Eddie & Rocky -- 12/22/25

Dan Carroll and Jason Williams are in for Eddie and Rocky! They talk Bengals, Epstein files, and more on 700 WLW!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Back on the Big one seven hundred w l W would
see Eddie and Rockney Show, Dan Carrol, Jason Williams in
for Eddie and the Rock.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
How it's been a little while, it has, you know,
but it wouldn't holiday. It wouldn't be a holiday without
you and I being here, all right?

Speaker 3 (00:18):
How many?

Speaker 1 (00:19):
How many years? Now? This is our fourth straight season?
Is it our fourth year?

Speaker 4 (00:22):
Year?

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Season? Season? Season?

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Is the right word? You say Merry Christmas to people?
Are absolutely you impressed me as a happy Holidays. Merry Christmas. No, yeah,
I'm kidding, No, merry Christmas.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Remember that.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
I remember that one year when it was like, oh,
it was like you're offending everyone by saying Merry Christmas
to people. I think we've I think we've crossed that bridge.
But that I mean that was in the rear view mirror.
Now yeah, oh yeah, Merry Christmas, the merry Christmas to you.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
Happy.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
We will be here through Christmas a year and right
up until the New year. Keep so I'm looking forward
to that. I'm also looking forward to talking about what
happened on Sunday. By the way, Austin Elmore is front
of the Big board absolutely seven today. So we always
appreciate Austin being here. And in the meantime, we had
a Bengals game yesterday, Bengals down in sunny Florida looking

(01:19):
looking pretty good out there in the in the sunshine,
and the Bengals winning game. And here to break it
down is uh, they like to call him Trags, but
he's also known as Mike Petralia and uh it's Sincincy
dot com c L c l n S. Since I'm
reading this wrong, aren't I that c L what's the trags?

(01:40):
What does cel n S stand for?

Speaker 1 (01:43):
This is good?

Speaker 5 (01:43):
So I'm gonna give you guys a little bit of
a Christmas treat. I've never I don't think, talked about
this on the air, but yeah, the c l n
S stands for Celtics Late Night Show. It's a Boston
based digital platform company, obviously since expanded to Cincinnati circa
twenty twenty one, but it was founded a digital platform

(02:07):
company founded in the wake of Kevin Garnett and the
Big Three in Boston winning a Celtics championship in two
thousand and eight.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
How about that? Love it? So now a little a
little history lesson to start off the day.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
There you go, that's on s. Yeah, but I'm looking.
I'm looking at this and the headline on this is
that's how it's supposed to look. And uh, and I
was thinking, and I was thinking during the game, and
Jason Williams, tell me if you were thinking the same thing,
that it's amazing how when Joe Burrow was on his game,

(02:41):
when when everyone else is on their game, and when
the defense is playing moderately, Well, it's amazing how easy
they make it look.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
It's how you drew it up, isn't it though? I
mean no, but tracks, let me ask you this. It doesn't.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yeah, I wasn't thinking that, but yes, well, I mean, look,
I mean it's great. They they had, they had a
great outings. They put up what forty five points? The
defense only gave up twenty one, which in a lot
of cases, you know, won't won't win your football game.
But in any case, these are now meaningless games. What's
what's the upside to them winning games now? When you

(03:18):
know the playoffs is in the rearview?

Speaker 1 (03:20):
Mare?

Speaker 5 (03:21):
Okay, so I'm going to go all coach speak on you.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
I'm going to use one of the great cliches in
all of football. None of these games are meaningless to
the players playing them.

Speaker 5 (03:32):
Now, why is that relevant to the Bengals Because you
have a lot of young players on defense who need
to show their legitimate players and contenders for a roster
spot in twenty twenty six. And one of those players
spoke today, Jordan Battle. Jordan Battle can be a good
player if you put veterans like and maybe perhaps a

(03:53):
different veteran safety along with him in the secondary. Another
two other players that you should keep an eye on
in the final two games Dax Hill and DJ Turner.
Dax Hill could be your starting outside corner opposite DJ
Turner next year. That is something I think that the
Bengals are seriously giving thought to, and that would mean

(04:16):
they'd of course have to come up with a nickel corner.
But those are two players who have a lot at stake.
Another player that has a lot of steak is Shamar Stewart,
the first round pick out of Texas A and M
the defensive edge that hasn't been able to get on
the field except for six games this year. He needs

(04:36):
to show something in the final two games of the season.
All of these players happen to be on the defensive side.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
Of the ball.

Speaker 5 (04:44):
But I do think that the Bengals need to show
that their defense has playmakers on it, even if it's
against three and twelve Arizona, even if it's against three
and twelve Cleveland. These defensive players need to show that
they belong on the roster going forward. To me, and yes,

(05:04):
draft position is at stake, and I get all that
better draft pick if you lose the last two games,
But to me, the bigger picture is getting these younger
second and third year players to show that they belong
in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
I liked your column Day Drags. I always like your
columns because you I appreciate that you often have a
very different viewpoint than I do, and like Dan, I
appreciate different viewpoints. I want to read this what you
wrote here a chunk out of your column. Quote everything
the Bengals did on defense in the third quarter, forcing

(05:40):
three turnovers and turning the Dolphins over on downs on
another drive set the Bengals up to succeed on offense.
Say it together, complimentary football quote. That's how it's supposed
to look like. Joe Burrow said that bingo. That was
spot on, because that's that's been the talk all year.
And this comes a week after Joe Burrow said, you know,

(06:04):
called them a bad football team, called the Bengals a
bad football team because they hadn't in part because they
hadn't played complimentary football they did yesterday and that I
guess wrote.

Speaker 1 (06:20):
A go ahead.

Speaker 5 (06:22):
Yeah, not not to jump in here, Jason. I also
wrote the problem with that is it took sixteen games
to get to that point.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
And I'm glad you answered my question, Yes, why did
it take you?

Speaker 5 (06:35):
Well, that's a good that is your what's the cap
number this year that they have to spend? That's the
one and ten dollar question to be answered in the offseason?
W who is responsible for jump starting? And actually that
was the question today. I asked Jordan Battle in the
locker room, so what do you guys need to do
next year to be better? Like what are you setting

(06:58):
your sights on? And he said, well, it's going to
sound cliche and we've said this before, but this has
to start at the.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
Beginning of the year, and yes it does.

Speaker 5 (07:08):
The key to me for the Bengals next year will
be the offseason. What kind of veterans do they bring
Dj riederback from Detroit and doesn't appear to be ending
very neatly there in the Motor City. Do they bring
an established leader, already a known commodity in the Bengal

(07:28):
locker room back to Cincinnati at the age of thirty one?
How much gas is left in the tank. Could he
be a player they bring back to solidify the defensive
line and the locker room in general. I think that's
a possibility. But they've got to bring in several players
like they did in twenty twenty in twenty twenty one

(07:49):
and not put it all on rookies and first year
second year players. That's to me, the big problem this
year is you had a first year defensive coordinator. You
had at least six players, seven players starting on defense
who were either in there first, second, or third year
of the NFL.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
That's wait, You're not going to win many games like that.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
Tracks you do a lot of shows, you sit in
from Olegar, you hear from You're here for Lance from
time to time, and a lot of times Friday night,
Yeah he was here that last Friday.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
Yeah, I was listening to me too, and.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
I hear those guys talk a lot about the play
calling and the lack of creativity and you know, why
are we running on second down and eight things like that.
Was the play calling that much different yesterday that it
made such a difference.

Speaker 1 (08:45):
I think not really. I just think the execution was better.

Speaker 5 (08:48):
They got inside, they got in the red zone, inside
the twenty yard line the opponent's twenty, and scored all
six times with touchdowns, and you know it was plenty
After the game yes today, Zach Taylor admitted that he
went up to Jamar Chase I think it was Jamar,
and said, please come down and punch me in the stomach,
but I don't call this certain route down the field

(09:09):
for a pass play. And I'm sure Jamar laughed at
him and said, you you sure about that?

Speaker 1 (09:15):
But at least Zach has an awareness.

Speaker 5 (09:18):
And you can criticize Zach Taylor all you want, but
in terms of play calling offensively, I think he does
a pretty good job. He knows what these weapons are
supposed to look like when they are fully healthy and
fully productive. He knows what the offense is supposed to
look like, and I give Zach credit for that. It's

(09:41):
on the defensive side of the ball where I think
they've asked the offense to cover up for too many mistakes,
and then the offense gets out of rhythm. They start
forcing things down the field instead of just trying to
manipulate the field ten and fifteen yards.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
At a pop.

Speaker 5 (10:00):
That to me, that that's how I would change things
going into next year.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
Trags.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
We can't talk about the Bengals and and what they
did yesterday without the fact that Joe Burrow played well
and and and bounced back and had a nice game.
And you know that one at one play where he's running, uh,
scrambling around one way and he throws it back across
his body and uh, I believe that was to sample
right the tight end. It was, yes Uh that that

(10:27):
was that was fun to watch. And I guess my
question to you is looking back over the last couple
of weeks and Joe Burrow coming back, and it looked
it looks like he clarified what he was saying even
more that he was it's not fun sitting out and
rehabbing injuries insummation here and then looking back on everything

(10:49):
that he said over the last few weeks and taking
how he played yesterday, where like this, where do you
feel about how do you feel about Joe moving forward?

Speaker 1 (11:01):
Now?

Speaker 5 (11:03):
I think a lot of it has to do with
how the team looks next year, frankly, and I'm not
going to go beyond next year. And I think Joe
Burrow answered Paul Danner Junior's question perfectly. He said, I
don't see myself anywhere but Cincinnati next year. But beyond that,
I think about a lot of things. We think about
a lot of things. And I think that was his

(11:25):
way of saying, let's fix it next year so we
don't go through this again. That's where I think Joe
Burrow's mind is at. Certainly he was. I think one
phase of the grief that he went through this year,
the football grief, was rehabbing another injury. He's had four.
I think it is significant surgeries that takes a toll,

(11:46):
not only physically, but as he told us, mentally, the
mental rehab. To not only get back on the field,
but get back on the field about a month ahead
of schedule each and every time requires a lot of work,
a lot of emotional energy, and that's when he puts
forth that energy. And Denny sees, like the rest of
the team, there's no apparent urgency from the rest of

(12:10):
the organization to build up the defense to sign guys
on defense to compliment what they're doing on offense.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
And I don't buy the fact at all.

