Matt Gaetz Show - Steve Hilton, Stuart Scheller, Tim Parlatore, Eric Gerresy, Anthony Tata

Welcome.

We've got a special edition of The Matt Gates Show this evening. Republican California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton is here and we'll bring you the full, unedited, uncut interviews with top officials at the United States Department of War, conducted by yours truly. We've been on the ground at the Pentagon all week.

That's all next on The Matt Gates Show. Let's do this shaking up Washington, d C. We're breaking the fever.

Do you haven't watch this guy in television.

It's like a machine.

He's great, Matt Gates.

There's a socialist dictatorship.

There's harmed Americans for far too long under unified leftist rule for many moons. I'm not talking about Venezuela. I'm talking about California. California used to be the place where the American dream put on sunglasses and said, hop in, we're going for a ride. It was sun surf startups, insanity. Now it's become a national case study for what happens when a state, let's say, single political machine run wise

Sometimes you want.

To hug them, maybe grab them by the shoulders and say, honey, you deserve better. After Gavin Newsom's election theft of five at Republican congressional seats, Congressman darryl Isa of San Diego was asked to potentially run for a seat in Texas, where there would be more open Republican chances. Ia ultimately declined, instead, saying he'd stay in California and fight it out, even against the terribly long odds. There's something deeply charismatic about that. But there is so much to do.

Just look at crime.

The official position seems to be it's not a problem unless someone makes the mistake of reporting it homelessness. California spends billions, builds communities, commissions reports, and produces exactly one thing more homelessness. The nonprofits get richer, the streets get messier and dirtier. And at the heart of all of it is this border disaster, a situation so out of control that California could qualify as an honorary border country.

This blue paint isn't just peeling, It's toxic.

You feel it in the polls, the conversations, the special elections that maybe are producing different results than we expected. When one party rule collapses, it always happens in the same way, slow at first, and all at once, and into this moment walks Steve Hilton. Now here's a guy who spent years calling out the nonsense. Not as a political performer, not as a consultant whispering in the back row, but someone who actually understands how policy works. He's seen

Saying something radical, let's fix it.

He talks like someone who believes the state can be restored, not managed, not rearranged, not wallpapered, but genuinely saved. He talks to immigrants, small business owners, entrepreneurs, families who just want their neighborhoods back. And they listened because he's making a case that California doesn't belong to the bureaucrats, but the people who wake up up every morning and make the place run. And here's what it means for this

Yes, exactly, that it's great news.

It's a little bit surprised to hear that Daryl was heading to Texas.

That didn't ring true.

He's a fighter and I'm very pleased to see that that was a rumor because we've got a fight for California.

We've got to save California. We cannot allow.

The biggest, the most beautiful state in America to continue to slide into stagnation and decline under this one party rule. And that means everyone's got to get into the fight. I've always seen it in that way. It's a team effort here. Of course, I'm running for governor. I'm leading in the polls. It's looking good, but there's a long way to go, and it's not just that one race.

I think it could go one of two ways, Steve. I think that people could be so angry that Gavin Usom spent all this money on this crazy special election and angry at the lack of disaster response and the other crumbling conditions in the Golden State.

Or the risk is that with fewer.

Republicans in Congress from California, Republicans could become increasingly demoralized. What do you say to keep people's spirits up after the results in the Prop fifty election.

No, that's exactly right, Matt, And that's why we've got to there's no real shortcut to that other than to be honest doing what I'm doing, which is fighting even harder and saying we're not going to let them get away with this. The way that this corrupt system that they've built has been crushing and silencing Republican voices, they've already been doing it.

The system we had even.

Before Newsom's election rigging, was already massively gerry mannered in favor of Democrats already.

Now it's much worse. But there's only one response, which is we got a.

Fight back, and that means being out there with a strong, energetic campaign. I'm up and down the state all the time, and I'm telling you, people are really sick of what's going on. And next year, when it's the elections for the future of California, the governor and the other statewide offices and in the state legislature, it's going to be the real issues that affect everyone, the fact that we've got the highest gas prices in the country, the highest electric bills.

It's impossible to do anything, build anything.

I'm right here in the Palisades right now, where basically nothing's happening. Despite Gaven Newsom's promises of a Marshall plan to rebuild LA.

