Shannon Bream: Fueled By Faith
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Welcome to the Jason in the House podcast. I'm Jason Chaffetz, and thanks for joining us. We're going to have some hot takes on the news. We're going to highlight the stupid, because, you know, there's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. And then we're going to phone a friend. This week it's going to be Shannon Bream. Yes, Fox News. You know her from Fox News.

One of the nicest, most talented people out there, Shannon Bream, Fox News at Night, but she also is an expert on the Supreme Court. And you see a lot of reporting from her through the years. We have a little conversation about some of the hardships and the difficult times that she's had. She seems to make it look easy, right? But she's gone through some hard, tough things that really make the core of her life.

who she is. And we want to talk about that. She's written three books along the way. You can read about those, but we're going to have a conversation with her. So Shannon Bream, just stick with us there. I want to start though, by talking a little bit about some of the stuff in the news. And I hope you saw this where some of the United States gymnasts, Simone Biles and these other gymnasts that we've seen and enjoyed and been in awe of their talent.

They're part of a group of nearly 90 women that are bringing claims under the Federal Torts Claims Act, and they are going after the FBI.

claiming that their failure to properly investigate complaints against Dr. Larry Nassar resulted in continued sexual abuse of women and girls in this case. Now, to review this case, Larry Nassar has been convicted to more than 100 years in prison for his assault on these women as their doctor.

What's sickening and disgusting about this case, and I have a FoxNews.com op-ed that I wrote about this, wrote not only about the case of Nassar, but also wrote about the bigger, broader problem at the Department of Justice that really needs solving. It ends up that the complaint initially came into the FBI, but it was something like 17 months before it even got written up that was false in the way it was written up.

And you essentially had more than a year where Dr. Nassar was allowed to continue to practice his so-called medicine and essentially assault them, these women. You would think after the first complaint and the second complaint and some good work by the FBI, they could have put the kibosh on this real quickly and charged him and got him out of this situation. But they didn't.

In fact, the inspector general did a report about the FBI and found a lot of really bad, just flat out things that were wrong. In fact, they had recommended to the Department of Justice that they take disciplinary action and potentially criminal action against these FBI agents for their neglect in what they did. One of the allegations against one of these agents was,

was that at the same time we were supposed to be investigating the doctor there for USA Gymnastics, he was also working to get a job at the United States Olympic Committee. Just really bad, selfish things that you would expect, or not expect from the FBI, but if they came up, you would expect them to go after it. The bigger, broader issue that I think is out there that is really just disgusting and just really makes me mad

is that twice a year the Inspector General for the Department of Justice, Michael Horowitz, will issue a semi-annual report to Congress. Now, I happen to be one of the geeks, having been the chairman of the Oversight Committee, that actually goes back and reads these things.

And it's chock full of examples within the Department of Justice where the inspector general will recommend prosecution of FBI and DEA agents, and then they don't do anything. And so it's just – for instance, there was an allegation that there were agents serving overseas and they were engaging in commercialized sex and using pills and other things.

recommended for prosecution, didn't prosecute him. You had another situation at the DEA where there was favoritism given to a pharmaceutical company where there was another former DEA agent working, but they scooted this pharmaceutical company near the top of the list so they could get their drug approvals done immediately.

Earlier than others that that was the allegation again recommended for criminal prosecution denied not going to prosecute him. The one place where the Department of Justice does prosecute people is within the Bureau of Prisons. And look, if you have guards and people that work at the Bureau of Prisons and they're doing something illegal or wrong, prosecute them. Great. And it sounds like they actually are. But when it comes to the FBI, when it comes to the DEA, they just do not do it.

And in the case of this Larry Nassar situation, not only did you have this case where they declined prosecution of the FBI agents and their negligence, now you have these gymnasts, the former Olympic gymnasts, suing them for a billion dollars. And I hope they beat the living tar out of them. I hope they win. They should have never had to go through this.

and hopefully it will cause and spark some sort of change. But I can tell you, six months from now, we're going to pick up that same report, and we're going to read again about a whole other set of issues where the inspector general recommended prosecution, and they didn't do it. Because you know what? If it was you or me or somebody else at home, they would prosecute them. But when it's one of their own that goes off the rails and breaks the law, they just don't seem to do it. And I think that is absolutely fundamentally wrong.

Totally wrong. Another thing with such busy news going on that you may have missed, but it was on FoxNews.com. A former Pennsylvania congressman, a Democrat, was – he pled guilty to extensive voter fraud, including stuffing the ballot boxes for Democratic candidates.

And this spanned for multiple elections. Former United States Representative Michael Ozzie Myers, he's 79 years old, out of Philadelphia, pled guilty to conspiracy to deprive voters of civil rights, bribery, obstruction of justice, falsification of voting records, and conspiracy to illegally vote in a federal election.

The federal prosecutor said Myers orchestrated schemes to fraudulently stuff ballot boxes for Democratic candidates in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. Why that doesn't get more attention? You know why it doesn't get more attention? Because he's a Democrat and they're not going to put that out there.

But that is pretty stunning that a former congressman stuffing the ballot box for multiple to five different elections and pled guilty. But again, not going to get any attention. And one other thing, I couldn't put this in the stupid part because I actually think it's kind of cute. There was a Texas bride.

She and her husband got married. And that same day that they got married, they decided to go fishing. And when they decided to go fishing as part of that ceremony, you see these pictures here that are just so funny of her wearing her wedding dress. But she caught this fish.

50-pound fish. It was like this record fish. So not only did she get married, but there's a picture of her in her wedding dress carrying this 50-pound fish that she caught on her wedding day. I love it. I just think it's great. I just think that is so fun that she decided, hey, I'm getting married, but I'm also going fishing. And then she catches a record fish. I thought that was great. All right, let's

Let's bring on the stupid because you know what? There's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. All right, I got two candidates for you. A Wisconsin man. I don't know if he's heroic or just flat out stupid, but this Wisconsin man has eaten a Big Mac every day for 50 years. 50. He thinks that he has consumed more than...

