Latest / Salem Podcast Network / This Week on Capitol Hill - Speaker Johnson Predicts a "Silver Wave" on November 3rd ... and a Bombshell Report Reveals Big Banks Discriminated Against Christian and Conservative Groups

Transcript

This Week on Capitol Hill - Speaker Johnson Predicts a "Silver Wave" on November 3rd ... and a Bombshell Report Reveals Big Banks Discriminated Against Christian and Conservative Groups · Salem Podcast Network

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Every single vote's going to count. Listen to me.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Listen.
• 0:03
  Speaker 3: Every single vote, they're counting on Republicans, not voting in
• 0:06
  Speaker 3: the midterm. They're trying to dissuade you from doing so
• 0:09
  Speaker 3: with false narratives.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Don't buy it.
• 0:11
  Speaker 3: Every single vote's going to count. Some of these races
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: are going to come down to dozens of votes. But
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: I'm telling you, when we say every vote counts, we
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: mean every vote counts, especially in a midterm.
• 0:20
  Speaker 4: Well, with the midterm elections just over two weeks away,
• 0:23
  Speaker 4: House Speaker Mike Johnson is warning Republicans that control of
• 0:26
  Speaker 4: Congress could come down to just a handful of votes.
• 0:30
  Speaker 4: But new polling suggests voters are increasingly dissatisfied with the
• 0:33
  Speaker 4: direction of the country. raising questions about whether Republicans can
• 0:37
  Speaker 4: hold their congressional majorities. We'll examine the political landscape with
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: White House reporter Christian Datok, and later, Speaker Johnson joins
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: us from the campaign trail. Meanwhile, growing threats overseas are
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: raising new questions about America's national security.
• 0:52
  Speaker 5: Have you made a decision on flagging the Houthis?
• 0:55
  Speaker 6: They're behaving very badly. What are you going to do
• 0:58
  Speaker 6: about that?
• 0:58
  Speaker 7: I mean, if I told you I made a decision,
• 1:00
  Speaker 7: that wouldn't have happened.
• 1:02
  Speaker 6: The Houthis have acted very badly.
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: As President Trump considers military action against the Iranian-backed Houthis,
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: reports indicate the terrorist group is acquiring Chinese technology to
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: expand its ballistic missile capability. And at the same time,
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: the administration's decision to ease restrictions on Russian diesel exports
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: is raising concerns that the move could provide Moscow with
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: additional resources to continue its war against Ukraine. Are Russia, China,
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: and Iran increasingly coordinating their efforts to challenge the United
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: States and its allies?
• 1:35
  Speaker 6: Retired Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery.
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: Joins us to examine these emerging threats and what they
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: mean for America's national security. And here at home, a
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: new federal report raising troubling questions about whether some of
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: America's largest banks discriminated against customers because of their religious
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: and political beliefs.
• 1:54
  Speaker 8: I've been raising this claim since 2022 when it happened
• 1:58
  Speaker 8: to us. When I went public with the claim, I
• 2:02
  Speaker 8: had over a dozen different groups, generally conservative groups, religiously
• 2:07
  Speaker 8: affiliated groups that came and said this had happened to
• 2:10
  Speaker 8: them as well. But I think this report makes it
• 2:14
  Speaker 8: clear there was a practice that was going on here.
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: I was former ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback.
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency found that
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: nine major banks maintained policies restricting access to financial services.
• 2:28
  Speaker 6: Based on customers' beliefs and otherwise lawful activities.
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: The report also identified the Southern Poverty Law Center as
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: a source banks relied upon in evaluating certain organizations. We'll
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: discuss the findings with Treasury Department official Dr. David Zorvos,
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: including the role of government regulators and what must be
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: done to prevent religious and political discrimination in banking. Welcome
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: to This Week on Capitol Hill, your insider's guide to
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: the story shaping Washington and the world.
• 2:58
  Speaker 6: I'm your host, Tony Perkins.
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: Today's edition of This Week on Capitol Hill is being
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: presented by AARP.
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: On Thursday, President Trump announced the Pentagon will no longer
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: live stream the execution of Fort Hood terrorist shooter Nidal Hassan.
• 3:21
  Speaker 6: That is scheduled for December the 3rd.
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: Now, this reversal followed concerns the images could fuel future
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: terrorist attacks. Joining us now to discuss this and more
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: is Christian Datok, White House reporter for The Washington Examiner. Christian,
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: welcome back to This Week on Capitol Hill.
• 3:36
  Speaker 6: Thanks for joining us.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Anytime, Tony.
• 3:38
  Speaker 6: Thanks for having me back.
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: All right, so let's kind of walk through the controversy
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: over this original decision that the president recently reversed.
• 3:50
  Speaker 7: Sure.
• 3:50
  Speaker 6: Well, this has been brewing for a couple of weeks now.
