Episode 4500: Tony Katz Today Hour 2 - 04/06/26

0:00Why, from the heartland and the crossroads of America, it's Tony Katz today. So the president is going to hold the press conference and the view of the White House briefing room is my gosh, just a lot of people. They're standing, they're sitting, they're, they're, they're piled on each other, they're all very, very excited. Tony Katz, Tony Katz today, good to be here, good to be with you, find everything at tonicats.com. The president is going to talk about the exfiltration. How you get to U.S. pilots out, so you're going to get into how the plane was shot down. I don't know. Is he going to discuss what he meant by Tuesday, 8 p.m. because he puts out this tweet, little cryptic. All right, maybe not as weird as Kofifi, but he puts out this, this, this, this tweet that says Tuesday, 8 p.m. Well, what's going to happen Tuesday and 8 p.m., I, I, I have no idea.

1:06I have absolutely no idea what is going to happen or what is not going to happen. What I do know is one should never get worked up by these things. Did I say hello, Tony Katz, the show is Tony Katz today, live streaming on YouTube, just go to Tony Katz and subscribe and on Facebook, Tony Katz radio on Twitter, ex, Tony Katz, even on LinkedIn. And as they say there, open to work, not pretty good right now, but if you go on to make me an offer, you can. I don't know what the president is going to do. I don't know what he's going to say. Certainly one could argue that the reason for this press conference is because it is to an extent a humiliation of the Iranians. You mean you could shoot down a plane, you couldn't find the guy. We so manipulated you, we so engaged in the misdirection. You thought we were coming this way, we're coming this way, you thought we're coming

2:08that way, we're coming down this way, we're coming over here, we're doing this. You don't even think we know your sister, we've totally been with your sister. Like it's, they don't know which end is up. Since Satan mean that they're not dangerous, something major Mike Lyon said just a moment to go on this show is that one of the things that's very true is that they were desperate to be able to find this guy and then utilize him as a bargaining chip. But that did not take place. The president of the United States has arrived, he is heading to the podium and we will take it to him. Right now he is flanked by Pete Hegseth, he is flanked by John Radcliffe, who is the CIA director and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Dan Cain. It's a great honor to be with you and happy Easter.

3:10We had a great Easter, this is one of our better Easter's I think in a lot of different ways. Unfortunately, it's been one of the best. So good afternoon, we have quite a bit to discuss, we'll go into a pretty good detail. And we have the people that are most involved, we'll give you exactitude. And we're here today to celebrate the success of one of the largest, most complex, most harrowing combat searches. I guess you would call it a search and rescue mission. We're attempted by the military, generally when planes are knocked down in war, especially when you're fighting a strong group, an evil group. You can't really do this because you send in 200 men to pick up one, then it's something that's usually not attempted as much as you want to attempt. And bad things happen to that one or two. In this case, we did too, and might not have been attempted before, but we did.

4:14And we had great talent, we got a little luck too, I would say. And- Well, the honesty there. We helped by a lot of people, a lot of great people, and it was an honor to be involved with it. It's very historic. This is a rescue that's very historic, it'll go down to the books late, Thursday night, an American F-15 fighter jet went down deep inside enemy territory in Iran while participating in Operation Epic Fury, where we're doing unbelievably well at a level that nobody's ever seen before. The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night. Both members of the crew ejected from the aircraft and landed alive. On Iranian soil, I immediately was asked to make a decision. I ordered the U.S. Armed Forces to do whatever was necessary to bring our brave warriors

5:16back home, a risky decision, because we could have ended up with a hundred dead as opposed to one or two. It's a hard decision to make. But in the United States military, we leave no American behind, we don't do it. The nowers are armed forces to deploy 21 military aircraft into hostile airspace, many flying at very low altitude, being shot by bullets. You bring rifles into play when you go in that low, but there are also certain advantages. And it brought daylight over Iran for seven hours at times facing very, very heavy enemy fire. We have a helicopter that's got a lot of bullets in it, it's amazing. We just realized how good those weapons are, those machines are. Nobody has the equipment that we have, and nobody has the military that we have not even close. This is a reference to the eight and warthogs that were shot at, that then landed in Kuwait.

