The Byron York Show

The political world is consumed with the fighting going on after Hamas's attack on Israel. How could the vaunted Israeli intelligence services have been so surprised? How extensive will Israel's retaliation be? Will the conflict spread?

Transcribed - Published: 10 October 2023

What is President Joe Biden's biggest liability as he runs for reelection? Republicans could give you a lot of answers, but the most important is the president's age. He's 80 now and would be 82 upon beginning a second term and 86 at the end of it. He looks and sounds every minute of his age. Having such an elderly chief executive is unprecedented in American history.

Transcribed - Published: 18 September 2023

On Feb. 7, 2022, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), a member of the Judiciary Committee, wrote a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland. It was about the case of Montez Lee, a Rochester, Minnesota, man sentenced to 10 years in prison for setting a fire that killed a man during the Black Lives Matter riot in Minneapolis.

Transcribed - Published: 8 September 2023

Let's say you hate Donald Trump and really, really, really don't want him to become president of the United States again. How do you prevent that? Well, most would agree the best way would be to defeat him electorally, either in the Republican primaries or in the 2024 general election.

Transcribed - Published: 29 August 2023

The first debate of the Republican presidential primaries is now just days away. There is still uncertainty about who will take part — there have been reports that former President Donald Trump, who leads second-place Gov. Ron DeSantis by 40 points, will skip the event. But Trump could always change his mind.

Transcribed - Published: 18 August 2023

The House Oversight Committee has released a new report on the progress of its investigation into Biden family influence-peddling during the time Joe Biden was vice president of the United States. "Committee staff is releasing payments from Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan that occurred during Joe Biden's vice presidency," the report said. "The committee has now identified over $20 million in payments from foreign sources to the Biden family and their business associates."

Transcribed - Published: 11 August 2023

President Joe Biden has often said the United States will continue military aid to Ukraine "for as long as it takes" to win the war with Russia. On Jan. 25 of this year, for example, Biden said to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, "We're with you for as long as it takes." Last month, Biden said, "Our commitment to Ukraine will not weaken.

Transcribed - Published: 4 August 2023

In the past few days, we've seen a number of political analysts come to a momentous conclusion. Actually, two momentous conclusions. The first is that it is unlikely anyone can catch former President Donald Trump in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Transcribed - Published: 1 August 2023

The government still has not released the original plea agreement between the Justice Department and Hunter Biden, even though it was the subject of three hours of discussion and debate in open court this week. Fortunately, Politico has published a bootleg copy — cellphone photos of a printout of the document — or otherwise, we would not know the lengths to which the DOJ went to accommodate the president's son.

Transcribed - Published: 28 July 2023

There has been a highly political battle on Capitol Hill — actually, that's the only kind of battle they have on Capitol Hill — over defense policy and spending. The fight has been on two fronts: 1) passage of the yearly National Defense Authorization Act, which sets military spending levels, and 2) a Republican senator's decision to block Senate confirmation of military promotions until the Biden Pentagon changes its policy on abortion.

Transcribed - Published: 20 July 2023

Every now and then, the attorney general, whoever he or she is, whichever administration he or she serves, writes a memo called "Election Year Sensitivities." The purpose is to remind the Justice Department's 115,000 employees that they should not allow politics to influence their work.

Transcribed - Published: 19 July 2023

Yesterday's newsletter discussed the growing frustration among Capitol Hill Republicans about the FBI's apparent reluctance to investigate an allegation, from a trusted bureau confidential source, that Joe Biden accepted a multimillion-dollar bribe when he was vice president.

Transcribed - Published: 13 July 2023

One of the murkier aspects of congressional Republicans' investigation of President Joe Biden's financial history concerns an allegation that Biden, when he was vice president, accepted a $5 million bribe from the corrupt Ukrainian energy firm Burisma. The alleged scheme also involved Biden's son Hunter.

Transcribed - Published: 12 July 2023

Republicans in Congress are starting to ask questions about last weekend's discovery of a baggie of cocaine in the White House. On Friday morning, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), best known as the chief investigator of Hunter Biden on Capitol Hill, sent a letter to Kimberly Cheatle, head of the Secret Service. "The presence of illegal drugs in the White House is unacceptable and a shameful moment in the White House's history," Comer wrote. "This incident has raised additional concerns with the committee regarding the level of security maintained at the White House." Comer requested a briefing for the committee by no later than next week.

