The Darrell McClain show
Independent media that won't reinforce tribalism. We have one Planet; nobody's leaving, so let’s reason together!! Darrell McClain is a Military veteran with an abnormal interest in politics, economics, religion, philosophy, science, and literature. He's a Doctor of Philosophy in Human Services, and the author of Faith and the Ballot: A Christian's Guide to Voting, Unity, and Witness in Divided Times. Darrell is a certified Counselor. He focuses primarily on relationships, grief, addiction, and PTSD. He was born and raised in Jacksonville, FL, and went to Edward H white High School, where he wrestled under Coach Jermy Smith and The Late Brian Gilbert. He was a team wrestling captain, District champion, and an NHSCA All-American in freestyle Wrestling. He received a wrestling scholarship from Waldorf University in Forest City, Iowa. After a short period, he decided he no longer wanted to cut weight, effectively ending his college wrestling journey. Darrell McClain is an Ordained Pastor under the Universal Life Church and remains in good standing, as well as a Minister with American Marriage Ministries. He's a Believer in The Doctrines of Grace, Also Known as Calvinism. He joined the United States Navy in 2008 and was A Master at Arms (military police officer). He was awarded several medals while on active duty, including an Expeditionary Combat Medal, a Global War on Terror Medal, a National Defense Medal, a Korean Defense Medal, and multiple Navy Achievement Medals. While in the Navy, he also served as the assistant wrestling coach at Robert E. Lee High School. He's a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under 6th-degree black belt Gustavo Machado. Darrell Trains At Gustavo Machado Norfolk under the 4th-degree black belt and Former Marine Professor Mark Sausser. He studied psychology at American Military University and criminal justice at ECPI University.
The Darrell McClain show
Inside The Iran War Money Machine And The Epstein Files Fight
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The easiest way to spot propaganda is to follow the math. We start with Trump’s Georgia rally, where “affordability” turns into a grab bag of familiar villains, then we pull the thread into what’s actually hitting people’s lives: war costs, higher prices, and zero accountability when leaders make huge claims they can’t defend under basic questioning.
From there, we take a closer look at the Iran War narrative whiplash. Officials keep insisting Iran is “obliterated” and victory is imminent, yet the Strait of Hormuz stays volatile, casualties mount, and Congress is left trying to extract straight answers from Pete Hegseth about strategy, objectives, and the true price tag. We break down how “Pentagon math” can understate costs by excluding munitions replacement and downstream spending, why audit failures matter, and how defense contractor incentives turn urgent requests into blank-check budgeting.
We also zoom out to the accountability question with Jesse Ventura’s blunt standard for legitimacy: if leaders won’t send their own kids, how can they justify sending anyone else’s. And we close with a major domestic transparency fight as Representatives Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna explain their new push on the Epstein files, what’s still being withheld, and why survivors and state prosecutors are still fighting for access while Washington argues about intent and optics.
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Trump is down in Georgia yesterday where he campaigned for Republican Mike Collins. And the GOP desperately needs Trump to give Collins a boost if they have any chance of keeping the Senate. So of course, Trump talked about himself.
SPEAKER_21When I inherited this thing on January 20th, I walk into office, I have a press conference first or second day, and they're screaming at me, What are you gonna do about high prices? Right? What are you gonna do? I said, I just got here. What are we talking about? Tell me. Eggs, eggs have gone up four times. Four times.
SPEAKER_25I said, I just got here.
SPEAKER_21Give me a break.
SPEAKER_25Give me a break. I didn't expect to jump into work right away. I just ran to stay out of prison. What do you mean you just
Trump Rallies On Prices
SPEAKER_25got here? You already had the job for four years. You probably still had old pens in the desk. The guy's acting like he was expecting an onboarding. This is Joe B. You're gonna spend the day shadowing him. I do get it. He just wanted to spend his first day settling in, putting his stuff down, pardoning January Sixers. But the Democrats were just throwing all these new words at him.
SPEAKER_21And they said they used the word first time I heard it. There was a word, you know, made up by the Democrats. Affordability. They said affordability.