30,000 Big Macs. Now, I like a Big Mac. Two whole beet patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions on a sesame seed bun. I remember those commercials when I was growing up. But you know what? 30,000 Big Macs?

50 years. That's pretty amazing. More power to you, but it does sound a little stupid. But he's all in on that. He still keeps going. And then this one I thought was stupid, too. These people shouldn't have gotten so. So iced tea. You may know iced tea. Yeah.

the actor. Well, he and his wife, Coco, they're facing some online backlash because their daughter is six years old and they photographed the daughter being pushed around in a stroller. Come on, folks. They're six years old. It's okay to push him in the stroller a little bit.

I just thought the backlash was stupid. They don't deserve that. Let these people go. You know what? It's not... I've had young kids. I've got grandkids. I've got four grandkids. Now, the youngest is much younger than six, but still...

So what if you push him in a stroller a little bit? You know, I just thought it was flat out stupid and wanted to highlight the idea that, eh, don't get mad at celebrities just because they push a six-year-old in a stroller. That's not the end of the world. There's one more. This is from the Washington Free Beacon. And evidently, Washington, the state of Washington, House Bill 1054 states,

which Governor Jay Inslee signed into law last year. It banned police from pursuing traffic violators in their cruisers unless the officer is granted permission by a supervisor or the perpetrator is suspected of being under the influence or having committed a violent offense and is causing imminent danger. So what's happened is the people now in the state of Washington, I think there's been over a thousand cases now. They just don't pull over.

puts up lights and sirens, they just don't get... They just don't pull over. They just keep going and the officer then will let it go. It's like, wait a second. That's not law enforcement. That is not supportive of how law enforcement works. I just think that's so stupid. It's just not right. If somebody has...

a reasonable suspicion or a probable cause to pull them over and allow an officer to do a further investigation and started chatting with somebody. If they've potentially violated, violated the law, that's what they should be able to do, but not in the state of Washington. That folks is just flat out stupid. So those are the stupid for today.

All right. Time to transition now to talk about and phone a friend because we're going to call one of our favorites out here. Shannon Bream, you know her from Fox News at Night. She's the author of three different books. Let's give a call to Shannon Bream. Hello, this is Shannon. Shannon, Jason Chaffetz. Thanks for answering the phone. I appreciate it. I didn't know. What is up?

Well, you are one of my favorite people on the planet. You're like the nicest person around. And I am honored that you would come join me on this Jason in the House podcast. Thanks so much. I am. And plus, I know secrets about you, and I'm going to tell them all in this podcast conversation. So there you go. Okay. I know a few things about Shannon Bream. So, you know, just be careful. But yeah. Yeah.

You know, it's... Mutually assured destruction. Yeah. You know, it's so fun because this relationship, it's been about five years now that I've been with Fox, but I kind of got to know you a little bit, you know, when I was in Congress, come over, do a show or see on Capitol Hill or be around Fox. But now since I've been a contributor at Fox, I've gotten to spend a lot more time with you and

And your husband. My better half. He's great. He is just, he's wonderful. A good guy. You're such a great couple. So a lot of fun. And I don't know, you just got a fascinating background. I've actually, you've written a few books along the way, Shannon, and they've done really well. But the one about you and your life and growing up and some of the hard things you went through, I don't

A lot of people, if they just saw you on TV, they wouldn't know that some of the hard things you've gone through in life. Yeah. And you know what? I think it's really more helpful to people to be kind of vulnerable and transparent about things as much as your comfort level will allow, just so people know they're not alone in their fears and their struggles, whether it's health or financial or mental health or whatever it is. I think when we present our lives as only sort of Instagram perfects,

that can actually be discouraging for people. I think it's better to share the truth of where you're at and the fact that, you know, we've all been through some valleys and we can help each other through that. Well, and I think that's right. So I get to go out and speak around the country. I know you do as well sometimes. And that's usually the message I carry is that, you know, I think sometimes if we're in traffic or the grocery store or whatever, we glance over at somebody and

instantly we kind of make this judgment, oh, did I do something wrong? It's usually not about you, you know. You have no idea. But I talk about a lot of the hardships and things that we've been through personally, and I find that everybody has this story. Everybody's story is a little different.

But that's part of life and that's part of the human trail that we're on. And it is much more real. You're right. I think that's a perfect comparison to the Instagram, you know, perfect. Oh, here's the great shot. But everybody's going through hardship of one degree or another.

Yeah, it's so true. And I think when you connect with people over that and, you know, you've been really open about the things your family has been through the last couple of years. And I think it's encouraging for people to say, okay, they understand they're just like me. I'm just like them. We're walking through this life with different burdens at different times.

But, you know, this is how they're making it. They're relying on faith or they're relying on friends and family or all those things. Here's how they're walking through. I think it makes people feel less isolated and that if they're struggling with something, they may feel very closed in, especially during COVID when people were sort of isolated.

