This video examines the UK justice system's controversial approach to juvenile offenders, where three teenage boys convicted of rape and serious sexual assault against girls as young as 14 received only £26 fines and rehabilitation orders instead of jail sentences. The panel discussion explores the tension between rehabilitation-focused youth court guidelines and public demand for proportionate punishment, with experts debating whether current sentencing practices adequately protect victims and deter future crimes. The case highlights broader concerns about justice system consistency and the balance between reform and accountability in criminal justice.
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The Late Show Live | Friday 29th MayAdded:
Hello, good morning. Hope you're well.
Live from Washington DC, this is GB News with the stories shaping Britain and America. And revealed tonight, Britain's justice system faces even more fury after three teenage rapists were handed a fine, avoided jail, and walked free from court. One of their 15-year-old victims says it feels like her attacker has got away with it. Yeah, right.
That's an understatement. Elsewhere, poisoned by Post, a Canadian man linked to more than 100 British deaths, has admitted supplying suicide kits online, but will not face trial in the UK. And Trump locks in. The US president holds a 2-hour intense situation room meeting to make a final determination on whether to extend a ceasefire with Iran. let them have a nuclear weapon or you're going to have he'd have problems like nobody would believe.
>> And back in Blighty, the Channel Shuttle Service, GB News reveals the millions being spent by the Home Office on rescuing illegal small boat migrants. As breaking tonight, Andy Bernham sets out his migration vision if he were to oust Sakir Stalmer.
>> Politics in this country, British politics is tired. It needs a new script.
And fireball on the launch pad. This one's crazy. Blue Origin suffers a dramatic rocket explosion in Florida and it could throw NASA's moon mission plans into chaos. But also tonight ah patriotism gets cancelled. Legendary American actors are pulling out of a huge concert for America's 250th birthday. That's after backlash over its links to the president. But CC Music Factory says it's not backing down. Good stuff. I'm Ben Leo and this is the Late Show Live.
Doing a little bit of maths there. C plus C, C and C obviously music factory.
Welcome to the Late Show Live. Hope you are well and you've enjoyed your Friday.
Joining me in DC this evening is my panel, the Democrat strategist Mattie Smith and Republican strategist Matthew Hurt. And in London, the former Conservative MP Michelle Donalan. Hello Michelle. Thanks for your company. Good evening on the Late Show Live. We'll catch up fairly soon. Right. Uh let's bring you some breaking news out of Virginia in the last couple of moments near Washington DC. Uh it's pretty sad news actually. Five people have been killed, including a 13-year-old girl and seven-year-old boy after the driver of a coach slammed into stopped traffic.
Local police have confirmed the driver was a man from China who became a US citizen but didn't speak a word of English. He received his commercial driver's license from New York State in 2024. The transport secretary here in America, Shan Duffy, has just taken to X to comment on this case. He's called it an unacceptable incident, adding that cases like this prove why the Trump administration is quote holding states accountable, enforcing the rules of the road, and cracking down on drivers who can't speak English. He goes on, "If you can't be properly trained, read our road signs, or communicate with law enforcement, you have no business driving a bus. Our investigators are reviewing New York licensing records, training documentation, and the driver's history. Any company, trainer, or school that contributed to putting an unqualified driver on the road will face intense scrutiny. So, that's some breaking news coming out of Virginia, just down the road here in DC. A coach has slammed into standstill traffic, killing around five people, including at the moment two young children. Uh we'll more bring you more updates on that as soon as we get it. Um, quick word from my panel here. Uh, Maddie, we saw something similar in California with an Indian driver some months ago. Was it 6 months ago >> killing people? Well, what's going on here? Why are these people getting given driving licenses to drive these big machines?
>> Yeah. I mean, I think that we should have strict rules and regulations when it comes to commercial driver's licenses. Uh because when you're operating machinery, cars, trucks like that that are so large on highways and in communities, if you are not properly trained, it can be deadly. And we saw that. Um traffic deaths are all too common in the United States. Uh, weirdly, I think AI and autonomous driving might make this less of a problem as we move forward uh because we're going to see more self-driving trucks uh and cars and and uh just freight shipping. Um but it's an incredibly sad story.
>> Yeah. Um Matthew, in 2025 October, there was an Indian chap, the one I just mentioned, involved in a multi vehicle crash in California. Uh killed three people, injured four others. He was an illegal migrant. Couldn't really speak a word of English. The Trump administration and Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy have made this a significant issue for months and months now. Uh I was actually on I 95, which is where the accident took place this morning. It's absolutely horrifying. And and Secretary Duffy is absolutely right. If you can't read the the road signs, if you can't understand the directions and and and how to move through traffic, uh you shouldn't have a commercial driver's license in this country.
>> No. Yeah. Insane. So that was uh India, sorry, California in October and New York State gave the license to this Chinese guy um today. So you were caught in the traffic. Did you see the buildup?
>> Uh the traffic was backed up for 20 plus miles. Uh yeah, it was it was absolutely horrifying. And I can't imagine the the sadness and and the just the overwhelming regret and and fear in a family who whose children uh may or may not have been involved in the accident.
>> Yeah. Those poor kids, those poor babies and the families.
>> Right. Uh, let's move on, shall we, to a GB news alert. Three teenage boys convicted of rape and serious sexual assault against girls as young as 14 have avoided jail. Has it happened again? I can't believe this. Instead, they were given rehabilitation orders and£26 court sir charges, £26 fines for all of them each. You may pay more for overstaying in a car park. You probably may pay more for taking your family to McDonald's or going to the cinema. The reason is because they were tried under youth court rules that deal with suspects aged 17 or under, which places a greater emphasis on rehabilitation than adult courts. One victim in this case, who was only 15 when she was raped, said it feels like he's got away with it, adding that she now lives in fear of bumping into her attacker. And this comes, of course, just days after another teenage rape case sparks national outrage and was referred to the court of appeal over concerns the sentences were too lenient. Lord Hermer, of course, is looking at that case.
Tonight, Britain's justice system, I argue, has become more concerned with rehabilitating criminals than protecting victims. My panel are with me now. Let's get the thoughts of Michelle actually in London. Michelle Donan. Michelle, this is an awful story and again it comes days after the previous uh story which sparked absolute national outrage. Um Lord Hurmer now looking at that sentence at the course of appeal. What is going on in these youth courts? Is that an adequate punishment where three lads convicted of multiple rapes get 26 pound fines and then get to continue their life as if nothing happened?
>> I think it's absolutely horrendous and it's my understanding that the only reason a lot of these are coming to light is in effect whistleblowers. So how many more are happening like this that we don't know about and the poor victims who have to live with this as that one girl has said knowing her perpetrator could just bump into her at any time. What message does it send out to other young boys out there that they can just get away with it? And I don't believe that this is going to help rehabilitate them because you're supposed to understand the ramifications of what you've done and be punished for it and then your re rehabilitation can begin. I I read that um only 30 months was given for the sex offender list. You you keep a phone for longer than that. I mean, this is absolutely ludicrous and and appalling, and I think it's a stain on on Britain, really. What message does this send internationally? What message does this send to young girls? And what message does this send to young boys growing up here?
>> That's a great question. What message does it send internationally? Well, let's ask the American lads here on my panel. Matthew, what what do you see as an American when you hear stories like this? Well, the the punishment clearly doesn't fit the crime in this instance, but but we have seen some some instances in the United States, particularly in Virginia and in Lowden County, where individuals have have uh committed allegedly committed uh sexual crimes in bathrooms in in public schools. This is something that is there's a two-tiered solution in response to this.
Punishments that fit the crime from the state and parents that take responsibility for their children and their children's actions.
>> Manny, any thoughts on this? what what happens to these lads in the the US?
>> I think it depends on the state honestly and the prosecutor. So, there's a lot of variables there, but um just agreeing with my co-panelists here in that, you know, this is unacceptable. We need to really make sure that when folks do heinous acts like this, like sexual violence and rape, that they get punished. My sister worked uh with domestic violence survivors and rape survivors uh in a job she had. Um and hearing her stories of what these victims went through is horrific. So the US government, the UK government in this instance needs to do two things. They need to adequately punish the folks who do this. So there's a deterrent and it says this is not acceptable and then also provide resources for domestic violence and rape survivors. Uh because as you noted in that story, uh these women are going to have trauma for years.
>> Yeah. Well, these fines, so they are called a victim search charge, right?
They are well there's a victim search charge and there's fines as well. That money is meant to go towards helping victims. So if you if you're if you're paying £26 each for a rape, I mean Allison on your say, hello Allison, good morning. You've said Lucy Connelly got more for a tweet. Um Leoni Hodgej of Justices Now is a campaign group which campaigns for survivors of sexual violence. They said you'd be charged more for a parking ticket than for rape.
A 26 fee for rape is laughable and insulting to the public who put trust and faith in taxes into a system which isn't protecting these girls. This is pure impunity for the attackers. Victim searchcharge is a weird and gross terminology and it definitely can't be I mean there needs to be actual time in prison and then the financial penalties if they're going to be there need to be substantial. Um and clearly neither of those uh are present.
>> Yep. Uh let's speak to former Met Police Detective Chief Superintendent Kevin Hurley. Kevin, hello. Good morning.
Thanks for your company on GB News Live.
Um the uh of course by default um victims of sexual assaults, rapes, whatever, sexual offenses are given lifelong anonymity until they choose to break it themselves. But also in youth courts, the perpetrators are also given anonymity because of their age. Do you think it's about time that in severe cases of maybe rape, sexual assaults committed by juveniles, they should be named. The public should be aware of who these children are, especially if they've been let off custodial sentences.
I think my my basic view on it is um when the Conservative government passed this legislation and brought forward this principles within the sentencing guidelines that there would be a presumption that you would not put young people in custody and brought in the youth rehabilitation orders is they did it on the basis of let's rehabilitate these people and prevent offending. They forgot the key point that for for lots of us members of the public, it's important. Let's have some proper punishment. Let justice be seen to be done. Never mind what's in their best interest. What you know this is what's in the best interest of giving closure to the survivors these horrendous attacks. And then turning on to your actual question which is could they be anonymous? Well, uh, my own view is if the if the crimes are sufficiently horrendous and we're going to do it on the basis of punishment and justice being seen to be done, then let's expose expose them fully and let's put their names out. This is going to require a mindset change within this the sentencing uh council guidelines that provided by the government direction and indeed the views of a large number of people in the legal profession who think we should not be putting young people in prison. Having dealt with some really nasty people, including one horrendous case where 15year-old poor petrol through the uh door of a couple of old age pensioners living in social housing caused burnt them to death, you know, and made the arrests. I know how violent and nasty some of these kids can be. And um you know, I don't buy it. The fact of the matter is if the crime's sufficiently horrendous for the benefit of firstly the survivors of the attacks and secondly the wider public punishment should be seen to be done even if you're 14, 15 or 16.
>> Uh and interestingly you're you're coming from America at the moment. These people would probably be tried as adult in states like Florida and so on. uh you know if the uh state um district attorney judges so uh and they would be looking at getting 25 years to life for this kind of stuff. It's, you know, it's it's quite dreadful. And with the with the problems we've got in the UK of increases in numbers of rapes, particularly being committed by what one might call, well, let's call them what they are, newcomers to the UK, if we're being kind. You know, we need to have some significant punishments there to if if not act as a deterrent, satisfy society that justice is being done. So, um, I'm sorry. Having dealt with these people for 30 odd years and spent another 10 years doing it in Africa, Afghanistan, and Iraq, I don't have a lot of mercy for criminals.
>> Well, we we don't we don't know the the demograph demographic of these boys involved here. Could be anybody, but the the 15-year-old victim uh has told the Guardian, she's talking about why she believed that imprisonment was a was would have been a just sentence. She said if they were in prison, he wouldn't have time to reflect on what he did.
Sorry, he would have time to reflect on what he did and it would mean that it didn't happen to anyone else because of him. She said, "I'm worried about bumping into this person and I'm worried for other people in case he does this again after no real consequence. I don't know where he is or what he's doing. I'm constantly looking over my shoulder. I trust people less because of this." This poor 15year-old girl could be anybody's daughter watching now or granddaughter tonight. 15 year old girl just violated her innocence stamped out by some grubby uh little scrots who go around raping girl and 26 pound fine. Is there a is there a trend happening here, Kevin?
Because we had this other case a few days ago that was looking at I >> I've spent the last few years working in some real problem places in Africa uh with working with the security forces and police in areas where rape is a major problem. And the one thing that's absolutely clear is if you can't take away the impunity of offenders, whatever age there is, you're never going to cause people to reflect upon it. You know, and if you can think about the basic human condition, if you haven't been brought up with decent values of honesty, what is there to stop you going out and taking and do whatever you want?
It's the thought of potentially there might be a consequence. And of course, when these 14, 15 year old kids know, oh, we're not going to get anything.
Let's go and rape these girls. Some people will do it. You know, I know because I deal with them or I've dealt with them and I've led teams dealing with them and I know what their attitude to life is. You've got to have a consequence and more important for the poor victims, the survivors of these offenses, they need to see justice being done and quite frankly vengeance.
>> You know, uh we a lot of us we like it or not believe in that.
>> Yeah. Keith on your say said, "I wonder how many rapes would be committed if the crime carried the death sentence? Two per year? Three perhaps?" Interesting question, Keith. Sorry, I said Kevin, it's Keith. Interesting question, Keith.
Something I'm looking into and I'm very interested in. Viewers of this show will know I'm I'm uh hopefully making a film about the death penalty. Does it work?
Is it a deterrent? Is it cheaper just killing people? Uh I found that maybe not because they're languishing on death row for 30, 40 years before they're finally executed. Does it give victims and their families justice? Do they feel like justice has been done? And what does the Bible say? The Bible says, "Thou shalt not kill." So, how do red states square that? Um, lots to look at and it's an interesting topic. Kevin, thanks very much. Appreciate it. Have a good weekend and we'll catch up soon.
Kevin Hurley, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice has said sentencing decisions are made by independent judges in line with sentencing guidelines.
We're clear that punishments must fit the severity of the crime and custody should always be considered for serious offenses. This government is determined to do all we can to make sure victims have confidence. they will get justice.
Uh gbnews.com/you say ice cold truth has said we need to bring back capital punishment for rapists and murderers. It either stops them doing it the first time or stops it doing it stops them doing it again. Either way they are stoppable. Right. Still ahead on the Late Show Live.
>> We've been called by the other side.
They'd like to make a deal very badly.
Very badly.
>> Well, it's been a dramatic day in Washington DC for the president. He was rushed into the situation room at the White House earlier as he makes his final determination, his words, not mine, on whether to extend a ceasefire with Iran. But first tonight, a Canadian man has admitted distributing deadly suicide kits around the world, including to dozens of Brits. But get this, he won't face trial in the UK for their death. Do you think that's the right move? More on that in just a sec. Don't go anywhere.
Join me, Nana Aqu, for an informative interactive news program with a difference. It's fun.
>> I know you didn't say that, Dave.
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Oh no.
>> Oh.
>> Oh wow.
>> Whoa. That was dramatic. Last night, Jeff Bezos Blue Origin suffered a massive rocket explosion in Florida.
Apparently had the energy output of 20% of the bomb that dropped on uh Hiroshima. Um, people could feel it from miles and miles away down in Florida.
Anyway, it could throw NASA's moon mission plans into chaos. More on that coming up in just a sec. But first, really grim story here. A Canadian man who mailed suicide packets of poison to over 100 people all across uh the nations of the world, including in Great Britain, has pleaded guilty to 14 counts of assisting suicide. At a courtroom in Ontario, Kenneth Law plead guilty to charges of counseling or abetting suicide and he also admitted to sending lethal substances that caused the death of 79 people in the UK. 79 people in Britain. Prosecutors though argued these deaths could be directly attributed to couldn't be directly attributed to him um and he will not face trial in Britain. in a letter to the families affected, the CPS in the UK said his extradition would have been uncertain and protracted, insisting he'll face justice through his sentence in Canada.
So, is that the right move or is it failing families as campaigners have argued uh in Britain? Mie, extraordinary story. This guy uh evident weirdo, absolute creep just making these DIY suicide kits and sending them out on the internet all over the world, including in the UK. nearly 80 people linked >> dying after receiving these kits.
>> Really creepy. Um, and you know, in the US and I don't know the data for other countries as well, but in the US we certainly have a real big problem with suicide and I think it's an epidemic that we have in Western countries in general. And to have someone using their time to help people take their life is uh sick. Um, you know, I wish he could be sent to the UK so any victim there could probably get a fine M. He'd probably get a 26 pound fine or something. So I it's probably best he hasn't come to the UK.
