WEBVTT - CIA Dir. Confirms Iran’s Nuclear Program Crippled 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:04.200 We're ruling with common sense. You know, whether you're a 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:07.119 conservative or liberal, or as they like to say, progressive. 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:09.760 They don't like the word liberal anymore. Progressive I think 0:00:09.760 --> 0:00:12.400 it's a beautiful word too. That's why I call him liberal. 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:15.160 It's too nice a word. I don't know how you 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:17.680 can be progressive when you're turning the country backwards. 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:22.400 You're listening to the forty seven Morning Update with Ben ferguson. 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:23.959 Good Friday morning. So nice to have you with us 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:25.840 on the forty seven Morning Update. And here are the 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:29.680 big stories we're talking about today. First up, classified report 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:34.440 is now out suggesting that Iran's nuclear program still intact, 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:38.520 was likely well all faulty info and where to come from, 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:43.160 directly from the Iranian government. Yet the media went with it. Well, 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:47.320 the DoD chief Pete Headseth, he's coming out and having 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:50.400 a lot to say about the media telling this story 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:55.440 that is Iranian propaganda. Also, a former Biden official has 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:58.840 now come out on TV saying that Iran's nuclear program 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:03.320 was in fact set back significantly, again, the complete opposite 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:05.360 of what the media has been trying to sell you on. 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:07.800 We have the receipts and we'll play it for you. 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:11.120 It's the forty seven Morning Update, and it starts right now. 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:12.440 Story number one. 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:18.000 In a scathing report, the CIA director John Radcliffe ripping 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:22.520 Democrats during a closed door briefing of senators on Thursday 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:27.600 by comparing President Donald Trump's successful airstrikes eliminating Iran's nuclear 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:32.240 program to former President Barack Obama's failures with his rand 0:01:32.319 --> 0:01:36.039 nuclear deal. A source in the room saying that Radcliffe 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:38.760 and the Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Secretary's 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:41.840 Defense Pete Headseth had all the senators there for a 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:45.240 closed door briefing on Thursday. They said that the Democratic 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:48.800 senators repeatedly pressed them about the effectiveness of the strike, 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:52.160 pushing for more proof than they had been offered on 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:55.760 the matter. In response, Radcliffe told them, per the source 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:59.680 president in the room, the way he knows how effective 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:03.440 they were was how quickly they folded to Trump versus 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:08.040 how long they dragged out negotiations with Obama. You know 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:12.040 how you know the strikes were devastatingly effective, Radcliffe told 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:16.160 the Senate Democrats and the briefing, per one source quote, 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:21.079 Iran has been fighting Israel for decades. They strung along 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:26.600 the Obama administration for twenty months while negotiating the JCPOA, 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:30.160 but Trump made them accept the ceasefire with their mortal 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:35.200 enemy in twenty minutes. Radcliffe wasn't done there. He also 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:38.480 said during the briefing that the contents of a statement 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:41.600 he previously released publicly in which he said the CIA 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:45.359 can confirm that Aaran' nuclear program had been severely damaged 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:49.480 by the strikes Trump ordered last weekend, saying quote, this 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:54.440 includes new intelligence now from an historically reliable and accurate 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:58.480 source and method, that several ki Iranian nuclear facilities were 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:01.400 destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:05.720 of years. Now, Radcliffe was obviously speaking to the centers 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:08.520 in a private room, but that didn't stop the DoD 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:13.040 Secretary Pete Hedgseth from telling the world exactly what happened 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:17.040 in these attacks and just how wrong the media actually was. 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:21.359 Take a listen to his statement at the Pentagon, specifically 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:24.680 speaking to the media that's been lawing about the effectiveness 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:25.800 of the attack. 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:28.919 Some of the assessments that have been provided, because whether 0:03:28.960 --> 0:03:33.320 it's fake news, CNN, MSNBC, or The New York Times, 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:37.200 there's been fawning coverage of a preliminary assessment. I've had 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:41.240 a chance to read it. Every outlet has breathlessly reported 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:44.760 on a preliminary assessment from DIA. I'm looking at it 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:46.960 right now. Again, it was preliminary, a day and a 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:50.480 half after the actual strike. When it admits itself in 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:53.320 writing that it requires weeks to accumulate the necessary data 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:56.080 to make such an assessments preliminary, it points out that 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:59.080 it's not been coordinated with the intelligence community at all. 