Some people really struggling about being locked down and not being with human interaction, those kinds of things. But I think if people are open about, Hey, I struggle with the same things. It kind of takes some of the stigma out of it to say that we all have pain and we're, we're all vulnerable as human beings. We're going to be wounded by other people, by our circumstances, but here's how we walk through it and get to the other side. Well, you know, if you see Shannon Bream on, on Fox and you know, you can,

Tune in most days and see you, right? Fox News at night and the Supreme Court and all that. But I don't think most people maybe have an appreciation of all the hard work and some of the hardship that you went through. And that's why I loved reading your book because, I mean –

It just looks idyllic for you, but kind of walk us through growing up, Carrie, because you're a Florida girl, right? I am. Born and raised seventh generation Floridian, and my family's roots are really deep there. We love it. We are proud of our crazy Florida people and stories and the whole Florida man genre. We embrace it. And yes, we have alligator wrestling and all kinds of crazy things.

down there. And I love Florida. I love every bit of it. And so I'm proud to be from there, but you know, like millions of kids across the country, I grew up with my parents divorced and kind of shuttling back and forth between them. And, you

you know, the unique challenges that presents. How old were you when you, when your parents, I was a year old. So I have no memory of my parents together. I mean, none of that and knowing them separately. And my father has passed away, but knowing them separately through all my life, I'm like, how are these two ever married? I just don't even know. They were married long enough to have me. I was born on their second wedding anniversary. And by the third anniversary, it was over. I don't want to take any credit for what happened.

but they were super young and, you know, just was not the right match. And the older I got, everybody became great friends. My dad remarried to my wonderful, amazing stepmother. My mom married my amazing, wonderful stepfather. And the four of them would do things together. They would show up at my graduations and obviously wedding and all that stuff. My dad and stepdad called each other husbands-in-law. So, you know, everybody's got a good sense of humor. Wow.

I know. I mean, everybody had a great sense of humor and everybody was very respectful of each other and, you know, moved on. And I really felt like I had four parents. It felt like a huge blessing. Well, that's good. My parents got divorced when I was kind of an early teen. And, you know, you go through all the time. Well, you go through all the gyrations of, you know, is it my fault? I don't understand this. And I didn't see it coming. Me and my brother, Alex, you know, we just did not. I mean, we had...

loving parents. And, but, you know, they handled it so well and not every family gets to go through it so well. They didn't like, I'm sure there was a lot of animosity and hardship and, you know, some really bad, hard feelings, but they always kept having this message of, it's not your fault. It has nothing to do with you. And we love you. And, and,

And that permeated the conversation. And so it was very helpful that way. But you're growing up. You're this young girl. And, I mean, what was life growing up for young Shannon? What did you want to do? What were you playing? Were you playing instruments? Were you playing sports? Were you just –

What were you doing?

But once I finally sat down at the piano and started playing, that was my thing that clicked was music for sure. And so that kind of was the center of my life. Well, the church and faith was definitely the center of my life. But as far as extracurriculars, it was always music for me. So they go, they go, they go, they go together. And for me, that was the, um, a lot of my involvement and outlet and expression at church and service at church was being in the

choir and playing the piano and all that kind of stuff. I loved it. And it definitely built my faith, but, um, you know, church was like a family to me because when I was really young, it was just my mom and I for a long time.

And church was like our family. My mom ended up taking a teaching job at a Christian school that was attached to a church. So we were there literally six, seven days a week between the school and between church activities. But it's very comforting. And it was almost a bit of a cocoon for us in a place where we just really belonged and we had support. And, you know, we struggled financially when it was just the two of us, like a lot of single parents do.

And my mom somehow, with the help of my grandparents, kept a roof over our head and food on the table. And there were some lean years for sure. But my mom is a super faithful person and never wavered. I'm sure there's times she hid from me as a kid when she was

you know, really struggling or really down, but faith was always the center of everything. And she trusted that God was going to provide exactly what we needed when we needed it. And she was big on, we need to help other people because there are people struggling even worse than we are. So my mom is just got a total servant's heart. So she modeled that for me all through my life growing up. Um,

And she was really supportive when I tried things like gymnastics, which I was terrible. I was as tall as my teacher by the time I was like six or seven. I was a tall kid. She's like, I don't think this is going to be Shannon's thing. And I can remember like we went and I took the basic class and they say, you know, like next week we'll announce who's moving on to the next class. And my mom's like, Shan, everybody moves on to the next class. It's kind of a scam. Like you pay for it and you go to the next thing. I was one of two kids who did not get promoted to the next class.

That's how bad I was. They didn't even want our money. We can't take your money. Exactly. So,

So I was always like an awkward kid, super into books. And I still am. I was definitely a nerd, which I embrace now. But I was not, you know, the coolest kid around. So, OK, so in school, I mean, that's kind of church and everything else. But and but what kind of it sounds like you were a pretty good student. I mean, the teacher probably said, oh, let's call on Shannon because she knows the answer to that question. And I was a total suck up.

I mean, to be honest, I was, which also did not make me cool because my mom was a teacher. So there was no hiding ever. Like she always taught at the school I went to. So the minute I got in trouble, you know, my mom was terrified, horrified because, you know, these are her peers that I'm getting in trouble with. So the rule was, and this will show you how old I am. We could get spankings, get paddlings at school for certain offenses. But the rule was if I got a spanking at school, I got one when I got home. So, yeah.

My parents were not messing around. But yeah, I mean, they expected me to make straight A's. And my mom's like, listen, we wouldn't if we didn't think that was what you're good at. If you really struggled, we would tackle this another way. My mom was a teacher. She knew kids had different learning styles and stuff. But she's like, I know what you can do. So I'm going to expect you to do it. So as you got older and you had to suddenly there comes a point when, you know, hey, Shannon, you know, high school is going to be done. And then you got to know what was that thought process and what did you decide to do?

