- 2 months ago
Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy 8/31/25 | BREAKING FOX NEWS August 31, 2025
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Evening and thank you for joining us. I'm Trey Gowdy and it's Sunday night in America. For
00:09reasons that defy logic, some Democrats side with lawbreakers over crime victims. Does Gavin Newsom
00:16ever mention a crime victim? Does J.B. Pritzker seem as concerned about your safety as he is
00:22those here unlawfully? Public safety should be a unifying issue. I mean, who among us does not
00:29want to be safe and feel safe and walk without harassment and sleep without gunshots as background
00:36noise? I hate to break the news to blue state governors and mayors, but the feds do not need
00:41to ask your permission to enforce federal laws in your state. And if you interfere or obstruct with
00:49a federal officer, you yourself may wind up in an orange jumpsuit and very few of us look good in
00:56orange. Gavin Newsom was trying to be cute by bringing up crime rates in red states. Here's
01:02the difference. Jeff Landry in Louisiana would welcome the help. Henry McMaster in South Carolina
01:09would welcome the help. So would Greg Abbott. Any reasonable leader would take all the help
01:15offered to make his or her constituents safer, except some Democrat leaders who would rather
01:21have violence than work with the Trump administration. Speaking of which, the U.S. government does not run
01:28a travel agency. If you're here unlawfully like Abrego Garcia, you do not get to sit down with a map
01:35and say, you know, I think Italy would be pretty in autumn. The U.S. is exceptional. So we do afford due
01:43process, even to those who don't respect our laws. Garcia cannot be removed to El Salvador, but the rest of the
01:49the world is free game. The left says Obrega is a Maryland dad. It sounds sweet, like a Lifetime
01:57Channel movie, minus the domestic violence allegations. A Maryland dad with pending criminal charges whose
02:04first act on American soul was to break immigration laws. Joining us is Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
02:12Welcome, Mr. Dad. Good to see you. Thank you for being with us. Police presence deters crime. I genuinely do not
02:19understand the argument for less police, less prosecution, fewer prosecutors. What right matters
02:27if you aren't safe in reality and perception?
02:34One hundred percent. I mean, President Trump has repeatedly said that he insists on making America
02:42safe again. That's what he ran on. That's what he told the American people he was going to do from day
02:47one. And so the fact that there are these handful of governors and mayors across this country that
02:53that are trying to put up a fight to us literally making their streets safe. It's it's disgusting and
03:00sad. But it doesn't matter. Like you said a few minutes ago, Trey, the feds can go where we need to
03:05go. And that's exactly what we're doing. We're doing it in D.C. right now. And we're going to do it across
03:10every city in this country to make sure that America is safe again. You know, Mr. Dagg,
03:17something miraculous happened this week. The mayor of D.C. actually complimented you and other parts
03:24of the Trump administration. I mean, even she's a convert because the city is demonstrably safer
03:31even in the course of two weeks. Exactly. And that's because we're doing what the American
03:40people want us to do. That's because we're doing what the citizens of D.C. want us to do.
03:45They should be able to go out to dinner without having a fear of being pickpocketed or sucker
03:50punched. And the mayor recognizes that. And we're trying to do everything we can to work with the mayor
03:55and to work with the city officials in D.C. because we all should have exactly the same goal,
04:00which is to make D.C. the safest city in the world. And that's what President Trump's promised
04:04the American people. And that's what we're trying to do. And you're right. The mayor,
04:08the mayor is listening to her constituents and hearing them say, ah, shucks, this is great.
04:13We can now walk around at night and we appreciate the safety and feeling that we're okay now.
04:19And that's what that's what that's what we're going to keep on doing. And you're right. It's great
04:23to see the mayor and other folks in D.C. recognize the work that we're doing to help make that city safe.
04:30Mr. Dagg, you're a lot nicer person than I am. So I'm going to phrase this a little bit differently
04:35than you phrased it. Most reporters did not score high enough on the LSAT to attend law school.
04:42So I want us to help them. The feds do not need permission to go anywhere in the United States
04:48and enforce federal law. The U.S. has its own criminal code to enforce with or without a governor's
04:55permission. I read these stories that somehow you have to be invited. You have U.S. attorneys and
05:02AUSAs and every single jurisdiction that don't have to ask permission to do their jobs.
05:11That's right. That's exactly right. And you know that you were a prosecutor. I was a prosecutor.