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:03.120 There's low confidence in this particular reports, it says in 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:05.240 the report. There are gaps in the information. It says 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:10.040 in the report. Multiple lynchpin assumptions are what this assessment 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:12.400 a lynchpin assumption? You know what that is. It means 0:04:12.440 --> 0:04:14.920 your entire premiss is predicated on a lynch pin. If 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:18.640 you're wrong, everything else is wrong. And yet still this 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:22.760 report acknowledges it's likely severe damage. Again, this is preliminary, 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:25.680 but leaked because someone had an agenda to try to 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:27.839 muddy the waters and make it look like this historic 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:30.400 strike I wasn't successful. I'm gonna get to the chairman 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:31.960 in a moment, because he's going to lay out the 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:35.960 particulars for you based on his professional military experience. But 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:38.520 here's what other folks are saying. THEDIA that put that 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.760 report out says that this is a preliminary low confidence 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:45.400 report and will continue to be refined as additional intelligence 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:49.800 becomes available. How about the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission. The 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:54.360 devastating US strikes on Fourdeaux destroyed the site's critical infrastructure 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:58.520 and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable. Have any of these 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:00.200 quotes made their way into The New York Times, The 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:04.480 Washington Post, MSNBC, CNN any of these quotes? How about 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:06.000 this one? This is a new one from the UN, 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:08.600 the United Nations. No friend in the United States or 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:12.160 certainly Israel. Often. Here's the head of the UN Atomic 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:17.040 Energy Agency this morning, Raphael Grossi. US and Israeli strikes 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:21.800 caused enormous damage to Iran's nuclear sites. Don't take my 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:24.039 word for it. How about the IDF's chief of staff. 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:26.760 I can say here that the assessment is that we 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:30.400 significantly damage the nuclear program, setting it back by years. 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:34.800 I repeat years. The Iranian foreign minister, the spokesman, our 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:38.159 nuclear instrations have been badly damaged, that's for sure. I'm 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:42.000 sure that's an understatement. John Radcliffe, the director of the CIA, 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:45.520 putting out a statement just last night. CIA can confirm 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:49.719 that a body of credible intelligence indicates Iran's nuclear program 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:53.880 has been severely damaged by recent targeted strikes. This includes 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:58.600 new intelligence from a historically reliable, very different than preliminary 0:05:58.600 --> 0:06:03.400 assessment with low confidence. He's saying, historically reliable and accurate 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:07.320 source of method that several key Iranian nuclear facilities were 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:11.360 destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:17.279 of years. CIA continues to collect additional reliably sourced information 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:21.920 to keep appropriate decision makers fully informed. How about DNA 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:26.040 Telsea Gabbard yesterday, she writes, and I quote new intelligence 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:30.680 confirms what POTUS has stated numerous times. Iran's nuclear facilities 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:36.320 have been destroyed. Institute for Science and International Security President 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:40.840 David Albright Overall Israel and US attacks have effectively destroyed 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:46.599 un Iran's centrifuge enrichment program time and time again. I 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:50.839 can go down the list those that understand, those that see, 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:55.520 those that do proper assessments recognize that what the United 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:57.320 States military did was historic. 0:06:57.720 --> 0:06:59.919 Isn't it nice to know that President Donald Trump has 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:02.640 put people like Pete headset in positions of power to 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:05.760 call out the liars and the leakers and the media 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:09.600 when they try to pull these bs shenanigans lying about 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:13.400 what's happening in reality, especially when it comes to foreign 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:18.040 policy and the issue of our national security. Now, story 0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:21.400 number two, there is a new classified report that is 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:27.160 suggesting that Iran's nuclear program, still intact, likely relied on 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:33.760 faulty info Iranian propaganda from Iranian sources. This is when 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:36.680 the media decided to run with the story, knowing that 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:40.880 their propaganda was literally coming from Iran. The top secret 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:45.560 Defense intelligence agency known as the DIA assessment that claimed 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:49.960 Iran's nuclear sites suffered only moderate damage likely relied on 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:55.040 faulty information from deceitful Iranian sources that according to several 0:07:55.120 --> 0:07:59.200 former US intelligence officers, one of whom described the documents 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:03.560 as so unreal you can wipe your aas with it. 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:07.240 The classified DIA report ignite a media firestorm in the 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:11.160 days after President Donald Trump authorized those precision strikes on 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:14.720 Iran's top three nuclear sites. The findings, of course, werein 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:17.440 the league to CNN and The New York Times, which 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:20.000 you heard about a moment ago. Then they presented them 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:24.760 as facts as bombshell evidence that the US bombing run 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:28.800 only set back Tehran's nuclear ambitions by you know, a 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:32.960 couple of months. The US intelligence community deemed that initial 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:38.880 assessment with quote low confidence a fact. CNN purposely admitted 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:42.959 from its original story and based it solely on satellite 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:50.160 imagery and interceptic communications known as signal intelligence from Iranian officials. Again, 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:54.440 think about this. You have the Iranian government putting out 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:59.240 propaganda and media companies