. | ||
| Does that reflect somehow the kind of sensitivity of this particular visit? | ||
| No, they're having a private dinner. | ||
| There's many important matters that are obviously ongoing in the region, as you know. | ||
| The utmost priority for the president right now in the Middle East is to end the war in Gaza and to return all of the hostages. | ||
| Also, as you know, there was a ceasefire proposal that Israel supports that was sent to Hamas, and we hope that they will agree to this proposal. | ||
| We want to see all of the hostages released. | ||
| That's on the top of the president's mind, so that will be discussed as well as the many other positive developments we've seen in the Middle East. | ||
| I want to go back to the trade deals. | ||
| As you see, we have these beautiful letters that the president has signed. | ||
| This one is to the president of the Republic of Korea. | ||
| Original signature on that. | ||
| And these will be mailed. | ||
| And then here we also have another letter to the Prime Minister of Japan as well. | ||
| Both countries will be receiving a 25% tariff rate effective on August 1st. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Go ahead. | |
| Thank you so much. | ||
| You said it, and the President said it many times. | ||
| You want to see an end to the war in Gaza. | ||
| Will he give guarantees during this 60-day period of ceasefire that actually the war will end? | ||
| Because this is a sticking point with Prime Minister Netanyahu. | ||
| And I'm holding this eye to eye on this point. | ||
| And how do you see the next day, what the next year in Gaza will look like? | ||
| Look, right now the President is focused on today and to get Hamas to agree to this ceasefire. | ||
| I don't want to comment on the details of the arrangement out of respect for these negotiations, but a agreeable and appropriate ceasefire proposal has been sent to Hamas. | ||
| And I can also tell you, Special Envoy Witkoff intends to travel to Doha later this week, where he will continue to engage in these discussions. | ||
| And the Qataris and the Egyptians have been incredibly helpful partners in mediating these negotiations and discussions to bring peace to this region and end this conflict once and for all. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Kristen, two questions. | |
| Thank you, Carol. | ||
| The first question is, is President Trump reconsidering his plan to phase out FEMA given what officials have said is their critical role on the ground now in Texas? | ||
| Look, the President wants to ensure American citizens always have what they need during times of need. | ||
| Whether that assistance comes from states or the federal government, that's a policy discussion that will continue. | ||
| And the president has always said he wants states to do as much as they can, if not more. | ||
| And in the case of Texas, the state and local officials are doing a tremendous job. | ||
| And I know the president, Secretary Noam, and the federal government are very proud to be working with them. | ||
| And the president has promised to give Texas the assistance that they need during this tragic time. | ||
|
unidentified
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Just one follow-up on cuts overall. | |
| Over the weekend, President Trump said that Elon Musk was a train wreck. | ||
| Are there, given this current viewpoint, are there concerns within the White House or from the President himself over the cuts that happened under Musk while he was advising Doge, including the National Weather Service? | ||
| I think I've already addressed that, Kristen, and what I can tell you is that these offices were fully staffed. | ||
| The San Angelo office was fully staffed with 12 forecast meteorologists. | ||
| There were no vacancies. | ||
| The San Antonio office was operating with 11 forecasters. | ||
| And as Brian said, the union themselves said that there was adequate staffing. | ||
| So I think those words speak for themselves, and the numbers speak for themselves. | ||
| This was a once-in-a-century flash flood, a tragic natural disaster, and the administration is doing all that we can on the ground to help these families during this time of need. | ||
| Jeff? | ||
|
unidentified
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Thanks very much, Carolyn. | |
| Just following up on Kristen's question, is it still the President's plan to phase FEMA out by the end of this year? | ||
| I just answered Kristen's question for you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
One more. | |
| Hold on, one more. | ||
| I'll give it to you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The follow-up on trade as well. | |
| 12 more letters coming. | ||
| He said, can you give us a sense of which countries those are? | ||
| I'll let the president reveal those in very due time. | ||
| Keep your eyes on Truth Social. | ||
| Michael in the background. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Caroline. | |
| An armed shooter today was shot in McCallum, Texas after opening fire on Border Patrol agents. | ||
| It comes just days after Democratic Congresswoman Premia Jayapal recently said she gets, quote, inspired when activists obstruct ICE. | ||