• 3:52
  Speaker 7: We do know that Hassan, who was convicted back in 2013,
• 3:56
  Speaker 7: was scheduled to be executed in early December. We had
• 4:00
  Speaker 7: that information a few weeks ago, really. And then Secretary
• 4:04
  Speaker 7: Pete Hegseth came out and alerted the press during a
• 4:07
  Speaker 7: junket that the White House, the administration, planned to live
• 4:12
  Speaker 7: stream that event as a means of communicating the terrible
• 4:17
  Speaker 7: consequences for terrorist actions to any would-be lone wolfs or
• 4:21
  Speaker 7: group actors, not only here in the United States, but
• 4:23
  Speaker 7: around the world as well. And I'm not going to lie,
• 4:27
  Speaker 7: it was met by bipartisan pushback, namely about those items
• 4:32
  Speaker 7: that you had talked about. Might Hassan be viewed as
• 4:35
  Speaker 7: a martyr? Could this actually endanger U.S. lives by prompting
• 4:40
  Speaker 7: more terrorist acts rather than having the desired result Pete
• 4:45
  Speaker 7: Hegseth communicated to the press. And, you know, President Trump
• 4:48
  Speaker 7: stood by the war secretary initially. He said he backed
• 4:52
  Speaker 7: the idea. But Vice President Vance himself was the first
• 4:56
  Speaker 7: high ranking administration official to break from that line.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Just a little bit.
• 5:01
  Speaker 7: He said he thought the execution was justified, but that
• 5:04
  Speaker 7: as a devout Catholic, he did not plan on watching
• 5:08
  Speaker 7: the execution because it did not align with his religious beliefs.
• 5:12
  Speaker 7: A celebration of death, I believe, is the term that
• 5:15
  Speaker 7: he used. And then on Thursday, President Trump announced that
• 5:19
  Speaker 7: he would no longer be live streaming the execution, but
• 5:22
  Speaker 7: it still would go as planned on that scheduled December
• 5:26
  Speaker 7: 3rd date.
• 5:28
  Speaker 6: Yeah, it was interesting.
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: It was a bipartisan reaction from folks on both sides
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: of the ideological aisle, as well as the political aisle,
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: having some reservations and hesitations about that. I'm glad the
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: president made the decision he did.
• 5:42
  Speaker 6: Let's switch to the midterm elections.
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: Just a few short weeks away, folks will be going
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: to the polls.
• 5:48
  Speaker 6: In fact, all across the country, people are early voting
• 5:51
  Speaker 6: right now.
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: A recent AP Nordic poll finds that a majority of
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: voters I've actually lost confidence in President Trump and what
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: major change this November.
• 6:01
  Speaker 6: Do you buy it?
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Yes and no.
• 6:05
  Speaker 7: I think the top lines here are not surprising. Eight
• 6:08
  Speaker 7: in 10 voters are losing confidence in the president and
• 6:12
  Speaker 7: the economy, inflation, prices, the war in Iran. Those are
• 6:16
  Speaker 7: the issues that voters care most about. heading into November.
• 6:20
  Speaker 7: But I think ultimately, this isn't necessarily a complete, you know,
• 6:26
  Speaker 7: refutation of the Trump agenda, but it is sort of
• 6:29
  Speaker 7: discontent with a number of high-ranking Trump administration officials. Let's
• 6:34
  Speaker 7: talk about Kimberly Guilfoyle for a second, the former ambassador
• 6:38
  Speaker 7: to Greece, who the public believe simply aren't serving the
• 6:42
  Speaker 7: American electorate's best interests. They believe some of these officials, like, again,
• 6:47
  Speaker 7: I'll point to another former cabinet secretary, Christine Ohm, they
• 6:51
  Speaker 7: are in their positions of power to improve their own
• 6:54
  Speaker 7: personal standings. It's a difficult line for the Trump administration,
• 6:58
  Speaker 7: President Trump, Vice President Vance, and senior congressional Republican leadership
• 7:02
  Speaker 7: to walk because they are trying to tell voters, look,
• 7:05
  Speaker 7: stick with us. Our economic platform is correct. We need
• 7:09
  Speaker 7: a little bit more time. But it's hard to argue
• 7:11
  Speaker 7: those facts when we have these damning set of reports
• 7:15
  Speaker 7: suggesting that certain members of the Trump administration really aren't
• 7:19
  Speaker 7: in these jobs for the right reasons.
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: Let's put a pin in that. I want to come
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: back to that. But I want to stick with the
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: polls for just a moment. Increasingly, do you find that
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: some voters are reluctant, especially conservative Republican voters, are reluctant
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: to actually respond to pollsters?
• 7:37
  Speaker 7: Yeah, that's why I said yes and no when you asked,
• 7:40
  Speaker 7: am I buying those findings? Because look, historically, Republicans are
• 7:45
  Speaker 7: certainly less willing to interact with pollsters than their Democratic counterparts.
• 7:52
  Speaker 7: And I think heading into this election where, again, let's
• 7:54
  Speaker 7: be honest, all of the signs are bad for Republicans.
• 7:58
  Speaker 7: The Republican electorate might be disillusioned, they might be down,
• 8:03
  Speaker 7: but many of them are especially in these states, which
• 8:06
  Speaker 7: are talked about in the media right now, Kansas, Iowa, Texas,
• 8:11
  Speaker 7: reliably red states that Democrats think they have a very
• 8:14
  Speaker 7: real chance of flipping. Most of them are triple Trump
• 8:17
  Speaker 7: voters is the term that we at the Washington Examiner
• 8:20
  Speaker 7: have been using. We believe many of them, even if
• 8:23
  Speaker 7: they aren't responding to polls, might just revert to the
• 8:26
  Speaker 7: mean and vote Republican come November 3rd, no matter what.
• 8:31
  Speaker 6: But, you know, we had the.