6:19Some of them are pretty rough. I've heard about the idea that there may have been actually been some crash landings, but they did get back to friendly bases before landing. We have search and rescue forces successfully located the pilot of the F-15, and he was extracted from enemy territory by an H-H-60 Jolly Green 2 helicopter, fabulous machine as their warriors faced gunfire at very close range. It's amazing that when you look at the machinery, what happened that nobody was even injured. Meanwhile, the second crew member, a weapon, a respected colonel, had landed a significant distance away from the pilot when you're going at those speeds. Even if you go out two or three seconds later, it's miles, it's miles and miles away because you're going fast. He was injured quite badly and stranded in an area, teaming with terrorists from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, rough group, as well as besiege militia and local authorities.

7:27On top of everything else, they told the communities actually within side of Iran, the people of Iran, they were given a tremendous incentive to find this pilot. Despite the peril, the officer followed his training and climbed into the treacherous mountain terrain and started climbing toward a higher altitude, something they were trained to do in order to evade capture. They want to always go as far away from the site of the shoot down. They want to go as far away because they all head right to that site. You want to be as far away as you can. And he was injured and he was an amazing, amazing thing. He scaled clip faces, bleeding rather profusely, treated his own wounds and contacted American forces to transmit his location. They have a very sophisticated, beeper-type apparatus that is on them at all times.

8:35And when they go out on these missions, they make sure they have lots of battery space and they're in good shape. And this one worked really well, amazingly, saved his life. We immediately mobilized a massive operation to retrieve him from the mountain holdout and he kept going higher and higher, the mountain kept getting rougher and rougher and really very, very hard to find. The second rescue mission involved a 155 aircraft, including four bombers, 64 fighters, 48 refueling tankers, 13 rescue aircraft, and more. We were bringing them all over and a lot of it was subterfuge. We wanted to have them think he was in a different location because they had a vast military force out there, thousands, thousands of people were looking. So we wanted them to look in different areas. So we were scattered all over like we were right on top of them. We had seven different locations where they thought.

9:38And they were very confused. They said, well, wait a minute, they've got groups here. They've got groups there. It's an amazing thing. I was listening to these great people, these great generals, General Reisencane, who's amazing and Pete Hexeth was amazing. But I listened to the whole thing, it was pretty amazing. So they had all these different sites where everybody thought he was located. We think we have them over there because they have nine planes circling a little area. It's 25 miles down the coast. So in a breathtaking show of skill and precision, lethality and force America's military descended on the area, the real area, engaged the enemy, rescued the stranded officer, destroyed all threats, and exited a running territory while taking no casualties of any kind. I'm going to take the quick break. I'm going to get into more of President Trump's speech here, just a couple of things. The HH60 jolly green is the replacement for the HH60 pay of hawk.

10:44This is a search and rescue helicopter. That's its purpose. That's its job. So when he talks about the HH60 jolly green, this is a replacement piece, which really just came online. I think it got approved in 2019, is that my research or the prototype was built in 2019 and it really came online for the military in 2022. So it's a pretty new piece. And of course we can discuss what it is that the military has on them and on uniforms to be able to signal to us where they are to be able to exfiltrate. But the key statement he has made so far is one night to destroy. Is this the President saying you surrender or we're done? We've done all the playing around we're going to do. We'll get to that. Keep it here. It's Tony Katz today. Having an earth to bring them home safely. We're going to bring our people home safely. I want to thank every member of the U.S. Armed Forces involved in these historic operations.

