From Prison Cell to Trump Pardon: Rod Blagojevich Unloads

From Prison Cell to Trump Pardon: Rod Blagojevich Unloads

This episode features a long-form interview with former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who argues that his prosecution was an early example of political lawfare and that his case foreshadowed what later happened to Donald Trump. Blagojevich walks through the Obama Senate-seat controversy, the FBI tapes, the trial, and the evidentiary fights that shaped his conviction, insisting that prosecutors took conversations out of context and blocked material that would have shown he was pursuing political deals for public policy goals rather than personal enrichment. The discussion also examines Patrick Fitzgerald, James Comey, prosecutorial power, judicial bias, and the broader question of whether the justice system has become a political weapon. The interview also gets unusually personal, moving from the mechanics of his conviction to the emotional cost of prison, family separation, and public disgrace. Blagojevich describes life behind bars, including his prison band, the people he met inside, and the impact his sentence had on his wife and daughters. He also explains how Donald Trump’s commutation and later pardon reshaped his life and politics, leading him from Democrat to what he calls a “Trumpocrat.” The result is part legal argument, part prison memoir, and part political testimony about corruption, redemption, and survival. Got a comment or question? Send it to EmailGreta@newsmax.com and it may be used or answered on an upcoming episode. You can watch the video version of the “Greta Wire” podcast on NEWSMAX social media channels, plus YouTube and Rumble, on the same afternoon the audio version launches. Listen to Newsmax LIVE and subscribe to our entire podcast lineup at http://Newsmax.com/Listen Don’t miss Greta every weekday on “The Record with Greta Van Susteren” at 4 PM ET, only on NEWSMAX TV. Watch the show anytime, anywhere with NEWSMAX+. Get your 15-day free trial of NEWSMAX+ at http://NewsmaxPlus.com Follow Greta on Social Media: Facebook: / greta X/Twitter: https://x.com/greta Instagram: / greta TikTok: / greta.com Follow NEWSMAX on Social Media: Facebook: http://nws.mx/FB X/Twitter: http://nws.mx/twitter Instagram: http://nws.mx/IG YouTube: / newsmaxtv Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/NewsmaxTV TRUTH Social: https://truthsocial.com/@NEWSMAX GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/newsmax Threads: http://threads.net/@NEWSMAX Telegram: http://t.me/newsmax BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/newsmax.com Parler: http://app.parler.com/newsmax THANKS FOR LISTENING! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

J.K. Rowling’s Untold Story: Solomon Schmidt on Fame, Backlash, and the Fight Over Transgender Politics

This episode features a wide-ranging conversation with young biographer Solomon Schmidt about his new book on J.K. Rowling, tracing her rise from an impoverished single mother to one of the most successful authors in history. Schmidt explains how Rowling built the Harry Potter series from years of planning, personal grief, and creative discipline, and why her life story is compelling even beyond the books themselves. The discussion highlights Rowling’s difficult early years, including the death of her mother, domestic abuse in her first marriage, repeated publishing rejections, and the extraordinary path that turned Harry Potter into a global phenomenon. The interview also focuses on the controversy that has reshaped Rowling’s public image in recent years. Schmidt describes how Rowling, once embraced by the political left, became one of its biggest targets after speaking out against transgender ideology, gender-transition policies, and threats to women’s spaces and women’s sports. He argues that her refusal to back down, combined with her immense cultural influence, made her a uniquely powerful lightning rod in the broader free speech and transgender rights debate. The result is both a literary biography and a portrait of how one of the world’s most famous writers became a central figure in one of today’s fiercest cultural battles. Got a comment or question? Send it to EmailGreta@newsmax.com and it may be used or answered on an upcoming episode. You can watch the video version of the “Greta Wire” podcast on NEWSMAX social media channels, plus YouTube and Rumble, on the same afternoon the audio version launches. Listen to Newsmax LIVE and subscribe to our entire podcast lineup at http://Newsmax.com/Listen Don’t miss Greta every weekday on “The Record with Greta Van Susteren” at 4 PM ET, only on NEWSMAX TV. Watch the show anytime, anywhere with NEWSMAX+. Get your 15-day free trial of NEWSMAX+ at http://NewsmaxPlus.com Follow Greta on Social Media: Facebook: / greta X/Twitter: https://x.com/greta Instagram: / greta TikTok: / greta.com Follow NEWSMAX on Social Media: Facebook: http://nws.mx/FB X/Twitter: http://nws.mx/twitter Instagram: http://nws.mx/IG YouTube: / newsmaxtv Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/NewsmaxTV TRUTH Social: https://truthsocial.com/@NEWSMAX GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/newsmax Threads: http://threads.net/@NEWSMAX Telegram: http://t.me/newsmax BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/newsmax.com Parler: http://app.parler.com/newsmax THANKS FOR LISTENING! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Greta Wire Shorty: The Bronco Chase That Hijacked the NBA Finals