Speaker 5 (12:18):
For a millisecond do I buy the fact that, well,
you spend the money on Joe Burrow, T Higgins and
Jamar Chase, you don't have anything left. Of course, they
had money left, and they could have been more aggressive
in building the roster on the defensive side of the ball,
but they chose to take a gamble, a calculated gamble
that they thought they could be the Philadelphia Eagles draft

(12:40):
all of their young players on defense and they'd all produce. Well,
what happens is when you miss in the draft, like
the Bengals have the last four or five years, in
the second and third rounds. You can't do that because
the players aren't good enough. And you know, I think
Joe Burrow wants a different approach to this offseason, and
so that's what I think all of it is about.

(13:01):
And I think, you know, he is a very deep
thinking young man, Joe Burrow is, and and I think
that's what you saw in the last couple of weeks.

Speaker 2 (13:09):
Real quick tracks where we get to trafficking weather here,
piggybacking off of that. What would what does Joe burrowes
does he does he say, uh, front office, you need
to fix this, you need to go get this guy
like and how much will they listen to him? I
know he's a guy they've listened to more so than
any other player in franchise history. But what do you

(13:32):
see him having influence there and fixing or at least
trying to address some of these needs.

Speaker 5 (13:38):
Like last year with t Higgins and Jamar Chase when
he went to back for them.

Speaker 1 (13:42):
Yes, I do think he has a voice.

Speaker 5 (13:44):
He has a voice that's not like Jalen Davis in
the locker room.

Speaker 1 (13:49):
Jillen Davis isn't going to the.

Speaker 5 (13:51):
Front office, or neither is daxx Hill. But Joe Burrow
does have a voice, and he has acknowledged as much
to us in his Wednesday prescotference it says I have
a voice. I let them know, but I'm not the
general manager. I leave them that up to the football
decision makers and what they decide to do. It's out
of his hands. And Joe Burrow has also made that

(14:12):
much clear as well.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
All right, trags, we got to run, But I want
to thank you for the time. Will you be gracing
the airwaves here or down the hall anytime soon down
the Hall.

Speaker 5 (14:22):
Wednesday afternoon, I'm filling in for the one and only
Tony Pike noon to.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
Three on the SPN fifteen thirty. So thanks for asking.

Speaker 2 (14:29):
Dan, outstanding outstanding trag. You know you do a great
job on the radio and filling it for Tony Pike.
Is that that's some big shoes right there, because that
guy I.

Speaker 1 (14:37):
Like they are.

Speaker 2 (14:38):
Indeed, Happy Holiday Gaith on Twitter, Happy Merry Christmas to
you all the best of your trags.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
Christmas. All right, Chris, there you go. Thank I love that.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
Guy's analysis and he does a great job whenever he'sa
on there. Absolutely three twenty three, let's do a little
traffic and weather together on seven hundred WW.

Speaker 6 (14:59):
From the you See Health Traffic Center. At you See Health,
you'll find comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your
best tomorrow possible. That's foundless care for better outcomes, expect
more at ucehealth dot com. Southbound seventy one seventy five
the off ramp to southbound seventy one that's at the
split in Walton and blocked off due to an accident

(15:20):
as well. Traffic backed up from rich Wood Road. Delays
have gone down a little bit right now, a five
minutes slow down. Also on westbound two seventy five, the
right lane blocked off from a disabled vehicle between Lebanon
and Mostellar Road. Traffic running slow northbound seventy five between
Mitchell and Paddock, and more slow traffic southbound seventy five

(15:40):
from Zer Charles Drive down to Fort Washington Way. I'm
at Ezebek on news radio seven hundred WLW.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
Here's the nine first one forecast. Some light sprinkles, showers
maybe moving through the tri State tonight, nothing all that heavy.
We're going to have an overnight low fifties. I'm sorry, forty,
not fifty six. Tomorrow's highest fifty six under mostly cloudy skies.
Tomorrow night cloudy, cool, the overnight low forty, and then
Christmas Eve we're looking at a high under cloudy skies

(16:11):
of fifty six and maybe even in the sixties.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
For Christmas Day it is forty four at seven hundred WLW.
This report is sponsored by Jake Sweeney Automotive, serving the
tri State for over one hundred years.

Speaker 7 (16:23):
It's red Tag time at Jake Swinny Chevrolet Together let's
drive and get.

Speaker 1 (16:29):
All right back on the big one seven hundred WLW
three forty on this Monday afternoon. What have we got
two days? Two days before Christmas?

Speaker 2 (16:37):
Today's the twenty second, So you got the twenty second,
the twenty third, and then the twenty fourth.

Speaker 1 (16:44):
So I guess what.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
And it's past twelve noon already, so about two and
a half days of Christmas.

Speaker 1 (16:50):
That sound right? That sounds right. Two and a half days.
You and I will be here all week except Christmas Day. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
The seven hundred WLW what do they call Christmas Spectacular
will be happy. Yeah, So we're going to do our
It's I think this is at the very least our
fourth year. Is our fourth year to do this week.
I'm not arguing with you. I'm just saying this that
you're probably right. At one year, it was one of
those days. It was rough. Remember my furnace broke a

(17:16):
couple of years ago, three years ago, it was that
was some nasty weather. But we're talking about temperatures in
the sixties. It's crazy sixties for Christmas. Unbelievable. I may
I did not ride the motorcycle today. I may do
it one day this week because it's not calling for rain,
cloudy skies. You know tomorrow's high what fifty six?

Speaker 1 (17:39):
What's supposed to be on Christmas? Sixty three?

Speaker 2 (17:41):
Fifty six on Christmas Eve? And then they're talking right now,
they're saying sixty two for Christmas Day. Bring that on?
I can can I call? Can we carry that all
the way through January? Can I call one of the
betting services and bet a high? Can you bet on
the weather? Can you bet on the high temperature.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
Day? That's a good Probably. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
I don't want to venture to know. You do you
do a lot of shows with Rocky and you do
some with Eddie. I do Do they get into the
sports book, into the sports betting?

Speaker 1 (18:13):
Do they they? I mean, I don't want you to
talk out of school or anything. No, no, no.

Speaker 2 (18:17):
They always have the weekly segment with Jason hoffin which
you and I should do since it's a big football time,
we should do that. Maybe sometime this week have him
have him on to uh give us his picks. So
they always do that every Thursday. Well, I am enjoying
the famous Idaho Potato Bowl. That is on the monitor.
It's on behind me. Yes, it's halftime you're not missing

(18:40):
Utah State. You'd Washington State in Utah State.

Speaker 1 (18:43):
There we go.

Speaker 2 (18:44):
You know who went to Utah State? Yeah, I just
it just it just it to me. See is this
a political pro No, No, it's it's it's somebody we
know in his name just walked right out of my head.
Also we know well, I mean someone that is that
is very well known in Cincinnati. Who's who's a great

(19:07):
analysis and a great sports sportscaster in his own right
Utah State.

Speaker 1 (19:14):
And I'm trying.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
I can see I'm drawing a blank right now. I
feel so stupid for saying that. But the phone lines
are open five one, three, seven, four, nine, seven thousand.
Now you got me stumped. Man under the baby. Maybe
it'll come to me. Maybe a caller will call in.

Speaker 1 (19:28):
Let us know.

Speaker 2 (19:29):
I don't know that he probably knows he's holding out.
That's just good. Let us let us sit here and
guess I know what Beth is on the line. Beth,
how you doing?

Speaker 1 (19:38):
Hi? I'm doing great, Bene Barlington.

Speaker 8 (19:41):
Yes, they talking to you, fellas. I love listening to
whoever occupies this hour or two hours, whoever it may be,
whether it's whoever it may be, however called that. Forgive
me because I just I just tuned in and I
don't even know. I'm I'm not quite sure who's on today.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
I'm Dan Carroll, give me, he's Jason william.

Speaker 8 (20:12):
Dan Carroll, I grew up in the neighborhood of yours
years ago. Did I swam at the same swim club
as you?

Speaker 1 (20:20):
How about that well swim club? Back?

Speaker 8 (20:25):
Of course?

Speaker 5 (20:25):
Some?

Speaker 8 (20:25):
Yeah, of course. So the reason is, who's on with you?

Speaker 1 (20:30):
Rocky?

Speaker 2 (20:31):
No, this is the Rocky and Eddie Show. It's it's
Dan Carroll and Jason Williams sitting in for us.

Speaker 8 (20:37):
Okay, Hi, Jason h James Williams, and I love listening
to you as well. So let me just mention.

Speaker 9 (20:44):
We go way back, you know, Doctor Anderson, Redskins, the
Redskins Baby.

Speaker 2 (20:54):
Once a redskin, always a redskin. Were I went to mcnick. Oh,
that's right, I knew you. I'm Rocket, I'm Rocket.

Speaker 8 (21:04):
I don't know why I thought you went to Anderson,
But did you swim at Anderson High School?

Speaker 1 (21:08):
Solomon Wilcotts, That's who I was thinking of. Sally.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
Sally went to Solomon wilcott is a great guy. I apologize.

Speaker 8 (21:16):
I love talking.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
I was thinking, I was thinking to him when I
was thinking Utah state, I know Sally went there. Then
as soon as I was going to say it on
the air, as it just walked right out of my head.

Speaker 1 (21:27):
But that's okay, we're just cutting off here. Just you
got the no, No, you're not, you're not.

Speaker 8 (21:32):
I'm enjoying every every second of it. The reason I
called is because my sister and I we don't gamble much.
We put some money in for the lottery every time
it gets a little bit big. And she had picked
up a couple of numbers and I picked up a
couple numbers, and we both I said to her, I said,
I said, I bet you that we won't win any

(21:56):
money in this. However, I bet you five dollars that
the winner will come out of California. And that's just
straight up, and we laughed so hard about it because
it just seems definitely it is.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
It seems like they always come out of a state
that I haven't been to anytime recently, so I know I.

Speaker 8 (22:12):
Didn't come out of my neighborhood.