05:15As a matter of fact, the citizens of these cities want AUSAs. They want federal prosecutors to help keep
05:21them safe. And we do not need permission from the governors. We do not need permission from the
05:25mayors to go in and do exactly what our oath says we have to do, which is put bad guys in jail, whether
05:31it's drug dealers, robbers, or other criminals that are in these cities right now. And we had a crime
05:37problem. President Trump ran on the fact that cities across this country were burning. And he ran on the
05:43fact that he was going to clean that up. And that's what Attorney General Bondi is doing every day. That's
05:48what Director Patel is doing every day. That's what I'm doing every day. Director Noem. That's what we're
05:54all doing is living up to exactly what President Trump has demanded that we do.
05:59All right. I want you to help our viewers sort through removal. Do those who are here unlawfully get to
06:06sit down with a travel agent and pick which country would make them happiest to go to?
06:11I mean, a judge might can say you can't send them to a certain country, but we don't run a travel
06:18agency. I mean, if we want to send somebody to a country that's willing to take them and a judge
06:22doesn't block it, that's where we send them. Of course. That's right. I mean, by the way,
06:29that's what our immigration laws allow us to do. That's what we've done for decades. That's what we've
06:34done during Democrat administrations. That's what we've done in past Republican administrations. And that's
06:38what we're doing in this administration. Speaking of which, Trey, today, today you saw something
06:43extraordinary in Washington, D.C. And by extraordinary, I mean disgusting. In the middle of the night,
06:49at 3.30 a.m., a local judge in D.C. enjoined the Department of Justice, ICE, and DHS from sending
06:58Guatemalan children back to their parents in Guatemala. Now think about that. Think about that for a minute.
07:04In the middle of the night, without even asking the government for their position,
07:12this judge enjoined the Department of Justice, ICE, and DHS from the Department of Justice, ICE, and DHS.
07:17They're really good appellate division, so I'm going to put my money on you all.
07:21Boy, you can't sleep. I mean, there was football law last night. Todd, you should have been watching
07:26that, not worrying about what some district judge was doing. But thank you for what you're doing. This is
07:31not a political issue. It is a life or death issue. Thank you and the women and men of DOJ for trying
07:37to keep us safe and for joining us on a Sunday night. Happy Labor Day.
07:41Thank you, Trey.
07:43Yes, sir. If you can keep a secret, President Trump is not thrilled with Fed Chair Jerome Powell. That
07:49may not trigger removal, but allegations of mortgage fraud can. Fed Governor Lisa Cook has been
07:55informally accused of mortgage fraud. No indictment, no arrest. But is the standard for cause or for
08:01conviction? Joining us is Chris Swecker, former assistant FBI director. Welcome, Special Agent.
08:08What is mortgage fraud and how is it proven? Good evening, Trey. Well, mortgage fraud really
08:16burst on the scene right before the big financial crisis since 07, 08, 09, when we had all kinds of
08:23different fraudulent activities taking place in the mortgage market. Straw buyers, appraisals that
08:30were inflated. We had attorneys and appraisers that were involved. I mean, there were just big,
08:36huge mortgage fraud fraud cases. And there were, you know, there were a lot of individual cases
08:42like this one that at that time really didn't get prosecuted because there were so many big mortgage
08:48fraud, big multi-billion dollar frauds taking place. But nonetheless, what happened here is that
08:55that the Fed Governor lied on her mortgage application just to get a lower interest rate.
09:01She said that she would occupy this house or these three different houses to get a lower interest rate.
09:06And the banks are underwriters. They decide what type of risk they want to take. The default rates are higher
09:13higher on investment property over owner occupied property. So they give a higher rate to investment
09:19property. She lied on her loan application to get a lower rate. So it's a, you know, it's a,
09:24it's a small mortgage fraud. It's not a big institutional systemic fraud that she did,
09:30but she committed fraud nonetheless. And I think it's worse because she's a part of the body that
09:34actually regulates these banks and preaches to them to look out for mortgage fraud.