SPEAKER_25Affordability. Why is the word you're best at saying the one you're worst at doing? And by the way, Democrats didn't invent the word affordability. Costco did. Costco. If you're gonna buy a container of mustard, shouldn't you be able to bathe in it? By the way, after 10 years of Trump rallies, you can kind of tell that he's not moving crowds like he used to. The people there were yawning. They were bored, not even looking at him. This one kid was just on his phone half the time. Hey kids, stop playing Roblox. The president is talking about affordability. Come on, Donald, you gotta win this crowd back. You are so great at nicknames. Why don't you just announce a new cool policy with a snappy nickname like old times?
SPEAKER_21We'll pass the great health care plan. It's called our great health care plan. That's the name of it.
SPEAKER_25Wow, thanks for putting in all that thought. Such a lazy name. That's like making a daily show and calling it the daily show. But look, the president wasn't just there to lie about healthcare. He was there to warn us about a terrible danger.
SPEAKER_21The radical left is actively trying to destroy our children's future with the disaster known as communism.
SPEAKER_25Oh no! Quick! Hide the means of production! Don't tell me it's communism!
SPEAKER_21Communism is the single greatest threat to our country and its history, including even World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, 9-11. I think it's the greatest threat that I've ever seen to our country.
SPEAKER_25That's right. That's right. Communism is the greatest threat to our country, even more than the looming threat of World War One. That is what the president believes. Although I think someone else might disagree with him.
SPEAKER_21The threat that we have, the biggest threat, is nuclear war. I think that the border is the biggest uh threat to this country. Our biggest threat remains to sick, sinister, and evil people from within our country. The weaponization of law enforcement is the greatest threat. Our biggest threat to democracy is stupid people.
SPEAKER_25Because while the rest of us are suffering, he wants us to know he's doing great.
SPEAKER_27CNN investigation has found that an investment firm where Donald Trump Jr. is a partner has skyrocketed during his father's presidency.
SPEAKER_16Trump Jr. announced he joined that firm 1789 Capital days after his father's reelection in 2024. Since that time, assets the firm manages have more than tripled.
SPEAKER_25What? So lucky! How did he manage to triple his firm's assets in the two years his dad's been in office? He must be so good at business and only that.
SPEAKER_16Businesses the firm invested in have been awarded more than $1.6 billion from federal contracts and grants.
SPEAKER_25Unbelievable. What a flagrant abuse of power and access. This just screams corruption and greed. His dad must be so proud. This looks so bad. And Don Jr. isn't rushing to set the record straight, but there is something else he'd like to clear up.
SPEAKER_09You know, according to the Twitter of the biggest cocaine in the world, uh, you know, shockingly, there's never been a photo or video or anyone with any credibility actually saying that they've seen me do this, so I don't. If I look tired this week, it's actually because I had foot surgery a couple days ago.
SPEAKER_25Buddy, the rumor that you do cocaine is the coolest thing about you. You want to keep that going, or we're gonna have to start talking about what you look like without a beard. The more on Trump rallying the nation against communism, let's go live to our senior political correspondent, Ronnie Cheney.
SPEAKER_13I'll tell you the latest, Desi. Communism is on the match. Once these Democrats take power, bread lines will be around the block. So enjoy bread while you can, America. Desi, you want the butt part of this? No, you eat the butt part of it. No, it's gross. But inside bread is the good bread.
SPEAKER_25But it's all the same bread.
SPEAKER_13That's what a communist would say. But thank God President Trump won't let Americans suffer under
Communism Panic Meets Don Jr
SPEAKER_13a system where we all just live off of government handouts.
SPEAKER_25But isn't living off of government handouts exactly what Don Jr.'s doing?
SPEAKER_13Okay, hey, hey, I did not do cocaine with Don Jr.
SPEAKER_25I didn't say you did.
SPEAKER_13Good, because I'm sick of all these accusations. Don Jr. worked hard to get to where he is. But communists won't let anyone earn a living by being the son of a rich guy.
SPEAKER_25I don't know. That doesn't sound that bad to me.
SPEAKER_13Oh, really? Because communists also want to blow up Mount Rushmore, okay? They want to blow up Nakatomi Plaza. They want to defeat Rocky. They want Godzilla to win. They want free buses, but the bus explodes if it goes above and then under 50 miles an hour.
SPEAKER_25Okay, all right. That's not communism. Those are just action movies.