Transcribed - Published: 10 July 2023

There's no doubt Hunter Biden had some serious tax problems. In the 2010s, he took in millions from shady overseas business dealings, trading on the name of his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, and had a history of filing his returns late with six-figure amounts of taxes due. There was also his lowlife, high-cost drug addict lifestyle in which he threw away hundreds of thousands of dollars on prostitutes and crack. He had personal financial problems most people don't share.

Transcribed - Published: 27 June 2023

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) said she will bring articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden to the House floor and that she will do it in a way, a parliamentary maneuver called a privileged motion, that will force the House to take a vote on it. Boebert's effort to impeach the president focuses on his mishandling of the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Transcribed - Published: 22 June 2023

There are a lot of questions surrounding the federal indictment of former President Donald Trump, which alleges that after leaving the White House, Trump kept secret national defense information he was not legally allowed to possess. Questions such as: Did Trump, as president, have the authority to decide what to keep, and what to give to the National Archives, after leaving office? And just how sensitive were the documents he kept? And even if Trump lacked the specific authority, and the papers were sensitive, has the Justice Department overreached by charging Trump with 37 felonies?

Transcribed - Published: 20 June 2023

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez announced Thursday that he is running for the Republican nomination for president. Suarez released a video of himself in athletic clothes running around Miami as dramatic music swelled behind him. "When I was elected, the city was broke and broken," he says in the video. "But we came together, and I won my mayoral election with over 80% of the vote." (Critics quickly pointed out that Miami has a city manager government in which the mayor has relatively little power.)

Transcribed - Published: 16 June 2023

On June 6, President Joe Biden marked the 79th anniversary of the D-Day invasion by issuing a brief statement praising the "brave service members" who "volunteered to lay down their lives for our liberty." According to the Department of Defense, more than 9,000 Allied troops were killed or wounded during the first 24 hours of the invasion.

Transcribed - Published: 14 June 2023

There are reports the Biden Justice Department is on the verge of indicting former President Donald Trump in the classified documents investigation. Not only would such an indictment be the first federal charge against a former president, but it would also be the first time a sitting president's administration has indicted a leading opposition party candidate in the run-up to a presidential election.

Transcribed - Published: 9 June 2023

On paper, has there ever been a more qualified candidate for president than Mike Pence? Twelve years in the House of Representatives, four as governor of Indiana, and four as vice president of the United States. No president in at least the last 30 years has come to office with that kind of resume.

Transcribed - Published: 6 June 2023

Starting in 2015, Donald Trump changed the scale of Republican primary politics. In Iowa, the first-voting state, Trump drew crowds that were not just bigger than anyone had seen before, but they also attracted lots of people who had never participated in the caucuses process. As Trump progressed, things got even bigger.

Transcribed - Published: 5 June 2023

Back in 2021, President Joe Biden fought hard to win Senate confirmation for Rachael Rollins to become the U.S. attorney in Massachusetts. Rollins was the district attorney of Suffolk County, which includes Boston, and she had become notorious by pledging not to prosecute many crimes. Early in her term, she published the "Rollins Memo" that listed 15 crimes in which the "default is to decline prosecuting" — that is, in which her office would not allow its attorneys to prosecute unless a supervisor gave special permission.

Transcribed - Published: 31 May 2023

There's a lot of media talk these days about the Republican "donor class" and its preferences in the 2024 GOP presidential race. That's natural at this stage of the contest, in part because 1) people with billions of dollars hold an outsize place in journalists' minds, 2) the political class, composed of candidates, consultants, officeholders, media, and other insiders see money as an important measure of a candidate's viability, 3) candidates kiss up to billionaires and lavish attention on them, and 4) most importantly, the voters haven't spoken yet.

Transcribed - Published: 30 May 2023

For more than two years now, Republicans have been predicting that President Joe Biden's big-spending policies will crash the U.S. economy into recession. It hasn't happened yet, although the country did experience two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth, a widely accepted definition of a recession, in the first and second quarters of 2022. But the economy climbed back into positive growth territory in the next quarter and has stayed there since.