| Does the White House expect Democrats to tone down their rhetoric in light of what we saw today in McCallan, Texas? | ||
| We certainly call on Democrats to tone down their rhetoric against ICE and Border Patrol agents who, again, are everyday men and women. | ||
| I would encourage AOC and other Democrats to actually meet with the United States Border Patrol. | ||
| These are honorable Americans who are just simply trying to do their job to enforce the law. | ||
| They go home to their families every night just like we all do and they deserve respect and dignity for trying to enforce our nation's immigration laws and to remove public safety threats from our communities. | ||
| The White House is aware of the shooting that took place today in Texas and we are working with the appropriate federal agencies to get to the bottom of what happened. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Caroline, the DOJ and FBI have now concluded there was no Jeffrey Epstein client list. | |
| What do you tell MAGA supporters who say they want anyone involved in Jeffrey Epstein's alleged crimes to be held accountable? | ||
| This administration wants anyone who has ever committed a crime to be held accountable and I would argue this administration has done more to lock up bad guys than certainly the previous administration and the Trump administration is committed to truth and to transparency. | ||
| That's why the Attorney General and the FBI director pledged at the president's direction to do an exhaustive review of all of the files related to Jeffrey Epstein's crimes and his death. | ||
| And they put out a memo in conclusion of that review. | ||
| There was material they did not release because frankly it was incredibly graphic and it contained child pornography, which is not something that's appropriate for public consumption. | ||
| But they committed to an exhaustive investigation. | ||
| That's what they did and they provided the results of that. | ||
| That's transparency. | ||
| Oh, I'm not sure. | ||
| Okay, so the FBI looks at the circumstances surrounding the death of Jeffrey Epstein. | ||
| According to the report, this systematic review revealed no incriminating client list. | ||
| So, what happened to the Epstein client list that the Attorney General said she had on her desk? | ||
| Well, I think if you go back and look at what the Attorney General said in that interview, which was on your network on Fox News, John Roberts said, DOJ may be releasing the list of Jeffrey Epstein's clients. | ||
| Will that really happen? | ||
| And she said, it's sitting on my desk right now to review. | ||
| Yes, she was saying the entirety of all of the paperwork, all of the paper in relation to Jeffrey Epstein's crimes. | ||
| That's what the Attorney General was referring to, and I'll let her speak for that. | ||
| But again, when it comes to the FBI and the Department of Justice, they are more than committed to ensuring that bad people are put behind bars. | ||
| They have an operation going on right now called Summer Heats, which has our murder rate trending in the lowest direction in United States history. | ||
| Their emphasis on violent crime and locking up violent criminals has led to the arrest of 14,000 violent criminals. | ||
| That's a 62% increase from the same time period last year. | ||
| So this Attorney General and the FBI director are committed to putting bad people behind bars where they belong. | ||
| They promised an exhaustive review. | ||
| That's what they did. | ||
| For any further details, I would refer you to the Department of Justice. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Thanks, Caroline. | ||
| With Prime Minister Netanyahu visiting the White House today, yesterday the President said that he was working on a permanent, on a more permanent deal with Iran, but several days ago he didn't think one was necessary. | ||
| What changed? | ||
| Well, when you asked me about this, or when you all asked me about this several weeks ago, I said the president thought maybe an Iran deal was not necessary, but of course the president is always interested in peace and diplomacy. | ||
| That remains true. | ||
| And the administration continues to be in contact both directly and indirectly with the Iranians on a deal. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And then on tariffs, you're now delaying the deadline from July 9th to August 1st. | |
| Is that an acknowledgement that perhaps the administration found it more difficult to negotiate these trade deals? | ||
| Or whatever happened to 90 deals in 90 days? | ||
| No, it's an acknowledgement that this administration is doing what's best for the American worker and we want the best deals possible for our workers, for our manufacturing base, for our middle class. | ||
| And they are doing this deliberately and appropriately on behalf of our country's interests. | ||
| Josh. | ||
|
unidentified
|
If you get a couple more on the tariffs, you said about 12 more letters. | |
| There were about 55 or so countries, including the EU as a bloc that were facing this tariff increase. | ||
| All of those, to understand it correctly, are now deferred to August 1st, right? | ||
| Correct. | ||
|
unidentified
|
On the 12, what happens with the remaining, whatever it would be, 45? | |
