Filmmaker Ami Horowitz Discusses Charlie Kirk's Medal of Freedom, CBS Shakeup, and the Gaza Ceasefire

[00:00] Joining me now is filmmaker and

[00:02] commentator Army Horowitz. Army, nice to

[00:04] see you. Thanks for joining me. Donald

[00:06] Trump has awarded the Presidential Medal

[00:07] of Freedom, the nation's highest

[00:09] civilian honor to murdered conservative

[00:11] activist Charlie Kirk, on what would

[00:13] have been his 32nd birthday. At a

[00:16] ceremony at the White House, President

[00:17] Trump told the story about the time

[00:19] Charlie Kirk told him that he was going

[00:21] to marry his wife, Erica. Have a listen.

[00:24] >> I was with him before I met Erica and he

[00:28] told me he was going to get married. He

[00:29] said, "You won't believe how beautiful

[00:34] she is." I said, "Well, then now that I

[00:37] meet her," he's right. But then he also

[00:38] said, "And you know what? She's like the

[00:41] smartest person I know." See, they do go

[00:45] together on occasion. Not often. Not

[00:48] often, but on occasion they go together.

[00:52] >> Army Charlie and Erica had such a

[00:54] beautiful love story. But how poignant

[00:56] is this award?

[01:00] I mean, so poignant, so appropriate, so

[01:03] lovely, so glad he did it. Um, and of

[01:06] course, so deserving. Uh, yeah, look,

[01:09] uh, Charlie Kirk deserves every bit of

[01:12] what he's getting, um, poshumously and

[01:14] and of course what he got while he was

[01:16] alive. I mean, the the the the man was a

[01:20] force of nature. Um and just you know

[01:23] look he and I were not close friends but

[01:25] we were certainly friendly and we spent

[01:26] time together and um we worked together

[01:29] and uh you know I remember the first

[01:32] time I met him uh he was he was a

[01:35] teenager 18 19 years old maybe 20 and

[01:39] you can tell somebody introduced me to

[01:40] him and you and he just started go we

[01:42] didn't even know each other at the time

[01:43] we never met each other and he just kept

[01:45] going into this you know this this this

[01:49] dialogue of what he wanted to do what do

[01:51] you want to accomplish? And you could

[01:53] tell from the first moment that this guy

[01:56] was going was destined for huge things.

[01:58] And had he not been cut down by an

[02:01] assassin's bullet, the sky was the limit

[02:02] of what he could have accomplished. Um

[02:04] and even the first time I met him, he

[02:06] was so generous to me um and wanted to

[02:08] help me even though he was there for

[02:10] doing things for himself. He's creating

[02:12] turning point. Um yeah, I I I could not

[02:15] think of a more appropriate way uh to

[02:17] celebrate uh what it would would have

[02:18] been Charlie's birthday. So yeah, God

[02:21] bless Charlie Kirk and God bless

[02:22] President Trump.

[02:23] >> H look, I completely agree. I I think

[02:26] you're spot on. He deserves every and

[02:27] all accolade that he gets because he

[02:29] truly was a remarkable man. So I think

[02:31] this is just such an important accolade.

[02:34] Uh look, let's move on Army because

[02:36] Donald Trump has ripped into the ABC

[02:38] refusing a reporter's question at a

[02:40] press conference. Have a look.

[02:43] >> ABC fake news.

[02:46] >> First of all, congratulations. take

[02:47] questions from ABC fake news after what

[02:50] you did with Stephanopoulos to the vice

[02:52] president of the United States. I don't

[02:55] take questions from ABC fake news.

[02:57] Brian, go ahead.

[02:58] >> Now, look for background. Uh, what

[03:00] happened was host of this week George

[03:02] Stephanopoulos abruptly ended an

[03:04] interview with JD Vance at the weekend

[03:06] after the vice president did not

[03:07] directly answer a question about bribery

[03:09] allegations against Bordazar Tom Hman.

[03:12] Army, look, good on Trump. The liberal

[03:14] media are an absolute disgrace.

[03:17] Uh there's ABC and and the the the most

[03:21] legacy media is just so tired, right? I

[03:26] mean, they just don't get it. And look,

[03:27] Trump beat Trump, right? Trump put ABC

[03:29] in a timeout. It's what he does. What do

[03:31] you expect, right? That's just the way

[03:33] it's what he does. Um and I and and I

[03:36] I'll get to why I said most legacy media

[03:38] in a second. But but just to address for

[03:40] a moment, um why he was upset, right?

