Thread: GLENN BECK HEADING FOR PRISON?

Glenn Beck: Heading for prison?
:

April 10, 2008 - 13:00 ET


Border Patrol Fundraiser Shirt
All of Glenn's proceeds from the sale of this shirt will be donated to a legal defense fund for Agents Ramos and Compean.

GLENN: Oh, yeah. Stop the music for a second. Tara Setmayer. I don't -- Tara, for the love of Pete, I just find out that I've been saying your name wrong for how long? Over a year.

SETMAYER: No, it's quite already. It's --

GLENN: No, it's not. I feel horrible.

SETMAYER: Oh, you shouldn't. People make that mistake all the time but I'm not that easily offended. But I would be more offended if you called me Tara.

GLENN: Tara Setmayer. I'm going to have to retrain myself. How did this happen?

SETMAYER: Listen, you say it however you feel comfortable, Glenn. Listen, the German version is Set-Meyer, the American version is Set-Mayer. That's quite all right.

GLENN: Here's the thing. You went out -- well, tell us what you've been up to lately.

SETMAYER: Well, I just recently returned from my fourth visit to Ignacio Ramos in prison, the border agent, one of the border agents who was wrongly imprisoned and, you know, it's been really, really difficult for all of us. The waiting game since the December 3rd appeal was heard. No one ever expected the decision to take this long. But we have to wait patiently and --

GLENN: Hang on just a second.

SETMAYER: Sure.

GLENN: You think that's actually good news?

SETMAYER: I do. And the reason I do is because if the appellate judges were just going to uphold the decision, they would have done that by now. That's an easy thing to do. They could have turned it over and said, no, we're not going to overturn anything here. If they were simply going to get rid of the ten-year gun charge, they could have done that already. But I think that they are really taking a good, long, hard look at all of the legal questions, and there were many, from the immunity agreement to the inability to question the drug smuggler on the second drug load to jury instructions. There were a lot of very technical legal issues that needed to be reviewed and it looks as though they are taking the time necessary to do that.

GLENN: Okay. So you went out to the -- you went out to the prison and he has been in solitary confinement now 439, 443 days, I think?

SETMAYER: Roughly, yes.

GLENN: Okay. And he has been -- he has been there and there are two things that you said off the air that I want to talk to you about.

SETMAYER: Okay.

GLENN: Are you willing to talk about them?

SETMAYER: Sure.

GLENN: Okay. First one is that me and people like me are responsible for him being in solitary confinement?

SETMAYER: Yes. Since last year after Mr. Ramos was assaulted in prison, I actually sat in front of the director of the Bureau of Prisons, Harley Lapin, Walter Jones, Congressman Jones and Congressman Ted Poe. We had a meeting with Harley Lapin and we said, listen, what do we need to do to get these guys into a minimum security camp because obviously medium or low security they could not reasonably exist without being attacked. And they told us the reason why they would not move them into a minimum security camp was for two reasons. One, the gun charge, the ten-year mandatory minimum, disqualified them from going into a camp because it was considered a violent crime.

GLENN: Sure.

SETMAYER: And the length of term wouldn't allow them to do. The second thing was I said to the director, wait a minute, you have waiver authority. You can move them into any status you choose. And he said, well, the problem is that the media attention brought upon these two men has really put them at risk because every time their names and faces are in the media, that makes them more known. We cannot assimilate them. So we want to do it quietly but as long as you keep doing this, we can't move them.

GLENN: So in other words, if you just help us, we'll help you.

SETMAYER: Right.

GLENN: We're really there -- I mean, if you'll just stop bringing it up so they can spend a quiet ten years in prison instead of trying to overturn this, we can help. But --

SETMAYER: That's right. And that was a year ago and we obviously didn't accept that. And fast-forward to last week when Mr. Lapin visited Mr. Ramos, which was only because our office in conjunction with Congressman Hunter's office reinquired about that and he had no plans on visiting Ramos during his trip to the Phoenix facility until he made an inquiry about it.

GLENN: For anybody who doesn't know, Lapin is the director of the Bureau of Prisons.

SETMAYER: That's correct.

GLENN: And so he didn't want to come, but he did eventually come and it's my understanding that it wasn't real warm, wasn't cordial. It was kind of like, I'm here, what do you want, what's going on.

SETMAYER: That's right. And as a matter of fact, when I was talking to Ignacio on Tuesday he said they put him in this room and he said it's called the fish bowl and he felt like he was on display like an animal in the zoo, you know. He was very uncomfortable and they kept him handcuffed. When the director came in, as he was coming in, he could overhear him say to one of the guards, "Where's this guy I'm supposed to meet with." You know, you've got to be kidding me. This is how serious these guys take this? You know, it's very easy to legislate this from your ivory tower in Washington, D.C. but I wanted to make sure that Harley Lapin who is in the same room, sat across from Ignacio Ramos to look into the eyes of an innocent man that he has confined to solitary confinement for a year and he had no choice but to do that.

GLENN: And it's my understanding, I got word yesterday from somebody else that Ignacio listens to the program every day.

