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June 14, 2024 35 mins
Ryan Gorman is filling in for Michael DelGiorno this week.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, it's Michael reminding you that your morning show can
be heard live each weekday morning five to eighth Central,
six to nine Eastern and great cities like Nashville, Tennessee
two below, Mississippi, and Sacramento, California. We'd love to be
a part of your morning routine and take the drive
to work with you, but better late than never. We're
grateful you're here now. Enjoy the podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Starting your morning off right. A new way of talk,
a new way of understanding, because we're in this together.
This is your Morning Show with Michael Dale.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
John. Welcome to the show on this lovely Friday, June fourteenth.
I'm Ryan Gorman with Dana McKay and Chris Trankman from
our newsroom. We're live on air and on your iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 4 (00:47):
At least I think we are.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
I mean, I think we've got most technical difficulties assault.
At this point, it's been.

Speaker 5 (00:52):
Don't say that, it's been a fun morning.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
Fun morning. Coming up this hour, we're going to recap
former President Donald Trump's meetings with republic and lawmakers on
Capitol Hill yesterday, plus a really important story about new
data on US service member suicide rates. This is so disturbing,
and it's hardly getting any attention. You're not seeing it

(01:17):
in the headlines. But we're going to have it for you.
We're going to talk to the reporter who broke the
story in about twenty five minutes. Right now, let's get
to today's top stories with Chris Trenkman.

Speaker 6 (01:29):
Good morning, Chris, Good morning. President Biden says he won't
use his presidential powers to lessen the sentence that his
son Hunter Biden, will receive for his federal felony conviction
on gun crimes. Biden was speaking at the G seven Summit,
and he said he would respect the jury's decision in
the case. Biden's remarks came a day after the White

(01:49):
House declined to rule out a potential commutation for Hunter.
Both the President and the White House has said for
months that Biden would not pardon his son, and there
is a different It's obviously pardon is a complete wiping
out of the conviction, but a commutation would lessen the
sentence if he chose to go that route.

Speaker 3 (02:08):
So yesterday I was saying, if you're Hunter Biden, what
do you get the dad in your life who you
need a pardon from for a Father's Day. Now that
Biden said this, I think, if you haven't already purchased
the gift, do you get him anything?

Speaker 5 (02:25):
I mean, because he says he's not doing it. No,
no commutation, Just.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
Take the gift back. Yeah, return the gift, keep it
for yourself. I mean, that's obviously not the news that
Hunter Biden wanted to It looks like it looks like
a gift card for dad. I think we're back to
that twenty five dollars Applebee's gift card for Joe Biden.
But look, the fact of the matter is politically, at
least now ahead of the election, he can't he can't

(02:51):
do anything other than what he's doing, saying that there's
not going to be a commuting of a sentence and
they're certainly not going to be a pardon. I maintain
that if he were to lose the election or win
the elect whenever it is that Biden is on his
way out the door, that could change. Now. Of course,

(03:13):
if he wins the election, it could all be over
for Hunter Biden by the time he heads out the door.
You know, I don't think Hunter Biden's going to serve years.
And I mean, we'll see with the September tax case
that he's facing those charges which are serious, and he's
gotten a pill climb in that one too. But I
think that's President Biden's just in a situation where he

(03:37):
can say nothing other than what he's been saying the
past couple of days. Well, sentencing in this case is
going to be pretty close to the election. Yeah, so
we'll see what happens with that, and then of course
everybody will be looking to see what the president does,
especially if Hunter does get time behind bars. You know,
I wonder so if President Biden were to commute the

(03:58):
sentence or pardon Hunt ahead of the election, I think
that would have a negative impact on his election chances.
I think when you're talking about as close of an
election as this is likely going to be, the votes
on the margins are going to make a difference, and
it could have I don't think it's going to have
a positive impact, that's for sure. If Hunter Biden gets

(04:22):
sentenced to prison and he doesn't do anything, could that
have a positive impact? Could people say, you know, I
mean he could have done something for his son, he
chose nothing.

Speaker 5 (04:36):
I don't think people care that much. I think it
would be really bad if he did do something. But
I don't think people care that much that they're, oh
my gosh, president, but let me vote for him because
he didn't use his power against out of trouble. I
just told you that.