>> Fair. Fair enough. But I would say at least the victims would be able to have their time in court. Um, but I guess the silver lining is this guy is going to jail, which is a good thing here.
>> Yeah, such a such a a bizarre case. So, he uh he was a one-time engineer, Matthew, and a cook at a Toronto hotel.
He ran a series of websites that sold lethal chemicals to at risk people around the world. Uh to evade detection, he offered other products such as Hot Sauce to give the illusion he operated as an industrial food prep seller. Um yeah, and it goes on and on, selling paraphernalia, detailed instructions on to do what he wanted people to do. Just awful. Well, and Ben, one of the elements of this story is that this man targeted people who were who were in a vulnerable state online, uh, praying on individuals who who were looking for these kinds of solutions, suicide or or or self harm. It's absolutely horrifying stuff. Uh, you know, there's there's a broader debate about physician assisted suicide in the United States and around the world, but this is someone with a a weird fetish uh that that led to the deaths of dozens of people. And uh and for sure he he should face uh face his crimes in Canada. I'm not exactly sure what would happen in the United Kingdom uh if if he were sent there, but this is this is really awful stuff. People who are again in a vulnerable state and and not able to think clearly about next steps in the future of their lives. This is really sad stuff.
>> And and building on that too, the thing with suicide is most people who are suicidal say, you know, they have suicidal ideations, but they pass. So the big thing is is getting the help when they need it. And if you make it easier for them to take their life when they're at that vulnerable moment, um it it just makes the problem so much worse.
>> Yeah. Because there's always light at the end of the tunnel. It's uh you know, I don't I I I don't know. There's help available everywhere. But it is, you know, people love you, people are there for you. It's whatever the problem is, it can be solved. But when you have absolute cretins like this guy here encouraging it and even helping people, it's the worst of the worst. And Michelle, uh, the National Crime Agency um found that 286 individuals in the UK received packages from law leading to 112 deaths. families in the UK said the impunity with which he operated for years and British authorities failure to prevent deaths linked to an online forum uh needed a public inquiry. They now want a public inquiry in the UK.
>> Yeah. So I think um that it was identified and because of the online safety act they the website was was fined and action was taken. I think it was almost up to a million pounds. So obviously the legislation wasn't there before. Also, that's my presumption as to why the action wasn't specifically tucked. So, when I did the online safety act, that was one of my big concerns. It was making sure that we were closing down these forums and and tackling them because it's always been a difficult area to to um to legislate against and to to act upon, which is awful because this is preying on very very vulnerable people and leads to devastating tragic consequences. And my heart goes out to all the families that are impacted by this because I think it's a bit of a copout for them to say, "Oh, well, it would have been really lengthy and there would have been no real guarantee if if we'd have tried to extradite him here."
Well, I think the point is that the families would have liked the attempt and and for the authorities to try to be on their side and to try and achieve justice because they must feel extremely let down by the system and must feel like they're never going to get that justice now.
>> Yeah, well said. Um, one 29year-old man who ended up dying unfortunately called 911 himself. He was in America asking for medical help. He said he'd ingested a toxic substance. He said, "Please, I'm going to die soon." He then began crying and he became unresponsive, clearly regretting what he'd done. Uh he was unfortunately pronounced dead at a hospital. Dozens, hundreds of cases.
Sick guy. Um yeah. Okay. Not too sure what else to say about it. At the time of his arrest, he had 300,000 Canadian dollars in his PayPal account. So, he's obviously making a lot of money from this. And Matthew valued money more than, I guess, people's lives and uh well-being. You know, one of the things that I think about as we talk about this story is I suspect many of the family members of these victims didn't even know what their family members were going through. And and that's one thing when when I go out into the community, when I'm involved with friends and family and loved ones, uh that's my advice to to viewers and listeners here is is go out and be part of the community and and and welcome people and and be engaging and and caring. And that's something again we we can't move past some of these uh ideations without uh therapy or help. One of the things that that we can do as in our individual capacity is is seek out and and care about our friends and neighbors.
>> Okay. Um if you've been affected at home by anything you've heard tonight, uh Samaritans are there for you day or night, 24/7, 365 days a year. You can call them for free on 116123.
That's 116123.
Email them at joeamaritans.org.
That's jom samaritans.org or visit samaritans.org the website to find your nearest branch. Uh please speak to somebody if you're feeling that way.
Speak to somebody. You are loved. Uh happier days are ahead. They will return and uh there are better options. U as I said you are loved by many many people uh including God. Whether you believe in God or not uh I believe God exists and he loves you dearly. Right. Still ahead on the Late Show live tonight.
>> What we want to see is more law enforcement on the beaches of France.
That is a a choice uh that we want to see made and we are willing uh to invest.
>> Well, there's Shabbana Mammud there talking next to a patrol boat. But it seems law enforcement isn't the only thing the Home Office is investing in because tonight GB News can reveal the millions of pounds of your money, taxpayer money, being spent on rescuing Channel migrants. But first tonight, >> we'll have to just finish the job.
They're negotiating on fumes.
>> The president was rushed into the situation room earlier at the White House. big dramatic day in Washington as he makes his final determination on whether to extend a ceasefire with Iran.
What is the Iran latest? All that coming up after the break. Don't go anywhere.
Westminster, the ultimate clique, and you're fighting like rats in a sack.
>> But here on the Camila Tomminy Show, we ask the questions the establishment media is too scared to ask. Okay, let me ask you a straight question because I know you're a straight talking politician. Whether it's net zero, illegal immigration, or law and order, nothing is off limits. You have the power then.
>> Yeah, as I said, >> and now you've lost it.
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Hi, I'm Michelle Jubrey and my show is your opportunity to cut through all the noise and dive in head first to some robust debates. Ideas clash >> situation, isn't it?
>> No, the failure is you're deliberately avoiding my point. Nothing's held back.
>> And if you think this is the end of it, wait for more.
>> And we do not shy away from the difficult stuff. Sometimes I want to shake people and say, "If only you understood." So join me on Jubes and Curr week nights at 6 PM only on GB News, Britain's news channel.
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>> He can say whatever he wants.
>> A straight talking show where all voices are heard.
>> And you know, when are we going to stop talking about smashing the gangs and actually do it? with the stories that matter from every part of our country.
>> There's a bit of a crash landing there for your chancellor. Bold, fearless, and standing up for you. That's me, Martin Dorme. 3:00 p.m. till 6:00 p.m. weekdays here only on GBN, the People's Channel, Britain's News Channel.
>> We will continue to to follow the law again while protecting victims, but also providing maximum transparency. Former Attorney General Pam Bondi there, Bondi rather, facing down uh lawmakers in Congress today over the Epstein files where she's made some explosive claims uh to do with the disgraced dead pedophile. We'll get stuck into that very shortly, but first, a senior administration official has reportedly revealed that President Trump left a 2-hour meeting on a possible deal with Iran without making a decision. The president had previously posted on Truth Social before the meeting that he'd intended to make a final determination during the gathering in the White House situation room, adding that any agreed to extend the deal and the ceasefire would involve Iran's reopening of the straits of Hormuz, pledging never to develop a nuclear bomb and allowing the US to remove its enriched uranium or nuclear dust as he calls it. It's not yet clear why a decision wasn't reached.
Uh let's ask senior fellow at the America First Policy Institute, Ken Timman. Ken, good to see you. Um, President Trump suggesting this morning that a deal was imminent and then he left the meeting saying no deal. So, where are we, Ken? Can you shed any light on this? I can. I think the president is playing mind games with the Iranians. It's kind of like that scene out of uh Star Wars when Obi-Wan Kenobi puts his hands up and he says, "These are not the droids you're looking for."
President Trump is saying to the audience, "This is not the deal you're looking for."
uh he is constantly saying the same thing to them but listening to their demands and they are worlds apart the US and the Iranian side. I think the president has showed uh remarkable patience. Uh he is willing to get to the to a deal but as he said he holds all the cards. The Iranians just don't understand that. Remember also why the straight of Horbuz is closed. It's not because of the United States. It's not even because of Iran. It's because of a cartel of London insurance companies.
And you know, you can you can you don't have to fire shots. The Iranians don't have to fire shots to to make the bankers afraid.
>> Um are you talking about Lloyds of London? I thought the US administration had said we will ensure vessels going through. That was some months ago now.
What happened to that? didn't work and it did not convince those uh squishy bankers looking at their bottom lines and and the look the the shipping companies are doing the same thing. Uh they're looking at a hypothetical uh insurance from the United States versus a realworld insurance that they're getting from this cartel. Uh and they're saying, "Hey, we've been working with the insurance cartel for decades. Uh we're going to trust them and not the United States government."
M um Ken, I just I just do wonder I I appreciate your optimism and I generally support uh Trump when it comes to migration and so on. I did actually support him in this conflict. I want the IRGC obliterated from the face of this earth uh and also all their proxies and so on to uh go the way of the dodo. Um and I want the Iranian people more than anything to be free to live uh their lives in peace. However, I will say it feels like it feels like Trump doesn't know what he's doing, Ben. You're you're we're only in act three. That that's that's your problem.
And it's not you're you're you're not alone. We're only in act three. This is a five act Shakespearean drama. Act three is about to end. The Iranians uh have said publicly tonight uh that they do not accept the US conditions. They want money up front. They want sanctions uh relief upfront. They want the US to commit to re uh to pulling out all of our troops from the Persian Gulf. Those things are not going to happen. And I think the negotiations are at an end.
Remember though the Saudis had asked the president 10 days ago, please don't uh launch any military action during the Hajj. Well, the Hajj was from May 25th until May 29th. Today, the Hajj is over.
A million people are going to be leaving Saudi Arabia once they're out of Saudi territory. I expect we will pass to act four and that will be a very quick, very brutal nationwide kinetic strike by the United States with a goal of convincing the Iranian people that the revolutionary guards and the Mulla uh Bhtaba can no longer rule that they cannot survive the United States and then after that we will pass to Act five which is the uprising of the Iranian people.
>> Oh goodness. Yeah. I'm looking forward to that. I mean, that that for me was what this whole conflict was about. It was the call from the president to the Iranian people who put their lives on the line. Thousands of them, tens of thousands. And when that day comes, I will celebrate with a nice glass of something special. Um, maybe I'm just impatient, Ken. I can't do long drawn out dramas and series anymore. I'm addicted to smartphones and scrolling.
I've got the attention span of a goldfish. So, maybe that's my problem.
You know, in the 17th century, people in London could sit down in those theaters and watch a five act Shakespeare play and and they were enthralled right up.
Why can't we do that today and we got live television? Huh?
>> Yeah, Ken, thank you so much. Appreciate you as always. Come back soon on the late show live. Appreciate it. Ken Tim, senior fellow at the America First Policy Institute. Uh Douglas has said on your say, Ben, good morning. Douglas, um you've limited information regarding the situation in Iran compared to the US government. Best not to make any assumptions. Yep. I'm sure they know far Well, I'd hope they know far more than me. Uh, but I can only make my observations on what I see. Mali, are they playing 10D chess?
>> I just want whatever drug he was on that gives him such optimism.
>> Who?
>> Um, analyst cuz >> Oh, don't be rude. Ken's great.
>> He I, as I said, he's incredibly optimistic. Optimism is a good virtue.
But the problem here is I think it belies reality, which is the straight is not open. President Trump has gotten himself in this situation and it seems like we're having a really difficult time extricating ourselves and some of the terms that have come out on the potential deal and it's hard to know because if you just simply look at Twitter uh it's all over the place but some of these terms are an absolute non-starter. One of the terms potential potentially is the Trump administration giving a $300 billion fund to the Iranians to rebuild their country.
>> Well, that was his room, wasn't it? I saw that. I mean, that sounds absolutely bonkers.
>> It sounds bonkers. Um, but I think the issue we have is Trump seems incredibly desperate for a deal. He himself removed his blockade without getting any sort of uh deal from the Iranians to remove their part of the blockade. And I think the key issue is is that we've been we've seen a huge rise in gas prices, but we've been able to live on this hope that eventually this Iran war will end and it hasn't spiked further. Every week that goes by that we don't have a real solution. We're getting closer to the cliff. The cliff being a lot of countries used their strategic petroleum reserves. That's coming to an end. Uh we're getting into summer driving season and Trump desperately needs and wants a deal. And I don't know how he gets himself out of it.
>> Um, oil though today, Matthew, at 6 week lows, crude 87 bucks a barrel.
>> Well, that's shocking. And I appreciate Ken's work in this space, but I kind of feel like Charlie Brown in the football.
I I feel like we've been here for eight weeks. Uh, deal or no deal. Uh, the Iranians want 15 things that the Americans are not willing to give and and President Trump wants 10 things that the Iranians are not going to budge on.
Uh we can't trust the the Iran the Iranian regime. Uh you know, Ben, you mentioned earlier there's nothing that you want to see more than a free Iran.
Uh we know that we can't export democracy. We've learned that now.
>> Bomb them into democracy.
>> I Well, and and that was that work in Afghanistan.
>> Yeah. It it doesn't work and it hasn't worked for the United States for the last 30 years. And Americans are war weary in this space. I don't think there's much time left uh for the American public to wait for Act Five.
And certainly as it relates to the midterm elections, uh these these gas prices, it is the only thing I'm seeing on social media now for my friends who are not expressly political.
And I think the problem the Trump administration has too is that the initial deal I think that we can get will involve the US removing some sanctions and their blockade and then the Iranians uh easing up on their uh control of the strait, but it won't involve the enriched uranium. That will have to be subsequent conversations and I don't think the Trump administration wants that because it looks like a loser.
>> Okay. Uh let's get thoughts of Michelle in London. Thank you Michelle for waiting so patiently. Um what's the perception in the UK? I've not been back for four or five weeks about the Iranian conflicts. What is word on the street?
What are people saying?
>> So, I think this is really interesting because I think that what is setting in is a bit of war fatigue and we always see it um with these conflicts overseas.
Everybody starts off talking about it non-stop and then eventually it does fall down the the news agenda which I think is quite dangerous as well because obviously this is having such a catastrophic impact on the global economy and especially the UK because we're so vulnerable when it comes to energy and as we head uh further and further towards week by week towards uh the the colder months will be here before we know it and people are going to really struggle. The cost of living crisis is already acute in the UK and I just don't know how people are going to afford to get through that when it comes to Christmas time and this government have um tried to gloss over it and and offered people things like4 pound off going to the zoo. Um but the the hard shock is is coming down the road.
>> Yeah. I just feel for you for households and energy bill payers all across the UK. The cost of living, inflation, energy bills, they've been whacked, haven't they, Michelle, by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. COVID was nuts. All these massive events over four, five, six years. I mean, it just feels like life looks nothing like it did prior to what 2020.
>> Yeah. And and it's our own fault really, isn't it? So assessive governments have not put in place an energy policy that um makes us more self-sufficient. We're importing oil rather than utilizing the more of the the North Sea. And we should have been investing in nuclear for a very long time. And we've got a government now that are ideologically so hellbent on um on green energy to the point that they are quite happy for people to almost be bankrupt to pursue this this agenda.
>> Yeah, it's crazy. Even the Democrats here in the US, Joe Biden, they pursued their green policies, fine, you know, climate zealots, uh but they were still drilling at the same time. At least they did they didn't lose their minds as such to go full net zero and just throw the baby out with the bath water. Absolutely bonkers. Michelle, thank you very much.
Um, very quick comment on your say. Um, Superj has said, Ben, the USA will not take Iran without troops on the ground together with an uprising by the Iranian people. And somebody else, is it SA said Trump probably expected the Iranian people to rise up, uh, but they're too weak. And John has said, "Not long now, Ben, until you meet the Tarsan army in Miami, my friend. I'm meeting them in Boston first. They're playing Haiti, Scotland for the World Cup. Couple of weeks, right? Still ahead on the Late Show Live tonight.
>> Oh no.
>> Oh.
>> Oh wow.
>> This was absolutely mental. A massive fireball erupted at the launch of Jeff Bezos Blue Origin rocket last night in Cape Canaveral, Florida. It could now mean NASA's plans for the moon are thrown into chaos. This is the late show live. Back in a sec.
