RADIOSeptember 21, 2023

Did Soros 'Republicans' make it ILLEGAL for Texas AG Ken Paxton to prosecute voter fraud?!

In his interview with Tucker Carlson, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton mentioned how the Texas Court of Appeals (which is 100% "Republican") recently made it illegal for him to prosecute voter fraud. Paxton joins Glenn to elaborate on this ridiculous ruling and why he believes it's (of course) all tied to George Soros. Plus, Paxton pushes back against the Wall Street Journal's take on why he was acquitted in his impeachment trial and reveals whether Texas will finally start acting like Texas again after the Biden administration cut razor wire at the southern border, allowing thousands of illegal immigrants could cross over.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Last night, the fed -- because the federal government decided, they were just going to cut the razor wire at the border, on Texas.

At Eagle Pass. Just came in. Cut it. Cameras were rolling. There were, hmm, about four how thousand Venezuelans waiting on the other side. And 14,000 announced a state of emergency in Eagle Pass.

When is Texas going to actually become Texas?

My first or actually my second question to Ken Paxton, and we begin right now.

Ken, welcome to the program. I'm glad that this is all behind you.

It seemed to me, to be an absolute witch hunt. But I -- I wanted to ask you, one question, on this. Because I know you covered a lot of this with Tucker Carlson yesterday. But let me -- let me go into the Wall Street Journal.

Why Ken Paxton was acquitted.

It's by the entire editorial board. It's just ridiculous.

Listen to this. Mr. Paxton's defenders are spinning that he was saved by a populist national conservative groundswell to put an end to the bush era in Texas. What a joke. There is no longer a Bush era in Texas or anywhere else.

George P. Bush. Jeb Bush's son lost to Mr. Paxton. Yeah. Well, yes.

So how is that the end of Bush? What really happened on Saturday, is that Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick chose to rescue in a reboot of his rival, House Speaker Dade Phelan. The acquittal is perhaps a satisfying victory for Mr. Patrick over his House rival.

But it may not play out so well for Texas Republicans in the longer run.

A federal investigation into Mr. Paxton is continuing amid reports that a grand jury has been impaneled.

What do you know about that, Ken?

KEN: Well, first of all, I have seen people of Texas. I am here.

Because by the grace of God, and the -- those people that I just mentioned, the Biden administration, I have seen it 48 times. The Biden administration, 27 times.

This was organized by the Biden administration. And I thought, well, how could that be? It happened because in Texas, the Speaker is elected by 65 Democrats. And ten Republicans. That's all it takes.

And what the Democrats do is they block votes, they figure out which Republicans will give them the most.

And they -- they agreed to this deal with the Biden administration. Went straight to the Texas Democrats. And they came after me. And shoot, I've been investigated ever since the day I walked into this office. And I have no doubt, the Biden administration would love to find some way. They've been working on it for years.

To get rid of me. And part of that process was the impeachment.

GLENN: So I have to tell you, I think Phelan should be impeached himself. This is such a sham of everything that was going on.

But let me talk about the border here. Because, Ken, while you've been away, Texas has been a wuss in many cases.

Yesterday, the razor wire at Eagle Pass was cut. We had this gigantic colony in Houston. Which is, you, you know, they're change girls up, and raping them. One escaped. Tried to.

And was killed. Both of them ended up dead. There's all kinds of cartel activity going on.

This is a colony in Houston. The size of Washington, DC. More people are on the way. When is Texas going to become Texas?

KEN: So I literally had my first briefing yesterday from my office. We spent probably four months, and I have people that have left. There's lots of stuff that I didn't know what was going on.

I didn't get information from my office. So yesterday, I spent more time talking about immigration. And what's going on in the border. What can we do.

We're in the process of looking into potential lawsuits.

I don't have an army to do anything about it. All I can do is what I can do, of course. So we already had a bunch of lawsuits, against the Biden administration. But we're definitely looking at more.

We're trying to figure out, how can we stop this travesty, with the Biden administration, is promoting. It's pretty clear to me.

They do not care about the American people. This is so horrible. And a consequence for people on the border.

That are US citizens. And for our sake. Are devastated. And those consequences with drugs, and crime. Will be sold in this country, for a long time to come.

