WEBVTT - Understanding US Intelligence Failures with Hamas, Russia & Ukraine and Defeating the Deep State--One-on-One w/ Ric Grenell 0:00:01.200 --> 0:00:04.519 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz Ben Ferguson 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:07.440 with you and Senator it is always fun to be 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:10.240 able to do this show and talk to people that 0:00:10.360 --> 0:00:13.280 are experts in certain areas. And a dear friend of 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:15.560 ours is going to be with us for this show, 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:18.480 and it's so important the timing when we're dealing with 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:21.880 such major issues on national security. We're dealing with what 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:27.200 happened with Hamas and Israel, what's happening now between Russia 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:30.960 and Ukraine, and also the intelligence failures that seem to 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:33.479 be happening on a daily basis at our southern border 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:36.480 with terrorists coming across our southern border. And I want 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:39.639 you to introduce to the audience our special guests. 0:00:40.120 --> 0:00:43.640 Well, it is Thursday night, it is nine thirty eight 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:47.120 pm Pacific time, and I am out on the West coast. 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:51.080 I'm in La just landed not too long ago. Tomorrow 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:53.360 I'm going on Bill Maher. So that's going to be 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:56.920 wild and willy and should be fun. And so we 0:00:57.000 --> 0:00:59.920 are doing a special podcast here tonight that'll come out 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:03.280 tomorrow morning with your and my mutual friend Rick Grinell. 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:07.560 Now Rick Rick has had a storied career. He was 0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:12.920 ambassador to Germany under Donald Trump. He was the special 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:17.840 the Special Presidential Envoy for Serbia and Kosovo for the 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:21.520 peace negotiations again under Trump. And and then he was 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:25.559 also the acting Director of National Intelligence under Trump, which 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:29.119 is an incredibly important and difficult job, and I think 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:31.360 he did an extraordinary job at it. And and so 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:34.119 we're going to talk a lot of foreign policy. We're 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:37.640 going to talk a lot of challenges facing the world. 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:42.120 And and uh and and and Rick is a California native. 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:44.840 So so we are in La La Land together. Rick, 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:47.520 We welcome to Verdict. And welcome to Los Angeles. Senator, 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:49.120 thank you for coming all the way out here. It's 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:51.400 a long way, isn't it. It is a long way. 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:54.320 I flew from Dulles straight out here, and that that 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:57.680 is a long flight. It is longer than an iPad charge. 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:01.000 It's also for you East coast, you can think about 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:04.840 either flying to Europe or flying to California. It's about 0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:05.680 the same amount of time. 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:07.840 You know. I got to say that may be the 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:10.400 cruelest thing anyone has ever said about me. You just 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:15.120 called me an East coaster. I'm in Texas and from Dulles, 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:16.720 but from DC. 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:19.560 On top of that, you couldn't be in Paris right now, 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:22.080 but instead you're in LA So it's like a double 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:22.720 whammy there. 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:28.040 Well, look, as you know, it's it's it's one of 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:30.919 my dirty little secrets that I have a soft spot 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:34.639 in my heart for California. I married Heidi, who was 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:37.400 a native Californian and her whole family are Californian, so 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:39.160 I spent a lot of time out here, and it's 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:42.920 it is an absolutely gorgeous state that has been cursed 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:44.079 by idiot politicians. 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:46.600 Yeah, for sure. And you know we we do not 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:49.800 have a US senator that represents us at all on 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:52.480 the conservative side, So you can be our senator. 0:02:53.240 --> 0:02:56.359 I am proud to be. And a point I make offense. 0:02:56.400 --> 0:03:01.720 So when I'm out here, regular people will will will 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:05.000 stop me in the street and they'll say that they'll say, ted, 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:09.840 I am the only conservative in California. And they're almost 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:13.160 like they almost have like PTSD like they that they 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:15.440 will sort of scrape the shape of a fish with 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:18.519 their foot in the sand like they're in the coliseum. 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:22.760 And I tell them all the time, look, no you're not. Yeah, 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:27.880 And a point that I make frequently, Uh, what state 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:31.160 has the most Republicans in it? Yeah, and the answer 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:35.040 is California by far. They're more Republicans in California than 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:38.440 there are in Texas. Now they're even more Democrats. You are, 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:42.360 in fact outnumbered, but there's still a ton of strong 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:44.720 conservatives in California. They're just besieged. 