The Beat With Ari Melber 7/22/26 | 🅼🆂🅽️🅲 Breaking News Today July 22, 2026

[00:00:00]Hi Nicole, thanks so much. Welcome to the beat. I'm Ari Melbourne. We begin with Donald Trump's Justice Department under strain. And not just from what you might say is the legal community, which has clashed with this DOJ or Democrats who are the opposition party. We're talking about very conservative Republican senators who are saying if they don't change gears, Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general won't get confirmed.

[00:00:26]This is of course the acting AG Todd Blanch. And this is push back at a time that actually matters where senators have leverage. Now, this is following a meeting with Blanch. Epstein survivors have said that even though he had to be forced in that meeting as one of the terms from one of these senators, a Republican by the way, to even get the nomination vote, uh they still don't think he's up to the job. And they are urging the Senate to oppose and block his nomination. Now, the Republicans who are of course key here are the names you might have heard because they lost their primaries when Donald Trump intervened.

[00:01:01]Cornin and Tillis. Now, the letter to them says survivors received an hour of deflection, interruption, and gaslighting. Blanch showed no remorse and that it felt like a box checking exercise and a vote to confirm they argue would at this point feel to them like a vote against sexual assault survivors. Now, that is just one of the lines of pressure. There is also both of these Republican senators trying to get a commitment, something real or in writing to get Blanch to fully end once and for all this controversial, currently frozen MAGA crime fund. Now, we have more on that tonight as well, but the bottom line is we hear this narrative about how Republicans never stand up. And I would tell you that narrative is true on most issues most of the time, but not all the time. Neither of these two Republicans, as of this hour, as of right now when I'm telling you the news, have committed to voting for Blanch. And they could end him, end his nomination. Now, here was Senator Cornin speaking out about all this today.

[00:02:04]The problem is um if you're going to serve on President Trump's cabinet, he's going to try to bend you to his will as much as he possibly can. And the attorney general needs to maintain some uh level of independence uh because he represents the entire country and law enforcement, chief law enforcement officer. So, uh we still got some work to do, but the markup isn't until the 30th. So, we have some time.

[00:02:33]Fact check true maybe late true maybe partial true because these senators including Senator Cornin have not exactly been paragonss of independence of doing the standing up to Trump that he just described as necessary. He didn't do it. In fact, it was only his only infraction in Trump's view was years ago being critical of him. But as a voting MAGA Republican, he has been in lock step with many many things that Trump has demanded of this party lately.

[00:03:01]Now, Blanch faces court losses and the other big issue I mentioned, which is his effort to set up something that best we can tell is unprecedented, illegal, and a terrible idea, the billion dollar crime fund on Trump's behalf. That's money that would go to handpicked Trump allies, maybe Jan 6 people, maybe not.

[00:03:22]They they were so kind of suspicious and guilty about that, they wouldn't really say. And that thing has been blocked in the courts. It is probably illegal. I say that was unprecedented. So, it's not like we have a Supreme Court ruling on anyone ever trying this in the past.

[00:03:36]What's interesting and important tonight is these two Republican senators are saying that thing's got to be fully dropped for good to get their votes.

[00:03:45]Now, Democrats on the Hill convened several witnesses who discussed why Blanch, in their view, should not get this promotion. Senator Booker also discussing the stakes at DOJ.

[00:03:57]We have witnessed over the last 17 months a systematic dismantling of that ideal of integrity. Not through a single act, but through a pattern bending the department away from the constitution and toward the personal and political interests of one man facilitated by the subservience of another.

[00:04:23]>> That's the concern as laid out by Democrats. Couple notes here. One is we often hear about how Democrats aren't doing enough. What else can they do?

[00:04:31]They are in the minority. Today, as an example, where you're seeing them doing extra. It's summer. This is a period where often they might even be on recess and above and beyond the original hearings. They are trying to use their powers and their platform the way they use the JN6 committee to speak to the nation on these issues of import.