• 8:32
  Speaker 7: Final FEC fundraising drops on Thursday night and And ultimately,
• 8:38
  Speaker 7: the numbers are all blue. James Tallarico is leading the pack.
• 8:43
  Speaker 7: He outraised Ken Paxton, something like 25 X. It's, it's
• 8:48
  Speaker 7: really astounding numbers. We've never seen these types of individual
• 8:51
  Speaker 7: donations coming in for democratic candidates. So I want to
• 8:56
  Speaker 7: talk about the 2022 midterms for a second, because everyone
• 8:59
  Speaker 7: thought there would be a huge red wave. Republicans did
• 9:02
  Speaker 7: take over majorities, but the margins weren't nearly as wide
• 9:06
  Speaker 7: as we thought they might be. I do think at
• 9:08
  Speaker 7: least in the house that, Democrats will certainly take back
• 9:11
  Speaker 7: that majority, but the margins, again, might not be as
• 9:14
  Speaker 7: wide as the polling is suggesting right now.
• 9:16
  Speaker 6: All right.
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: Very quickly, this week, the Office of the Comptroller of
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: the Currency released a report on major financial institutions discriminating
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: against conservatives and religious organizations.
• 9:27
  Speaker 6: This was stunning.
• 9:30
  Speaker 7: This was a fairly surprising report, Tony, and we had
• 9:33
  Speaker 7: heard whispers about it coming for a while now. And
• 9:38
  Speaker 7: ultimately what it found is that from 2021 until 2025,
• 9:42
  Speaker 7: major banks, Wells Fargo and Bank of America in particular,
• 9:46
  Speaker 7: specifically debunked certain right-leaning activism groups. It wasn't necessarily because
• 9:52
  Speaker 7: of the interests that those groups were looking at, but
• 9:55
  Speaker 7: they feared political blowback from Congress or liberal activists. groups
• 10:01
  Speaker 7: if they were to platform quote-unquote MAGA organizations. And I'm
• 10:06
  Speaker 7: curious to see what will come of this, because ultimately,
• 10:09
  Speaker 7: the OCC really is a bipartisan, independent office within the
• 10:14
  Speaker 7: federal government. Will they take action to make sure this
• 10:16
  Speaker 7: type of political discrimination doesn't happen forever? for activist groups
• 10:21
  Speaker 7: or politically aligned organizations on both sides of the aisle,
• 10:25
  Speaker 7: because ultimately this is a pendulum type situation. If it
• 10:28
  Speaker 7: happens to one side, I would expect it to happen
• 10:30
  Speaker 7: to another side down the road. There's really no place
• 10:36
  Speaker 7: for this type of behavior when it comes from our
• 10:38
  Speaker 7: financial institutions.
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: Kristen, thanks so much for joining us. We are going
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: to watch that one very closely because I think that's
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: a very big deal.
• 10:46
  Speaker 6: All right, take care. We'll talk to you soon.
• 10:49
  Speaker 7: Take care, Tony.
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: All right, folks, stick with us because we're going to
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: dive a little bit deeper into that issue in just
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: a moment.
• 10:55
  Speaker 6: So don't go away.
• 11:00
  Speaker 9: As prices keep rising, Social Security is even more important
• 11:04
  Speaker 9: to older Americans.
• 11:06
  Speaker 10: I counted on to pay for groceries and prescriptions. Everything
• 11:09
  Speaker 10: costs more now.
• 11:10
  Speaker 9: AARP is fighting to protect the Social Security Americans earn
• 11:14
  Speaker 9: through a lifetime of hard work.
• 11:16
  Speaker 11: I've paid into Social Security since I was a teenager.
• 11:20
  Speaker 11: It isn't a handout. I earned it.
• 11:23
  Speaker 9: Join us to stand up for Social Security. Visit aarp.org
• 11:27
  Speaker 9: slash socialsecurityvoter.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Paid for by AARP.
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: Welcome back to This Week on Capitol Hill. I'm your host,
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: Tony Perkins. As we were just talking about polls and voting,
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: I want to remind you we're just days away from
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: the midterm election, and I do hope you're planning to vote.
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: If you would like a personalized voter guide to help you,
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: text the word VOTE to 67742. That's the word VOTE.
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: to 67742 and I will send you a link. Well,
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: on Wednesday, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: released a report on debanking by major banks during the
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: Biden administration. Now, the review found that financial institutions closed
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: accounts and refused credit in ways that targeted conservative and
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: religious and pro-life organizations. Joining us now to discuss this
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: is Dr. David Zervos, Counselor in the Office of the
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: Secretary of the Treasury.
• 12:28
  Speaker 5: Dr.
• 12:28
  Speaker 6: Zervos, welcome to This Week on Capitol Hill. Thank you
• 12:30
  Speaker 6: for joining us.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Thank you for having me, Tony.
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: So the Trump administration ordered the OCC's debanking review.
• 12:39
  Speaker 6: Tell us what you found.
• 12:42
  Speaker 5: Well, the report suggests after looking at, I believe, over
• 12:45
  Speaker 5: 100,000 complaints and 50,000 records at.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: Almost two-thirds of the U.S. banking system.
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: They found in particular that nine banks engaged in the
• 12:59
  Speaker 5: activity that you described in your opening monologue, which is
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: targeting religious groups, targeting conservative groups, targeting groups that were
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: associated with the Trump administration, targeting those that were involved
• 13:13
  Speaker 5: in the firearms business. So it went further and further
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: and further. And a lot of the targeting, Tony, was.
