Veteran columnist Mike Kelly has reported from almost every corner of New Jersey and the globe, including Iraq, Africa, Cuba, Malaysia, Israel (the West Bank and Gaza) and Northern Ireland. He has covered many major stories, including the 9/11 attacks, the Clinton impeachment, Hurricane Katrina and the Bridgegate scandal. He is also the author of three, critically acclaimed non-fiction books. For more information, please check his website: www.mikekellywriter.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a podcast from wo R. Back now to
the wo R Saturday Morning Show with Larry MINTI. Welcome back.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy travels to Saudi Arabia and
North Jersey dot Com award winning columnist Mike Kelly has
a real problem with that. Mike, I'm fascinated by your
column about Saudi Arabia. Before we get to that, let
(00:22):
me just ask you real quick about this Rutgers poll
that was out earlier in the week shows Jack Chitarelli
way way ahead for the Republicans and they he might
not be beatable at this point, but the Democrats are
all bunched up. It seems like it's anybody's game.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah, good morning, Larry. Yes, always good to talk to
you about all things New Jersey. The you know, I
think this is this is Jack Chitarelli's race to lose,
and I'll tell you why. He connects with voters on
issues that matter to them. The Democrat the Democratic field
(00:59):
on paper looks great. There's a lot of really talented
folks there, starting with Josh Gottheimer and Mikey Ryl too luminaries,
Democratic luminaries in Congress and right down the line, but
I don't think they've connected with voters on the issues
that matter. Most of their campaigns are geared toward fighting Trump.
(01:24):
And I understand that they're Democrats and they want to
criticize Trump. I get that, but that is not I
think the top priority for voters in New Jersey. And
I think Chattarelly understands what they are their kitchen table issues.
It's immigration, it's this whole nonsense about sanctuary cities. And
Chattarelly is right on top of that. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
No, we have them on the show a lot. He's
been running for governor now it seems like forever. And
so there is currency in that. There's value in that.
You get your game, you get your game face on
pretty fast. And I'm not sure, and I agree with you,
the Democratic field is in a very talented field, but
I'm not sure any of them have broken through or
(02:06):
seem ready for prime time.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Do you No, they don't. I mean, I you know,
they I don't think they can find their gear. It's
you know, it's I remember when they're first debate, they
talked about sanctuary cities. That's not a top priority right
now for New Jersey voters. New Jersey voters. In fact,
(02:31):
most elections for governor or even other statewide offices, the
top priority is how government is going to affect our pocketbooks.
And Chattarelli seems to understand that better than others. Listen,
this is not rocket science. You know, the Democrats should
understand that. Gotthheimer's tried to, you know, tried to get
(02:53):
to that issue, but I just don't think he's breaking through.
And others have tried as well. You know Steve Fullip,
who's very talented mayor in New Jersey, Ros Baraka in Newark.
I mean, the mayors of the two largest cities in
New Jersey are running along with two luminaries from Congress.
And then let's not forget Steve Sweeney, former Senate president,
State Senate president. So these are people with experience, they know,
(03:16):
they know how to get things done in government. But
I just do as I said, I just don't think
they've found the right lane yet to really get to voters.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
I also think Governor Murphy's last eight years have hurt them,
and this current trip is taken and that's not going
to help them at all. He's going to Saudi Arabia,
and I know in your latest column that people can
see at North Jersey dot com. You have a problem
with that.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Oh, big Tom. You know, I'm one of the journalists
around the country, Larry. They're not many of us who
have tried to keep a focus on the mounting evidence
that Saudi Arabia was involved in the nine to eleven attacks. Now,
Saudi Arabia was not didn't carry out the attacks, but
they provide of logistical support and possibly even financing for
(04:04):
the hijackers. We know this. The FBI documents that have
been recently declassified show that possibly as many as a
dozen Saudi officials in the Saudi embassy in Washington, d C.
Knew what was going on with the nine to eleven attacks.