09:39Yeah. You know, special agent for all those folks who can't afford that second and third home. I mean,
09:47it is important that you tell the truth on your mortgage application and you can't have multiple
09:52primary residences. I mean, you can't live in more than one house the majority of the year. She's suing
09:58the stay on the board, on the Fed board for, for calls to me does not equal for conviction. I mean,
10:04those are two different standards. What do you think? I agree 100%. You know, as you as a former
10:13federal prosecutor know, an individual case like this probably would, won't get prosecuted, but it
10:20doesn't mean that they, that you can't fire someone because they lied on a mortgage application or three
10:26different applications, especially when they're, they're part of the governing body, the regulating
10:31body for banks that again are responsible for the safety and soundness of our banks and, and issue
10:38the rules and regulations around detecting mortgage fraud and preventing mortgage fraud in the financial
10:44industry. So that's, you know, that, that right there is what I would call cause at least here in North
10:50Carolina and I'll bet South Carolina too. All right, special agent, before I'll let you go,
10:55you and I were together this week during yet another awful shooting. This one at a church
11:01targeting school children. I mean, our country can do almost anything we put our minds to,
11:06but we're struggling to keep soft targets and innocent children alive. You have a unique perspective
11:13that I know a lot of people respect. Is there something that we're missing that can be done
11:19to, to, to stop this without punishing law abiding citizens who would never hurt anyone?
11:26Yeah, there are, there are a lot of things, Trey. I mean, one of the things that I do
11:30is school security assessments for universities, schools, churches,
11:34them, a number of our universities here in North Carolina, at least two dozen churches and schools.
11:40And I, you know, I always advocate for first deterrent prevention, an early warning system
11:45to detect any red flags, if you will. And it's one of those things that you can do in the church or
11:53in the school, just your guidance counselors, your teachers, your staff, just watching for,
11:58for someone who seems to be disturbed and articulating things and, and looks like they're
12:02about to go off. That also extends to the parents and the community as well. So what is that detection
12:08system and being willing to report it so that someone can intervene? If you can't prevent it from
12:15happening, there are a lot of things you can do at the school and church to, to mitigate it.
12:19And in this case, and in all cases, I recommend an armed security presence at the university,
12:26at the school, at the church. And I know that, that, you know, a lot of, uh, administrators and
12:32executive directors push back and say, look, we don't want to look like Fort Knox, but in this day
12:36and age, you, you must have that presence outside your church or school or facility to deter some
12:44and to, and to confront someone if they come in to do what happened here. So that, and then there's
12:50a whole myriad of other things. I mean, access control, locked doors, uh, electronic access control,
12:56there, you know, there are, uh, policies that you can put in place. I mean, there's just a lot of
13:01things you can do to mitigate what happened here. It was a heartbreaking time. I was glad to have your
13:08perspective that day and thank you for your service to our country and hope you have a good Labor Day
13:13weekend. Thank you. You too, Trey. All right. Special Agent, crime is not a red or blue issue.
13:21It's life or death. Why is that so hard for some to grasp? Let's find out when we come back on Sunday
13:28night in America. Donald Trump. We greatly appreciate the surge of officers that enhance,
13:43um, what MPD has been able to do, uh, in this city. This is what, um, we think in just a couple of weeks
13:52of experience has worked having more federal law enforcement officers on the street. Uh, we think
13:59having more stops that, um, got to illegal guns has helped. But Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker still
14:09put his own ample ambition ahead of your safety. So it's clear that in secret they're planning this,
14:16well, it's an invasion with U.S. troops if they in fact do that. And I must say it's disruptive.
14:23It's dangerous. It tends to inflame passions on the ground when they don't let us know what their
14:29plans are and when we can't coordinate with them. Oh, my Lord, that's proof once again that you can
14:36be really rich and really dumb. Perhaps the governor missed the news. Police presence deters crime.
14:42Swift certain punishment deters crime. Taking care of the details makes the larger picture
14:50safer, especially for those who aren't billionaires like he is and can't afford private security
14:57and gated communities. Joining us is former police officer and host of the Officer Tatum Show. Brandon
15:04Tatum, welcome, sir, and thank you for your service. I never had a crime victim ask me about politics.
15:10Never ever. When did public safety become a political issue? I doubt when you were in law
15:18enforcement, people didn't care about your politics. They just wanted you to help keep them safe.
15:24Well, yeah, Trey, thank you so much for having me on. And the interesting thing is that when they
15:28call 911, they don't want to say, can you send me a Trump supporter to come to this call?
15:32People don't tend to do that. People want help. They want to be rescued in many of these cases where
15:38they're facing life and death situations. And only people that's going to come and save them
15:41are going to be the police officers at that time. So people don't really care about politics. The
15:45people who are really struggling and dealing with the crime that we see in these cities,
15:50only the politicians are worried about politics. Only the politicians care or don't care about
15:55your safety, depending on who's in office. When Donald Trump is in office, these politicians with
16:00Trump derangement syndrome, they actually want you to be unsafe. They do not care about helping you if
16:05it's going to benefit the image and the reputation of President Trump. And I think it's wrong.