| So just 12 today. | ||
| There will be additional letters in the coming days. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So all of them are going to get a letter at some point. | |
| Correct. | ||
| Okay, and can you tell me why he decided to start with South Korea and Japan? | ||
| Are they annoying? | ||
| It's the president's prerogative, and those are the countries he chose. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And on the sectoral tariffs, our understanding of these continue to be a separate track. | |
| We're still waiting on a bunch of them. | ||
| If there's any timing update on when he's going to move on to semiconductor tariffs and other things that are still in the operation. | ||
| I don't have a timing update, but for where they are in the process, I would defer you to the Department of Commerce. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Should we fake deals, finally, as well. | |
| You announced this Vietnam deal. | ||
| Are you close on any other country? | ||
| The President and the administration, yes, we are close. | ||
| But again, the President wants to ensure these are the best deals possible. | ||
| And I would add just one more thing on trade and tariffs to wrap it up. | ||
| Look at the extensive work this president has put into cutting these good deals and doing what's right for the American worker. | ||
| He is literally looking at the map and looking at every country on the planet and seeing where they are ripping off the American people, seeing where they have hollowed out our industrial base, seeing where our jobs have gone to other countries overseas because of their tariff policies. | ||
| And he's trying to correct that. | ||
| So this is decades of bad trade policy that has led to a deficit that is ravaging our country, that is ravaging our middle class. | ||
| And the president is taking a very deliberate approach to correcting this wrong of many decades, of many past presidents. | ||
| And so I think he should be commended for the time and the effort that he is putting into this. | ||
| And the fact that he has announced a framework with China, a trade deal with the United Kingdom, a trade deal with Vietnam, and many others to come in just a matter of six months is truly historic. | ||
| And it's a testament to this president and his trade team who are working around the clock to get this done. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Sure. | |
| Thank you so much, Caroline. | ||
| Two questions on Iran. | ||
| What's the permanent deal with Iran looks like for the president and what issues related to Iran should it cover? | ||
| And secondly, has the president seen the interview with Iranian President in which he says that the United States President, Mr. Trump, is capable enough to guide the regions toward the peace and a brighter future and put Israel in its place or it gets more into conflict. | ||
| Has the President seen these comments and his reaction to these comments? | ||
| I'm not sure if he's seen those comments, but certainly I think it's true that the President is the right man for the job to move this region into the direction of peace and stability for the future. | ||
| That's what he and his national security team are working on every day, and we've already seen historic achievements in that direction. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
| In the back. | ||
| Kelly, go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Great. | |
| Sure. | ||
| And then in front of you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
A couple questions for you. | |
| First, we all need name tags. | ||
| A first question on the flooding in Texas. | ||
| I know there has been some concern about the timing of the alerts, knowing that they did go out, but the warnings coming out in the week hours, so while many people were likely sleeping. | ||
| Can you share just details what you know about why those warnings were sent, while people were likely sleeping, and then what the administration is doing to ensure that these alerts come out sooner? | ||
| Well, the alerts imminently were sent out before the flood when people were sleeping because the flood hit in the very early hours of the morning. | ||
| So people were sleeping in the middle of the night when this flood came. | ||
| That was an act of God. | ||
| It's not the administration's fault that the flood hit when it did. | ||
| But there were early and consistent warnings. | ||
| And again, the National Weather Service did its job. | ||
| On July 2nd, there were initial notices of potential weather and flooding risks were issued. | ||
| On July 3rd, escalating warnings throughout the day with a flood watch issued at 1.18 p.m. | ||
| And then later on at 6.10 p.m. on July 3rd, the Weather Prediction Center warned of excessive rainfall and a high likelihood of flash flooding. | ||
| 6.22 p.m. | ||
| July 3rd, National Weather Center issued a hydraulic warning highlighting considerable flooding risks, including in Caraville County. | ||
| And then there were the timely flash flood alerts at 11.41 p.m., 1.14 a.m., and then another flash flood emergency warning issued at 4.03 a.m. just before the flood hit. | ||
| So, those were all of the warnings that went out to the affected area and region. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I do have a question. | |