So this is really serious stuff. It's been an issue
(04:25):
that's hung over our country for a lot of years
now and is really upsetting a lot of folks. I'm
guessing a lot of your listeners are upset about this,
but they just can't get government to listen. And this
isn't just you know, one party or the other. It
started with President Bush and has run right through all
the presidents and now now we've got Governor Murphy in
(04:49):
Saudi Arabia on what he describes a bilateral He's looking
for bilateral cooperation in global sports initiatives. Translation, the Soccer
World Cup is going to be played in New Jersey
and and Murphy's trying to get Saudi money to help
(05:10):
finance some of it. This is what happens in our country.
We've allowed the Saudis to buy us off. And I
have written many columns about this. My most recent was
this past Sunday, and it's it's very frustrating because it
gets no traction with our government, and it seems to
me an easy call. I mean government. The nine to
(05:32):
eleven attacks are a huge, huge piece of our history.
You would think government and voters would want to get
to the bottom of it.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Yeah, you have strong support for the argument you're making.
I know the families of those that were killed in
nine to eleven all believe that Saudi Arabia is behind
that and have been trying tom get somebody to pay
attention to them for a long long time. So kudos
to you for being one of those people who is
paying it. But they just have so much money and
(06:04):
they're willing to work with America, and they're in an
area where we need allies. It is amazing. It's not
just Governor Murphy, it's just about every politician that's willing
to look the other way.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Sure. I mean, look a couple of years ago, when
Saudi Arabia was pouring money into this new golf league
called liv the family showed up at President Trump's golf
course in New Jersey to protest. Many of these families
were Trump supporters, they voted for and they couldn't get through.
(06:41):
They finally got through to Biden in some small way
by threatening to disinvite him from the annual ceremonies at
Ground Zero. And so Biden caved and decided to declassify
the FBI investigative reports. And when those reports started trickling out, Larry,
(07:01):
they were shocking what they showed. I mean, I remember
one story I did about a guy in Patterson who
was working with another Saudi operative in northern Virginia to
help the hijackers find apartments and open ATM accounts and
that sort of thing. In Patterson. Eleven of the nineteen
hijackers had apartments or some sort of lodging arrangements in
(07:25):
motels of that sort of thing. Here in northern New
Jersey so is. This story is right under our wing
in the New York area, and we just haven't gotten
anywhere with it.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
I am so glad that you're out in front of this.
I'm so glad you're talking about it, and let's talk
about it more in the weeks to come. You can
read Mike Kelly's columns at North Jersey dot com. This
has been a podcast from WOI
This is a podcast from wo R. Back now to
the wo R Saturday Morning Show with Larry MINTI. Welcome back.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy travels to Saudi Arabia and
North Jersey dot Com award winning columnist Mike Kelly has
a real problem with that. Mike, I'm fascinated by your
column about Saudi Arabia. Before we get to that, let
(00:22):
me just ask you real quick about this Rutgers poll
that was out earlier in the week shows Jack Chitarelli
way way ahead for the Republicans and they he might
not be beatable at this point, but the Democrats are
all bunched up. It seems like it's anybody's game.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah, good morning, Larry. Yes, always good to talk to
you about all things New Jersey. The you know, I
think this is this is Jack Chitarelli's race to lose,
and I'll tell you why. He connects with voters on
issues that matter to them. The Democrat the Democratic field
(00:59):
on paper looks great. There's a lot of really talented
folks there, starting with Josh Gottheimer and Mikey Ryl too luminaries,
Democratic luminaries in Congress and right down the line, but
I don't think they've connected with voters on the issues
that matter. Most of their campaigns are geared toward fighting Trump.
(01:24):
And I understand that they're Democrats and they want to
criticize Trump. I get that, but that is not I
think the top priority for voters in New Jersey. And
I think Chattarelly understands what they are their kitchen table issues.
It's immigration, it's this whole nonsense about sanctuary cities. And
Chattarelly is right on top of that. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
No, we have them on the show a lot. He's
been running for governor now it seems like forever. And
so there is currency in that. There's value in that.
You get your game, you get your game face on
pretty fast. And I'm not sure, and I agree with you,
the Democratic field is in a very talented field, but
I'm not sure any of them have broken through or
(02:06):
seem ready for prime time.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Do you No, they don't. I mean, I you know,
they I don't think they can find their gear. It's
you know, it's I remember when they're first debate, they
talked about sanctuary cities. That's not a top priority right
now for New Jersey voters. New Jersey voters. In fact,
(02:31):
most elections for governor or even other statewide offices, the
top priority is how government is going to affect our pocketbooks.