Speaker 2 (22:17):
One point six billion dollars. When's the drawing for the
power ball drawing?

Speaker 8 (22:23):
It's consecutive.

Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yes, yes, yes, I'm looking at it right here.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
It's today seven hours, twelve minutes, forty seconds until the.

Speaker 1 (22:31):
Next power ball draw. That's the time you have to
get your yet, let's go one point six.

Speaker 8 (22:35):
I'm talking to you, guys.

Speaker 1 (22:37):
Hey back, thank you? All right? There you going to
be even She seems like saying she's my neighbor someone
someone I grew up with. Swim club.

Speaker 2 (22:46):
It's called it's called the Forest Hill Swim Club, right,
that's right. But but back in the day it was
summit we have. I'm in the Wyoming Swim Club.

Speaker 10 (22:55):
Well, there you go.

Speaker 2 (22:56):
Doesn't sound as it doesn't sound as racous as the
Forest Hills. We have a good time, man, I mean
we have we have a good time too. Like it
sounds like a wild party there.

Speaker 6 (23:06):
Like.

Speaker 2 (23:07):
Well, up until a couple of seasons ago, we used
to have a high board too. Oh insurance and all
that they took our had. Is there any high boards
around anything?

Speaker 1 (23:16):
There?

Speaker 2 (23:17):
There are the outside of probably are there, Okay, but
in Ohio anymore? I don't know, man, where I grew up.
My grandparents lived in this little town called Middleports in
Meg's County up in southeast Ohio, and they had the
absolute best pool ever Middleport pool. It was it was
the world's at the time whatever largest above ground pool.

(23:40):
And it was above ground, but it was a massive
It was this massive concrete just mass. And they had
the highest high board that it was. How about that?

Speaker 1 (23:51):
It was phenomenal. It was a cool place, the.

Speaker 2 (23:54):
World's highest above ground pool. Yeah, the world's biggest middleport pool.
Well man, how about that? And we always rode my
cousins and I rode our bikes there, and that that
high board was intimid.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
One point six billion though for the for the powerball
jack you going? Do you ever?

Speaker 2 (24:10):
Do you ever play the lottery when it's My wife
always says, and she might be listening right now, and
I know she's got a couple of stops to make
before she goes home. She gotta get your Christmas She's
all get a powerball ticket. She gets them, and then
we pray, we pray over Oh I get oh man,
I gotta get your son or daughter gets a video

(24:32):
of that YouTube praying over the lottery ticket.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
I can't hurt hey. If the almighty wants to wants
to look dot them with favor upon me, Oh I
love to send me that one point six billion.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
I will, I will accept it and the spirit. But
it's all that's awesome. I mean, really, what do you
do with that kind of money? One point it says
the cash value is seven hundred and thirty five seven
hundred and thirty five point three million. I'll pay off
your bills and give give a big chunk away. At

(25:06):
that point, though, don't you take it? If they pay
it out over what it is, twenty twenty thirty years,
whatever it is, I think you take the check, don't
don't you take it because because then, I mean, I
know I'm never going to run on the money for
the rest of my life.

Speaker 1 (25:18):
So you're this point, you're this point in the game.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
You're saying take the payment. They're saying take the one
time payment. No, I'm saying, take the annual payments. Yeah,
because that's still a lot of money.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
We'll just in then throw it in the bank and
draw interest on it. Though.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
Yeah, but yeah, but then you know, you know, I mean,
I'm probably not going to live to be over one
hundred years old. But see, then why would you want
to take then the well, I don't know, I take
it all now, I don't know. I'd have to if
I if I won, I would sit down and seriously
you pray about it. Look at all the pros and cons.
You know, have me get some advice stuff like that.
If if yeah, it's a good idea.

Speaker 6 (25:52):
You know.

Speaker 2 (25:53):
I always like to write those out. And there's a
big decision. Makes your pros list and the cons list,
you know, right, write a nice check Austin no more
because he deserves it. Would you donate? Would you just
out of the goodness of your heart, donate money to
I hurt?

Speaker 1 (26:06):
No, not, come on if I hurt one. It's funny.

Speaker 2 (26:12):
It's funny you mentioned that because I was listening today.
You don't have a heart for and and and Brian
Combs did a story about the Cincinnati Cyclones may may
wind up going on strike and he, uh, the what
is it EHL coast? He said, the average e HL
player makes about twenty grand a season. That sounds about right.

(26:36):
That's not much. No, but that's that's not much. And
I was thinking about that. I was thinking about that,
and and I was this day, and this goes back
several years. I was at at a golf event. Yeah,
and we were playing with a number of players from
the Cyclones and the one guy I was playing with,
actually there's two Cyclones in our group, and I made

(26:57):
a bet with this dude. I was on a par
three closest to the pin for ten bucks. Okay, So
I beat him on the I got him closest to
the pin. Then where we play a few more holes
and he says, you want to go double or nothing
on that on that closest to the pin. I said, well,
you still haven't paid me for the first one yet.
He said, we'll go double or nothing. I said, okay,

(27:18):
and I beat him on that one too, and he
never paid me. At that point, he owed me twenty
bucks and he never paid me.

Speaker 1 (27:26):
Now I know, why.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
Do you ever go to a Cyclones games? Yeah, a
lot of Cyclones games are great. But coming up in
the top of the hour, Steve Good is going to
be here. Big story we were talking about over the weekend.
Of course, the Epstein Finals came out. Yeah, so we're
going to get his take on that. And then have
you seen some of the photos that accompanied Epstein Finals?

Speaker 1 (27:49):
Yes, I saw a lot.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
I saw the picture of Bill Clinton in a hot tub,
a lot of Bill Clinton relaxing in a hot tub.
I saw him working on his breastroke in the in
the swimming pool, wasn't there was where he was dressed
in some kind of Oh I think we've all seen
that one before though.

Speaker 1 (28:04):
Oh was that okay? The famous blue dress? And is
that what it was? Yeah, it's in there's looks like
some traditional gears. I don't know he's it.

Speaker 11 (28:13):
So one.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
I'm thinking, have you seen the some of the AI
videos of Bill Clinton? Have you seen some of those?

Speaker 11 (28:19):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (28:20):
Yeah, we can't. We can't share those on the air,
but I have those are those are goals? All right, Austin.
We got to get to a little traffic and weather
together here.

Speaker 1 (28:28):
Don't we. There we go on seven hundred WW.

Speaker 6 (28:32):
From the UCE Health Traffic Center. At u See Health,
you'll find comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your
best tomorrow possible. That's found less care for better outcomes,
Expect more at u sehealth dot com. On westbound seventy
four before col Rain, it's an accident blocking the right lane.
Traffic slow back from seventy five southbound seventy one seventy five.

(28:54):
It's an accident on the off ramp to southbound seventy
one at the split in Walton. Now only the right
older blocked off, so traffic can use that ramp northbound
seventy five. It's an accident on the right shoulder after
Union Center Boulevard, and one more crash on ken Wood
at Coogler Mill Road. I'm at Eazelek on news radio
seven hundred WLUB.

Speaker 2 (29:17):
Here's the ninth first one forecast. Some light sprinkles, showers
maybe moving through the tri State tonight, nothing all that heavy.
We're going to have an overnight low fifties. I'm sorry,
forty three, not fifty six. Tomorrow's highest fifty six under
mostly cloudy skies. Tomorrow night cloudy, cool, the overnight low forty,
and then Christmas Eve we're looking at a high under

(29:38):
cloudy skies of fifty six and maybe even in the sixties.
For Christmas Day it is forty four at seven hundred WLW.
All right, mister Pennay, I'm going to show you some
images and you tell me what do you see?

Speaker 3 (29:51):
Looks like a butterfly? Listening to Scott's Loan Show and
this one I see a rocket ship.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
A rocket ship.

Speaker 3 (29:57):
Yeah, last enough for the planet's loan.

Speaker 1 (30:00):
Let's see and this one.

Speaker 3 (30:01):
That looks like a fish swimming in a mountain pond.

Speaker 1 (30:04):
It's very good.

Speaker 3 (30:05):
Yeah, but the fish is angry because he's not listening
to Scott Sloan.

Speaker 1 (30:08):
Scott Sloan, please listen responsibly. Join me, Scott Sloan. Tomorrow
morning at nine o'clock on seven hundred WLW might be
best for us to discuss some strong medications.

Speaker 7 (30:18):
This report is sponsored by Jake Swingey Automotive, serving the
Try State for over one hundred years. It's red Tag
time at Jake Swinney Chevrolet. Together, let's drive and get
zero percent APR. On twenty twenty six, Silver Auto fifteen
hundred crew Cab Turbomax only at Jake Sweney Chevrolet, Try Counties.

Speaker 2 (30:38):
This is what they call the hard Cell Sunday Yardcare,
Black Friday Sale Limited Time Act.

Speaker 1 (30:43):
Now, yelling about grass feels strange. Let's try that again,
Dan Carol, Jason Williams sitting in Freddy and Rocky and
a couple of big stories that are breaking right now.

Speaker 2 (30:55):
One is the release of the Epstein files. The other
is the Hamilton County Corner. Doctor Laximi Schmarco put out
a statement today indicating that the woman who was killed
in nineteen ninety four and had the case well, the

(31:17):
man who was found guilty of killing the woman in
nineteen ninety four, Elwood Jones Connie Pillach dismissed the case
in the murder of Rhoda Nathan happened at a Blue
Ash hotel and just unbelievable. And then it looks like

(31:37):
it looks like, based on what the corner is saying,
that the prosecutor made a pretty big mistake. It certainly
looks that way. But in any case, to break down
both of these cases is our good buddy Steve Gooden
and Steve Gooden, thanks for being here in Happy holidays
and Merry Christmas.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
To you, sir, Hey right back at you, Dan, thanks
for having me, Thanks for being here.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
Let's talk about the Epstein files first, and you know,
you know, we've got a lot a lot of photos here.
Bill Clinton turns up in a lot of these photos.
Some of these are are fairly salacious.

Speaker 1 (32:13):
I guess.

Speaker 2 (32:16):
I don't know how much of the Epstein files you
have seen, but what you've seen so far, it looks like, Okay,
they're out there, so.