Transcribed - Published: 26 May 2023

Recently, the NAACP issued what it calls a "formal travel advisory" to warn black people against visiting Florida. "Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals," the group said. "Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color."

Transcribed - Published: 25 May 2023

Just last month, this newsletter covered the emergence of a whistleblower in the joint Justice Department-IRS investigation of President Joe Biden's son Hunter. The whistleblower was a career IRS criminal supervisory special agent who, according to his lawyer, could reveal "clear conflicts of interest" in the Biden investigation as well as "examples of preferential treatment and politics improperly infecting decisions and protocols that would normally be followed by career law enforcement professionals in similar circumstances if the subject were not politically connected."

Transcribed - Published: 24 May 2023

For more than a year, professional golf has been engulfed in a civil war over money and politics. The cause has been the creation of a new tour, funded by the vastly wealthy government of Saudi Arabia, to challenge the dominance — some would say the monopoly — of the PGA Tour.

Transcribed - Published: 22 May 2023

President Joe Biden was born on Nov. 20, 1942. That has been a well-known fact, or at least a widely available fact, since Biden entered national politics a half-century ago. The fact that Biden is 80 years old now, that he will be 82 when the next presidential term begins, and that he will be 86 when that term ends — all that has been known at all times surrounding Biden's campaigns and presidency.

Transcribed - Published: 18 May 2023

There's an incredible amount of information in special counsel John Durham's new 306-page report on the disastrous misdeeds and mistakes committed by the FBI and other government agencies in the Trump-Russia investigation. Here is one of many fascinating episodes.

Transcribed - Published: 17 May 2023

One of the mysteries of the Hunter Biden matter is how the president's son, with no obvious sources of income, manages to maintain a grand lifestyle. For the last year or so, he has been living in a $20,000 a month rental house in Malibu, California. (The taxpayers are footing the bill for the Secret Service to pay even more, $30,000 a month, to rent the house next door while protecting him).

Transcribed - Published: 12 May 2023

Byron York welcomes guest Mollie Hemingway of The Federalist for a live episode at the Hillsdale College Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center. The two discuss the 2022 Election, the status of election integrity in America, and what the Republicans should do if they win.

Transcribed - Published: 11 May 2023

You've probably heard Republicans say the Inflation Reduction Act, the massive spending bill just passed by Senate Democrats, includes provisions to hire 87,000 new IRS agents. The number seems too big to believe. The IRS has just 93,654 employees, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

Transcribed - Published: 5 May 2023

Beginning in the months before Donald Trump took office, and extending well into his presidency, the media and political world took a set of vague but serious accusations of wrongdoing involving the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia and created a 24/7 frenzy of talk about secret evidence, possible criminal charges, and allegedly grave damage to national security.

Transcribed - Published: 4 May 2023

In today's podcast Byron sits down with attorney and recent Republican primary winner of the United States House of Representatives election in Wyoming, Harriet Hageman. They discuss her recent win over Liz Cheney and what she plans to do moving forward.

Transcribed - Published: 2 May 2023

In this podcast from a few months back Byron is joined by the CEO of The Babylon Bee, Seth Dillon. They discuss everything from how The Bee had a small part in Elon Musk's Twitter takeover to what viewpoint discrimination actually is. Dillon also gives us insight into why his company decided to take a stand against censorship. And he reminds us that when you have to justify a joke, the joke is dead.

Transcribed - Published: 27 April 2023

The Justice Department has been investigating President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden for a long time. The inquiry began in 2018, before the elder Biden even decided to run for president. It is now in its fifth year. Hunter Biden has not been charged with any wrongdoing. The investigation continues

Transcribed - Published: 24 April 2023

There's still a lot we don't know about the events surrounding the appearance and suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop in the final weeks of the 2020 presidential campaign. Twitter, after the purchase by Elon Musk, revealed some key information about the role of the FBI and other government agencies in the effort to censor the laptop's contents. But there is much yet to discover.