Speaker 6 (04:48):
I would point out though, that it is his son,
as opposed to a politically connected person or somebody involved
in a different way. When you think of pardons that
the president gives, it's usually to people who have some
kind of connection to the White House.

Speaker 3 (05:02):
It's not been done on.

Speaker 6 (05:03):
The way out the door, in like an overnight secret
you know, signing that people don't know about, and they're controversial.
It wouldn't surprise that many people if Biden pardoned or
commuted a sentence for his son. I'm sure Donald Trump
would have done the same thing if it was his son. Oh,
I think in there so, I don't think it has
the same sort of weight on voters, especially when you

(05:23):
consider the circumstances of this kind of thing, I mean,
filling out paperwork and all that. I don't know, generally,
the case wouldn't have been brought if his name wasn't
so under these circumstances. Now, you're right, though, Biden's not
going to take that chance, but not before the election. No,
But I still don't think it's as big a deal
as some of these pardons that are given, you know,
in the middle of the night to these controversial characters.

(05:44):
So yeah, some people who aren't even in the country,
you know, that.

Speaker 4 (05:46):
Kind of thing.

Speaker 3 (05:47):
Yeah. Now the tax case, that's a little bit of
a different story in September. So we'll see, Dana. If
you if let's say your son did the exact same thing,
he was addicted to crack, right, and he lied on
a federal firearms form, would would you pardon him?

Speaker 5 (06:05):
Yeah? My child can do no wrong, right, Okay, he
would pardon Yes.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
I think most parents would do it. Yeah, I think so.
I think you're right. What else we have gone on
this morning?

Speaker 6 (06:14):
Chris Center Republicans blocked a bill aimed at ensuring federal
protections for in vitro fertilization as the Senate majority leader
Chuck Schumer forced them to take a difficult vote on
what has become a hot bud and election issue Democrats
trying to hold Republican's feet to the fire. On reproductive
rights comes two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe

(06:36):
versus Wade and this is, of course ahead of the
twenty twenty four elections, the GOP trying to dodge the
issue it has hurt them in recent election.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
Yeah, welcome to election year politics. This is all about
getting that vote on the record and then using it
in campaign ads. I mean, that's essentially what's going on here.
I liken this too a solution to a problem that
at the moment doesn't exist. Now, there was obviously an
issue in Alabama. The legislature there has uh they passed
a bill that has rectified some of what became problematic

(07:08):
after that uh Supreme Court ruling. I think there are
still some things that they need to address, but IVF
treatments are ongoing in Alabama, and that's really the only
state where we've seen this kind of an issue. So
I feel like this is you know, this is hardball
election year politics. That's essentially what's going on here.

Speaker 6 (07:29):
I think the idea here is that the Democrats are
pointing out that the Supreme Court overturned Row versus Wade,
Therefore IVF could be next.

Speaker 3 (07:37):
Yeah, and that's what they're trying to argument.

Speaker 5 (07:39):
That's what they're trying to put out there.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
Well, I mean, well, roll versus WAD was extreme. You
could you could see, you know, that slippery slope. But
it's been pretty clear that Republicans they've been they've been
very open about the fact that that's not what they're
looking to do. And even in Alabama where inadvertently that
ended up happening because of that ruling where it seemed

(08:03):
like IVF wasn't going to be available in that state,
they rectified it.

Speaker 6 (08:08):
Yeah, and it's not like their legislature isn't conservative exactly right, right.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
So again, this is election your politics, That's what's going
on here.

Speaker 6 (08:16):
So Tesla's shareholders gave a big thumbs up to CEO
Elon Musk's controversial fifty six billion dollar paypack.

Speaker 4 (08:23):
How about that?

Speaker 6 (08:24):
So what's the hourly wage on that that it's up there,
the company said on Thursday. It paves the way for
the mogul to keep his focus on his biggest source
of wealth. Shareholders also approved a plan to move the
company's legal home to Texas from Delaware. Now, this happened
after a judge essentially invalidated the initial plan to pay

(08:46):
Elon Musk all that money, but with the support of
these shareholders, it sent the Electric vehicle company stock soaring
by as much as six percent after yesterday's opening bell.
And it also is the latest twist in this eagle
war over Musk's pay package, Tesla fighting to reverse that
core judge's decision in January to avoid the compensation plan.

