Bill Melugin: Reporting As He Sees It 44:10

It's time to take the quiz. Five questions, five minutes a day, five days a week. Take the quiz every weekday at thequiz.fox and then listen to the quiz podcast to find out how you did. Play, share, and of course, listen to the quiz at thequiz.fox. Welcome to the Jason in the House podcast. I'm Jason Chaffetz and thanks for joining us. I think we're going to have a good show today because we're going to highlight the stupid because there's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere.

and uh give some thoughts on the news but then we're also going to talk to bill malusion now if you've been paying attention to fox news uh you've seen a fairly fresh face out there he's actually been with fox for a little while now but somebody who's out there on the streets out there particularly on the immigration issue giving us these live shots getting right there in with the border patrol show us what's happening and not happening down on the border uh

Bill Malusian, he's an up-and-coming rising star, and we're going to give him a shout, get to know him a little bit better. But before we do that, I've got a few things I'd like to share with you about what's going on in the news. So let's just jump right in here. I've got two things I want to talk about. First is about illegal immigration. I have a piece up on foxnews.com. I wrote a piece out. You know...

There are millions of people that are here illegally. And I think it's wrong. I just think it's so fundamentally wrong. But you know what's even worse is what the Democrats are trying to do now, which is to give voting rights—surprise, surprise—to people that are undocumented or not documented or not people here that are United States citizens.

They started doing this in California, justifying it by saying, hey, we're going to give people because the kids go to school here, then they should be able to run for school board. And sure enough, that has happened. And now there is a push in New York City to take

undocumented, non-verified, non-US citizens and allow them to vote in city elections. And you can see where this is going with the Democrats, right? They're going to want to try to do that at the city level and then the county level, and then they're going to want to do it at the state level. And sure enough, then they're going to try to build momentum and say, well, they should be able to vote for president or their representatives. And I

Why should they have the same rights as a United States citizen? Millions of people have given their lives to fight for the freedoms of this country and the right to vote and participate in our republic. And they just want to start giving this away to anybody who shows up without any documentation? Yeah, that's today's Democratic Party. That's where they're trying to go. And I think it's absolutely fundamentally and totally wrong.

And go to foxnews.com and you can find the op-ed that I wrote on that. The second thing that's going on in the news that I just, I almost put this in the category of there's somebody doing something stupid somewhere. I want to read to you a quote from Jen Psaki. This has to do with the Beijing Olympics, which I think start in February. These are obviously the Winter Olympics.

Jen Psaki said the Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 winter Olympics and Paralympic games. Given the PRCs ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses. Basically she's talking about the Uyghurs and the million or so people that are, uh,

engaged in slave labor and other types of just horrific things, the oppression that's happening out there in the far western regions of China. And so I really want you to think about this. You have people that are incarcerated,

slave labor, think of the worst conditions and lots of other allegations, okay? But people who are truly oppressed, and imagine how bad and horrific that is. And the administration is now getting pressure to, should they or should they not boycott the Olympics? And their response is, we're not going to send our diplomats over. Like since when does sending the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State to watch the bobsledding

Like, oh, my goodness, the Chinese must be shaking. Ooh, they're not going to send us the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State to watch bobsledding. When did that ever become a thing? And how many government officials have we been sending at the taxpayer's dime to go witness an Olympic game? There shouldn't be a single...

official there ever. Now, look, I can understand when the United States hosted it, it was in our own backyard, and President Bush showed up in the stands and was there with the Olympic team. I mean, it makes great sense, right? And obviously, you have an ambassador to the country. Of course, they should be attending the local ambassador. But it makes it sound like there's plane loads of government bureaucrats, our government bureaucrats, that are going on a junket

And do you think that's, do you think the Chinese are going to say, oh my goodness, we're going to have to really, let's, let's rethink this whole genocide thing because I don't know, maybe we shouldn't be doing this slave labor because I really want these diplomats to come witness the curling that's going to happen in Beijing. I mean, that is the most insane, stupid, dumb idea.

It's going to get some sort of response. Now, I think there's a legitimate debate as to whether or not we should boycott or not boycott. I'm not getting into that yet. I got some feelings about this. But you know what? To suggest that that's going to be the official U.S. response and that's going to really show them. And all these politicians are up there saying, oh, yeah, that'll make a difference. What a joke. You're listening to Jason in the House. We'll be back right after this. Bye.