[00:04:49]The second point that is a little obscure, but if you've been watching the news or MS now, formerly MSNBC for years, you might remember all of that period in the Müller coverage, which is relevant to my upcoming guest. And I can tell you that when we used to call down to check facts or doublech checkck a question or ask something that we were hearing about the Müller probe, the person we often spoke to was a guy named Peter Carr, one of these behind-the-scenes people you hear about at DOJ. And I can just tell you as a legal reporter, I always found him to be straightforward, above board, and never leaky, even though we might have preferred otherwise. And so this is one of many people who served inside the Justice Department and served with people of distinction. Müller, who I mentioned, and later Jack Smith, who tapped him for a similar role. Now, we know that Blanch removed him last year.

[00:05:45]Only Blanch can say the reasons, but he discussed Blanch's conduct at DOJ and again with the background of years of service. Someone tapped by Bob Müller to do the job. Mueller, of course, was a Republican appointee at one point and comes from that tradition at least in DC, but considered very independent, nonpartisan, and then of course tapped by Jack Smith and we've all seen his courage and credibility lately. I give you that background for someone who isn't usually on camera because they're behind the scenes discussing Blanch undercutting the credibility of the DOJ.

[00:06:23]Blanch has fired or overseen the firings of hundreds of DOJ employees, usually without notice and for improper unlawful reasons. But these firings aren't just unlawful, they're also incredibly damaging to the department and its law enforcement mission.

[00:06:42]>> With all that in mind, we turn to someone who also helped lead the Müller probe, who served alongside Mr. Carr, is Andrew Weissman, also former FBI general counsel. Uh, welcome back.

[00:06:53]>> Nice to be here.

[00:06:54]>> Uh, I'm not a fan in in these circles where it's like, oh, I know somebody, so that's like cozy DC. I don't mean it like that. What I mean is Mr. Carr is among many, many other nonpartisan public servants who we don't hear about.

[00:07:09]I I don't think most people have ever seen him on TV.

[00:07:11]>> Um who Müller trusted, who I believe you trusted, who I believe >> uh Smith trusted, and these are the people coming out to say, "Wait a minute. This isn't ideological. You know, there have been conservative attorneys general. Fine. Um but there's something more rotten here." Can you give us uh your view and context on this?

[00:07:27]>> Sure. Well, let's just take Peter Carr as an example, though. Um, so he did serve as the press person as you noted for Jack Smith and for Robert Mueller, but he's a career person. He served in for many many people of both parties. So he the reason he was doing that was just because he's really good at his job. And >> um the Peter Carr the clip that you just played in case people that's not him being nervous. That's not sort of him not acting out of the ordinary. He is a quiet, soft-spoken, but diligent and incredibly capable person. Now, the joke was always in the Mueller team was like he had the easiest job in the world because, you know, the the issue was you answer the phone and you say no comment.

[00:08:18]>> He never said much to me when we talked, >> right? I mean he you know he he was a by the book person and the I the idea this is the kind of person who when you are in the department of justice you are trying to keep the best people. These are people who usually have a lot of other options.

[00:08:37]They can make a lot more money. They have pressures if they have families to put them through school. And there are lots of reasons people leave um unrelated to the love of the job. and you're you're trying to keep these people in the department because they're so valued and they're so good at their job. Peter Carr would be like the number one person in that position you would want to keep. Um, and so of all of the many, many sins of Todd Blanch, this is so performative in terms of, as he boasted at a conference, which is, you know, well, he got rid of and the department's gotten rid of people who worked for Jack Smith and aren't we?

[00:09:17]Isn't that great? Um, that that is just so anathema to how you should run the department. And it fits in with what uh Senator Cornin was saying, which is you need to be independent. Remember, it was Senator Sessions when he became the attorney general. His sin was being independent. Um and that's why he was gone. And that is something that you see um Todd Blanch saying, I am he is not planning on being independent. There is no signs of that.