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A judge has ruled that the president had no legal right to rename America's national arts venue the Trump Kennedy Center. It used to be called the Kennedy Center. Trump decided to stick his name in it as well. Uh is this just another attempt to stop Donald putting his stamp on America? But first, let's delve into some of the main stories in tomorrow's papers. Starting with this bombshell from the Sun, which is reporting Nicholas Sturgeon's fraudster husband used Pilford SNP cash, 400 grand he nicked, by the way, to buy his nephew a scooter for Christmas. Oh, very nice. At least he's thinking of his family. Um, the former first minister of Scotland even posted a snap of the gift wrapped.
Is it look a scooter? Looks like something a bit more sinister.
>> Looks like an elliptical machine.
>> Oh. Um anyway, he posted a picture of the scooter gift wrapped on social media on Christmas in 2013 and joked, "Well wrapped, Peter Murl. Our nephew will never guess what it is." Nicola Sturgeon posted that and commented, but I guess you know it's a scooter. How much does it cost? Couple hund quid. Michelle Donovan um Nicholas Sturgeon was married to Peter Marl for 15 years. She knew absolutely nothing about the four grand coffee machines, the scooters, the 150 grand camper van parked somewhere, she knew nothing. They were together 15 years, but she knew nothing.
>> Yeah. Well, obviously she's denied it, but um speaking from my own experience, if my husband came home with two grand salt and pepper pots, well, first of all, I'd be a bit annoyed that he spent that on that, but secondly, you I'd be sort of a bit inquisitive as to where all this was coming from. One of the gifts was a necklace for her and the camper van was parked on a mother-in-law's drive. Like, I just don't understand why she didn't ask any questions if she's fully innocent. Um, it does seem a bit odd, doesn't it?
pots, Michelle.
>> I think they're about two grand. I also The other thing is >> pepper pots.
>> Yeah, but one pepper pot and one salt pot. I mean, I if I had that type of money, I certainly wouldn't be wasting it on two grand salt and pepper pots.
So, you've also got to question his um logic in his thinking when he was making these decisions and buying this stuff. I could have easily spent two grand on something nicer.
Oh, >> I would have probably gone down the casino and put it on red or something if you're going to blow money like that. I mean, I suppose when it's not your money, if if it's 400 grand of stolen funds, you probably don't care how, where, and how it's spent. Court records, by the way, show that the disgraced former S&P chief exec Peter Marvel used party cash to buy two Striker children's scooters or I don't know what that brand is. V Triker for 65 quid and 60 Yeah. 65 quid each just days before Christmas in 2013 as part of his 400 grand spending spree. Uh, Maddie, what do you make of this? 400. two grand on pepper pot salt and pepper pots.
>> I mean, that is astounding. But I think Ben, as you said, if it's not your money, you're probably pretty uh liberal and out there on what you're going to spend it on.
>> Can I just say, which is why government doesn't work. When they're spending taxpayers money, they're just like, "Yeah, come here, plebs. Give me all your money." And they're just like, "Yeah, we'll spend money on that. We'll buy a $400 billion bridge there. We'll do HS2 here. Thank you very much." They just don't care because it's not their money.
>> Okay, we we took a turn there. Sorry.
That's true though.
>> Um, but uh hopefully there's uh some sort of criminal or civil reckoning for this and there can be some of this money recovered. I don't know how much you can get on the secondary market for the salt and pepper pots and recoup some of that value.
>> Uh Matthew, you fancy buying some secondhand salt and pepper pots from Scotland. Scottish. I'm I'm awful up on salt and pepper pots. the the the difference here in tax money and party resources obviously is is that tax money is taken from taxpayers uh in the United States against our will most of the time. Uh these party resources are are allocated in a different way in the United States. They're they're given by donors. But this is a this is a huge level of mistrust and misallocation of of these these resources. What a what a silly thing to do. Uh and and what an illegal thing to do in in many instances. Absolutely ridiculous.
>> Well, let's listen to Nicholas Sturgeon.
She says she, you know, had knew nothing of it. Not at all. Nothing at all. In which case, Nicola Sturgeon wins the prize for the least attentive wife in the history of marriage in humankind. I mean, I just, you know, if you bought a camper van, are you married, Matthew?
>> I'm not married. And if there was a camper van out in the driveway, I would wonder where it's coming from. I mean, if you just rocked up her home with a a camp. Anyway, but she says she's knows nothing about it. Let's read her statement so we don't get in trouble. I want to reiterate, says Nicholas Sturgeon. I had no knowledge or suspicion whatsoever that personal items had been purchased using S&P funds. I was clear of any wrongdoing after a lengthy and thorough investigation in relation to many of the items in question. For example, expensive watches and games consoles. I wasn't aware of them having been purchased at all. I guess he wasn't playing FIFA or Call of Duty then on Peter's Xbox. I guess she also didn't have a joint checking account with her husband cuz how would you not notice this?
>> No. Is that normal though? Um Michelle, did you see um Sky News trying to doorstep Sturgeon today or yesterday and she ran off?
>> What do you think of that?
>> Yeah, she did, didn't she? And she said it's the worst week of her life. Um I mean, look, the whole thing is remarkably and completely odd. Uh like I said, if it was my husband, um I'd be like, where the hell is all this money coming from? and why aren't you spending it on better things? Um, and and the other question is is like what about the poor people that had given this money to the party in good faith, thinking it was going to be spent on campaigning, etc., and they've just been completely robbed blind.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Well said. Kevin said on your site, my wife moans when I paid £10 for a vinyl. She doesn't know I bought a copy of Elvis, that's all right, mama on the Sun label and paid over a grand for it. Don't tell her, Kevin, you naughty boy. More coming up from the late show live, including this.
>> Oh no.
>> Oh.
>> Oh wow.
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>> Hello, good morning. Welcome to your latest GB News weather update brought to you from the Met Office. Another dry and sunny day to come for much of England and Wales. Still feeling quite warm in the sunshine, too. But across the north and west, it's going to be a pretty wet and cloudy day. Actually, a weather front's pushed in overnight that will bring outbreaks of rain to parts of Northern Ireland, Western and Southern Scotland in particular. Eastern areas of Scotland should escape much of the rain, but it is going to be relatively cloudy here. Elsewhere across England and Wales, it will be a dry day. Plenty of strong sunshine. Pollen levels are high, too. And temperatures will climb to the high 20s in the south and east, the mid 20s elsewhere across central area. So, still a very warm day. In fact, overnight tonight, we'll start to see that cloud thicken from the north and west as rain pushes further southwards.
We'll likely see some heavier bursts of rain across parts of western Scotland and Northern Ireland throughout this evening. So, some heavy downpours out there as the rain pushes into parts of Northern England. will be relatively light. I think predominantly over coastal areas and over the high ground, but the sunshine will turn hazier for parts of the southwest into Wales too.
The southeast fairing the best if you're after some sunny weather, but it's still going to be quite a mild night in the south and east. Plenty of cloud around, light winds, and we still got southerntherly winds bringing in that milder air. It's not really until Monday where we get that fresher air across the country. The temperatures still in the high teens in the south and east, much closer to average elsewhere though, so it should be more comfortable for most of us overnight. Heavy bursts of rain will continue to affect parts of Scotland throughout Sunday morning. And then showery rain pushes into the west elsewhere, parts of Wales, southwestern England. I think many of us will escape the worst of the showers across more southern areas, particularly the southeast as very little rain is expected to push into these areas. But there is a risk of the odd shower. But temperatures widely will be much closer to average with highs of 25 degrees.
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>> Well, it has been a historic night in British politics.
>> It's astonishing, isn't it?
>> We're here again to start your day just right. GB News Breakfast >> every morning from 6:00 a.m.
>> only on GB News, >> Britain's News Channel.
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>> Oh, no. He didn't say that, Dave. I'm so surprised.
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This is GBN News with the story shaping Britain and America. Trump locks in. The US president holds a two-hour intense situation room meeting to make a final determination on whether to extend the ceasefire with Iran.
>> Let them have a nuclear weapon or you're going to have he'd have problems like nobody would believe.
>> Elsewhere, this will get you backed up.
GB News reveals the millions being spent by the home office on rescuing illegal small boat migrants. And it's a lot of money. And breaking tonight, Andy Bernham sets out his migration vision if he were ever to oust Sakir Stalmer.
>> Politics in this country. British politics is tired. It needs a new script and massive fireball on the launch pad last night. Blue Origin suffers a dramatic rocket explosion in Florida and it could throw NASA's moon mission plans into chaos. And state side, Bondi fights back. Former Attorney General Pam Bondi is grilled for 4 hours over the release of the Epstein files, making some pretty explosive claims. But also tonight, Patriotism cancelled. Legendary American acts are pulling out of a massive huge concert for America's 250th birthday after backlash over its links to President Trump. But CNC Music Factory says it's not backing down. I'm Ben Leo and this is the Late Show Live.
Good morning. How are you doing? Happy Saturday to you. You've made it to the weekend. Congrats. Joining me in DC this evening is my panel, the Democrat strategist Maddie Smith and the Republican strategist Matthew Hurt. And in London, former Tory Minister Michelle Donovan. Hello Michelle. Thank you again for your company this hour. Right. Uh, let's kick off this hour with a GB news alert because tonight we can reveal the Home Office is spending a staggering 1.2 million pounds a year of your money to buy and maintain channel rescue boats.
The fleet has aided the crossing of more than 70,000 small boat migrants crossed the English Channel since Labour came to power in July 2024. And the contract covers the rental of the crew rigid hole inflatable boats or ribs to you and I.
That's according to the Daily Mail.
Labour have signed a three-year deal to repair other vessels, costing the taxpayer an additional, so on top, £1.6 million. So, loads of money going on these boats to rescue migrants in the channel. Meanwhile, though, Andy Burnham has reportedly pledged to tear up asylum accommodation contracts should he manage to secure StarMA as prime minister. The Greater Manchester Mayor would instead prefer to devolve responsibility for housing asylum seekers to local authorities. Well, I will say to that, you're just kicking the can down the road. You're moving them to HMOs. You're moving them into the communities. Nobody wants them. Stop them coming in the first place. Uh Mali, um I guess in the government's defense, what are they expected to do if there's migrants drowning in the channel?
>> Yeah, >> because you can't just leave them there because I mean just people would go mad.
It's inhumane.
>> Yeah, I mean it is inhumane. Um I do think there needs to be rescue efforts if there are migrants who are at risk of dying. Um but it gets to this larger what seems like almost intractable problem that the Kier Starmer government is dealing with which is there is this surge of immigration uh asylum seekers.
It's hard to parse out what claims are legitimate or not. Um you don't >> almost none of them by the way. Let me just say almost none of them.
>> You don't want to be heartless but you also don't want to be a welcome mat. Um, we saw that this led to political difficulties for the Biden administration. Unchecked immigration is not something uh people are for. And America is a country that is very accepting of immigration, but they don't want it to seem like it's out of their control, but um yeah, I don't really know what the solution is and what the UK should do to fix this problem.
>> Yeah. I mean, it should be easier, Michelle. Uh compared to the US, I've been down to the southern border in the US. It's long, let me tell you.
Thousands of miles. Uh they've got a big massive wall there. It should be easier to monitor and secure our own border because it's a giant moat surrounding the country. Um so Andy Burnham's all very well saying I'm going to stop asylum hotels and so on as Labor are taking victory laps for, but all they're doing is putting them in HMOs. People don't want them here in the first place.
>> Yeah, exactly. And it's one of the biggest issues that voters care about in this country and it's a massive problem that we still not got a grip on. And I think the Andy Bernham thing is really interesting because obviously he's he's playing now to his his bi-election electorate and he's done a U-turn on a lot of his previous opinions which is actually the opposite of what voters want. Hey, because they they're looking for more principled politicians. We know that. We know that they are angry that people keep flip-flopping. Look at what Karma has done U-turn after U-turn. We know they were angry at the Conservatives that I was part of because they felt they'd abandon their values and they didn't know what they stood for. And yet he's doing it all over again um in an attempt to try and win people over.
>> Yeah. Michelle, I've got a question for you if you don't mind. Slightly off topic, but pertinent to something you just said. Uh can you have you got any principled politicians who think are in jobs today? Who is principled today? Um, so I think there's a lot of principled politicians. So if you look at Kimmy, she she's often seen as very forthright and determined on her views. Nigel Farage is definitely principled. You know, these are people that you can identify that have stuck to to their guns. And I would argue that's part of the reason why we've seen a swell of support for reform because it's a different way of doing politics and the electorate is fed up with the old established status quo um that we we've seen in de over the last few decades and forever more.
>> You think Corbyn Jeremy Corbyn's principled?
>> Well, I think well he is. Yes. But I think that his principles don't align with where where the base of the the British electorate is. But yeah, you can say a lot about Jeremy Corbyn, but at least he sticks to his guns and he doesn't flip-flop on what he believes in.
>> Exactly that. I always say raging call me absolutely nowhere near my politics, but respect him for banging on about the same thing and being consistent for decades after decades. Uh Matthew Hurt, um 1.2 million pounds of UK taxpayer money being spent on ribs to pick up channel migrants. What would happen if we just said, "Sorry, France. um we've we've got no boats left. They're all knackered. We've got no money. We can't afford anymore. We we just sent no boats out there.
>> Well, there are two separate policies here. There are the domestic policies which attract asylum seekers and refugees. And then there is what do you do with your border? Uh an inhospitable trespass into the country makes it less likely that somebody would would seek to come here. I I think back to the '9s in the early 2000s when Cuban refugees were were fleeing to Florida and and what the United States did uh you know once you get within a certain boundary there is some assistance and and boats uh yeah in boats the 90 miles from from Cuba to >> in small boats >> the closest to small boats we've had >> so so they were sort of rocketing across the Gulf of then Mexico >> towards Florida.
>> Absolutely. And many of them look they were the kinds of asylum seekers you'd want in the country rapidly anti-communist fleeing the Castro regime uh to the United States and of course met with some inhospit uh a hospitable approach by the Clinton administration in the '90s.
>> What did you guys do to to with the boats? Well, the the Cuban refugees who come to the country within a certain boundary that their safety is insured, but also just the political and the political worldview and the philosophical orientation of those individuals who fled Cuba is very different than many of the people who are coming from North Africa and other parts of >> and we accepted and gave citizenship to the vast majority of Cuban exiles and that's why they're a huge voting block in Florida. But it's not >> they're great down. I love the Cubans in Florida and the Yeah.
>> It's 90 miles from Cuba to Florida.
Yeah. So it's >> they've lived through communism. So no, they would be they are the bastions of democracy and I'd argue some of the best Americans going because they know what they're fighting against. Whereas in the UK, we're dealing with >> immigrants.
>> We're dealing with third worlders and uh a high proportion of Islamists as well.
You know, people There was a clip today, I won't bore you with it. There was a clip today of somebody uh on one of those webcam um websites where you it's like chat roulette or something. Anyway, one guy came up. He reportedly unverified. He was an Afghan guy found out he was in a migrant hotel somewhere speaking to this Jewish guy saying that he supported the Taliban and Hamas. The clips doing the rounds on social media.
Unverified as I said, but they're they're the kind of people who are coming into the UK. What you going to say, Maddie? Sorry, >> I don't even remember.
>> Sorry, I apologize. Uh, let's get the thoughts of Labour commentator Simon Nash and former immigration minister Kevin Foster. Good evening, chaps. Good morning, rather. Thanks for your company. Uh, Simon, we'll start with you. Um, 1.2 million quid on new ribs so we can pick up migrants. How about we just turn them around or put them in lifeboat vessels and send them back to Cala?
>> Well, I guess with these new boats that could hope that could happen. I mean, I suppose at the end of the day, what do you do if people are in the sea and they're going to die? Do you just leave them there? Um, do you just kind of shoot the boats or something so that they sink and that deters more people? I don't think so. I don't think so. I I do think there is this middle ground of everyone blaming the gangs whereas in reality uh the people who really want these people here should be actually picking them up with boats from the French shore and the people that don't want them here should be absolutely doing everything to stop the boats leaving the French uh shore. in in the end, everyone is just kind of sitting on the middle ground and blaming the gangs and then picking them up in the middle of the sea when they're in danger with these boats. Um, but that middle ground being the path, if the boats need replacing, 1.2 million pounds isn't a huge amount. I mean, you might think all the boats being confiscated by the French, these dingy dingies being confiscated by the French, they could just use those, couldn't couldn't they?
But, uh, they are having to spend this money instead. Yeah. Uh Kevin, how much were your lot the tries spending on uh ribs and migrant taxi boats when uh you were in power?
>> Well, I can remember we had to deploy border force into into the chos at one point had the military there as well.