Everywhere you look, it's a disaster.

And I think when we get out there with a real strong, positive, common sense conservative alternative, I really believe we can pull this off.

I'm not saying it's going to be easy. It's not.

It's going to be difficult, but that means it's worth fighting for, and that's what I'm planning to do.

We're glad you're out in the Palisades.

We covered closely the terrible fires there and it seemed as though things were a lot worse because there wasn't effective disaster response and emergency response. One would hope that this would be the type of thing that would bring Republicans and Democrats together to act to demand something more responsive to their needs. Have you found converts, people who maybe were prior supporters of Newsom who've seen the way he's dealt with these disasters, and are now open minded about your candidacy.

One hundred percent. And I'm going to be seeing a lot of them tonight. We've got an event here in Los Angeles, and I know that many of the people coming people who were once Democrats, and we're thinking that that's the only way to vote in California.

That's just the way it is.

And they've just seen firsthand the kind of pain and suffering that's actually been inflicted on regular working people right across the state for many years now, small business owners and so on. I used to be a small business owner, used to run restaurants back in the day. The struggle of just doing anything in California. That's now come home

Matt Van Epps just won a congressional race in Tennessee, and his message was that you can't run away from Trump, that Democrats are already motivated in their hatred of President Trump, and the only way to match that enthusiasm is with a full embrace of the direction he's trying to take the country. I know that's challenging in a place like California, where President Trump didn't win the electoral votes. When you meet people who say, Gosh, Steve, you know I like you,

Well, I think it's a great question. I think there's a couple of aspects to it.

You've got the Trump policies, of course, which are the core of the appeal that I think we need to make in California, fighting for working class Californias. Remember what President Trump did both in twenty sixteen and then even more so twenty twenty four, a multi racial, working class coalition. So that's why my simple message is three dollars gas, cut your electric bills in half, your first one hundred grand, no state income tax, a home you can afford to buy.

That's part of it.

But the other thing I'd want to say is that actually, as for example, last night in East Los Angeles, heavily Latino area as a toy drive for Christmas in partnership with local churches.

There were people there in Maga hats.

I talked to people and ask them directly about the immigration raids, eyes, deportations and so on.

They say, no, we are American citizens.

Yes we have Latino family backgrounds, but we're American.

We work hard. We don't want our money going.

To people who shouldn't even be here at all, who are here illegally. So I think there's actually, despite some of the media narratives, a lot of support for the president's agenda, even in the most heavily Latino part of the state.

And that's what I saw for myself last night.

We've been watching very closely what's been happening among the Republicans running for governor of California, but they are also Democrats running. Katie Porter appears to be the current leader. She is someone that's had her rage issues exposed in some viral video clips. Are you expecting that you'll be running against Katie Porter after the runoff election?

And where do you.

Think she would take the state of California?

Well, more of the same.

Any of these Democrats in the terrible direction we've already been going now. I always say, how can the people who made the mess be the ones to clean it up? Right now, I think we've got a really fluid situation on the Democrat side because just in the last couple of weeks you've had two new candidates jump in the race, Eric Swoalwell and Tom stye So with Swoalwell, I don't

I mean, you've spoiled for choice.

You've also got Tom Steyer, who's a billionaire climate fanatic whose agenda is the main reason everything is so expensive in California. He's got unlimited money to spend on this. We're also hearing that the state Attorney General, Rob Bonter, who's mired in a corruption scandal of his own involving the disgraced mayor of Oakland and some dodgy waste removal company, he's thinking about running for governor and he would be the choice of the Sacramento political machine.

So it's still unclear to me who we're going to end up with.

But I think what I always say is it doesn't really matter who the Democrats send in the end. It's time for change in California. We cannot have another Democrat. We've got to go in a new direction.

I've said it before, I'll say it again.

The last time California elected a Republican governor, he was an immigrant with a funny accent. So maybe this is the magic elections. Steve Hilton, my good friend, a Republican candidate for governor at Stay Safe on the campaign.

Trail, Thank you Matt se Soon.

And coming up.

There needs to be accountability at the Pentagon, and the Trump administration is working to bring it. Ste Sheller is someone who the Biden administration punished. Now he's in a senior position in the Trump administration and he wants to see things happen. We've got my exclusive discussion with Lieutenant Colonel Sheller next.