• 13:22
  Speaker 5: Done under the veil of ESG or DEI or BLM
• 13:28
  Speaker 5: or one of those, you know, acronyms that had been
• 13:31
  Speaker 5: so aggressively pushed during the Biden administration against their foes.
• 13:40
  Speaker 5: And so this is, as he said, a bombshell reporter. Dr.
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: Verbos, one of the catch-all categories that the banks used
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: that we saw in the report was reputational risk. which
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: is something that the regulators look at in these banks
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: in terms of, you know, doing things that are questionable
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: and that would tarnish their image or reputation. So is
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: there any evidence to suggest that the regulators during the
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: Biden era actually used that category to pressure these institutions?
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: I think that was used consistently and the reputation that
• 14:17
  Speaker 5: they were nervous about.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: Was something that would cause them to.
• 14:23
  Speaker 5: Be under a microscope by the folks in the Biden administration.
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: So it really was activities that might raise red flags
• 14:33
  Speaker 5: for those that were in power during that period. And again,
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: those had a lot to do with things related to
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: climate or diversity, equity, and inclusion and the like. So
• 14:43
  Speaker 5: That gave them a blanket to really just sweep up
• 14:47
  Speaker 5: a lot of folks that had enormous trouble managing their finances,
• 14:53
  Speaker 5: not just their personal finances, but their business finances as well.
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: Well, I know our banking institutions sent us one of
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: those letters during that time. And this should not be
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: surprising because the evidence is, Victor, went all the way
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: to the Supreme Court of what the Biden administration did
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: to conservative voices on the social media platforms by leaning
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: on those tech institutions to deplatform those individuals.
• 15:23
  Speaker 6: Another word of the era.
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: We haven't heard that in a long time, but we
• 15:26
  Speaker 5: heard a lot about deplatforming.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: We saw deplatforming.
• 15:30
  Speaker 5: The president was banned from some major newspapers, some major sites.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Thankfully, we did.
• 15:39
  Speaker 5: Have Elon Musk and his grabbing of the X slash
• 15:44
  Speaker 5: Twitter world and voices were heard there.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: But yeah, the sort of the.
• 15:49
  Speaker 5: Squashing of speech, the squashing of freedom to operate a
• 15:56
  Speaker 5: business or believe in a certain religious or political fashion
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: was being pushed and ultimately was being suppressed by the administration.
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: A classic tactic of the deep, deep left.
• 16:14
  Speaker 6: So, Dr.
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: Zervos, there was also a very familiar name that I
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: found in this report, and that was the Southern Poverty
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: Law Center, which several of these institutions actually relied upon
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: their classification of conservative groups as hate groups and in
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: their decision to drop or to not allow these institutions
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: to enter into the banking world.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 16:43
  Speaker 5: Now, that seems to be one of the centers, as
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: there were others as well, but one of the centers
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: that was getting funding, that was using that funding to
• 16:53
  Speaker 5: engage in this activity. And also, and I'm not sure
• 16:57
  Speaker 5: where this stands in terms of where the allegations are
• 17:02
  Speaker 5: or where the courts are. But there was some discussion,
• 17:05
  Speaker 5: as you remember, it was a few months ago about
• 17:08
  Speaker 5: actually concocting activities that were negative and then trying to
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: blame them on radical groups so that they could then
• 17:17
  Speaker 5: even raise more money to fight that radicalness of that.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: That vision that they had of radicalness.
• 17:23
  Speaker 5: So the depths of, I want to say, almost depravity, Tony,
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: really are unprecedented.
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: Well, I actually testified before the Congress on the SPLC
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: and their connection with the banking institutions and the tech platforms.
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: I think there's probably more, even to the level of
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: a conspiratorial, that they conspired together to attack conservative organizations,
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: debank these conservative organizations. So with that, in mind, what's next?
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: Is there going to be further investigations to this? Will
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: the banks that did this to conservative organizations be held accountable?
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: Well, that would be the idea. We just saw some
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: fines being.
• 18:11
  Speaker 5: Levied on major banks for other activities, anti-money laundering violations. But,
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: you know, the fines themselves, you know, they hurt the shareholders,
• 18:24
  Speaker 5: they hurt the business. They hurt the executives somewhat, but
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: they also hurt the employees that really weren't part of it.
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: I think at some point we ought to think about
• 18:34
  Speaker 5: how we dig deep enough to find the people who
• 18:37
  Speaker 5: are driving this and make it harder on them to
• 18:41
  Speaker 5: do these sorts of things. And I really hope, Tony,
• 18:43
  Speaker 5: that as we uncover all this, and I hope you're wrong,
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: but I fear you're right about what you just said
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: on the deeper conspiracies, that we find guardrails that we
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: can put up and regulatory.
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: Sort of barriers that just don't let this happen again.
• 18:59
  Speaker 5: And it's just such a travesty of justice in a
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: free capitalist society. I mean, we are not a third
• 19:09
  Speaker 5: world country with a stand at the end of our
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: name where you can just bully whoever you want once
• 19:16
  Speaker 5: you get into power. That's just not how the American
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: system works. And it was really frightening to see the
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: details of this report and how the depths of debanking
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: really just went so much further than anybody would have
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: ever thought.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: Well, Dr.