GLENN: So did the governor reach out you to, yesterday, about the wire cutting?

VOICE: I did not hear from his office yesterday. My staff may have. But I didn't. I didn't know about it until you just said something.

GLENN: No one from the governor's office called you about the federal government cutting the razor wire and letting thousands of people in across our border at Eagle Pass? No one called you?

KEN: I heard about that story, on -- right before your show started as I listened to the news. That's when I heard about the wire cutting. I did not know.

GLENN: Okay. The -- you said to Tucker yesterday, in your interview with him. And this kind of -- just kind of went and he didn't follow up. And I found this quite important.

The Court of Appeals and the state of Texas, apparently now, you cannot prosecute voter fraud in Texas. Is that true?

KEN: Yes. That is correct. They struck down a law from 1951. And, by the way, I have four things that I'm supposed to do in the Constitution. And the final thing is, such things that are required by law. In 1951, the legislature, directed by the attorney general, the only thing that I have jurisdiction on, as early as criminal matters is voter fraud.

And a court of criminal appeals. All Republican, by the way.

And, by the way, no one knows who they are. This is why they've been put there. And I'm convinced they're not Republicans. Because they struck down this law. And they said, I don't have the authority to go to court. As an attorney general.

Because I'm in the executive branch. That was their rationale for striking down things. Unconstitutional for the attorney general to be in court. I'm like, is that the most insane thing ever?

But they did it. And now it's up to the local DAs to prosecute. The Dallas county. The Harris County. Houston.

They won't prosecute voter fraud. Guess what, they just talked about voter fraud. And the people of Texas, need to know that. And if there's three of the nine members, coming up in March, for a primary. We have to find people to run. And we have to beat those people. Or we will lose this state.

Because I tried to get this law passed again. So I always have -- I can start doing it again, and making them strike again. And guess who killed it?

Dade Phelan. I called him. He never returned my calls. I was told by his team they didn't have time to pass this law. Even though --

GLENN: Oh, my gosh.

KEN: That's where we are with Dade Phelan. That's where we are with the Texas House. And that's where we are with the Court of Criminal Appeals.

That's our highest court.

Like our Supreme Court. One of two states have this, for all criminal matters.

So I have no appeal. When they strike down and say this is unconstitutional, I can't prosecute criminal fraud, I have no way around it. I'm stuck. That's what I'm saying.

GLENN: Okay. So who needs to be called? The House?

KEN: The House needs to pass this. They lost two years. And in March, I think we're -- I just we're going to have three people running against the members of the Court of Appeals. We have to get those people elected, because we lost eight-one. And if we have three new members, we'll at least be 5-4. And we'll be sending a message, we cannot strike down --

GLENN: Okay. Who are the three members?

KEN: I do not have it on me. Yeah. Three members will be up this time. I think one of them is Michelle (inaudible). I think Barbara Kirby. And I'm trying to remember the third one. I think those are the three that are up.

GLENN: We'll find it.

KEN: Glenn, I don't think there's any more important issue than fixing this court.

GLENN: Why did this happen? How did this happen?

KEN: Okay. So I think George Soros, my opinion, he was trying to do three things.

One, get the DA -- he beat all these Democratic DAs that were prosecuting crimes. He did it in Travis County. The Democrat County there, was actually prosecuted.

He did the same thing in San Antonio.

So he got control of that, knowing full well that this would affect voting.

Second, he put -- he helped put nine members on the Supreme Court. Actually eight. Kevin is awesome.

The other -- eight.

No one knows who they are. And I think he -- because Republicans don't know who these people are. He was able to get the numbers to court. And strike down this law. And then the third strategy -- and then there's nowhere to go.

So that was the goal. They didn't hear it from me. So there's still hope. We have to get the criminal court of appeals. We have to get the House next time to pass this law.

GLENN: You know, Donald Trump said, yesterday, let me see if I can actually quote him on -- on something. He said yesterday, that we -- if there is a defeat in 2024, it will mean the end of the country. The 2024 presidential election will mean nothing less than the final battle for the US. I am beginning to think that's absolutely true. If we make it to 2024.

KEN: I told him, when he was running for reelection in May, that I was fighting a battle to stop massive bailout ballots. In all the biggest counties.