SPEAKER_13Okay, well, I wouldn't know because I haven't read the Communist Manifesto. What I do know is that Trump wants Americans to be rewarded for hard work, not for corrupt connections to the ruling party.
SPEAKER_25Again, sounds a lot like Don Jr.
SPEAKER_13Okay, we were not doing cocaine in the men's bathroom at Penn Station, honey. For the last time, we're in the men's bathroom doing foot surgery.
SPEAKER_29Very specific.
SPEAKER_13Disney, this is so lame. Okay, are you honestly suggesting that Donald Trump is ruling America with an unaccountable kleptocracy? Yes. Okay, well, I suppose he's sending mass goons to disappear people off the streets.
SPEAKER_26Yes!
SPEAKER_13Oh yeah, and I bet you believe he's pursuing forever wars against phantom enemies while dividing us of constant double think and two minutes of hate.
SPEAKER_25Yes, yes, all of that.
SPEAKER_13Oh yeah, oh yeah, and he's enriching his family with kickbacks, which Don Jr. and I celebrated by having a total rager that ended with us in the bathroom of a club at 2 a.m. getting tricked into a threesub where they promised there would be a girl who's just another dude. And none of us are really into that, but nobody wants to be the one that backs out, so we all just went ahead with it, but now it's awkward, and I haven't talked to Don Jr. since that night, and I really miss hanging out with him. It's no interesting.
SPEAKER_25Ronnie, I'm sorry. I I know how hard it is for men to connect at your age. I just miss it so much. Oh god. Ronnie, is there anything I can do? Maybe do you have any cocaine? Get the hell out of here.
SPEAKER_06Senators grilled Pete Hegseth over the Iran War while Trump snapped at a reporter for asking him if he had a plan to end the war. Oh, and Elon Musk is making an AI version of the Odyssey. For more on this, it's time for a closer look. When Trump won in 2024, his victory sent a clear message: the era of woke was over. No more genderless potato head dolls, no more banning Dr. Seuss books, and no more asexual MMs. That's right. Thanks to President Trump, it's okay to want to f candy again. Or at least the green MM. I would stay away from milk duds. They live up to their name in the bedroom. Me, I like sex two ways. Good and plenty. You know what? On the count of three, everyone say
Culture War Hits The Odyssey
SPEAKER_06the candy they most want to have sex with. One, two, three, Rollos! Okay, you guys weren't, you guys weren't as ready for it as I was. I totally get it. We'll circle back. Point is America's back, baby. No more woke. And that applies to movies too, like Christopher Nolan's Pinko Kami Wokefest, The Odyssey.
SPEAKER_05The most famous warrior in history, not just Greek history, all of history, Achilles, is about to be played by a transgender woman in a brand new movie. Playing Helen of Troy. The woman who started the Trojan War, a woman who was definitely white, is gonna be played by Lapita Nuango. And I've got nothing against Lapita, but I do have a problem with the complete rewriting of history. Elon Musk has been tweeting about this all week long. He just said Christopher Nolan is pissing out Homer's grave. It's disgraceful. This is cultural vandalism, is what they're doing. Historical vandalism.
SPEAKER_01What will speak most is the fact that nobody's gonna go see this woke movie and it's gonna be a box office bust and they're gonna make zero money on it.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, how dare you cast popular actors and fictional rules in a movie adaptation of a poem written 2,700 years ago. And a black woman is Helen of Troy, who, according to the same mythology, hatched from an egg that was the result of Zeus turning into a swan and having sex with a goddess who turned into a goose. You know, white lady stuff. And let me just say, I've been accused of being woke over the years, but I've never been so woke as to be a poem cop. That's right. You're all f poem cops. Oh, that's actually not how the poem goes, and if you can't accept that, we're gonna need you to leave the coffee house. Forks. So you heard them, nobody's gonna see this movie. It's gonna be a box office bus. It's gonna make zero money, and Christopher Nolan will have to go back to make it as far left indie movies like Dunkirk and Batman. That's the lesson of the Trump era.
SPEAKER_03You go woke, you go broke. It was an epic box office weekend for the Odyssey. Christopher Nolan's take on Homer's ancient Greek poem brought in, listen to this figure, $260 million worldwide. That's huge.