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:46.920 Yeah, there's there's no question about that, and we're really 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:50.920 trying to get more. I have an organization called Fixed California, 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:54.480 which is literally doing the un sexy work of registering 0:03:55.000 --> 0:04:01.160 people who are not involved, sitting on the sidelines, uninspired, apathetic. 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:03.760 Maybe they think that there's no way that they need 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:07.160 to vote, that they should vote because it doesn't matter. 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.280 But we're trying to empower people to say, get off 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:14.320 the sidelines. And with that a little bit is to 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:18.720 try to take some of the Sacramento types who are 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:22.080 our friends, who are doing the good work, and highlighting them, 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:24.080 raising them a little bit of money, giving them a 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:28.320 little profile. So we're doing good work, but it's going 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:30.360 to take us about four or five years to catch up. 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:33.240 Well. The hard thing also in California is even though 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:36.000 there are a lot of Republicans here, none of them 0:04:36.040 --> 0:04:40.479 believe it's possible to win statewide, and so turning Republicans 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:44.599 out of an election here is insanely difficult. And I 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:47.240 think there's a tipping point that if people believed it 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:53.200 was actually viable and possible, you would see dramatically higher 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:56.479 turnouts among Republicans. But a lot of folks stay home 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:58.080 because they say, what the heck difference does it mean? 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:01.160 Yeah, that's exactly why we still arted fixed California is 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:04.000 because we thought if we can start changing the numbers 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:06.680 every month and give people a little bit of hope, 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:08.800 we think it will pick up. We think then there'll 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:11.840 be a self fulfilling prophecy of hey, maybe I should vote, 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:13.640 maybe I should get other people to vote. It's not 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:16.039 a waste of time type of message. 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:19.960 Well, and Republicans certainly have been able to pick up 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:25.240 congressional seats in California, and without the California Republicans, we 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:27.520 would not have a majority in the House. And so 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:31.359 they're parts of California that are winnable, but they are 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:35.080 parts that are just irredeemably blue. Yeah. 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:39.200 Well, we were trying, and we're so pleased to have 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:44.440 people like you come through and speak and charge us up. 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:49.400 We really are so thankful when we get some superstars through. 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:50.680 So thank you for being here. 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:52.400 It's great to be back. Rick. 0:05:52.440 --> 0:05:54.640 I want to ask you a question, and this goes 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:57.800 to some of the big breaking news that's happening right now, 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:02.080 and it deals with the massive intelligence failure. This is 0:06:02.120 --> 0:06:07.400 your wheelhouse, obviously, being in the intelligence area and working 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:12.120 under the Trump administration. This reporting that's coming out is 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:16.000 shocking that photographers that were working for the Associated Press, 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:20.719 for CNN, for the New York Times and Reuters were 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:25.560 embedded with Hamas on ten to seven and accompany the 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:31.039 terrats into Israel. It's pretty clear that they knew the 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:34.719 attack was coming. They've been accused by Israel now of 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:37.240 not just being involved in the attack, knowing the attack 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:40.839 was coming, but participating in it. And yet there was 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:44.160 such an intelligence failure. We didn't hear anything about this, 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:48.760 neither did Israel. How on earth did we get to 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:52.279 a point where we missed the boat? Israel missed the boat, 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:56.000 and yet these photographers working for APCNN, New York Times, 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:59.840 Reuters were embedded with Hamas and accompany the terrorist group 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:02.520 and then photograph the atrocities. 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:05.479 Yeah, a couple of great questions there. Let's start with 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:08.839 the second part, which is really about the intelligence failure. 