11:47They really were historic. It's just not something that's done. And you'd understand it. Not that they don't want to do it. But when you're going into areas, when you look at these helicopters, when you look at the amount of bullets and everything else that they took, when you go into these areas, you don't come out like we came out. God was watching us say, well, it was the Easter, we were in an Easter territory, I guess. But God was watching us. It's amazing. Because when you look at the machinery, they took damage. It tells you, the first thing I said, these are unbelievable machines, how they flew back and not even much of a problem. But these two extraordinary rescues, because it was too. And as you probably know, we didn't talk about the first one for an hour. Then somebody leaked something, which will hopefully find that leaker. We're looking very hard to find that leaker. Good. Talked about. Because leakers should be found. Tony Katz. Tony Katz today. President Trump, giving the press conference air from the White House Briefing Room on

12:49the exfiltration of two U.S. pilots out of Iran after their plane. Their F-15E-Eagle, strike-eagle was shot down. However, the president said, went down deep inside Iranian territory. He did not say, shot down. He did not say those words. Me, I'm Tony Katz. The show is Tony Katz today. Talking about how this exfiltration was done in three installments, 15 minutes per helicopters loaded up and then taking out our people. Let's get back to the president here as he talks about this mission and these worries. On their land, it was fighting for his life and it also made it much more difficult for the pilots and for the people going in to search for him. All of a sudden, they know that there's somebody out there that see all these planes coming and it became a much more difficult operation. Because a leaker leaked that we have one, we've rescued one, but there's another one out there that we're trying to get.

13:50So actually, the country, Iran, put out a major notice, you all saw it, offering a very big award for anybody that captures the pilot. So in addition to a hostile, very talented, very good, very evil military, we had millions of people trying to get an award. So when you add that to it, but we have to find that leaker because that's a sick person. Probably didn't realize the extent of how bad it was. I can't imagine that person. Are you giving them too much credit, Mr. President? National security. Don't do that. The person that did the story will go to jail if he doesn't say and that doesn't last long. And I think everybody would understand that they put this mission at great risk. They put that man at great risk and they put the hundreds of people that went in looking for him because everyone now knows that we're going in. Over the past 37 days, America's on forces have carried out more than 10,000 combat flights

14:53over Iran, unheard of, striking more than 13,000 targets. The F-15 we lost last week was the first manned aircraft down by the enemy in this entire operation with thousands and thousands of flights. They got lucky. It was a lucky hit, you know, eventually you get lucky. But we got lucky too because we got both of them back. But it's a record that is unparalleled in the history of military air operations. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. It's such an honor to be involved with it. We were up late at night and then we were waiting for those contingent planes to come in and we said, come on, let's go get in because they're waiting out on this farm without a runway with crummy soil sand, mostly sand, wet sand, and it eats planes alive. And we're waiting and we're saying, I hope that one can land and take off.

15:56And they came in like magic, boom, boom, boom. One after another was like genius, so impressed by that. Because we were a little concerned, we said boy, if they don't get in and get up fast, we're sitting in them. And that's called Iran Prime, right General? That's where the whole bed is. And here we are sitting there waiting for a plane. But they came in so fast and so hard and these guys knew exactly what they'd let's go, come on, get in, let's go, boi. They came one right after another, not at the same time, they don't want to come at the same time. Right after each other, they didn't have any room to barely any room to land. Tiny little patch of very wet. I will say this, earth and sand. There's something interesting about him in this, because it's outrageously honest. How many others that worked? I mean, so many. I'm surprised. I was shocked. I was amazed. I couldn't believe it. I mean, a little bit of his actual surprise, like seeing this work, like my gosh, we're

16:57really that good. And the answer is yes. Head of the CIA. We really are. As a man now talking about John Ratcliffe, the head of the CIA, he might bring Ratcliffe up. He's going to play the head of the CIA, he's one of the few John Ratcliffe. He did a phenomenal job that night. He did something that I don't know if you want to talk about it. If you want, you can. I'm not sure he's supposed to. I'm not going to talk about it. But he really, the CIA was very responsible for finding this little spec. It's like they use an expression on one of the shows in general, was talking about it's like finding a needle in a haystack, finding this pilot. And the CIA was unbelievable. And if you can, you'll talk. It might be classified in which case I'd have to put him in jail if he talks about it. And I don't want to put him in jail. He doesn't deserve that. So John, do you want to say a few words? Thank you. Oh, it is going to speak. John Ratcliffe. Thank you, Mr. President. The CIA director. It's a privilege to be here with you today to share what we can about this exceptional mission and to recognize the ingenuity and bravery of those who executed it, as well