SPEAKER_06Oh my god, do you know what this means? Woke was bad. The last time I get my Hollywood news from MAGA, most of them haven't seen a movie in the theater since Fast and Furious, and even then they couldn't pay full attention because they were too horned up over their candy.
unknownWoo!
SPEAKER_06Snow caps indeed. Alright, everybody? One, two, three, rollos! Alright, you guys. These people their pants over the casting of a fictional movie like they just ate lettuce from Taco Bell. But don't worry. Don't worry. Elon Musk, the world's richest man and weirdest man, seen here recasting Morpheus as a white man, has a foolproof solution. He's gonna make a manga-friendly version of the Odyssey using a talented group of writers, actors, directors, stagehands, and cinematographers who will come together and I'm just fing with you. It's AI.
SPEAKER_29The Odyssey meets AI. Elon Musk says that Grok will make a full-length, historically accurate film of the Odyssey. Grok is Musk's AI platform. So Musk says that the film will be completed before the end of the year and will be true to the art of Homer, who wrote the epic Greek story.
SPEAKER_06Wow, I can't wait for that to suck. Elon Musk is gonna use fake actors stolen from real actors to make a fake movie that's a real version of a fake story. I'm so excited for the AI dialogue. I hope it's like ChatGPT. Odysseus, you must return home. You got it. I can't wait to embark on this journey with you. Let's keep it light and fun. And I'm here for whatever you need. Also, what do you mean historically accurate? It's not, it's a myth. Are you also making a historically accurate version of the Santa Claus? Oh if Sailor fell off the roof, you wouldn't take his place. He would sue you for damages, and if he was smart, use that money to buy crypto. Samaga predicted the Odyssey would flop, although by now we should know not to trust their predictions, given that they also said the Iran war would be a huge success. We've already knocked out so much of their capability. It looks like this is just a wrap-up mission at this point.
SPEAKER_05No, the war is going well. I'm willing to say that this is a danger.
SPEAKER_16This time next week, we may be able to declare victory. Trump has already won in Iran.
SPEAKER_17The major war is over. And think of this as uh almost uh just a mock-up operation. The majority of this war is over.
SPEAKER_04You keep telling us how we're winning this war. The president keeps saying Well, the war's over. The war is not over.
SPEAKER_21We'll have Iran defeated soon. They'll be defeated very soon. We're winning militarily. Almost won militarily, I would say. I think it's close to over. Yeah.
AI Movies And Box Office Reality
SPEAKER_21I I mean I view it as very close to over. We've won this. This war has been won. We've won. Let me say we've won. We won. We won the bet in the first hour, it was over.
SPEAKER_06Oh, you won in the first hour? You sound like the Spurs in the NBA finals. Guys, relax. We're up 29 points. What are they gonna do? Use Carl Anthony Towns to block the Straight of Hormuz. Cat could do it, by the way. He has the wingspan to do it. Seriously, what do you mean we won in the first hour? Then what are you been doing for the past five months? Post-game interviews while bombs are still going off in the background? You know, we played the Great War, everything went according to the game plan, and uh probably just fans celebrating. I wouldn't worry about that. Pretty loud for a firework, though. I'm war is definitely not over. In fact, it's spiraling further out of control. There doesn't seem to be a plan or an end in sight, although the president doesn't really seem to know what's going on.
SPEAKER_02Mr. President, there are no signs that Iran is ready to stop fighting. So so what is the plan? Is the plan to just keep bombing until they give up?
SPEAKER_21There are no signs. What what, you know something that I don't know? You don't know uh you don't know anything. So talks are not.
SPEAKER_06I don't think he's being sarcastic. I think he's genuinely asking. You know something I don't know? And if you do, would you be willing to whisper it in my ear or barring that, write it down on a tiny piece of folded up paper that I can read later and then pretend I knew it the whole time? Do you? The war is escalating the strait is closed. Again, ships are being attacked, and the supposed ceasefire Trump just signed last month has already been ripped up. And yet he keeps insisting that Iran is desperate to settle.
SPEAKER_21They want to settle so badly, they don't like what we're doing. They want to be desperately to try and end it. They want to make a deal. I can tell you they want to make a deal.