Well, I grew up in South Florida. We moved to Tallahassee, the state capital when I was in eighth grade and I threatened to run away for a year because I had no friends and starting over was like no fun. Um, but as I got into high school, you know, I found things to get involved with and friends and, um, really enjoyed that process. But both my parents went to Florida state, uh, which is right there in Tallahassee. And so I kind of, you know, toyed with that, um,

it made sense. But I also was really interested in attending a school with a religious focus. And so I had my eye on a few of those and I'd actually gone to Liberty University in Virginia for a cheer competition and had other visits. They actually came to our school, one of their singing groups, we had chapel. And so they came and told us all about the school and sang. And there were people who graduated in the two or three years ahead of me, a couple of guys on baseball scholarships and other friends that I knew that went to Liberty. So

I kind of wanted to go away from home, even if it was a religious school. Like I just wanted to get out of town and do my own thing. Um, but I, I applied, you know, a few places and I applied to Florida state and got a full scholarship there. So then that was a real struggle because I thought I

I could go to college for free basically and live at home. But I really want to spread my wings and go somewhere new and go do something else. So I graduated from high school. I was again, a nerdy kid. I was 16 when I was a senior and graduated at 17. And I started Florida state that summer because I thought, well, let me try this out and see. And I was just overwhelmed. It was a giant campus. And I felt like I wasn't getting the full college experience, like living at home and driving into campus two or three days a week.

And I just really felt, I felt pulled to Liberty. I was so excited about going there and my parents signed off on it. Like, okay, great. They put together some scholarships and things and together my family was able to, to send me there. And I just loved it. I loved being immersed in learning new things academically, but knowing that my faith was always going to be a strong part of the classes I could choose to take. And I'm, I'm one class away from a theology minor, which I should just take online and go ahead and be able to put that on my resume. Yeah.

You're listening to Jason in the house. We'll be back with more of my conversation with Shannon Bream right after this. Pull up a chair and join me, Rachel Campos Duffy and me, former U.S. Congressman Sean Duffy, as we share our perspective on the discussions happening at kitchen tables across America. Download from the kitchen table, the Duffy's at Fox News Podcasts dot com or wherever you download podcasts. At what point do you meet Sheldon? Not until the very end of my senior year.

So this was not a ring by spring situation. Like I'm there looking for my MRS degree, you know, by spring. I've never heard that, but that's pretty much the kids about this, this whole, like you gotta be engaged before you get that diploma and get out the door. That was not, I, I honestly, and Sheldon can tell you this. I growing up in a,

you know, divorced home where I was shuttled back and forth and saw where it didn't work between my parents. I was very nervous about marriage. I was not sure that's what I was going to do. I wanted to be independent, give my education. Were you nervous about dating? Were you nervous about like, well, strangely, I seem to have a lot of fun with that. Wasn't exactly worried about dating. Okay.

But I would not date a guy I didn't think I potentially could marry. That's just kind of the way I was raised. Like, this is not a joke. But, you know, there's so many great guys in the world. And I dated some great guys. But I was really nervous about the marriage thing. And I thought that it would kind of clip my wings of independence, too. Like, I want to do what I want to do. And I'm going to go take over the world. And I'm not sure that I want to get married. And, you know, growing up in the church, the message very much was marriage.

your primary role should be to settle down. And, um, you know, I was one of those kids who was always asking questions. Why, why, why, why? And I did it at the church too. Like, well, can't women have different roles and can't God call us to different things? And I was like,

you know, seen as a bit of a troublemaker and an instigator for asking questions, but I know God can handle any question we ask and he wants us to come to him and, and ask and try to figure things out and make peace with him and with our faith, with our lives and what he's called us to. So, um,

I just wasn't real sure about the marriage thing, but yeah, my senior year, I'd had a friend, a mutual friend with Sheldon who kept saying, you guys should meet each other. I think you'd be great for each other. We were both dating other people until our senior year. And then we went on our first date in February. I already knew I was going off to law school. I thought I'm never going to see this guy again, but he's hunky and he

this cute baseball player. And if he wants to take me to dinner, that's okay. But I had decided I was going to date like a guy, like no emotional attachment, just have fun and, you know, move on with my life and go to law school. And, um, he'll tell you on our first date, which was really so sweet and so fun. Um, he went home and told his roommates that we were going to get married. So it took me a little bit longer, but I knew that he was an absolute treasure and it really changed the way I felt about getting married. I

I think, aren't you, don't you like have a picture or you like wear the very same thing? Oh, we do. We saved our outfits that we wore on our very first dates. Is that weird? Yes. Yes, it is. On the date of our anniversary of our first date, which is February 13th. So we go out and celebrate instead of on Valentine's Day, we go and celebrate the anniversary of our first date. And sometimes we'll wear our outfits from our first date. Yeah.

I remember seeing a picture of them and that, and that was, that's interesting. That was the 13th because anyway, but it was the 1990s. So those outfits are looking good. Yeah. So, okay. But so something's you turn the corner and you guys are dating, but then you end up do you do get married? Yeah. And you know, my dad had threatened, like, I don't, he's told me you're going to med school or law school. So pick one. And frankly, there's no way I'm going to med school from

numerous reasons. Plus I was told there's no math in law school and I was really interested in law and politics. So I went home to go to law school for free at Florida state, which was the price was right. It was awesome. And Sean and I were dating all through law school. And my dad had said, I don't want to hear anything about guys or seriousness or marriage or nothing. I don't want to hear about any of it until you get an advanced degree. One of these two.

So we ended up getting married my last year of law school. I had one semester left and my, my family loves Sheldon. And I think they knew like, she's got one semester, she's going to finish. Right. So I didn't want to get married right after law school because studying for the bar and everything, I thought I want to jam a wedding into the middle of that. So, you know, we had a two week break over a law school break and my roommate got married the very first Saturday after the break went on her honeymoon. When she came back, we got married and, um,

that was it. Oh, that's great. That's great. Cause I've gotten to know Sheldon along the way. He is absolutely. He's definitely my better half. Yeah. Well, he's just, it's sweet that you say that, but he is, he is such a nice guy and funny guy and everything else. And, um,

But things weren't always, I mean, you guys had some hardship along the way. I mean, Sheldon had some challenges and you had some challenges. Yeah. Yeah. While we were engaged, we had no money, of course. And I was in law school and he was working his dream job, which is at Florida State and

In the athletic department, he worked with Coach Bowden. This was back during the good years when we were in the hunt for national championships on the regular. And it was a really fun time to be working there. He made no money and had no benefits, but it's probably his favorite job he's ever had. It was like his dream job. He loved it. But during that time, he got sick and was constantly kind of fighting back and forth with ear trouble and

what they thought were ear infections and trouble with his hearing. And this went on for months. And finally, at one point, his doctor said, yeah, there's something serious we need to rule out here.

