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Oct. 18, 2025 - Bannon's War Room
48:44
Episode 4860: So Goes Texas So Goes The Country
Participants
Main voices
a
aaron reitz
06:06
l
leigh wambsganss
11:30
p
peter navarro
06:23
s
steve bannon
16:06
Appearances
a
amanda head
02:09
c
charles coleman
01:18
l
lisa rubin
01:11
Clips
d
donald j trump
00:56
e
erielle reshef
00:31
k
ken dilanian
00:44
p
peter doocy
00:09
| Copy link to current segment

Speaker Time Text
peter doocy
Tomahawks to Ukraine.
What's gonna happen if the United States is in a conflict?
And we need the Tomahawks.
donald j trump
That's the problem.
We need Tomahawks and we need a lot of other things that we've been sending over the last four years to Ukraine.
We've been, you know, we gave we gave them a lot.
Now we have a different situation.
We send it to the European Union.
They pay for it and all that.
And they have plenty of money.
unidentified
Gamahawks.
donald j trump
And we need a lot of other things that we've been sending over the last four years to Ukraine.
You know, we gave we gave them a lot.
Now we have a different situation.
We send it to the European Union, they pay for it.
One thing I have to say, we want Tomahawks also.
We don't want to be giving away things that we need to protect our country.
We have a very strong country right now.
We have a strong military.
We have the greatest military in the world, we have the greatest weapons in the world.
I want to get this war over.
ken dilanian
One of the issues that the indictment raises is that not only was this information exposed to his wife and daughter, it was exposed to the Iranians because one of his email accounts was hacked.
And what I've learned is that that is one way that the United States discovered that there was this classified information on Bolton's AOL account is because they had a penetration.
The US intelligence community had a penetration of an Iranian system, and they came across these emails, and that sort of fueled this investigation.
And there was a debate in the Biden administration about whether they could even move forward with this case because it would require essentially disclosing to the Iranians that the U.S. had that penetration.
That's a big deal.
That's not often done.
But the Trump Justice Department decided that it was worth it to pursue this case against John Bolton.
erielle reshef
And likely knew that this information should not have been spread further, that there was sort of an attempt to say, don't share this.
And then there was a sort of tongue in cheek that response.
In the response, but explain to us why that could or could not factor in here.
charles coleman
So the power of a document like that or evidence like that is really the government's ability to get it into evidence at trial.
And that is, as we all know at this table, going to be a function of the witnesses that are able to authenticate that document.
In plain English, what it means is that if I'm having a conversation with another individual, and that conversation is private, either of us has to be able to take the stand to say, I had this conversation with this person, or I received this communication from this person.
You cannot compel John John Bolton to testify because he has a Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
And with respect to his family, it's possible that they could be compelled to testify, but it's very unlikely.
So the question becomes with a communication like that, who is the witness that you're going to use to authenticate it?
Certainly you could use the FBI, perhaps, to say that they got it through the investigation, but if you're not hearing from either of the individuals who are participating in the conversation, it loses its emphasis, and the jury has to sort of take it at the four corners of the document, which could be good or bad, depending on who you're talking about.
But certainly what you will not have happened is John Bolton get on the stand, say see this, and as Susa said, say, oh, I only told them to shush because I didn't want it known, but at the same time, I didn't know that these weren't things that they were supposed to talk about.
So that's absolutely not going to happen.
erielle reshef
This indictment of Bolton uh accuses him of sharing emails with information, national defense information with two family members.
They don't say who the family members are, but they're presumed to be his wife and his daughter.
How significant is it that a former national security advisor was sharing information with his family?
lisa rubin
I think on one hand, Ariel, it's very significant because John Bolton, like most people in that position, has shown us that he understands what the rules of the road are.
In fact, the indictment itself shows us that John Bolton fully understands that because he's done a series of interviews both before his time as the national security advisor and after, where he criticizes other people for their handling and discussion.
On the other hand, almost everyone who serves in this kind of capacity writes a book at some point in time, right?
Our bookshelves are legion upstairs in our headquarters with these kinds of books.
And you have to ask yourself, how do people do that if they don't hold on to classified or national security information at some point in time in some venue?
I think what complicates this here is obviously Bolton was using an intermediary.
He was using his wife and daughter basically as a transcription and secretarial service as his ghostwriters or editors.
It's not exactly clear what function they fulfilled, but He was handwriting notes along his journey as the NSA.
Then he was converting them into a word document and sending them to his wife and daughter, either over an instant message platform that's non-governmental, or a commercial email application.
And that's the complicating factor.
unidentified
And if I could just throw in a quick one on a hundred percent tariff on things like the movies, obviously our movie industry is already the best in the world, and I don't understand the competitive issue there.
Thank you.
Well, let's say the movie uh thing first.
peter navarro
Um if you know Hollywood, and I used to uh live about 60 miles from there.
Uh it became almost impossible to produce a medium to low budget film in Hollywood, and so it was off to Czechoslovakia and Canada.
The industry went, and it was drawn by um heavy government subsidies from countries around the world who wanted to cash in on the on the Hollywood cow.
So it yeah, it's a significant um that's a significant issue.
unidentified
And that's been reported that Maduro uh offered everything in it's in his country, all the natural resources.
He even recorded a message to you in English recently, uh offering mediation.
Why should we do that?
donald j trump
He has offered everything.
He's offered everything.
You're right.
You know why?
Because he doesn't want to find with the United States.