| Thank you very much. | ||
| I appreciate it, Carolyn. | ||
| Two questions for you related to the Prime Minister's visit today. | ||
| Number one, there's a report circulating that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation provided a proposal to the White House to build these so-called humanitarian transit areas inside and outside of Gaza. | ||
| The GHF is insistent it has nothing to do with that proposal. | ||
| Can you shed any light on whether the White House has received such a proposal, and if so, from whom? | ||
| I'm unaware if a proposal from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was sent to the White House. | ||
| I haven't seen it, but I can ask our National Security Council. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And also a document circulating that the White House is prepared to lift the Foreign Terrorist Organization designation from HDS, the group of President al-Shara, in Syria. | |
| Can you confirm that that's taking place? | ||
| Again, I haven't heard that or I'm not aware of that action taking place. | ||
| As you know, we did lift particular sanctions on Syria, but we did leave them on for particular terrorist groups. | ||
| If that has changed, we will, of course, let you know if there's a change in policy, but I'm unaware of one at this time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Go ahead. | |
| Me? | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Here we go, too, since you're so eager. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Ahead of the president's meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu today, is there a scenario where Israel has made it clear that they will not bring an end to this war until Hamas is decimated? | |
| And the president just five months ago suggested a potential takeover of Gaza. | ||
| Is there a situation where tonight the two men will change their posture and in the scenario that Hamas turns over the remaining hostages, that the war could come to a permanent end and that they will seek that under that scenario that they would essentially try to bring this war to a permanent end beyond just that 60-day ceasefire? | ||
| Again, you're putting a hypothetical situation in the air, so I don't want to comment on that out of respect for these ongoing negotiations and discussions that are taking place. | ||
| But as for the takeover of Gaza, I don't believe the president ever said that. | ||
| I think he discussed a rebuilding of Gaza once this war is over. | ||
| This has become an uninhabitable place for human beings, and the president has a big heart. | ||
| He wants this to be a prosperous, safe part of the region where people and families can thrive. | ||
| And there will be a need for a real rebuilding effort when the time comes. | ||
| But right now, we need to end this war, and we need to bring all of the hostages home. | ||
| The president is adamant about that. | ||
| Look, again, I will let the president speak for himself later if he decides to comment on the details of the agreement. | ||
| But out of respect for the discussions, I won't do that from the podium. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Go ahead. | |
| So Congressman Lawler and Gottheimer have introduced a bill in Congress, the Bunker Buster Act, that would allow the United States to sell V-2 bombers and bunker buster bombs to Israel. | ||
| Is that something the President would support? | ||
| Well, I don't know if the President's aware of the Bunker Buster Act, but I will ask him and see what his opinion on that is. | ||
| I'm not sure. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Fair enough. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Marilyn. | |
| Thank you, Marilyn. | ||
| Building off to the question earlier about the shooter in Texas who targeted ICE. | ||
| ACTIOS reported today, I believe, that Democrat lawmakers were saying their constituents are calling on them to be more violent when they go to ICE facilities, including, I believe, they want them to shed blood and that they said that Democrat lawmakers should be willing to get shot themselves. | ||
| Can you respond to that? | ||
| And do you have concerns that any of these lawmakers might act on the wishes of their constituents? | ||
| It's hard to believe anyone with morals in this country or decency would say such a thing. | ||
| Obviously, the White House condemns that rhetoric, and we condemn violence of any kind. | ||
| This administration is simply trying to enforce our laws, and we must be a nation of law and order. | ||
| You cannot simply waltz across our border and live here illegally and expect to stay. | ||
| We are going to enforce our nation's laws, and the men and women who are doing that are doing so in a respectful way. | ||
| They are doing so within the confines of the law, and they are just trying to do their jobs. | ||
| And we condemn any violence or any calls for violence of any kind against any American. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Caroline. | |
| I wanted to ask you a president. | ||
| I was not calling on you, but you can go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
It's fine. | |