And send him for some testing. And I remember getting the call from him. It turned out what he had was a brain tumor. And, you know, we were engaged in the middle of planning our wedding and such an exciting, happy time in our lives and so young. And he's, you know, a D1 college athlete. We just, you know, you did not see this coming and it stops your entire world. You know, when you have a medical tragedy or diagnosis, you know,

It just puts everything into its proper prioritized place very quickly. And we were just young and carefree and crazy. And so to be dealing with that was a shock, but thank God. And through so many twists and turns found the most amazing surgeon in the world down at Shands hospital at university of Florida and

who actually teaches the surgery for his specific type of tumor that he had and was the most gracious, kind man who walked us through this process. And so, you know, he had surgery and a long recovery, but I am grateful and happy to say that he is fully recovered. And I think it just something like that makes you grow up and it definitely bonds you very quickly. Yeah.

Well, it does. I mean, to be in your 20s and then all of a sudden have this hit you, like that's not supposed to happen with somebody who's like Sheldon. So, you know, involved, you know, and fit and young. And it doesn't fit any of the parameters which you think is going to are going to happen. And you would never know. You would never think this about Sheldon.

about him. Again, it's just sort of like you meet the Breams. I'm just telling you folks, you would never guess that they've gone through this. But later in life, you would actually have some challenges too. I don't know how comfortable or how much you want to share about that. But I mean, you had your own medical challenges. When I read your book, I was like, oh my gosh, I had no idea that you had gone through this. Because

I'm fast forwarding a little bit and I'm going to go back, but you know, you're at Fox and you're moving along in your career and then you were having some challenges. Yeah. And, and again, I think that it's going to come into everybody's life at some point, whether it's you or someone that you love, that you're going to have these curve balls that are very difficult. I mean, for me personally,

It just started out with waking up in the middle of the night, just having excruciating pain in one of my eyes. Couldn't figure out how I injured myself overnight, but nothing that I tried touched the pain at all. And it was, you know, 10 out of 10.

And it took several hours, you know, for the swelling and the, and the tearing up and the pain to kind of die down. And then it was time to get up and go to work. And I thought, well, gosh, that was crazy. Didn't think much about it until it happened again. And then I went to my eye doctor and, you know, he wasn't able to diagnose exactly what was going on, but it was very kind and said, you know, clearly there's trouble here. Let's get you to a specialist.

So months into this, I'm working with a specialist and it's now becoming both eyes and it's happening almost every night. And it's affecting my ability to see and to, you know, triggering migraines for me on a regular basis. And like you said, a lot of people would have had no idea about this. The problem was, you know, when you're struggling and you're trying to get a diagnosis and you don't have one and you have no idea what's wrong with you.

I made the mistake of expending a lot of energy pretending like everything was okay. I didn't share with my bosses or coworkers, even my family. I mean, Sheldon was living through it with me. So he's really the only person who knew. And, you know, I wasn't getting any better and I was getting worse and I was exhausted all the time, which obviously exacerbates your mental health and everything else when you're really struggling physically. And I was just living in chronic pain and I felt like my life was just

hitting a dead end. Like what is the purpose of living in this amount of pain every single day of my life? And the specialist I'd been seeing, I finally went back to him and leveled like, dude, I am getting worse and worse and worse. Like not only physically, but mentally as well. I'm really struggling. And he said to me, you're not sleeping. Right. Which, which makes everything, you know, exacerbates everything.

And so I went back to him and kind of leveled with him and he said, you know, you seem very emotional. It's like, dude, I'm here hanging by a thread. I'm definitely emotional. I mean, I always describe it as I, I went to him looking for like a life vest and he threw me an anchor. I mean, I was sinking and,

And I left there and that was several months or a year into the situation. And I was so devastated. I was like, I'm not going to doctors anymore. I can't, this is not helping me. Plus he's making me think I'm crazy. And, um, I just got to a really dark place. And I I've shared with people that I, you know, in searching online for some kind of answers, which I really don't recommend, it's tempting to do when you don't have a diagnosis and you're really struggling, but, um,

you know there's no good news out there but i did find these chat boards where people and message boards were talking about the symptoms that they had and i was like okay this is it what is this called this is the same thing that i've got

And, you know, I saw people talking about being turned away from emergency rooms and people telling them they were nuts and, you know, people talking about ending their lives. And I, that did not strike me as crazy. Like with all of everything else I'd been going through, you know, almost two years into this, I thought, gosh, that sounds like a relief and God will forgive me. He knows better than anybody how much I'm struggling every minute of the day. And, you know, I entertained those thoughts and I thought, okay,

You know, there was enough, I think of the Holy spirit working on me. Like, no, no, no, this is not the right choice. You would devastate your family. People are not going to understand. They don't even know how sick you are. And I went and leveled with Sheldon about it and just said like, I, this is how bad things are for me right now. And I,

you know, no condemnation, but just total recommitment to like, we're going to travel the world. We're going to find you the right doctor. We're going to do whatever we have to do. And we prayed. And I said, Lord, you know, if you're not going to heal me, because sometimes that's not his decision or his way or his path, please just send me someone who can help me through this. And within a couple of days, I'd gotten in on a cancellation of this amazing cornea specialist here in Washington. And by the time I saw him,

And, you know, his physician's assistant, they're so great. They come in, they work you up before they come in. The doctor does. And so he'd written everything up on my chart and I heard the doctor pick up the chart outside the room and he came in and without even examining me, he said, I know what you have. And I, for the first time in two years had this like little bubble of hope, like, oh my goodness, I'm going to finally have a name. And is there a way to heal this and what's going to happen?