Thank you, everybody.
steve bannon
It's Friday, 17 October, the year of our Lord 2025, joined by my co-host this afternoon, Lee Womsburg.
Now, you're running right now.
We know you as the Patriot Mobile political action person.
You're actually running for the state Senate in the state of Texas.
leigh wambsganss
Yes, I'm running for Senate District 9.
And in the state of Texas, we have 31 senators.
They're huge districts, larger than congressional districts.
steve bannon
There's only 31 senators in all of Texas, Texas Senate.
leigh wambsganss
About a million, so it's a huge district.
Our races are more expensive than congressional races.
unidentified
Wow.
steve bannon
Unbelievable.
Hang around, uh, Lee.
We're gonna we got a lot to get to.
Let's go to Peter Navarre's on Pebble Beach.
Zelinski just left the White House a few minutes ago.
The president left, no gaggle, no discussion, heading to Palm Beach.
Peter, uh, today your speech really touched the heart.
We started the show down here in Texas with your speech.
I gotta tell you the audience reaction was amazing because you talked about populism and economic nationalism from the heart, and you really were it almost felt like you were addressing uh the good folks in Texas, the farmers, the ranchers, the entrepreneurs, the the people that really are the backbone of this country, sir.
peter navarro
The council on foreign relations is kind of the Davos of Washington, D.C. It's the center of gravity for all of the uh policy guys who are gonna be in Democrat administrations.
Uh I went right at them today.
Um I was happy to get the invite.
Uh, but look, they're responsible for everything you and I have fought for uh what, the better part of three decades now.
NAFTA, they were behind China's entry into the WTO, uh, the ill-fated trans-Pacific partnership, which uh President Trump uh skewered on his first day in office in the first term.
Uh and this this drum beat, Steve, of propaganda.
Tariffs are bad, tariffs are gonna cause inflation, tariffs are gonna cause recession, don't do tariffs, we'll upset our allies.
They're always so quick.
Steve, one of the themes of the speech was you can't trade our economic security for national security.
Economic security is national security.
If you don't have a manufacturing base, you can't defend anybody, including yourself.
So it was um it was a very interesting day.
And uh I hope the council of foreign relations on foreign relations got a little religion today, because I was preaching, brother.
He's preaching the gospel of MAGA, and I was preaching it uh the way they didn't like because I gave them the data, the facts, sir.
We brought the facts.
And it was fun.
steve bannon
Okay, let me ask you, you went to kind of the high church of the globalists.
And it's one of the most elite groups in the world.
You've got to be invited to be part of the Council on Foreign Relations, really headquartered in New York, but with a massive uh state-of-the-art office in DC right near the White House.
You also had Anna Swanson, and I would say Anna's probably one of the smartest people in the country about trade.
She does a great job of the New York Times, although she's not a she's not, she's a globalist, not a nationalist.
But then you had to you had a live audience of the uh invitation only of the council, and then you had, I don't know, five, ten thousand people just on their zoom, a zoom call, and we had you know hundreds of thousands watching live.
You actually got up in their grill like I've never seen before.
How did they respond to your kind of reading the right?
Are they empathetic at all with what the populist nationals and the good folks in Texas are trying to fight for, or is it just this elitist globalist sneering?
peter navarro
Well well, first of all, guest hosting on the war room is good training to go get in the grill of uh the globalists.
Um I thought that uh the reception in the room was uh surprisingly warm.
I I think they get it.
Um you got the leadership.
The problem is the leadership and the fellows who take the checks and write the articles and things like foreign policy.
But but these are smart people, they have eyes and ears, and they can see over time that Donald Trump's trade policies is certain have certainly been very effective.
They can certainly see that it's Donald Trump creating peace, not war.
Um, but this is the kind of constructive dialogue we need.
I mean, look, Steve, I think we've broken the back of the resistance on tariffs and trade as as it is now, because Donald Trump has succeeded beyond anybody's wildest dreams in terms of getting deals with virtually the rest of the world that are very favorable to the United States, all without creating inflation or recession.
And everybody's kind of grudgingly admitting, uh, who hasn't yet that yeah, it's working pretty damn good.
And oh, by the way, as I said in the speech today, uh, we're able to pay down our national debt in ways which could actually get us a balanced budget and uh keep our bond yields down and mortgage rates down and consumer credit down.
So um look, Council on Foreign Relations is the last holdout.
But um we went to them today and uh they heard the message, and hopefully uh uh they'll they'll come home to us as well.
steve bannon
Uh I know I don't want to any obviously classifying information inside baseball, but today you have both the kinetic part of the war President Trump is trying to solve with this slaughter in Ukraine and President Trump comes on once again with the empathetic too many dead.
He's trying to work on you know Tomahawk's offensive knot with Putin.
Marcos going over next week to start the negotiation with Lavra, President Trump will follow to Budapest.
You've also, you Jameson, Ambassador Greer, Scott Besson are dealing with the Chinese Communist Party on what looks like open warfare about rare earth.
Where just we overall directionally, where do we stand with this?
Because I will tell you, not just markets, but as I'm down here in Texas, people are paying attention to this big time.
peter navarro
Well, as the boss says, let's see what happens.
We'll know by uh November 1st after President Trump meets with President uh Xi Jinping.
Uh my favorite question of the day um in the uh forum today was about kind of the rare earths and and what's the weaponization of our uh China's supply chains against us.
You know, Steve, you and I know it it's unrestricted warfare.