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:15.720 I actually don't believe that we didn't know that Iran 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:20.560 and Hamas were planning. There's just no possible way that 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:24.720 we didn't have pieces of raw intelligence. I think one 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:28.240 of the crises that we have within the intelligence world 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:32.400 right now is we have too many people playing politics 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:37.480 that are analyzing the information. We have great collections process, 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:41.760 but the people who are writing the analytical work, who 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:45.440 are taking the pieces of raw intelligence and making assumptions, 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:49.800 those people are two partisan. And imagine if you had 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:54.360 the New York Times delivering opinion pieces every day, but 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:58.560 nobody signed the opinion pieces, you wouldn't have any idea 0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:01.760 who these pieces are coming from, whether they're an expert, 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:05.040 or whether they're just kind of bloviating. And that's what 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:08.760 we have within the intelligence community right now. My first 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:12.480 intelligence briefing was in two thousand and one. I am 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:17.320 an expert on receiving intelligence as a public policy official 0:08:17.640 --> 0:08:20.680 and knowing whether or not it's useful. Many times it's 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:22.680 not useful. I can't tell you how many. How do 0:08:22.720 --> 0:08:25.080 you tell the difference in your experience, Well, first of all, 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:28.120 when the briefer tells you something and they say this 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:29.920 is you know, top secret, and you say, well, I 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:33.000 just read that in the newspaper today, it obviously is not. 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:38.000 So we have an overclassification problem. A lot of the 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:43.320 information is public, or maybe not as distributed as you 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:46.560 would think, but still it's in the public domain somewhere. 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:49.960 I can think of a million examples during COVID where 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:52.400 that was happening, where people were pretending like this is 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:56.840 top secret, but it had been published in some virologist magazine, 0:08:57.240 --> 0:09:00.640 you know, three months before. So we really do have 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:04.800 a problem. But what I found is the overclassification problem 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:09.160 was a pr strategy. When they didn't want something to 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:13.040 get out, whether it was embarrassing or just a program 0:09:13.040 --> 0:09:16.400 that they didn't want anyone to know, they would literally 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:19.840 classify the whole thing and then when you read it, 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:23.600 you would see this is not something that should be classified. 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:30.880 We now have you know, the information that is unclassified 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:35.480 but you know sensitive, and you're like, wait, what if 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:40.400 it's unclassified, then don't tell me that it's something that 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:45.560 is supposed to be sensitive or not distributable. I do 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:48.720 believe that the partisan nature of those who are writing 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:53.040 the intelligence is really the key fundamental problem. When I 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:55.079 was there, I brought in the Russia team and I said, 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:59.320 you're way too political, you're reading into everything as a 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:04.160 political I told the China team your way too slow, 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:08.880 you're too thoughtful, you're slowing down because you don't want 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:12.520 to cause anybody to make a move. And then the 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:16.880 Israeli team was just completely wrong all of the time. 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:20.959 So we need to be able to fix that system. 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:23.720 And some of that is just cycling people out so 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:25.400 that there's fresh eyes and fresh minds. 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:28.560 Well, I will say, being a consumer of intelligence in 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:31.360 the Senate, and I've been in a lot of classified briefings, 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:37.080 my experience very much comports with yours. That ninety plus 0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:39.560 percent of what they tell you in a classified briefing 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:42.760 you can read in the newspaper you knew already, And frankly, 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:46.480 they want it classified because it's embarrassing and they don't 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:48.960 want to admit it. But it's not. Look, there are 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:51.800 times in a classified briefing where they say, you know, 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:54.840 we intercept it such and such, and it's and you 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:57.920 understand why it's classified. I mean, where there's sources and 0:10:58.000 --> 0:11:01.480 methods and there's certainly things that are included in it. 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:06.120 But I do think there's a big overclassification problem because 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:12.120 it's a way to insulate the administration from criticism for 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:13.960 their foreign policy failure. 