(09:08):
Judge Kathleen McCormick called it an unfathomable song, which it is,
but at the same time, it is his company exactly.

Speaker 3 (09:17):
Now on the Tesla front, you know, we talk a
lot about Elon Musk when it comes to X and
SpaceX has been in the news a lot, but you know,
Tesla's got some serious competition now. Yes, so China is.
They are getting into the EV market. The EV market
is cooled here in the US in recent years, so
things aren't going as swimmingly for Tesla as they once were.

(09:40):
But he's still been on the cutting edge of all
of this kind of stuff. I wish, and I've I
sound like a broken record, but I wish Elon Musk
would focus on the things like Tesla, SpaceX, that stuff
instead of the nonsense that he does on X.

Speaker 5 (09:55):
Yeah, the science that he's really good.

Speaker 3 (09:57):
Yeah, he really is a genius at those kinds of things.

Speaker 5 (10:00):
But I think the X was like his toy, Like
he's and he has everything, and he's like, let me
buy this social media platform and put all this nonsense
out there. It's like a toy for him.

Speaker 3 (10:10):
Yeah. I wanted the hyper loop. That was another one
of his projects. It's supposed to be this little tube
that can zip you around all over the place in
a short period of time. It could have been revolutionary
for transportation. It could have you know, connected La and
San Francisco and San Diego and Texas, Dallas, Houston, you
know in that state in Florida, Miami town could have

(10:31):
done all these amazing things. And where he is on
it and said he's posting away. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (10:37):
Well, the thing about Tesla is he was definitely ahead
of the curve when it came to electric vehicles, especially
in this country. The problem, though, is China has copied
a lot of his ideas and they're producing quality cars
at a much lower price, and it is genuinely hurt Tesla,
and I think has made a musk concern about the
future of his business. And now you have people here

(10:58):
in the United States, including President Biden and former President Trump,
talking about jacking up tariffs to prevent these Chinese cars
from coming into our market and essentially destroying Tesla an
American company.

Speaker 3 (11:11):
Right, they may not, they may not allow them here,
but Europe, you know, in other markets they are already there.

Speaker 6 (11:18):
And doing well. And that's the and that's the concern.
The big complaint of course with the electric cars. It's
not just the charging stations not being available everywhere, it's
just the cost of them. Are they worth it to
pay that premium higher than a regular car? And China
is making that a lot more of a reasonable option
for people. You know, it's an affordable option. Tesla is
really still a luxury car, and so you know that's

(11:42):
one of the things that he has to deal with
in the future.

Speaker 3 (11:45):
But you know, this is a big boost.

Speaker 6 (11:47):
Of support coming from his shareholders, and a lot of
them are his fans. You know, a lot of people
have bought stock in Tesla, are people who just like
Elon Musk and in part because of his posts on
x so he actually gets support from But in this case,
it looks like he's going to get the big payday,
which I may have to go to the calculator and
figure out how much that is an hour. Yeah, that's

(12:09):
got to be the best hourly wage of all time.

Speaker 3 (12:12):
It's just a little bit more than what we're making here.

Speaker 4 (12:14):
Just to Tad.

Speaker 3 (12:15):
Chris Rankman with today's top stories. Chris, thanks so much.
Thank you still become this hour. Make sure you're here
for that report we have and the rise in US
service member suicides really important story. Stick around for that.
I'm Ryan Gorman with Dana McKay in for Michael del Jorna.
Right now, let's get to a trending story. New details
emerging about what Hunter Biden was up to inside his

(12:36):
dad's home.

Speaker 5 (12:37):
Yeah, so London Roberts, Hunter's ex girlfriend, who's the mother
of the five year old daughter that he barely acknowledges.
She just wrote a book called Out of the Shadows,
My Life inside the Wild World of Hunter Biden, and
she claims that one night he was so strung out
on crack cocaine that he brought both her and Hallie Biden,
his brother's widow he was sleeping with, to President Biden's

(12:59):
home in Virginia. She said that Hallie didn't seem very
street smart when they spent time together, and that Hunter
actually had his own wing of that house where all
of his drug paraphernalia was locked up. He had sent
a text and said, you need to meet Hallie. You'll
love her and she'll love you.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
Let's all get together.

Speaker 5 (13:19):
And these women agreed to it, and they all met
at Joe's house.