And what I explained uh to the crowd there that uh is simply that my you know my job at the White House, Steve, uh is not only to bring things home in the supply chain, but the ones where there's vulnerabilities.
And all I can say is what China's doing is making my job a heck of a lot easier.
I don't have to convince anybody anymore inside the White House that we need to do this and we need to do it in Trump time, which is to say as fast as possible.
So um let's see what happens.
It's always good for the war room to be here.
Thanks for carrying that today.
Thanks to the Papa Sig, Bob Sig, and and Parker For getting it all done.
And um last thing I'll say, Steve, gotta be said, I I'm so pissed off uh that John Bolton, as like Comey got to self-surrender.
Uh chapter one of I Went to Prison So You Won't Have To.
You can read about my leg irons arrest.
I'm s I, you know, I don't want that to be done to them, but it does uh provide a stark contrast between how those bastards treated you and me and how we're treating them.
18 counts felony, John Bolton walks in.
steve bannon
Uh last thing, Anna Swanson, one of the senior people of the New York Times.
Did you happen to mention we sold more books than then than number 10?
We should be number eight in the New York Times bestseller list, and we're not.
Did you mention it to Anna?
We got about 30 seconds, brother.
peter navarro
I I yeah, I communicated that through email to uh the publisher, Arthur Solzberger, uh through Anna Swanson as well.
She's well aware of the problem.
Look, um the don't expect fairness um from the New York Times.
They're costing us, see, they're costing us thousands and thousands of books out there.
And it's not about the money, it's about the message.
And that's what they do.
New York Times is cancel culture and skewed analysis, and uh, we just gotta keep fighting.
The good news is there's the war room now, and there's all sorts of alternative ways.
steve bannon
Well, we'll talk to you on Monday, brother.
Thank you.
Peter Navarro.
unidentified
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unidentified
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unidentified
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steve bannon
We're up on Ghetter right now.
We'll be on getter all weekend.
So Real America's Voice and War, we are juggling.
We're live in Texas right now.
Lee's my co-host tomorrow morning from 8 a.m. to noon.
We're going to be live and we're going to juggle between Orlando and Moms for Liberty and here in Texas.
We got breaking news, personalities, politics, all of it.
And we have a rally tomorrow afternoon.
leigh wambsganss
We do.
You can learn more about it at Lee for Texas.com.
steve bannon
So I'll be there with Lee and uh we're gonna have a rally and get ready jacked up for this coming election.
Simultaneously in the afternoon, we're gonna do live coverage.
Real America's voice is going to do live coverage of Marine Corps 250, very much like the Navy 250 we did, I think a couple of Sundays ago.
Uh our own Amanda Head is going to be there.
She's at uh she's at Camp Pendleton right now, Oceanside California.
Amanda Head, first off, Amanda, that's not normally a very safe place for a young woman to be, but you did go to Auburn, so I guess you're you're you're tough enough, right?
unidentified
I did, and I actually have two Auburn camera guys, so we have banded together and we are good.
amanda head
And look, we're right next to the base.
We're right outside of it.
We actually just had two lovely Marines come out and make sure that we were not actually filming the gate because that's a security risk.
But we are just focused here on the sign, but they were lovely, and it it it does feel quite safe.
And you know, Steve, you consider the demographics of Southern California and what's happening with deportations, and there is maybe a touch less crime in these areas.
steve bannon
Uh Amanda, walk us through tomorrow, your broadcast.
You're gonna anchor.
Tell us about uh Pendleton.
My understanding is we're gonna see a full marine uh amphibious assault and landing right there at Pendleton.
Can you give us a heads up of what we can uh what we can look forward to?
amanda head
I will give you the full breakdown.
I had to write it down because there's so much.
Um you've got it's gonna start off with ACV.
So those are those are amphibious combat vehicles.
Those are gonna be launching from naval vessels and then coming aboard land.
You've got C-130s, they're gonna have parachute jumpers that are gonna be jumping to Red Beach, which is just a little bit north of Camp Pendleton.
You've got uh Navy Special Warfare divers doing a demonstration.
Uh FA18s, F-35Cs, those are fighter jets.
They're gonna be executing uh beach strides, and that's gonna be up until about one PM.
And then we've got C H 53s, those are heavy lift helicopters.
Um and MV2s, those are uh a type of osprey, those are tilt rotor ospreys.
We've got High Mars, uh Marine uh artillery units conducting controlled live fire demonstrations.
You're gonna have a combined uh United States Marine Corps and United States Navy air power finale, C 130 flyover and then H1 helicopter flyover and flag presentation to close it all out.
So this obviously is for the Marine Corps November 10th, uh 1775 is when they began, but obviously a strong unity between the United States Marines and the Navy.
So the Navy is participating as well.
It's gonna be incredible.
Steve, we were over at the site earlier today uh doing a preset for all of our equipment, and it is it is a production on par with President Trump's biggest campaign rallies last year, and and obviously even more expansive considering all of the vehicles around that were already there.
We were just watching a demonstration and a rehearsal of the flyover.
I mean, it is American might and patriotism on display.
Tomorrow is going to be absolutely spectacular.
steve bannon
Everything going on in Taiwan, it couldn't be a more timely effort with the Navy, and of course, uh what Cleo uh Pascal calls uh calls the men's department of the Navy.
Yeah, the United States Marines you are.
Amanda, we you start.