But one of the points we've made was I was find it quite interesting reading some of the details that was it they optimistically say they want some of the boats to do something like 40 knots in case of the migrant boat getting away when as we know from the footage they're only to be keen too keen to be picked up once they're in British waters. But what's interesting about this is it's the longevity. Again, it's a three-year contract that indicates the current government isn't expecting to smash all the gangs as it kept claiming it would in opposition when it all seemed so easy. And of course, in government, it's a lot harder to deal with. That said, you know, if if the government wants to look at a model, Ben, they could pop out to where you are, talk to the Trump administration, look what's happened at the US southern border and the changes that have been made there, the drop in illegal migration. And perhaps the one thing to also note on the Cuba one that's slightly different is of course Cubans were refugees were going to the first safe country they could reach which was the United States. They weren't passing through multiple other countries before choosing to claim asylum there.
>> Yeah. And yesterday Marco Rubio the secretary of state here Simon said that they'd agreed the United States 20 deals with third party nations to send illegals back to. So if they had a El Salvadorian guy who was being obstructive, refusing to go, uh they'd say, "Okay, we're going to send you to Colombia. We've got a deal with Colombia. They're going to take you and you can stay there forever." 20 deals with all different nations around the world. Uh and the El Salvadorian guy would eventually say, "Well, no, I don't want to go to Colombia, obviously. Send me home to El Salvador." Uh one of those nations they've agreed a deal with, Simon, is Rwanda. And we have given the UK government, we have given Rwanda something like 175 million quid before Labour, your lot torpedoed the deal. And uh I can bet now I'm I'm going to be doing a story on it next week. The US will be using our facilities that we paid for to strike that migrant deal which Labor, your friends, Simon, torpedoed. Well, that's good for US UK relations at least perhaps. But um you know under the previous Conservative government um the only migrants that did go to Rwanda were being paid £1,000 a pop to go there. So it wasn't the most efficient scheme >> grand is nothing. They paid them they paid them $1,500 here to send migrants home and a free plane ticket.
>> Um well yeah I mean the rand scheme wasn't the worst idea and actually it could have been effective. Um but for political reason >> why did get rid of it just to be politically spiteful? Why did he get rid of it from day one? Didn't even give it a crack.
>> I I think he thought the plan was a bit oversp and in a way it was. If you're not from anywhere near that area, then you're deported to there. Then it's it's a bit unfair to be the human rights aren't necessarily guaranteed in Rwanda >> into the country.
>> Well, that's true.
>> Into the country, who cares?
>> But with the human rights act, you know, people protected from torture, for example, and it wasn't guaranteed they wouldn't receive that. I mean, I I think there should be a sort of like city state thing going on. Go to countries like Rwanda and other countries like that. create like a British zone which is British run with British sort of jurisdiction, send people there, people can seek asylum in these places and actually look look in the past when at the end of World War II Germany was rebuilt by Western forces. Other countries are rebuilt like Japan was industrialized by Western forces implementing democracy creating a better country. We should be doing these these things in the countries that these people are coming from and actually part of immigration reform would help do that. create small British jurisdictions in these areas. People can apply for asylum there and perhaps British laws and I think that would be part and it would help develop these places so there'd be less migration from these places as well. It sounds like a bizarre idea but after World War II we built countries. That's what Europe did. And uh we we need something like that.
>> Sounds like you want to revive the empire, Simon. You want to colonize colonize the world again. Careful. Your mates will be coming after you for that kind of rhetoric. Well, I mean, look at look at Japan after World War II. We didn't say, "Oh, we've nuked it. Let's leave." Um, actually, Japan has become a thriving economy. Look at Germany. We didn't go, "Oh, they're all evil Nazis.
Just like, you know, let the place fall down." No, actually, we got the Volkswagen. I say we, you know, the previous generations got the Volkswagen factories going again and uh made sure people had employment. It's actually British civil servants that created the German football league system, which means they have cheaper football tickets than us. these things should be implemented in other countries to make sure people don't want to migrate to to Europe and the West so much.
>> Yeah. I would argue though Kevin, Germany's a bit of a and Japan bit of a different prospect to say I don't know Somalia.
>> Yeah. Very very different. And if you think we' actually fought our way into those uh countries particularly Germany of course we would have done the same with mainland Japan if it hadn't been for the dropping of the atomic bomb. So in terms of the trying to give the comparative first I just cannot see countries in Africa wanting to return to some sort of colonial rule for all the reasons we can think of from from the past. But where we can make a difference is is being clear that one, if you do make your way through multiple safe European countries and decide to just basically you'd prefer to be in the UK, it's because actually we don't think you have a desperate need to be here. And if you can't be returned to your home country or to France, then it's the third country. And it is really interesting to see where the US is going with this now. And as you as you've touched on, there's going to be some real drive here now from the US. they will literally be using some of our facilities I suspect and we can see why because you there's only two countries that have really dealt with properly in the democratic world you know out looking at third world or dictatorial countries which is with this type of problem which is Australia and the United States Australia's model is one we looked at the United States is following along but it's interesting the comments that yeah it I think there's many probably in Labor now privately who think it was an absolute mistake to scrap Rwanda on day one not to give it a go to keep it going and probably I suspect somewhere in there we'll see some thinking going on of course it won't be the Rwanda plan the Tory Rwanda plan but I think something we might one day see something like a central Africa plan suddenly come forward that might just happen to involve Rwanda because every country in Europe the United States been looking to finding solutions for this problem and it's the ultimate how do you answer the question of if someone's come from a safe and democratic country to the UK to try and claim asylum but they could have claimed elsewhere. You can't return them to France. You can't return them to their home country. How do you break that business model of the trafficking gang which is then that they currently end up end up here anyway even if you wanted to remove them and that's where a third a third country will come in. But yeah, just buying a few ribs to chase things around in the channel isn't going to make a fundamental difference. Well, some something that could >> so some of the Eastern European countries if they had a stronger border then the people wouldn't be making that journey across Europe which is also a dangerous journey. Um, you know, that's another solution. If the British government paid sort of Poland and Hungary and other countries around there to have their a strong I know that we we we do already work with groups like Frontex and of course that's the EU's border agency and there's been quite a lot of fortification along the EU's eastern border. Uh but you you similarly to you know looking at the length of our coastline it's impossible to completely fortify every every part of the borders and particularly in terms of the maritime border. That's why you then have to look at legal reform and ultimately what you do and how you can remove people from the from the country who have come here and have basically broken into it by paying a trafficking bank. There's already quite a lot of cooperation in terms of securing the outer or borders. Well, just quickly, I mean, this idea, why not just have like British police on motorbikes and drones covering the whole of the French coast where the migrant boats are? I mean, 150 grand for two years.
>> Yeah, you could cover the whole thing in drones for a tiny amount and then you have motorbikes. This is my >> this we've certainly offered certainly I know in the past the British governments on n on numerous occasions offered to provide resources but as as you appreciate you know you just move the magic word there French beaches they are part of France and it would be up to the French government to decide whether another country could deploy forces there and it would be have to be enforcing French law in the same way as any any units coming into the UK would enforce British law.
>> Well we we have British passport officers in France don't we? So it's highly viable based on a treaty and our own border controls. It's not really very comparable.
>> Make a new treaty. You should have done that.
>> Well, we tried many times. Wait to see why Labour can't do it.
>> Thank you Simon Nash and Kevin Foster.
Great conversation. Thank you very much.
I've said that for a couple of years.
Maybe it's a a naive suggestion.
There'll be thousands of British volunteers willing to go to France.
Coppers border force. All you do is get a knife and you do as the French police are doing now. Well, on a rare occasion when a BBC camera's there and slice the boat before they get out into sea, they're onto the sand. There's no risk of dangerous to life or injury. You slice the boats. Could you imagine a 100,000 Brits, patriotic Brits lining the beaches of France doing that. No boat would launch anywhere. But the truth of the matter is they don't want the boats to stop. We give them 800 million quid a uh over what, eight years? The French, they're not our friends. They're not our allies. Stop buying their sparkling wine. Stop buying their cheese. Stop going on holiday to their center parks. They're not your friends. Uh, somebody else has said, Ian Ben just called it out. The elites are filling Europe with migrants to curry to curry favor with the countries they come from. This way they can stay in power and not worry about the threats from Russia. Ian, I've been saying it for months and months and months. A home office spokesperson has said, "This government is bearing down on small boat crossings. We've stopped over 40,000 crossing attempts since this government came into office through our joint work with the French. We've removed or deported almost 60,000 people who are here illegally. Our pilot deal with the French means those who arrive on small boats are now being sent back. The Home Secretary has announced the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in modern times, removing the incentives that bring illegal migrants to the UK and scaling up the return of those with no right to be here. All right. Very good. It's also understood the home secretary Shabbana Mammud is pushing for stricter terms, specifically a payment by results model in which British funds would be directly linked to the number of crossings French authorities intercept as part of a renewed deal. gbnews.com/yous.
Loads of comments coming in. I'll get to them after the break. Still ahead though, for now on the Late Show Live.
>> We will continue to to follow the law again while protecting victims but also providing maximum transparent.
>> Former attorney general Pam Bondi has faced another showdown in Congress today over the Epstein files where she's made some explosive claims. But first tonight, as Arsenal prepare for the Champions League final, later today I'll bring you a special report from America as excitement builds here too. And it's not just me excited. There's some other people here as well. One or two people in DC. I'll tell you all about it after the break. Back in a sec.
Oh, silly me. There is no break this hour. Lucky you. Now, NASA's ambitious moon landing plan has been dealt a catastrophic blow after Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket exploded spectacularly last night in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The space tech company, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos in 2000, said there were no injuries from the incident, describing the explosion during its hot fire test as an anomaly.
Competitors Blue Origin and SpaceX have both been tasked with landing humans on the moon by 2028. But with the Federal Aviation Administration grounding SpaceX's Starship and Blue Origin's rocket exploding, it means that both the launch systems set to take humans back to the lunar surface are currently not operational. So, what implications does this have on America's lunar ambitions?
Well, let's get the thoughts of former NASA presidential appointee Greg Ortry.
Greg, um, I will say horrible for Jeff Bezos for Blue Origin, for all the staff there. Luckily, no injuries or deaths.
Uh, however, what a spectacular explosion. I think 20% of the energy expelled during one of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan.
>> I didn't see that comparison, but it does look like a Michael Bay film. You know, it's uh it if you're going to do a failure, then uh go all the way. So, u the entertainment value there is huge.
Um and it's got people excited. It's certainly a real concern for NASA, but uh I'm confident that Blue and NASA will be able to work their way around this problem.
Okay. Um, what's now for for Blue Origin, for Jeff Bezos? How long is it going to take to repair that launch pad and all the instruments there? How much money is it going to take them?
>> Yeah, that's the point. It's not the rocket. Um, you know, they lost a probably hund00 million or so with the rocket, but they've got a whole factory 3 million square feet uh just a few miles from there pumping out rockets.
There's a half dozen ready to go. It's that launchpad infrastructure. We don't have really good data on that, but it does look like the transporter erector, the device that rolls the rocket out and then tilts it up and uh holds it there before the launch was destroyed. And that is a very complex and important piece of equipment. I would say several hundred million, probably several months, if not a year to replace that.
Now the good news is they've been working on another pad in parallel to increase their cadence and I don't know how far along they are on that. Uh but hopefully they can accelerate that process is part of getting new Glenn flying again.
>> So what implications does this have on the space race now between the US and China the moon race? Uh because I think was it Arteimus 3 was meant to be is it Arteimus 3 or four which was taking astronauts back onto the lunar surface?
Artemis 3 is going to dock with one of the landers and most people were betting it was going to be the blue lander, but the blue lander was supposed to be launched by this rocket and that's looking less likely. Now, on the other hand, it's possible to put the blue lander onto say a SpaceX Falcon Heavy or United Alliance uh Vulcan rocket perhaps and still be able to execute the Artemis 3 mission. Artemis 4 will be the actual landing. Both SpaceX and Blue are working on landers. We'll see who gets there first. People were betting on blue. That that might change. But I will say that the Chinese are closer to beating us to the moon today than they were yesterday.
>> Oh, that's a shame. Um maybe we'll have to pull something out the bag like like you guys did against the Soviets out the last >> NASA administrator Jared Isaacman can do that if anybody can.
>> Yeah. Greg, one last question. I know Elon Musk of SpaceX fame uh tweeted or posted on X yesterday rather. He said to Jeff Bezos, "Sorry to hear this, it's unfortunate. Rockets are hard."
Something akin to that. Do Do you think though he's secretly chuffed that he saw his competitor's rocket blow up, >> you know? Um, I'm I I'm sure there's a little bit of uh uh you know, inappropriate uh pleasure in seeing uh your competitor in a race stumble, but most people want competitors in a race so that they can say they've achieved something. If you didn't have somebody worthy of competing against you, then what was the value of your accomplishment? And I think Elon and Jeff both realize that. They're both trying to push America and humanity forward into the future and they admire each other for that. So, uh it's a little of both.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. I guess it's um maybe equivalent to say, I don't know, a Formula 1 race or an Indie car race where the two leaders are fighting it out and then one has a mechanical failure and breaks down. I mean, yeah, you've won, but you know, not very fun, is it? Uh Greg, thanks very much. Appreciate it. Greg Ortry, former NASA presidential appointee. Uh Mali, um this was massive, huge exposure.
>> I mean, and it's lucky that that didn't turn out to be way worse because if you had any workers near there, there would have been no hope for survival. And if it was anywhere closer to neighborhoods, that could have been awful. Um so thankfully no one got hurt. I do think though this could obviously slow things down when it comes to our space missions because after seeing that if you're the US government you got to think we're glad SpaceX and Blue Origins can do this kind of work but we've got to make sure that something like this doesn't happen again because this is on the knife's edge of being just a catastrophic event.
Uh, somebody on your say, I was just scrolling through then I've lost the comment. I can't see who said it, but somebody said, "How many of our parcels went up in smoke? Was it as in Amazon parcels?"
>> Well, you know, one of the most exciting things about this and it is it is excellent news that no one lost their lives or or were injured. But this this notion of scientific and in fact space exploration the curiosity that we have not we have not reached beyond uh the moon or or gone further with with human exploration. There are so many untold advantages and opportunities for the future of human uh the thriving of humanity. Uh and so to have something obviously you want to if you've got a failure like this you want to minimize the the risk and particularly the risk to human life but the opportunity on the other side is that we get we move past this and we uh you know these companies are able to get us out into space and and to further uh humanity in this regard.
>> Yeah. Sorry I was laughing another comment. Everybody's been quite funny tonight unless I'm just feeling in a a juvenile mood. Douglas has said Ben at least Casey Perry's okay. Um, uh, yeah, good point. Because in, uh, let's speak to Michelle. Michelle, in, uh, sorry to get philosophical, but I guess in losing and in failure, you learn some pretty decent lessons and you can only really win, uh, if you, if you lose on the way on on the journey there. So, I suspect I would have got lots of um, important data and sort of post-mortem information about what went wrong here, which will benefit everybody, humanity, in the future.
>> Yeah, absolutely. Um, and I think it's easy to get complacent when we talk about spec space exploration and we think about those celebrities going into space and it's easy to forget, you know, just how many Apollo missions it it took to to get somebody to the moon and just how many failed. And this really brings it home to you just how difficult it is.
And there is a reason why we've only got as far as as the moon. Um, and it I'm sure there will be a lot of lessons learned from this. you're spot on. Um, but I hope that we can continue to make progress.
>> U, Michelle, I ask this question to everybody I speak to about space because I find it quite an interesting psychological question. Would you go to Mars if you if you were one of the first people to colonize Mars? You had to set up a society there, but you knew you wouldn't be coming back.
>> Oh, crumbs. Um, well, I think I'd be more worried about would I actually get there and would it be safe to get there?
And it would also depend what Mars looked like.
>> No, you would. Let's say you let's say you didn't do that.
>> I'm definitely going to get there. I don't think I would to be honest. Um, I quite like it. I'm partial to it. Um, so I think I'll stay put and let let some others go.
>> Would you go?
>> That's a nice answer. I quite >> Well, I've I've caused controversy and upset to viewers before because I said that I would probably go. It would mean leaving my family and my friends of course, but I just think some people accuse me of having a massive ego, but it's not that. It's just advancing humanity and I just it would just be special to be a part of. But yeah, it would be it would be amazing. Maybe I wouldn't if it came to it. If I had a gun to my head and they said, "Right, get on the ship." I'd probably say no.