16:09The people need to start waking up and realizing that, you know, they tell a lot about, oh,
16:14the crime rates are down and we're implementing these policies like they like Gavin Newsom has
16:18mentioned before in California. But it's where have you guys been for the last several decades
16:24where crime has been out of control? People begin murdered in the streets.
16:27And now that Trump is saying something that they want to have a response and they never cared before.
16:31Yeah. You know, I'm always suspicious of crime rates. I mean, in certain communities,
16:38nothing's against the law anymore. So of course the crime rate's going to go down because you
16:42decriminalized everything. Crime to me is attacks on people who cannot move. It's a single mother who
16:50puts her child to bed with gunshots as the background noise. The elderly woman on a fixed income who cannot
16:57afford to move. Why can't the left see that? Rich people can move. Others cannot. I mean,
17:04the people they're hurting are the people they claim to care the most about.
17:10Exactly. Because the thing is that they are out of touch. Two things are happening or maybe both
17:15simultaneously. They're either out of touch or they don't care or they're out of touch and they don't
17:21care. Because anybody that have ever grown up in America, most of us have grown up in humble beginnings.
17:27And because of humble beginnings, we go on to try to build and charge something positive for our
17:33families moving forward. And we become a little bit better than where we started. And I've been
17:37through that myself. You know, when I didn't have enough money to move, I realized the effects of
17:41that. And now I have enough money to move. I realize that these rich people and people that got money,
17:46they live in gated communities. They live in the Scottsdale's of cities where the crime is
17:52incredibly low. You call the police officers where I live, they're going to be there probably in a
17:57minute or two. And it only have to be a violent crime. But the people who struggle the most in
18:01the inner cities, the people that are running these grocery stores and some of these that are in
18:06high crime areas, they call and the police never show up. And that's a big problem. And some of these
18:13governors, mayors who want a grandstand, I just wish that one day they would go and experience what
18:20it's like for the people that need the police the most. It's not the wealthy people. It's not the
18:25people that live in these nice houses in gated communities, even outside of gated communities,
18:30that live in the north side of town. They don't need it as much. It's the people that live in the
18:34south side. They get robbed every day. They wake up in the middle of the night to gunshots,
18:38gang violence. They can't even go to a store without having all the equipment locked up or
18:43all the products locked up because people are thugging every day. And they can just take a little
18:48time, Trey, and go to the inner cities and just stay at the hotel, leave your security, you know,
18:55back at the headquarters and have a real experience of what people go through.
19:00They won't do it. They won't do it. A crime is a tax on people who can least afford to pay it.
19:06It's the people who can't move. Thank God you were able to do it. But for all the single moms and
19:12other people who are stuck in these neighborhoods and you got the J.B. Pritzkers of the world surrounded
19:18by security details, I wish they would come spend a night in a hotel or a section of town where the
19:26crime rate is high. In the meantime, I got to thank you for your service because it's the hardest job
19:30being in law enforcement. So thank you for wearing the uniform and the badge and for
19:36loaning us your expertise on Labor Day weekend.
19:41Well, thank you. I appreciate that.
19:44All right. You take care. Someone told Democrats the key to your heart is cursing like a sailor and
19:50dancing like you're on a three-day meth bender. They lied after the break.
19:55Israel says it's already began the initial stages of the takeover. Right now,
20:04the IDF is pounding the city with strikes, building up ground forces and targeting Hamas's
20:08infrastructure on the outskirts. Israel says the city is one of Hamas's last strongholds
20:14and claims capturing it is crucial to defeating the group. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians
20:19could be displaced. And congressional lawmakers returned from August recess this week to a jam
20:25packed schedule. On the agenda, averting a government shutdown at the end of September
20:30and possible new tariffs tied to Russia. House members may also be forced to vote on releasing
20:35additional files connected to Jeffrey Epstein. I'm Marianne Rafferty. Now back to Sunday Night in America.
20:49I will build this world from love. We will not obey. Exploitation.
21:06Welcome back to Sunday Night in America, I think. I'm sorry. I should have warned you before you had to
21:13witness that. AOC does have a little bit of rhythm, but the rest of that constitutes cruel and unusual
21:20punishment. Democrats have tried embracing criminal defendants, socialism. They tried cursing, dancing,
21:28cursing while dancing. It might be simpler than that. A stable economy, military strength, domestic safety,
21:35traditional Western values rather than some alphabet of genders. What is the path out of their current
21:42malaise? And with the midterms coming, what do Republicans need to focus on? Let's ask former
21:48Deputy White House Chief of Staff, Mr. Karl Rove. Welcome, Mr. Rove. Do voters like either party or just
21:56dislike right now Democrats more? Well, there's an element of the electorate that loves their party.