[00:09:49]>> Blanch's partisanship uh is clear. It's confessed. Uh, a little more of that exchange. This is Senator Schiff talking to the the gentleman that we're describing for viewers uh, who you worked with, Mr. Carr. Let's take a look.

[00:10:03]>> He fired you, right?

[00:10:05]>> He signed my termination notice. Yes.

[00:10:07]>> He signed your termination notice.

[00:10:12]So, he signed the termination of someone who worked on the prosecution of his former client and arguably his current client, Donald Trump. Correct.

[00:10:23]>> I mean, it seems to me that was a pretty direct lie he told to our committee, >> Andrew.

[00:10:32]>> So, what the senator there is getting at is the idea of a conflict of interest.

[00:10:36]Um, and if you remember, going back to Attorney General Sessions, Attorney General Sessions had recused himself and you remember Donald Trump's reaction to that was he was furious. Um, but the attorney general was like, "It would be inappropriate for me to rule on things that um are part of what I was doing as part of the your campaign." Um, and so he's like, "I am not doing that." Um, here you have every single sign that Todd Blanch um is not going to be in that mold. One of the things I would have liked to have seen was questioning him about Watergate and to say, you know, let's just look at what Elliott Richardson did when President Nixon ordered Elliot Richardson, the then attorney general, to fire the special counsel, Archbal Cox, and Elliot Richardson was like, I'm not doing it.

[00:11:33]I'd rather resign. Um, and to me, this is Todd Blanch saying that whole postwatergate norm that Republicans and Democrats adhere to is out the window.

[00:11:44]And I think he's very very sort of direct about it. Um, that that is not the model that he sees. Um, that sort of postwatergate period will be gone.

[00:11:54]>> Yeah. And then putting that all back in even if you get through this period becomes tougher. And all this is happening now. It is there's there's there's a big irony in these two Republican senators being the ones that Trump ousted. Uh the concessions they want strike me as bare bones. I mean the MAGA fund is frozen. I don't think it would ultimately be blessed in court. We don't know yet fully. Um and briefly as I'm over on time, their their view is well just commit to not doing the bad thing that you probably wouldn't be allowed to do.

[00:12:22]>> Yeah. And I would say um there is a plan B which is that even if they don't do it do do it through this so-called weaponization fund whether they're going to use some other pot of money to sort of trickle it out and get accomplish the same thing but using other funds.

[00:12:37]>> Yeah. To seize taxpayer money and give it out to their allied uh convicts, criminals, ex-convicts, however you want to put it. Uh it's it's striking. Uh Andrew, you're the perfect expert on this tonight. Thank you for being here.

[00:12:48]Coming up, uh, flags on this nuke deal with the Saudis. Congressman Garcia joins us. Then the backlash to ICE.

[00:12:55]We'll hit that later. But first, the gas freakout when we're back in 90 [music] seconds.

[00:13:05]Republicans have a lot of problems going into these midterms, and that includes the war in Iran and the related rising prices at home. GOP operatives on the political effects of the war spoke to the outlet Politico and said, "We're preparing for the bottom to fall out."

[00:13:22]Republicans running out of runway to improve their political fortunes. A Trump White House ally described as close to the administration said this has been badly mismanaged and driven increasingly by the president's refusal to acknowledge a loss. The L word we know bothers Donald Trump in general, but definitely on a war that technically isn't over, but many people say he's lost key parts of quote, "Nobody can really defend it." Polling shows MAGA voters are over it. Support for the war underwater down 13 points from May to an abysmal 37%. Those are MAGA people. A vast majority of Americans say this isn't worth it. They've seen enough.

[00:14:04]That reality is stark compared to Trump's claims.

[00:14:10]Well, Americans aren't against the war.

[00:14:12]The a poll a poll just came out.

[00:14:15]Americans don't want high gasoline prices, but they're not against the war.