But I just sounds nice in my head. But you're right, Michelle.
>> Earth Earth is a beautiful place full of full of miracles. I don't know if you're religious. is full of miracles and amazing sites and people and experiences and feelings and all sorts. So, yeah, thank you for reminding me, Michelle.
>> It's getting a bit of a weird show tonight, isn't it? M >> I I just love the quote from Michelle. I quite like Earth. I'm partial to it, but I I do think it takes that that wonder and that curiosity. And this is this is a dramatic example seeing something explode on the launch pad uh as it is supposed to head into space. But but where are the scientific experiments that succeed or fail in in many other industries? And so what is really cool about this is just the advancement of humanity through through science in in in this instance space exploration.
>> Well said. I'm just upset that it's going to take longer to send Mali off to uh the far side of the universe.
>> Rude.
>> Yeah. Sorry.
>> Only way you can win a debate.
>> Yeah. Right. Sorry. Only joking. Right.
Still ahead on the Late Show Live, a judge has temporarily blocked President Trump's administration from setting up a nearly billion dollar fund to compensate victims of what the president has called government weaponization. More details on that shortly, but also still ahead.
>> Legendary American acts are pulling out of a huge concert to mark America's 250th birthday bash. All because of links to President Trump. But tonight, CNC Music Factory says they are refusing to cave in to the backlash. They are based. One of America's most outspoken commentators will join me to discuss this next. Just when did patriotism become something to be ashamed of? I don't know. Back in a second on the Late Show Live.
Expect warm spells.
with the odd rude interruption.
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>> Hello. Good morning. Welcome to your latest GB News weather update brought to you from the Met Office. Another dry and sunny day to come for much of England and Wales. Still feeling quite warm in the sunshine, too. But across the north and west, it's going to be a pretty wet and cloudy day. Actually, a weather front's pushed in overnight that will bring outbreaks of rain to parts of Northern Ireland, Western and Southern Scotland in particular. Eastern areas of Scotland should escape much of the rain, but it is going to be relatively cloudy here. Elsewhere across England and Wales, it will be a dry day. Plenty of strong sunshine. Pollen levels are high, too. And temperatures will climb to the high 20s in the south and east, the mid20s elsewhere across central area.
So, still a very warm day. In fact, overnight tonight, we'll start to see that cloud thicken from the north and west as rain pushes further southwards.
We'll likely see some heavier bursts of rain across parts of western Scotland and Northern Ireland throughout this evening. So, some heavy downpours out there as the rain pushes into parts of Northern England. Will be relatively light, I think, predominantly over coastal areas and over the high ground.
But the sunshine will turn hazier for parts of the southwest into Wales, too.
The southeast fairing the best if you're after some sunny weather, but it's still going to be quite a mild night in the south and east. Plenty of cloud around, light winds, and we've still got southerntherly winds bringing in that milder air. It's not really until Monday where we get that fresher air across the country. The temperatures still in the high teens in the south and east, much closer to average elsewhere, though, so it should be more comfortable for most of us overnight. Heavy bursts of rain will continue to affect parts of Scotland throughout Sunday morning. And then showery rain pushes into the west elsewhere, parts of Wales, southwestern England. I think many of us will escape the worst of the showers across more southern areas, particularly the southeast as very little rain is expected to push into these areas, but there is a risk of the odd shower. But temperatures widely will be much closer to average with highs of 25°.
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Right. Former US Attorney General Pam Bondi has made a series of startling startling rather claims during an explosive 4-hour grilling on Capitol Hill. So, the House Oversight Committee is investigating an alleged cover up over Bondi's handling of the Epstein files while she led the Department of Justice. House Oversight Chair James Comr of Kentucky was pressed by Epstein survivors and he outlined the committee's intentions during the deposition earlier today.
What we're trying to do is just connect all the dots and and uh see if there is a way to hold people accountable.
Remember, many of these crimes happened 20 plus years ago. We're going to do everything in our ability to hold people accountable.
In her opening remarks to the committee, Bondi defended her records, saying her department demonstrated an unprecedented commitment to transparency in their search for collection and review of the Epstein files, producing nearly 3 million pages of material. But amongst the eye-catching lines emerging from the committee, Bondi told lawmakers that Gileain Maxwell deserves to die in prison and is more evil than Epstein's other associates because she prayed on her own sex. That's a really interesting line. Is Gain Maxwell more evil than other predators because she prayed on and betrayed I guess uh members of her own sex? She's a woman. With me now is US political reporter at the Daily Mail, Victoria Churchill. Victoria, hello.
Good morning. Um let's talk about that last line quickly from Pam Bondi saying about Gileain Maxwell. What's your take on that?
>> Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think it's absolutely ludicrous that you would say anybody is more uh kind of at fault here than anyone else, particularly when it comes to gender, right? I think anybody that was associated with Epstein and knew about his crimes, which of course is the cause of this investigation, trying to figure out who knew what and when did they know it. Um, and again, you know, most of the people who we have seen come out of these committees say that they did not know uh about any of his nefarious actions. you know to them he was a business partner maybe you know of course he was known as the financier so somebody that ran in their political circles with both you know of course Republicans and Democrats and many of his other associates have you know donated people across the political spectrum uh but you know this was of course a big deposition that we saw today up on Capitol Hill we had the whole idea of you know Bondi she's been a key figure in this since the beginning of course we recall right at the beginning of the investigation she was the one that brought out all those influencers with the binders in uh the White House and you know that was supposed to be the big Epstein reveal drop and of course she did not actually release the files until Congress forced her hand um you know namely of course Thomas Massie and Roana and Thomas Massie now has lost his primary race against that Trump back challenger um just earlier this month as well as kind of a penalty okay uh you know kind of the ultimate blow for his involvement in all of this and uncovering what we've seen the Department of Justice Um, where was the writing on the wall for Bondi really during the early days of the administration when she got all those influencers, the onlineers, libs of Tik Tok and so on, got them to the White House and gave them the f the Epstein files and they all posed on the steps of the West Wing and Pebble Beach saying, "We've we've got the files. Here they are. They've got the files." They weren't the files. They were documents that had been out for years and Pam Bondi got a lot of stick for that. Was that the beginning of the end, really?
that was definitely the beginning of a lot of scrutiny that she fell under. uh but you know I think this also draws the line between influencers and journalists and there are some influencers that like to portray themselves as journalists and there is a lot of journalists that are of course active in new media spaces but I think this idea of you know journalists we you and I Ben we want to question what people in authority tell us versus these influencers they just regurgitate talking points and you know you and I can parse ideas and figure out what is good and what is bad and we can talk about things that we think you know are are things that move different nations forward uh that are presented by different politicians and we will kind of evaluate them fairly, but we can also read between the lines and figure out what's really going on in complicated stories, especially one like this, which you know I've been covering for really the greater part of a year now. Um all the ins and outs, twists and turns between Congress and members of the administration, even on days like today.
>> Okay, great. Thank you, Victoria. Just finally, what's Pam Bondi up to now? She was of course pretty much fired. I think she's um just been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, hasn't she? Has she got any other um job in the administration while she's uh bless her, dealing with this uh diagnosis?
>> As far as I know, not in the administration. You know, when she was leaving, Trump said that she was going to be participating in something in the private sector. Um you know, that of course is what she was doing before she was nominated to be attorney general.
That of course in itself was scrutinized some other foreign governments and things like that that she had worked with since her time as Florida attorney general. So yeah, you know, I think the world will be watching to see what she does next.
>> All right, Victoria, thank you so much.
Great to see you. Victoria Churchill, political reporter at the Daily Mail.
Um, I'll come to Michelle in just a second. Let's go to uh you guys first.
Uh, Matthew Pam Bondi, she says they released 3 million files. I I guess if it wasn't for Pan Bondi in the files, we wouldn't have known about Andrew, about Mandlesson. So, it's had some effect in the UK at least.
>> You're you're absolutely right, Ben. I could not be more disappointed in the stark contrast between what European nations have done with revelations in the Epstein files and what this country has not done. Uh, and this is something that President Trump ran on in 2024, uh, release of the Epstein files and hold these individuals accountable. And this is something that has been as someone who tries not to be cynical about what happens in Washington DC, I couldn't be more cynical than I am about about this Epstein saga because more people need to be held accountable.
>> So what do you want to see then?
>> I I want to see individuals who who are tied and involved go through a go through a system be be questioned in Congress and and to the extent that they've been involved in the crimes actually be held accountable for those crimes. But Bill Bill Clinton went to Congress and testif and and I think you have to he answered questions. He and Hillary Clinton are very good at answering questions. They they've got a long political history and they're savvy uh politicians. But that there are many individuals who are not Bill and Hillary Clinton or President Trump who are who are named in these people like uh Les Wexner and others who were 100% according to the documents that we have seen and the the testimony that has come out in in in congressional hearings individuals who played a significant role in the trafficking and uh uh of of young vulnerable women. And it is absolutely outrageous that other countries have taken a lead on this and we've sat back and not done much. Well, you're you're right. And it's been incredibly disappointing to see not only the administration fight the release of this, but also how the administration has repeatedly violated the law once the law was passed. They were supposed to release all of the files on a certain date. They did not. They had to release it in these drips and drabs. They were supposed to make sure that only the victim's names were redacted. They left out some victim's names but then redacted the names of a lot of perpetrators and there's substantial evidence that they have not released all the files. The Democrats and some Republicans who have gone into the DOJ where that's the only place you can see the unredacted files show that Trump is mentioned way more in the unredacted files than the redacted files we received. And lastly, it's interesting to me that Pam Bondi said that Galain Maxwell uh deserves extensive punishment. I agree, but apparently the Trump administration doesn't. President Trump after his lawyer met with Gla Maxwell moved Gla Maxwell to a minimum security prison. This was after his lawyer met with her. And when he was she was moved to a minimum security prison.
Uh am I allowed to cuss on this if it's repeating someone's quote?
>> Well, survive. What does it give me? B.
>> Just say just say >> so. So So one of the security guards said, "I'm sick and tired of being Gla Maxwell's B- word." Uh, and because she gets extensive perks like she gets a therapy dog, >> but but you're just putting two and two together saying, "Oh, they Trump's lawyer >> met with Gla Maxwell." After that, Gla Maxwell was moved to a minimum security prison by the Bureau of Prisons. It does not take a scientist to >> So are you suggesting Trump's covering himself?
>> I mean, yes, >> because you know, Virginia Duffrey in her book, who took her own life after being uh well, dealing with Andrew, let's say, uh said that Trump never did anything. He was a nice guy. He was perfectly respectable. Trump Trump was also Trump was also the one who banned Epstein from Mara Lago and had a go at Epstein for poaching his massus including Virginia Duayra >> which would also it was also Trump's DOJ in 2019 who first arrested Epstein.
>> Um all good points but for some reason President Trump did not want the Epste files released after campaigning extensively on it. He fought it tooth and nail. He has now gone on a vindictive revenge tour primary all of those uh Massie, Nancy Mace, and Lauren Boowberg who helped get the files released. And again, these files are heavily redacted. We know that Trump is mentioned more in the unredacted versions. And you guys are really excited to talk about Mandlesen. Well, Howard Lutnik visited Trump's or visited Epste's private island many times. Yeah.
>> So, no, the United States has not had the same level of justice that the UK has.
>> Let's get the thoughts of Michelle in the UK. Thank you for being patient, Michelle. Um, first of all, can I just get your thoughts on the claim from Pam Bondi there that Gain Maxwell is even worse than other predators because she pretty much betrayed her own sex. What's your thoughts on that as a woman? Does that ring true with you?
>> Yeah, I'm not sure about this hierarchy of evil um and and that assertion that she's she's made. And also I think it slightly detracts from the horrendous and heinous um crimes that Epstein and his accompllices all all committed and I think they're all guilty but in different different ways. I agree with her. She should rot in jail for what she's done. I agree with that bit of what she's said. But this whole thing is a bit odd because you she had said um Bondie had said that she had the client list um and the list of the the pedophiles on her desk and nothing ever came of that. You there is a lot of questions about whether the entire set of files has been released or not. And then you look at what's happened in the UK and all the people that have gone down for this have been Brits so far, haven't they? And obviously we've seen the the latest part of latest installment of the of the Andrew saga just last week.
>> Yeah. And more names I think Michelle coming on Monday or Tuesday next week um uh about the the names who were texting Mandlesson when they were in cabinet and he was here in DC as ambassador. What what what does that say Michelle then about the the sort of contrast from the UK to the US? Why has there been more action, more titans falling on their sword in the UK as opposed to the US?
What's the difference?
>> Well, I suppose it does depend whether you buy into this idea that there's been a slight cover up in the U US or not.
Um, but I do think it's it's a good endorsement of our legal service in the UK that actually despite the fact that a lot of this is quite historic, despite the fact that some of the government records would have been very poor of of of Mandlesson's time when he was in office etc. We've still actually pursued this. you if you think about um when Andrew was was um was alleged to have done this activity, you know, the recordkeeping would have been quite poor, but we've still pursued it and taken action. So, I think that does speak volumes for the British um uh law enforcement and and their teams and the fact that they've gone after even members of the royal family.
>> Yeah. And what what an effect that had.
Eh, what a fall from grace for the former Prince Andrew. I mean, you're talking about Titans falling. I mean, goodness me. Wonder what he's up to these days. I hope he's okay, actually, Andrew, because there were reports from Charlotte Griffith, the man on Sunday, saying that he was in a really bad place mentally. And as much of a as a I argue despicable person he's been, um, you know, you still don't want the worst happening. Michelle, thank you very much. Still ahead on the Late Show Live, a judge has temporarily blocked Donald Trump's administration from setting up a nearly billion dollar fund to compensate victims of what the president has called government weaponization. But also still ahead tonight on the show, when did patriotism become something to be ashamed of? I'll ask uh that question very shortly to uh an expert who may lift the lid on why Americans are so patriotic and us back in Britain, well, we're a little bit more shy and more koi, I guess. back in a second on the late show live.
Right, here we go. Arsenal will today face off against Paris Sanain in their first Champions League final since 2006.
And boy, don't I remember 2006. I think it was a buouay on the right wing who took a dive. Uh Henri whipped the free kick in and it was big Saul Campbell to nod it in for 1 nil. Then of course we got beat 2-1 because of a late offside goal from Samulet Barcelona. Anyway, the newly crowned Premier League champions Arsenal are looking to win Europe's top prize once more, the first in the North London club's history. And the excitement is building here too in America.
If you're stuck on where to watch the Arsenal game against PSG in the Champions League final tomorrow and you're in Washington DC, well, come to this place, Franklin Hall, a massive Arsenal pub in the center of Washington DC. One of my favorite places in the city, of course, being an Arsenal fan.
Here we go. Franklin Hall. In we go.
It's a massive pub. Not only do they show Arsenal games every day of the week whenever they're on, also lots of other sports as well. Multiple TVs, 1 2 3 4 5 6 at least 10 TVs. Arsenal Premier League champions. This is a new update signed by all the punters and the fans who frequent Franklin Hall. Massive bar as well with a big selection of beers including up there Arsenal Amber which I'm sure tomorrow will be very very popular indeed. If you come this way to the left a second watering hole and a pool hall as well for Halime. And when you're feeling a little bit peckish at Halime maybe come and get your food orders. Onion dips, smash burgers, mac and cheese, all available here at the bar. So, there we go. Probably the best Arsenal pub in not just Washington DC.
Speak to any Premier League football fan here in America, they'll say maybe the best Premier League fan club in the entire United States. I'll be here tomorrow from 11:00 in the morning for Champions League final kickoff. Arsenal against PSG. Come on, you Gunners. Will it be our first ever Champions League win and European Cup win tomorrow?
Arsenal against PSG.
>> Oh, North London forever.
Whatever the weather. Michelle, are you an Arsenal fan? Are you You're an Arsenal fan, aren't you? I think Michelle.
>> No, definitely not. And also, I think my husband would divorce me if I if I said I was. He is a massive league.
>> Are you Spurs, are you?
>> No. No, he's massive Le.
>> Oh, Le. Oh, that's all right.
>> Really? He always says that everybody hates Le.
>> No, I don't mind Lee. I hate Man United more. No, I'm only joking. Man United with him.
>> Are you looking forward to the the European Cup final? I guess if you're not an Arsenal fan, at least you could say I don't know. It's good there's an English team in the final.
>> Yes, I'm I'm very much not a football fan. Full stop. But um but that sounds like a good thing to say. So yes, I shall say that.
