December 9, 2025 • 11 mins
Bo and Beth welcome South Carolina Congressman Ralph Norman to get his reaction to the 2nd stabbing in four months on Charlotte's light rail.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
News Talk eleven ten, nine to nine three WBT on
your Tuesday morning, December ninth, BO when Beth here and
our next guest was here on September twenty ninth, during
that House Judiciary Committee field hearing. You remember that in
the wake of the Arena Zarutzka murder.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Let me give you a visual, Miss Federica, I see
your daughter. What about what about this? It's a chairman,
what about this? This is a family the bomb before
she miss chairman, is my time.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
It's not her time.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
It's the gentleman's time.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
It's family.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
It is the gentleman's time, and it is right as
a member of Congress.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
No, what about where was her?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Well?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
How about pastatistic? Did it help her?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Tell me?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Did it help her?
Speaker 3 (00:51):
No?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
It did not.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
It's a miscarriage. Justice.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
That is Congressman Ralph Norman back in September here in Charlotte.
It's part of that Judiciary Committee hearing talking about and
holding up a picture of Arena Zarutska on the light
rail that evening in August. And now here we are
in December, and now we're talking about another stabbing on
the light rail, and we welcome Congressman Norman to the
(01:16):
show this morning. Glad to have you as.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Always well, great to be with you, Bo and Beth.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
So I played that because obviously you were part of
that group that was debating and taking questions about what
to do in the wake of the first stabbing, and
now inexplicit, inexplicably, here we are again, just a few
months later, back at the same problem on the same
light rail system. Congressman.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah, and if you look at the timing, on August
twenty second is when mister Rinsky lost her life, her life,
and now December fifth got a guy. I'm struggling to
see another Christmas, to live live one day longer, seventy
five days after Miss Lensky was killed. And I don't
(02:03):
you know understand that the city, the Charlotte City Council,
is allocating three million dollars for public relations, I guess
to try to boast of the rail, of the opinion
of the rail. You know, where is it that they're
not hiring more law enforcement, more security. It's it's it's
(02:24):
time for the people of Charlotte, the whole the city
council accountable. It's time for the mayor to resign. I
call for that. After the after the murder of mister Zelenski.
And you know, it's until the people take action against
the judges that are letting these criminals loose, nothing is
going to change. But it's a You have over fourteen
(02:48):
hundred people that criminals that Charlotte refuses to cooperate with,
that ICE is trying to take off the streets in Charlotte.
And that's twenty five minutes from where I live here
in rock Hill. So you know, liberal policies do not work.
Politicians who who continue to, you know, coddle criminals, you're
(03:11):
gonna have the same results. And that could be you know,
our daughter, our granddaughter, our aunt, our uncle that gets
murdered on a rail that our tax dollars pay for.
It's ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
I think you're really hitting on something that has a
lot of people here in Charlotte, a lot of taxpayers
upset finding out about this story about three point four
million dollars being spent on a public relations campaign. We
had a listener that just texted in and said, that's
more than a Super Bowl ad and this is our
tax dollars when that money and you know, you know me, Congressman,
(03:45):
I can try to find a positive and just about anything.
When it comes to a political story, I can try
to see things from all sides, but I would imagine
this money could be better spent on not telling people
to feel safe through an ad campaign, but actually making
people feel safe adding security.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Well, and that's the least they can do. I mean,
empower the police, support the police, and they just don't
do it. And the city council, this is really shocking
that they would even think about doing something like this.
But you know the hearing that we were at in September,
you had Stephen Frederico who had his daughter murdered in Columbia,
(04:24):
South Carolina, and you had the Democrats citing how the
statistics were lower than the previous year in Meckleburg County.
A statistic is not going to bring the child back
or protect the citizens on the next time a person
gets on the light rail. And it's an outrage. Until
the people, the voters in Charlotte get active and demand
(04:48):
justice and throw these people out, it's not going to change.
And it's Charlotte's getting to be a real problem when
it comes to law enforcement and do the citizens not
deserve to be safe? You know, you have a man
here who is stabbed, the mister Adobie. I mean, he
(05:10):
had a history, you know, aggravated battery, assaut resistant arrest,
fake eyed, the robbery, and then here he is getting
you know, he was out of the cut. He was
found again in twenty eighteen, and then he was released,
and then he came back in twenty one. And look,
we've got a man who may lose his life and
if not, got a long recovery period. So enough is
(05:32):
enough and people are gonna have to take action.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
So the city council meeting last night, people waking up
just joining us, they did discuss in addition to this
ad campaign we're talking about, they did discuss what happened.