22:05But yeah, the dominant thing is that the Democrats are missing the vote. They lost the 2024 election
22:12because people said, I don't want four more years of the craziness we've had under Biden-Harris.
22:17And so far this year, they've done little to diminish that concern. You know, the weirdness on
22:24the issues, the weirdness in their language, their inability to project a positive image of what they
22:30actually want to do other than stop the fascism of Donald Trump. I mean, it's just amazing to me how they
22:36have squandered the first nine months of 2025. All right, you are considered a political expert by
22:45many. Both parties, to me, I'm not an expert, but they seem to have bases that they cannot survive
22:51without. But they're also trying to assemble some amalgamation of eclectic constituencies.
23:00What are voters looking for? I mean, if you were back in to advising politicians,
23:06what are voters looking for in their candidates and their policies?
23:14Well, look, in the midterm elections, in a way, each side is going to be,
23:20you know, conveying a message that is trying to attract the same group of people, roughly.
23:25These are people who are, you know, on the one hand, each party is going to be trying to generate
23:29the maximum turnout of its own partisans. But that's only going to work in red or blue districts.
23:37But a lot of elections are going to be decided by a group of people who are going to be torn.
23:42On the one hand, the incumbent party, the party of Donald Trump and the Republicans,
23:46is going to be saying, we're making important changes that are going to make your life better.
23:51And some of that they're going to be able to point to is clear. Nobody can can argue with it. The
23:55border is now secure. Everybody can agree with that. You may not like it if you're a Democrat,
24:00but it is it is secure. The Democrats on the other hand are going to say,
24:06we're the party of change, we're going to be better for you than what you're getting from the in-party,
24:12because they failed you on the economy, jobs, inflation, the world, whatever the issue of the
24:18moment is. And they're going to be saying, if you want more of the same, vote for them. If you want
24:25to have change, vote for us. All right. I got to ask you this before I let you go. Joni Ernst from
24:31Iowa looks like she's not running again. Tom Tillis definitely not running again. Brian Kemp took a pass.
24:37Two Republican senators are leaving the Senate to go run for governor. Has the U.S. Senate lost its
24:45allure? Are people frustrated with D.C.? I mean, that used to be like the pinnacle to be in the U.S.
24:51Senate. And it just doesn't seem that way anymore. Yeah, I think that's right. And, you know,
24:57we're the Senate map, fortunately, for the Republicans is good. That is to say, most of the seats that are up
25:03next year are in red states where the likelihood of, you know, winning the Senate race in Idaho
25:09for the Democrats is very small. But yes, it is a sign of sort of like people's exhaustion with the
25:16with the way of politics is conducted today. And we're going to lose some good people as a result.
25:21Hopefully they will be replaced by good people. But it is going to stretch resources when it comes to
25:26the Senate, because the Republicans are going to be trying to win the open race in Michigan.
25:31They're going to be trying to knock off an incumbent Democrat in in Georgia. But they're also going
25:37to have to be defending an open seat in North Carolina where the Republican registration numbers
25:41have gotten a lot better. But the number of unaffiliated voters is grown faster than the
25:47number of Republican net gain by about a margin of four of eight to one. And that's a problem.
25:53Actually, four to one. That's a that's a problem. And so the electorate next year that the Republicans
25:59and Democrats are both going to have to be focused on are people who are for up for grabs. And whoever
26:04makes the better case to them, whether it's a race for the Senate House or governor is going to be in
26:09a much better situation. Our mutual friend, Tim Scott, is running the reelect for the U.S. Senate.
26:15Tough job. Good map, but tough job. Karl Rove giving up part of his Labor Day weekend. Thank you so
26:22much for loaning us your expertise and hope to see you soon. Great. Thanks, Trey. Appreciate it. Happy Labor Day.
26:28Yes, sir. Likewise. Take care. Up next, if you thought that game at Cracker Barrel with the
26:34wooden triangles and the golf tees was hard, try figuring out why they changed their logo for a
26:39week. To paraphrase Dirks Bentley, I know what they were feeling, but what were they thinking?
26:58Yes?
27:19Yes, sir.
27:20Yes, sir.
27:21Yes.
27:52There we go.
28:22Here we go.
28:52Here we go.
Recommended
1:28:58
Be the first to comment