SETMAYER: Yes, he does. As a matter of fact, now he has radio in his cell. So he's able to listen to talk radio and have some interaction with the outside world because he doesn't have any other time. He'll hear this today.

GLENN: Okay, good. So he's listening, listening on KTAR, our affiliate there. Ignacio, let me tell you something, my friend. Nobody is going to forget you. We're never going to let people forget you. And here's the next step I would like to take. Tara, I'm working on a special that, it was easier to get the special on Islamic extremism done than for some reason this is. And I know I made a promise to my audience that I'm going to do a border special. Well, you wouldn't believe. It's just constantly, hmmm, we're getting to -- yes, we're getting right to it and just can't seem to move that machinery. But it is going to be done and what I'd like to do and I've been talking to people about this and again it just seems like it's darn near impossible to get done. And you told me last night it is. I would like to do an in-prison interview with Mr. Ramos and you said -- you told me last night -- I said, hey, can you help me out on that? You said it will never happen. Why?

SETMAYER: Well, it just shows you how highly politicized this issue is. I mean, this is coming straight from the White House and people don't -- I tell people this all the time, that every week that goes by and every ounce of my being that has been poured into this, I realize how I say this is not a game. This is coming directly from the White House and the powers that be are very entrenched in this. The politicization of the border is just unbelievable.

GLENN: Let me tell you something, Tara. You know and I know that when we get McCain or Obama or Clinton, it's only going to get worse.

SETMAYER: You're right.

GLENN: Anybody that thinks George Bush is bad, and I do, anyone who thinks he's bad on the border, it is only going to get much, much worse.

SETMAYER: I wish I could paint a rosier picture for you but you are 100% correct.

GLENN: Okay. So can you help me and would you help me brainstorm because I have to tell you, if there are obstacles in my way -- I mean, I see Dateline meeting with murderers, people who are on death row. I see people who are far, far worse sitting in front of 60 Minutes and their cameras in the prison. I certainly would like to know who's responsible for stopping us. We'll do all it -- if you'll just walk us through, help us do all of the right things to make sure we do it all right but then I'm going to create a paper trail to show exactly who's stopping us from doing it because it is an absolute outrage if somebody for political reasons is stopping us from interviewing somebody in prison where they give this to murderers and child molesters, they will allow that to happen.

SETMAYER: I can tell you that they will use the excuse because there is an ongoing investigation and the case is still under appeal. You know, my boss just really quickly, he's on a -- an investigation with Oklahoma City with any foreign connection and he's been trying to get an interview with Ramsey Yousef who was World Trade Center one mastermind. We found some very interesting circumstantial evidence that may have connected him with Terry Nichols and my boss would like to just go and interview him. The Justice Department has said no, you do not as a member of congress have a right to interview a federal prisoner because there's an ongoing investigation. He's been in jail for ten years. So I'm just warning you ahead of time what you're up against, but I will do everything in my power to assist you guys with that and I think they're probably going to -- they're waiting for the decision from the fifth circuit.

GLENN: Sure. I understand that, and we'll wait for the decision and maybe everything will go away but if it doesn't go away, I'm not going to go away.

SETMAYER: Nor should you.

GLENN: No, not going to. Thank you very much, Tara. And Ignacio, love you, man. There's a lot of people who know that you are in that little box. Nobody has forgotten you. Thanks a lot, Tara.


http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articl ... /196/8626/

Gogo - Wow, thanks so much for posting this.

There's a lot of good info in that exchange, and much of it better confirms what people have been saying all along about the complicity (conspiracy?) of the Fed Gov't (WH, in particular) vs. the US CBP and American citizenry.

For those that don't know, Tara used to be (still is?) a staffer/assistant for the Office of US Rep Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA).

That was a great interview. We must continue to remember these former Border agents and their families in prayer and write them too for encouragement.

Psalm 91

Yes, it is so chilling when Glenn calls these guys "our first political prisoners" We need to use that phrase whenever we refer to them. We need to call and fax some of the Congress members and Senators about this and refer to them as such.

You're welcome Phrede. I admit sometimes I forget. Glad Glenn isn't.

May every Politician, that railroaded our border agents- from the president on down.....recieve their just reward, in the after life if not before.

Excellent

I could feel the pain . Excellent article . I guess at this stage in my life , my wife and i are lucky . For i would have "Hated" to work for Johnny Sutton. I could have never sleep at night .

I told Mr. Loya that not only could he and his family and the Compeans NOT afford to QUIT, NEITHER can the REST of US, their FELLOW Americans who care!

Well, it sounds to me like the White House is running this show. And that doesn't make me feel very good about the Appellate court. I'm sure the White House is going to control that decision, too. If those two men are not granted a new trial, this is where the rubber meets the road, and justice and the Constitution will have been thrown out the window. This will show how corrupt this government really is. I'll bet you there is some major wheeling and dealing going on behind the scenes, that's why it's taking so long.

Thanks for the great transcript!

We already know the consitution has been thrown out the window, these guys are in prison, our streets over run with foreign criminals and they refuse to enforce the laws!

Anyway, with a governement like this, this is why people question 9-11.
Just look, we have another terrorist connection, these people are hard core crooks and wimps all at the same time.