And we went through, he said, let me examine you. He was exactly right. He diagnosed me with this genetic cornea condition that the other doctors for whatever reason had missed.

And, um, he explained what was happening was essentially the cells on my eyeball, instead of rooting back in and holding your eye together, my cornea, I've got a genetic condition where the cells want to pull off. So what I was doing was tearing my corneas over and over and over and over again, just nonstop. And they were never healing. There were fresh tears all the time, which is why I was in just excruciating pain all the time.

So it was like a light bulb went off. Like I, I felt like this is my answer to prayer. This guy is going to help me. But at the very end of the appointment, he said to me, there's something you need to know that we don't have a cure for this. And I was devastated. I mean, I just fell apart. I couldn't get out of that office quickly enough because I sat in my car crying like, Lord, how could you bring me this far and bring me to this doctor? And this cannot be my life, like to live in this level of pain and just despair all the time. And,

And, you know, I know a lot of people who listen to you are not going to be people of faith. That's not, you know, their universe or where they come from. So I don't know how to explain this other than I didn't audibly hear God say something, but I felt him speaking to me in my spirit saying to me, I will be with you. Just that sentence. I will be with you. Not that I'm going to cure you. This is all going to go away. I'm going to give you a miracle because I do believe he can do that.

but I'm going to be with you. And he has been faithful to walk through this with me. And my doctor has been amazing. He treated me for several years. Finally, we did this surgery. That's the closest thing they have to a cure. It doesn't work for everybody, but my case has been pretty darn good.

And I just saw him yesterday for a checkup, which was great, except for the fact that he announced he's retiring. And I told him, I said, you really are an answer to prayer. I know I say these things, but I need you to know that, that, you know, God sent you to me and you basically saved my life. So, um, again, everybody will walk through those things. And I'm just grateful that there's something much bigger that I can rely on, uh, in my heavenly father.

Yeah, you know, the hardships that people go through. We've talked a little bit about, you know, our son-in-law had this accident just less than a year ago and had a spinal cord injury jumping in our pool. And we thought maybe he was going to be, you know, fully paralyzed. And fortunately, he's not. He's on that road to recovery and improving a lot. But our daughter...

Our daughter talks about this, about how she initially was telling her husband, who couldn't move anything other than talk, you know, kind of from the neck down, couldn't move a thing. And, you know, she initially was saying, it's going to be all right. We're going to take care of you. You know, you're going to get better, which transitioned. She

she transitioned. She was smart enough and insightful enough and I think prayerful enough to say, I'll be with you. It's a subtle little thing like, don't worry, I will always be here with you. And I think if you have that type of relationship with a spouse and for me personally, also with

Our Savior Jesus Christ, I think that you can have that comfort even though you're going to go through some really, really difficult, long periods of time. But that little difference that she talks about, I think –

was a very interesting way of looking that you don't want to ever see your kids suffer and going through hard times. You just want to make everything right and you just want to make it better. But sometimes those things are outside of your control and outside of your ability to actually solve them.

Like, I'm a fixer. I just want to solve things, right? Right. But I think her approach of saying, look, I will always be with you. I'm right here with you. And we'll go through this together. Makes all the difference. It's such a good message. Well, and I...

Anyway, you're going to have to go get Shannon's book if you want to hear the story about when she was going to give a speech and what she was going to say and she couldn't read things. I'm going to bypass all that because you're going to have to go look at Shannon's book. But I want to go back to – because – okay. So I want to talk about your journey on Fox because people know you from Fox. Yeah. And a lot of people –

You know, I had a chance here. I was telling one of the executives here at Fox. I said, you know, I feel very blessed. So many people want to do what I'm doing and I'm one that gets to do it. So thank you for having me here and allowing me to be one of the contributors here at Fox.

And I know you had this desire and I want to talk about, you know, the desire to get into the news business, but kind of walk us through that journey because a lot of people want to be at Fox, but not everybody gets to be at Fox, but you managed to do it. And it is a fascinating, fun story. So walk us through that.

Well, I'll give you the short version in that I was an attorney for a few years, but never kind of got over this news bug that I have and always was kind of in the back of my mind. Is that what I'm going to do? And I went and did an internship at a local TV station where I was practicing law in Tampa.

And I always say I was grandma intern because I was literally 29 years old and everybody else interning was like 19. So, but I was so excited to be there. And it even getting that internship was crazy because I had to be taking it for college credit. I had to convince, you know, a local school, luckily university of South Florida at Tampa was awesome. They worked with me so I could take some news writing class work with them, but also do this internship. So I mean, I,

I, I, every day would, you know, after I could get out of my law firm, I'd work overnights and weekends at the station and I loved it. So at the end of the internship, you know, much prayer and discussion with Sheldon, I said, I'm going to leave the law firm. And I went and told them and they're like, okay, this is crazy.

But there were a couple of them that said, you know, there's something else I always wanted to do. So I'm going to be cheering for you. Went to my boss at the station who I had been giving him my work as an intern. Like, can you look at what I've shot on tape and can you read my writing? And they would give me great feedback. Like, do you know, here's how we can fix this and get better at that.

And it was wonderful. So I went to him and said, you know, I'm quitting my law firm. He's like, no one's offered you a job here. Like I know, but I'm stepping out in faith. And they had this opening that actually came open. I took it and it was an overnight position, 2 a.m. to 11 a.m. And so I came in and I would make coffee and answer the phones. I would write scripts for the morning show anchors.