This Shorty uses the NBA Finals as a jumping-off point to revisit one of the strangest live-TV moments in American history: June 17, 1994, when the Knicks and Rockets were playing in the Finals while O.J. Simpson’s white Bronco chase unfolded in real time. Greta focuses on the sheer absurdity of the moment, describing how NBC kept interrupting or splitting the screen between the game and the slow-speed police pursuit, leaving producers and viewers stuck between a championship broadcast and a possible national tragedy. The piece is really about memory and cultural shock. Greta explains that for people old enough to remember it, the Bronco chase permanently fused itself to that NBA game, no matter who won or what happened on the court. She closes with a bit of macabre trivia, noting that the Bronco itself still exists and is now displayed in a Tennessee museum, turning one of the most surreal nights in televised sports and crime history into a literal exhibit. Got a comment or question? Send it to EmailGreta@newsmax.com and it may be used or answered on an upcoming episode. You can watch the video version of the “Greta Wire” podcast on NEWSMAX social media channels, plus YouTube and Rumble, on the same afternoon the audio version launches. Listen to Newsmax LIVE and subscribe to our entire podcast lineup at http://Newsmax.com/Listen Don’t miss Greta every weekday on “The Record with Greta Van Susteren” at 4 PM ET, only on NEWSMAX TV. Watch the show anytime, anywhere with NEWSMAX+. Get your 15-day free trial of NEWSMAX+ at http://NewsmaxPlus.com Follow Greta on Social Media: Facebook: / greta  X/Twitter: https://x.com/greta Instagram: / greta  TikTok: / greta.com  Follow NEWSMAX on Social Media: Facebook: http://nws.mx/FB X/Twitter: http://nws.mx/twitter Instagram: http://nws.mx/IG YouTube: / newsmaxtv  Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/NewsmaxTV TRUTH Social: https://truthsocial.com/@NEWSMAX GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/newsmax Threads: http://threads.net/@NEWSMAX Telegram: http://t.me/newsmax BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/newsmax.com Parler: http://app.parler.com/newsmax THANKS FOR LISTENING! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Greta Exposes the Van der Sloot Family’s Shocking Rental Listing

In this short episode, Greta uses the anniversary of the deaths of Natalee Holloway and Stephany Flores to make a jarring point: the Aruba room once tied to Joran van der Sloot is now being rented out on Airbnb by his mother. She frames that detail not as a curiosity, but as a grotesque symbol of how the case still reverberates, tying together the murders of both young women and arguing that van der Sloot’s violence was never some isolated mystery but part of a much darker pattern.  Greta also turns the focus squarely onto van der Sloot’s mother, Anita, saying she long knew her son had serious anger issues and still refused to face what he was. She presents her own years of reporting on the case as a relentless pursuit of the truth, points to a recent WhatsApp message in which Anita allegedly calls her a “bitch journalist,” and uses that as proof that the family still resents anyone who forces the reality into public view. The result is less a travel warning than a sharp, personal indictment of denial, complicity, and the lingering ugliness surrounding the case. Got a comment or question? Send it to EmailGreta@newsmax.com and it may be used or answered on an upcoming episode. You can watch the video version of the “Greta Wire” podcast on NEWSMAX social media channels, plus YouTube and Rumble, on the same afternoon the audio version launches. Listen to Newsmax LIVE and subscribe to our entire podcast lineup at http://Newsmax.com/Listen Don’t miss Greta every weekday on “The Record with Greta Van Susteren” at 4 PM ET, only on NEWSMAX TV. Watch the show anytime, anywhere with NEWSMAX+. Get your 15-day free trial of NEWSMAX+ at http://NewsmaxPlus.com Follow Greta on Social Media: Facebook: / greta  X/Twitter: https://x.com/greta Instagram: / greta  TikTok: / greta.com  Follow NEWSMAX on Social Media: Facebook: http://nws.mx/FB X/Twitter: http://nws.mx/twitter Instagram: http://nws.mx/IG YouTube: / newsmaxtv  Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/NewsmaxTV TRUTH Social: https://truthsocial.com/@NEWSMAX GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/newsmax Threads: http://threads.net/@NEWSMAX Telegram: http://t.me/newsmax BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/newsmax.com Parler: http://app.parler.com/newsmax THANKS FOR LISTENING! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

What Tito Ortiz Really Thinks About Trump, Dana White, and UFC’s Rise

In this episode, Greta sits down with Tito Ortiz for a wide-ranging conversation that starts with the upcoming UFC event at the White House and turns into a primer on the sport itself. Tito explains the difference between UFC as a promotion and mixed martial arts as the sport, argues that wrestling is the foundational skill for success, and walks through the mechanics of the cage, rounds, scoring, safety rules, and how MMA differs from boxing. He also makes the case that the sport is far more technical and strategic than outsiders assume, comparing it to a layered chess match rather than a simple brawl. The conversation also becomes personal. Tito reflects on his own career, his title wins, his injuries and surgeries, his training discipline, and the way he thinks about recovery and longevity. He talks about meeting Donald Trump, supporting him politically, and why he sees the White House UFC event as a historic sign of how mainstream the sport has become. Greta frames the interview as a conversion of sorts: she begins as a skeptic about UFC, but Tito’s mix of detail, candor, and enthusiasm turns the episode into both a profile of a fighter and a persuasive defense of the sport’s complexity and cultural stature. Got a comment or question? Send it to EmailGreta@newsmax.com and it may be used or answered on an upcoming episode. You can watch the video version of the “Greta Wire” podcast on NEWSMAX social media channels, plus YouTube and Rumble, on the same afternoon the audio version launches. Listen to Newsmax LIVE and subscribe to our entire podcast lineup at http://Newsmax.com/Listen Don’t miss Greta every weekday on “The Record with Greta Van Susteren” at 4 PM ET, only on NEWSMAX TV. Watch the show anytime, anywhere with NEWSMAX+. Get your 15-day free trial of NEWSMAX+ at http://NewsmaxPlus.com Follow Greta on Social Media: Facebook: / greta X/Twitter: https://x.com/greta Instagram: / greta TikTok: / greta.com Follow NEWSMAX on Social Media: Facebook: http://nws.mx/FB X/Twitter: http://nws.mx/twitter Instagram: http://nws.mx/IG YouTube: / newsmaxtv Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/NewsmaxTV TRUTH Social: https://truthsocial.com/@NEWSMAX GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/newsmax Threads: http://threads.net/@NEWSMAX Telegram: http://t.me/newsmax BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/newsmax.com Parler: http://app.parler.com/newsmax THANKS FOR LISTENING! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]