We're at Moms for Liberty and Texas from eight o'clock.
Remember, war room coverage expands with Real America's Voice, 8 a.m. tomorrow, two noon.
So our normal 10 to noon show, but we're gonna have two hours in the morning.
Uh Lee's gonna be with me, Brian Harrison's gonna be with me.
Many other people from Texas are gonna be, we're gonna cut back and forth between uh between this amazing conference of Moms for Liberty in Orlando.
Then we're gonna toss it to Amanda and the team out in California at Camp Pendleton, they're gonna let it rip.
Amanda, what's your social media?
How do I'm sure people are gonna have tons of questions all day, all night?
Where do they go?
amanda head
At Amanda Head everywhere.
steve bannon
Amanda Head, thank you so much, ma'am.
Good luck tomorrow.
unidentified
Bravo Zulu.
steve bannon
Okay, Lee, here's what I don't get.
leigh wambsganss
Okay.
steve bannon
We've known Patriot Mobile, been a sponsor for years, have known you in that.
You got a great company, you got a great family.
Uh you're kind of revered down here with the grassroots, you're kind of legendary and the grassroots and what you guys have done to Patriot Mobile has done as outreach on so many different things, right?
The schools, the Bibles, the the Bible for all of it.
Just amazing.
Why would somebody's got a life like that want to get into cutthroat polishes?
Folks, you gotta understand as we've covered on the trial of Ken Pax all of it, the Texas Senate only has 31 people.
So each one of them is targeted, particularly with the business interest, with the radical left, uh, with everything.
You get all these other issues that are coming before.
It's one of the reasons I came to Texas.
I said something's going on down in Texas, I gotta start spending more time there.
Why would you leave that nice life to go into the cockpit of what modern uh politics is, particularly in a state like Texas, which as goes Texas, so goes the country, man.
leigh wambsganss
The bottom line is if good people don't get in the game, who's running the show, right?
Bad people.
I have no desire to be an elected official.
I have no desire to have a title.
This is a a duty, right?
I I'm needed at this time.
I'm not gonna allow a Democrat to win this seat or a rhino to win this seat because Texas matters.
If Texas goes, so goes the country.
And you're right, my life is really great.
It's a lot better without this.
But if good people don't self-sacrifice and get involved, you have the other type of candidate who is in it for themselves, and that never works out well for the people.
steve bannon
Your district is huge, includes, I think, part of one of the best cities in this country, Fort Worth, Texas.
Just extraordinary.
We spent so I spent so much time over in Fort Worth over the last 30 years.
And you've got the great part that's north of Fort Worth.
Um the reason your case is pretty sp is pretty interesting, is that when you announce, and given how people know you from grassroots, you had a fairly big lead against the Democrat.
And then all this, and then all of a sudden, the establishment Republican business community drops in a guy with I don't know, four million dollars or whatever he had, and just starts car carpet bombing.
I mean, they're sending a signal they don't want MAGA, they don't want a grassroots person, they want somebody that's very uh malleable to the business community.
How do you handle that?
leigh wambsganss
Well, and it to understand the dynamics of the of that statement that this is a special election and there is no primary.
So there was already a Democrat in, and then I got in the election.
So the next Republican that got in was willing to split the vote.
The next Republican that got in didn't care at the possibility of splitting the vote and perhaps giving the seat to a Democrat.
That alone should be enough to know who to vote for.
But in addition to that, now that we know since the finance reports have come out that over 93% of all of his money have come from has come from out of state.
steve bannon
93% of that big amount of money was out of state.
leigh wambsganss
I've never seen that in the history.
You know, I've been in politics a long time.
I've never seen that with another Texas candidate.
Um, it's really phenomenal.
We are working really hard at the grassroots.
Um, we have a a good campaign.
It's we're strong on our messaging.
We know what the people want.
You know, this district has over 20 cities, it has 13 school districts.
So, and I've been in every one of them talking to the voters.
steve bannon
And this kind of an explosive growth area of Texas, correct?
One of the most explosive growth states in the Union.
leigh wambsganss
It is.
And in our area, is one of the most explosive growth Senate districts in the state of Texas.
So we're out there working hard.
We know um what the people want.
We have the grassroots machine, volunteers, moms and dads who love this state and love this country and want to keep Senate District 9 red.
steve bannon
You you're doing the President Trump precinct strategy, turning point, Charlie Kirk.
You're knocking on doors and voter engagement.
What is you what are your team and you hearing from the voters when you knock on the doors in their mind right now, nine months into President Trump's administration, and with all the madness that just went through the redistricting fight in Texas, what are voters telling you is top of their mind?
leigh wambsganss
So no matter where I go in all of these cities, there's two top issues property tax and security and and policing.
So that includes your local uh police.
That includes border security.
And something that I um have been really sort of screaming from the mountaintops is this is what President Trump has done to our southern border is amazing.
Him, he's closing it, you know, before that show up now and up.
I actually just talked to the sheriff earlier today, and he said we are seeing crime rates go down since President Trump lowered, uh I mean lowered the amount of people coming over.
You know, prior to this, you know, Tarrant County is the reddest county in the nation.
Our sheriff um testified in Washington, D.C. that in this red county, he was uh doing a bust of a stash house and he found women in cages here in Parrett County.
And that's part of the city.
That's cartel, the drug lords and the drug traffickers.
So that is truly helped that.
However, Texas has to be prepared for a life after President Trump.
We can never again be caught off guard depending upon who's in the White House.