Speaker 1 (32:26):
What well, it's terrible. I'll tell you what.

Speaker 12 (32:31):
This release, if anything, is just going to further all
the conspiracy theories and just keep this alive.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
I mean, I think this is going to be. Like
I've said before, this is kind of like the Kennedy assassination.

Speaker 12 (32:44):
It will always be a question mark because there are
so many powerful people ex presidents, heads of giant corporations
that are teammate people who were on and off that island.
And the more we see of the files, the worse
it gets. So right now you can ext go on
Justice dot gov and search this latest release. So if

(33:04):
you remember the most of the judges who oversaw the
grand jury investigations twenty thirty years ago when when the
first child sex trafficking stuff came to life, those they
have unsealed the grand jury information and now Congress has
mandated that the rest of the files be released. They
are being released in big chunks. There's some controversy there

(33:25):
as one of Trump's personal lawyers is now working at
the Justice Department and is in charge of redacting some
of the information. There's obviously young young people and the
victims unfortunately keep getting younger as we see from these photographs.
You know, whose identities have to be redacted and removed.
So of course there will always be people claiming that
because a former Trump lawyer is involved, that somehow who's

(33:47):
getting favorable treatment. We don't know that to be the case,
but that will always be I think something out there
that is lingering. But you know, what we're seeing is,
for the first time Epstein really involved in straight up
child pornography with much younger children than what we had
seen before. I mean, I mean, what we saw before

(34:10):
was a guy who seemed to be chasing after girls
in their teens, which is disgusting and wrong, but it was.
But now we're seeing like child pornography allegations and photos
of him with children well under ten that it's just absolutely,
you know, vile. And then the question, of course becomes
which of these people, the Bill Clintons, the Bill Gates,

(34:32):
the Donald Trumps, who knew what win when they were
on this island. And of course it's a totally private island.
It's in the Virgin Islands, but the entirety of the
island was a private resident so you know it really
it would have been very difficult for law enforcement to
get on there without a warrant even then, So you know,

(34:52):
it's going to be one of those things where we'll
probably never know totally what happened.

Speaker 1 (34:56):
But the more we learn, the worse it looks.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
Can uh you bring up an interesting point here, knowing
that this is not this island is not an American island,
and then you throw on top of that the release
we're seeing more and more younger children. Can the families
of those children or those children themselves now who probably

(35:20):
some of them are we grown up now?

Speaker 8 (35:21):
Right?

Speaker 2 (35:22):
Do they have any legal recourse and all this or
do these do the release of these of these files
allow them to now turn around and sue someone or
have any kind of uh legal uh legal standing on anything?

Speaker 12 (35:40):
Well, they would if there was anything left to get.
I mean, it's gonna be kind of hard. I mean,
that's why they went after this galas Maxwell lady. I
mean she's I mean, obviously Epstein is dead, uh, you know,
committed suicide in prison. There will always be people, I
think thinking that he uh was murdered. I mean, we
don't know what the what the truth is. But that's
another part of this that's always going to be a

(36:01):
question mark and lend itself to conspiracy theories, but no, absolutely,
a lot of those young folks who are now adults,
almost all of them, I think would have to be
adults by now, would have some grounds to sue. Most
states now, and in the federal system there really is
no statute of limitations on child sex abuse, so they
could still sue, but it's just unclear what assets are

(36:23):
still there after the fans got done with him and
with Maxwell. You know, really where his estate is, you know,
it's not really you know clear what's there and what
hasn't already been seized and taken. So yes, they've got
a right to sue, but where they would go with it,
I don't know the bringing criminal charges they can and
died a dead man. But one of the things that's
so heartbreaking about is you do have in this new

(36:46):
tranch of documents, you have a complaint made back I
think all the way back in nineteen ninety eight I
believe it was, or not even ninety six. I can't recall.
We're one of his former employees. One of Epstein's former
employees said, look, there's child pornography here, and the way
he's looking and acting around my daughter is scaring me.

(37:07):
I'm not working here anymore. Someone please look into this.
It was a letter she wrote to the FBI, and
it looks as though there was absolutely no action taken.
So you know, it's you know, for these we don't
know how many victims there were. I mean, we know
what he ultimately, you know, plug guilty to is probably
the tip of the iceberg. You know, he's sitting there

(37:27):
in a US territory, but on a private island with
no real law enforcement, flogged back and forth and really
able to do whatever he wanted to do. And of course,
for me, the tantalyzing you questions will always be was
he somehow or another blackmailing these wealthy and powerful people
who are on and off the island, who either had
knowledge or were somehow implicated. We'll probably never know that truth,

(37:51):
but that's always what Epstein's going to stand for in
people's mind. It's going to be kind of shorthand for
you know, very powerful people potentially being black.

Speaker 1 (38:00):
Yeah, you know, I think you might have just answered
this question.

Speaker 2 (38:03):
But it's as far as I'm concerned, and I think
a lot of people in this case, I don't care
about the pictures. I don't care about the you know,
the files and all that stuff. All all I care
all I care about is if there were individuals who
engaged in this contact with this this uh with who
engage with young kids, in this activity with young kids,

(38:25):
then they need to be held accountable.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
Brought to justice, brought to justice.

Speaker 2 (38:28):
And Ton absolutely, does this get us any further down
that road in your opinion?

Speaker 1 (38:34):
Well, you know, it could.

Speaker 12 (38:35):
I mean, it could potentially open something up there. And
I'll just tell you though, I mean, I was on
back when I was a prosecutor here in Hamilton County.
I was actually on the child pornography task Force, and
I learned firstand those cases can.

Speaker 1 (38:47):
Be very hard to bring.

Speaker 12 (38:48):
It's hard to get cooperating witnesses, it's hard to get
people who have really strong memories of what happened as children.
Even child pornography can be difficult to uh, you know,
to prosecute, particularly in the federal law, because it actually
has to show not just children in a state of undress,
it has to show children engaged in some sort of
sexual contact. So there's a big spectrum of stuff that

(39:11):
can be pretty terrible and perverted, but almost really hard
to prosecute. So it's still tough you've still got to
have people who come forward as live witnesses, who have
specific recollections. That's one of the reasons these people are
so vile who prey on children, because they know that
a lot of people don't believe them, or they lack
the vocabulary to really articulate what happened to them. Some

(39:32):
of them don't even totally understand what's happening because they
have no context for it. So it's you know, prosecuting
these people can be very, very, very difficult, particularly when
the time has passed, so.

Speaker 1 (39:47):
You know, it doesn't help.

Speaker 12 (39:48):
Perhaps it does, but it's it's still going to require
live witnesses to come forward. And again, you know, he's dead,
so the odds of anyone being him being prosecuted is
really tough. And everyone else is very lawyered up and
very distant. There are people, you know, like the folks
like Alan Dershowitz and Bill Clinton, the people that we
now see are there over and over in these photographs,

(40:11):
clearly much more friendly with Epstein than they ever let on.
Everyone has put a lot of distance between them over
the years. I mean, there's the photo that's circulating with
the Clinton in the pool with Maxwell, and then they
all look like they know each other pretty pretty well.

Speaker 1 (40:26):
So I was surprised to see Well and Michael Jackson.

Speaker 2 (40:32):
Michael unbelievable. So, Steve Good, let me ask you a
shift shifting gears here to to the local story. Now,
as a former prosecutor, can you speak to the honesty
and integrity with which Joe Dieters ran that office when
he was in charge of that office?

Speaker 11 (40:47):
Oh my god, Well that's a that's a you can
on it, but I'll do it. Look, I'll just be
I'll just cut right to the chase. Look, I was
privileged to work there early in my career for five years.
Was in the fellow me the vision for.

Speaker 1 (41:00):
A lot of that time.

Speaker 12 (41:01):
I'm telling you everybody that worked there when I was there,
you know, the the idea that someone would frame someone
or let someone go to prisident based upon a sloppy investigation.

Speaker 1 (41:12):
Is just absurd.

Speaker 12 (41:13):
Everybody there was working over time to make sure and
bending over backwards to make sure that they were fair.
In fact, I remember when I was helping run the
grand jury briefly how angry police officers were at us
sometimes because we wouldn't indict people because we were giving
people the benefit of the doubt, you know, even then.
So it was extraordinarily frustrating for me to hear about

(41:35):
this new prosecutor basically kind of throwing the you know,
the old team under the bus. It's just not the
way it's supposed to be. And I and look, I
know Mark Pete Meyer personally. He was one of Joe's
main assistants. Who was you know, who was actually involved
in the Elwood Jones prosecution. And he's just somebody who
a lot of us younger lawyers considered a mentor, a

(41:57):
person who absolutely you know, a working class background. He
wasn't this elite kind of person that they make him
sound here in some of this press coverage. The idea
that he would you know, a person with a real conscience.
The idea that he would preside over something where someone
would go and sit on death row with without any
kind of evidence or you know, hide evidence and so

(42:17):
forth as being accused here is just absurd. And I
think what came out today really underlines that these folks
had a great case against Elwood Jones. My personal opinion
is that he killed that woman and was being was
correctly brought to justice. There were no other viable suspects
that I ever heard about, and just trying to hang
everything on this forensic evidence that now turned out to

(42:40):
be not what we thought in regards to the hepatitis diagnosis,
I mean, and the whole thing's certain. I mean, look
as I understand that. I mean, well, first, back in
nineteen ninety four, there were almost no DNA testing, you know,
was being done in cases because the technology existed, but
it was prohibitively expensive back then. So the idea that
there was no is not some scandal, but there was

(43:02):
never any DNA in cases that far back. So you
had to look at things like, well, he had a
defensive bite wound, he had the woman's necklace in his toolbox,
he had a key and kind of access to room.
You know, those are the sorts of things that you
looked at and that the jury, by the way, found compelling,
not just the prosecutor. Twelve people sat and heard this

(43:22):
trial and they were convinced beyond a reasonable doubt. So
you know, I think this is just a sad thing,
and I think this is a case where the prosecutor
and some of the other folks involved, they're putting this
kind of ideology over the facts, you know, the ideas
that you know, it's a corrupt, dirty system, you know,
but that's not the case.