18:03as the leadership and resolve of the president who ordered it. One thing that has been clear to me in this role is that the flawless military operations that the Department of War is known for are hostage to flawless intelligence. We saw that in the skies over Iran in Operation Midnight Hammer last summer. We witnessed it in Venezuela during Operation Absolute Resolve. We've seen it against the cartels in the Western Hemisphere, and we're seeing it every day in Operation Epic Fury, including this mission to rescue an aviator buried deep behind enemy lines because it is the unique tradition of the U.S. Armed Forces that we leave no man or woman behind. This was a no-fail mission. That was the spirit in which the president put us to work, and we were determined not to let him down or our airman down. As an agency, the CIA possesses unique capabilities that only the president can deploy.

19:10Some of these capabilities fall under covert action authorities, and because covert means exactly that, I'm not going to be able to tell you everything that you want to know. I have no doubt that he isn't going to tell us everything that we want to know. I'm a Macy speaking at all. I were going to hear from I assume the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Cain, and hopefully we'll get some of the questions from the press who will probably won't be happy that we brought home soldiers alive. Am I wrong? I'm Tony Katz. And today is the CIA director mentioned Iran's military, and we know this, is embarrassed and humiliated, and they should be. Now these are not routine operations. They were high-risk, high-stakes missions conducted in the heart of enemy territory. This was not just barely into Iran. This was deep into Iran, involving coordinated strikes to suppress threats, deception tactics to protect our teams, and full synchronization across air-ground and special operations.

20:10The Iranians are still asking themselves right now, how did the Americans do this? That's the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth. That's me, I'm Tony Katz, and the show is Tony Katz today. This is the press conference about the rescue of two American pirates, pilots, in Iran, how that mission took place. We heard from John Rackliffe of the CIA, and now Secretary Hegseth. Moment of isolation and danger, his faith and fighting spirit shown through. You see, shot down on a Friday, good Friday. Hidden in a cave, a crevice, all of Saturday, and rescued on Sunday. Flown out of Iran is the sun was rising on Easter Sunday, a pilot reborn, all home and accounted for, a nation rejoicing. God is good.

21:12Despite incoming fire and unforgiving conditions, our troops brought every American home. No American lives were lost, we leave no man behind, and that is not luck. It's the result of unmatched training, superior technology, an unbreakable warrior ethos, and sheer American grit. Our special operators pilots and support crews performed with near perfection under fire, and they were lethal. Just ask any Iranian soldier who dared attempt to get anywhere near that pilot before or during that mission, death from above. Our troops turned a potential tragedy into a resounding demonstration of American resolve and capability. That's what excellence in uniform looks like. But make no mistake about it. None of this would have been possible without the courageous leadership and ironclad determination of President Donald J. Trump.

22:15From the moment our airmen went down, President Trump made it clear we will leave no one behind. The first mission, the first of two, was an audacious, daylight, thunder run right up the middle. It was authorized in less than two hours from those of that pilot going down when we knew where he was. And it was authorized in the middle of the night, because anybody that's worked from this man knows he's up in the middle of the night, authorized immediately without hesitation audaciously. The second mission, as soon as we knew where that pilot was and John was certainly helpful in that, also executed immediately. You know, I looked up at my screen when the final mission was complete inside our skiff, our secure facility, and we have a running VTC, a running coordination cell, and the top of it read 45 minutes and 45 hours and 56 minutes. For 45 hours and 56 minutes, we held that call open for coordination.