Speaker 3 (13:23):
How about that, Joe Biden's house.

Speaker 5 (13:26):
Get it?

Speaker 3 (13:27):
Multiple women, drug paraphernalia, It's insane.

Speaker 5 (13:30):
Well, and you've also asked about how all these women
like what they see in Hunter Biden because he's a crackhead.
So she described the first time she met him, and
she said he was wearing boxer briefs with parents all
over them, and that he turned around in his chair
and caught her in his stare. She said his gaze
was intense, with furrowed brows and the most beautiful blue

(13:52):
gray eyes I have ever seen a He's complex and
he has my full attention. Wow, that was the attraction.

Speaker 3 (13:59):
He's also very successful. He's a lawyer. He's a consultant
who makes a ton of money consulting for companies. I
don't know what he's consulting on, but it's stuffy. And
he's the Picasso of our time. He really he's an artist.

Speaker 5 (14:14):
Very desirable qualities.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
Absolutely, And then when you look at the courtroom sketch.
He's got the profile of Richard Nixon, which I know
is a turn on.

Speaker 2 (14:24):
This is Your Morning Show with Michael del Chrono.

Speaker 3 (14:28):
Ryan Gorman here with Dana McKay, and now let's go
to the hotline and bring in Fox News Radio reporter
Ryan Schmels, who joins us to recap former President Donald
Trump's trip to Capitol Hill yesterday to meet with Republican lawmakers. So, Ryan,
what were some of the headlines to come out of
those meetings.

Speaker 7 (14:47):
Well, I think there's a number of them, man, and
you can really start with any angle. This is somebody
who makes a lot of news whenever he speaks, and
in this case, you know, former President Trump was meeting
buying closed doors with House Republican for over an hour
and also meeting with Senate Republicans for over an hour.
So I think some of the big things that stood
out was it appears that former President Trump and Mitch McConnell,

(15:08):
the leader of Senate Republicans, have buried the hatchet in
many ways. McConnell seemed very enthusiastic while leaving that meeting
when he briefly spoke to the press, but then also
there were some leaks that came out of that room
that drew a lot of controversy.

Speaker 3 (15:22):
Yeah, let's start with the comment about Milwaukee. What was
alleged and then what was the pushback from both the
Trump campaign and some Republican members of Congress who were
in those meetings.

Speaker 7 (15:37):
Right, So, allegedly what happened is that former President Trump
referred to Milwaukee as a terrible place. And what the
context from what we have been told, is that he
was talking about election integrity as well as crime. That's
from President Trump, but also from some of the Republicans
who were also in the room. And so he according

(15:57):
to Scott Fitzgerald, who is a Wisconsin representative, he says
that former President Trump was going through nineteen different states
or areas that were a concern to him when it
comes to election integrity, and when he got to Milwaukee,
he said Milwaukee's terrible. So it was completely in relation
to elections, according to his side of events, and Trump
did say during an exclusive interview with Fox News after

(16:20):
this that he said that he loves Milwaukee.

Speaker 3 (16:24):
He also made some comments about Nancy Pelosi, he made
some comments about Taylor Swift. So a number of topics
came up at these meetings, right, Yeah, for Taylor Swift.

Speaker 7 (16:36):
According to one congressman, apparently the Taylor Swift comments were
in relation to he claims that he signed legislation in
the law while he was president that helped the songwriters,
and so he was shocked or surprised and disappointed that
Taylor Swift did not endorse him or is not supporting
him because he signed so much legislation to help her out.

Speaker 3 (16:55):
Down the road. Yeah, again, there were it sounds like
a lot of topics that came up up during the
course of those meetings with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Fox
News Radio reporter Ryan Schmels with us. Ryan, appreciate the update.
Thanks so much.

Speaker 4 (17:08):
Thank you, Ryan.

Speaker 3 (17:09):
Have a great weekend, all right you as well.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
Hey, it's me Michael. Your morning show has heard live
from five to eight am Central, six to nine am Eastern,
three to six am Pacific on great radio stations like
News Radio eleven ninety k EX in Portland, News Talk
five point fifty k f YI, and Phoenix, Arizona Coming
soon to Freedom one oh four seven at Washington, d C.
We'd love to have you join us live in the
morning even take us along on the drive to work.

(17:33):
But better late than never.