Speaker 2 (43:42):
Okay, yeah, I mean you kind of touched on what
on my question there than Steve was like, you know,
I get it. This is a Democrat prosecutor. Now Joe
Dieter's Republican Republican you know, control the prosecutor's officer years.

Speaker 1 (43:57):
None of that really should matter whatever, So.

Speaker 2 (44:00):
Why why does why did Pilich take the extraordinary step
of then making this claim against against Deaders and his
team when like that, it seems like that was completely
unnecessary to even say that, Like you could say, hey,
from what my my research and what my team has
looked at this case, and we decided that there was

(44:22):
not enough evidence there to convict this person. Done, end
of story, and here's the decision or whatever. Why take
that extraordinary step then to then just absolutely throw Joe
Deeters and his his folks under the bus when you know,
is there some kind of political under underneath underneath all

(44:44):
this play for her or what?

Speaker 12 (44:48):
Well, you know, I don't know what's in her heart
and mind on this. I mean, obviously I don't really
know her very well or hardly at all. Really, yeh,
can art you just say? It sure looks that way though,
I'll tell you, you know, it's so funny. I mean, yes,
when I worked there when Joe was prosecutor, obviously he's
a Republican and he ran for office, but we really
didn't think of ourselves as political actors. I mean we

(45:10):
really didn't. I mean, he had people working there of
all political stripes. There were Democrats there, there were independents there,
there are people all across the spectrum, and we really
didn't think.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
Of it that way.

Speaker 12 (45:21):
I mean, we thought we really were concerned. You know,
we're human beings, well as prosecutors are human beings.

Speaker 11 (45:27):
You know.

Speaker 12 (45:27):
It wasn't just all about getting the conviction. It was
about trying to do the right thing. There were times
when we would reduce cases because we thought it was
the right thing to do. I personally was someone who
had great sympathy for people who were drug addicted. In
the cases I handled, A had zero sympathy for the
drug dealers, but for the people who were addicted, we
would often bend over backwards to try to make sure

(45:47):
that they had a treatment option or something. So this
idea that it was just this assembly line of sending
poor people to jail just for the sake of doing it.
I mean, that's wrong, and I think that's what's informing
some of these public comments. And I think she's set
the city up or the county rather for an enormous lawsuit,
because she's just saying, as you noted, she's just saying, look,

(46:08):
there were some evidence we didn't know about her evidence
we wish we had. She actually said, I don't I'm
not convinced he did it, and I don't think she's
reading those files the same way I am.

Speaker 1 (46:18):
And so.

Speaker 12 (46:20):
We'll see what happens. But the probably more litigation of
the taxpayer's writing more texts.

Speaker 1 (46:24):
All right, Steve Good, we got we got a run,
but thank you for the time. I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (46:29):
Merry Christmas to you and yours, and all the best
for a great new year, and we will be talking
again before too long. Hey, Mary, Christmas, guys, Christmas right,
you and the family, see Steve Good, and thank you
very much. Time for trafficking Wethers together on seven hundred.

Speaker 6 (46:42):
W from the UC Health Traffic Center at UCE help
you'll find comprehensive care that's so personal. It makes your
best tomorrow possible. That's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect
more at ucehealth dot com. Northbound on the route floor By,
there's an accident that's at Port Union Road only crash

(47:03):
out there actually at the moment, but keep in mind
there is some slow traffic northbound on seventy five between
Mitchell and Paddock. Looking at a five minute delay right now.
In southbound on seventy five through Ohio into northern Kentucky,
some slow traffic from Western Avenue all the way down
to Twelfth Street. I'm at EAZELLEKA News the radio seven
hundred WLW.

Speaker 1 (47:28):
Here's the ninth first one forecast.

Speaker 2 (47:30):
Some light sprinkles, showers maybe moving through the tri state tonight,
nothing all that heavy. We're going to have an overnight
low fifties. I'm sorry, forty three, not fifty six. Tomorrow's
high at fifty six under mostly cloudy skies. Tomorrow night cloudy, cool,
the overnight low forty and then Christmas Eve we're looking
at a high under cloudy skies of fifty six and

(47:53):
maybe even in the sixties.

Speaker 1 (47:54):
For Christmas Day.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
It is forty four at seven hundred WLW spreading holidays.

Speaker 13 (48:00):
Ye, the way I spread mayonnaise on a b LT
thick and sloppy ho ho ho from seven hundred.

Speaker 14 (48:10):
This report is sponsored by One Hour Heating and Eric
Kenny Schnek. Winter temps are upon us w.

Speaker 1 (48:15):
L W, Dan Carrol, Jason Williams hanging out for Eddie
and Rocky. Austin Elmore running the big board in the
seven hundred WLW command center. Austin, let's go ahead and
open the phone lines.

Speaker 2 (48:25):
I don't think we have any more guests for like
an hour from now, so we it's just me and
you see I'm down there.

Speaker 1 (48:31):
I'm down the Epstein Epstein rabbit hole. Now we talked
to you.

Speaker 2 (48:36):
Are you scrolling through some photos there? Photos? Stories? It's
just yeah, it's yeah. The one, the one that shocked
me was Bill Clinton standing there with Michael Jackson. Yes,
and then you got Diana Ross here.

Speaker 1 (48:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:47):
Yeah, but I would not suggest that Diana Ross I
mean right, well, I mean but see the Diana Ross
pete because you're like, wait, what yeah? That that that
I think probably almost that's a shock. But see, but
see that I think almost tells the bigger picture here
of just how deep and far and why.

Speaker 1 (49:06):
Does this thing go? If Diana Ross is in there,
who else is involved here? I don't know.

Speaker 2 (49:13):
I mean, I mean that this is a stratosphere, a
world that I will never inhabit. It's hard to compose
win the one point six billion, But even then you're
you're still not really But I just I just think
that their entire way of looking at life, living life
is different than than normal people. Well, and it's interesting

(49:38):
that we're talking about this because I was I was
on YouTube last night and you'd like to watch news
clips and stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (49:44):
Did you go down the rabbit hole? Well? I got
down the I got down the U.

Speaker 2 (49:50):
I got down the PBS front Line rabbit hole on
front Line is now when it comes to PBS not
not a huge huge fan, but I am a huge
fan of the frontline investigative work. And they did a
it's whatever you know, it was on a on a
stream or something. The guy's name that narrates those gosh,
I mean how about that? I mean, people would kill

(50:12):
for pipes like that. Well, just listen to his voice alone. Maybe,
But I ended up watching one on Made Off and
it's the concept of it is just the just being
that you thought you just you're you think you're untouchable
and that you can do You get in this world
of wealth and you've been able to do this forever

(50:35):
and ever and ever, and then you just think you're untouchable.
And I'm sure that's the same elements of this that
was with money with him in a Ponzi scheme, and
here this was with sex and sex trafficking, and you
just you get into that world and you throw the
money piece in there, and that you're protected by all
these celebrities and powerful people in politics and business, and

(51:02):
it is, like you said, there again, it's hard. It's
a world that is hard to comprehend.

Speaker 11 (51:09):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (51:09):
Or maybe you think you can you can, you can
pay lawyers so much money that they'll they'll keep they'll
find ways to keep you from prison. Maybe, I mean,
I I have no idea, I have no idea what
what what these people think? But the other thing, and
I want to thank Steve Gooden? How happened to Steve Gooden?
Is uh?

Speaker 2 (51:29):
I mean that that guy is I love listening when
he's on our show, when he's on other shows. I
never turned the radio off when he's on because and
what he said about Joe Dieters and the way Joe
Dieters ran his office and the fact that Joe Dieters
had to uh in a sense, take off his robe

(51:52):
from the Supreme Court bench to come down and defend
himself right against the current prosecutor Pillach because she sought
an extraordinary step or but you know what, good on him. Yeah,
you know, he believed, truly believed that. You know, this
was a time where he needed to speak to the

(52:12):
media because you know, Supreme Court justices rarely due, but
this was one of those times. And you know, Dan,
you you covered news and politics for many many years
in this town. I covered politics for several years for
the Inquiry. Never never, and I covered Joe Deeters. You
covered Joe Deeters. Never did I hear of anything along

(52:33):
these lines. And know people in this office and you
knew people in his office and you know people around
him and all the political folks like never did ever,
was there ever any inkling of a whiff of like
the Joe Deeters would do something like this? He be
and ag end I'm saying this from my own personal
you know, my own personal experience of reporting. And you know,

(52:57):
you you were talking about it as well. And it's
just like, and you know, I'm not sitting here like
you know, I'm just I'm just again, I'm speaking from
my own experience of reporting, and I've never I've heard
people criticize Joe Eaters. Sure, I've never heard. I've never

(53:18):
heard anything like that. And you would think with the
amount of people that you between you and I, that
we've covered through the years, you would have caught some
kind of wind of something, Oh, you know, this case here,
in this case there, and never.

Speaker 1 (53:34):
But Joe Dieters, he wrote.

Speaker 2 (53:35):
He wrote a letter to Connie Pillach on December seventeenth,
after she announced that she was going to release him
from prison and dismiss with prejudice the case against him,
And here's part of what he wrote to her. He wrote,
had you chosen to release Jones after thirty years of
incarceration based on mercy or policy considerations, that would have

(53:58):
been your prerogative as an election that official. Reasonable people
could disagree, but it would have been within your authority.
What is unforgivable is attempting to justify that decision through
falsehoods and by maligning the reputations of dedicated public servants.
And that's that's what bothers him more than anything else,

(54:20):
is the suggestion that for political purpose or any other reason,
that he would cut corners short cut a case, Uh
sought to do an injustice by having an innocent man
go to prison for whatever reason. That's and that is
not something that Joe Dieters would ever Yeah, I think

(54:42):
ever consider he said it. Well, then we asked Steve
Goodin about it. He, I mean, Joe Dieters in his
letters said it said it like reasonable people can disagree,
and that what what and you know, hey, uh, this
prosecutor has reviewed the case and sees a hey that
I don't the the I don't see enough evidence here
or whatever to you know, this should be dropped. He

(55:04):
should be released from prison. Okay, but I don't understand.
I don't get that. And again I'm I you know,
I know local politics. And that's the part about it
that I'm kind of like, I don't like, I don't
understand what that step of saying that has to do
with with anything here, right, because you're right, like you look,

(55:27):
you said you like she said all the reasons why
you know, hey, based upon the evidence or lack thereof
or whatever you know looking at the case, Okay, but
then to take that extra step, you're like huh and
I and again, I look at these things a lot
of times through especially a Democrat prosecutor and a Republican
former prosecutor now high a Supreme Court judge, like what

(55:50):
what would what would cause all that to you know,
that that step to be taken in all this well,
and then the other thing is had Connie Pillat, as
she said, conducted this exhaustive review. And I would think
if I were in her position and I was considering
releasing this man from prison, I would at least contact

(56:13):
Joe Deeters and say, look, I've been looking at this case.