23:16From the moment our pilots went down, our mission was unblinking. The call never dropped, the meeting never stopped, the planning never ceased. The president demanded rapid, decisive action. He backed our military with the full weight of his resolve, refusing to let enemy propaganda or tactical setbacks deter us. His leadership ensured that every lethal and non-lethal resource was brought to bear that our forces had the authorities and the support they needed to succeed. When the president says he has the backs of our war fighters, he means it, and it means a great deal, and it's a big difference on the battlefield. Trump understands that peace through strength is not a slogan. It is a doctrine that saves American lives. He's unwavering commitment to rebuilding our military and restoring the warrior spirit has paid dividends in missions just like this one. Under his command, America projects power with confidence and brings our people home with

24:20victory. And that continues today, by the way. For the president's direction, today will be the largest volume of strikes since day one of this operation. Tomorrow, even more than today, and then Iran has a choice. Choose wisely, because this president does not play around. Now this, of course, is the question. Everything that we're hearing right now, and don't get me wrong, the rescue of this pilot is sensational, both of them, the pilot and the weapons officer. But everything is a set up. Everything is to set up the conversation of what the world is meant by Tuesday at APM. What does that mean? Does it mean there's no more question about whether or not we're going to end this regime. We're going to break these people, even if we have to break everything, which is a different take than where I was a week ago, and maybe where you are.

25:23Maybe we're always on this. Knowing that Trump is a guy who could decide that there's a victory, any time that there's a victory, it seemed that he wants to go down the road of behavior change as opposed to regime change. I oppose that. You know that we could disagree about it and that's fine, we'll still have a bourbon together all be good. I'm not going to get what I want. I've been saying this. I'm not going to get what I want. This talk is different. This talk is we are going to end these people. We're going to break the IRGC by breaking the infrastructure. Then we're going to get the people to go after these IRGC members. We're going to support them all we can. And if they defeat the IRGC, that seems to be the direction that everything is going. That seems to be where everything is at. I'm going to take the break now because I hope to get to some of the Q&A and get back to President Trump. Stay here. I'm going to carry some more of this for the next little while while I can.

26:25President Trump, Secretary Hague Seth and General Cain giving the update on the rescue of these two pilots and of course, what may be coming next. Keep it here. This is Tony Katz today. He was injured and actively evading enemy forces. And thanks to our interagency partners, we were able to get eyes on his location and positively IDM. Throughout this entire time, the enemy force continued to search for 4-4 Bravo and the joint force continued to strike them over and over and over again. Fighting off marginal weather in Iran and the enemy search for a second time on Saturday at the recommendation of the St. Com Commander and at the approval of the Secretary and the President, we launched a rescue task force to recover, dude, 4-4 Bravo. Again, this came to the President and the Secretary for approval this time with a much larger force package based on the time that the enemy had to prepare to find 4-4 Bravo.

27:28Again, this force was protected by 8-10 warthogs using the Sandy call sign and this force had one single mission to do everything they can to bring an American home. Tony Katz, this is General Kane speaking of the rescue mission, some very poignant conversation that most important any rescue mission as they rescued the two pilots shot down over Iran is the will of the pilot to survive. It's a very, very poignant thing there and this pilot, the backseater is referred to to a weapons officer who was injured, was able to go, was a thousand of kilometers away from where he had landed so he would evade, capture. There's a story in here that is going to get told numerous times, movies made, really something else. Let's take it back to General Kane, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. To the daylight, the force fought its way in and rescued, dude, 4-4 Bravo.

28:30They were protected overhead by an air armada, including tactical drones, strike aircraft and others. The force fought through multiple simultaneous contingencies, something no other nation, no other military can do and safely returned, dude, 4-4 Bravo, the backseater home and all other Americans home as well. At midnight, 12 local, eastern time, eastern Sunday, more than 50 hours after the start of this operation, the Joint Personnel Recovery Center declared, dude, 4-4 Bravo, both the front and backseater returned to friendly territory. The courage demonstrated by both the pilot and the weapons system officer while isolated and them invading the enemy cannot be overstated. The grit and war fighting tenacity is a direct result of the absolute trust they have