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We go now to the Pentagon to explore how the United States military is rapidly changing under President Trump and Secretary Hegseeth. No person embodies that change more than Lieutenant Colonel Stu Sheller. Sheller became a personal hero of mine when he released this video calling for accountability for military leaders who had failed the nation.

I have a growing discontent and contempt for my perceived ineptitude at the foreign policy level, and I want to specifically ask some questions to some of my senior leaders. Did any of you throw your rank on the table and say, hey, it's a bad idea to evacuate Bogram Airfield, the strategic airberriers before we evacuate everyone, did anyone do that? And when you didn't think to do that, did anyone raise their hand and say we completely mess this up.

I have been.

Fighting for seventeen years. I am willing to throw it all away to say to my senior leaders I demand accountability.

I caught up with Stu Scheller in his new role holding those very leaders accountable. Now as a senior official in President Trump's Department of War. We're back with Stu Sheller's senior advisor at the Department of War on personnel and Readiness. He's also got a very special role in bringing accountability to some of the really bad decisions that were made in the Afghanistan withdrawal in the Afghanistan Wars too.

Thanks so much for joining me. I want to start with this.

You were almost vilified by this department in the last administration. Now you're a senior member of the leadership team here at the Department of War. Just that transit before we get into any of the substance. What's that transition been like for you. It's been gratifying.

You know, it's probably terrifying to some of the people, knowing what they did to me.

I mean, you're exactly right.

Not only was I fired the next day, I was sent to a mental health hospital to try to be admitted. I was court martialed. I was in prison for nine days. I was kicked out with a less than honorable discharge.

But at the end of the day. I kept my head up.

When you try to do something that's right, it fills you with the sense of courage to keep moving forward. And Secretary of War when he was nominated, I had a relationship with him and I wanted to follow him anywhere.

And so, by the grace of God God here.

What have you been proud to be working on here on the personal and readiness issues? And how's the department changed in that regard?

Yeah?

Absolutely, I'm like right where I want to be the deputy for the Afghan Task Force, which we'll talk about, but I'm also a senior advisor in personal and readiness, which anyone that knows anything about the Pentagon policy is like fighting the fight p and r's trained men and equip and that's what I'm passionate about people, people or policies.

See Wars said that.

And how we can refocus the war fighting mentality which I think we got away from, and making sure we're a meritocracy.

You know.

Sek War put out a video.

Of allowing me to look at how we evaluate and how we evaluate leadership directly impacts the leaders that we have. You wonder why in these big moments we have senior leaders that could have maybe made different decisions, and so it's just been really exciting. Matt, honestly, right where I need to be.

When your video went out about Afghanistan, there were so many Americans who felt like, finally they were hearing the truth. We'd been lied to by Republicans and Democrats and the media, and you were a clarion voice through all of that to the country. Knowing what you know now, looking back to that moment and your experience in Afghanistan, what do you see as the major flaws of that conflict and what are you hoping to ensure we don't mistakenly do again.

I'll start with the second question. I'm trying to make sure that this never happens again. You know, a member of the House, when we took the House two years ago, the House Foreign Affairs Committee went back and looked at this, but they kind of singularly came to the conclusion President Biden made mistakes. What we're looking at is senior military leaders.

I never once used his name.

What I said in that video was we have senior military leaders that made bad decision evacuated Bogram. I demand accountability, and they did vilify me for that. What the Second War has charged us with is just to go back and look at the facts, lay out the facts. Don't get emotional. We had an IPR with him last week. He said, don't get emotional again. He looked right at me. So I'm trying to, you know, keep it cool. But

Played out that way.

And anyone that was watching the final scene, they don't have to be a military expert to realize that we could have done that better.

No question, about it in a number of these questions, whether it's Afghanistan, the pursuit of the DEI agenda which has now been abandoned, or the vaccine mandate. There are some people who work for the military who will say, well, sure, I participated in that decision making process, but I was following orders. I shouldn't be held accountable for pressuring and coercing people to take the vaccine. I shouldn't be held accountable for telling people that they had to make evaluations

Yeah, that's a really tough question.