We are um the eighth largest economy in the world.
We have a 2.7 trillion dollar GDP.
There is no reason why we can't handle our southern border, and I know that's supposed to be the federal government's um responsibility.
But Texas is big enough, we need to watch our own border and always, always be prepared.
steve bannon
I can tell you from the last couple of days, one of the things that the nationwide audience is shocked about, I'm getting texted.
The property taxes can't be that high there.
Talk to me about the property.
We got a minute.
The property, I think people say, well, no, this is Texas.
These are self-reliance.
This is the pioneer frontier spirit.
Your your property taxes are out of control.
leigh wambsganss
So they're very, very high.
Now keep in mind we don't have a state income tax.
It's so it offsets with property tax.
But what happens is is sometimes it does.
It absolutely gets out of control.
And you've got people being taxed out of their homes, especially senior citizens.
We have some tack important tax amendments on this November 4th election as well.
And they will increase our homestead exemption.
So the homestead exemption hires, uh, heightens the amount to where you don't get taxed.
So right now, the first hundred thousand dollars of all of our property is not taxed, but this raises it to 140,000.
steve bannon
The way the way real estate's down here, 100,000 is nothing, right?
unidentified
Right.
steve bannon
They're exploding.
Okay, Lee, hang on for a second.
By the way, what's your campaign?
Where if people want to know more about your campaign, where they go right now.
leigh wambsganss
Lee for Texas.com.
steve bannon
Okay, and this is going to be a barn burner.
This is going to go all the way.
You're gonna have to run through the tape, you know that.
Uh, it's gonna be incredible.
We're gonna take a short commercial break.
Take your phone out, text Bannon, B-A-N-N-O-N, 9898-98, the ultimate guide, which happens to be free for investing in gold and precious metals.
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Back in a moment.
unidentified
Here's your host, Stephen K. Welcome back.
steve bannon
You just got, as you walked in here on this Friday afternoon, a huge endorsement in this race.
Who Who just endorsed you?
leigh wambsganss
It's so exciting.
I just got a call from the Fort Worth Firefighters Association.
These are the men and women who are running in a burning building when we're running out of it.
And they are really a powerful force in Senate District 9.
And I am so blessed and honored to get that call.
I'm really excited.
steve bannon
So why, given the choices out there, why did they select you?
leigh wambsganss
You know, um, one of the things we talked about in our interview is when I was um a news anchor and reporter, um, I was one of the first reporters to talk about the off gassing and plastics when they're burning and the carcinogens in those and how firefighters are affected by that.
So I really relate to a lot of their issues, and I've always honored our police and fire my entire life, and they just recognize that.
steve bannon
And I'm just really so they know you've got their back.
You're not just somebody blowing through town and want to want a uh endorsement.
You've been you've had their back for a long time.
leigh wambsganss
For for decades.
steve bannon
Decades.
Amazing.
And it pays off in a huge people should know that it's a huge endorsement here in this uh in Fort Worth or Fort River area.
Terry.
Uh Aaron writes, you also, sir, had a great life.
Why do you want to be attorney general of the great state of Texas?
And why would you give up your life to get into this part of elective politics, which is just a cockpit?
It's gonna be that's this is gonna be a such a tough race.
Why are you doing it?
aaron reitz
It's a great race.
Look, and we're I'm this is the great life running for office in this capacity.
I love running for Texas AG.
I love the fight that we're in.
You know, I'm a former Marine, and an earlier segment, you guys were talking about the 250th birthday that's coming up.
I love being in the fight.
But the reason why I'm running specifically for attorney general of Texas is because I have served at Attorney General Ken Paxton's right hand.
I was his offensive coordinator during the Biden years, suing the Biden administration.
As an attorney general candidate, I've been endorsed by Ken Paxton to succeed him.
And I have seen from a front row seat how important it is to have a battle tested warrior in this position to operate effectively in a lawfare environment in which we're in right now.
My three opponents, they don't have the slightest clue what they're doing.
They may be good legislators, but they are not, as President Trump described me when he brought me to the Justice Department, true MAGA attorneys and warriors for the Constitution.
That's what we need in the Texas AG's office.
And I think that my background litigating, investigating, suing, defending, and appealing on all the major issues that your national audience cares about, that's what makes me best suited for this job.
We got to get the warrior in the fight, and I think that that's me.
steve bannon
So, Aaron, here's what I stand.
It was it was Glenn's story and Lee Wamsgan that kind of came to me and said, Hey, I don't think you quite understand how big a deal this impeachment of uh of Ken Paxson is, and how it cuts to all the core issues between MAGA and the establishment, between the Trump faction and the Bush faction, and that's when we got engaged, and man, we did stories every day and had people on, had did Saturday specials, and we're kind of the platform that started turning the things around.
In a system that would impeach a guy like Ken Paxton, who's kind of a legendary uh, you know, individual uh in uh in as being an attorney general in the MAGA movement.
Why would you want that job?
aaron reitz
Somebody's gotta do the fight.
Somebody's gotta go to war and fight to advance our values through the justice system.
I was with Attorney General Ken Paxson as his right-hand man throughout that entire impeachment process, from the moment that those liars decided to accuse him of doing a bunch of wrongdoing to drag him through politically, try to humiliate and destroy him all the way through the investigations and the impeachment,
which by the way, I think it's important to note, Steve, for your audience, all three of my opponents were behind the instigation and impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton, a guy that you had on the show just the other day, Congressman Chip Roy, was the first elected official in America to call for attorney general Ken Paxson to be removed from office in October of 2020.