[00:14:20]>> One study shows it's actually cost everyone over $1,000 per household. When you look at the direct short-term increases to fuel costs, the supply chain, the effects on food and groceries and other goods, and again, that's short term. Trump has not delivered on the end, the timeline he promised or the ceasefire working. So that bill could go up. Now, how does the president respond?

[00:14:46]What does he do about the economy that he promised to address in his famous high prices 24 campaign? Well, apparently the opposite of help. He is mulling new tariffs on other countries on top of a 50% tariff that's hitting many goods from Canada, which is of course our second largest trading partner, our neighbor to the north.

[00:15:06]Here's the reaction on Fox Business.

[00:15:10]I worry about tariffs. You know, we got, you know, everybody's so worried you talking about the 10 year before. I mean, everything. This is not a time to be screwing around here. [snorts] >> And yet, this is the time that he is doing it. Now, there's a longtime uh foe of the president, at least in the second term, someone who's bothered him since probably day one, Republican congressman and sort of Epstein warrior Thomas Massie. He says high prices will further damage not only Trump's hopes for the midterms, but really break trust with the base.

[00:15:45]Still, there's a base. There's Fox News that's on TV every day trying to glorify this war and show you this great thing.

[00:15:52]Eventually, I think people's pocketbooks are going to impose reality on them and they're going to quit watching Fox and pay more attention to the gas prices.

[00:16:02]>> And that's a Republican talking. So, after all the talk about PR and fake news and reality shows and spin on social media, there's a theme here that we've been reporting on. Substance and reality seem to matter and they are creating a lot of gravity for Republicans in the midterms. Obama vet Jay Kandori will speak on this exact issue next.

[00:16:29]>> It's very frustrating to be back in this trade war again. But if you're worried that this is another case of Trump abusing his power, relax. These tariffs are legal under the Smoot Holly Act, which has been around since 1930 when it helped prolong and worsen the Great Depression. So cheer up.

[00:16:51]The Daily Show having the laughs about the tariffs. Uh we are going to turn to someone who can laugh through the tears as they say in Russia. It's a very special day when we have a ch day, the music, the Americana, the political expertise [music] of Jay Kandori, the strategist veteran of three presidential campaigns, including Obama's. Welcome back, Jay.

[00:17:14]>> It's good to be back, Ari. Uh I mentioned in the setup Tom Massie says reality and gas prices beat Fox spin substance on the war and people's awareness of what's happening over there seems to be trampling Donald Trump's efforts to spin or lie to people and tell them the war is basically over or the ceasefire basically worked. It didn't. Uh what do you see as the reality index here? I mean, the reality is that MAGA and Trump have gotten everything they've wanted and they have virtually nothing to show for it. Donald Trump has dominated our politics and our culture for a decade. Twice he has had full control of the government. He has had both houses of Congress. He has had a Supreme Court that is a conservative court that is uh very uh tilted towards him. Uh he has had the full power of the presidency. And even this time he had even more power, even more of a perceived mandate going into the second term. And they have nothing to show for any of this. And the reason is is because Trump and MAGA, this movement, this party is simply based on grievance.

[00:18:24]On grievance politics, white grievance, male grievance. And I think that also explains why during this whole period, just last week, we had Trump giving an address uh about how he should have won the 2020 election because the only thing they have to go to is grievance and you can't govern by grievance. And I think the American people are seeing that.

[00:18:46]>> You you put it so clearly, uh which is why we like talking to you. There's a lot of different ways to put it, but I haven't heard anyone recently just sort of lay it out as you did. They have the levers of government. They have a friendly court. uh even a friendly court has has had to stop him where he overstepped on on issues like rigging the midterm ballots or some of the tariffs uh being used as emergency powers he didn't have. Um but your point is, you know, Reagan had two terms and they passed laws and they changed the budget uh and they really did some things that involve the long-term governance of the nation. And here that hasn't happened. Uh now I'll tell you who has ideas about the other problem that Trump's facing. Uh, and it's it's a guy who used to sometimes go by the name Papa Bear. Do you know who I'm talking about?