Speaker 3 (17:34):
Enjoyed the podcast, Ryan Gorman here with Dana McKay. Now
let's go to the hotline and bring in Pentagon correspondent
for USA Today, Tom Vanden Brook. You can find his
work at USAToday dot com, including the piece we're about
to discuss.

Speaker 4 (17:47):
Tom.

Speaker 3 (17:47):
Thanks so much for taking a few minutes to come
on the show. So break down for us this Pentagon
data that you came across revealing some alarming details about
suicide among our US service members.

Speaker 8 (18:02):
Right, Ryan, Well, we know that suicide has been a
problem in the military and society wide for years. This
just really drives home the fact that it is the
number one killer of US soldiers right now. At least
during this five year period from twenty fourteen to twenty nineteen,
it surpassed deaths in combat. That's from accidents as well,

(18:23):
so it's become a problem.

Speaker 4 (18:26):
It remains one. Even though this is twenty fourteen to
twenty nineteen.

Speaker 8 (18:29):
The suicide rate remains highly elevated in the army, So
there's every reason to believe that even with combat down
even more in this current period, that it would remain
the single most lethal cause of death for soldiers.

Speaker 3 (18:45):
You know, this is an issue that we've talked a
lot about in recent years, and it seems like we've
put a lot of resources into trying to bring these
numbers down. But when you look at your reporting and
the Pentagon data doesn't seem like that's making much of
a difference at all.

Speaker 8 (19:02):
No, I don't think it has. I think there's been,
you know, some bright spots. We did some reporting a
few years back about the problems that were happening in
Alaska where they had a big spike in suicides, and
as a result of that reporting, they sent dozens of
mental health counselors up to Alaska to help deal with
the crisis. But that was more like firefighting. They were
able to at least, you know, put out the fire

(19:25):
for a moment, but it didn't get at the root
causes of the problem that I think that's what they're.

Speaker 4 (19:28):
Trying to focus on now at the Pentagon.

Speaker 8 (19:31):
And you know, frankly, it's a problem again society wide.
So there isn't one you know, there's not one single
solution for this. It's going to be a variety of
different things. And you know, there's some of these problems
are also you know, causing some of the issues that
the Pagan's been dealing with for years, like sexual assaults.

(19:53):
So they're thinking there's a correlation between hazard you know,
problem behaviors like excess drinking, that sort of thing that
might be behind you know.

Speaker 4 (20:02):
Sexual assault problem and suicide as well.

Speaker 8 (20:04):
So there's a thought that if they get after those things,
they may be able to you know, bring this right
back down now.

Speaker 3 (20:10):
I do want to add, and you noted this in
your piece, that there have been some changes that have
been made in more recent years that came after the
time period studied in this report, and we don't know
if those changes have brought these numbers down or made
a difference.

Speaker 8 (20:26):
Correct, and so we don't know if these new initiatives
are having an effect. That we do know that the
suicide rate remains terribly elevated in the Army, as it
does for most of the armed services. The data are
better for the Army right now, so that's that's where
we focused on them.

Speaker 4 (20:45):
You know, Well, we'll just have to wait and see.

Speaker 8 (20:47):
There's you know, there's trying to hire two thousand people
a workforce that would work on preventing some of these
problem behaviors as I mentioned before, like excess drinking, but.

Speaker 4 (20:58):
Also focusing on.

Speaker 8 (21:01):
Firearm safety so that when someone does have an impulse
that they don't have a firearm at hand, where they
can you know, take an action that you know, just
in the heat of the moment that will give them
some time to think about what they're doing. So there's
there's some efforts that are going on in that in
that realm, and and hopefully those will payoff as well.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
We're joined now by Tom Bannonbrook, Pentagon reporter for USA Today,
who has a new piece out on some Pentagon data
that shows how many US soldiers are committing suicide. Now.
Is this something that has always been there in these
kinds of numbers and we're just getting better data on

(21:42):
all of this now, or is this the disturbing upwards
trend that it appears to be something we're seeing in
other parts of American society too.

Speaker 4 (21:52):
Well, think that the rate has been climbing.