Um, eventually as somebody left, I started working the prompter. Then I started, you know, producing little cut-ins to good morning America. Like every time somebody would leave or quit, I would just pick up their job and learn it on the job, which is so not fair to the actual anchors and reporters that I was working with, but they were kind enough to kind of help me along. And then they started letting me go out and, and, you know, shoot the occasional story. And, um, I was so excited. I knew I had a lot to learn, but I was so thankful to be there making no money, but just enjoying every day.

And I came in one day and my boss and his boss were gone. And all the real experienced reporters and anchors were like, oh no, when there's a management change, this is terrible. And I was like, well, I mean, I'm working terrible hours. I make no money. I'm so happy to be here. Like, I feel like I'm fine, you know, but two weeks into it.

I got called in and the new boss was sitting there and the head of HR was sitting there. And I was like, I'm getting promoted. I'm getting a promotion. No, no, exactly right. Jason, any sane person would know this is a bad idea. So the guy literally told me I was the worst person he'd ever seen on TV and he didn't know whose idea that was, but I would never make it in this business. And I should go back to being a lawyer. And he hoped I was a better lawyer than a reporter. And I

That's pretty brutal.

bite at anybody in the business being interested. I just had a little bit of tape. I didn't have much to make an argument with. But I ended up at a wonderful station in Charlotte, North Carolina, where I was paired with a morning anchor, John Carter, who's still one of my best buddies. He so was kind, taught me so much about the business and about writing for news and all these great things I needed to know.

Um, worked there for three years, got a call to come to NBC Washington to work for the local NBC affiliate in Washington, made lifelong friends there, learned a bunch more, um,

And while I was there, Fox was exploding. And my agent had sent my stuff over and they get stuff all the time. Everybody wants to be with a winner, I would like to say. And Fox has been pretty dominant since they entered the game. And so I just thought, I knew that my parents loved watching Fox because my dad especially felt like they're not making fun of people who

you know, felt the way he did and had the beliefs and politics and values that he did. He said, you know, I actually feel like they see me. Like I have a voice over here along with everything else. Like I'm not mocked as, you know, somebody in middle America who leans this way. He was former law enforcement, former military and just conservative guy. So I thought it was fantastic outlet and, and I wanted to get in there and nothing was happening, but Sheldon represents professional speakers, including you and me.

And at the time he was working at the Washington speakers Bureau and he, um, had set, set up a speech for Brit Hume at a big event here in Washington. And he said to me, like, you got to get up early for this breakfast thing. And I was working nights at the station. He said, you got to come. Um, and Brit will be there. And so you have a chance to meet him. You can make a pitch directly to him. Brit was our 6 PM anchor then and running our, our DC Bureau. Um,

And I felt like it was a little stalkerish, but probably awesome idea. So I went and the program was running behind. And so I was backstage in the green room with Sheldon, with Britt, with some other folks.

And we're having this little chat. And then, you know, Sheldon says at one point, like, Britt, I don't know if you know this. My wife actually works in local media here. She's a local reporter and anchor, NBC. And Britt says, oh, well, what do you want to do long-term? And I thought, this is it. So I gathered all my strength and my nerves. And I said, I would love to come work for you at Fox News. And he's like, that's nice.

And people say that all the time.

So I go for a walk and the guys are still there in the green room. And while I'm gone, they have this conversation and Brit says to Sheldon, you know, does she want to cover politics? Does she like politics? And, and Sheldon said, yeah, when she was at law school, she worked in the Florida house of representatives. It was right down the block. It was sort of an internship scholarship program. And I worked there and, and Sheldon or Brit said she went to law school and Sheldon said, oh yeah, she graduated with honors, you know, cause Brit said, did she finish law?

John said, yep, graduated with honors. And Britt says to him, do you think she'd want to cover the Supreme Court for Fox? Because Megyn Kelly had just left to go to New York to do a show with Bill Hammer and they needed someone. And Britt really only wanted to interview people who were lawyers. So I come back in the room after being a little bit blown off, a little bit embarrassed. And I've been gone maybe five or 10 minutes. I walk in the room and Britt literally says, when can you start?

And I look at Sheldon like, what the heck happened while I was gone? And it was exciting, but it was a tough thing because I still had several months on my contract at NBC where I couldn't talk to other outlets. And so I had to kind of put it in God's hands again, like say, Lord, you know, this is my dream job, but I got to kind of lay it down. I want to do this the right way. And after a lot of back and forth, when my contract ended at NBC, I went and talked to Fox and started their

15 years ago, I guess it is. And I'm so, so grateful to do what I do every day and to be a part of that family like I know you are too. Well, it is amazing how just sometimes those things, worlds collide, people cross paths, and sometimes that just happens for a reason. And

You and Sheldon are just the most wonderful, nicest people. For those of you listening, what you see on the air, the happy, glowing... Shannon is like that all the time. I try to be most of the time. Okay, most of the time. Most of the time. We all have our moments. Yes, but it's just there's a reason why you've been so successful along the way. And that perseverance and the hardships, that's...

that's what builds people's character. That's what makes people stronger, better, and hopefully more loving and caring along the way too. And more compassionate, have the empathy that we need and the, the compassion that we need to, to succeed in life. And I, that's why I,

I get inspired by your story and Sheldon's story. And it really is neat. So you've got three books. Tell us about the three books real quick. And then I'm going to ask you the rapid questions. Oh, okay. So the first one is Finding the Bright Side, which is a much more personal story about some of our struggles in life and just...

what it is to work at Fox and, and kind of how I got there and, and all the adventures that I've been able to cover while I've been there too. So, um, that's just a personal one. And then women of the Bible speak came out last year, which covers the lives of a number of amazing women all throughout the Bible, their ups and downs, um,

my hope is I got to know them so much better, even though I grew up in the church and have studied this stuff. I mean, I learned so much new about every one of them was really inspired. And it was writing that during the worst earliest part of COVID. So it was a real gift to me. Um, and we had no idea it was published through Fox that,

it would connect with people the way that it did, but I'm so thankful for that. I'm so, so thankful for that. Oh my gosh. Did you sell a lot of books? I mean, yes, thanks to our viewers and folks who kind of through word of mouth, they were just so supportive of it, which was amazing. And we thought, Hey, listen, we got still a lot of stories to tell. So we this year, they also had an amazing response to mothers and daughters of the Bible speak and

week, again, looking at faith through the lens of family. And so again, great, faithful, courageous women and families, and some that got really wild and dysfunctional and off track, but God includes them all in the Bible. I think we can learn through all of them. So, and we're working on the next one, which hopefully will be out in the spring of 2023. Oh, very good. Very good. You're listening to Jason in the House. We'll be back with more right after this.