[00:19:30]>> No. Papa Bear. Who is Papa Bear?

[00:19:33]>> Steven Coar would call this former Fox News host Papa. I feel like we're doing Jeopardy.

[00:19:39]>> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's Bill O'Reilly, right? Yeah.

[00:19:41]>> Bill O'Reilly.

[00:19:43]>> Um, and and whether Co Bear meant it as a as as damning by faint praise or something else, people can decide. But, uh, but Papa O'Reilly, uh, he still makes videos. He still he speaks and he says and again this is Bill O'Reilly says that Trump is off his game that he's old that he needs to rest.

[00:20:02]>> Uh take a look.

[00:20:04]>> So my advice to uh Donald Trump is to take the next month off if you can get into an environment where you like golf and um relax a little bit. You got to deal with Iran. I understand that. Everybody understands it. But you can do that on the phone and you can do that with your people coming. But need a breather.

[00:20:34]You know what? I'll give Bill O'Reilly some credit. That's actually good advice. The problem is we all know Trump won't take it because Trump needs to be in front of that camera. He needs to be the center of attention. I mean, just look at what happened the last month.

[00:20:48]You know, we had that great American fair that was a complete bomb. It was a complete bust. Nobody showed up. MAGA was unenthused about it. You know, the America 250 celebration uh just completely fizzled. Trump wanted it to be about himself and a celebration of himself. No one was interested in that.

[00:21:07]So then what does Trump do? Well, he notices that the World Cup is going really well. Really good ratings. The US team is doing well. Hey, let me insert myself into that. Let me make that about me. let me call up the head of FIFA and have the rules changed just for me and then take credit for all the victories.

[00:21:25]Right? Then of course we have a defeat uh in the World Cup and he has to move on to something else. He goes, "Well, let me I need to make this more about me. Uh let me talk about my 2020 stolen election." That's the new play. So Trump does not have the discipline to step away. He doesn't have the ability to say, "Hey, you know, this isn't about me. Maybe people would benefit. Maybe I would benefit by just taking a a break from the limelight. He can't do that.

[00:21:51]>> As the old song goes, Jay, you're so vain. I bet you think this World Cup is about you.

[00:21:59]>> Yes. I'm sure Carly Simon can update it with those lyrics. Absolutely.

[00:22:02]>> And and it wasn't. and and and the Republicans uh we know in the midterms would they would most like him to step out of view in the same way that we've seen unpopular Democratic presidents sometimes being asked not to campaign because there was some sort of dialogue.

[00:22:16]Well, there's no dialogue here. He's staying in the headlines. Uh and what you're saying brings us back, of course, to where O'Reilly started. O'Reilly is pro-Republican and he's offering golf and and sort of pleading with him to go do something else to try to keep him out of the headlines, which sort of tells you where the trend lines are. Um, Chay, let me tell you something. Having you show up on Chay Day is vital. It It's not the same when we don't have you booked on a Chay Day.

[00:22:43]>> Yeah, considering it's named after me, uh, it would be very awkward and weird.

[00:22:46]>> Be tough, you know.

[00:22:47]>> Yeah, be tough. Uh, thank you for joining us. Uh, continue to have a good summer. We're going to fit in a break.

[00:22:52]When we come back, we do have an update on another Trump problem, which is the Saudi Arabia deal and pay-to-play corruption allegations. Congressman Robert Garcia, newsworthy guest. He's big on this. He will be here by the end of the hour. But next, scrutiny on ICE as the immigration crackdown heats [music] up and draws many Americans eye on Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.

[00:23:17]Records now show agents arrested a new record number of immigrants in June, over 40,000.