Travis County. Then Harris County, to Houston. We have 12 lawsuits. If I don't win every single one of those lawsuits, you'll lose Texas. He said, what? That's not possible. I said, it doesn't matter what your polling says. If they can cut out six or seven million ballots for just one count. Say Harris County sends $2.5 million out.

You won by 600,000 votes, you won't win votes. They will count votes.

Because we can't verify. If they mail them out to everyone. There's no signature verification. Which is still not even the best way to make sure people are voting right.

We have no way to verify. They will count as many ballots as they want. They will figure out how their numbers are. And guess what, we thought every one of those lawsuits, even though this is a terrible place. Terrible judges. I watched election night.

I said, this is exactly -- they will stop counting votes for a couple of days. So they can figure out, how many votes they needed to count with these mail-in ballots.

And that's exactly what happened in these other states.

Whenever I bring it up, they say I'm crazy. That's exactly what they did.

GLENN: You know, one thing I really worry about is the number of illegals, in you're country. The ones we don't even know about. We already, since Biden got into office. We have already passed the population of 15 different states. Combinations of three states. Would equal the amount that has come in.

It is -- it's -- you're seeing crime and everything else.

And we're only seeing the surface of this.

I -- I wonder if Texas can stand. How much is this changing?

If they can just register, or -- or get people to get in here to do voting. Which is their plan? Beyond that, the crime, the social services. The hospitals.

I -- I -- we're so close to the border. If we don't get this border sealed, we're done.

KEN: No, this is the plan.

People are like, why did Biden do this?

One, first, voting. Getting as many people, in the Republican states, that they can come.

Voters, whether it's legal or illegal. Right now, they can vote illegally.

No one is going to do anything about it. It won't matter.

Second, they wanted to get as many illegals into these Republican states.

Guess what, we're doing better than Democratic states.

We have low taxes, less regulation.

More opportunity.

Better governance.

And they want to bring in more problems.

They want to take us down, because the story is too good for Texas, Florida, and Tennessee, Utah. The Republican states were successful.

The Democrat states are losing people.

Because people are voting with their feet. The Biden administration said, okay. We'll make you pay for it. We'll make you pay for all the schooling, health care, law enforcement, crime.

Your kids are going to die. We will get you, and that's what the Biden administration is all about.

GLENN: Well, any good news to report?

KEN: Yeah. There's always help.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I have to tell you, it looked like they were going to be able to railroad you.

And, look, I know you're not a perfect person.

But, you know, I had a real problem, when they came to the impeachment hearings after promising, just like the Democrats. All kinds of evidence. All kinds of -- and then literally nothing.

KEN: Their lawyers, Glenn, said it will be ten times worse than the public.

Guess what, it's ten times less.

They tried to railroad me out. No testimony that's required by law.

No due process. No chance for me to refute any of this stuff.

All done secretly. No transparency done in three days. Some other things. Now, I have no resources.

I spent all my money on a campaign.

I have no -- I had no lawyers.

I had three months to figure out what they had.

And they kept hiding information, even though they were requiring the turnover. And then, of course, I had the gag orders. I couldn't defend myself. I couldn't go out and talk, couldn't call you.

On the other hand, they were able to leak information to the press. Every day, I've been impounded. All of that, was against me.

And yet, because of the people in Texas, because of my strong family support, because of my wife's support. And because of the grace of God. You know, I just decided, I'm going to fight this to the last second.

I will not resign. Because if they win this. Because they can just do this to anybody they want. I will not let the voters down.

GLENN: So who will pay for this?

Is any -- is any investigation -- I don't want revenge.

I want this to not be able to happen again.

KEN: No. So Dan Patrick, God bless him for this. He called for an audit. Which I think was fair. They were trying to figure out how much money they were spending. I think we will find out how much money they spent. Which is millions.

And look, it's totally unfair to push someone out of office, with no proof.

And I have to pay for it.

And I have to lose, just because they have all the money for the taxpayers. And I'm left with just nothing.

Most people would not have made it through that. With no resources.

And that is unfair to the House bill, is that suspended with no proof. And then take away one -- illegally cuts my salary off to punish me.

Even though he had no authority to do that.