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:16.640 So there's also another problem that when we go to 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:20.840 brief members of Congress, they are just giving you the 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:25.960 analytical pieces, so you're only getting what a group of 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:28.760 people say, well, this is what we should give Congress 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:32.200 on our thoughts about raw intelligence. What would be so 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:34.960 much better if we could trust the members of Congress 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:38.960 to keep it private, would be to give them some 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:43.080 of that raw intelligence. Is to ask people to say, well, 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:45.480 you know, what do you think actually when you see this, that, 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:49.840 and the other. Don't wait for an IC wide agreement, 0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:53.560 which a lot of times is garbage because it's the 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:59.000 lowest common denominator of what so many intelligence agencies kind 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:02.480 of agree on. But to give some of the raw 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:06.199 intelligence and let other people make some analytical choices about 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:08.920 what's going on, I think that that's where we need 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:10.800 to go. The other thing that I have to say 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:16.280 is this Gang of eight idea is blooney, and this 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:19.319 is the idea that the Senate and the House leadership 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:23.160 are the only ones that get briefed. If it's good 0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:25.040 enough for the Gang of Eight, we should be briefing 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:27.040 every member of Congress who is interested. 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:30.680 Let me ask you one question, Ben asked, but to 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:35.120 go back, are you surprised that the Israelis didn't know 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:36.760 about this attack before it happened. 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:41.840 I actually believe that the United States and the Israelis, 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:46.160 of course had the raw intelligence that the analytical people 0:12:46.240 --> 0:12:48.800 just didn't put it together. They didn't want to assume 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:52.880 that Hamas was going to make such a jump. But 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:55.040 look at what's happening. 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:55.320 Now. 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:57.520 We've got the White House in John Kirby saying we 0:12:57.559 --> 0:13:01.840 didn't have any direct intelligence that Americans were being targeted. 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:06.319 At the same time, they're confirming that we're doing strikes 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:10.320 in Syria because they're coming at us. They're shooting down 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:13.720 a drone. A drone, by the way, that costs thirty 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:15.400 five million dollars of tax. 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:18.080 The Mall Street Journal has reported that more than five 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:22.480 hundred Haimas terrorists trained in Iran in September, the month 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:25.520 before the attack. Now, mind you, I'm repeating what I 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:27.720 read in the journal because nobody's bothered to give us 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:30.360 an intelligence briefing. Actually, telling us if that's true or not. 0:13:31.679 --> 0:13:34.920 Other than the last intelligence briefing we had, there was 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:37.720 a whole lot of cya of no, no, no, are 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:39.760 giving them one hundred million dollars that had nothing to 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:43.200 do with that. Ye don't blame that at all. 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:46.400 And of course it did. You cannot give money to 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:50.000 Iran and trust Iran, because that's really what they're doing. 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:54.760 They're trusting Iran to somehow play like a responsible member 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:59.520 of the international community. Bloomberg reported in August. There's a 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:05.040 piece in Bloomberg whereby the Biden administration was very proud 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:11.720 of the fact that they had unleashed the international sanctions 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:14.960 and that it was working, that they were having great 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:20.000 conversations with the Iranians. There was a trust factor there. 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:23.840 But at the same time, Iran is making billions off 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:28.600 its oil. It's getting more money from the Americans, from 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:33.040 the Europeans and others, and we shouldn't be surprised that 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:36.560 when you're feeding them and you're trusting them, and you 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:41.240 were telling them, hey, let's have some conversations about moving 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:45.720 you forward into a better nuclear agreement, that they are 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:48.600 going to burn you. They've lied about heavy water, they've 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:52.000 lied about the number of centrifuges. They've lied to John 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:55.480 Kerry about so many things that he just assumed that 0:14:55.520 --> 0:14:58.880 they weren't lying on. Don't This to me is just 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:02.920 the Democrats key trusting Iran and hopefully now they see 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:03.680 that they can't. 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:05.800 And let me go back to a topic we've covered 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:08.880 on a previous verdict, which is what do you make 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:13.680 of Rob Malley and why you got a security clearance yanked? 