[00:23:26]It's actually the highest rate in this term as the mass deportation agenda has been ramped up with support from Republicans in Congress. ICE agents shot and killed two men during vehicle stops in Texas and Maine, all in the same week. Both looked according to outside witnesses as entirely avoidable events where basically it was the US government bringing the crime or the problem and there have been mass protests. The agency initially trying to pause traffic stops a sign that there something wasn't working right but Trump then overruled his own appointed officials saying that they wouldn't even do that pause. Now, there are journalistic accounts that the FBI is doing something that really sounds upside down. Uh that it will not investigate ICE confrontations, meaning if they perhaps mistakenly or wantingly kill people or Americans, FBI is not even going to look into that. Remember, it's the FBI that's supposed to protect all of us. F be the the crime fighting agency no matter where the crime may come from. Uh stoking new calls for accountability.

[00:24:30]American citizens have been beaten, bloodied, and killed simply for exercising their First Amendment and their Second Amendment rights in a way disfavored by the masked paramilitary forces of ICE. ICE and DHS traffic in lawless violence, propaganda, and disinformation to mask all the corruption and cruelty which are the daily bread of the system. At what point do we say enough is enough? This is not America.

[00:24:59]We're joined now by Heraldo Rivera. Many viewers know him, a veteran journalist.

[00:25:05]Many shows and accolades, too many to mention. Also relevant here, a a longtime Fox News host. And you've had dealings, of course, with Donald Trump over the years. Welcome back.

[00:25:13]>> Thank you. Now, News Nation >> and and now with News Nation, of course.

[00:25:17]Uh like I said, so much to mention and the Heraldo Show. Uh >> Mitzv, [laughter] >> when when you look at the second term immigration crackdown, many see something gone off the rails. It is is very disheartening to me. It's very very sad. The demonization of people who really the vast majority of them just want the American dream. I mean, it sounds so so rhetorical, but it's still true. Juan and Maria just want to come here to get by. They want to send a couple of dollars back home to Mexico.

[00:25:45]They want to raise their children in a place where they don't fear violence from the cartels. It's just a no-brainer. And yet there is this feeling toward them as if they were every one of them carrying the plague or uh you know now you see in at the airport someone acted out and uh and the and the clerk said I'm going to turn you into ICE. You know it's just this and ICE. What's what's with ice? Never never have you seen a situation where the FBI doesn't wear masks. The uh the sheriffs don't. The cops don't. Why is it unique unique to this force that they have to hide their identities? What is it? It's because the the task they the the sorrowful horrible uh task that they have been given is is so antithetical to most people's sense of decency.

[00:26:36]>> Yeah. And and despair, >> right? What you're referring to is this this menacing presence from from many of the ICE officials under Trump and then sort of stoking violence. Now, if you find violent offenders, most people, most both most both most both most both most both most parties in Congress have said, "Yeah, deal with it." But here you have unarmed individuals and then the Trump under Trump policy, they say, "Oh, well, maybe their car was a weapon.

[00:26:58]Maybe something else was a weapon." I mean, these are unarmed people. I want to show you the facts on this uh Guardian report, ICE under Trump keeps accusing immigrants of quote weaponizing vehicles. They reviewed cases that DHS promoted as evidence of a surge in vehicle attack. So, DHS says, "Here's the cases." Uh, Guardian finds most of these claims fell apart under scrutiny.

[00:27:18]The accusations consistently disproven by evidence or rejected by independent courts. Uh, out of the 26 that DHS offered, one has led to an assault conviction.

[00:27:28]>> I mean, you're in a car. These mask desperados without body cams, by the way, come rushing up to you, yelling at you, and you're in a car. What What's your instinct? Is your instinct to to go with the the with the masked man? No. Your instinct is to get the hell out of there. And that's what they and as soon as you hit the gas, that's when they consider that car is weaponized. It is absolutely it it's reckless. It's it's uh it's it's hideous conduct. And you know, everyone knows what's going on.

[00:28:03]It's just that that is tolerated because this population is so unpopular with half the American people. But I very briefly, Trump has done a good job on the border. Biden did a terrible job on the border. But now having done that good job on the border, why not show compassion? Why not the dreamers?