>> Through through gritted teeth, Michelle.
through gritted teeth. Manny, there's a massive um uh football community here.
Real football, not American football in the United States. Loads of Arsenal fans going around DC with their shirts on after we won the league.
>> Yeah. I mean, and it's certainly a growing sport in popularity. When I was younger, uh football or soccer as we call it here, was not nearly as popular.
Um it's getting much more popular. I have so many friends who play FIFA and I think for a lot of people that's them uh breaking their way into understanding uh soccer and professional football. Uh but yeah, and it seems like you're having a great time.
>> Yeah, I'm loving it. I tell you what I love as well, Matthew, is because we're 5 hours behind here in the States on weekends when the Premier League is playing of of course it's 3 p.m. kickoff in the UK, but I wake up after doing the show in the morning and then after having a coffee after an hour, the Premier League then starts. So I get Premier League football soon after waking up. It's great.
>> It's very exciting for you, Ben. You're a bit of a time traveler. Uh I think all that I know about football is what I watch on Ted Lasso, which is probably not great for this audience. But what I can tell you is one of the most exciting things about living in the DC area is the best football pub in the country is right across the river in Arlington. And it is a it's an Irish pub that I frequent. I've known the bartenders a long time. And I am certain uh that this place will be packed to the gills at 9:00 a.m. anytime there's a >> Is that the one you just showed me? Is it is it an Arsenal pub or a general football pub?
>> Uh well, they're they're known for their support of Manchester United, but uh but any anything that I know I'm going to lead you to that to that pub, uh Ben, but it's but it's such a great place. Uh and it is it's actually a staple of the community across the river. So it's it's a great place to go uh for Shephardd's pie and also to catch any number of of sporting events. Michelle, you you weren't uh at uh DCMS, were you?
>> I was. Yeah, I was Secretary of State for um for a period of time.
>> Oh, of course you were.
>> Yeah.
>> Oh, sorry. Yeah. Yeah, I thought you were. I was. Yeah. Um were there any big European Cup finals when you were in your tenure? Did you go to any big cup finals?
>> No. Um I could have gone to um Qatar, but I was going to go if we progressed to the next stage. So, the junior minister um Stuart Andrew went and then obviously we got knocked out. So that was my one big chance that I missed out on basically >> just as well. What what's it like being Secretary of State for culture, media and sport?
>> Um it was a fantastic uh role. Um it was a very strange one as well though because it's also back then it obviously had digital too. So you were dealing with things that totally didn't gel well together. So you'd go from one very technical meeting with uh with tech and then you'd go to talking about football and then you go talk about um uh art. So is it quite a mish mash of different things?
>> Yeah.
>> When when I was in grad school I did a work placement for uh DCMS.
>> Oh really? You went there? You worked in the >> I mean work placement. It was like a research project.
Yeah.
>> I don't want to be a politician but if I ever did I'd love to be the ones you'll buy would have is DCMS. So uh there we go. Right. All right, Annie Shutterworth's got your weather back in just a sec.
>> Today, clouds overhead, totals and within. Box Solar sponsors the weather on GB News. Hello, good morning. Welcome to your latest GB News weather update brought to you from the Met Office. Another dry and sunny day to come for much of England and Wales.
Still feeling quite warm in the sunshine, too. But across the north and west, it's going to be a pretty wet and cloudy day. Actually, a weather front's pushed in overnight. That will bring outbreaks of rain to parts of Northern Ireland, Western and Southern Scotland in particular. Eastern areas of Scotland should escape much of the rain, but it is going to be relatively cloudy here.
Elsewhere across England and Wales, it will be a dry day. Plenty of strong sunshine. Pollen levels are high, too.
And temperatures will climb to the high 20s in the south and east, the mid20s elsewhere across central area. So, still a very warm day. In fact, overnight tonight, we'll start to see that cloud thicken from the north and west as rain pushes further southwards. We'll likely see some heavier bursts of rain across parts of western Scotland and Northern Ireland throughout this evening. So, some heavy downpours out there as the rain pushes into parts of Northern England. Will be relatively light, I think, predominantly over coastal areas and over the high ground. But the sunshine will turn hazier for parts of the southwest into Wales too. The southeast are fairing the best if you're after some sunny weather. But it's still going to be quite a mild night in the south and east. Plenty of cloud around.
Light winds and we still got southerntherly winds bringing in that milder air. It's not really until Monday where we get that fresher air across the country. The temperatures still in the high teens in the south and east. Much closer to average elsewhere though, so it should be more comfortable for most of us overnight. Heavy bursts of rain will continue to affect parts of Scotland throughout Sunday morning. And then showery rain pushes into the west elsewhere, parts of Wales, southwestern England. I think many of us will escape the worst of the showers across more southern areas, particularly the southeast as very little rain is expected to push into these areas, but there is a risk of the odd shower. But temperatures widely will be much closer to average with highs of 25° today. Clouds overhead, total zen within. Box Solar sponsors the weather on GB News.
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Trump locks in. The US president holds a 2-hour intense situation room meeting to make a final determination on whether to extend a ceasefire with Iran.
let them have a nuclear weapon or you're going to have he'd have problems like nobody would believe.
>> Bondi fights back. Former Attorney General Pam Bondi is grilled for 4 hours over the release of the Epstein files, making some pretty explosive claims. And Kennedy Center Rebellion, a judge says the president had no legal rights to rename America's national arts venue the Trump Kennedy Center. But is this protecting JFK's legacy or maybe just another attempt to stop Donald Trump putting his stamp on America? And also tonight >> patriotism gets cancelled. Legendary American acts are putting out of a huge, massive concert for America's 250th birthday bash after backlash over its links to the president. But CNC Music Factory says that they're not backing down. I'm Ben Leo and this is the Late Show Live.
Good morning to you. I hope you've had a good day. Joining me in Washington this evening is my panel, the Democrat strategist Mali Smith and the Republican strategist Matthew Herz, surrounded by strategist. And in London, former Conservative Minister and strategist Michelle Donovan. Thank you, Michelle, for your company. Right, Aba News alert to kick off this hour. A judge has ordered the removal of President Trump's name from the Kennedy Center, noting that the Washington DC venue cannot be renamed without an act of Congress. So, US District Judge Christopher Cooper had directed the president's administration to take down all the signs bearing Trump's name as well as eliminate any references to the so-called Trump Kennedy Center within 14 days. As well as reverting to the original name, the order came as part of a broader ruling that also overturns a plan to close the center for 2 years for renovations. But here's the question off the back of all of this. Is this protecting JFK's legacy or as some Trump supporters suggest another attempt to stop Donald Trump putting his stamp on America? With me now is Mali Smith and Matthew Hurt. But first, let's go to Democrat strategist Richard Goodstein and exec director at Unleash Prosperity, Tim Doer. Hello you two. Thanks for your company. I'll go to the Democrat first. Richard, are you happy at this that it's going back to the Kennedy Center? What's wrong with Trump Kennedy?
I'm happy that our laws actually matter, Ben. I mean, the fact is the Kennedy Center was named by statute to honor John F. Kennedy. And the statute spec specifies in no uncertain terms that that's how it's supposed to be absent an act of Congress. And there was no act of Congress here to change it. We have seen Trump wants to put his name on everything possible, passports, a $250 bill. you name it. And this was an attempt by him to do this. I actually think the question will be, is he gonna abide by the judge's ruling, right? Um I mean, he controls the Kennedy Center.
The people who run it answered to him.
He's been ordered to take it down, but I think there's a chance he might just say, "Make me."
>> Yeah. Well, Richard, what is the big deal really? I mean, there's bigger things going on. You got to sort gas prices. You got the economy. You've got immigration to focus on. You've got Iran. all sorts going on. What's the big deal? Why does why do Democrats um should I say get their knickers in a twist just because Trump wants to put his name on the Kennedy Center?
>> So, there are is a board of the Kennedy Center. There happens to be a a Democratic congresswoman from Ohio, Congresswoman Batty, who was basically kept from the decision to rename the Kennedy Center. She filed a lawsuit saying this was against the statute.
This is not a question of being bothered by something or annoyed. There's a statute. Yeah. This is like not black.
This is black and white, Ben. This is not like this judge picking up some idea and saying, "Let's run with it." It's black and white. And the question is, is Trump going to abide by the law or not?
And I think that's a question we're actually asking oursel about a lot of things uh in his administration.
>> Okay.
>> All right. Tim, just breaking uh before I give you come to you rather. Trump has just posted on social media. He said that he would work with Congress on transferring ownership of the center, though it was not immediately clear how the directive would be carried out. Uh, your thoughts, Tim?
>> Yeah, I think communists like Rich over there really really love having state-run theaters and the thought and the I'm just kidding. Rich is not a communist, but but really I mean state-run theater is exactly what has been every single Soviet town. It's a community center and a theater and it's staterun and what they do is they spew propaganda for whatever the left or pro-communist thing is. And that's what the Kennedy Center has really been its entire duration. So the fact that Trump put his name on it is the ultimate tweak for people on the left like Rich to to finally say, "Hey, this statute says so, so we have to uphold it." Forget the fact that the statute says we're not supposed to let illegal migrants into this country. And yet somehow 19 million illegal migrants came in. So look, it's it's these are judges who are trying to get one in on Trump. This means literally nothing in the grand scheme of things except for the fact that a once really cool building that is now drafty and cold in the winter and super hot in the summer remains that way instead of letting the great builder actually fix it.
>> Uh Richard, you can reply to that.
Well, this just goes to show you how desperate. Look, Donald Trump is the singular most unpopular president at this point in his presidency of all time in the United States. Okay? So, you have people like Tim, communist, this, this, look, there are laws. We have them for a reason. And for a judge with immigration, right?
>> With immigration, this Hey, Tim, I didn't cut you off, man. Hey, this judge had a controversy before him, which is, is it legal for Trump to put his name on it? Answer. The statute makes very clear. No. And so we could kind of call people names and pick other issues that you want as a matter of distraction. But here, this is black and white. As I said, there's a reason I think that Trump is saying maybe Congress can kind of get me out of this jam. He's probably going to see if he can get this on one of these bills that only takes Republican votes. My guess is he'll fall short. Hold on a second, Rich. Rich, if you think that Trump is the first president to do something extra statutoal, you're you're higher than a freaking kite, man. Like, this is absolutely not something uncharacteristic of a president. courts.
I mean, courts just slapped down Obama with the Chevron doctrine for literally putting total legislative power in the hands of governmentrun uh um um um uh agencies that the president has the power of slap them down. That was happening for years. So, this is something so small in the grand scheme of things. It simply is a beautifification project like Trump has been doing all across the country right now. And so for you to go ahead and say, "Oh, this is statutory and hide behind that." is so hypocritical and so smacks in the face of everything that your party has done over the last 10 years.
>> I hope you realize nobody in the world who's watching this, Tim. Nobody in the world who's watching this has any idea what you're talking about about the Chevron doctrine. Okay. Again, we have statutes in this country. We abide by them or we don't. In this case, the judge said, "Yeah, it's not too much to ask to abide by them."
>> Yeah. But they know about all those illegal immigrants that your party let in. So that that is true.
>> Great. Great. Congratulations.
>> Okay. Thank you both. Appreciate your company, guys. Spirited debate. Thank you very much, Richard.
>> Thanks, Ben.
>> See you, mate. Uh, well, that was entertaining. Well, Tim makes an excellent point. It is such a small issue that why on earth is President Trump so concerned about it? This is a style over substance argument. It clearly violates the law. Now, I could say that this federal judge was appointed by Barack Obama and there's a tremendous conspiracy around it, but this is something where President Trump wants to leave a legacy and if if I were in that administration, I would say, "What are we doing with the economy?
What are we doing with foreign policy?"
And not worrying about where my name was on on what building where. Now, Tim does make another excellent point in that the state should not run arts and and culture uh centers, something like this, but this is a a living tribute to to President Kennedy and and I'm not particularly worked up about it. I just am am fascinated that we've spent so much time now arguing about something that's clearly black letter against the law. If he want President Trump wants his name on the Kennedy Center, he should go to Congress and have them pass. Yes. Go.
>> So, I was going to say there isn't really a debate on the law. It's clear the issue here politically is that this is terrible for Trump and you don't have to look much farther than the black and white polling data. President Trump is about as unpopular as he's ever been.
The closest we've seen and and some polls have more unpopular. That was the January 6th insurrection. And one of the reasons why is that close to 70% of Americans believe he is not focused on the right issues. He's not focused on the right priorities. What's that according to Paul?
>> Yeah, this is there's multiple polls that show President Trump is not focused on the right priorities. And that's especially true when Americans are hurting economically. They want a president who is focused on that. Let's look at the numbers. In 2024, GDP growth was 2.8%. 2026, it's 1.6%. Inflation 2024, it was 2.9%, now it is 3.8%. Wages in 2024 were rising faster than inflation. 2026 they're slower than inflation. The unemployment rate in 2024 was 4%. In 2026 it's 4.3%. You get the point. The economy is not doing well and Americans are unhappy.
>> Stock markets at alltime highs.
>> Fine. Uh I'm glad you can point to one thing. Americans are unhappy with the economy. There's the lowest consumer sentiment we have ever had. And that is why President Trump is politically unpopular and my suggestion to to him would be and advice is free. Uh advice is worth what you pay for it and this is free. Um he should focus on the economy, tout his wins and say he's going to try to deliver more for Americans. And then if the economy turns around and he has a successful presidency, maybe more people would be willing to put his name and face on all the things he wants his name and face to be on.
>> Never Mie, you know that's not true, Matthew. as well. President Trump could get 10% GDP. Inflation could be at minus you'd have deflation.
>> But the problem is is it's not >> and the stock market could double overnight and people still would never allow Trump to be on a dollar bill.
>> You say that when President Trump was elected, he was much more popular than this.
>> M. You and I know that you and I know >> Trump could cure cancer tonight and people would still have a go at him for it. And that is that is objectively true. What's objectively true is Trump can defund cancer research, which he's done, and folks like you would still support him. But here's the thing.
>> He was much more popular at the start of this term, and it's cratered.
>> And if you want to start, you should stop digging the hole. And digging the hole is focusing on this. And my Republican colleague agrees. Well, Ben, I would say, is the only Republican strategist in the studio tonight. I want Republicans to to keep the House. I want them to keep the Senate in November. And the the things that the president seems to be concerning himself with here in this instance go straight to the heart of those poll numbers. Most Americans think the president is distracted with foreign intervention. Uh this issue here is is it's a distraction from what most people think about when they when they try to make the mortgage, when they go to the grocery store to buy groceries, when they fill up their gas tank. And this is this is something that will plague him because it is a personality trait and it is going to plague Republicans all the way through election day.
>> Well, and Ben, one thing I'd say too is that, you know, if he was talking about his tax cut bill or he was talking about his success on immigration, I could be here saying why I think the tax cut bill is bad policy, but he at least would be putting forward a message of this is what I'm doing to try to increase Americans prosperity. The problem is right now it doesn't look like he is focused on these things because he can't stop talking about this the ballroom, the insurrectionist slush fund, the 1800 IMA cop and I need cash now insurrectionist fund. Um, so >> the one that Gavin Newsome just said he'll slap a 100% tax on. What a silly man.
>> What a silly man. I don't think that money should go out to folks who assaulted cops. Do you?
>> Uh, did they all assault cops? what all everybody in receipt of that fund is going to is has assaulted a piece of >> I would like I would like the Trump administration to say that they won't give money to >> nonsense anyway British viewers >> do you think do you think that the Trump administration should give money to folks who've assaulted cops and British viewers won't know what we're talking about >> and of course cuz you know we're talking about something that's unfavorable to Trump we want to move from that but you don't think you don't think you don't think >> you always say I want to move on when we're talking I have criticized Trump tonight for free Iran I don't just sit here blowing smoke up Trump's backside I criticize criticized him when he has to when he had a go at NATO and said that UK troops or suggested at least he apologized and clarified that UK troops are on the back line. I went on the airwaves and I criticized him. I've criticized him tonight over Iran. I don't just move on. So let's stop nonsense.
>> I don't want a stop that nonsense. I don't want calling you be calling you Malbert. Uh I'll start calling you Benjamin. I don't want a $1.7 billion fascist in cash out fund for folks who've assaulted cops. And Americans don't want that either.
>> Okay. Uh Michelle, what's your take on the Trump Kennedy Center? Does it matter? It seems like a really petty situation on both sides. It's just like imagine how much taxpayer money is being spent on this and I just seems ridiculous.