| There's a lot of people in here today. | ||
|
unidentified
|
President Trump already saw the letter that President de Colombian President Russal Petro sent him apologizing for his comments a few weeks ago suggesting that there was an involvement from the U.S. government in an alleged coup d'état in Colombia. | |
| And Secretary Rubio recalled the U.S. Chartered Affairs in Colombia. | ||
| Did President Trump saw that letter, and what do you think about the comments from President Petros suggesting that the U.S. has some kind of involvement in a coup? | ||
| I'm not sure if the President has seen that letter, but I can check with him in the National Security Council. | ||
| We will get you a response if you follow up with my team. | ||
| We will find out for you. | ||
| Sure. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
| Thank you, Caroline. | ||
| Iris. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Thank you, Caroline. | ||
| Thank you, Caroline. | ||
|
unidentified
|
On two topics. | |
| I love how excited everyone is on Monday. | ||
| Yes, for Kelly, you can go out. | ||
|
unidentified
|
On two topics, first, tariffs. | |
| The President announced last night that any countries aligning themselves with the anti-American policies of BRICS will be charged with an additional 10% tariff. | ||
| Can you tell us more details on that? | ||
| What specific policies is the president talking about here? | ||
| What policies should countries stay away from to avoid being subject to additional tariffs? | ||
| Sure. | ||
| Well, the president feels, generally speaking, that BRICS is seeking to undermine the interests of the United States. | ||
| It's the president's utmost responsibility to put the interests of the United States first. | ||
| That's how he views his job as president. | ||
| So he's going to ensure that America is fairly treated on the world stage, and he'll take any action necessary to prevent countries from taking advantage of the United States and our people. | ||
| Raquel, go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
On the legal immigrants, Tom Holman told us this morning that ICE will have to arrest 7,000 legal immigrants every day for the remainder of this administration to just cache the ones that were let in during the last administration. | |
| I'm wondering what the new resources and manpower, of course, given by the big, beautiful bill, which, of course, opens the door for ICE to hire additional... | ||
| What's the administration's expectations now for daily arrest numbers going forward in the upcoming months? | ||
| Sure. | ||
| I'll let the Secretary of Homeland Security and her department speak on what they're looking for in terms of daily numbers. | ||
| What I can tell you is I receive the daily reports each morning, and ICE is out there doing the jobs that they swore an oath to do. | ||
| And they are removing public safety threats from our communities every day. | ||
| And our country is becoming a safer place because of their efforts. | ||
| And the one big beautiful bill that is now law will give significant resources to ICE and Border Patrol to continue the tremendous work that they are already doing. | ||
| And I think every American who wants to live in a safe neighborhood should be grateful for their efforts. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Thank you, Caroline. | ||
| Raquel. | ||
| Raquel. | ||
| And then I can go to you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you so much. | |
| And then you, Dr. Harper. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Caroline. | |
| It's a follow-up on the Greeks question. | ||
| So does President Trump believe that the Greeks are getting stronger or trying to isolate the United States? | ||
| And how close is he monitoring this summit that is taking place in Brazil right now? | ||
| He's closely monitoring it, which is why he put out a statement himself. | ||
| He does not perceive these countries as growing stronger. | ||
| He just perceives them as trying to undermine the United States' interests. | ||
| And that's not okay with him, no matter how strong or weak a country may be. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
| Yes, go ahead. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| As promised. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, thank you. | |
| Does Trump have a vision for post-war Gaza? | ||
| You mentioned talking about now the ceasefire. | ||
| Does he support permanent or temporary Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip? | ||
| Does he continue to see a continued role for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to continue to operate in the Gaza Strip? | ||
| Well, as you know, because we've talked about it before, the president has directed aid to be moved into the region, and that has been taking place. | ||
| You've actually seen people in the Gaza Strip yelling out, thank you, Trump, for the aid and for the meals that they have received, because the previous administration never did that for some reason. | ||
| But this president, again, wants to see peace and stability in the region. | ||
| So as I outlined previously, he views this part of the region as having a real chance at being peaceful and prosperous. | ||
| But again, we need to end this war. | ||