This is a city council member, dimple ashmera.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
I'm hearing reports that the suspect may have been previously
banned from using cats. So if you can help us
clarify if that is actually right, and if the suspect
was indeed previously banned, why was he allowed back on
(06:11):
the system, and how are we enforcing those bands?
Speaker 1 (06:16):
And then earlier in the day yesterday, Sheriff Gary McFadden
of Mecklenburg County said this, we want.
Speaker 6 (06:22):
To blame the sheriff, Well, you deported this person twice?
Does that really work or has it work?
Speaker 3 (06:29):
And what would you do after that?
Speaker 6 (06:31):
Come to us and say how can we better manage
this or how can we better collaborate with this? Would
have been a great thing and then we probably would
have came up with funding and better solutions.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
So, Congressman Norman, what we just saw Operation Charlotte's Web
here in Charlotte. About a week and a half ago.
You had President Trump responding on truth Social to this
second stabbing on the Charlotte light rail. He said, another
stabbing by an illegal migrant in Charlotte, North Carolina? What's
going on in Charlotte? Democrats are destroyed it like everything else,
piece by piece. So do you think that this is
(07:04):
going to inspire President Trump to send the National Guard here?
Do you think this means that an initiative like Charlotte's
Web is going to be back sooner than we thought?
Where do you think this is going from a national
perspective looking at Charlotte?
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Well, you know, the Ice just arrested over one hundred
and forty criminals and took them off the streets in
Charlotte with when they came into Charlotte. I think what
President Trump is rightfully doing is just highlighting another tragic instant.
And you've got to realize Meckelberg County is a is
a non compliant sanctuary jurisdiction, meaning they just don't the
(07:43):
police do not work with ICE agents. And you know,
how long are they going to are the people going
to put up with this? And this is just a
symptom of a problem that's going to get far worse.
And the problem, you know, who's paying the price, the
taxpayers with this and the safety aspect of it. And
you know, uh, this is where vigilante groups start. When
(08:06):
you have groups, when you have a city that is
cooperating with criminals, and you know, it's it's it's unbelievable
that you have a judge, judge is that are continuing
cut letting these people go. And the Ukrainian girls, the
guy that killed her, I think his name was Brown.
The magistrate, Judge Teresa Stokes released him on a on
(08:30):
a promise to appearback in court. And he had what
forty uh fire arrest and convictions and charges. I mean,
it's ridiculous. So the only thing's going to change is
when the people get active. And I applaud President Trump
for what he's doing. I know he's made a tremendous
difference in Washington, d c uh. And then you, as
(08:53):
you all know, you had two National guardsmen who were
bravely defending the city get killed. I mean, it's just
it's ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
I know we don't have you for long, Congressman, and
we would be remiss if we didn't talk to you
about your most recent campaign. What's coming up for you?
You're running for governor there in South Carolina. You have
a primary that will be head of your way in
twenty twenty six, with Nancy Mace being among the other candidates,
and right now she is making news headlines for speaking
(09:26):
out against Republican leadership, against the Speaker, Mike Johnson. What
do you see happening in South Carolina and what do
you see happening within the Republican Party right now?
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Well, when you first of all me, I'm excited about
the race for governor of South Carolina for the next
eight years. Cannot take liberal leadership and I'm the only
really one that's got a record with a business background.
But as far as the Republican Party, and I just
don't agree with and I like Nancy, but you know,
(10:01):
Republicans don't make all the right decisions, but we're on
the right side of so many things, and law enforcement
is one of them. When you look at what the
Democrat Party stands for, which is basically putting handcuffs on police,
and the policies like your sin and Charlotte, North Carolina
have got a stop. I will make sure that's not
the case in South Carolina because we've got to have Luckily,
(10:24):
we've got a great sheriff who enforces the law, and
we've got a city council that would never put three
million dollars for a stupid ad campaign to try to
highlight mistakes that resulted in first the death of the
Ukrainian girl now guy that may not recover. So conservatism
(10:44):
by Republicans is it perfect. No, But we're far better
than what the Democrats put or have done in the
four years under Joe Biden showed how liberal leadership can
derail the country. And I just think thankful that President
Trump has taken action and he's got the courage to
do that.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Well, busy here, like Beth said, for you coming up,
I know you established that first satellite campaign office in
Lexington in recent hours, so we'll talk to you, i'm sure,
on the campaign trail and we appreciate you calling in
this morning.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Glad to do it. Thank you, Appreciate what you do
News Talk eleven ten, nine to nine three WBT on
your Tuesday morning, December ninth, BO when Beth here and
our next guest was here on September twenty ninth, during
that House Judiciary Committee field hearing. You remember that in
the wake of the Arena Zarutzka murder.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Let me give you a visual, Miss Federica, I see
your daughter. What about what about this? It's a chairman,
what about this? This is a family the bomb before
she miss chairman, is my time.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
It's not her time.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
It's the gentleman's time.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
It's family.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
It is the gentleman's time, and it is right as
a member of Congress.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
No, what about where was her?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Well?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
How about pastatistic? Did it help her?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Tell me?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Did it help her?