SPEAKER_06Behind the scenes, they're desperate to settle. In fact, they're so desperate they sent me a gift, a beautiful wooden horse. We wheeled it right in it. The horse came up to me, big horse, strong horse, tears pouring. From his wooden eyes down onto his wooden snout, and then a tiny little voice from inside his belly said to me, There's nobody in here. And I said, I said, It's so true. By the way, that's not even that far off from the truth. Trump literally did say at one point that the country he was at war with had sent him a very special gift.
SPEAKER_21They did something yesterday that was amazing, actually. They gave us a present, and the present arrived today. And it was a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money. And I'm not going to tell you what that present is, but it was a very significant uh uh prize.
SPEAKER_06It was a very significant prize. I can't say what it is, but I'll just tell you I'll be having a lot of fun tonight with two guys named Mike and Ike. What do you think? Whatever anybody answered, you go out and get it for them. Put it on my tab. I don't have a tab. So the Trump team declared premature victory, and now five months later, the war is only getting worse. In fact, Pete Heggseth is asking for more money for the war
Iran War Victory Claims Collapse
SPEAKER_06and facing some very pointed questions from Congress. For example, a Georgia Senator John Osov wanted to know when Heggseth said Iran's military had been destroyed, what was that all about?
SPEAKER_19On day 14 of this conflict, Mr. Secretary, day 14, nearly five months ago, you stated that Iran's military had been, quote, destroyed and quote, made combat ineffective. That was on day 14 of the war. Was that an accurate statement?
SPEAKER_18They didn't have a Navy any longer. But there, Mr.
SPEAKER_19Secretary Mosley, you stated very long on day fourteen of this conflict, in the second week of the conflict, you stated that Iran's military had been, quote, destroyed and quote, made combat ineffective. Was that an accurate statement? Yes or no?
SPEAKER_18Iran's ability to challenge the United States of America at the level of which we're capable of.
SPEAKER_19That's not what I asked you, Mr. Secretary. You said on day 14 Iran's military had been, quote, destroyed and quote, made combat ineffective. Yes or no? Was that an accurate statement?
SPEAKER_18What the American military has been. Well, you answer the question in that context.
SPEAKER_06There's nothing more terrifying than asking the same question over and over again, like the f Terminator. I'm gonna try that with my kids. Did you eat the cookies? Have I eaten cookies in the past? Yes, I have. Did you eat the cookies? If you're asking me, do I like cookies? I do. Did you eat the cookies? There is a context in which the cookies have been eaten. Trump was clearly not pleased with this line of questioning. During a rally in Georgia, he went after Asof with a very, very weird line of attack.
SPEAKER_21You're terrible, Senator John Arsof. He's terrible. I fought Assof before, as you know, and we won. We had a great success against this guy. He reminds me of Pinky Herman. Do you ever see Pinky Herman?
SPEAKER_06Who the f is Pinky Herman? Is that some mobster from Queens who took you under his wing? Pinky taught me everything I know. He used to say, if you really want to show a moose boss, fall asleep in meetings. Sorry, do you mean Pee Wee Herman? Because he doesn't look anything like Pee-Wee Herman. If anything, I bet the inside of your brain looks like Pee-Wee's Playhouse. The same people who predicted a blockbuster movie would flop because it was woke also thought the Iran War would be a fast, overwhelming success, and in both cases they were wrong because they live in a bubble, an alternate reality where Eminem's are sexy, Odysseus was a real guy, and the president is a great dancer. When in reality, when you see Trump dance, it's a reminder that he's definitely white. This has been a closer look. You're not gonna like me when I'm angry.
SPEAKER_07Turning now to the Pentagon, which is currently shaking down the American taxpayer for some $1.5 trillion. Secretary of War Pete Heggsath went before Congress and said that the greatest national security threat America faces if he doesn't get his outrageous budget. Let's take a listen.
SPEAKER_18As I have said before, not fully funding this department, the Department of War, and we know what that means, that that means $1.5 trillion, given the world that we live in and the disaster of what the Biden administration budgets gave us. Not funding this department at 1.5 trillion, I believe, is the greatest threat that our nation faces.