So in the three years between me getting out and coming here, I did a lot of speaking tours, and this question always comes up. When I was watching the Secretary of War give a brief to all the general officers, and he talked about who he's fired and who he hasn't, and he talked about, you know, were you just following orders or do you really believe in the DEI and the agenda of the past administration? And what he said,

When you make these.

Decisions, whether you're just following orders or you stick your head out and say this is wrong, that comes at a cost.

And when you do it, it's judgment based and it's an art.

But I'll tell you what, if you just keep your head down and follow orders till the end where you finally get to that place where you can make change, you become the very thing that you were trying to change.

You know, you're a great example of this.

You know, you could say, when do you stand up and make make a hard charge that you put yourself out there, you alienate yourself on an island, But you'll also make a very important point, and it's maybe the start of the change that we're all hoping for.

You were unfairly criticized for telling the truth to the country while you were wearing uniform. Now everyone is very concerned about the seditious six. Department of War Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said their conduct was traitorous, seditious. How do you evaluate that through the lens of caring for the personnel who still need to follow orders and still need to be part of a unified team.

Well, I was put in jail for nine days, so we'll see if any of those individuals are put in solitary confinement. You know, I did violate the u CMJ, I was I violated the social media policy, and I was conduct on becoming a gentleman. Those two things are true, you know, So maybe.

I should have been relieved.

But if I was the commentand of the Marine Corps, knowing the magnitude of Afghanistan and how it fell apart and me just asking for accountability, I would have slapped me on the wrist, fired me, but put my arm around me and walked around the force and had a town hall where we could have all healed together. That would have been leadership. That would have been tough for

I may need to ask you this question a few years from now, but we are about a year into this Trump administration. And I'm curious how durable do you think these changes are? I mean, were you are an example of how far the change has come. And I'm wondering if you think this is something that could easily snap back, or if you really think you're getting buy in in this building around the vision of President Trump and Secretary of Hesea.

It's very hard to just offer intent to people.

People in leadership can change and if they're all just going to follow orders, they'll just listen.

To the new intent.

But if you can change the system, get enough buy in to change how the promotion systems work, to change how the incentive structure works, then I think you can have lasting change. So it's a combination. You got to get by and you got to get people to believe, but then you have to change the system of incentives. And we're not there yet. So when you ask me in three years, that is when I got hired for this job. I'm on Afghan task Force, I'm helping with

And what's your plan to fix it?

Well, I don't want to get ahead of the Secretary on this one, so I'm still briefing, but I'm at the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs under Secretary SECT war level, and so I think Afghanistan Review there's a lot in there that can be tied to why we need to make some of these changes.

So more to follow.

Well, we very much look forward to that and the changes to the force. I do want to get to a more positive note. The best thing I ever got to do as a member of Congress was nominate young women and men for our service academies.

And as we've.

Seen this administration succeed and rebranding this department as one for the war fighter, what have you seen on the recruitment side and what do you think that portends for the future of the fighting.

Force recruitments through the roof. You know, leadership is everything. So when you have strong leadership in POTUS and SEC war, you can just see how it's gone through the roof. Now the middle management is still, you know, a holdover to trying to influence long term change with them. I think we have a lot of shortfalls in some of those areas.

And it just takes time. So I think given this administration, I think we can make.

A lot of good.

I'm just happy to be a part of it.

You mentioned earlier the system of promotion and the decisions on promotions. I found it really bizarre when Secretary of Austin would demand that people's photos be taken off of promotion packets. He was alleging some sort of racial bias. When that had when photos were taken off, it actually turned out that we had a less diverse officer class, not a more diverse officer class.

By ray, right now, when.

People are being reviewed for promotion, is there a photo attached and are you guys thinking about that question in the same way Secretary Austin did.

I believe the pictures are still missing, but we actually were having this conversation right now.

I certainly don't believe that at the Department of War we have a systemically racist institution that would block someone of merit based on how they looked on a picture do.

We That's crazy, honestly, Like imagine in politics if you're running and you just can't ever show your face. It's just positions, Like the person is part of the picture for a leader, So I think a picture is very important.

So yeah, Stu Scheller one of my personal heroes. So glad to see you here doing great work for the country.

Thanks for your service, appreciate you.