Then, all the way three years later, in September 2023, he was still lending his name, image, likeness, and updated quotes and on speaking tours calling for him to be convicted by the state Senate.
My two other opponents were involved in whipping support to impeach Ken Paxton.
One of my opponents spent $500,000 of his own money, bankrolling primary challengers and House members who were going against Ken Paxton.
And so the choices are very clear in this race.
If Texans and your national audience stand with Ken Paxton, there is only one person in this race who is suited to be his successor.
Not only in terms of the loyalty that I've shown, the devotion to our movement, but the fact that I was in the Lions Den with Attorney General Paxton.
He endorsed me to succeed him, and I am ready to go to war.
And Steve, I'll tell you this I've seen how ugly this law fair can get.
I've seen how nasty it can get.
We're not just fighting the demonic left, but we're fighting the squish, rhino, lying, duplicitous, deceptive rhinos on the right as well, both of whom came against Paxton, and both of whom I've been fighting for my entire career.
And it's that experience that makes me uniquely suited to serve as the next chief legal officer of the state of Texas.
steve bannon
Aaron, on uh the 20th of January of 2021, uh, as President Trump's plane left the tarmac to the sound of Frank Sinatra's uh, you know, great song, My Way.
We had Boris Epstein calling in.
We teed up the five o'clock show, the afternoon show, and the first guest we had was Ken Paxton.
And we said, Ken, you know, the the AG is gonna be the front line here.
What tell us what you're gonna do?
He says, hey, with the Biden administration was in the bounds of the Constitution, right?
And this benefits the folks in Texas, we're gonna support it and work with it.
Where they're outside the bounds of the Constitution, and this is to the detriment of the citizens of Texas, I'm gonna lead the fight.
And of course, it's legendary what Ken Paxon did, leading virtually every fight, including for the election, all of it.
Now that President Trump is in, what are you gonna do as attorney general regarding the Trump administration?
aaron reitz
Totally.
Well, I'll tell you, I remember January 20th, 2021 vividly, because what we were doing that afternoon is we were preparing our very first lawsuit, which we dropped when I was Ken Paxton's deputy and his offensive coordinator.
We dropped our first lawsuit against the Biden administration on January 21st, 2021 on border security related matters, and we won that case.
And since that time, I was responsible for coordinating and executing all of those Texas v.
Biden lawsuits.
During my tenure as Ken Paxton's deputy, I brought 46 lawsuits against the 46th president, and with Ken Paxton leading the charge, we won 85% of those cases.
Now it's a very different operating environment that we're in right now.
We don't have an existential enemy in the White House.
In fact, we have a very close ally in the White House.
And so what I stand uniquely positioned to do as somebody who just came from the senior most ranks of the Justice Department in the presidentially appointed Senate confirmed role as the head of the Office of Legal Policy, is that I am uniquely positioned to partner with the Trump administration to muster those resources,
whether it's the White House staff, domestic policy, or DHS, DOJ, to bring those to bear as somebody who's already been vetted by that team, somebody who's already a friend with all of those key players to coordinate our efforts to turn and train our guns on the enemy of liberty that have taken root here in Texas,
whether they are the nonprofits, the Soros funded DAs, the Sharia law uh entities that are taking root here, the anti-American college campuses that have flourished right here in Texas.
So rather than turning our artillery against the feds, we can coordinate and cooperate with the Trump administration, with me as the attorney general, a former senior Trump administration official, to really, really root out leftism, corruption, violence, fraud, waste, abuse right here at home on our home soil in the Lone Star State.
And that's what makes me uniquely effective as the next attorney general.
steve bannon
Aaron, social media coordinates and where do people go find out about you more about you and your campaign?
aaron reitz
Well, folks can go to my website at AaronRights.com, A-A-R-O-N, R E I T Z dot com.
And I post on all social media platforms.
If you just search for my name, or my ex-handle in particular at Aaron underscore rights, A R O N underscore R E I T Z. Vote for Trump's true MAGA attorney and warrior for the Constitution and the Ken Paxton endorsed successor as the next attorney general of Texas.
steve bannon
Aaron, thank you so much for joining us on a Friday.
Appreciate you.
aaron reitz
Thanks, Stephen.
Thanks, Lee.
Good luck.
God bless you.
steve bannon
Thank you for uh for uh for being in the core and tomorrow, of course, Marine Corps 250 from Camp Pendleton, Amanda Head and the entire RAV team will be out there.
How do you?
I mean, we got up close and personal with the Texas Senate, and I didn't know a whole lot about it beforehand.
I said, Wow, when they went through the Kent Paxson trial, and they were the jury, and how close that whole thing was.
How are you prepping yourself as you run and talk to your constituents to actually join that body, which I would respectfully submit is not entirely MAGA?
leigh wambsganss
Well, yeah, it absolutely isn't.
But the Senate is so much better than the House, right?
Um, how do I prepare myself?
steve bannon
Why is it, but why is that in Texas?
Texas, I said today this we had a conference meeting here.
I said, this is the reddest MAGA state for people and for activists and for grassroots.
And the political apparatus, the reason Texas is purple is that you have a blue apparatus, but still most of them have Republican next to their name.
How could that possibly be?
leigh wambsganss
Well, it really comes down to leadership.