And I'm supposed to survive this.they did everything they could to make it impossible for me to get the truth out, and to survive.

GLENN: This is so weird.

KEN: Again, against the will of the voters.

GLENN: We are becoming an old Soviet state. It's terrifying.

KEN: This is Texas, Glenn. Texas.

GLENN: Oh, I know. I know. Ken, thank you very much. I appreciate it. God bless. Thank you.

The ONE “forever war” Glenn Beck supports

This Fourth of July, Glenn Beck reveals the only “forever war” he supports. It’s the war Americans have been fighting since our nation’s founding, and we must continue the fight…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Two hundred forty-nine years ago, I think it is tomorrow. Right? Is tomorrow the second, or is it the first?

What day is it today?

So it was 200 -- 249 years ago, tomorrow, that somebody sat alone, in a -- in a one-room hotel room.

And scratched out the words, when in the course of human events. Those are the first six words of a document that is so dangerous!

Still today, so revolutionary.

It was whispered in those candle lit rooms by men who knew. Knew. That if I signed this document, that's a death warrant.

I'm dead!

I'm dead.

But in the course of human events, shh.

Jefferson wrote them!

33 years old. Adams would later say, you do well to revere Jefferson. But he didn't write alone. Basically, I was there too.

And so was Ben Franklin. The ideas were forged in the minds of men like Franklin, who is old enough to know better. And Adams, who was stubborn enough, not to care. And they weren't perfect men. But I love this about the left. They try to make you think.

That you think are perfect. I don't think they were perfect! I mean, Ben Franklin used to walk around naked in his house a lot. That shows, I mean, for as smart as that guy was. It shows, maybe he had a lack of mirrors. But they weren't perfect!

They owned slaves. They argued. They compromised.

How does that make them different than us?
I mean, we should be able to relate to them!

What is it that we tolerate right now?
What is it that we compromise on?

What is it -- what are our failures that future generations are going to go, these people just didn't get it? Perhaps what we should notice is that they, unlike most of us. They were willing to gamble their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

For something that had never, ever been done before. Something entirely new!

The idea that rights don't come from a government, or from a king, or from a parliament.

They don't come from the majority voting. Everyone has certain rights.

You know, for all these people who are, you know -- going in Macy's, and burning down towns. And then stealing clothing. And they're like, because I've been oppressed!

And you can't -- I've got rights, you know.
Yeah. Yeah.

You know who the first people were, to articulate those rights?

You know the only country that actually has stood for those rights?

And we're imperfect!

That idea came from the Founders, that you say you hate.

But the actual rights come from God, which you dismiss!

Think of this. Just ponder this for a second.

That all men are created equal! That their rights are given to them, by a creator.

It's not a political assertion. It's a genius. That's eternal truth!

That's theological dynamite, lobbed straight in to the thrones of Europe.

All over the world, it's still dynamite.

They knew what they were doing.

And I don't mean like, they knew what they were doing.

They had it. No. They knew that the British crown had the largest military force in the world. And these guys, they were farmers. They were printers. They were lawyers. They were a ragtag collection of intellectual and idealists, facing down an empire, where they said, the sun never set on the British empire. Meaning, the colonialism was everywhere!

You could not escape England. And yet, they declared it. We're leaving, without apology!

And they said that when a government becomes destructive of the ends of liberty, life, and the pursuit of happiness, it's not only the right of the people, it's their duty to throw it off!

Wow. And you know what is amazing? That's not rebellion.

That's -- that's not revolution. That's -- that's responsibility.

That -- that kind of language today, that would have you flagged, shadow banned. Labeled an extremist. In most countries, disappeared!

But that is the foundation of what we call America. The American experiment. And it's that. The American experiment.

And it's just that, an experiment. We didn't know if we could get it right. And we haven't gotten it right. But isn't it worth experimenting?

Isn't it worth trying to get that concept right?

When you fail on that concept, you're like, eh. That's a stupid idea.

That's not a stupid idea. That's the greatest idea of all time.

Why are so many people willing to just quit?

The experiment is self-rule. It's not perfect.

Never has been. Slavery. Jim Crow. Internment camps. Assassinations.

My God! Forgive us, for what we have done.

But at the same time, what nation has done more to correct its own errors?