Speaker 1 (56:17):
I've got X, Y and Z. I know you were
the prosecutor at the time.

Speaker 2 (56:20):
I would, and I would, I would want my ideas
to withstand his scrutiny, because you know what, if he
made a mistake, if he came up and said, you
know what, we didn't consider this, or we made it,
we overlooked this, or there is something it is not
right here, then then if he can find a way

(56:40):
to be in agreement with him and set an innocent
man free, then Joe Dieters is the kind of guy
who would do that. But if if it's you, and
you are making this kind of decision that is going
to change this man's life, in the life of his
family and everyone who knows him, and not only his family,
but the victims family as well. Don't you want to

(57:02):
be right about it? Don't you want your ideas to
be able to withstand scrutiny? Yeah, And and why she
couldn't even contact Joe Dieters or Pete Meyer and say, look,
here's what I'm working with. Tell me where I'm wrong.
And if they can't find a hole in that, then
that that to me tells me that that you are

(57:22):
doing justice, which she claims is she wants she wants
to do justice. And this is well said Dan, And
then this is separate from all that, like I and
again this seems like a very extraordinary circumstance case here
in the sense that I didn't even realize until all

(57:43):
this came out. And again, I my my, my expertise
are reporting is more on the political stuff and now
I do sports, but like you know, not so much
on the criminal justice side. So I'm always try to
careful on whatever I.

Speaker 1 (57:56):
Say on that. But I only the piece.

Speaker 2 (58:02):
I didn't really even realize, like a prosecutor, it doesn't
matter who the prosecutor is, a local prosecutor in the
state of Ohio then has the ability to basically free
someone from.

Speaker 1 (58:13):
I didn't even know that. I agree, I did.

Speaker 3 (58:15):
I didn't know.

Speaker 1 (58:15):
I didn't know that power existed.

Speaker 2 (58:17):
Yeah, I always just say, I like, the governor has
the ability to grant clemency to you know, anyone who's
in prison. But you understand that. But I didn't realize
a local prosecutor. I know that's not what it's called here,
that that's not the term whatever, but essentially that's the
same thing, right or No.

Speaker 1 (58:34):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
I mean, it's a I I did not know that.
I mean with the case was tried in Hamilton County.
She's the Hamilton County prosecutor. She dismissed the case. So
so I don't I did not know. But then wouldn't
that jo wouldn't wouldn't be to you to go back
And yeah, I mean again, it's fascinating. That was gonna

(58:57):
be my next question if we would have had I'm
on that pot.

Speaker 1 (59:00):
Yeah, we didn't have time, but anyway, we'll throw it
out there other stuff too. Phone line are going to
be open the next half hour five to one, three, seven, four, nine, seven,
eight hundred the Big one Dan and Jason and for
Eddie and Rocky on seven hundred WW.

Speaker 6 (59:17):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. At uce Health, you'll
find comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your best
tomorrow possible. That's foundless care for better outcomes. Expect more
at UCHealth dot com. Only one accident out there right now.
It's on Hunt Road over at Plainfield Road southbound seventy five,
though it's construction work between Ronald Reagan Highway in the

(59:39):
Norwood lateral right now. A six minute delay as a
result of that. Back from Shepherd Lane. More stop and
go traffic on southbound seventy five between Western Avenue and
Fort Washington Way up to a five minute delay, and
northbound seventy one seventy five a six minute delay from
Burlington Pike up towards the Brent Spence Bridge. I met
he on news radio seven hundred WLUBD.

Speaker 2 (01:00:04):
Here's the ninth first warning forecast. Some light sprinkles, showers
maybe moving through the tri State tonight. Nothing all that heavy.
We're going to have an overnight low fifties. I'm sorry,
forty three, not fifty six. Tomorrow's highest fifty six under
mostly cloudy skies. Tomorrow night cloudy cool, the overnight low forty,
and then Christmas Eve we're looking at a high under

(01:00:25):
cloudy skies of fifty six in maybe even in the sixties.
For Christmas Day it is forty four at seven hundred WLW.

Speaker 13 (01:00:35):
Is it true Tom Brenneman names his pants and his
favorite is called Percy?

Speaker 12 (01:00:39):
That is not true.

Speaker 13 (01:00:41):
Is it true that as a child Tom Brenneman hit
under the covers and listen to the radio and he's
incredible hulk jammies. Well, that's one of those yes and
those sort of things. It's a true Tom Brenneman bus.
These buntons to start your day, right, That's true and
I'm proud of it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:58):
Join me for the latest news, traffic from Chuck Ingram,
weather from Jennifer catch Mark, plenty of laughs and a
whole lot more.

Speaker 13 (01:01:05):
Come Brenhaman tomorrow morning at five am on seven hundred
wl W.

Speaker 14 (01:01:11):
This report is sponsored by Mel's Auto Glass.

Speaker 2 (01:01:14):
Mel's Auto Glass is a clear choice for your autoglass repair,
replacement and recalibration needs. Call Mels first at five one, three, five, six, three,
seventy seven, seventy one. By the way, Dan Carol for well,
Dan Carroll and Jason, Williams, Freddy and Rocky Man. It's
for the first two hours of flowing right by yea,
it has So we are on hour number three of
today's show, and we get to come back tomorrow and

(01:01:36):
Wednesday and Friday and do it again.

Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
Settle end. How about that?

Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
Yeah, get comfortable. We're gonna be here for a while.
We're like, we're like those uh, those bad house guests
that that won't ever releave. We got some fun segments,
we got some we've got a variety of things planned.
All right, have your people talk to my people. Absolutely,
we'll get that squared away in the meantime from our people.
Call in right now five one, three, seven, four nine

(01:02:04):
of one thousand and one, eight hundred, the big one.
Let's go to Mason. We'll say hey to Brett. Do
we got Steve and west Union Brett seven hundred.

Speaker 1 (01:02:10):
Wiw Hey, guys, how you doing today? All right? Brett?
What's up? Hey?

Speaker 10 (01:02:16):
Well, first of all, I just want to say that
I did have some dealings with Joe Dieters in the
past and with a grand jury, and he's probably one
of the most solid law enforcement individuals I've ever ran
across my life. So I just want to make sure
I said that and in conjunction with what you guys
were talking about. But what I thought about today is
is the Epstein thing actually a team of people. I

(01:02:37):
was part of a team of people that worked on
the Epstein files and things many years ago when he
right after he got out of jail in Florida.

Speaker 1 (01:02:44):
But did you guys know that you hold on stop
right there before you any further a. So you worked
on the Epstein files in what sort of capacity I worked?

Speaker 10 (01:02:54):
I was very good friends with with a guy named
Isaac Caapi. Isaac Cappy was a Hollywood actor who came
out and started naming people on the Epstein list that
he knew of people that had yeah, you know, had
you know been in his circles, had you know, committed
crimes against you know, young children and things, and uh

(01:03:15):
he uh. He suicided himself off of a overpass by
the way of Phoenix several years ago.

Speaker 1 (01:03:21):
Interesting, are you are you your capacity is as a lawyer?

Speaker 10 (01:03:27):
No, my capacity was as a kind of a special investigator.
Like for example, yeah, like I went to I went
to New Hope, Pennsylvania to see if Maxwell was staying there.

Speaker 1 (01:03:37):
Things like that.

Speaker 10 (01:03:38):
But she has a submarine license. What now, Julane Gerlaine
Maxwell has a submarine license.

Speaker 2 (01:03:49):
I read yesterday where she's a licensed helicopter pilot. Also, huh, yep.
I saw at the controls of a hell.

Speaker 10 (01:03:57):
Hug yep and submarine and they had a small submarine
that they used a little Saint James. They had a
submarine docking area. And this is this is something you
guys can look up. It's a known thing.

Speaker 1 (01:04:09):
How many people know how to drive a submarine? Right?

Speaker 10 (01:04:12):
And everybody talks about the flights onto the island, right, Well,
it would be pretty easy to show up at a
submarine with nobody knowing about it, wouldn't it?

Speaker 2 (01:04:21):
So Epstein if she picked them up someplace else. Here's
the thing I have not read a ton. I'll be honest,
I have not read a ton about the whole Epstein
thing period.

Speaker 1 (01:04:32):
I just I and I said it before.

Speaker 2 (01:04:35):
All I want is the people who were engaging in
this activity with these young people, if if they if
if they harmed young people, I want them brought to justice.

Speaker 1 (01:04:45):
To me, that's pretty much. Yes.

Speaker 2 (01:04:46):
Hey, look, rich people, if they fly around, they have
their fun, they do what they want. That fine and
dandy all day long. But if you're you're committing crimes,
then you need to be brought to justice. And to
me that that's where it ends. But I did not
know you, right, But they had a submarine.

Speaker 10 (01:05:04):
Yeah, And part of the problem is is that what
a lot of people don't realize, you guys, is that
there are things that go on that the normal papas
doesn't understand. So we talk about these people committing crimes voluntarily.

Speaker 1 (01:05:17):
Unfortunately they do.

Speaker 10 (01:05:19):
There was a lot of blacknail going on and a
lot of things going on good with unwilling participants, so
to speak. And if you guys look up sculpamine. Sculpamine
is something from South America. It's derived from a flower,
from a plant. The people in Colombia are scared the
death of it. But sculpamine is something that they can
blow in your face. They can very easily administer it.