Fox News Radio On Demand on the Fox News app. Download the app and just click listen. When you swipe left, you can listen to your favorite Fox News talk shows live. Swipe right for the latest Fox News Radio newscasts on demand. Fox News Radio on the Fox News app. Download it today. All right, that's a good transition because maybe now that I've talked it through, it probably is something that should be in our next category of bringing on the stupid because guess what? There's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere.

All right. You saw this person, the Cornell professor who President Biden picked. Her name is Amarova. Her last name is Amarova. She was picked to be the key banking regulator, and she had to withdraw for consideration from the Post. The allegation is that bank lobbyists and Republicans...

They painted her as a communist and some of the Democrats say, oh, they painted her as a communist and it was unfair the way she was treated and she's really smart and da-da-da-da-da. But as Tristan Justice from The Federalist pointed out...

Look, you can run the gauntlet and you can get this nomination if you get all the Democrats. But even the Democrats started to recognize that, hey, this person was going to be a problem. And as Tristan Justice said, maybe she was painted as a communist because she's an alumni of Moscow State University and wrote a thesis on Marxism.

that she refused to turn over to the committee. Maybe that had something to do with it. So you go to Moscow State University, you write this thesis on Marxism. The committee asks to review that information and they refuse. They won't turn it over. You know why they didn't turn it over?

Because it's going to expose who she really is. She's a communist. She's just, this is where she wrote her thesis. And she was going to run banking in the United States of America? Are you kidding me? That is absolutely stupid. But it's also a great segue to another thing that is quite stupid. Speaking of communists, Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the Democrat, said he was excited and proud

To help Connecticut Communist Party celebrate the 102nd anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party in the United States. And he did this just a couple days ago. Are you kidding me? You're out there celebrating the foundation of the Communist Party in the United States of America. You're a sitting United States senator. And you wonder why people look at the Democrats and say, you're a bunch of communists. Are you trying to be moved?

move towards socialism and senator blumenthal literally takes time out of his schedule joel being a senator is a pretty busy job being the senator from connecticut is a pretty busy job and what does he do he goes over there and says yeah let's celebrate the communist party and he has all these quotes and stuff of course this is the same senator blumenthal who the military veterans have uh

accused of stolen valor because for years he claimed that he served in Vietnam. Well, he actually had five military deferments between 1965 and 1970, and his exaggeration of his participation in Vietnam was just a flat-out lie. But that's up to the people of Connecticut. And why their person goes out and celebrates communism in this day and age is just absolutely stunning. For me, that's just bringing on the stupid.

All right, it's time to phone a friend. And I haven't met him. I haven't talked to him. I've only seen him from afar, and I've really admired his work. Fresh, new. He's got a great voice on issues. And you know what I love about him? He just calls balls and strikes. He's just reporting exactly what he's seeing. And so let's give a call to somebody new, somebody I don't know, but somebody I look forward to getting to know, Bill Malusian.

Hi, this is Bill. Bill, Jason Chaffetz. Thank you so much for joining us on the Jason in the House podcast. I appreciate it. Hey, Jason. Thanks for having me, man. Good to hear from you. Hey, you know what? This segment's called, you know, Phone a Friend, and I have never met you in person, but I am a huge fan. You've done amazing work at Fox, getting right down in the heart of the story. And I got to tell you, I'm not the only one. There are a lot of people impressed with what you do and how you do it.

Thanks. I appreciate it. Yeah. They, uh, they told me my first week they wanted to do a little baptism by fire and send me out to the border. So I said, all right, sounds good. And, uh, we've been going ever since. Yeah. Yeah. You didn't know you were going to go live in Texas. Uh,

maybe when to happen, but I want to get to know you a little bit better. And again, I, I hope with our, you know, Fox news or paths cross, but I am seriously impressed because not everybody can do it with the poise and the, the smoothness in which you're doing it as if you just been doing it for decades along the way. But I think you went to Arizona state. I know you're big sun devils fan, but where did you grow up? Where's home?

That's right. So I'm a Sun Devil, but I grew up in Southern California down in Orange County, a little city called Aliso Viejo, right next to Laguna Beach, for those who don't know where it's at. Went to high school down there and then graduated, went to Arizona State where I majored in broadcast journalism, got a minor in Spanish.