Speaker 8 (21:54):
I mean, this is you know, it's it's one of
those tragic events that is it's pretty clear what's happened, right,
you know, there's there's not much debate, you know, there's
it takes them a while sometimes to investigate these cases
and make sure that the data are you know, air tight,
but it's pretty obvious in most cases that it's a suicide.
And those rates, again for the society large United States,

(22:15):
have been going up for twenty five years. It's just
that they're more elevated in the military, and you know,
there's they're really there are people are at a losses
to what specifically is going on there that's causing the increase.

Speaker 3 (22:29):
Has Congress done anything significant on this issue in some.

Speaker 8 (22:33):
Senses, yes, I mean, as a result of our reporting
back in twenty twenty two, there were a number of
resources that were shifted to Alaska, so they sent up
dozens of mental health counselors. That was in part funded
by some efforts in Congress as well as just quality
of life issues that they knew needed to be addressed
in Alaska. So Congress has taken some steps in that regard,

(22:56):
and there's been a lot more money that the Pentagon
has requested and received from Congress to you know, find
more counselors and that sort of thing.

Speaker 4 (23:03):
So there's an you know, there's.

Speaker 8 (23:05):
An awareness both at the kind of gone on Capitol
Hill that this is something they've got to get after.

Speaker 3 (23:10):
And again, this we're talking about active duty soldiers committing suicide.
This is separate from the problem that we're seeing among
veterans in this country.

Speaker 4 (23:19):
Right, and that's elevated as well.

Speaker 8 (23:20):
But just yeah, well, we're talking about our active duty soldiers,
but the problem exists through the reserve and national guards,
you know forces as well. So it's not it's it's
it's not certainly unique to the army itself, and veterans
are having the toll is awful there as well.

Speaker 3 (23:36):
We're joined now by Tom Vandenbrook, Pentagon reporter for USA Today,
who has a peace out on some new Pentagon data
that shows a really alarming trend suicides among US soldiers
on the rise. Now, when you talk to different people
for this report, were you able to get any sense

(23:57):
as to what maybe they think could be the drivers
behind what we're seeing here?

Speaker 8 (24:03):
Last speculation on that Ryan and nobody's got a real
good handle on it. Some of it is, you know,
there's a sense that maybe there's this cycle where, you know,
certain military special specialties, like the folks who work in tanks,
that they are in this constant cycle of training and

(24:24):
deployment for more training and that they just don't get
the break and that that may be one of the
reasons behind this, just not enough down time. But really
it's it's very difficult to say it's there's just the
causes just to be seem to be so disparate. You know,
in many cases it's there's a financial problem that somebody

(24:45):
might be dealing with, or could be a you know,
a relationship that's gone bad, those sorts of things.

Speaker 4 (24:49):
So it's really across the board.

Speaker 8 (24:51):
There doesn't seem to be Again, it's not like there
are huge deployments for combat right now, so you know,
there's just this this very varied group of causes that
maybe at the root of this.

Speaker 3 (25:07):
And final question for you, I want to go back
to something you mentioned earlier. You did reporting on a
really disturbing situation in Alaska involving suicides among US soldiers.
What was going on there? For those of us who
didn't see that reporting a few years ago, was that
more about isolation and the cold weather and the elements

(25:28):
and things like that.

Speaker 4 (25:29):
Yeah, that was that was clearly the thought.

Speaker 8 (25:31):
I mean, there were they you know, the army had
for years not really had paid much attention to who
they were sending there.

Speaker 4 (25:37):
So they were sending a.

Speaker 8 (25:37):
Lot of folks, you know, from the southern part of
the country up to Alaska, and the folks just weren't
ready for it. And you know, you can go to
Fairbanks in February, which I did, and you realize that
it's dark most of the day and it's cold sixty
below at times, and you can get isolated in a hurry,
and that was a problem there. They really made enough

(26:00):
for it to you know, get people out and talk
to them, make sure that they were checking on one another.
So that seems to have helped there. But you know,
that may be a unique set of circumstances in Alaska,
you know it's not You may find a different set
of circumstances, you know, in Florida or Texas. And we

(26:21):
know that there are problems, you know, in other places
like Fort Drummon, New York. So it may be, you know,
for by Fort that they have to go through this.
Tom Vandenbrook Pentagon reporter for USA Today with a really
important piece out on new Pentagon data showing just how
bad the suicide issue is among active duty US soldiers. Tom,

(26:45):
I want to Thank you so much for focusing on
this issue, which everyone can read more about a USA
Today dot com. And thanks so much for coming on
the show to talk about it. We appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (26:54):
Appreciate it. Ryan.