Our coverage of the Pentagon will continue. I'll bring you a discussion I had with Tim PALLATOORI. He's an interesting guy who went from President Trump's legal team to one of the senior legal advisors at the Department of War. And right now there are a lot of major legal questions the department is dealing with, from the Seditious six to the strikes in Venezuela.

We'll cover all of it. Don't go anywhere.

It's next on One American News.

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Jack Smith has taken a pretty careless approach, you know, from my dealings with that office, you know, for over a year. But before he came in and after, they're really trying to pursue charges here as opposed to actually pursuing justice, which is what the ethical obligations of prosecutors really are. In this case, they brought an indictment before they even finished their investigation, and he went perusing through the law books to try and find something that he

That was Tim Parlatoria, one of President Trump's attorneys. While Trump was victimized by a horrible lawfair Poleatoria is now a senior official at the Department of War, advising on legal issues. The Department is dealing with a lot of legal issues right now. Trump is using anti terrorism legal authorities in the Caribbean, and the administration is having to grapple with the legal consequences of the Seditious Six, a group of lawmakers who actively.

Called for the disobeyance of the chain of command.

Arizona Senator Mark Kelly is among the Seditious Six. Here's how Kingsley Wilson, the Press Secretary of the Department of War, talked about him.

This despicable video that Mark Kelly parked anticipated in with the Siditious Six was a politically motivated influence operation that was an attempt to undermine the chain of command to so distrust and division in our armed forces. That is absolutely ridiculous and it puts our warfighters at risk. And

Calling us sitting US senator disgraceful, seditious, traitorous is quite a moment. In this discussion, mister Pallatori discusses some of the complex legal intricacies that would append to any effort to hold Senator Kelly accountable under military justice. This is a very weighty, revealing legal analysis.

Pike listen.

Another major legal matter facing the Department is this seditious sixth video A lot of discussion with Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson yesterday, she called Senator Kelly's conduct traitoress seditious. We understand that there's a legal review underway right now at the Department of the Navy.

One lawyer to another, what.

Are some of the legal factors or legal tests that you would want reviewed in any type of allegation like this?

Sure, and I'm not part of that review, but you know my personal opinion, I look at it. You have to go beyond just the video itself. Okay, the video itself has two major problems with it. One is it misstates the law. Yeah, they keep saying, Oh, we're just saying what the UCMJ says. Under the UCMJ, orders are presumed to be lawful, and you only have an obligation to disobey manifestly unlawful orders. Manifestly meaning it's obvious to anybody that this is an unlawful Well.

They were obviously calling for every service member to impose their own moral judgment on every political question exactly.

And so I'll give you an example, because you start with that video, and then because they haven't defined the unlawful order, you look at their other rhetoric and where they talk about we think that the National Guard deployments are unlawful. We think the Venezuela strikes are unlawful. Okay, So let's take the National Guard. If a soldier gets orders to deploy to Chicago with the National Guard, some politicians say it's unlawful, some don't.

There's a debate over it.

It is presumed under the UCMJ to be a lawful order, they have to follow it.

If a soldier to refuse to go to Chicago, they're getting court martials.

They're going to jail once they get to Chicago. If they're out there on patrol, then the platune commander says, hey, shoot that protester in the head.

Okay, time out.

That one is a manifestly unlawful order.

That one.

Everybody on every side of the issue agrees. Everybody knows that's unlawful. That's the manifestly unlawful.

Order that you are required to disobey.

And so that's the problem is that they lowered the video, lowers the standard of what type of order you're supposed to disobey, leaves it open to interpretation, and then gets filled in through other rhetoric.

So I think that the review is going to.

Kind of look at the totality of the circumstances there, but then it's also going to look at the different options available and the feasibility of those options, because recalling a sitting senator to active duty it has major implications separation of powers implications. Under the Constitution, you're not allowed to hold office in two branches at the same time. So if you are both an active duty military officer and in sitting US senator, you're required to resign one

Guy.

Yeah, but it almost reads like an immunity tim because because if the same conduct were to occurred for someone who didn't have that protection but was subject to recall and military justice, it might be a different analysis.

And I think that's one of the concerns, is that if you tried it this way, and if he were to litigate it in the district court, you would end up potentially with an order saying that members of Congress Ermia.