And then my very first TV job was in El Paso, Texas for two years where I covered the border immigration. That was actually the first summer 2014 was actually the first time I ever did live shots for Fox News down at the border. And I'd never been so terrified in my life, man. I was so scared. I can feel my heartbeat in my ears like doing national TV straight out of.

straight out of college I was thinking man if I screw this up I'm going on YouTube and I'm done then the other part of me was like well if I if I nail it then it's it's great for my career so it went fine ended up doing like eight or nine live shots for Fox News that summer and I've been working for Fox ever since through their Fox local stations after that I went to Charlotte North Carolina then I was an investigative reporter at the Fox station in LA for four years and

and I just started at Fox News National in May, and the rest is kind of history with that. Well, I mean, well done because you're right. You get those moments. You're there in El Paso. You're newly out of school, and, man, you screw that up. They're like, yeah, nice guy, but we'll call somebody else. So you were right. Exactly, exactly. It was a YouTube future for you if you screwed up, but you obviously didn't. Have you ever really screwed one up bad thus far?

Yeah, you know what? It was a good thing it happened because it changed the way I do live shots. So basically like a few months into my first job out of college, I'm a newbie reporter and I used to memorize live shots. Like I would memorize what I wanted to say.

And that's not good because if you miss one word, you can really quickly go on a mental train to nowhere. And I was doing a live shot and all the live shots before had gone fine. But on this one, for whatever reason, I just kind of like missed a word of what I wanted to say. And I just kind of froze up for a couple seconds. It was like two to three seconds, but it felt like two to three years on the air.

And I had a deer in the headlights look and it just felt awful. So from that moment on, I stopped memorizing scripts. And now all I do is I try to do like casual style live shots where I know the story inside and out. I just do a few mental bullet points in my head and I fill it with ad lib. But that that I always point back to that live shot in like April 2013 of when I kind of changed my style because I blew it so bad.

Oh, I think that's right. You know, early on, I mean, I've done a lot of hits through the years. I served in Congress, you know, before I did the Fox stuff. Yep. And I did. I used to, you know, hey, got to come up with something quippy. I got to come up with something that's just fun. And I tried to memorize these lines, and it never came off smooth. And I finally just felt comfortable enough in my own skin that, hey, I know the material, whatever's coming up.

I can deal with it. And I'm so much better if I just get up there and let it rip than if I try to memorize some cute line. It's still this day. Every once in a while, I'm like, okay, I got to say it this way because that would be funny. And then I do it, and I'm like, that was so lame. That would have been so much better if it was just –

It's just not as smooth. And then people ask me, too, because it's hard to hit the time. I mean, they're going and saying, all right, Bill, you've got a minute, right? But you just teach yourself that, right? No, yeah. I mean, you have no idea how many times. I mean, you can probably tell because you're working in TV so much now. But when I'm doing live shots at the border, half the time I've got a producer screaming in my ear, rap, rap, rap.

when I'm like halfway in the middle of saying something. And you got to like mentally time yourself out to, you know, cut a few elements you were going to talk about and put a little bow and finish up. Yeah. And, you know, it's funny because different producers have a different definition of rap. Let's go back, Bill. Elisa Viejo, my brother, actually, that's a fairly new city, by the way, in Southern California. My brother coming out of college lived in Elisa Viejo and my dad lived in Dana Point, California.

until he passed away. And so I know that area well. So little Bill, you're growing up. You got like brothers, sisters? Did you... I mean, were you like...

Hey guys, give me that microphone. Cause I got something to say here. I mean, is that how family dinner went down? What happened? No, it's, it's actually really funny. So my, I mean, you asked my mom never in her wildest dreams, which he think I'd be working in TV. When I was a little kid, I was the shyest, most meek person you could ever imagine. Like if a family friend would call the house, like I wouldn't want to pick up the phone and talk to them. Cause I was so shy. Like

when I was a little kid, what I did all the time though, was I wanted to be an author. I was like always writing books, writing, writing, writing, reading, reading, reading. And I wrote these little books and I got them published in like elementary school and everything. Then when, uh,

high school came around and it was, you know, my senior year and I was trying to figure out what the heck I wanted to do. Um, I'd started watching a lot of TV. It was the 2008 election cycle with Obama and McCain. And I started, you know, watching a lot of news and I was kind of interested in that, but didn't really know what I wanted to do. So I'm applying to colleges and I'm like,

mom, like, what do you, I mean, what major should I do? She's like, well, you like writing and you like TV and media. What, what about journalism? And I was like, eh, I guess. So I, I applied to some journalism schools kind of like half, half, half heartedly and ended up getting into Arizona state, the Walter Cronkite school, which was one of the top ones in the country at the time. And I went out for a visit and fell in love with the campus. And, um,