The leadership in the Senate is significantly more conservative than the leadership in the House.
And so we have an unusual thing.
Uh, you know, with only 31 senators, 20 of them are Republican.
Five of them, they're open seats coming up for election.
steve bannon
How can that be?
Well, we would that many people want to leave at one time.
So Republicans is 25% of the Republican in the Senate, as powerful as that is.
Yes.
leigh wambsganss
And so um several things.
Uh one of them, you know, got a great job, the other one is running for another position, a couple of retired.
So, you know, life happens.
People retire.
You know, we're not meant to stay in government forever.
So think about our founding fathers.
They risked everything to run.
You talk about why would I do it?
Because I have a great life.
I don't want to do it.
It's a duty to do it.
And if more good people don't do it, our country is finished.
We have to, we have to step up.
steve bannon
What's gonna be the top of the agenda?
You said your things are property taxes and security, and particularly in something quite important.
There was a controversy that the war was involved in for years.
The uh the duty of Texans, of the Texas government to secure the border.
You just can't wait for the federal government.
This during Biden, it was a disaster.
You had Project Lone Star, but we had Ben Burkwam, Benzman, many people that are in the government today down there.
Project Lone Star was a licking of promise.
I mean, they were coming through and they it wasn't being done.
Is that something you're gonna push?
Because you're gonna say, hey, the Trump President Trump, as great as he is, and of course I'm head of Trump 28.
You're saying at some point in time that's going to come to a conclusion.
Texas has to stand up and secure its own border.
You're the eighth biggest economy in the world.
lisa rubin
Right.
leigh wambsganss
It's the biggest responsibility of government is to protect our citizens.
steve bannon
And you think the state government too.
You think they're gonna they clearly don't want to do that, right?
Or they would have done it.
leigh wambsganss
There's a lot of people that want to, and if we send reinforcements like a Lee Wamsgons to Senate, we'll have more strength for that.
steve bannon
Um, you know, operation is that big is that big for is the constituents of your talking to them?
That's something they bring up.
leigh wambsganss
It's very important.
unidentified
Wow.
leigh wambsganss
Very important.
We've seen the the decrease in crime, which is you know why I could talk to the sheriff today.
And he said, yes, it's real, yes, we're seeing it, yes, it's tangible.
But Republicans are really good uh when we win in elections to sit back on our couch and eat our bonbons.
We have to prepare now to make sure our border is never left wide open again.
11 million um immigrants who are illegal immigrants were taken off the streets.
Um enough fentanyl to kill every man, woman, and child in America, Canada, and Mexico was seized by a law enforcement.
We cannot be in that situation again.
steve bannon
You've had some Antifa problems here with going after ICE officers, two instances.
I think one up in North Texas, and then that horrible shooting uh down here a couple of weeks ago.
What are your constituents, potential constituents telling you about that, about the ICE officers and the mass deportations?
leigh wambsganss
Well, our constituents are absolutely fully supporting law enforcement, fully supporting ICE, and we think it's un-American.
And if you if you're going to attack our ICE agents, you do not deserve to be in this country.
steve bannon
Wow.
Uh Lee, hang around.
Um folks, uh, I talked to Navarro.
You could tell about his speech today at the Council of Foreign Relations.
President Trump right now is weighing and measuring what to do on the request for tomahawk missiles to go on offense in Ukraine.
Remember the kinetic part of the third world war in Ukraine, 2.8 million to 3 million casualties already.
Of course we're now in an open uh economic war with the Chinese Communist Party.
Birchgold.com promo code War Room.
We called it four years ago.
Gold was $1,100 an ounce.
Today $4300 an ounce.
Back in a moment.
unidentified
Let's take down the C C Buse your host, Stephen K. Back.
steve bannon
Obviously a big audience watching this a lot of the MAGA folks, Melissa Katz and these fire breathing populist nationalist uh Trump followers, they want to they're they're very focused, particularly in the Dallas area about security for elections.
How big a priority is that for you?
leigh wambsganss
It's a big priority and you know we we made some progress after the mess of the COVID election.
However, that bill took authority away from the attorney general put it all in the hands of the local district attorneys and those woke district attorneys that he told me and Paxton told me that was a killer for him.
It was a killer.
It was a killer.
So I mean think about it where this stuff happens the most are in these blue counties and that's where we need to prosecute and he wasn't allowed to go after them without it being referred to him from the district attorney and they weren't doing that.
So we did fix a lot of that this session but there's a lot more to go.
steve bannon
As people are kind of shocked about a lot of the regulations down here in Texas and how it's really the political class down here is blue.
People also assume you're the most gun owner friendly state in the in the union I take it that would not be correct as I've followed you around for the last couple days.
leigh wambsganss
That would not be correct.
unidentified
We made a lot of progress this how can that happen in Texas?
leigh wambsganss
Well uh I don't know I don't know I've not understood it because everyone I talk to is I'm really on the same page with me with the second amendment.
I have fought to ban unconstitutional red flag laws that violate due process for decades.
I'm the only candidate in this race that was down in Austin this session talking to members, pushing to get this law passed, going from going door to door to door, we did get it passed.
We finally uh banned red flag laws in Texas this session.
But where we miss the mark is civil liability bills with the second amendment.
What a lot of people don't realize is you can use your stand your ground law.
You can legally defend your family of course there'll be a court proceeding if you kill an intruder who's trying to harm you and then you walk out of court totally justified in using that force.