What people have shed more blood, not for conquest, but for freedom.

Twice in the last century, we crossed oceans. Not to claim territory. But to liberate that territory!

Our sons and daughters fought and bled on foreign soil to push the darkness back, to fight against Naziism and fascism and Communism. And here we are. Here we are today.

After 249 years tomorrow of that experiment, standing at the lip of the very abyss, those men feared.

A godless chaos, rising in the east and a cold atheistic utopia, clawing at the foundations of the Western world. Islamism and Communism, two ideologies that have killed tens of millions of people. Now dressed all in new robes, selling old lies.

And we can't even teach a child where their rights come from. We have replaced Jefferson and Adams with TikTok influencers and bureaucratic groupthink.

We're raising generations to not even know the truth about their own identity.

But to question their identity. And they could be, oh, you're a funny, funny colored unicorn today. What do you want to be tomorrow?

We don't teach them anything about truth, or their inheritance, most importantly. Their inheritance. What good are hot dogs and fireworks, if the soul of the nation is up for auction? What is the meaning in Fourth of July, if we have forgotten the why? If we don't even call it Independence Day anymore. Most people don't even know who we fought against for independence.

They think we fought for its independence! Most people think we fought the South!

And yet, we'll light the sparklers, or blow our fingers off, because we're just that stupid.

This Independence Day weekend, would you do me and yourself and your country a favor, and read the words out loud. Speak the words out loud.

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands, which have connected them with one another.

And to assume among the powers of earth, the separate, but equal station, to which the laws of nature.

And nature's God entitle them.

A decent respect to the opinions of mankind, requires that they should declare the causes, which impair them to the separation.

What are they saying?

Look, we want to be decent people.

We want to be decent people.

And we have to separate them.

But we believe it's only right that we tell you why we have to separate. And it's not because of all the bad things you've done. We'll get to those later. It's because we're different. And you don't understand. You have been telling us all of these things, we no longer believe in. We hold these truths to be self-evident. That all men are created equal, and they're endowed by their creator with certain inalienable. Unchangeable rights.

And just among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

That to secure these rights, government are his instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

My gosh. Read those words. And let your children hear what thinking and courage sounds like.

That to secure these rights, I'm telling you, the king, who thinks that your government was given to you, by God.

And you are the ruler.

And you will tell everybody what to think, what to do. What to buy. What to sell. What to tax. What not to tax. Who gets land. Who doesn't get land.

No, no, no. Government are his instituted among men, deriving their powers, their just powers, from the people. And that government is only there, established by those men to protect the rights that God has given each of those men.

Let them feel the chill, that runs down the spine, when Jefferson writes, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the government, or from the governed. Let them hear the words, of -- of responsibility. What responsibility sounds like, with courage and freedom. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these rights, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.

And to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their a lot of and happiness.

In other words, you have the right, you have the responsibility to stop tyrants. And if the government has gone bad, to throw that government off.

But reconstitute a government, that will do a better job at protecting those rights. Not to form a communist government.

Not to do anything else. But you want a new government?

Fine! Let's find the way to make men more free. This is not a metaphor. This is a declaration of war on tyranny in all of its forms.

I mean, I said, yesterday, freedom isn't free.

It was paid for by somebody's blood. But you have to remember, they paid for their freedom, not for our freedom, necessarily.

We -- there comes a time, we have to pay for our freedom. And God forbid, that it comes down to blood.

But at least shake off the apathy. We -- we must renew this promise of this experiment of America.

We need to fight for it as well. An out-of-control government that seeks to rope us into forever wars, over and over again. We're all against forever wars. I'm against it.

I hate them.

But there is one forever war, that is required in a free society. A different kind of forever war.

A war against ourselves, a war against human nature in each of us. Because of human nature, we get fat. We get lazy.

We get tolerant of abuses. Let your children hear you speak these words. And when you speak them, ponder them yourself.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes.

And accordingly, all experience has shown, that mankind is more disposed to suffer while the evils are sufferable than to right themselves, by abolishing the forms in which they're accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a sign to reduce them under absolute despotism.

It's their right. It's their duty. To throw off such government. And provide new guards for such future security.

In one paragraph, we make the point twice. And they tell us, look, we've studied people.