Speaker 3 (00:51):
No?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
It did not.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
It's a miscarriage. Justice.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
That is Congressman Ralph Norman back in September here in Charlotte.
It's part of that Judiciary Committee hearing talking about and
holding up a picture of Arena Zarutska on the light
rail that evening in August. And now here we are
in December, and now we're talking about another stabbing on
the light rail, and we welcome Congressman Norman to the
(01:16):
show this morning. Glad to have you as.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Always well, great to be with you, Bo and Beth.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
So I played that because obviously you were part of
that group that was debating and taking questions about what
to do in the wake of the first stabbing, and
now inexplicit, inexplicably, here we are again, just a few
months later, back at the same problem on the same
light rail system. Congressman.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah, and if you look at the timing, on August
twenty second is when mister Rinsky lost her life, her life,
and now December fifth got a guy. I'm struggling to
see another Christmas, to live live one day longer, seventy
five days after Miss Lensky was killed. And I don't
(02:03):
you know understand that the city, the Charlotte City Council,
is allocating three million dollars for public relations, I guess
to try to boast of the rail, of the opinion
of the rail. You know, where is it that they're
not hiring more law enforcement, more security. It's it's it's
(02:24):
time for the people of Charlotte, the whole the city
council accountable. It's time for the mayor to resign. I
call for that. After the after the murder of mister Zelenski.
And you know, it's until the people take action against
the judges that are letting these criminals loose, nothing is
going to change. But it's a You have over fourteen
(02:48):
hundred people that criminals that Charlotte refuses to cooperate with,
that ICE is trying to take off the streets in Charlotte.
And that's twenty five minutes from where I live here
in rock Hill. So you know, liberal policies do not work.
Politicians who who continue to, you know, coddle criminals, you're
(03:11):
gonna have the same results. And that could be you know,
our daughter, our granddaughter, our aunt, our uncle that gets
murdered on a rail that our tax dollars pay for.
It's ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
I think you're really hitting on something that has a
lot of people here in Charlotte, a lot of taxpayers
upset finding out about this story about three point four
million dollars being spent on a public relations campaign. We
had a listener that just texted in and said, that's
more than a Super Bowl ad and this is our
tax dollars when that money and you know, you know me, Congressman,
(03:45):
I can try to find a positive and just about anything.
When it comes to a political story, I can try
to see things from all sides, but I would imagine
this money could be better spent on not telling people
to feel safe through an ad campaign, but actually making
people feel safe adding security.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Well, and that's the least they can do. I mean,
empower the police, support the police, and they just don't
do it. And the city council, this is really shocking
that they would even think about doing something like this.
But you know the hearing that we were at in September,
you had Stephen Frederico who had his daughter murdered in Columbia,
(04:24):
South Carolina, and you had the Democrats citing how the
statistics were lower than the previous year in Meckleburg County.
A statistic is not going to bring the child back
or protect the citizens on the next time a person
gets on the light rail. And it's an outrage. Until
the people, the voters in Charlotte get active and demand
(04:48):
justice and throw these people out, it's not going to change.
And it's Charlotte's getting to be a real problem when
it comes to law enforcement and do the citizens not
deserve to be safe? You know, you have a man
here who is stabbed, the mister Adobie. I mean, he
(05:10):
had a history, you know, aggravated battery, assaut resistant arrest,
fake eyed, the robbery, and then here he is getting
you know, he was out of the cut. He was
found again in twenty eighteen, and then he was released,
and then he came back in twenty one. And look,
we've got a man who may lose his life and
if not, got a long recovery period. So enough is
(05:32):
enough and people are gonna have to take action.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
So the city council meeting last night, people waking up
just joining us, they did discuss in addition to this
ad campaign we're talking about, they did discuss what happened.