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:17.760 And what do you make of the three Iranian operatives 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:21.840 that were in his inner circle and how the hell 0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:22.560 did that happen. 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:27.320 Look, I think Abril Haines has some questions that she 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:31.000 needs to answer. She's not getting pushed at all. You 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:34.000 look at all of the d and I's under Trump. 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:36.120 All right, right, So tell tell our listeners who Abril 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:36.520 Haines is. 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:38.920 Abral Haines is the director of National Intelligence. 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:41.520 So that's the role you had under Trump. 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:45.760 Correct, and John Radcliffe had and some others. Look, we 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:50.120 were under incredible scrutiny, constant pressure from the media to 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:54.040 do this out or the other. And Abral Haines literally 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:57.960 the last I checked, like, her last tweet was about 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:01.440 Diane Feinstein's death, and she made a statement about Diane 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:04.600 Feinstein's death, but she hasn't made a statement about all 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:06.760 of these other things. And she gets away with it 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:11.400 because when the media are not asking her the questions, 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:15.000 then she wakes up every single day thinking, I don't 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:17.440 have to answer these questions. I'm going to go and 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:22.400 continue ignoring or continue hiding. She needs to answer what 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:26.360 did we know and why did we not act? Was 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:30.560 it an analytical failure? Was it an intelligence gathering failure? 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:34.360 And then on Rob Malley, which is incredibly interesting. I 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:37.680 want to know who approved his security clearance. I want 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:43.120 to know which FBI agents signed off and what did 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:48.080 they actually raise some concerns and red flags and got overruled. 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:52.240 Did he even have a security clearance? Maybe he never 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:55.680 had one and his time ran out where they said, 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:58.360 you know what, we couldn't approve you, and so now 0:16:58.400 --> 0:17:01.440 you're out. That is a bit very real possibility that 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:04.679 he was working in this job didn't have access to 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:08.800 intelligence because he couldn't get a clearance. They're not answering 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:12.360 these questions, and the media is not pushing we need. 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:14.000 And in the Senate when we ask, they just give 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:17.440 us the heisman. They completely stiff arm us and answer nothing. 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:22.600 Yeah, and that's unacceptable. And if we had more media pressure, 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:26.200 if we had more people just insisting, why isn't April 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:29.760 Hanes being hounded to answer these questions? Why are we 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:36.040 not camping out at dan I There are so many 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:40.280 times that they did that to us, where CNN was 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:42.359 watching when you were leaving, and they knew where you 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:45.680 lived and they would follow you. But that just doesn't happen. 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:48.160 So she wakes up every day and thinks, I don't 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:49.240 have to answer these questions. 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:53.760 Do you think there will be any reckoning, any accountability 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:58.280 for the intelligence failures that led to a failure on 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:02.679 the American part to anticipate the October seventh attack and 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:04.640 do anything to prevent it. 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:08.280 It's a really interesting question. I think that there will 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:16.120 be a CYA strategy to say, well, we did see 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:20.639 some raw intelligence, we didn't have enough time to write 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:24.280 the analytical piece, so we didn't share anything with Israel. 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:29.320 But that's unacceptable. What was in the PDB, What was 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:32.399 the president briefed on? What was Jake Sullivan briefed on? 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:37.680 If we had raw intelligence that said Hamas is working 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:41.120 with the Iranians on an attack somewhere and somebody poo 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:45.000 pooed it. You know, the same team remember that told 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:48.480 us that if you moved the embassy from Tel Aviv 0:18:48.520 --> 0:18:51.439 to Jerusalem, there would be World War three. That same 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:55.120 team was watching what Hamas was doing with Iran. Think 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:58.400 about that. They completely got it wrong. Not only did 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:01.000 we not have World War three, but we actually ushered 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:01.879 in the world peace. 