[03:43] you talked about, you referenced the

[03:44] interview with Jenny Vance and and

[03:46] Stephopoulos. Um, look, it's

[03:48] unbelievable. First of all, this this is

[03:50] a vice president of the United States

[03:52] coming to an interview with you, right?

[03:53] So, you you you try to be, I would

[03:56] think, one would try to be extra careful

[03:58] about how you deal with a a the city

[04:00] vice president, but of course, he

[04:02] wasn't. But he was he was he was mad

[04:05] because JD Vance didn't want to answer a

[04:08] difficult question. I mean, this is

[04:10] politician 101 when it comes to sitting

[04:12] down for an interview and not answering

[04:14] something you you you were being asked.

[04:16] Um, of course he kind of evaded and

[04:18] dodged. It's kind of course that's what

[04:20] you do when you're a politician and you

[04:22] were asked a question you don't want to

[04:23] answer. Um, and you think he's done that

[04:27] with a single Democratic politician

[04:29] because they all do it, right? The

[04:31] answer is of course zero. He's never

[04:33] done that with a Democratic politician.

[04:35] They would only do that to a Republican

[04:37] politician. Um, and the reason why I

[04:39] said most of the legacy media because

[04:41] you now see something interesting

[04:42] happening was CBS. So, David Ellison,

[04:45] Sky Dance, David Ellison is the son of

[04:47] the second richest man on earth, Larry

[04:49] Ellison, uh, bought Paramount and with

[04:52] Paramount came CBS and he's done some

[04:55] really fascinating, interesting things

[04:58] which I think are fabulous. First of

[04:59] all, an un under the radar but extremely

[05:03] significant move is he brought on a guy

[05:06] named Keith Weinstein um as the umbsman

[05:09] for CBS and that's a very important

[05:13] position because it deals with um the

[05:16] even hadness of the network. If there

[05:18] complaints about the network straying

[05:20] one way or another way, it goes to that

[05:22] position. Keith is an amazing guy. He's

[05:24] going to do an amazing job there. I know

[05:26] him well. And uh and of course electing

[05:29] Barry Weiss um as the head of CBS News,

[05:31] the editor-inchief of CBS News is an

[05:34] unbelievable gamecher for that network.

[05:36] It really really is. Um and look, we'll

[05:39] see what happens with CBS News and their

[05:41] ratings. Hopefully other people will

[05:42] follow suit. I doubt it. This is

[05:43] obviously coming from David Ellison,

[05:45] from the top, from the owner. Uh because

[05:47] all the staffers are growing,

[05:49] complaining, and the media is of course

[05:50] attacking the choice. But it's wonderful

[05:52] and maybe it pretends things aren't

[05:53] changing.

[05:55] Yeah, look, I completely agree. I just

[05:57] think that that that they should have

[05:59] given the vice president a chance and

[06:02] they didn't. I thought it was a

[06:03] disgrace. So, good on Donald Trump. Now,

[06:05] Army, I want to ask you about Donald

[06:06] Trump's Gaza peace deal. The president

[06:08] has vowed to disarm Hamas after the

[06:10] group was seen executing suspected

[06:13] collaborators in Gaza overnight in an

[06:15] attempt to regain control. But here was

[06:17] Trump earlier.

[06:19] Mr.

[06:19] >> President, I'm Gaza. How long will it

[06:21] take Hamas to disarm? And can you

[06:23] guarantee that is going to happen?

[06:25] >> Well, they're going to disarm. Uh, and

[06:26] because they said they were going to

[06:27] disarm. And if they don't disarm, we

[06:29] will disarm them.

[06:31] >> How will you do that?

[06:32] >> I don't have to explain that to you, but

[06:34] if they don't disarm, we will disarm

[06:36] them. They know I'm not playing games.

[06:39] >> So, Army, Donald Trump has got the

[06:40] hostages freed. That's the first step.

[06:42] But how big of a challenge will it now

[06:44] be to actually fully disarm Hamas?