And Chattarelli seems to understand that better than others. Listen,
this is not rocket science. You know, the Democrats should
understand that. Gotthheimer's tried to, you know, tried to get
(02:53):
to that issue, but I just don't think he's breaking through.
And others have tried as well. You know Steve Fullip,
who's very talented mayor in New Jersey, Ros Baraka in Newark.
I mean, the mayors of the two largest cities in
New Jersey are running along with two luminaries from Congress.
And then let's not forget Steve Sweeney, former Senate president,
State Senate president. So these are people with experience, they know,
(03:16):
they know how to get things done in government. But
I just do as I said, I just don't think
they've found the right lane yet to really get to voters.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
I also think Governor Murphy's last eight years have hurt them,
and this current trip is taken and that's not going
to help them at all. He's going to Saudi Arabia,
and I know in your latest column that people can
see at North Jersey dot com. You have a problem
with that.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Oh, big Tom. You know, I'm one of the journalists
around the country, Larry. They're not many of us who
have tried to keep a focus on the mounting evidence
that Saudi Arabia was involved in the nine to eleven attacks. Now,
Saudi Arabia was not didn't carry out the attacks, but
they provide of logistical support and possibly even financing for
(04:04):
the hijackers. We know this. The FBI documents that have
been recently declassified show that possibly as many as a
dozen Saudi officials in the Saudi embassy in Washington, d C.
Knew what was going on with the nine to eleven attacks.
So this is really serious stuff. It's been an issue
(04:25):
that's hung over our country for a lot of years
now and is really upsetting a lot of folks. I'm
guessing a lot of your listeners are upset about this,
but they just can't get government to listen. And this
isn't just you know, one party or the other. It
started with President Bush and has run right through all
the presidents and now now we've got Governor Murphy in
(04:49):
Saudi Arabia on what he describes a bilateral He's looking
for bilateral cooperation in global sports initiatives. Translation, the Soccer
World Cup is going to be played in New Jersey
and and Murphy's trying to get Saudi money to help
(05:10):
finance some of it. This is what happens in our country.
We've allowed the Saudis to buy us off. And I
have written many columns about this. My most recent was
this past Sunday, and it's it's very frustrating because it
gets no traction with our government, and it seems to
me an easy call. I mean government. The nine to
(05:32):
eleven attacks are a huge, huge piece of our history.
You would think government and voters would want to get
to the bottom of it.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Yeah, you have strong support for the argument you're making.
I know the families of those that were killed in
nine to eleven all believe that Saudi Arabia is behind
that and have been trying tom get somebody to pay
attention to them for a long long time. So kudos
to you for being one of those people who is
paying it. But they just have so much money and
(06:04):
they're willing to work with America, and they're in an
area where we need allies. It is amazing. It's not
just Governor Murphy, it's just about every politician that's willing
to look the other way.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Sure. I mean, look a couple of years ago, when
Saudi Arabia was pouring money into this new golf league
called liv the family showed up at President Trump's golf
course in New Jersey to protest. Many of these families
were Trump supporters, they voted for and they couldn't get through.
(06:41):
They finally got through to Biden in some small way
by threatening to disinvite him from the annual ceremonies at
Ground Zero. And so Biden caved and decided to declassify
the FBI investigative reports. And when those reports started trickling out, Larry,
(07:01):
they were shocking what they showed. I mean, I remember
one story I did about a guy in Patterson who
was working with another Saudi operative in northern Virginia to
help the hijackers find apartments and open ATM accounts and
that sort of thing. In Patterson. Eleven of the nineteen
hijackers had apartments or some sort of lodging arrangements in
(07:25):
motels of that sort of thing. Here in northern New
Jersey so is. This story is right under our wing
in the New York area, and we just haven't gotten
anywhere with it.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
I am so glad that you're out in front of this.
I'm so glad you're talking about it, and let's talk
about it more in the weeks to come. You can
read Mike Kelly's columns at North Jersey dot com. This
has been a podcast from WOI
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.