(01:05:40):
You remember nothing, you remember zero, and you do exactly
as you're told. There's instances where they do it to
a guy, take him to his house. They bring up
a moving van. He stands there and watches them move
out all the stuff. The neighbors are like, hey, you moving. Yep,
they do whatever you do, whatever you are told. That
sounds like you remember zero. Yeah, that sounds devil dust.

(01:06:04):
It's called devil dust down in Columbia.

Speaker 1 (01:06:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (01:06:07):
So you know you might have people, Yeah, you might
have people that are you know, on the up and
up and they actually are drugged, right, and they're putting
in certain compromising positions, film videos, whatever, and then you.

Speaker 1 (01:06:21):
Know they wake up. I didn't do that. Yeah you did?
How about that?

Speaker 10 (01:06:24):
So that's something people need to look at too. Yeah,
there's a lot of different facis. But basically the Epstein
thing was to lure in people that were, you know, pedophiles,
not pedophiles get things on. He was basically massade. Julaane
Maxwell's father was Massad. He actually had a mysterious death
on a yacht ride by himself, but the Prime Minister

(01:06:49):
of Israel also said that her father had done more
for Israel than most people had ever done. So there's
a lot of politics involved, a lot of massade, a
lot of different things. But yeah, yeah, it's it's it's
it's kind of crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:07:04):
All right, Greg, Well, you've got something, You've got a
ton of information there, and you told me something I
had not heard before. So I thank you very much
for that phone call. So Brett fam Mason is unloading
the big information there. What do you think about that?
What's that stuff they blow in your face? Devil dust?
Is that devil dust? I don't think I want any

(01:07:27):
part of that. So, like, I don't know, let's go
to West Union and say hey to Steve, Steve seven
hundred wlwyd Jason, Christmas, you got Christmas brother?

Speaker 1 (01:07:39):
What's going on?

Speaker 10 (01:07:42):
That was hard to follow.

Speaker 2 (01:07:45):
That's why I wanted to get to you, Steve. Dan's asking, man, like,
let's get on, Steve. I mean that that guy said
a lot of fantastic stuff. So it's it's a dust.
They blow it in your face and then all of
a sudden, you can't you can't remember anything, and you're
but you're totally coherent, and you're and and then you're

(01:08:05):
like hypnotized, so like fentanyl. I don't know, I don't
I don't you know, the drugging, stay away.

Speaker 1 (01:08:13):
From the cover.

Speaker 4 (01:08:15):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:08:16):
But it sounds a little bit spook.

Speaker 11 (01:08:19):
Anyway, what I got is.

Speaker 4 (01:08:21):
The topping, the topping, what that's just this the the
guy they let.

Speaker 2 (01:08:29):
Loose Jones Okay, all right, Elwood Jones the topic.

Speaker 4 (01:08:34):
And Connie Pillage the judge, you let him go?

Speaker 1 (01:08:38):
No, Connie Pillage is the prosecutor. Okay, whoever who is
the judge? Let him go? Uh uh, I'm gonna have
to look that up. Well, you can let you know later,
but I got it here. The judge on the case, good, good.

Speaker 4 (01:08:59):
Joe is amazing, and his office is amazing. It's impeccable
and untoughtable. Now this judge, let this guy go. Merry Christmas. Okay,
that's the biggest Christmas present this man will ever get.
I don't know how old he is, but I sure
wish that he would go as far away from Cincinnati

(01:09:21):
as he possibly can. Change his name, and if his
debauchery shows up again, I think street justice is going
to take care of all.

Speaker 1 (01:09:32):
Right, Well, Steve, you're done. I mean we can't we can,
we can't advocate for that kind of stuff. But now
some people are going to take things too far. I mean,
this is this is a legitimate issue.

Speaker 2 (01:09:45):
Though, yes, this guy was sentenced, found guilty by a
jury of his peers, has been up and down the
appeals process, and this prosecutor comes in and sees fit
to dismiss the case and turn this guy into a
free man. Which we were discussing before the last price.
We did not know that prosecutors had that had that

(01:10:09):
power to do that. So that's you know that that
that'll be our homework, as Simon is, to learn more
about that. Yes, all right, let's go to Nicole Nicole
seven hundred w w Hey Nicole, Nicole going once? Oh

(01:10:29):
so okay, well then you put her up there? All right,
all right, what do you got?

Speaker 1 (01:10:36):
What do you got there? Big guy?

Speaker 2 (01:10:41):
I'm not trying to change the subject because I legitimately
wanted to ask you, but I think we do need
a little lighten it up a little bit.

Speaker 1 (01:10:48):
Uh, you get your Christmas shopping done? Yes? Yes?

Speaker 2 (01:10:55):
Well maybe yes, I thought I think we my wife
and I, my wife and I, we do our We
do our and we have done this ever since our
kids have been little.

Speaker 1 (01:11:10):
One day a year. Uh, we we go out and
we do our shop.

Speaker 2 (01:11:14):
We don't buy stuff online, although she does now she'll
buy some stuff ahead of time.

Speaker 1 (01:11:19):
She does she do the Amazon Prime thing. She yeah,
she does that. Yeah, I don't buy stuff online, but
she but we were. We save money all year and
then one day a year I agree to go shopping
with her, and so I I know when it's going
to happen. I can mentally prepare. Yes, we're out. We

(01:11:40):
go out one day and we're in the store. We're
in the stores all day, all day. We got our
list of stuff we got to get, you know people
we got to get stuff for and we go out
and we get it all one day. We pay cash
for everything and we so we don't we don't. We
don't go to that. We don't use credit cards. One
day and then we usually go have a nice dinner

(01:12:00):
at the end of the day.

Speaker 2 (01:12:02):
Did and you see already did that this year. That
was two Saturdays ago. Where'd you guys, where'd you go
to dinner?

Speaker 1 (01:12:08):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (01:12:09):
Well, we want to Uh we normally go to a steakhouse,
but it was man, it was snowing, and that that's
we had the big day. Yeah, so we stayed a
little closer to home, went to a Mexican place and uh,
you can never go wrong. What's going to that local.
It was funny because we were we were in there

(01:12:29):
and it's snowing, and people were coming in and we
were talking about say, you know, and look, I always
say this, and I've always said this that when it
snows out. I was never one of those ones, even
though I was reporting on the snow. I never said, hey,
stay home, go slow, be careful, all that kind of stuff,

(01:12:52):
because nobody's going to listen. I said, you got to
figure out for yourself. Are you a good driver? And
you have to judge your own driving ability. I'm pretty
good driving in the snow. I don't worry about it
that much.

Speaker 1 (01:13:03):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:13:03):
If but if you're not good in the snow, then
they home recognize that. Yes, do us all a favor
to yourself, a favor, no shame in that and let
me let me, let me let this fifty thousand what
mother flamethrower. No, there's a lot of y'all out there
and greater Cincinnati that don't know how to drive in
the snow. Me and me, having grown up in the
country in southeast o High on the rolling Hills, learn

(01:13:26):
how to drive in the snow. Then I lived in
Minnesota for three years. How well do they clear the
snow out there in Galla police?

Speaker 1 (01:13:33):
Not well? Not well? When they call schools off there,
it's legit because I.

Speaker 2 (01:13:41):
Ride a bus forty five minutes one way every every
day growing up in elementary school.

Speaker 1 (01:13:47):
Wow, So yeah, I mean that's rough.

Speaker 2 (01:13:50):
But here, I mean number one, we've gotten terrible at
cleaning the roads generally speaking. I'm not picking on one
municipality over the other. Uh, we just were not good
at it anymore. It used to be, and I understand
it doesn't. It doesn't seem to snow as much generally
as it used to. Right well, I don't know. I mean,

(01:14:11):
we've had snow on the it's it's there's no snow
on the ground today. But right when when you have
those early December snowfalls like we had, I'm just dripping
in my golf. I'm sitting here a little stumped. After
a couple of calls there, I'm.

Speaker 1 (01:14:24):
A little rattled.

Speaker 2 (01:14:26):
Let's throw one more in here before we got to
get to uh at Christmas shows, David Dayton, what's going.

Speaker 8 (01:14:31):
On, hey, guys?

Speaker 15 (01:14:33):
A couple of questions. I'm gonna play Devil's advocate on one. Okay,
this stuff that Connie Pilligs is out there saying how
they cheated, how they hid evidence. And I understand Joe
Deeters coming down and wanting to clear things up and
protect his reputation, but that would seem pretty slanderous to me.

(01:14:56):
And if if it is him being adjust and him
knowing them all, why isn't there a lawsuit filed against
Connie Pillage and the prosecutor's office for those remarks?

Speaker 1 (01:15:08):
That would be my first question.

Speaker 2 (01:15:10):
Well, I would, I would say to that that look
at Joe Deeters, his Joe Dieters has built his reputation
on what he did in office, and his body of work,
to my way of thinking, pretty much stands for itself.
So he doesn't need to He doesn't need to escalate

(01:15:31):
this any further. I mean, and maybe he's got that recourse.
I don't know, but Dan.

Speaker 15 (01:15:36):
Devil's advocate again, if he was to do that, that
would open up a whole thing on Discovery too.

Speaker 2 (01:15:44):
Well, I mean, the other the other component of this,
and Dave, we got to run the other component of
this is though by Connie Pillage saying what she said
opens up Hamilton County to potential lawsuits as well, with
people saying, hey, you know, we got to go back
and look at these case and if we are wrongfully convicted,
then we'll do some money, and that that could get very,

(01:16:05):
very expensive.

Speaker 1 (01:16:05):
But all I got to say to that is Dave,
thanks for a good call and for good question. Well
Devil's advocate, there nothing wrong with that. Five two and
we got to check a little traffic and weather together
on seven hundred WW.

Speaker 6 (01:16:18):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. At uce Health, you'll
find comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your best
tomorrow possible. That's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect more
at UCHealth dot com. A couple of earlier accidents now
cleared out, including one on a Hunt Road that's at
Plainfield Road and Padretti Avenue. Another accident cleared out at

(01:16:40):
Foley Road. Still one crash though, that is pull rain
over at Hoppole Street in northbound seventy five. A little
bit of slow traffic between Mitchell and Paddock right now.
It's a three minute delay. I met Ezellek on news
radio seven hundred WLW.