>> Well, it is ridiculous, but I do think it's quite obnoxious on the behalf of of Trump and it really is fueled by his ego. He's started this war in Iran which is on the verge of causing a global recession and therefore there are bigger fish to fry than worrying about whether his name is on this and the fact that his name went before Kennedy says everything doesn't it wasn't the Kennedy Trump center it was the Trump Kennedy center um which I speak thinks volumes I think it the going about things like this sort of takes away from it doesn't it really having your name on these types of buildings is a huge honor and a privilege and it's part of a legacy, but if you're having to impose it and and fight for it, it's not really the same takeaway.
>> No. Yeah. Well said. I think he he'll back down. There are plenty more pressing issues to focus on in the Oval Office. I I suspect he'll back or maybe he won't. He likes a lawsuit, doesn't he? Right. Uh let's move on. Over half of the performers that were set to take part at the Great America State Fair concert series to celebrate America's 250th anniversary later this year. Well, next month actually, they've pulled out claiming they weren't aware the event was seen as Trumpbacked. Well, the latest musician to drop out is lead singer of metal band Poison, Brett Michaels, who attributed his abrupt cancellation to what he called threats and the events divisive response. uh the organization that is coordinating the events called Freedom 250 said in a statement that it's focused on bringing Americans together. So on the cusp of the 250th anniversary celebrations, should performance be putting politics aside in favor of national unity? And since when was patriotism something to be ashamed of? Anyway, well, let's get the thoughts now of the host of law and border at Real America's Voice News, Ben Burkram. Ben, great to see you, my friend. Um >> hi, great. Do we does anyone care that these people have have pulled out if they're just going to be moaning snowflakes and they don't want to celebrate America?
>> Uh I no I don't think so. I don't think anyone cares about poison um pulling out uh and and it really goes to the larger point uh you know that America has this decline in political support for America and unfortunately that that's being driven by the left and all you have to do is look at what's going on in New Jersey, the attacks on our ICE facilities, on law enforcement, the BLM movement that occurred after George Floyd. Uh you go back even before that, the attacks on on on veterans um against you know by the left. It's all driven by the left and it's the cancel culture of the left. So if you find yourself in a leftist sphere and you're seen to be taking part in a political activity that could be seen as politically fa favorable towards the right, uh you will be cancelled and destroyed. And so that's what you'll see. You'll see people that are afraid of losing their invites to the the popular leftist parties uh that you know don't don't have the backbone to do it. But I'm also seeing the flip side of that where cancel culture used to control America.
It it doesn't seem to have that impact like it used to.
>> Yeah, you're right. And I think that's probably to do with the rise of social media. I guess the cable news networks aren't as powerful as they once were.
And people have their own voice. I mean, independent networks like GB News, like Real America's voice as well, we do pretty much the same thing. You know, people have alternatives now. They're not just spoonfed mainstream media slop and then forced to go over the narrative. Um Ben, any idea um which acts will replace these guys that have have left or if you don't know who would you personally like to see?
>> Well uh personally one of our voice over for our network uh Law and Border is a good friend of mine Dave Bray USA probably the best patriotic entertainer in America right now. Uh he would be incredible. There's there's probably a hundred other acts that would love to have that opportunity. And I think what you're going to see is is those acts filling in with people that love America and there will be a shift. I mean, if you haven't been there, I was down there just last week when we were doing the dedicate America to God and the foundation of this nation and and what they're setting up. It's going to be incredible. We're going back out for the fourth. We're going to be there with our family for the days leading up to the fourth. Uh and it's going to be an amazing event. So, I think anyone who chooses not to take part in it is just shooting themselves in the foot. I think there's going to be plenty of other acts that fill in that love America. Look, if you don't love America, then don't go.
We don't want you there. If you don't want to celebrate 250 years of the greatest country in the history of the world, then don't go. Uh but if you do love America, I think there's going to be plenty of of acts out there that are willing to go out and put their name on it.
>> Yeah, well said, Ben. I passed that worship event down in DC uh the other day. It looked amazing. The setup looked great. And yeah, I I just thought I had this perception, Ben, before I let you go. I've been here in DC since September, and I had this perception that, you know, you've got radical leftists, fine. You've got um you know, the political spectrum, but I thought at the end of the day, if you can come together to celebrate America, raise the flag and put politics aside just for a few minutes and celebrate your great nation, which is celebrating a massive birthday, 250 years. And by the way, in comparison to Great Britain, we've been around far longer, far more history, but you've achieved you that's not a bar, by the way. I'm getting to my point, which is you've achieved so much in in in a in a short amount of time. You've got so much to shout about. So, I just would have thought, Ben, that people would have put that aside for two minutes, stop complaining about Trump and migration and whatever, and then just come and just have a good time and celebrate your birthday.
>> Yeah. Unfortunately, too many people have bought in it. Basically, the the Democrat of old, the Democrat party of old, even JFK. JFK would be a Republican today. The the the the current Democrat party is held up by I call it a three-legged stool of communism, jihad, and cartel influence or transnational criminal organizations. Those are the the the the wind and the sails of the Democrat party. And if you go outside of that, if you happen to be in the sphere of the Democrat world and you go outside of that, you are in the crosshairs of the most violent, disgusting people in America right now. And sadly, as you you pointed out, uh it used to be both sides, right and left, would come together and we'd say, "Hey, we put our disagreements aside. We're going to celebrate America." Unfortunately, you don't have that now. But I do think we're having a rise of resurgence of patriotism. Uh Charlie Kirk was a huge part of that. Um and and I'm still but as we're seeing this what what's concerns me more is the divide even in MAGA on the right where you have in outside forces coming in to try to divide. My experience is the devil uses two primary weapons. It's division and distraction. So anytime I see those I avoid them. I stay focused on my mission and and I think we're seeing that where people are starting to see that stark contrast between what the left wants for America and that's communist jihad and what the right wants for America and that's just less government. get out of our lives, let us live our lives and and support our country. And so, uh, and by the way, get rid of illegals that are victimizing American citizens. It's pretty simple. But as to your earlier points, we've got to stay focused on those issues and not get distracted by things that really don't matter.
>> Yeah, well said, Ben. We share in the UK lots of your same troubles and strife.
Uh, I went down to the southern border.
You've stopped all the illegals. Now you're just trying to deport them. We've still got them coming in, but that's another conversation.
>> Yeah. Fortunately, you guys are pretty much >> you guys are pretty much dead on that issue. I was there the last two summers.
Uh I I spent a night in Calala uh watching illegal African uh Muslims waiting for their boats to come across.
I've been threatened to be shanked in my neck at the University of London and attacked by Seneagalles under the Eiffel Tower in Fr France. Europe is unfortunately it feels dead and the problem is if America falls the world falls and I pray that you guys can turn it around and I pray that we can as well. Uh but this is a major fight global fight that we are all in right now.
>> Yeah, thanks Ben. Yeah, you mentioned Charlie earlier. He said to me when I had the privilege of interviewing him last summer, four months before he was murdered, he said, "I love your country, but you need to get your mojo back. You need to find your your energy again and get your mojo back." And he was right.
Ben, thank you so much, mate. Hopefully see you in DC in a few weeks or so.
That's Ben Burkram there, host of law and border at Real America's Voice News.
Uh, right. He's great. Uh, Malie, your response listening to Ben, >> not of your politics.
>> I just want to know which of the three-legged stool I am of the communist >> communist jihadist.
>> Communist jihadist labels labels labels.
Um, >> he's he's right though. We have we are under attack by Matthew, you're laughing. We are under attack by commies and jihadists. and Islamism and Marxism.
Again, it's another >> I think every it's an objective fact that every Democrat is a communist jihad.
>> Not every Democrat, but there there is an agenda. There is a communist agenda.
I mean, look at Mandani in New York.
He's a communist. Look at um look at what's going on in the UK. Zach Palansky, leader of the Green Party.
These communists, the Green Party in the UK, the deputy leader has made some atrocious comments about October the 7th. You know, it's not hard to see. You don't need to be a weather man. It's rainy outside.
>> There's that. And you also don't need to be a weatherman to see that most Democrats who are running for office. Uh their policy positions are these radical things like we shouldn't have a tariff on Americans that are costing $2,500 per year. That we shouldn't cut Medicaid to fund tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires and that maybe we shouldn't have let the Affordable Care Act tax credits expire so premiums doubled for Americans on Obamacare. Those are what we're running on. But he can be as diluted as he wants on what he thinks his politics is. The question on the patriotism front, um, yeah, I wish there was a a 250th celebration that wasn't political. I think one of the issues uh that we have in our time is that everything is political. Our sports, our culture. Um, part of that is not Trump's fault. We've been veering towards that um, as a nation just every successive year. things getting more political. But I would also say part of that is Trump's fault because Trump makes himself the center of attention on everything he does. That's a political skill that helped get him reelected. But it also has its downsides where everything becomes about him. So it's hard to distangle a this is a government event compared to this is a Trump event.
>> Matthew, your take.
>> You know, I Mie took a lot of wind out of my sales here. I think Ben made an excellent point in the in the me or him.
Well, other Ben uh Ben Ben made an excellent point because polls do show consistently that conservatives and Republicans are more patriotic uh than our our leftwing counter counterparts.
However, as as Mali just noted, if there is no way to untangle um America's 250th anniversary, the celebration that should exist in Washington DC and around the country and the personality of President Trump, I think it it it certainly puts a bad taste in Democrats mouth, but also independents and people who don't think about politics all the time. And so, I'm I'm I'm equally concerned about that. I think that many people would would would come to DC and celebrate if if they didn't think it was so closely tied to to this particular president.
>> During the Easter egg roll when President Trump was Trump was talking to children, he started attacking Democrats on immigration. So this idea that we're going to be mad we're going to be mad at Democrats for not participating in these events that we're going to say is apolitical. But President Trump on Jesus's resurrection can't stop being political. Um, but I mean he potentially thinks he is God because we saw that >> I can't remember what he said. He he was only joking with the kids. He said something like my point is is you can never he never distangles something from politics himself.
>> Yeah. Um, who would you like to see perform? I I'd like Metallica or the Chili's.
>> Don't put I I love I love indie rock from Nashville uh from about 1998 to 2010. There's some really great >> Nickelback.
>> No, that No. Uh, I have no idea, but I'm sure Nickelback would love to be on the mall. But, uh, >> Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar.
>> Oh, god. Uh, Michelle, who would you like to see perform at, uh, I don't know if you even care much for America's Birthday, but if you were American, who would you like to see on the stage down here in DC?
>> Oh, I'm into pop, so probably Taylor Swift.
>> Oh, you're a Swifty. Oh, yeah. Well, she'd be the last person, I think, down in DC performing for Trump.
>> Well, quite. Yeah. Um, but I do think that these artists pulling out is a is really self-righteous. They're standing up and they're saying, "We're pulling out of this because um we're not political." Well, by pulling out of it, they are political, aren't they? And they've just exposed their political leanings. So, I think this whole thing is a bit ridiculous really. And it's about celebrating your country's >> um historic milestone and they should be part of that. and want to be part of that and and want to embrace it and and help lead the nation.
>> That's a good point, isn't it, Mie?
Can't can't they just take to the stage and just preach and play for unity and good energy and good vibes and prove to them themselves and their fans that they are above above whatever they're accusing the president of being.
>> I mean, sure, but they've decided that politically they don't want to be a part of this. Um, and they're already scraping the barrel. These are D-list celebrities. Let's be clear. Um, so even the D-list celebrities don't want to do this. And what we're going to have happen is that we're going to have Kid Rock because that's who the Republicans and Turning Point USA people always turn to. And we're going to have this huge embrace of Kid Rock like he's this amazing musician. Uh, but it makes sense that the Republicans and the Epstein class would love Kid Rock because Kid Rock had a song where he talked about statutory rape. He said in those lyrics um statuto he's not even been confirmed to play there. You've just plucked some idea out of nowhere and start going about >> epine is always kid rock is always your reserve bench player for these terrible events because the actual good artists like Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen don't want to be near you guys.
>> You have literally just plucked up any old name which has nothing to do yet. I mean, maybe you would be right, but you're just guessing and then saying he he spoke about stat Kid Rock Kid Rock did the Turning Point USA. Uh, >> doesn't mean he's doing Freedom 250.
>> We'll see, buddy. I There's a good chance that they'll pull Kid Rock. Uh, they might give him a government helicopter ride because they like to, you know, Hex has the government helicopters go around him.
>> You have absolute, you don't have TDS.
You have You have government derangement syndrome.
>> You have trust syndrome. No, I don't.
>> You anything he does, let's we got to defend it.
>> No, I didn't. Cuz I've already told you I've I've criticized him tonight for Iran and I've criticized him previously for his comments. I've even called him a bully. I've even called him brash and rude to journalists. I've called him arrogant. So, no, I my so-called Trump uh syphy is nowhere near your level of TDS. I'll tell you that.
>> It is. It is by far much >> Well, there's a there's a UFC cage match on the White House South Lawn on June the 14th. So, if you want to scrap, we can organize it. Actually, no, I don't cuz I I >> I was about to say you're already injured, buddy.
>> I bruised my rib. I went to an MMA I did some filming, Michelle, you won't know.
I did some filming at um mixed martial arts gym yesterday for a piece for GB News about the UFC event. Anyway, ended up rolling around on the mats and sparring and I think I've cracked a rib.
>> Ben, do you want to make 10 pound bet >> right now that Kid Rock will not be performing at this America 250 event?
>> 10 bucks to a charity of your choice?
Yeah, let's do it.
>> Let's do it.
>> Yep. Shake on it. Okay, Matthew, any final words?
>> You know, I I think that the King Charles and Queen Camila visit was so excellent. It was such the the best parts of our countries just a few weeks ago uh in in pre-ceelebration of the 250th anniversary. And I would just like to see all the way through Independence Day, a celebration of America's greatness and rather than the distractions that we're seeing. And it's it's just unfortunate.
>> Indeed. Let's come together, man.
Where's John Lennon when you need him?
>> Imagine all the people Mal, >> right, the music's on. I didn't even ask for the music and it's on. They're kicking me off this segment. Still ahead on the Late Show Live, a judge has temporarily blocked President Trump's administration from setting up a nearly billion dollar fund to compensate victims of what the president calls government weaponization. But should Americans, who are targeted by the system, be compensated? This is the Late Show Live. Let's get a very quick look at your weather.
Expect warm spells with the odd rude interruption.
Fox boilers sponsors the weather. I'm GB News.
Hello. Good morning. Welcome to your latest GBN News weather update brought to you from the Met Office. Another dry and sunny day to come for much of England and Wales. Still feeling quite warm in the sunshine, too. But across the north and west, it's going to be a pretty wet and cloudy day. Actually, a weather front's pushed in overnight that will bring outbreaks of rain to parts of Northern Ireland, Western and Southern Scotland in particular. Eastern areas of Scotland should escape much of the rain, but it is going to be relatively cloudy here. Elsewhere across England and Wales, it will be a dry day. Plenty of strong sunshine. Pollen levels are high, too. And temperatures will climb to the high 20s in the south and east, the mid 20s elsewhere across central area. So, still a very warm day. In fact, overnight tonight, we'll start to see that cloud thicken from the north and west as rain pushes further southwards.
We'll likely see some heavier bursts of rain across parts of western Scotland and Northern Ireland throughout this evening. So, some heavy downpours out there as the rain pushes into parts of Northern England. Will be relatively light, I think, predominantly over coastal areas and over the high ground.
But the sunshine will turn hazier for parts of the southwest into Wales, too.
the southeast fairing the best if you're after some sunny weather. But it's still going to be quite a mild night in the south and east. Plenty of cloud around, light winds, and we've still got southerntherly winds bringing in that milder air. It's not really until Monday where we get that fresher air across the country. The temperatures still in the high teens in the south and east, much closer to average elsewhere, though, so it should be more comfortable for most of us overnight. Heavy bursts of rain will continue to affect parts of Scotland throughout Sunday morning. And then showery rain pushes into the west elsewhere, parts of Wales, southwestern England. I think many of us will escape the worst of the showers across more southern areas, particularly the southeast as very little rain is expected to push into these areas. But there is a risk of the odd shower. But temperatures widely will be much closer to average with highs of 25°.
Expect warm spells with the odd rude interruption.