in this country putting it out 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:04.200 there as fact. Shortly after the assessment leaked, Axios reported 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:10.120 that communications intercepted by Israel suggested that Iran's military officials 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:15.199 have been giving false situation reports to the country's political leadership, 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:19.600 downplaying the extent of the damage. Such communications likely made 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:23.680 their way into the da report. According to three former 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:28.440 US intelligence operatives, including a current US official and other 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:32.199 veteran national security insiders, who spoke to the Washington Free 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:34.959 Beacon both on and off the record, some of them 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:40.800 referred to the DIA as the discount intelligence agency. It's 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:45.880 basically messaging by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, messaging by Tehran. 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:49.800 That is what a former intelligence officer with the US 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:52.160 Central Command who operated in the Middle East for nearly 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:55.640 thirty years, said, In fact, CNN actually had to report 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:58.679 on this, and here's what it sounded like when a 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:02.679 former Biden of official had this to say about Iran's 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:04.600 nuclear program. 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:07.480 Usteine, a longtime diplomat who served as President Biden's senior 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:10.560 advisor for Energy and Investment. And I think one question 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:13.360 that regular people will have, you know, listening to what 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:15.680 came out of that briefing today on Capitol Hill from 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:19.120 Republicans from Democrats, is what should they take away when 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:21.880 there is such a divide between the politicians over what 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:25.439 is the fate of Iran's nuclear capacity and where that 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:26.800 stands tonight? What do you think? 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:29.000 Well, first, Kaitlin, it's good to be with you. Look, 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:31.480 I think the most important thing is to separate out 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:34.720 what's politics and what is happening on the ground over 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:38.240 the last year a year and a quarter. Last April, 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:41.960 Iran launched a missile attack against Israel, which was one 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:46.400 hundred ballistic missiles company by two hundred or so UAVs. 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:50.600 The United States military coordinated a response and defeated that attack. 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:53.000 But that was really the first time that Iran and 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:56.160 used its own territory to attack Israel. They did it 0:10:56.160 --> 0:10:59.960 again in October, and again the United States supported Israel 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:04.040 and with regional partners as well as European countries to 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:07.760 defeat it. And now since then, Iran has lost most 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:11.200 of its deterrence power. They had three things going for them. 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:15.560 They had proxies meaning terrorist organizations in Lebanon, in Syria 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:18.880 and Iraq and Yemen that supported them. The second was 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:20.520 the missiles, and the third was the thread of a 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:25.880 nuclear weaponization. Of their nuclear capabilities, most of their proxies 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:28.839 are either weakened to the point they can't respond or 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:32.400 are choosing now to distance themselves from Iran. Their missile 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:35.600 capability has been proven to be less effective because of 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:39.400 the United States ability to defend the region, and now 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:45.199 their nuclear capability is likely at least set back. Now 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:49.840 the whole idea of obliterated or destroyed. These are political 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:52.360 terms that are not really relevant, and I would urge 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:55.400 Americans not to really pay attention to those words. What 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:57.880 we do know, we know that as a result of 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:01.280 the both the Israeli the American strikes, the nuclear program 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:04.480 was set back significantly. How much we don't really know. 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:08.199 Most Israeli military analysts and generals that I've spoken to 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:10.559 over the last twenty four to forty eight hours. I 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:13.480 think this has gone from a six month's breakout to 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:16.480 timeframe to two years, so an eighteen month or two 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:20.080 year delay in their program. But here's the thing. They 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:24.360 have also lost other capabilities. They've lost their command and control, 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:28.320 they've lost military leaders, they've lost scientists, and they lost 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:31.960 their conversion so they're clearly weakened. And lastly, Israel has 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:35.120 proven that they have an intelligence caivability inside Iran that 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:39.480 if they tried to reconstitute we'll we the United States, Israel, 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:42.400 other European allies will know about it. 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:46.120 Yet again, more proof of the propaganda coming from the 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:48.800 media trying to convince you that somehow one of the 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:53.520 most successful missions in modern military history was a failure, 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:56.600 all because Donald Trump is the one that's said to 0:12:56.720 --> 0:12:57.040 do it. 0:12:57.240 --> 0:12:59.880 Thank you for listening to the forty seven Morning Update 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:04.120 with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:07.200 you're listening to this podcast right now and for more 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:11.000 in depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson podcast 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:13.040 and we will see you back here tomorrow.