All right. Well, I got to ask you a few rapid questions before we let you out the door. I'll try to keep it snappy. Because you know, when you tell people that on TV and then they give you five minute answers, I will not do that. Yes. There's nothing worse than being like a guest with a long talker next to you. And sometimes you can see the anchor just struggling like, yeah, okay. I said quickly. Yes. Trying to cut people off. All right. So here we go. Ready? Yes. First concert you attended.

Oh, the first big one was Whitney Houston. Oh, that's pretty good. I'm so jazzy. I'm a hard rocker. That was I don't know. She was a hard rocker, but that's what I'm saying. It's not like you went to ACDC or something. No, no, no, no, no. Whitney was my speed in high school. All right. All right. What was your high school mascot? The Eagles.

Very traditional, very patriotic. We were red, white, and blue. Yeah. No, that's – you ask people enough. Like if you're in a group with 12 people and you go around the room and ask your high school mascot, inevitably somebody's got something like, what in the world is that? Like an aardvark or something. Yeah. Yes. Favorite vegetable? Vegetable.

Oh, do we have to pick one? I would say broccoli. I got to eat a vegetable. That's good. You'd be surprised, Shannon, on our podcast here, how many people don't end up naming a vegetable? What?

I can see that happens. Are potatoes vegetables? Because I could pick that too. That's a carb, but a veggie. Yes, exactly. Your very first job. I'm not talking about mom telling you to take out the garbage every Monday, you know, that kind of thing. I'm talking about outside the home, away from mom and dad. What was your first job?

Okay. My non-parental job, because we did some flipping houses when I was in high school, but I probably working at the fraternal order of police on the phones, which was a really tough job where you call people and say like, Hey, we'd like to talk to you about supporting. And you just, back then you're just picking names out of a phone book and you're sitting in a phone bank and people are hanging up on you and cussing you out. How dare you call during dinner or take me off this list. You know, the whole thing. Um,

But hey, I was a college kid and it was, you know. For a good cause. That's legit. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. What was your first pet growing up?

We had a cat named Squirt. Squirt? We had a cat named Squirt. I've never heard of a cat or dog named Squirt. Yes, and I do remember that Squirt had a bad tummy, so I'm not sure. So Squirt had a little bowel problem? Yes, and I don't remember if Squirt's name was more of a nickname that came after the fact or if...

It was just a self-fulfilling prophecy. But one day squirt disappeared and my parents didn't. My mom, it was just my mom and I at that point. She didn't have a really good explanation for where squirt went. But squirt the cat is probably in cat heaven long ago. That's pretty funny. All right. Life's most embarrassing moment. Oh, gosh. This happens on a daily basis. I feel like I can't.

Oh man, I've done some really embarrassing things. I think when you call people by the wrong name, that's really bad. Especially if you say it with conviction, like, well, of course that's your name. Um, I did that with a Senator. When I first started at Fox, I was under the gun trying to get this, um,

done on Capitol Hill to make my piece in time for air. And it was really new. I'd been a local reporter, so I was new to kind of getting to know everybody on the Hill. And I can remember I ran over there at the time. There were two female senators with very similar last names, Mikulski and Murkowski, who are very different, different people. I got done with the interview and my photographer looked at me and said, you realize you were calling her the wrong name the whole time. Oh,

And I'm like, why didn't anyone correct me? I did the whole interview calling her. To her credit, she never corrected me. All right. Two more questions. Two more questions. Pineapple on pizza, yes or no? Heck no. Okay, good. We thought the judges agree with you. Last question. Best advice you ever got?

Do not take no for an answer. It will feel like a door is being slammed in your face. That's one person's opinion of you or your abilities. Do not take no for an answer. You just got to keep going to get to the one person that says yes. Good for you. Shannon Bream, thanks for joining us on the Jason in the House podcast. I really, truly do appreciate it and look forward to seeing you on the air. And thanks so much for joining us.

Thank you. And I hope that you and Julie will join us on a double date very soon again. That'd be great. That'd be great. God bless you. I just love Shannon Bream. She is the nicest person. And I'm so glad that you could...

Hear her talk about her story, but I tell you, if you want to read more about her journey, that particular book, Finding the Bright Side, The Art of Chasing What Matters, it's really, really interesting. I think you'd enjoy it. It's good. Like I gave it to our daughters so they could have a read of it. She's a good role model for a lot of people and just good people.

And so I can't thank Shannon Bream enough for joining us. I need you to rate this podcast, review it, subscribe to it if you can. Go over to foxnewspodcasts.com and you can find a whole array of podcasts. A lot of good ones out there from some of my colleagues here at Fox News. And I hope you join us next week. I'm Jason Chaffetz. This has been Jason in the House.

From the Fox News Podcast Network. I'm Janice Dean, Fox News Senior Meteorologist. Be sure to subscribe to the Janice Dean Podcast at foxnewspodcast.com or wherever you listen to your podcasts. And don't forget to spread the sunshine.