This is a city council member, dimple ashmera.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
I'm hearing reports that the suspect may have been previously
banned from using cats. So if you can help us
clarify if that is actually right, and if the suspect
was indeed previously banned, why was he allowed back on
(06:11):
the system, and how are we enforcing those bands?
Speaker 1 (06:16):
And then earlier in the day yesterday, Sheriff Gary McFadden
of Mecklenburg County said this, we want.
Speaker 6 (06:22):
To blame the sheriff, Well, you deported this person twice?
Does that really work or has it work?
Speaker 3 (06:29):
And what would you do after that?
Speaker 6 (06:31):
Come to us and say how can we better manage
this or how can we better collaborate with this? Would
have been a great thing and then we probably would
have came up with funding and better solutions.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
So, Congressman Norman, what we just saw Operation Charlotte's Web
here in Charlotte. About a week and a half ago.
You had President Trump responding on truth Social to this
second stabbing on the Charlotte light rail. He said, another
stabbing by an illegal migrant in Charlotte, North Carolina? What's
going on in Charlotte? Democrats are destroyed it like everything else,
piece by piece. So do you think that this is
(07:04):
going to inspire President Trump to send the National Guard here?
Do you think this means that an initiative like Charlotte's
Web is going to be back sooner than we thought?
Where do you think this is going from a national
perspective looking at Charlotte?
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Well, you know, the Ice just arrested over one hundred
and forty criminals and took them off the streets in
Charlotte with when they came into Charlotte. I think what
President Trump is rightfully doing is just highlighting another tragic instant.
And you've got to realize Meckelberg County is a is
a non compliant sanctuary jurisdiction, meaning they just don't the
(07:43):
police do not work with ICE agents. And you know,
how long are they going to are the people going
to put up with this? And this is just a
symptom of a problem that's going to get far worse.
And the problem, you know, who's paying the price, the
taxpayers with this and the safety aspect of it. And
you know, uh, this is where vigilante groups start. When
(08:06):
you have groups, when you have a city that is
cooperating with criminals, and you know, it's it's it's unbelievable
that you have a judge, judge is that are continuing
cut letting these people go. And the Ukrainian girls, the
guy that killed her, I think his name was Brown.
The magistrate, Judge Teresa Stokes released him on a on
(08:30):
a promise to appearback in court. And he had what
forty uh fire arrest and convictions and charges. I mean,
it's ridiculous. So the only thing's going to change is
when the people get active. And I applaud President Trump
for what he's doing. I know he's made a tremendous
difference in Washington, d c uh. And then you, as
(08:53):
you all know, you had two National guardsmen who were
bravely defending the city get killed. I mean, it's just
it's ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
I know we don't have you for long, Congressman, and
we would be remiss if we didn't talk to you
about your most recent campaign. What's coming up for you?
You're running for governor there in South Carolina. You have
a primary that will be head of your way in
twenty twenty six, with Nancy Mace being among the other candidates,
and right now she is making news headlines for speaking
(09:26):
out against Republican leadership, against the Speaker, Mike Johnson. What
do you see happening in South Carolina and what do
you see happening within the Republican Party right now?
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Well, when you first of all me, I'm excited about
the race for governor of South Carolina for the next
eight years. Cannot take liberal leadership and I'm the only
really one that's got a record with a business background.
But as far as the Republican Party, and I just
don't agree with and I like Nancy, but you know,
(10:01):
Republicans don't make all the right decisions, but we're on
the right side of so many things, and law enforcement
is one of them. When you look at what the
Democrat Party stands for, which is basically putting handcuffs on police,
and the policies like your sin and Charlotte, North Carolina
have got a stop. I will make sure that's not
the case in South Carolina because we've got to have Luckily,
(10:24):
we've got a great sheriff who enforces the law, and
we've got a city council that would never put three
million dollars for a stupid ad campaign to try to
highlight mistakes that resulted in first the death of the
Ukrainian girl now guy that may not recover. So conservatism
(10:44):
by Republicans is it perfect. No, But we're far better
than what the Democrats put or have done in the
four years under Joe Biden showed how liberal leadership can
derail the country. And I just think thankful that President
Trump has taken action and he's got the courage to
do that.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Well, busy here, like Beth said, for you coming up,
I know you established that first satellite campaign office in
Lexington in recent hours, so we'll talk to you, i'm sure,
on the campaign trail and we appreciate you calling in
this morning.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Glad to do it. Thank you, Appreciate what you do
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com