00:00The heart of our agreement is a commitment to using lethal military force to destroy
00:07the sinister cartels and terrorist networks once and for all. We'll get rid of them.
00:11We'll use missiles. If you want us to use a missile, they're extremely accurate.
00:16Boom. Right into the living room. That's the end of that cartel person.
00:23President Trump vowing to use U.S. military power to eradicate cartels and narco-terrorists
00:29in the Western Hemisphere. The summit follows a joint operation with Ecuador that took down the
00:35Los Lobos foreign terrorist organization and the killing of Mexican drug lord El Mencho.
00:41Joining us now is Derek Maltz. He's the former acting DEA administrator. Derek, you're the perfect
00:46guest. You have been studying and fighting cartel violence and corruption for decades. Have you ever
00:53seen anything like this kind of leadership from the U.S. President Trump and this joining of alliances
01:03with all of these Latin American nations ever before?
01:09Rachel, thank you so much for having me. And the answer is no, I've never seen it. It's great to
01:13see this administration and the president keeping their promises, keeping Americans' safety and
01:18security at the top of the list. President Trump is forming a powerful force of good
01:23to defeat and destroy evil. This administration's leadership has been unprecedented. And let's
01:29remember this, the cartels and our adversaries deal in death, but this administration fights for
01:36lives, okay? That message is clear to the world. Pete Hegseth, Marco Rubio, the president, the vice
01:43president, they've been really clear they're not going to tolerate the death and destruction
01:47of this country, right? This battle that we're in with the Chinese criminal networks
01:52and the cartels requires all expertise, all capabilities, and all authorities to defeat this
01:59enemy. Rachel, let me just give you a couple of quick stats. Just recently, the law enforcement
02:06community has been working so hard, 628,000 car fentanyl pills seized in California. That's 100 times
02:14more potent than fentanyl. Just recently this week, record amounts of meth seized in Washington state
02:20with fentanyl. California, 2,700 pounds of meth and this dangerous lab in our backyards, conversion
02:28labs in Georgia. But the point is, is we're on track now because we're using law enforcement
02:34domestically to decimate these cartels. But now to have these countries uniting is, we've never seen
02:42it, Rachel. Yeah, it's incredible. I mean, we're seeing these countries saying, yes, help us get
02:46rid of the cartels. I remember seeing Kamala Harris saying, I'm going to deal with the root causes of
02:51why people want to come to the United States. Guess what the root cause is? Cartel violence. They
02:55couldn't live. These countries were totally dysfunctional because the cartels were embedded
03:01inside of the government and inside of their town leaderships. And nobody could operate a business
03:06without having to pay off these cartels. And of course, people want to leave a country that's run
03:11like that. I want to talk a little bit about Claudia Scheinbaum. President Trump has, since he came into
03:17office, he's been offering her more than just resources. He's been saying, tell us where these
03:23cartels, let us get in there and get boots on the ground or drones overhead to get rid of these
03:29cartels. And she's been very resistant because I believe she's in bed with these cartels.
03:34And she's been saying, oh, sovereignty, Mexican sovereignty, you know, kind of keeping him at
03:40arm's length with his offer to help in the way that he just said at the beginning of this segment.
03:47And I've spoken to Mexican citizens and they have said, we want that help. Our country isn't
03:54sovereign. It's run by cartels. So do you think she's now more isolated? I mean, you see this
03:59collection of other leaders in Latin America surrounding Trump saying, we want to help,
04:04we want to get rid of the cartels. What kind of pressure is now being put on her to finally
04:09cooperate with President Trump and rid our closest neighbor and friends in Mexico of this scourge?
04:20So, Rachel, that's a great point. So I know firsthand in February of last year as the acting
04:25administrator, I was at Dulles Airport when major cartel leaders, including Los Zetas leaders,
04:30arrived. So President Scheinbaum, Omar Hafush have done a lot so far to actually remove 92 high-level
04:37criminals into the U.S. to face justice. But there is a lot of political pressure. But President Trump
04:44is working this beautifully because we're seeing a lot more work being done in Mexico. Obviously,
04:51you know, they've completely stopped the flow of migrants into America, you know, working together.
04:56And now we just have to keep the pressure. But as these other countries unite, as we saw in Ecuador,
05:02we're taking the fight right to the cartels. We can no longer be defensive. We have to be offensive.
05:08And we have to go after these threats like we've never done before. So I believe that things are
05:13right on track, not only with Mexico, but Colombia is another one. Let's not forget about the massive
05:20production of cocaine in Colombia. Yeah, no question about it. I do believe,
05:24Derek, that as the citizens of countries say in Mexico and Colombia, as they see these other
05:31countries like El Salvador and Ecuador, rid themselves of these cartels, the demand for
05:37their own leaders to do so is going to only increase. And so that's the good kind of political
05:43pressure we need, the people calling for it. And I'll tell you, in Mexico, they're crying out for
05:48help. Derek, so great to have you on. Thank you for your insight on this issue.
05:53Rachel, can I just say one last thing quickly? Sure, of course.
05:55I'm asking the president to please work with Sarah Carter, have the same type of summit on the demand
06:02side. The kids need education now. It's too late if we wait.
06:08Oh, great point. We got to hit it on all sides. Derek, thanks for joining us.
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