Speaker 3 (26:56):
Why isn't that story everywhere? I don't know.

Speaker 5 (26:59):
Yeah, it's really disappointing, and it's shocking that it's.

Speaker 3 (27:02):
Not you know, Trump, what he says about Milwaukee, those
comments everywhere everywhere, Biden, when there was that clip that
maybe he sat down on an invisible chair, you know
what I mean, which he didn't, But when that was
going right everywhere, that story data revealing this shocking number

(27:25):
of suicides being committed among US service members. I mean,
I haven't seen it anywhere else aside from the USA
Today and that report, which is why I had Tom
Bannon Brooke on. I mean, maybe it's got a little
coverage here in there, but you're not seeing headlines about it,
you're not seeing it on cable news, you're not hearing
about it on other shows, and it's outrageous. I mean,

(27:47):
just the numbers again, from twenty fourteen to twenty nineteen,
eight hundred and eighty three suicide deaths. During that time period,
accidents were the number two cause of deaths among US
soldiers at eight fourteen, and then there were only ninety
six combat deaths during that period. So that gives you
a sense just how big of a problem that is.
And again we're not even talking about veterans suicides. You

(28:08):
add that in what kind of real problem? We are
not doing everything we can. We are not taking care
of those who are serving and sacrificing or have served
and sacrificed most for this country. And it is outrageous.
So we come this hour the latest on President Biden's
trip overseas for the G seven summit, So stick around

(28:29):
for that. I'm Riyan Gorman with Dana McKay in for
Michael del Journo this week. And right now, let's get
to a trending story, new details about President Biden's dog, Commander,
who also goes by the name Kujo. Apparently. Yeah, what
a nightmare for the Secret Service.

Speaker 5 (28:44):
Yeah, we're learning more about the issues with Commander.

Speaker 3 (28:47):
Now.

Speaker 5 (28:47):
He was rehomed in February after two years of incidents,
and the President was apparently present for some of these incidents. Now, earlier,
he had accused a Secret Service member of lying about
being a tech by Major. That was the first dog
they had that they had to rehome, but he was
present for at least three attacks. So in September of
last year, as the President was taking a walk in

(29:09):
the Kennedy Garden, Commander bit a Secret Service member so
badly his suit was torn, and then the President yelled
the dog and the dog bit the Secret Service agent again.
His skin wasn't broken, but the arm of his suit
was destroyed. Just two weeks later, there was another incident.
According to a message sent to the Secret Service team,

(29:31):
someone said, FYI, there was a dog bite and the
officer may need to go to the hospital. Have a
safe shift. Two days later, another staff member said in
a message, can we get this dog muzzled? There was
another incident in October of twenty two Commander bit an
agent on the forearm in the four year near the
Rose Garden while the President was there. And a few

(29:53):
months later, the President took Commander off the leash to
run free in the Kennedy Garden and an agent said
the dog bit him twice, giving him a half inch
cut and bruising on his arm, and then the second
bite was on his hand and thumb.

Speaker 3 (30:06):
That was actual audio of Commander two by the way
from the White House. I still can't get off with
the fact that this was allowed to go on for
so long. And it's two dogs.

Speaker 5 (30:16):
Yeah, there were two dogs. So I mean, whose fault
is You're the owner?

Speaker 3 (30:19):
Yeah, I have to ask questions about the owner when
you've got two dogs that won't stop attacking people.

Speaker 5 (30:24):
And they're attacking Secret Service. Yeah, they are the people
that are supposed to be protecting the president and the
dog attacking them.

Speaker 3 (30:31):
The dog sending some kind of a message. A lot
of questions. I don't know. I'm Jeff Eddi with Efficient
Heating and Cooling and my morning show is Your Morning
Show with Michael, Bill Doorna, Brian Gorman here with Dana McKay.
We were talking off air a second ago about that
story involving President Biden reportedly watching his dog attack Secret

(30:51):
Service as staff kept wishing each other a safe shift
when they would have to muzzle this dog. Yeah, yeah,
guard the president with that dog around, And Jeff said
down the line that the solution of the problem would
have been Christy know.

Speaker 5 (31:08):
Was so awful.