29:32in our rescue forces, their training and their will to survive and return. They always knew that we would be ordered to go get them and they always knew that we would be coming to get them. These two operations reflect our nation's most sacred obligation to our military service members. We leave no one behind, bless you. It also perfectly captures the first truth of our special operations forces that people are more important than hardware. That is the standard we live by and the rescue forces that execute these missions operate under a clear motto. These things we do that others may live. Their actions were a direct embodiment of that commitment to others and I could not be more proud of each and every one of them today. As the secretary said to our enemies, this operation serves as a clear reminder of the

30:36capability and will of America's joint force. The United States of America will cover our warfighters anywhere in the world under any conditions when we want to. This is the difference. We will always bring overwhelming skill and firepower to every member of the joint force our interagency partners, the leadership at Centcom and our leaders at the department and above. Thank you. I'm proud of each and every one of you and thankful to our deployed forces and their families. This is the difference between leadership and our press. This is the difference. The forcefulness, the strength, the unapologetic nature of it all. This is, this moves people, that we don't leave anyone behind, that we are capable, that we are able, that we are run by professionals, that we did the right thing in at least

31:36in the election because you don't feel that Lloyd Austin or Joe Biden would have brought you this result. Well Tony, they never would have gone to war to begin with. You know, there's a lot of talk about how President after President Israel went to them and said, you need to take care of Iran. But this President was willing to do it. See, he's being led by Israel. No, no, we're past that silliness, that childlike problem. He saw the problem. End the Iranian threat and you can change the region, you can change the region, maybe we could stop thinking about these people for five minutes. Meanwhile the President started taking questions. Pretty amazing. And these two gentlemen have been, from day one, they've been perfect, you know, I got to know General Cain in my first term because he was able to take out ISIS in four weeks

32:37instead of the four-year projection that was given to me by other, much lesser generals. And I said, you know, if I ever do this again, that's going to be the head of my joint chiefs, the staff. And we worked it that way, didn't we? And it's amazing. He took out ISIS. We defeated ISIS in four weeks. I was told it would take four years. I flew to Iraq to find out with the greatest equipment in the world why would it take four years? And he told me, sir, it won't. It'll take four weeks and you'll have time left over. That's exactly what happened. So he's great and Pete, all I can say is that he was treated very unfairly. And now those same people that treated him unfairly, that fought against him, they called me up saying, what a great choice he was. They say, well, what happened during his nomination? What happened to you? I'm sorry. It's people that were not foreign senators, friends of mine, sir. I don't think you're doing a great thing. Now they called me up. What a choice.

33:38These two guys are fantastic. And John Ratliffe was incredible. I was actually there, genius, that called us from, he was 40 miles away. And he said, you know, we're seeing something moving up in the mountain. Is it night? And they kept the camera on him for 45 minutes. He wasn't moving. And they said, you know, probably wrong. But we're seeing something moving. There's a vast mountain, a vast thick with bushes, trees, and he said, we see something moving. 40 miles away. It was a head of a human being. I'm telling you, it's moving. And then all of a sudden, 45 minutes later, he moved a lot, stood up, and they stood we have him. And that was really the beginning of something incredible. We had an idea where he was, but not specifically, that's a big mountain. So I'm surprised it's not that much information, I don't think they get enough credit for the

34:40great job they've done. Yes, please. Yes. Thank you very much, Mr. President, for this great opportunity. Country has a super army. You make a difference, Mr. President. Thank you for your greatest leadership. I have a two quick questions, Mr. President. What was your reaction when you learned that Kurdistan region had resumed exporting oil to the international market with your support? Wow. If you're going to use this from it to ask about it. Where is the extent? I expected that. And oil, I mean, it's kind of, that's not what people tuned in for, but I can appreciate it. So I'm going to continue this on the live stream, so you can come check that I've got much more radio ahead, so stick around for that. And we have a full breakdown of this pressure tomorrow as well, so you're not going to miss anything. I just wanted to hear what the President had to say and what the chairman and Hegseth

35:41had to say. We've got much more live streaming on YouTube, check it out, Mr. Tony Katz today.