[06:48] >> Yes. No, no shade to Maria Machado. Um,

[06:51] the Venezuelan politician who has fought

[06:55] against Maduro and Chavez. Uh, I'm sure

[06:58] she's wonderful. She's great. But only

[07:00] one person should have won the Nobel

[07:01] Prize and that's Donald Trump. Um,

[07:04] forget about the rest of the world. He

[07:05] has reshaped the Middle East. uh you

[07:09] know when when when when Israel denuted

[07:13] killedah's

[07:15] leadership uh Biden screeched and

[07:18] hollered right and attacked Israel for

[07:21] doing so when Israel bombed Iran what

[07:24] did Trump do he joined in the fun that's

[07:27] the contrast of these two leaders and

[07:29] dealing with the Middle East and in one

[07:32] in with the first president Biden we had

[07:35] this this war going on for two years

[07:37] with Gaza and with the current President

[07:40] Donald Trump, he has reshaped the Middle

[07:43] East, which is setting up the entire

[07:46] region for peace. Um, now having said

[07:50] that, when it comes to Hamas and

[07:51] disarming them, I kind of feel like he's

[07:54] walking into the same trap that

[07:55] Netanyahu did when laid out one of the

[07:58] goals was the elimination of Hamas.

[08:01] Well, the problem is that's it's not an

[08:03] it's not really an achievable goal.

[08:04] That's the problem. Okay? And when you

[08:07] lay out one of your strategies, one of

[08:09] your one of your goals um as as doing

[08:12] that, you're you're setting us up for

[08:13] failure, which is what he did on the

[08:15] Kamas. Kamas is still there. They

[08:17] haven't gone anywhere. Sure, they've

[08:18] killed leadership. Kamas is not just a

[08:20] terrorist organization, which it is, and

[08:22] the head of a government, the head of

[08:24] the government in Gaza, which it is.

[08:25] It's also an ideology. You can't disarm

[08:28] an ideology. And while they've made

[08:31] incredible inroads in killing people in

[08:34] Gaza who are kamas, the problem is kamas

[08:36] is much wider than Gaza. So when I was

[08:38] recently in the West Bank and I was

[08:40] talking to people in the West Bank,

[08:41] there wasn't a single person I came

[08:43] across who was under 40 who doesn't

[08:45] support kamas. Okay, kamas has

[08:47] incredible uh traction in the West Bank

[08:50] as well. And there's a reason why there

[08:52] has not been an election in the West

[08:53] Bank for over 20 years because they know

[08:56] that the Greens Hamas would win that

[08:58] election going away. So it's look,

[09:01] disarming the the or the an entire

[09:03] terrorist organization like that is is a

[09:05] difficult goal. I'm not sure it's

[09:07] frankly achievable. Um but if anybody

[09:10] could do it, I mean, I'm not going to

[09:11] I'm not going to bet against President

[09:13] Trump.

[09:13] >> No, I I agree. If anyone can do it, I

[09:15] mean, he's already pulled off what many

[09:17] could not achieve. Uh so let's see what

[09:19] happens from now on. Now look, the CNN's

[09:21] chief international anchor Christine

[09:23] Ammon, she's apologized after suggesting

[09:26] that Israeli hostages held by Hamas

[09:28] probably were probably being treated

[09:30] better than the average Gazen. Have a

[09:31] look at what she said.

[09:33] >> It's been a terrible, terrible two years

[09:35] for them because not only are they

[09:37] there, you know, they're probably being

[09:39] treated better than the average Gazen

[09:41] because they are the pawns and the chips

[09:43] that Hamas had. Now Hamas has given up

[09:46] all its leverage. By the way,

[09:48] >> she's a disgrace. And here was her

[09:49] apology.

[09:51] >> I regret also saying that they might

[09:53] have been treated better than many

[09:55] gazins because Hamas used the these

[09:57] hostages as pawns and bargaining chips.

[10:00] But that was insensitive and it was

[10:02] wrong. From speaking to many former

[10:04] hostages and their families like

[10:06] everyone, I've been horrified at what

[10:08] Hamas has subjected them to over two

[10:10] long years.

[10:12] >> Uh you know, Army, too little too late.

[10:14] She's lost all credibility. How did she

[10:16] not know in the first instance that

[10:18] there is a very big difference between a

[10:19] hostage taking bunch of evil jihadis

[10:22] versus the actual hostages themselves?