SPEAKER_07The greatest threat our nation faces is an extra $500 billion, which they didn't originally need and made up a number out of completely whole cloth. This comes as the Pentagon
Pentagon Budget Without An Audit
SPEAKER_07act this part is real, actually is running out of money because of the Iran War. They are almost 100% lying to us about the cost, and I'll break that down just here in a moment. One of the funny things is I've been reading a ton of the stuff behind the scenes. The lawmakers, they've been bringing the lawmakers to the Pentagon for four to six hour meetings where they have chips and dip and AI-powered PowerPoints, and they're just walking them through why they need all this money. And even the Republicans are like, I just don't get it. They're like, where is the money going? And so the point. And the Pentagon doesn't know either. They don't owe it.
SPEAKER_32Their own audits.
SPEAKER_07It's complete, exactly. So, first of all, they have a passing audit in five years. But the thing is, is it's entirely a slush fund. Basically, either for the Iran war or the whatever pet projects, you know, that these Trump people have got going on in the background for drones or all kinds of these boondoggles that they have. They have no zero justification. And if you look, and I have, I've brought many of these up in the past, of these past projects of the promised funding. I brought it up in our last show, $500 million to produce these new hundred or the to reproduce these 155 millimeter shells, which are all given to Ukraine. And it's like, oops, uh, in the four years, so the almost the entirety of the United States experience in World War II, before we appropriated that money to today, not a single shell has rolled off of the assembly line. 500 million, 500 million, it's gone. So how did that happen? Nobody can actually tell you why that basically they bought the wrong part or they made the wrong bet. I'm like, you couldn't have fixed it like two years ago, three years ago, and then the army's like, don't worry about it. We'll eventually we'll get it. There are all kinds of these types of reports. And at the same time that they're shaking us down for 1.5 trillion, the Pentagon is also stopped releasing the F-35 report, which is uh due every single year to Congress, right? So they're covering that up, whatever happened uh with that F-35 over Iran, as well as the one that got clipped uh by the Houthis. They are stopping uh the release of all of these normal reports, which are congressionally mandated by Congress so the public can figure this out, and then telling us with a straight face, if we don't get this 1.5 trillion, then this is the greatest threat that our country faces. It's it's it's it's insanity how this has been normalized.
SPEAKER_32Ken Klippenstein has a piece up to put all of this into perspective, and he says that uh all of World War II, all of it from 1941 to 1945, cost the US an estimated 4.5 trillion in today's inflation-adjusted dollars. Hegeseth wants to spend even more than that over the next four years. He is asking for more money than we spent in all of World War II. If you want another comparison, let's take a look at how much does Iran spend for their military? 7.4 billion. And we brought you earlier this week that Washington Post report where uh military analysts were saying, hey, we're running low on basically everything. We cannot safely sustain this pace at all. It's not just, you know, it's not just certain categories, missile interceptors or whatever that we're running low on. We actually are running low on everything. We cannot continue in this direction. And the White House is maybe not aware of what's going on here. And I think any American has to look at this and be like, what are you doing? What is this money going towards at a time when, you know, this administration and a lot of fanfare at the beginning about doge, you know, we got to cut the debt and the deficit, you know, we're spending way too much money. And then you'll just casually go in and demand $1.5 trillion and say it's the greatest threat to the country if we don't fork it over. No, for a war that we don't even want to be in. I mean, it's complete and utter insanity. Yeah. And so, of course, members of Congress, actually, I mean, certainly Democrats, but Republicans are feeling some pressure on this too, um, as T comes out, you know, hat in hand, begging for more billions to fund something that no one wanted in the first place.
SPEAKER_07Right. And actually, just I'm gonna show everybody Pentagon math. So here's Heg Seth on what the cost of the Iran war is. He says 37.5 billion. And I'll show you what it actually costs. Let's take a listen.
SPEAKER_00I've been listening patiently while you made your presentation. You estimated at one point that the cost of the war in Iran was $29 billion, but then added a caveat that there was a replacement of munitions, for example. Do you have a new estimate about what the war has cost us so far in this, the fifth month of the first year of this war in Iran?
SPEAKER_18Uh Senator, the estimate we have as of today is $37.5 billion.
SPEAKER_00And is the current activity which we have been told about the exchange of fire back and forth uh in Iran, an indication that that number is going to go up in the months ahead?