But then the leftists across the country and definitely in Texas, they will fund lawsuits to simulate they come in they hit you after getting off on the criminal side they come as responsible they come in and hit you with a civil suit?
Yes 20 states have made this illegal Texas still has it and we missed the mark and that's one of my second amendment priorities if I'm elected because if you can be sued and lose your livelihood, you do not have a second amendment.
steve bannon
Brian Harrison was telling me one of the things people are are starting to focus on now is concern about the Texas budget, about deficits.
You guys had a couple of surpluses but it seems like it goes overnight.
Nobody really knows where this money's being spent there's all kind of off uh balance sheet pockets the only responsibility of the Senate in the in the House I believe is to pass a budget correct what what's the story on finances down here?
Deficits and the direction of where things are going.
leigh wambsganss
So again our our GDP is 2.7 trillion dollars or and biggest economy in the world it is it is it's huge.
We're so we're soon by an we're going to be the seventh largest economy in the world and um and biennial budget is right just over 300 million legislation.
Yeah we only meet every two years.
steve bannon
But you have now special sessions all the time.
leigh wambsganss
Well we do we only have a special session outside of the regular sessions in an emergency situation.
These past special sessions are because it followed regular session.
So we are supposed to only meet every two years.
But there was our budget increased dramatically while we gave some property tax relief.
Some good things happened.
We have to cut spending.
The only way to really reduce the property tax burden, step number one.
I'm a root cause person instead of just putting band-aids on things.
Step number one, we need to cut spending in the state of Texas and tighten the belt and get rid of-I say spending.
steve bannon
What has, like I said, it's come to a shock to people about how progressive some of these things are.
cutting spending you would think with the common sense of the Texas frontier and still this entrepreneurial spirit when you come down I mean people in Texas love this state so much where's the spending why are you having Increases in spending and where is it?
leigh wambsganss
Well, our two biggest budget items in the state of Texas are education and health and human services.
And there's a lot of waste fraud and abuse in both of those categories.
And I know the last session, um, a doge committee was implemented, and we need to double and triple that.
We need doge on steroids in the state of Texas.
And that's going to be one of my goals.
steve bannon
Education, Brian Harrison has statistics of like only a quarter of what eight of the juniors in high school can read a proficiency or have math proficient.
That can't possibly be as much money as Texas puts into education.
And quite frankly, how Tex uh education is kind of revered here given the university system, given given uh, you know, Baylor and all the private schools, TCU, SMU, University of Texas, the public, Texas AM, Texas Tech.
How can you have more money spent on education and failure to perform?
leigh wambsganss
I'll tell you, it's heartbreaking as a mom who, you know, raised two boys, they're in university now.
It's really heartbreaking.
The state of Texas currently is looking at five school districts.
There's 13 in Senate District 9.
Out of those five school districts statewide, two of those that are being looked at to being taken over for underperformance.
steve bannon
Taken over by the state.
leigh wambsganss
Taken over by the state are in Senate District 9.
steve bannon
Impossible.
We have a with Fort Worth and all the explosive corporations.
Lake Worth.
leigh wambsganss
We have a lot of work to do.
Those kids deserve better.
They deserve good education.
That affects everything.
It affects our their lives.
It affects our workforce.
People are having a hard time finding good workers.
steve bannon
And you haven't gotten rid of DEI or you haven't gotten rid of this radical transgender ideology, including in Texas, the home of Friday Night Lights.
We still have an issue of men in women's sports.
leigh wambsganss
Well, we did.
I'll tell you three sessions ago, they um they passed a bill that stopped men in women's sports.
Only K through 12, though.
And so we're like, what?
Because transgenders from their states can still come in and take those girls' scholarships that they've worked for their entire scholastic career.
Session before last, we got it bumped up to cover colleges as well.
Everyone thought, great, job done.
Here's the problem.
What was not outlawed.
steve bannon
There was a workaround.
leigh wambsganss
There was a workaround.
The workaround was men and boys were still allowed in private spaces, women's locker rooms and kids' locker rooms, bathrooms.
This session, again, I'm the only candidate in this race.
I was in Austin testifying on behalf of the Women's Privacy Act.
And that bill is really incredible because it covers the privacy of girls and women in all government buildings.
So that covers schools, K through 12, public universities.
It also specifically covered all women's jails.
I gave case study in my testimony about how heterosexual men were using the loopholes.
They were predators to break into women's jails and rape them.
One of them in Rikers Prison.
He was in jail for raping an infant to death.
He put on a skirt, went to the women's jail, raped her, was convicted for it.
The third uh scenario is all women's domestic violence shelters.
So we outlawed that in the state of Texas and protected women and girls because women and girls' privacy, dignity, and safety is worth the fight.
steve bannon
Amen.
You're with us tomorrow morning.
Tell us where where's the where do people go to find out where the rally is, where they go to your website?
leigh wambsganss
It's right on the front page of Lee for Texas.com.
You see it right there.
steve bannon
Okay, we're gonna be back tomorrow, and we're gonna be bouncing across from the great state of Texas and what's going on here with conservatives and grassroots MAGA, and of course, the Moms for Liberty conference in Orlando, Florida, and we're gonna be tossing it in the afternoon to Amanda Head and the T Real Real America's Voice Team for Marine Corps 250.
So tomorrow, Saturday, it's here starting at 8 a.m. Eastern daylight time.
Stick around.
We got another hour of the war room on late on a Friday in October.
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