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>> A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from making payments from a $ 1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund. Former federal prosecutor Andrew Floyd filed the initial lawsuit alleging the fund was an illegal scheme that was solely intended for allies of the president. The subsequent order prevents any further transfers of funds whilst the legal challenge proceeds. And the fund was established initially following an agreement between President Trump and America's Internal Revenue Service, their version of HMRC, allowing alleged victims of weaponization to claim a share. So while supporters of the president see the fund as a necessary instrument to combat alleged past lawfare, his critics allege its no legal basis whilst uh excluding his critics who are reportedly harmed by government abuse. Um, with me now is senior Washington correspondent at Town Hall, Cameron Arand. Cameron, great to see you, my friend. Just in layman's terms, because I'm quite sure some viewers and listeners wouldn't have understood really what this is. What is this fund and why was it set up and who's it for?
So, let's put it this way. There was a lawsuit that Trump filed against the IRS for a leak of his tax returns. Then, this was settled out outside of court.
And as part of that settlement, they said, "We're going to create a nearly $2 billion fund to basically support people that in their eyes have been victims of weaponization of the Justice Department.
Now, what that means is people can apply for this, but it also means that people can um you know you know certain interpretations of this as well." But a judge today um reopened this case and said that they actually want to take a look at this fund and how this process and this agreement came about. So this threw a major wrench into that today.
So what's the judge's issue? Surely the president or the administration is just saying look great British uh great American public here's some money. If you feel like you've been a victim of weaponization of uh the justice system whatever here's a fund and you can go through due process to fund that. What's the judge's issue? The problem. Is he a Democrat? Can I get is he he must be a Democrat.
>> So, here's what I do know. What I do know is the reason why they were looking at this order had to do with the fact that it was done the settlement was done. It seemed like in their eyes fairly quickly or they didn't like the fashion in which the settlement was conducted. There was also calls from a group of I believe former judges who said, "Hey, we're not cool with this.
Please take another look at this." And then this judge did take them rare, pretty rare move to reopen a case like this after it had been settled outside of court already. So it'll be interesting to see what actually happens here. But what this did do was it created a bunch of lawsuits. I think there were two or three circulating related to this fund. And it's creating a lot of push back in Congress as well.
Um particularly from Democrats and some Republicans who want to know what the guidelines for this actually look like.
I talked with the GOP Senate aid today and that individual told me that, you know, there was this big meeting last week with acting attorney general Todd Blanch where a lot of Republican members had expressed concerns about this particularly because it could um throw a wrench into the upcoming reconciliation bill. People might try to add amendments that would then cause the president not to want to sign the bill at all.
Interesting. Uh, lots more legal proceedings and appeals and cases to be heard, I suspect. I don't know why nothing's ever simple, is it, Cameron?
>> Never.
>> No. Good man. Thank you, Cameron.
Appreciate you. Good friend of the show, Cameron Arcan. Great reporter, senior Washington correspondent at town hall.
Thank you, mate. Uh, Matthew, what's this about? What? Just constant lawsuits and cases and rows. Look, I firmly believe that we're in a period right now, Republicans and Democrats, where weaponization of government is a tool that they use. Uh I don't like the idea of a taxpayer funded slush fund. I do think that a lot of recourse happens in the courts. And in the United States, we have a really good nonprofit universe of of groups like uh Alliance Defending Freedom, Institute for Justice, Pacific Legal Foundation, and many others that do sue the government on behalf of the little guy or somebody who was wronged.
And and I'd rather see that play out in in that way rather than establish a slush fund.
>> I don't see the issue, though. This I mean, correct me if I'm wrong. This is the government giving funds to the American people in case they feel uh um hard done by by the government.
>> Well, specific specifically earmarked, I think what we could do is what we see now in government is a ratchet effect.
We can go forward. We can never go back.
Uh and so rather rather than uh go forward with a slush fund or something something extra, why don't we scale back on the weaponization on both sides? uh and why don't we give people the their day in court, which is often times the case. If you were wrong by the government, uh you should have the right to take those grievances to the court and then be uh be duly compensated out of out of the general fund, not out of a special slush fund. I'm I'm really concerned about this. There's there's multiple issues here, which is first the way this slush fund was created is President Trump sued himself and then created a slush fund by having the DOJ settle the lawsuit with his own attorneys.
>> Well, did he not sue the IRS as an individual?
>> He sued the IRS as an individual, but then the election happened and now he is president. So, the IRS settled this with Trump himself. So there's this fundamental principle in law that the two parties have to be adversaries. The issue here is that clearly they're not adversaries. Trump runs the government that he is settling the lawsuit with. So there's that big issue. The second big issue here is that I think um there we can do more to make sure we're not weaponizing government. But one of the ways the Trump administration has rolled this out is they've been very koi on who this money can go out to. Um there are more um how do I say this? There are more politically palatable folks that you could give money to who you could claim potentially were targeted by the Biden administration. The issue is President Trump isn't willing to say he won't give money to January 6 insurrectionist. He specifically they won't say he won't give money to January 6 insurrectionist who assaulted police officers. You've had multiple January 6 police off uh January 6 uh folks say they have applied to this fund. There are some who have assaulted police officers who've said publicly that they believe this shows Trump supports them and that what they did was fine and that they should do it again if it happens again. So that is why there's all this political backlash. And then I just think fundamentally people don't want a $1.8 8 billion fund going to folks like this. Um, you know, we don't need a 1-800 uh I stormed the capital and all I got was $1.8 billion fund. No one wants this.
>> Okay. All right. Let's see how this pans out over the coming weeks and months.
Michelle, do you want to comment on this? I I suspect I don't really know.
It's it's a very US centric story, isn't it? Do you want to anything to say before we move on to the papers?
>> I I think it's a great idea to be honest. Um, and anything that cails government from overreaching and and acts as a sort of safety mechanism surely is a is a good thing. And it's just a bigger scale, more targeted version of of victims getting compensation. Surely >> seems like a maybe >> maybe we're just being silly Brits, Michelle, but I don't see the issue with I think it's great that the government would give a slush fund to its own people to >> to sue the government if they feel wronged by the the state. I mean, yeah, I think it's great anyway. Well, and there's another part to this too that is not as uh benevolent. Um and what I think you're describing is not benevolent, but President Trump also in this deal uh with the IRS can never be audited again. So, it's not just uh this personal he's this great Santa Claus.
Yes, it's true.
>> I'm not sure, but >> of course, okay, we we don't know. Look it up. That is part of the deal. I encourage the viewers to Google if GBN won't tell you this. Yes, >> it's not that stop doing that stupid stuff. It's not that I'm not telling my viewers. If if I knew that to be a fact, I'd say it >> I don't know I don't know every fact about President Trump's lawsuit with the IRS. For goodness sake, >> the IRS lawyer uh head lawyer in this uh resigned because it was so egregious.
>> You're so silly sometimes. As if I'd sit here and and not tell the viewers a fact that like I don't know the facts of the case that Trump suing the IRS. I haven't sit there and read the court papers. I don't think really anybody would expect me to. So, I mean, you say you you say some silly stuff sometimes.
>> It's it's been very widely reported.
>> Oh, okay. Sorry. I >> Well, Ben, what I do think is that an individual who is wronged by an adversary, be it the government or a private actor, has a a process in the court system where they can seek restitution, seek damages, and that that system already exists. uh I don't know many of the other uh extraneous elements that that Mali has articulated but but we already have a system that allows for this and it is our court system as it exists today.
>> Um I've just Googled that the IRS audit.
It says they've agreed to drop all pending probes of Trump over whether he's paid taxes. So pending investigations.
>> Yes. Donald Trump is unable to be audited by the IRS for past tax returns because of >> Yeah. So for past acts that doesn't mean he's forever in the future. uh immune from audit. So, you were the one playing silly buggers with facts there, Mali.
>> You Well, I'm glad you looked it up and you were able to do that.
>> Well, there we go. So, the truth of the matter is here's the truth. GB News viewers, you can trust me to give you the truth. Uh he is um he is immune from past audits that or pending audits. But the future quiet settlement a quiet addendum to the settlement signed by attacking acting attorney general Todd Land states that the IRS is permanently forever barred and procluded from examining or auditing any tax returns filed by Trump.
>> Okay. Well, we just read something different. Anyway, right. Let's delve into tomorrow's papers. Uh, starting with the front page of the Financial Times, which I love this story if you're into cars, is reporting that Ferrari has unveiled its first fully electric car, the $640,000.
$640,000.
Bear this in mind when you see the picture here, the Luch. The new model departs from the look of typical Ferraris as the Italian brand's first ever 5seater created in collaboration with the Love From agency, founded by former Apple design chief Sir Joanie IV.
Uh responses on social media to the launch ranged from describing it as straight to the junkyard trash to an absolute masterclass in design. On Tuesday, the firm shares fell more than 8% on the Milan stock market and by over 5% in New York. Look at the state of that. A Ferrari. You imagine spending 640 grand on that. You can spend, I don't know, $200,000 on a McLaren 720S or 640K on a Senna probably. How much is a Senna? That is awful. my view.
>> I can't imagine spending $640,000 on a car at all. Uh but and and look, it is it is not especially attractive, but this is sort of an avantguard design.
And and I think as Mali and I were discussing in the break, this is sort of like a like a futuristic view of this. I don't know. It's not for me. Uh and certainly it's not for some people as the as as the market has uh has articulated already, but yeah, this could be for somebody.
>> Michelle, do you like it?
>> I like it, but not for that amount of money. No. and and it doesn't look like a Ferrari, does it? At all.
>> Um it's such a departure from the the sleek sports car look. So, no.
>> Yeah. Perhaps the the strongest criticism came from Ferrari's former uh chairman who said it was the well, he warned of the the destruction of a legend and he said it was embarrassing that the prancing horse was on the front of it. Uh he said, "We're risking the destruction um of Ferrari. This is surely a car." He said, "Mally, that at least the Chinese won't copy."
>> I I don't know if that's a compliment. I mean, it looks like if Ferrari made a car for the Jetsons. Like, I I I don't love the design here. Um, and if I have that much money, I'm kind of with you. I wouldn't spend it on a car.
>> Just awful. Just terrible. Right. Um, let's move on. What's else What else in the papers? Uh let's look at the front page of the Telegraph, which is reporting that Temp's water, maybe Michelle, one for you, has called for an unofficial ban on hose pipe use to save its supplies. So the water company has blamed the recent record-breaking heat wave for the 1 billion extra liters used to compare with the same weekend last year. So a billion extra liters. Okay.
Well, they're urging people to make small changes, saying it will significantly reduce pressure on supplies during the hot weather. Um it's an unofficial ban, Michelle. Do you think people will stick to it? Uh, some will and most won't, I would anticipate.
Um, we we we often get these, don't we?
Every summer I remember growing up we always had host bands and um and then they seem to die down for a bit and then they come back with a vengeance. Um, it does make us look rather backward in the UK. Um, but we can't we can't cope with any kind of weather changes, can we? Um, if it's if it begins to snow, the trains stop. If it gets too sunny, the trains stop. If it's raining too much, the trains stop. You know, for a country that has quite mixed weather, we seem awful at it.
>> Yeah, we It's funny to think we gave the world the railways and then any excuse our railways don't operate, which is quite funny. Um the the the the argument is as well from the the water companies, Michelle, is the the infrastructure.
They're just not there. We It's Victorian infrastructure. Uh but then again, how how do you fix it? It's going to require tens of billions, maybe, you know, more than me, hundreds of billions to fix it.
>> But, but the problem lies at their door, doesn't it? Because they haven't invested the money in the infrastructure and they they, you know, over successive years been taking out those profits and and shareholders have benefited from that rather than that investment happening. And so, it's it's required them to be forced to to to start to put that investment in. And that's why we've seen um such pollution in our in our waters as well, in our rivers and our our seas because we just don't have that that infrastructure in place that we need.
>> Yeah, indeed. Uh Mie and Matthew, very quickly on this before we move on, do you get hose pipe bans here in the US?
>> You you see it in some communities. I think this is uh cracking down on people who um who are homeowners, property owners. Obviously, it it's to change behavior and and I don't know that I'm I'm a big fan of that. Yeah, I would agree. I mean, and I I don't think an unofficial ban of anything probably works.
>> Texas struggles, don't they, with water?
>> With water drought. Yeah. A lot a lot of western states do, >> but Texas, of course, they've got the Gulf of America on the coast, so why what's the issue? I mean, same as us.
We're an island surrounded by >> It's a lot of energy to desalinate it, though.
>> Yeah, true. Okay. Uh, one more very quick story. Let's look at the front page of the Daily Express. A story uh fairly close to my heart. Masaline Macan. Um, fury is the headline as German police failed to watch Meline suspect. So, this is German Meline Macccan suspect Christian Bner who uh the Germans said at one point they had nailed on evidence that he was responsible for poor Maddie's disappearance and murder. They said that she'd been killed. They didn't believe she was alive. Anyway, now he's just roaming around Germany walking freely um despite supposed 24/7 surveillance. Um Michelle, this is such a I I just think of the poor parents every time I see a Meline story.
>> Yeah. Yeah. It's really disturbing. Um as as a mother to young children myself, I I can't even begin to imagine what they've been through. Um but what's really strange about this story is that he he did um go to prison, didn't he, for for other horrendous um crimes. But yeah, he's somehow not served very long.
He's out there and and about. The whole thing is very odd because like you said, they did say at one point it was definitely him. And you have to begin to wonder whether we'll ever get any kind of resolution and whether that family will ever get any kind of peace um knowing what actually happened to her.
>> Yeah. Poor girl. Mie, you familiar with this case?
>> I watched a documentary a while ago about it. I mean, it's incredibly depressing on Netflix.
>> Yeah. Yeah. There's a good one on Netflix. Um, but yeah, I mean, I hope the the parents can one day get some sort of closure, but it it's going to that looks tough.
>> I mean, this guy Christian Brookner, I I did a lot of work on the Maddie case, working for my old newspaper. I spent time in Portugal and Germany. He was in prison serving a sentence for raping a pensioner in Priuj uh not long before Meline went missing. So, he broke into her apartment. He was a prolific burglar. He broke into this lady's apartment and he filmed the attack and that's why he spent time in prison. He's also um attacked other small girls before in playgrounds, tried to abduct them and and so on. And Matthew, when I spoke to uh friends of Brockna in Portugal some years ago, maybe seven years ago, they said the night before Meline went missing, he had a dinner with them and he looked very kind of disturbed and said, "Tomorrow I've got a big job because he would regularly burgl burgle houses on order." He said, "I've got a big job and you won't see me again." This is what his friend said the night before. this, you know, I don't know much about this story in particular, but I think when when an individual or a family or a community is wronged uh if a crime is committed against them, we expect our governments uh to do what is right and to pursue justice. And this this is very similar uh in a certain sense to the story that we started this program with with these 26 pound fines for teens who are committing sexual assaults. This is this is where a person or or some a victim uh is is they don't get justice from the government and it it erodess that institution. It causes us to trust our government less uh when when justice is not served.
>> Yeah. Okay. Uh right. Before we say uh good night, I'd like to ask my viewers uh my guests, sorry, what you're doing tomorrow. What are you up to tomorrow, Matthew?
>> Well, we've got our interns uh are are hanging out and uh they normally have house parents and so I'm a big babysitter this weekend. I'm super organization.
>> So I work at Leadership Institute. We train conservatives how to win elections in the US and abroad and we've got 12 interns who are in town right now. We just came back from Annapolis and I'm spending the weekend >> looking for the next tour.
>> Yeah, exactly.
>> Yeah. What are you up to, Mie?
>> I'm going to be on the show with you tomorrow.
>> Are you on tomorrow as well? Oh no. What did I do to deserve that? I'll have to prepare myself with some Borbin. U Michelle, what are you up to tomorrow?
Um, I'm going to see my mom and dad who I haven't seen since um for for well for a few months because my mom had a stroke and she's now back in the UK after being in Spain. So, that'll be lovely.
>> Bless her. Is she okay? Is she recovering all right?
>> She's on the road to recovery, but um it's a slow old process, but she's a fighter. Tough as old boots.
>> Well, send your mom a love and enjoy your time uh with them tomorrow. Um, I'm sure it'll be great after seeing them after so long. Um, I'm going to be watching the Champions League final tomorrow morning, 11:00 a.m. in uh DC time and of course another show to present tomorrow night, midnight in the UK. And uh, yeah, hopefully I'll be in a pretty chipper mood tomorrow. Until then, enjoy your Saturday, viewers and listeners. Appreciate you. Good night, sweet dreams, and I'll see you tomorrow.
Bye.
Heat up here.
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