| We need to get all the hostages home. | ||
| And Hamas needs to accept this proposal in order to do that. | ||
| Dr. Harper. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Dr. Anthony Harperwin and Mount Christian News. | |
| Thank you for taking my questions. | ||
| Given the nature of the Palestinian Authority, with their pay to slave, teaching Jew hatred to children, corrupt leaders, and no elections for 19 years, who does President Trump support to govern Area A and Area B to prevent Hamas from ruling? | ||
| And what is President Trump's position on Israeli sovereignty? | ||
| Sure. | ||
| Well, the President believes Israel, of course, has a right to defend itself. | ||
| As for the first part of your question, you're getting ahead, Dr. Harper. | ||
| As I told you, the President wants Hamas to accept this proposal right now. | ||
| He wants to see peace in this region, and he's committed to doing that. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Sean, hey, Caroline, can you just please walk us through the decision to halt the supply of weapons to Ukraine at a time when Russia is really hitting Ukrainian cities and civilians? | |
| Was that the president who decided that, or did the Pentagon do it without his approval? | ||
| No, neither of those things are true. | ||
| I'm happy to walk you through it. | ||
| This was a standard review by the Pentagon of all weapons and all aid and all support that the United States is providing all countries and all regions around the world, not just Ukraine. | ||
| When the Secretary of Defense took office, he directed the Pentagon to conduct this review to ensure that everything that's going out the door aligns with America's interests. | ||
| So it's a pause to review to ensure that everything the Pentagon is pushing out there is in the best interest of our military and our men and women in uniform. | ||
| Fran. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Two questions on Israel. | |
| You suggested that Hamas is the impediment currently to a ceasefire. | ||
| So if not a ceasefire deal, then what does the president hope to achieve with tonight's dinner with the prime minister? | ||
| Again, you guys are getting around to a lot of hypotheticals. | ||
| I don't want to get ahead of the president, but there are many other issues to discuss with Prime Minister Netanyahu tonight related to the region and just the entire world. | ||
| So this will be a dinner to talk about Operation Midnight Hammer, which was incredibly successful to talk about peace in Gaza and ending that conflict, as well as many other topics of discussion in relation to Israel and the United States. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Caroline. | |
| Given the fact that this is on the trade letters, given the fact that the President put in into effect the tariffs on April 2nd and then put the pause into place, is the President at all concerned that these countries that are receiving the letters won't take them seriously because the deadline seems to have shifted already and may shift again? | ||
| They will take the letters seriously because they have taken the president seriously. | ||
| And that's why the president's phone, I can tell you, rings off the hook from world leaders all the time who are begging him to come to a deal. | ||
| And this administration is working hard to ensure those deals are in the best interest of the American people. | ||
| And this delay, again, is in the best interest of the American people. | ||
| And you all will continue to see these letters released on the President's True Social. | ||
| And we will see you all later. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you guys. | |
| Not a yes, sir, not a follower. | ||
| Fit the box with the moon, have a seat. | ||
| Boy up the number. | ||
| I was lightning before the thunder. | ||
| Lightning and the thunder. | ||
| Thunder, feel the thunder. | ||
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| Dreaming about being a big star. | ||
| The benefit shows where the truth gon' be. | ||
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| The Benny shows here, bringing liberty to life. | ||
| From the speeches to debates, Benny sharp like a blade. | ||
| Cover through the lies, once the truth cascade. | ||
| With the warrior's heart, this man never fades. | ||
| You know it's primetime when Benny invades. | ||
| From saving the nation to stories untold. | ||
| The Benny shows a storm, see the truth unfold. | ||
| Stay in the loop, let freedom take hold. | ||
| Saltin' all the lips, soul never sold. | ||
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| The Benny shows here, bring your liberty to life. | ||
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| From the speeches to debates, Benny's sharp like a blade. | ||
| Cutting through the lies, watch the truth cascade. | ||
| With the warrior's heart, this man never fades. | ||
| You know it's prime time when Benny invades. | ||
| From saving the nation to stories untold. | ||
| The Benny shows a storm, see the truth unfold. | ||
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| The Benny shows here, bringing liberty to light. | ||
| Bringing liberty to light. |
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