Transcribed - Published: 21 April 2023

There was a furor among politicos when Republicans in the Tennessee House of Representatives expelled two Democratic members for using a bullhorn to hijack and then occupy the House floor amid a noisy protest by anti-gun demonstrators. The March 30 occupation brought the House to a standstill as the members whipped up protesters in the House gallery calling for gun control in light of the recent Covenant School shooting. It took nearly an hour for order to be restored and the House to resume its session.

Transcribed - Published: 20 April 2023

What is the hardest job in politics? Without doubt, at this moment, the hardest job in politics is running against Donald Trump in a Republican presidential primary.

Transcribed - Published: 18 April 2023

It was another weekend of violence and disorder in Chicago. "At least 32 shot, 8 fatally, in weekend violence across city," read one headline on the WLS-TV news website. Another headline said, "15 arrested in connection with Loop chaos after 2 teens shot." That story went on to report that a "large disturbance," more accurately a small riot, took place in the city's downtown area. Videos of the incident showed crowds of young people jumping on cars and buses. Later, at least one person pulled out a gun.

Transcribed - Published: 17 April 2023

There are now five candidates who have either joined the 2024 Republican presidential race or have taken official steps toward doing so: Former President Donald Trump; former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, also the former South Carolina governor; entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy; former Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR); and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC).

Transcribed - Published: 14 April 2023

National security circles in Washington are aghast at a new leak of classified U.S. military documents. Apparently originating in the Pentagon, the leak is said to include around 100 documents and focuses mostly on U.S. assistance to Ukraine and American assessments of Ukraine's defense against the Russian invasion.

Transcribed - Published: 11 April 2023

The United States Constitution and all the state constitutions establish legislatures and give those legislatures the authority to set their own rules. The constitutions also give lawmakers the authority to punish members for violating those rules.

Transcribed - Published: 10 April 2023

The Tennessee House of Representatives spent Thursday debating the expulsion of three members, all Democrats, who hijacked the House floor for nearly an hour on March 30, using a bullhorn to shout at and harangue their fellow legislators in tandem with noisy anti-gun protesters who filled the galleries. House Republicans, who hold a huge 75-24 majority in the chamber, filed a resolution to expel state Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones, and Justin Pearson for "knowingly and intentionally bring[ing] disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives through their individual and collective actions." Thursday, they debated and voted.

Transcribed - Published: 7 April 2023

Something odd happened in the days leading up to the New York indictment of former President Donald Trump. Nobody outside a small group of prosecutors knew what the sealed indictment said. But on the basis of leaks — there were a lot — as well as indicators of what the grand jury was doing, observers could sketch out what the indictment would likely be. And it seemed...weak.

Transcribed - Published: 5 April 2023

Alvin Bragg, the local district attorney in Manhattan who has led the effort to indict former President Donald Trump, is an elected official. He ran for his current office in 2021. In that campaign, he won a Democratic primary crowded with fellow Democrats who promised that, if elected, they would go after Trump. Now, having been elected, Bragg is going after Trump.

Transcribed - Published: 4 April 2023

Everyone in the universe knew that an indictment of former President Donald Trump would be an explosive event in the political, legal, and media worlds. It would be something everybody talked about, dominating television, the internet, social media, radio, everything. And indeed, that has turned out to be the case.

Transcribed - Published: 3 April 2023

An amazing statistic has been circulating among people who follow crime in Washington, D.C. In 2022, the U.S. attorney in Washington, appointed by President Joe Biden, declined to prosecute 67% of all arrests in the city. That's not 67% of all crimes committed. It's 67% of instances in which police have identified, captured, and charged a suspect. Prosecutors just let them go.

Transcribed - Published: 30 March 2023

It looks like there has been another delay, possibly a long one, in the local New York prosecutor's drive to indict former President Donald Trump. After great expectations 11 days ago — Trump's statement on Saturday, March 18, that he expected to be arrested the following Tuesday — the grand jury convened by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has heard additional witnesses in the Trump matter and has also moved on to other, unrelated cases without taking action on Trump. Now, there are reports the grand jury will not consider Trump for the rest of this week — and possibly most of next month.

Transcribed - Published: 29 March 2023