The rest was kind of history, although I will say like the first few years, like a lot of the professors there kind of try to talk you out of the profession, saying like the media is falling apart. You're never going to make any money. Everything's going online now. You know, it's not the same anymore. I don't know if they were just trying to separate the people who just want to be on TV versus people who actually want to do journalism or not. But after a couple of years in, I was kind of like,

doubting myself and thinking, oh, maybe I should stop journalism and be a veterinarian because I like animals. But then I realized, well, I suck at math and science. So I decided to stick with it. And what kind of changed it for me was as part of graduating at Arizona State for the journalism school, you have to do a professional internship. It's mandated.

So I did an internship with ABC 15 in Phoenix and they let me shadow the reporters and follow them around. And that's when it started clicking for me. That's when I kind of fell in love with it and was like, wow, this is this is really cool. So I went into my final semester at ASU as a reporter anchor for our school TV station. And that's kind of when it started clicking for me. But I began my TV career at ASU working in audiobooks.

working an audio switchboard just to kind of get my foot in the door. It's pretty wild how it all just seemed to

kind of pan out over the years because when I was younger, I had no dreams of working in TV, nor did I think I would. I wasn't really a confident kid in elementary school and middle school. It was only when I got to college and started maturing is when things started kind of coming together a little bit more, if you know what I mean. Well, so what broke you out of this shy, you know, hey, I won't even talk to my friends and neighbors if they call on the

phone. I mean, something had to break you out of that and get you comfortable to speak in front of people, let alone speak in front of 2 million people on a live shot in a specific amount of time. I mean, I was just kind of more of a late bloomer. I mean, I wasn't such a recluse where I didn't talk

to anybody. It was just, I was shyer. I mean, if someone came up and talked to me, I obviously I would talk to them and everything. I just didn't like kind of like being like the aggressor or like going up and out of my way to talk to you. I was just more of a shy, quiet, reserved kid. And then going into college after I graduated, I mean, I was a high school basketball player. I was the captain of the team. I was just more of like, you know, I was just more reserved and more quiet. I wasn't an extrovert. And then once I got to ASU, I just started, I

a little bit more, gaining my confidence a little bit. And it just kind of like, I just kind of changed over a few years or so. I had a good friend network and I just started blossoming a little bit more as I got more mature and more confident. And then, yeah, I mean, the first live shots I did at, at

at ASU. I mean, I was terrified for those and that's just, you know, pretty much only my mom is watching that. And I mean, I watched myself back. I still have some of those old clips and I remember thinking in the moment, I was like, oh man, I nailed that. I watch them now

And I want to delete it off the internet forever. Man, it was horrible. I was stiff as a board. But it's all relative. You just keep getting better over the years to the point where once I finally got a real-world TV job and you get those nerves out of the way, really, it's like nailing that first one. If you just get that one down, it gives you the confidence like, okay, I can do this. If I had butchered it, then maybe I wouldn't be where I am today.

Right, right. So, look, if you're playing basketball, you've got some gumption. I mean, you're out there, you know. How tall are you? 6'4". So, you're a tall guy. You're the captain of your basketball team. I mean, you don't have a whole lot of really shy people who are willing to hit the boards and, you know, act.

I mean, basketball is a tough physical sport. So did you play other sports growing up? Nope. Nope. Well, I played baseball as a little kid, but once I got into middle and high school, all my focus was basketball. I played AAU. I played against some of the best guys in the NBA right now, James Harden, DeMar DeRozan, who died.

dunked on me the most filthy dunk I ever witnessed in my life just tomahawked me Clay Thompson OJ Mayo played against Southern California had a lot of elite players so that was a lot of fun but basketball is what I stuck with but I knew I mean I knew I wasn't going to be like the NBA or my future wasn't basketball but it was great to play you know in high school and my dad was a big basketball player so it was fun kind of learning from him

So you apply to these different schools. Why did you go to Arizona State? So I got into their journalism school and they started sending me brochures. They had just built a brand new $300 million building in downtown Phoenix for the school. They were top five in the country.