We know you're going to get fat and lazy and apathetic. And you won't want to do stuff for transient causes. Because this is really not good.

But when push comes to shove. And everything is moving towards absolute despotism. Absolute tyranny. Then you must stand up.

I ask you to ponder this. This particular part, when a long train of abuses and usurpations. Prudence will indeed dictate that governments long established should not be exchanged for light and transient causes.

And accordingly, all experience has shown, that mankind is more disposed to suffer while the evils suffer, than to right themselves.

Aren't we exactly the same people, that their experience was talking about?

Aren't we the people that are more disposed to suffer, than to right ourselves? Because we're too comfortable. Or we're too afraid, just to stand up and simply say no to lies.

No!

There is a difference between men and women.

No! Communism is to be feared. It's killed over 100 million people, in the last 100 years.

No!

Muslims aren't bad. Islamism is!

It's evil. No!

You can peacefully protest, any time, any place. And I will fight to the death for your right to do that.

But when you start burn cities down to the ground, no!

We're just a few days away. And we have marked our 249th birthday. Maybe. Just maybe, this year, can we stop asking what America was, and start deciding what America will be?

Where it just slips quietly into history. In the dark of apathy and ignorance.

Because the only thing more dangerous than tyranny is the people who have forgotten what it took to break its chains.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

We need REAL jobs in America — Trump should do THIS now!

It is clear we need to create more productive, high-paying jobs for American citizens. But that doesn't mean bringing back the same exact jobs of the past in massive numbers. It means creating and supporting jobs of the present and future that will better the lives of Americans. Glenn Beck and Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts break down exactly what this entails and how President Trump can make it a reality.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts HERE

The most INCREDIBLE World War II story you’ve NEVER HEARD

One of the biggest American World War II cemeteries in Europe is in a small town in the Netherlands, where thousands of Dutch people continue the tradition to this day of “adopting” a fallen US soldier and checking in on his family. “The Monuments Man” author Robert Edsel joins Glenn Beck to tell this incredible story, which he documents in his new book, “Remember Us.”

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Robert, welcome back to the program. How are you, sir?

ROBERT: Great to talk to you!

GLENN: It's great to talk to you.

Can you remind me? You were on with us, after Monuments Men. And you talked about this great service that is still going on, where people that -- they were still looking for paintings and pieces of art, that had been taken by the Nazis.

And if I remember right, didn't somebody in our -- our own audience reach out to you, and say, I think we found one of those paintings?

ROBERT: Yes, sir. Absolutely.

The Glenn Beck audience. And Glenn Beck, you yourself deserve a lot of credit.

Because I hadn't walked out of your studio last time. You know, in Dallas at Las Colinas.

Headed back to our office at Monuments Men and Women Foundation office, before someone in my office contacted me and said, we've already had a lead, as a result of your interview with Glenn. And it turned out someone whose aunt had been given two paintings during World War II.

She had worked for the government overseeing Germany, and these two paintings were missing.

We were able to identify who the rightful owner was, and get them back.

So it's a great thing that you performed. And, you know, it's a magnificent conclusion, though obviously a very difficult part of history.

GLENN: What was it like to give that back to the family?

ROBERT: It was a deeply moving experience. We -- the foundation found and returned more than 30 works of art, from paintings to documents, ancient books. Tapestries, to museums. Individual collectors, and so on.

And, you know, when we see, oftentimes, the people just stand there, and they cry.

They don't even know what to say. Because they may have worked 50 or 60 years, trying to find some work of art that's been missing. And they haven't had leads. And to -- to see us standing there, with something that belongs to them.

Not asking for anything in return. Don't charge anybody for doing it. Because we feel like everybody who went through World War II already paid enough.

Words -- words just fail. It's just pure gratitude.

GLENN: I can't wait for you to tell this new story.

Tell me the story of the care takers. The care takers of --

ROBERT: Well, it's a story that found me, just as Monuments did.