Speaker 2 (01:16:58):
Here's the nine first one forecast. Light sprinkles, showers maybe
moving through the tri state tonight. Nothing all that heavy
We're going to have an overnight low fifties. I'm sorry,
forty three, not fifty six. Tomorrow's highest fifty six under
mostly cloudy skies. Tomorrow night cloudy cool, the overnight low
forty and then Christmas Eve we're looking at a high

(01:17:19):
under cloudy skies of fifty six in maybe even in
the sixties.

Speaker 14 (01:17:24):
For Christmas Day it is forty four at seven hundred wlw.
This report is sponsored by One Hour Heating and Eric
kennerysning winter temps seven hundred WLW.

Speaker 2 (01:17:34):
Dan Carroll in for Eddie and Rocky along with Jason Williams.
I did our intro a little different that time.

Speaker 1 (01:17:39):
Are you okay with that? Totally fine?

Speaker 2 (01:17:42):
You looked a little dyspeptic over there. So wa other
stuff that's going on in the news, and this is
what is happening with Venezuela, and a lot of people
are looking at that, and you've got the naval blockade
going on. Of course, we know Trump has been attacking
the drug boats, and now we got things going on
with oil tankers. And then I look at the headlines

(01:18:05):
from over the weekend and I see there's a hot
pursuit of US Coast Guard chip chasing down an oil tanker.
And to tell us more about that is Christiane Cordero
of ABC News, and Christian, thank you so much for
being here. What about this hot pursuit is that? Is
that just a headline to draw interest or is there

(01:18:26):
really a big chase going on in the high seas
with our coast guard trying to chase down an oil tank.

Speaker 16 (01:18:32):
Yeah, I mean I think it's much more of the
latter than the former. Dan Jason, great to be with
you both. So this is the third vessel. I say
that because this isn't just the first one, but it's
actually the third vessel with ties of Venezuela in less
than two weeks that the US has chased down and
two have been successfully chased down and even seized. But
this latest one we still have many questions on as

(01:18:53):
far as has it actually been seized, is this chase
still happening. But essentially, the US is saying that this
vessel is operating illegally, that it's evading sanctions and flying
a false flag, and therefore it has the right to
do what it's doing. But as you kind of you know,
alluded to, this does fit into the greater picture of
things really escalating between the US and Venezuela Christian.

Speaker 2 (01:19:16):
It's funny to see like active pursuit of an oil tanker.
That's a massive ship, right, and it's the body of
water in the grand scheme of you know, I guess
oceans and big massive bodies of waters in this world,
it's not that big of an area.

Speaker 1 (01:19:31):
So is it hard to find? Has it been hard
for the coast Guard to find the ship or what's
what's going on there?

Speaker 16 (01:19:40):
Yeah, it's an interesting question. I have a feeling that
the government knows more information about that than they have
publicly shared, of course, and some of it just may
be a lapse of you know, timing and communication. We
expect to hear from the President really any minute now
and possibly address that very question. But what we've seen

(01:20:00):
in other examples, I mean, we've seen it be as
over as helico US Forces Coast Guard tactical teams repelling
from a helicopter and boarding some of the depths of
these oil tankers. So to your point, this is a
huge vessel. It's certainly much much bigger than any of
the twenty eight suspected drug smuggling boats that we've seen

(01:20:21):
get targeted through airstrikes from the administration over the past
several months, and because of that and several other reasons,
it is a really big step in what the administration
has been saying for a while now, which is that
they're going after Nicholas Maduro and why they're going after
him is up for interpretation.

Speaker 2 (01:20:42):
Yeah, some of the analysis that I've seen and that
I've read is that this is a play to put
pressure on China because much of this oil, if not
all of it, is bound for China eventually and maybe
going through Iran first and then onto China. What's your
what do you have any information along those lines? And

(01:21:02):
how much interest is China showing in all this stuff
that's playing out there off the coast of Venezuela.

Speaker 16 (01:21:09):
Right, So, China gets this oil from a lot of
different suppliers, So I would think that the more immediate,
the more immediate results would be how this affects Venezuela
and other countries that have exports oil too. So remember,
Venezuela's pretty much lifeblood of its economy is oil exports.
So if you take that away from them, then you

(01:21:30):
have essentially forced a regime change. Right, people will suffer
because of it, and that will change things as far
as who's in control within the government goes. And there
is some speculation to believe that that's ultimately what the
administration wants, is to see a regime change. In fact,
Senator Lindsay Graham over the weekend said that as plain

(01:21:51):
as day, where he said, I'd like to see the
people of Venezuela be able to elect a new leader
that would not only be good for them, but good
for the region and good for the United States. And
best part is exactly what has members of Congress conflicted,
because there are some Republicans and certainly many Democrats who
are against the administration's efforts and saying this is not
under the quot unquote America First Agenda, we should not

(01:22:13):
be bothering with Venezuela and all for what and and
so you know, there there are throwing skepticism at the
administration's claims that this is entirely about drug smuggling. And
but but that is something that the administration has been
adamant about, is that that's exactly.

Speaker 5 (01:22:28):
What it is.

Speaker 2 (01:22:29):
Well, you brought it up there, Christiana, about the drug
boats smuggling, and so is potentially part of this going after, hey,
we're gonna you you you Maduro, better stop, get get
the drug boats under control because they're coming from your shores,
or we're going to hit you in this other way

(01:22:49):
that's really going to hurt you.

Speaker 6 (01:22:51):
Is that.

Speaker 2 (01:22:53):
Is that a legitimate, you know, theory or thought that
that that's part of what's playing in here.

Speaker 16 (01:22:57):
Yeah, that certainly is what the administration is the message
that they're trying to get across. And you probably remember
in the past several weeks we've heard Trump administration officials
say that if you know, if certain things don't change them,
they're going to strike on land next, right, And that
also raises some question. But it also is worth noting
that while there are many experts do believe that these

(01:23:22):
suspected drug boats were back carrying drugs, the vast majority
of this is, according to UN data, the vast majority
of drugs that travel over the Caribbean are actually bound
for Europe, not for the US. And the vast majority
of the drugs that we get here in the US
goes over as lands borders, and particularly the border we
share with Mexico. So it's so it's it's a more

(01:23:44):
complex issue, I think than what we've seen play out
so far. But if that's part of the administration's larger
play to you know, show that they're cracking down on
drug smuggling, then that very well.

Speaker 5 (01:23:56):
Could be it.

Speaker 2 (01:23:57):
Christiana, Well, I've got one more question for you, and
I'm here us as a guy who used to be
a reporter himself. What's it like getting information on this
story out of this administration? You know, it's not like,
you know, I know, ABC has got a lot of resources,
but it's not like you got boats out there in
the Caribbean on the high seas being able to monitor
all this. But when you go to the Administration, the

(01:24:19):
Department of War, the Coast Guard, or whatever the case
may be, what's it like getting information so you can
report on this story?

Speaker 4 (01:24:26):
Sure?

Speaker 16 (01:24:26):
Sure, yeah, well, I mean, of course, it depends on
the circumstances. We feel very fortunate that we have a
great Pentagon team that has been covering this relentlessly, and
then on top of that, we also have a really
vast international team. So you know, you and I presumably
can't go to Venezuela physically, but we have certain reporters
with an our organization who can because they are British

(01:24:47):
citizens or things of that nature. So there are many
different ways to kind of corroborate information, and I think
one of the challenges is just you know, getting the
most up to date and also getting a pulse of
what that they look like in the grand scheme of things,
because these moves have you know, they've been they've floated
out many different ideas, including land strips, and and every

(01:25:09):
time something like that had mentioned that, it warrants us
kind of you know, looking into what that may look like.
And and it's played out many different ways so far.
So it's it's been it's been a lot, but it's
been you know, we're very fortunate.

Speaker 1 (01:25:21):
All right, Christian Cordero. With that, we'll let you go,
and I appreciate the time this afternoon, and keep up
the great work, and happy holidays to you and yours.
Thanks you too, all right, there you go, Thank you,
Christiana cor Christian Cordeo from ABC News. And that was
pretty good. I mean, she's she's.

Speaker 10 (01:25:38):
All over this.

Speaker 2 (01:25:39):
Yeah, that's great work. And it's a fascinating story. It's
kind of it's it's it's kind of complex though it is.
You know, I had a guy on my show last week,
Daniel Turner from Power of the Future and when it
comes to energy and oil and energy related issues, I
I mean, this is right in his wheelhouse.

Speaker 1 (01:25:55):
And I said, what is the play here? And he said,
you know, he's trying to put some pressure on by
cutting off this oil supply. And then she mentioned that China,
you know, they don't make that. They don't produce their
own oil in China, so they have to import it
from other places. And I think Venezuela is their number
one place where they a point get it from, but
they import it from other areas around the world as well.

(01:26:18):
But I think Trump is looking at this as trying
to put pressure on China and they get trying to
play the ball, play ball the way he wants them
to play.

Speaker 2 (01:26:25):
Well, there's that, and then you throw out the other
complex piece of this, the drug trafficking. And you think
about the drug the drug wars that have been going
on since the Reagan administration, and God blessed Ronald Reagan,
He's the one that got it started. But it's never
been this aggressive of Okay, you know what, it's still coming,

(01:26:47):
it's still coming, still coming into this country. Trump hates drugs.
There's no doubt about it, right, Yeah, you know you
and I have talked about a lot of serious stuff today.
Yeah we have, and let's let's uh, we'll ease up
a little bit tomorrow and next day as we get,
you know, just hours away from Christmas. I don't coming
up in a couple of days. Can I say one
thing we're gonna talk about, please do. We're gonna do

(01:27:08):
our favorite Christmas songs? And I always look forward to
that segment every Did any rocket do the Christmas songs
you hate the most? Did they do that one day
last week?

Speaker 1 (01:27:17):
Didn't? I didn't. I didn't listen. Maybe we'll do that too,
Christmas songs you hate, Christmas songs, movie stuff. I got
a few of those, all right. But for now, we
got to run and we'll see you tomorrow, all right,
But but for now I'll be here. It's time for
a little traffic and weather together on seven hundred WLW