And it was not too far from home, not too close to home. I know ASU is a big Pac-10 school, big football school, big party school. It sounded like a work hard, play hard sort of situation. And it was. And when I went out for the orientation, I fell in love with the journalism school, man. It was like state of the art. This was in 2008. Loved the professors, loved students.

basically everything about it and was like, this is really cool. And so I stuck with it. And like the first two years, you don't even do anything on camera. They're teaching you the history of journalism, the ethics of it, everything you've got to do before you can even get in front of a camera. Yeah, that's your experience was a little different than mine, but that's good. Everybody's got their own path. I mean, a lot of people want to do what you do.

but they don't make it or they don't get there. They don't even necessarily even get a shot. What do you think the difference is? Why have you been successful at this level? I mean, you're still relatively young in this whole career, but a lot of people that go to that school, you're right. I think your professors are right in saying, yeah, most of you, it's just not going to work out. But why do you think you made it through the gauntlet and maybe others didn't? I think a lot of people try to get into TV for the wrong reasons. I think a lot of

People just want to be on TV and they kind of like a little bit of the celebrity that's associated with it. And when you do that and you almost have to like play a part on TV rather than like actually trying to like be a reporter. Like the reason I got in all this, I mean, I could not care less if I'm on camera, off camera. I just want the story to get out there. Like the entire reason I got into this and the reason why I was an investigative reporter for years.

six years before I started at Fox News is because I like shining light where others don't want it. And like, there's this saying, it sounds corny, but I've used it my entire career is I believe my job is to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.

You give a voice with this job to people who otherwise wouldn't have one. You shine a light in places where otherwise that light wouldn't be seen. Like what we're doing with the border right now, there's no other national networks down there. The only time they showed up was with the Del Rio Bridge situation with all the Haitians. And the only reason they showed up is because we were down there with the drone. I mean, a chunk of this country wouldn't even know what's going on down there if Fox News wasn't down there covering it for eight months straight.

And I take pride in that. I work with great crews. And I believe that this job is a massive responsibility in terms of showing the country what's happening in certain places, what's going on with certain things, what are the real world implications of certain policies that may sound good from the White House press room that we hear, but what's the reality of the situation on the ground? What are the impacts of those policies? So I do this job because

I'm incredibly passionate about it, getting the truth out, giving a voice to people, and basically setting a little man up to take on the big man, if that makes sense. You're listening to Jason in the House. We'll be back with more of my conversation with Bill Malusion right after this. No, it does. And, you know, the people that I find that are the most successful, they understand the policy.

and they understand the implication. They've done their homework, essentially. So how do you do that with immigration? I mean, I did it because, look, I was on the House Judiciary Committee and I was on the Immigration Subcommittee and I dove into the depths of this thing like you couldn't believe, but not everybody's in Congress. So how do you stay informed? How do you get into the bowels and the heart of the policy and what's happening and not happening?

So what helped me was I had working in El Paso for those two years out of school. I covered the border a lot. So I came into this already with like an elementary basic understanding of the border, how it works, where the hotspots are, what the federal government's role is, what's the state's role. I had a basic knowledge. Then when I started at Fox News in May, what I did was I turned my brain into a sponge on that first trip.

I talked to every border patrol agent I could find. I talked to border patrol supervisors. I talked to Texas DPS state troopers. I speak Spanish. So I was talking to the migrants as they came across. I want, I literally just absorbed what I was hearing from everybody to get all sorts of different perspectives, the border patrol agents, the law enforcement aspect, the migrants, why were they coming over? That sort of a thing. Then I had to

dive into the nuances of everything. So when a border agent patrol, you know, when a border agent tells me, oh yeah, we're going to title eight them, or we're going to title 42 them. My first trip, I was like, well, the hell is title 42? You know? So then, then I, then I dive into everything and I, it's basically just research, research, research, research, phone call, phone call, phone call, have people explain it to you. And over time, you know, I've been out there, like, I think I go back on Sunday, it'll be like my 14th or 15th time.

You build a Rolodex of contacts out there and you kind of just start knowing everything inside and out. So it's just kind of like it builds up over time. But it definitely took a while to learn all the different laws and different policies. Remain in Mexico, Title 42, Title 48, immigration proceedings.