I have written about -- in the Monuments Men, I told the story of two Monuments Officers who were killed in combat, one British soldier and one American, Walter Huchthausen. And Huchthausen was killed. He once did a last casualty at war. He was killed in the last month of World War II, and is buried in the American benevolence, American cemetery, in Margraten in the Netherlands. I knew that story, and I had made mention of a young girl who was harbored in September '45, asking for the address of his mother, wanting to write her and tell her, that she walked 5 miles, several times a week, from her house to the American military cemetery. It was called then. To put flowers on his grave. Because her family knew them. And they were grief-stricken to know that they were killed.

And I knew that story too. I mentioned that. And then in 2015, the nephew of Huchthausen wrote me and included a photograph of this elderly lady with this crown of white hair. And he said, here's a photo with Frida, and I couldn't place who this was.

I had no idea who it was. And I realized, my God, this is that 19-year-old girl that is still alive. So I flew to England. She married a British soldier after the war. And I went to meet with her. She started showing me photographs of when the American -- Americans liberated her area of the Netherlands.

And all these American soldiers that they knew.

And she said, you know about the American military cemetery.

She said, have you been there?

And I said yes. And she said, so you know about the great adoption program?

And I said, what? She said, the great adoption program.

I said, I have no idea what you're talking about. So I started doing some research on this. And learned, at the end of World War II, our largest World War II cemetery in Europe, was not Normandy. It was the Netherlands American cemetery, where 17,800 boys and a few women buried at this cemetery by May 1946.

And by that time, every single grave had a Dutch person, a local person, who volunteered to be an adaptor of that brave.

Go out there on the first death date of the soldier, Veterans Day, Memorial Day.

And if they had the contact information for the next of kin, send them a photograph of the grave.
And a letter.

Because they realized, it was okay to adopt the bodies of dead boys.

But where the real need was, was to reach across the ocean, into the American homes and try to assuage the grief of the families.

And they knew some of these boys. And I found it the most heartwarming, uplifting, and certainly unique conclusion to a World War II story that I think has been written.

GLENN: So are they still some of them still doing this?

ROBERT: Not some. In fact, there were about -- in 1940, 748.

American families were given the choice to have their loved ones sent home, or to be left overseas in a military cemetery.

The Army had no idea, how many -- how many families would want their boys sent home, and as a consequence, they couldn't tell how many cemeteries they would need.

We thought almost everybody would want to have the families sent home. But it turned out not to be the case. So about 61 percent came home. About 39 percent stayed in Europe, which was about the numbers from World War I.

Although, the numbers in this area, in the Netherlands were higher.

The -- the graves that are there now.

There are 10,000 boys there. And four women.

8300 graves. 1700 names on the walls of the missing.

Every one of them has an adaptor for 80 years.

All those graves have been adopted, without interruption.

There's a waiting list of almost a thousand people in the Netherlands, to become a doctor. This is a -- not just a --

GLENN: This is --

JASON: A privilege. Because they take their kids out to the cemetery. They turn the cemetery into a classroom. And you go out there. And, yes, there's a somber element. They're instilling in their kids, you're able to think, and say what you want to. Because of the freedom that was given to you, by this American girl or boy. And we don't do that in our country anymore.

GLENN: So this is one of the most incredible stories that I've -- I've ever heard.

And I'm shocked that the world doesn't know this!

Is -- have you -- is there anything like this, anywhere else in the world?

JASON: No. We couldn't even find a comp of any nature.

There are -- that is not to say, the people in Normandy area, don't care about Normandy and other cemeteries. They do, of course. As do the Belgians in other cemeteries.

But there's no place that created an organic great adoption program, during the war, in January 1945!

These people in this area of the Netherlands were so grateful, having been neutral in World War I.

And having not lost their freedom for 100 years!

And they didn't like it!

And when the Americans liberated them in September 44. I'll never forget this woman Freda. This elderly woman I met, looked at me, the first time I interviewed her. I knew her for eight years. The last eight years of her life.

I delivered a eulogy two summers ago. She looked at me, there were the eyes of the 19-year-old. And she said, when I saw that first tank over the hill and I realized, we were saved.

I looked at my dad, and I said, Papi, these American boys come all the way across the ocean to say this. And there were tears in her eyes.

Because they didn't -- they couldn't imagine how we could have moved that equipment across -- across the ocean.

And why we would have cared so much.

So there isn't anything like it.

But January 45, these people in this little town of Margraten.

A mile from the cemetery, organized a meeting of the town leaders. The town who got 1200 people.