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: Zervos, we're just about out of time, but I think
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: that last point is extremely important, is that we put
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: up those guardrails so that it doesn't happen again. I
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: think this administration has been very good at uncovering what
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: the previous administration did, but we've got to make sure
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: it doesn't happen again.
• 19:47
  Speaker 6: And I hope that's on the agenda. 20 seconds left.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: If there's anything that I think.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: The folks here at Treasury and the rest of the financial.
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: Regulators like the OCC, the FDIC, the CFTC, all of
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: the SEC, this is a priority. This is a huge priority.
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: The is going to happen over the next few years
• 20:11
  Speaker 5: and hopefully many more years to come as we continue
• 20:15
  Speaker 5: to hold on to the power base that we've built
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: and stop the power base from before from abusing it.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: Dr.
• 20:22
  Speaker 6: Zarros, thank you so much. Folks, stick with us. We'll
• 20:25
  Speaker 6: be back right after this.
• 20:31
  Speaker 9: As prices keep rising, Social Security is even more important
• 20:35
  Speaker 9: to older Americans.
• 20:36
  Speaker 10: I counted on it to pay for groceries and prescriptions.
• 20:39
  Speaker 10: Everything costs more now.
• 20:41
  Speaker 9: AARP is fighting to protect the Social Security Americans earn
• 20:45
  Speaker 9: through a lifetime of hard work.
• 20:47
  Speaker 11: I've paid into Social Security since I was a teenager.
• 20:50
  Speaker 11: It isn't a handout. I earned it.
• 20:53
  Speaker 9: Join us to stand up for Social Security. Visit aarp.org
• 20:58
  Speaker 9: slash socialsecurityvoter.
• 20:59
  Speaker 6: Paid for by AARP.
• 21:05
  Speaker 8: Welcome back.
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: All right, two wars, thousands of miles apart. They may
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: have more in common than we realize. Russia continues its
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: war against Ukraine, while in the Middle East, Iran and
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: its terrorist proxies threaten Israel, Saudi Arabia, and international shipping. Now,
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: a new investigation reveals that Iranian-backed Houthis are attempting to
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: manufacture advanced ballistic missiles using components obtained from Chinese suppliers.
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: China is also a critical source of technological and dual-use
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: components supporting Russia's war effort in Ukraine. So, are these
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: separate regional conflicts, or are we witnessing an increasingly coordinated
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: challenge to America's interest in global security?
• 21:54
  Speaker 6: Joining us to discuss this.
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: Is retired Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery, Senior Director at the
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: Foundation for Defense of Democracies and co-author of The Axis
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: of Aggressors, a report examining the growing cooperation among China, Russia, Iran,
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: and North Korea. Admiral Montgomery, welcome to This Week on
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: Capitol Hill. Thank you so much for joining us. Well,
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: thank you for having me. So you've studied the growing
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: cooperation between China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. How interconnected
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: are the war in Ukraine and the conflicts in the
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: Middle East? And what role is China playing in sustaining
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: these conflicts?
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: Thank you for having me. And I have to tell you,
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: they are very connected. And in our book, we document
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: that these four countries, which is really six bilateral relationships,
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: have conducted over 700 measurable military, economic or technological transfers
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: to each other. They've assisted each other very aggressively. And
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: that's just in the past five years. You've really seen
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: a coming together of this. I'd even more focus it
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: on after Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022. You know,
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: Ukraine realistically is fighting four countries. Russia, obviously, with over
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: 400,000 soldiers coming in fresh every year to fight the Ukrainians.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: Iran providing Shahed drones, North Korea providing troops, plus 6
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: million rounds of artillery, plus ballistic missiles. And then this
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: is what you're asking. China's the quarterback of the whole thing.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: They're orchestrating much of this. They do all the economic backstopping,
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: the economic support. So if you're Russia and you begin
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: to get sanctioned, China comes and assists you. If you're
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: Iran and you begin to get sanctioned, China comes to
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: assist you. And they provide the microelectronics, those exact parts
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: we're seeing in the Houthi missiles.
• 23:53
  Speaker 6: So China's the backstop.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: They're not NATO, but there's six aggressive bilateral relationships that
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: are giving us this access of aggressors.
• 24:02
  Speaker 6: So, Admiral.
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: China wouldn't be acting like Iran with these proxies, but
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: they're certainly taking advantage of these actors that are out
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: there weakening the United States or probing the United States
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: for weakness.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: Oh, you got it exactly right there. This is not
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: an issue. China doesn't care about the Houthis. They don't
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: care about Hezbollah. They don't care about, you know, any
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: of these. They don't care about Iran, frankly. What they
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: care about is pinning the United States down in the
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: Middle East, distracting Europe and Ukraine, you know, driving a
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: wedge between Europe and the United States over Ukraine. You know,
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: they look at both of these ongoing conflicts as a.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: To their benefit.
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: And in fact, they're doing the same thing now with
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: the Houthis and the Saudis. The Saudis are an ally
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: of the United States, so they're.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Helping the Houthis.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: All of this is intended to distract the United States
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: from worrying about our true number one challenge, which is
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: the challenge from China, first in the Indo-Pacific, but then
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: really more broadly globally.
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: So how much of our focus has shifted now to
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: the Middle East and to the Eastern Europe?