[00:28:20]Remember the dreamers? Youngsters brought here as children uh by their parents, Obama wanted to give them a a pathway to citizenship. And there was broad bipartisan support for it. It's disappeared in this now militarized attitude, this demonization of this the monsterization of this population. It's really disgusting.

[00:28:42]>> Yeah, I I hear you and I hear your clarity on it. As I reminded people, you it's not like you're coming out from some liberal corner here. You've talked to Trump. You've been at Fox, but you're talking about how far they've gone. Uh and then there's the contrast between how many of these people with the surging numbers they've had to round up people who've been here many years who have jobs who then are otherwise engaged in our economy um and whose only infraction is being undocumented. It's a far cry from the actual uh criminal activity I mentioned gang activity uh there there are headlines about Elmyo.

[00:29:15]This is a long-standing case who had worked directly with El Chapo who's infamous. um they used Hitman, they had political corruption, um illegal drugs coming into the US, the Times writing about this case, which sort of goes on under the normal DOJ where there's nonpartisan prosecutors still bringing these kind of cases separate from all of these ICE shenanigans. And so I did want to turn to that uh and reflect as we often do because I I like to learn from people and and bring people around who have experience. Uh you're one of them.

[00:29:42]Uh you've been covering the drug war for a long time. Let's take a look.

[00:29:48]But on this trip, the Mexican army clearly challenged the idea that drugs and corruption will last forever. We asked the Mexican government to show us their eradication efforts firsthand.

[00:30:00]Dave's load was discovered by a dog. The traffickers tried to outwit the dogs, so they camouflaged their dope by wrapping it a thousand different ways.

[00:30:09]>> I hear that you are still famous, Renee, or infamous, maybe is a better word, for your bag of grenades. This man has enormous resources. He will escape again if he's not extradited to the United States.

[00:30:25]>> Decades of this drug war, what have we learned? And are we fighting the same battles if the United States doesn't get a hold of the use and addiction problems inside this country?

[00:30:36]>> We are absolutely. I have no patience and and I have no uh you know, I give no compassion to these drug bandits. They are bad people exploiting not only the customers, the non-Latino Americans, but also uh you know the the themselves. It is a a bad scene. They deserve the the the law enforcement to crush them. But it won't. As long as there's a market for the dope, they're going to be coming. And it's it's going to be like the hamster on the wheel. They keep working it. They keep working it.

[00:31:10]They'll always be dope. As long as they're going to pay $100 a gram for cocaine, someone's going to go there and and do that. Whether it's Chapo or Mayo or >> Yeah, we're in this we're in this loop.

[00:31:21]I have one minute left, but when you were out there in the field and going to these different countries, what did you see that people don't have better options or that the gangs now, especially Mexico, they have so much power?

[00:31:30]>> I I Yeah, all that stuff is true about options and and fairness and and no other place to turn. But I I I go back to what has happened as a result of uh of the of the drug trade. Juan and Maria, the uh the the the innocent, hardworking American dream seekers are the ones who are being victimized. Why? Because the cartels exploit them. They use them. They uh they hide behind them.

[00:32:01]>> And it makes this very very very a difficult situation. But we have to keep fighting it despite the frustration. We need the help of the Latin American governments and I think that we're doing a a fairly decent job of that. But it's a it'll it's a long way to go. I don't want to end on a pessimistic note. But I I don't see how as long as there's a marketplace, I don't see how it's going going to be fixed.

[00:32:26]>> No. And that's that's the issue. And I again interesting to draw on sort of your experiences. Heraldo. We love it when you're able to stop by here in studio. Good to see you.

[00:32:34]Rivera. Up next, uh, Donald Trump's overseas business conflicts raising major national security questions about his foreign policy. And we have a special guest who's right in the thick of this. You're going to want to hear from top Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia on the alleged corruption next.