NTAs, NTRs, like all the different terms. It definitely took a while to learn. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So you obviously do great on the border and you've carved in a niche there that's very strong. But long term, if you could kind of like sketch out, oh, this is what I'd really like to do. What does that picture look like?

You know what? People ask me that all the time and I'm never able to answer it well, because I, I honestly don't really know, like my whole career, I've just been kind of going with the flow. I knew I always wanted to get back to working in Southern California to be closer to my mom. My dad passed away in 2016. So it was, it was important for me to be closer to my mom and my brother. So when Fox news offered and the correspondent job and based me in LA, I mean, that,

That's been my dream job for years. I had always told myself that, man, I would love to be a network correspondent for Fox News by age 30. And my birthday is on May 4th and I started on May 3rd. So I hit that goal by one day. It was pretty cool for you. That's impressive. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, what I'm doing right now is what I've been shooting for for the last decade of my life.

I'm an LA-based national correspondent for Fox News. Where that takes me, I don't know, but I'm perfectly happy with what I'm doing right now, and I'll just kind of go with the flow. You mentioned your mom more than a couple times here. Tell me about her influence on you in your life.

And what that means to you? She's my best friend, and I am proud to say I'm a huge mama's boy. I can't even overstate how much I love her. She is the perfect mom, the perfect balance of giving you all the leeway you want with the right amount of discipline.

And she and my dad both raised me right. She's my biggest fan. I mean, it doesn't feel right if I don't feel a buzz in my pocket after every live shot with her either saying, good job, fix your tie, get that powder off your face, something like that. She's always watching, always critiquing. And I, you know, she she's everything to me. She's been the best mom a son could ever ask for.

And I'm incredibly lucky that, you know, that I've got her. Well, that's great. That's great. You know, as somebody who has both parents have passed away, it's hard. There's still times in my life where something good or extraordinary happens. And I think just for that split second, you know, oh, I should call my mom and

and uh that's good it's good to hear and um and i'm sure she'll be thrilled to hear that as well and i think that's absolutely man i'm sorry i'm sorry to hear that i was watching one day when you had a segment on and you you i believe you said you lost your mom to cancer and you got emotional you made me tear up dude just made me think of my dad so i'm very sorry for your loss well thanks and you as well you know there's things in life that happen you don't want to go through but you do go through them and they you know hopefully make you better stronger and

more loving and more caring and not everybody handles it the way you hope they do. But those tough things happen in life. And I think it's amazing. And I see this in you as well. There's tough stuff you're covering. I mean, it's human people. It's like, and to be able to stand in there in the heat of the moment and be able to just clearly, concisely withstand

with poise, be able to explain what's happening to everybody at home without losing, you know, having the glass jaw and getting too emotional. I mean, that's a tough thing to do. And I don't know how you prepare for that other than it just takes some experience and being professional at it.

Yeah, no, it's definitely experience. But you're right. I mean, there's a lot of stuff that happens down there that never makes it on the TV that, quite frankly, we you know, we couldn't even show if we wanted to. I think a lot of people just see the images of the hundreds, thousands of people spilling over and us talking about how many people are coming over and how frustrated border agents are and the Biden administration's policy, yada, yada, yada. But I mean, there's a lot of stuff we've seen that I mean, it's it's I mean, dead bodies, you

I mean, horribly tortured bodies that what the cartels are doing to people. We there were two little two six year old girls who had been raped that we saw. I mean, it's it's just there's a lot of stuff that happens that people don't even understand down at that border. And.

I think one of the things that's going to wake a lot of people up about the border situation is regardless of what you think about illegal immigration, whatever. But there's another aspect to the border crisis right now, which, you know, is the fentanyl that's pouring in.

And everybody these days, well, not everybody, but it's getting to the point where a lot of people these days are starting to know somebody who's been affected by that. I lost a basketball teammate to an OD recently. I know friends who have lost loved ones to fentanyl ODs. This stuff is literally pouring across the border right now. And it's not just staying in Texas or Arizona. It is literally going all over the United States.