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: You know, there's a very detailed discussion of munitions and
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: how we've lost a lot of our we had insufficient
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: munitions for a China conflict in some areas to begin with.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: Some areas were on a razor's edge and some areas
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: with a lot of excess. And now all of those
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: issues are slightly more vexing. You know, we've certainly in
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: air defense weapons. We're now very short for what we
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: need for China conflict. That's only the surface problem. The
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: deep problem is that our military forces are being committed
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: to the Middle East right now and that we will
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: not have the forces we need for a crisis in Afghanistan.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: with China or Russia in 2028 or 2029, because the
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: military goes to what's called a readiness bathtub. After you
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: spend years on a prolonged deployment far away from U.S. coast,
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: like we're doing in Iran, you can't generate forces two
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: to three years later.
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: We just have about 45 seconds left, Admiral, but what
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: does America need to be looking at right now?
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: First, we need to help bring each of these conflicts
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: to a conclusion, the current ones.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: They're a drag on us and not a drag on China.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: So I think the economic strangulation of Iran that the
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: president's doing is the right thing, what the U.S. Navy
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: and Secretary Besson are doing is the right thing. And
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: I think it needs to be pressure on Vladimir Putin
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: to bring that Russia-Ukraine war to an end. If those
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: two wars could come to an end, the United States
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: could begin to recapitalize itself and spend that money that
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: the president's given the Department of Defense in order to
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: be ready for the next crisis or conflict.
• 26:45
  Speaker 6: Admiral Montgomery, I want to thank you for joining us.
• 26:48
  Speaker 4: Appreciate your expertise and sharing it with us. All right, folks,
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: on the other side of the break, House Speaker Mike
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: Johnson joins us from the campaign trail.
• 26:56
  Speaker 6: So don't go away.
• 27:02
  Speaker 9: As prices keep rising, Social Security is even more important
• 27:05
  Speaker 9: to older Americans.
• 27:07
  Speaker 10: I counted on to pay for groceries and prescriptions. Everything
• 27:10
  Speaker 10: costs more now.
• 27:11
  Speaker 9: AARP is fighting to protect the Social Security Americans earn
• 27:15
  Speaker 9: through a lifetime of hard work.
• 27:18
  Speaker 11: I've paid into Social Security since I was a teenager.
• 27:21
  Speaker 11: It isn't a handout. I earned it.
• 27:24
  Speaker 9: Join us to stand up for Social Security. Visit AARP.org
• 27:28
  Speaker 9: slash Social Security Voter.
• 27:30
  Speaker 6: Paid for by AARP.
• 27:36
  Speaker 4: Welcome back to This Week on Capitol Hill. I'm Tony Perkins,
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: your host. Well, as the midterms approach, the legacy media
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: and left-leaning pollsters are forecasting a blue wave. as a
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: sitting president's party often loses seats.
• 27:51
  Speaker 6: But, but, could the.
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: Pollsters be missing a wave of a different color, a
• 27:56
  Speaker 4: silver wave of enthusiastic senior voters? Joining us now from
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: the campaign trail for our weekly conversation is House Speaker
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: Mike Johnson, who represents the 4th Congressional District of Louisiana.
• 28:09
  Speaker 9: Mr.
• 28:09
  Speaker 6: Speaker, welcome back to This Week on Capitol Hill.
• 28:12
  Speaker 8: Hey, Tony.
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: Good morning from sunny Tampa, Florida. And all over the
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: country this week, lots of energy, lots of excitement. And
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: I'm telling you, those pollsters are not registering what's actually
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: happening on the ground.
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: Let's talk about that silver wave of senior voters. Now,
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: they generally do occupy a larger percentage of the voting population,
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: but could it be that they remember some of the
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: threats that socialism posed to the world?
• 28:43
  Speaker 6: Younger voters don't know that, haven't been taught that. Could
• 28:46
  Speaker 6: that be a part of it?
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: I think you're onto something there, and I think that's
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: exactly right. Look, just my anecdotal evidence, okay, this week,
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: I was in eight different states. I'll be in 40
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: congressional districts across 22 states this month alone. We're going
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: to campaign all the way up until the polls close
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: on Election Day, crisscrossing the country. Just this week, I
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: was in the furthest point of South Texas, in McAllen, Texas.
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: I was all the way up to the state of Maine,
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: in Maine's second district, with our candidate Paul LePage there,
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: former governor, who's going to flip a blue seat to red.
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: And then I went to New Hampshire and Virginia and
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: North Carolina, and now in Florida. I'm telling you, Tony,
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: everywhere that I have been, We've had huge enthusiastic crowds
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: turning out for these candidate forums and rallies that we're doing.
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: And to your point, there's large numbers of seniors, voters
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: who are coming out. And I think there's a couple
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: of reasons for that. One is exactly what you said, Tony.
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: This threat of socialism and Marxism and communism resonates with
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: older Americans in particular because they remember the Cold War.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: They remember the threats.
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: Some of these people have fled from socialist countries and
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: come to America, and they know what is going on here,
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: and they're very, very motivated. They know this insurgent left
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: that's taking over the Democrat Party is a threat to
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: freedom for their grandchildren and their children and all of us.
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: They're coming out and they're very, very engaged. I think
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: there's a lot of early voting going on right now
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: around the country. And I know and I believe that
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: the post-election polling and analysis will reflect that this was
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: a this is a big senior turnout for this midterm.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: Probably. more uh than than in any.