Speaker 3 (31:10):
I mean she's a professional, right, yeah, right, No, certainly
not what's doing those situations. Uh, we're not pro killing dogs.

Speaker 5 (31:19):
Here, just for the right.

Speaker 3 (31:22):
The right. That's just good. All right, Let's get to
President Biden overseas. Yesterday, the US and Ukraine are entering
a ten year bilateral security agreement as Russia's full scale
invasion continues. Appearing alongside Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky yesterday the
G seven summit in Italy, President Biden said the goals
to strengthen Ukraine's defense and deterrens capabilities for the long term.

Speaker 9 (31:46):
A lasting piece for Ukraine must be underwritten by Ukraine's
own ability to defend itself now and to deter future
aggression anytime in the future.

Speaker 3 (31:57):
The President reiterated the US to support for uk reign
in the countries again ongoing war with Russia.

Speaker 9 (32:02):
The United States, the G Seven, and countries around the
world have consistently answered the question by.

Speaker 4 (32:07):
Saying, yes, we will.

Speaker 9 (32:09):
We will say it again, yes, again, and again and again.

Speaker 3 (32:12):
We're going to stand with Ukraine and Ukrainian President Zelensky
commented on the importance of the new bilateral security agreement
with the US.

Speaker 10 (32:20):
The friends tod is a trulliam historic j and we
have signed the strongest agreement within Ukraine and the US
since our independence.

Speaker 3 (32:34):
President Biden also said he's very proud of his son Hunter.
While speaking alongside Zelensky, Biden spoke publicly for the first
time after Hunter Biden's conviction on federal firearm charges.

Speaker 4 (32:46):
He is overcome an addiction.

Speaker 9 (32:48):
He's one of the brightest, most decent men I know.

Speaker 3 (32:52):
And here he talks about not getting involved in Hunter's conviction.

Speaker 9 (32:56):
I'm not going to do anything I said by the
jury decision. I will do that and I'll not part him.

Speaker 3 (33:03):
So a couple of things to unpack here. Now you're
not going to have President Biden come out and say
something negative about his son. But he also doesn't have
to go to extremes and say he's decent.

Speaker 5 (33:16):
Is that the word you picked up on?

Speaker 3 (33:18):
Yeah, yeah, I'll play that one more time.

Speaker 4 (33:20):
He is overcome an addiction.

Speaker 3 (33:22):
He is.

Speaker 9 (33:23):
He's one of the brightest, most decent men I know.

Speaker 3 (33:27):
So again, a couple of things, like the whole proud thing,
are you I mean really?

Speaker 5 (33:32):
I mean, if he's not doing drugs right now, you can.

Speaker 3 (33:36):
The addiction. Okay. I was thinking more along the lines of,
you know, uh, the mess that he's made of his
life and everyone around him. Uh, you know, if you
want to be proud. But but then getting to the
decent part.

Speaker 5 (33:46):
Uh, didn't we do the story earlier about how he
brought uh the the woman that he was dating that
he has a child with that he doesn't acknowledge, and
then his uh dead brother's wife to this Joe's house.

Speaker 3 (33:59):
Yeah, yeah, we talked about that, right, We talked about that,
I mean, getting into a relationship with your dead brother's widow,
getting her one crack. Yeah, that that doesn't seem very
decent to me. So you know, there are a lot
of things there. Again, you can say, look, like you mentioned,

(34:19):
I'm proud of the fact that he overcame his addiction
and that he's straightened his life out to a degree,
to a degree, uh, and then you can kind of
leave it at that, you know, you don't have to
expand beyond it.

Speaker 5 (34:33):
He's my son and I love him.

Speaker 3 (34:34):
He's my son and I love him. Right, don't love
the fact that he keeps trading off the family name
and all of that, But but he's my son and
I love I mean, just there, I guess ways that
maybe you could phrase that a little bit better. Because
we're all sitting here like seriously, yeah, I mean.

Speaker 5 (34:48):
One of the most decent many knows Biden.

Speaker 3 (34:53):
Now we have a whole other investigation we need to
launch in Congress. Wait a second, who else is he
spending time with that hunter? Biden's the most de some person.
He knows.

Speaker 2 (35:01):
We're all in this together. This is your Morning Show
with Michael Del Choano.

Speaker 3 (35:11):
M
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