And that is why we're seeing these OD numbers shoot up. I mean, we just heard earlier this month that for the first time in one year, more than 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses. And it's going to get worse because, for instance, when that whole Del Rio situation was happening with all the Haitians under that bridge, they had to call in every single border agent in the sector down there to process them. It left 224 miles of the border completely unpatrolled. It was a

complete free-for-all for a few days. And that was directly from border agents we were talking to, that if those cartels were wanting to run the drugs, there was absolutely nobody stopping them. And that's the problem right now, is border agents are so overwhelmed dealing with all these family units coming in. They're having to do all this paperwork, and they're not on the front lines. There's literally only a few of them on the front lines in certain sectors. So we hear about the gotaways. We hear about the ones who get through. But

Along with the people pouring in, there's just massive amounts of drugs, primarily fentanyl, and it's a killer. And people are going to wake up someday when it touches their family. Yeah, this fentanyl is so deadly. Just the dusting of it can just wipe out people so fast.

And I think you're right. And it's sad because it's avoidable. And, you know, I don't want to get too deep into the policy and everything. But I think you're right, Bill. And you gain that experience by seeing that up close and personal. And, you know, I've been fortunate to go down to the border a few times as well and go out on the border patrol agents and, you know.

hiking hills and riding ATVs in the middle of the night trying to find people. I mean, it's crazy what these guys, these men and women do. And I think it paid. I mean, it's an embarrassment what we pay them for the risk that they take and the job that they do. They should be making a lot more money. They really, really should. But that's a whole other topic. So listen, I'm a big fan and you've earned that because you've done some amazing work and we all look forward to

seeing you do a lot more of that but i have some rapid questions for you i don't care how many times you know you've been to to class there at asu or down on the border i got some rapid questions for you i don't know if you're properly prepared for them but i'd like to give them a shot as we kind of wrap up the podcast if that's all right with you all right all right first concert you attended uh backstreet boys backstreet backstreet boys yeah that was a kid backstreet all right backstreet boys

what was your high school mascot? The Wolverine. A lot of Wolverines in Elisa Viejo, but that's a, you know, it's a tougher one than most. That's good. That's good. Um, all right. So you starting to get recognized now, my guess is that you get on an airplane, go around, people say, Hey, I know you did do it. People like recognize you, but think you're somebody other than who you really are. Does that happen yet? Um, if not, it will recognize they, they typically know who I am. Uh,

Um, it usually people come, I mean, a lot of people recognize this from the border stuff. I mean, people come up and shake my hand and say, thank you. You know, thank you for the work down at the border. Your stuff is great. Uh, that sort of a thing. So it happens at grocery stores, airports, uh, not airport, not as much. Cause I, I, you know, you have to wear a mask and I usually wear a hat. So it's harder for people to recognize, but at the gym at,

bars sometimes, supermarkets, movie theaters. Yeah, it's been happening more and more. But I mean, a lot of people watch Fox. Yeah, it's true all across the country. And, you know, I would do hits on some other networks when I was in Congress. I never, rare to none, did I ever have anybody come up and say, hey, you know, boy, I saw you on that Wolf Blitzer interview. And

like that just didn't happen. I mean, but if I was on Hannity, holy cow. Yeah. People would say, Hey, I saw you on Hannity, but it'd be interesting if people come up to you and they'll say, Hey, I know you. And then they'll think you're somebody totally different than, than who you actually are. But that'll be funny when that starts happening. All right. You, you almost, uh, I guess if you weren't in TV, you'd be pursuing a what, like, what would you be doing? It sounds like

you maybe wanted to be a veterinarian. Yeah. You know what? I probably would have tried to pursue that. But that was when I was younger and I was a little bit more naive and I'm not very good with like,

like science, biology, math, that sort of a thing. Honestly, I think if I wasn't in TV, I would maybe it would take me a long time, but I would maybe go down the road of being like a prosecutor or an attorney or something. I feel like I've got a good memory. I can speak well, like to argue when I know something. Yeah.

It's just I love I love law stuff. I always watch all these court shows and everything. So it definitely perks my interest. I know if people get out of TV, 90 percent of them go into like PR or something. But I don't know if I could do that. I think maybe I'd rewind the clock a little bit and maybe go to law school. Yeah. Yeah. Good.

Now, did you have a favorite pet growing up? We've always had Yellow Labs. I'm a dog guy, man. We love our dogs. We had Libby, our Yellow Lab, when I was growing up. And now we've got Axel, another Yellow Lab. So huge dog guy. When I'm down at the border, there are stray dogs all over the place and it breaks my heart. So we're always feeding them, petting them, hanging out with them. We got names for all of them now. We see the same ones all the time. Yeah.