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: Other time and then also what i'm seeing what i'm
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: hearing from that demographic is that they're so grateful for
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: what we've done with the great record that our incumbents
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: and our candidates are running on you know with the
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: working families tax cut for example one of the big
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: things we did was we reduced taxes on social security
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: and so in most of the states i'm going into
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: the numbers are different for each state by population but
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: I'm reporting to them. Not only have we cut taxes
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: for all individuals, we increased the child tax credit, we
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: raised the standard deduction, but millions of seniors in each
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: state are no longer paying taxes on Social Security. And
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: every time that I go through the list of all
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: the achievements and I get to that line, there's rousing
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: applause because that's real money for real people. They know
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: that we've fulfilled our promises and they are ready to
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: go out and cast their ballots.
• 31:08
  Speaker 4: And by the way, folks, if you need help kind
• 31:10
  Speaker 4: of knowing what's on the ballot, I've got a resource
• 31:12
  Speaker 4: for you. You can text the word VOTE to 67742.
• 31:17
  Speaker 4: That's VOTE to 67742. And I'll send you a link
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: to where you can get a personalized voter guide based
• 31:22
  Speaker 4: upon where you live.
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 31:25
  Speaker 6: Speaker, I remember those days when the socialists were in power. Now,
• 31:28
  Speaker 6: I was young.
• 31:29
  Speaker 4: I was young, but I remember those days as a
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: young Marine. And The younger generation just doesn't understand those threats.
• 31:38
  Speaker 4: And I do think it's a motivating factor for for
• 31:42
  Speaker 4: senior voters who are concerned about the future, concerned about
• 31:46
  Speaker 4: their grandchildren and what kind of country they're going to
• 31:49
  Speaker 4: leave behind. Yes.
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: And another thing about mature voters is they look at
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: actual records and not rhetoric, you know. And a lot
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: of young people, I mean, let's face it, they get
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: their news in 15 second, you know, bytes on TikTok
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: or whatever their social media platform is. And that's not
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: always the most reliable source for information, right? But older
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: voters tend to read more and study more and and
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: they understand the facts. And, you know, Ronald Reagan used
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: to say, you can trust the American people. When they
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: have the facts, they will make the right decision.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: This is why we're going around the country to present
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: the facts.
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: It's why President Trump is campaigning nonstop, like he's on
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: the ballot himself, to get the facts out there. It's
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: why the Vice President is, and all of us, we're
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: leaving it all on the field. Cabinet Secretary is traveling nonstop,
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: and our candidates are doing extraordinary work presenting the real
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: facts to the people. And when you look at the facts,
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: it's common sense versus crazy. And in many cases now, communism...
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: versus common sense, and common sense is going to prevail
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: at the end of the day.
• 32:48
  Speaker 6: Let's talk a little bit about those polls.
• 32:50
  Speaker 4: I've been on both sides of the line as an
• 32:53
  Speaker 4: elected official and as a reporter in the media, and
• 32:56
  Speaker 4: I've kind of been behind the lines in the media. Oftentimes,
• 33:00
  Speaker 4: what I've seen increasingly over my lifetime is that the media,
• 33:05
  Speaker 4: especially the establishment media, the left-leaning media, they use polls
• 33:10
  Speaker 4: more to shape outcomes than they do to take a
• 33:12
  Speaker 4: snapshot of what's happening.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: That's exactly right.
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: And the mainstream media is advancing this narrative. I believe
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: there's a concerted effort between the Democrats and the mainstream media.
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: They're allies in the media that are openly biased in
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: their favor. They want to dispirit the Republican side. They
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: want to discourage turnout on the Republican side. And so
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy that they prevail in
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: the election. We cannot buy into it. Don't buy it.
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: I don't believe there are reliable polls anymore. Even some
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: of our own candidates who are doing internal polling, even
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: they have a hard time getting Republicans to respond to
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: polls because Republicans don't trust pollsters anymore.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: And they can't.
• 33:54
  Speaker 3: Discern when they get a call who's originating the call.
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: And that is affecting the outcome of the polls.
• 33:59
  Speaker 4: So I played a clip at the beginning of the
• 34:01
  Speaker 4: program of you on the campaign trail this week where
• 34:04
  Speaker 4: encouraging people, no matter, I think you were in Texas,
• 34:07
  Speaker 4: saying no matter where you are, your vote matters because
• 34:10
  Speaker 4: some of these elections will be decided by a handful
• 34:13
  Speaker 4: of votes.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: Literally true.
• 34:15
  Speaker 3: And I've said we had 10 races in 2024 that
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: were decided by 6,000 votes or less in the House
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: of Representatives. That determined the majority. And I always cite
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: my friend, Marionette Miller-Meeks, a congresswoman from Iowa. Her first
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: race a couple of terms ago, she won it literally
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: by six votes.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: She's still nicknamed six pack in the house because of it.
• 34:35
  Speaker 3: And that reminds us, I mean, you cannot take anything
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: for granted, especially in a midterm, because the turnout tends
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: to be lower overall when there's not a presidential race.
• 34:45
  Speaker 3: So you got to vote. If you are a person
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: who appreciates your freedom, loves the American way and does
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: not want to turn this country over to this communist
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: way that is overtaking the other party in this country,
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: you got to get out and vote and you got
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: to vote and get your family and your friends and
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: everybody at church involved.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: Every single vote literally.