And they were trying to find an answer to the question: How do you thank your liberators, when they're no longer alive to thank? And they came up with this idea of this great adoption program, and it's a story that I tell, following the lives of about 12 different American combat soldiers.

Bomber recipients.

Tankers.

Because we don't know that story.

We don't what knows to an American story, when they're killed on the field of battle.

Because it's depressing.

We move on to the next scene in a movie.

Well, I want people to know, you started your program with freedom is not free.

It's ugly.

Let's talk about that. Let's talk about what the cost is.

Let's talk about the stripping line that the body goes through, and the removal of dog tags, one being put in the mouth, if there's still a head. And the other being nailed to the cross, because they don't have time to stencil the names on yet.

Let's talk about that, and let people know, it's not just a Marvel movie. Or a gang war.

This is real. This is painful. And, of course, at the end of the war, when we Americans declare victory, and move on with our lives, there's millions of family members in the United States, whose lives will never be the same.

So it is -- it's still happening today. It's still happening today.

GLENN: The name -- the name of the book is Remember Us.

And take us -- I mean, because that's really kind of the -- the -- the beauty of it.

Take us through the rest of the book, just briefly.

It starts with what?

ROBERT: Well, I follow -- I began what a nice life was in the Netherlands. Until May 10, 1940.

And the Netherlands does not get much attention from World War II, and yet everybody has heard of Battle of the Bulge. And Battle -- those are all within 50 miles of what we're talking about.

They happened around there. Of course, World War II, in western Europe, begins right here in this area. Because the German tanks roll across the border.

So I cover the life of these 12 different Americans. I interviewed all their family members. Some make it through the war. Some don't.

You read the book, you realize who makes it, who doesn't. But their lives converge around this area of the Netherlands. And when post-world War II stories end, with the war being over, remember us kicks into a transcendent moment when the Dutch come up with this idea of this great adoption program. The Americans refuse to provide the names and addresses of the next of kin.

So they're foiled with trying to achieve their ultimate objective. Which is to try to contact all the American families.

And frustrated, there was -- one of the key figures of the book.

A woman who is the mother of 12 children.

Who takes it upon herself. She's a woman of action.

She writes president Truman. And pleads for him to get involved.

When that doesn't work. She gets on the first airplane, she's ever flown on. She leaves her kids behind.

She flies to New York. Lands in LaGuardia Field.

She goes to Washington, and meets the members of Congress. Including a young guy from Texas, named Lyndon Johnson.

Who says, young lady, you need to go to Texas. Because there are so many military bases there.

She flies to our hometown. And lands in Lovefield.

In June of 1946. And is met by two family members. And for five weeks, she lives with American families, that lost somebody during a war.

And to each of them she says, leave your boys with us. When the election comes.

We will watch over them, like our own forever.

And they have done that. Now, today, these 10,000 Dutch doctors only have contact information for 20 percent of the American families.

They couldn't ever get the others.

GLENN: You're kidding me. Where is the list? Do you have a list?

ROBERT: Yeah. The Monuments Men and Women Foundation entered into a joint venture with the Dutch Foundation for Adopting Graves.

Not charging anybody for this. And we have created a website called foreverpromise.org.

And on that website is a list of all 10,000 men and women, more women that are buried at the cemetery, or whose names are on the walls missing.

And it's a searchable database. We're asking people to go and see. Do you have someone you know, or a relative, who is buried there.

And if so, we have a short questionnaire. What's your relationship? Are you aware of this great adoption program? Are you in contact with your adopter? Would you like to be? Would you allow us to share your contact information?

I connected a lady from Richmond, Texas. Saturday night. To her -- to this young Tammy, that's the adopter of her brother.

She's 93 years old.

She was in tears. At the thought when she leaves this world, there will be someone there to watch over her brother.

And that's what we're all about is this connecting.

GLENN: Rob, I have to tell you.

You've really done something with your life. I mean, I know you don't need me to say it.
But what a great job you have. And what a great service you have done for so many years.

Thank you so much.

Please, look this up.

The forever promise project.

You can find it at foreverpromise.org. Foreverpromise.org. Robert Edsel is the author's name. The book is Remember Us. It's a perfect read for this week.