[10:26] >> Yeah, I mean, you're giving her too much

[10:27] credit. She she didn't lose her

[10:28] credibility. She hasn't had credibility

[10:30] in years. I mean, she's I would say

[10:31] she's a disgrace, a journalist, but

[10:33] she's not a journalist. Okay. Um, look,

[10:36] uh, yeah, the AP the if she said one

[10:39] thing once and made a mistake, I could

[10:42] forgive. This is a long track record

[10:44] with her. Okay. Um, just by the way,

[10:46] just for the record, so so we're we're

[10:48] clear. Um, the mistreatment of the

[10:51] hostages is is legion. Uh, in terms of

[10:54] the food that they were they were got,

[10:56] yeah, they they look better now because,

[10:57] as they said, they were given food to

[11:00] the runup to being released because they

[11:02] knew these images were going to come

[11:03] out. But the stories are talking about

[11:04] just the food alone, talking about their

[11:07] within they they shared a small tin of

[11:09] tuna and a few bits of cheese with a

[11:11] group of people. They were getting a

[11:13] pitha a day. Um, at one one one one

[11:17] person because remember they're all

[11:18] being held in different places that said

[11:19] he got a one biscuit, small little

[11:21] cookie a day and some briney water. Um,

[11:24] and that they got a cucumber as a treat

[11:27] if things were going well. Um, and and

[11:29] and that doesn't that that's just the

[11:31] the the food situation, but

[11:33] psychological damage done to these

[11:35] people is is it's it's it's horrifying.

[11:38] I mean just I mean this is one of the

[11:40] worst stories I ever heard is uh Roy

[11:43] this Roy Chalet one of the hostages who

[11:45] was released early on on the second year

[11:47] anniversary we just just had right uh he

[11:50] committed suicide because he said he

[11:52] just could not bear the psychological

[11:55] burden that he had but no she is uh a

[11:58] disgraceful person and again long track

[12:01] record I mean she called Marwan Bargoodi

[12:04] compared him to Mandela Maron Bargoodi

[12:06] is a terrorist engaged who k who killed

[12:09] murdered five or six Israelis. Okay. Um

[12:14] she she she she said that there was a

[12:16] rabbi who lost his his wife and his

[12:19] daughters who were murdered by

[12:21] Palestinians and she called it a

[12:23] shootout, right? When they were unarmed

[12:25] and murdered by these people. No, this

[12:27] is who she stands for. This is nothing

[12:29] new. So she gets no quarter from me.

[12:32] >> No. Uh I'm shocked that she still has a

[12:34] job to to be quite frank. Unbelievable.

[12:36] Now look, Senate Democrats have blocked

[12:38] the GOP's efforts to reopen for an

[12:40] eighth time. So this is now day 14 of

[12:42] the government shutdown. And have a

[12:44] listen to some of the Dem's bizarre

[12:46] demands. Here's the speaker Mike Johnson

[12:47] blasting them.

[12:49] >> They want to spend 24.6 million of your

[12:52] hard-earned dollars as a taxpayer for

[12:54] climate resilience in Honduras. They

[12:57] want to spend 13.4 million for civic

[12:59] engagement in Zimbabwe. They want to

[13:02] send 3.9 million for LGBTQI+

[13:06] democracy grants in the Western Balkans.

[13:09] They want to spend 2.9 million of your

[13:11] dollars for desert locust risk reduction

[13:14] in the Horn of Africa and 2 million for

[13:17] quote organizing for feminist democratic

[13:19] principles in Africa. We are not doing

[13:22] that.

[13:24] >> Army, we're almost out of time, but very

[13:26] quickly, you just can't make this stuff

[13:27] up, can you? Look, if you're giving if

[13:30] you're not giving $13.4 million to

[13:33] Zimbabwe for civic engagement, you're

[13:35] not serious about running the United

[13:37] States government. Okay, I'm sorry. Um,

[13:39] that's the truth. No, of course it's a

[13:41] joke. This is an unforced error by the

[13:43] Democrats. The longer this thing drags

[13:46] out, the polls are showing, the more

[13:48] blame is being assessed to the

[13:49] Democrats. Um, but they're still they're

[13:52] still standing. They're they have not

[13:54] gone away from this. Most importantly,

[13:56] this this giving illegal immigrants,

[13:58] illegal aliens, uh uh Medicare, Medicaid

[14:01] benefits through California and other

[14:03] places. This is still what they're

[14:04] doing. And this is a losing this is this

[14:06] is a loser for them.

[14:07] >> Uh it it totally is. It's just

[14:08] unbelievable. Army Horowitz, nice to see

[14:10] you as always. Thanks so much for

[14:12] joining us.