0:19:02.000 --> 0:19:05.520 Yeah, and I will say that there has been no 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:12.520 accountability for number one, the military failures and intelligence failures 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:16.320 on the withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was absolutely catastrophic, and 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:19.240 no one's lost their job, and there's been no inquiry. 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:22.720 The Senate Democrats have zero interest in even finding out 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:24.560 what went wrong. They just want to sweep it under 0:19:24.560 --> 0:19:27.680 the rug. And there's also been no accountability at all 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:34.800 for the dramatically wrong intelligence assessment of the Ukraine War. 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:37.879 I mean, I mean I sat in Senate wide briefings 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:42.480 where the Defense Department, the State Department, the entire intelligence community, 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:45.840 every one of them told every senator this war will 0:19:45.840 --> 0:19:47.960 be over in a matter of days. It will last 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:50.960 less than a week. Putin will roll in, he will 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:56.480 conquer all of Ukraine and it'll be over in just days. 0:19:57.200 --> 0:20:03.160 And we're now years into the world, and that intelligence 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:08.040 consensus because there was no disagreement. Every single briefer, everyone agreement, 0:20:08.040 --> 0:20:10.919 you know, and it was wildly wrong. And there hasn't 0:20:10.960 --> 0:20:14.880 even been a minute of reflection or assessment. How did 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:18.160 we get so wildly wrong? And how do we prevent 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:19.320 that from happening the next time? 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:21.680 There's one more angle to that. As you know, I've 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:24.040 worked at the State Department for twelve years. I'm really 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:26.440 a diplomat, and I care deeply about the State Department. 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:32.000 And we messaged, we heard the US government, the Biden 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:37.000 administration messaged for three straight weeks, putin is coming. A 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:40.240 war is around the corner. It's going to be bloody 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:45.200 and brutal. A war is coming. Why didn't the Secretary 0:20:45.240 --> 0:20:49.560 of State immediately get on his plane and go to 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:52.040 Kiv with all of the foreign ministers in Europe and 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:56.040 say no before if we know for sure that a 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:59.919 war is coming, the Secretary of State has an obligation 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:04.520 and a responsibility to try to find a peaceful solution. 0:21:05.359 --> 0:21:08.160 I believe that they've shoved b. Lincoln right off the stage. 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:10.000 They just don't trust him. 0:21:10.760 --> 0:21:13.520 It's weird. He doesn't act like a Secretary of State. 0:21:13.560 --> 0:21:17.080 He's a staffer. Yeah, I've never seen a Secretary of 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:21.080 State as diminished as Tony Blincoln is in this administration. 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:24.840 I completely agree. And by the way, all of my 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:26.720 friends of the State Department. I have a ton of 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:30.000 friends who are not even really conservatives, but they're just 0:21:30.080 --> 0:21:34.080 good foreign service officers who salute. They're horrified. We're the 0:21:34.119 --> 0:21:37.800 first ones that are being evacuated from everything. The foreign 0:21:37.800 --> 0:21:41.600 service officers, many of them are They join the Foreign 0:21:41.640 --> 0:21:44.440 Service to solve problems. They don't want to cut and run. 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:47.919 They want to be there, except they're pushed off the stage. 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:51.560 They were pushed off for Afghanistan. No one has come 0:21:51.640 --> 0:21:54.400 up with even a peace idea. Now. Look, I want 0:21:54.440 --> 0:21:57.040 to have peace through strength. I think the President of 0:21:57.040 --> 0:21:59.000 the United States, when they're in the Oval Office, needs 0:21:59.040 --> 0:22:02.160 to have two strong voys. The Secretary of Defense that says, 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:04.359 move over, because I'm going to kill everybody and we're 0:22:04.359 --> 0:22:07.199 not negotiating, and the Secretary of State that says, you 0:22:07.240 --> 0:22:11.679 wait a minute, because we need sob diplomats at that table. 0:22:12.280 --> 0:22:16.359 And the Democrats keep mocking tough diplomats. But if you 0:22:16.400 --> 0:22:20.960 want to avoid war, you better have and sob as 0:22:21.040 --> 0:22:25.679 the diplomat pushing and saying, wait a minute, we're going 0:22:25.720 --> 0:22:28.520 to try to negotiate. It's not weak need, it's not 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:31.240 culinary diplomacy, it's real diplomacy. 0:22:31.440 --> 0:22:34.480 Well, and I will say peace through strength, which which 0:22:34.560 --> 0:22:38.919 you and I both agree with strongly. Look, it's worth 0:22:39.000 --> 0:22:43.560 remembering that during eight years of his presidency the biggest 0:22:43.600 --> 0:22:49.080 country Ronald Reagan invaded was Granada. That when you have 0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:53.240 a strong commander in chief, people don't want to screw 0:22:53.280 --> 0:22:53.760 with you. 0:22:53.840 --> 0:22:54.320 Exactly. 0:22:55.640 --> 0:22:58.639 I think if Trump were still president, we would not 0:22:58.760 --> 0:23:01.280 have a war in Ukraine. This would not have happened, 0:23:01.400 --> 0:23:05.920 among other things, because Nordstream two would never have been completed. 0:23:06.160 --> 0:23:08.880 You and I worked very closely together on Nordstream two. 0:23:09.000 --> 0:23:10.720 Yes, thank you for all your work. You were the 0:23:10.840 --> 0:23:13.679 one of the only ones pushing really hard. When I 0:23:13.760 --> 0:23:16.040 was in Europe. I was so thankful that you were there, 0:23:16.760 --> 0:23:22.200 and I agree with you. If Merkle had not gone 0:23:22.280 --> 0:23:25.879 to Joe Biden and said, look, you want to be 0:23:25.960 --> 0:23:27.880 nice to your allies or do you want to push 0:23:27.920 --> 0:23:31.199 us aside? Because we're asking you, we will applaud you. 0:23:31.200 --> 0:23:32.960 You will be able to come to Europe and everybody 0:23:32.960 --> 0:23:36.560