Yeah, well, and I think you understand this well. You and I got to know each other because when just about every lawyer in America was running away from President Trump, you were brave enough to defend him. You were part of President Trump's legal team, and at that time there's this view on the left that charges against President Trump would derail his politics, and it had like just the opposite effect. You had the front row seat to it

That is a political consideration that I'm sure that the Secretary will consider. You know, Being in my capacity as a uniformed service member here, I would say that that is not something the General Bligh and the Navy will take into consideration.

They're going to look at.

The individual facts and look, it's quite likely that they're going to come out of this and they're going to say there's administrative avenues to go here instead of a court mark. So there's a range of options they have. They could do a retirement grade determination on Navy. They could say, look, in this video, you said I was a captain in the United States Navy.

Well, okay, you.

Did not serve as a captain honorably because of this, and so therefore we're going to reduce you one rank and now you're a retired commander.

You know that's a possibility.

There's any number of different things, but ultimately they're going to make a determination based on the facts and the law. And politics will come into it when the Secretary looks at it and the President looks at it, But when the Navy does their analysis, the politics is not going to be part of this. It is not a political retribution. It's a facts and the law analysis.

Tim Palazer, thanks so much for your time with One American News, and thanks for your service to the country. The holidays are here and it's a great time to celebrate family, freedom, all the blessings that we enjoy as Americans.

But it's also a time when people.

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Forward slash Matt save ten percent with code Matt ten. Today and coming up, we will have major discussions about the strategic choices facing the Department of War with senior strategy advisor Erica Garrison.

Don't go anywhere, We'll be right back.

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Strategicy strategy, It's pretty important.

We talked to Eric Garrisi at the Pentagon this week. He's one of Secretary Hegseth's top advisors on strategy. We pressed him on some of the hotspots throughout the World's to take a listen, it's been a year about the Trump administration's been here at the Department.

How would you assess it's going.

It's definitely fast paced.

We've done a lot of things, you know, refocusing the military on war fighting. At some point, we had gotten I think a little off track, a lot of too many non war fighting task put on the military dose. They only have so much time to be prepared to fight our next wars. And with Secretary of hext and under President Trump, you know, we were allowed to, you know, push the military back to his course function of fighting and winning our nation's wars.

You did inherit a world that was ablaze with conflict in different places. I want to ask you about some of the strategic decisions the Department has to make. Let's start in Latin America. What do you think is the prognosis for the Maduro regime. What choices do you think they're facing now in light of this major military built up in the Caribbean.

So I think under President Trump and Secretary Headseth, you know, we're streending. What the Department of War does is we create options for the president.

Right now, you have the largest amount. I worked at the United.

States Southern Command for about fifteen years, and this is the most grayholes that we've had. US Navy ships in the southcom Aoar are responsibility Western Hemisphere than the entire time I worked at. HAD is sending a clear message to our adversaries and those that are trying to bring drugs. It's not just shrugs. It's human trafficking. It's human smuggling. You have firearms trafficking. It's send us strong messages. This isn't going to be tolerated.

Not everyone's receiving that message. Despite the United States putting a lot of money into Planned Columbia, Gustavo Petro has clearly sided with Maduro Mexico a G twenty economy we would consider Mexico an ally. Typically Claudia Shinbaum, the president, they are saying she does not stand with the United States against Venezuela. Why do you think these traditional allies aren't getting the message?

Thank you for that question, great question. I think it's just going to take time. I don't think a lot of this stuff has been There's been so many years where we've just accepted and that this stuff's going to come into our country, that this stuff is going to go from South America and the Central America with the arrival into the US. It's not just a Latin America issue. It's also a US issue. You know, we've accepted that a certain amount of drugs can get into the country.

Yeah, but at the Department of War you don't do and on narcotics within the US, You're you're doing it right now with this very important mission in Latin America. Uh, you know, you say it's going to take some time for our allies to get the message. We have a number of train and equip missions that we do with Mexico. Now that mech is siding with Maduro in this conflict with Venezuela, should the United States continue training equip missions with the Mexican military.

Should we anything we could do to help improve the capacity for our partner nations is less things US forces need to be doing.

I agree, But are they really a partner if they're saying Maduro's right and Trump's wrong?