• 35:01
  Speaker 6: Is going to matter.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: This is going to be close races.
• 35:04
  Speaker 10: Mr.
• 35:04
  Speaker 4: Speaker, thank you for joining us this morning. I know
• 35:06
  Speaker 4: you've got to get back out there on the campaign trail.
• 35:09
  Speaker 4: Safe travels, and we'll talk to you next week.
• 35:11
  Speaker 8: Thanks, Tony.
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: God bless.
• 35:12
  Speaker 4: All right, folks, let me again encourage you, if you
• 35:16
  Speaker 4: are not prepared to go vote, I can help you.
• 35:18
  Speaker 6: Text the word VOTE to 67742.
• 35:21
  Speaker 4: That's VOTE to 67742, and you get a personalized voter guide.
• 35:26
  Speaker 6: All right, stick with us. We'll be right back. Welcome
• 35:37
  Speaker 6: back to This Week on Capitol Hill.
• 35:39
  Speaker 4: Proverbs 20.23 says, The Lord detests double standards. He is
• 35:43
  Speaker 4: not pleased by dishonest scales. The Bible has much to
• 35:46
  Speaker 4: say about economic honesty and government's responsibility to uphold just standards.
• 35:53
  Speaker 4: That's why I welcomed this week's report from the Office
• 35:55
  Speaker 4: of the Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC, one of
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: America's principal banking regulators. The report, guaranteeing fair banking for
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: all Americans, found that the nation's nine largest banks maintained
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: policies that restricted banking services based on customers' religious or
• 36:12
  Speaker 4: political beliefs. In other words, Americans could be debanked because
• 36:17
  Speaker 4: of what they believed. Family Research Council, which I lead,
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: was among the organizations affected. Banks frequently justified such decisions
• 36:25
  Speaker 4: by citing reputational risk. Apparently, doing business with pro-life organizations
• 36:31
  Speaker 4: or religious groups that believe marriage is between a man
• 36:34
  Speaker 4: and a woman was considered a threat to their reputation.
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: These practices just happened to overlap with the Biden administration,
• 36:42
  Speaker 4: which also pressured social media platforms to cancel critics of
• 36:46
  Speaker 4: the administration. Was this simply ideological conformity in corporate America,
• 36:51
  Speaker 4: or did government pressure play a role? That question deserves investigation.
• 36:57
  Speaker 4: And guess whose name surfaced in the report? The Southern
• 37:00
  Speaker 4: Poverty Law Center, the SPLC. Banks referenced the SPLC's hate
• 37:04
  Speaker 4: group designations in assessing customers. Earlier this year, I testified
• 37:09
  Speaker 4: before the House Judiciary Committee about the SPLC's efforts to
• 37:13
  Speaker 4: pressure financial institutions to debank Christian and conservative organizations. Now
• 37:20
  Speaker 4: federal regulators have documented how the banks willingly complied with
• 37:24
  Speaker 4: the SPLC. But here's where the story takes an extraordinary turn.
• 37:29
  Speaker 4: Just one day before the OCC released its report, the
• 37:33
  Speaker 4: Treasury Department announced $ 1. 2 billion in penalties against the Bank
• 37:38
  Speaker 4: of America, the third largest penalty in Treasury Department history.
• 37:43
  Speaker 8: Why?
• 37:44
  Speaker 4: The bank failed to properly monitor and report more than
• 37:47
  Speaker 4: $ 5 billion in suspicious financial activity, including transactions raising serious
• 37:54
  Speaker 4: money laundering concerns. Regulators described their compliance program as deficient
• 38:01
  Speaker 4: and ineffective.
• 38:02
  Speaker 6: Think about that. Some of America's.
• 38:05
  Speaker 4: Largest banks scrutinized lawful Americans for their religious and political beliefs,
• 38:11
  Speaker 4: while some failed to monitor billions of dollars in potentially
• 38:15
  Speaker 4: illicit transactions, which was required to be monitored by law.
• 38:20
  Speaker 6: That's quite a double standard. Now, these are separate regulatory findings.
• 38:25
  Speaker 4: They don't prove the bank neglected financial crime because it
• 38:28
  Speaker 4: was focused on conservative customers. But together, they raise a
• 38:32
  Speaker 4: fundamental question about institutional priorities. Banks should be concerned about
• 38:36
  Speaker 4: their reputations, but reputations are built on integrity, not ideological conformity.
• 38:42
  Speaker 4: If these institutions want to protect their reputations... they should
• 38:45
  Speaker 4: spend less time policing the beliefs of law-abiding Americans and
• 38:49
  Speaker 4: more time policing the financial activity they're legally obligated to monitor.
• 38:54
  Speaker 4: And government regulators must ensure lawful consumers are treated fairly,
• 38:58
  Speaker 4: regardless of their convictions. Scripture tells us the Lord detests
• 39:02
  Speaker 4: dishonest scales. Americans should reject a banking system that holds
• 39:06
  Speaker 4: its customers to one standard and itself to another. I
• 39:10
  Speaker 4: want a bank that will safeguard my money, not weigh
• 39:13
  Speaker 4: my religious beliefs in a biased scale.
• 39:15
  Speaker 6: That has been This Week on Capitol Hill.