But good for you. All right. Unique talent nobody knows about. Let's see. You know what? That's a good... I don't know if I'd call it unique or weird, but I'm a huge movie nerd. So I can recite the line, every single line from some of my favorite movies, literally every single line from start to finish because I've seen them so many times. I wouldn't call it a skill though. I would call it

Just weird. Just freakish. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, it helps. It helps to have like which movie, what would be like a favorite? What would be like a favorite movie? Inception, Interstellar, all the Lord of the Rings movies are good. Rock. What else? Gladiator. All of them, man. They're all great. Armageddon. All right. That's good. That's good. All right. Biggest question. I always ask people on the podcast. I hope you get it right. Pineapple on pizza. Yes or no.

The tough part about this is I'm not like binary about it. I'm not a hard yes or a hard no. I've had it before. Do I think it's great? No. But do I think it's disgusting? No. I mean, I can go I can go either way with it. But typically, I do not get it.

Judges will accept that answer. But, yeah, the clear answer is no. But we'll have to have that discussion further down the road. All right, favorite item at Taco Bell? Oh, man, I haven't been to one in years. You haven't been to Taco Bell? Come on.

No, my mom got food poisoning from their taco salad two times in a row. So it's always kind of like an eventually thing for me. Two times in a row? She decided to go back for another? I've always liked Del Taco over Taco Bell. Oh, interesting answer. All right. All right. Best advice you ever got. Last question. Best advice you ever got.

I was told when I was younger, I think it was like my mid twenties, like always, always, always be prepared for when your opportunity comes. Uh, basically success is when preparation and opportunity intersect. And that kind of stuck with me. So like, for instance, uh,

When I'm working in El Paso, I'm making less money than a garbage man. All my friends are still in Arizona. I don't know anybody out there. I'm thinking, man, what am I doing? But I kept with the grind. I kept trying to get better. So then when Fox called to do those live shots that one day,

That was a huge opportunity for me. And I made sure I was prepared for it. And that day right there is kind of what got me on Fox's radar and into the Fox pipeline. And the rest was kind of history with that. I've been with Fox my whole career and I plan to stay with them my whole career. And I kind of point back to...

pushing the nerves aside and just being prepared and saying, I can do this and being willing to, you know, take a little risk and take a leap of faith. Well, you know, it's interesting. I just interviewed and had a discussion with Bill Hemmer and he gave very similar advice. And I think it's true. No matter whether you're in broadcasting or whatever it is in life, you just got to be.

ready. You got to just keep making yourself available, work hard, work smart, and know your stuff. And people know that. People can figure out real quickly whether or not you know what you're talking about. And I wish you nothing but the greatest success. You've been fabulous so far. And I

This journey that you're going to take is going to go far and wide, and who knows where it's going to lead to. But I'm just glad you're part of the Fox family, and congratulations to you and your mom, who's played, obviously, a pivotal role. We've got to talk to her.

to your mom at some point. But thank you so much for joining us on the Jason and Al's podcast. Oh, no. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Thanks for your time. All right. Thanks again. Well, I think Bill's going to be a great start because, you know what? He's just going to do good work. He's going to work hard. He's going to get out there. He's going to go find the real story, and then he's going to report it as he sees it. That's, you know...

It's amazing. You just do the basics, and I think that's what people want. They want good, hard, get-your-fingernails-dirty reporting, and that's what I think Bill's going to do in his career, and I think he's going to be highly successful. It's good to get to know him a little bit better, and I look forward to meeting him and crossing paths with him, but excited about what he's doing.

So thank you again for listening to the Jason in the House podcast. Please rate this if you can. Subscribe if you are so inclined. We've got lots of good guests coming up. And if you want to find more podcasts from Fox News, go to foxnewspodcast.com. A lot of good ones over there from Trey Gowdy and Will Kane and –

Ben Domenech. There's a lot of good ones over there. Dana Perino. A lot of good stuff to listen to. So I hope you, again, can rate it, review it, subscribe to it, and look at some other ones there from Fox News. We'll be back with more next week. I'm Jason Chaffetz, and this has been Jason in the House.

I'm Guy Benson. Join me weekdays at 3 p.m. Eastern as we break down the biggest stories of the day with some of the biggest newsmakers and guests. Listen live on the Fox News app or get the free podcast at Guy Benson show dot com.