Me personally, I think they're a partner.

Yes, Mexico, even in light of the Mexican president's statements today.

I've spent a lot of time working with Mexican security forces and I can only speak for the mill to mill They are a solid partner.

Okay, Well, hopefully the political dynamic there catches up to it. Do you feel the same way about Colombia where the president has been very antagonistic toward the United States?

Once again, I'll speak for the mill to mill. Colombia has been a great partner. I've worked with them for many years, the mill to mill exchange, the interrupt ability with US forces.

They're a very good and capable partner.

So what do you think it does to those mill to mill relationships when the presidents of these countries speak out against the United States mission that's currently underway in the Caribbean.

It definitely, I want to say strain it, but it definitely it's it makes it just a little more tough to do what we need to do working with our partners.

Let's travel to another area of the world. What right now from a strategic planning standpoint, is the department preparing for for the department's role in Gaza in the coming months.

Once again, like what we do in Department of War is give the President options. I can't too much about Gaza really not my part of the stuff that I work on.

So, okay, that's not in the Gaza's not in the strategy portfolio at this time.

It's just not something that I'm there's other I'm not the only advisor in there. That's just not something I'm not going to give you like a screwed up answer.

Yeah, no problem.

The warrior culture is something Secretary head Seth has really been focused on during his time here. How would you assess the adoption of that ethos among the fighting force.

One of the great parts of my job is I get to go out and spend time with a lot of the units, got to visit all different units from all the different branches of service. I could tell you that the troops absolutely love the focus on the military and it's what they're joined to do. People don't want to be part of a losing team. They want to be part of a winning team, and us giving them all the assets, giving them all the resources, giving them

They're all about it.

The final question for you, with that motivation to be on the winning team, what are you seeing and recruit and how does some of the decisions you make at the strategic level impact the message that you're sending to America's young people that military service is a great way to spend a life.

Well, I could tell you first and like recruiting is the numbers are through the roof since President Trump got elected Secretary highsett that is capitalizing on that.

You know, I enlisted.

I was from New York at seventeen years old with a ged you know, off the street, and I was able to make a full career at them for myself. You can see where I'm where I'm sitting now, so I'm only in America. I was able to you know, I came out of the military.

Win masses agree. So it's it is that you can have a great life serving your country.

You know it's they're they're called the you know, the great there always are country's next greatest generation, as though that's a servant.

So thank you so much for your service to the country. You appreciate you. Spend some time with One American News and we'll be right back with more from Pentagon. Don't go anywhere.

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Welcome back.

We care deeply about military families on this program. They inspire the best within us because they are the best among us. I spoke recently with Anthony Tata, who oversees all of the policies that impact health and well being for our military families.

Take a listen to that full discussion.

Really appreciate you being here with one American News. We've got so much interest in the personnel the fighting force. How do you think that's changed under Secretary hegxt.

Well, it's all changed.

He's focused on the warrior ethos, rebuilding the military, re established into terms consistent with President Trump's focus on the entire piece through strength portfolio. You take a look at the presidential priorities of Golden Dough, the Southwest Border, all the other things that we're doing, like shipbuilding. My job is to reorient the personnel priorities to support the presidential priorities and the Secretary's priorities, and we're.

Doing that through We have nine hundred and fifty.

Hospitals and clinics that I'm in charge of with nine and a half million beneficiaries. We have the whole readiness of the entire fleet aircraft, ships, all platforms, tanks, personnel readiness, the entire three million strong force that we've got. It's a big portfolio. I have over one thousand child development centers K through twelve schools, youth activity centers with three

We've hit almost all of the hot button issues that drove our Military Personnel and Readiness Committee when I was in Congress, we were so frustrated when we saw a.

Critical race theory, promotion of socialism.

All that's gone.

We've had task forces that have leached all that out of our curriculum and all the K through twelve schools, through all the service academies, through all the senior service colleges, and we're focused on those things that unify us, not divide us. We're focused on lethality and war fighting and working together as a team instead of someone's individual identity and separating and showing how distinct and different people are. We're focused on America. We're focused on defending this nation.

Recruiting has been a big hobgoblin for the Department for quite some time. A lot of it comes from the fact that high schoolers are not as physically fit to be able to meet military standards.

What are you seeing in recruiting in this.

First year of the Trump administration in charge of the department, and what do you think is the challenge I had.

I know you were on the House Armed Services Committee, Matt, and so you know that recruiting wasn't so great on the previous administration. But since November of last year to now, we've exceeded the numbers in every category in active duty, we're just crushing the numbers Navy, Air Force, Army, Space Force, Marine Corps in every category. So the focus, it was a great segue, the focus on those things that unify

You mentioned the President's priorities and the health, infrastructure, serving our fighting Force. I want to talk to you about IVF, the House incentive. Both past of version of the National Defense Authorization Act that includes a provision to allow service members to access IVF for family formation. President Trump supports IVF. Do you think that should be in the bill that goes to his death?

Yeah.

I think that's a great thing, you know, building families, having great families of military families. You know, I know that many military families want to grow their families, and encouraging them to do that. I think that's a fantastic thing.

We were also deeply concerned when so many people in the military had to leave as a result of the vaccine mandate. While our discussion with the Secretary this morning was off the record, I left with the sense that he wanted to see more done on boarding people and clearing those backlogs.

What update can you give.

Us on Yeah, so not a day goes by that I don't work on this issue, the COVID reintegration as we call it. And so there's three works trains. At noon today, I had a call for thirty minutes with a member of that community that I've made a special government employee, Casey Dixon's. She was an Air Force jag major who got out because of the shots. She was not she elected to leave the service. She's now on my team and she's connected with that community. We have

We're also taking a look.

Do you have a specific goal for how many of these folks to re onboard or how to clear the back.

One thing that we're fine is, you know, not everybody wants to come in.

They moved on with.

Their life, they got jobs, they moved and we have contacted all eighty seven hundred involuntaries separated folks twice and encouraged them. And I think you know, we've done two reinstatements now a.

Very high level, high profile.

We did Kevin Bourne, the senior adjunt general from the Army, Colonel. The Secretary reinstated him and he's now the Army lead for COVID reinstatement. And then we did Mark Bashaw who was court martialed by Vinman who was the prosecutor, and pardoned by President Trump. I personally reinstated him and he's on the Army team now and that's given confidence to people that we're serious about this. On the reintegration piece, we're also looking at the people that don't want to

So you're going to perfect those departures were proactive.

We're looking at proactively just taking a look at all eighty seven hundred records and if they did the jagpile on with about five different charges all related to COVID.

We'll upgrade that.

And that's what we want to do. And because then they can get their GI bill. They can't get their GI bill now, they can't get educated, they can't use the benefit they earn. And some of them had their bonus recouped. So if they enlisted for three years, they were in for two. You know, the previously admitted SATs stole that money back from.

That's horrendous to hear. I'm so glad you're working on it. Final issue I want to discuss with you. This issue roared like a lion, like I would have never believed in my final year in Congress. It's the issue of the child development centers for our military families. Almost everyone I know who represented a military district was fighting for a child development center at their base. This has become

Our families are growing and our child development center need grows, you know, and so we're trying to keep pace with the growth of the families within our militaries. And we're happy that the families are growing. So we've got hundreds of child development centers and thousands of employees and that's part of this K through twelve portfolio of one hundred and sixty schools and then you know several hundred child development centers and several hundred youth activity centers and it's

You will fix the child child development issue or you will hear about it NonStop because these these moms and dads in the military connected to military service, they're really relying on they.

Should yea as they should.

You know, I was in the military. I had two kids, and you know I needed that service and they deserve. That's a benefit that we provide, and we have to deliver on that benefit, and we have to take it very seriously.

Mistreunder Secretary, you've been more than generous with your time. Thank you for your service to the country and for all the work you're doing on behalf of our military families.

Thank you, Matt, I appreciate, thank you service and comment.

Thanks.

That's all the time we have. We'll be back Monday, nine eastern six specific. Make sure to sign up for the OA and Live app if you haven't already, just go to OA and dot com, follow me on X at Matt Gates an email us the Matt Gates Show at O A n N dot com. Make sure your preferences are set on YouTube TV so that you always see O A N and stay right here because Fine Point guest hosted by my friend Mike Halwell is up next.

Let's go get him