SPEAKER_18Which um some of that number captures additional OM mill pay and other that would be anticipated through the fiscal year. So some of that anticipates what costs would be going out in the future as well.
SPEAKER_00So the new number you've given me is what? 37.5 billion. And that represents the cost of the war through what period of
Pentagon Math Versus Real Costs
SPEAKER_00time?
SPEAKER_18Through now for certain aspects of it, uh, but also mill pay, OM, other anticipated costs through September 30th, Senator.
SPEAKER_07All right, 37.5 billion. That's Pentagon math. Now let's look at actual math. Let's put this one up here on the screen. The real cost is somewhere around 100 billion. And by the way, even that is a little bit of a lowball. So how exactly does the Pentagon, you know, secretary go before Congress and say under oath that it's $37.5 billion? Well, you actually kind of heard it in his response, is not counting munitions and replacement costs, which is kind of an insane way to actually count it. And if anything, says that just operating costs absent of what was shot is $37.5 billion, should get everybody a heart attack. If the real cost is $100 billion, I just want to put this into perspective for everybody. For the 20 years that the United States spent trying to rebuild the Afghan National Security Forces, 20 years. We all remember what that project was like. The total cost of that operation was $100 billion. So $100 billion spent in 100 days versus 20 years. That's how much more efficient we've become at throwing away money. And where did the money go exactly? We can actually see that they're flat going broke because of the way that the budget is allocated. So let's put the next one up here on the screen. And this again shows you why they're so desperate for this for this $1.5 trillion cash injection. The Pentagon faces an urgent budget for shortfall because of the Iran war. Already they are limiting training and maintenance and help maintain military readiness. They continue to short several other critical departments of the Pentagon. The White House has now asked for an immediate infusion of $67 billion, or remember, that's $30 billion more than Pete Hexath just said that the Iran war cost, just to help cover some of the costs. If you continue to actually look at where some of this stuff is going, you could see that it comes largely from airstrikes, it comes from replacement of munitions, it comes also from the operating costs of all of these different aircraft carriers, these strike groups, the forward deployment, the amount of resources and overtime and other things that they have to pay over here. This is just the direct cost of the war itself. This doesn't even factor in munition replacement, and that's with the 100 billion figure that I'm talking about. So the real cost is probably two to 300 billion, which is insane. I mean, that that is so categorically nuts. At the time, when I covered Afghanistan, I was like, this is more than we spent in Vietnam. And somehow we've blown out the Vietnam budget in a hundred days. Think about it. I mean, we're on track actually already. And we don't need any troops that are on the ground. Imagine what that will cost.
SPEAKER_32And it also doesn't take into account rebuilding the bases that have been obliterated, but those bases may never be rebuilt. I mean, there may be no reason to go back to the clearly the basing strategy has completely failed. I don't know that those countries are gonna be super excited about us going back in and rebuilding and setting up shop after all of this, whenever all of this is over. But yeah, you just look at it and you're like, where is the money going? Like, what are you actually around about everything? You're having to skimp on training and maintenance and you're begging for more billions? Like, what is actually happening here? I genuinely don't understand. And by the way, they don't really understand either because they can't pass an audit. So they don't know where the money is coming from, you know, going to either. Ryan made a good point. He's like, how do you know you're out of money when you can't even do your own audit? Like, what how does that even work?
SPEAKER_07No, what happens is you check the bank account and you see that it's low, but you don't know where it all went. I mean, we're a small business. I can't even run shit like that.
SPEAKER_32We're the government. Yeah, and meanwhile, it's like, oh, well, we need ammo, but you know, that'll take years, and we're low on this, and uh that radar system is defunct. And uh what has happened? I mean, it really speaks to the way that we have outsourced all of this to these grifting military-industrial complex defense contractors. They jack up the price on everything. We're completely beholden to them. There's an absolute revolving door between the Pentagon and between industry. No one has any incentive to do anything intelligently or in a cost-effective way. Meanwhile, Iran is turning out their Shawhead drones at low cost, like there's no tomorrow. Uh, they actually, as a middle-income country, have maintained their industrial base. So they're able to do that and spin up production, no problem. Here we are, the supposed superpower, and there's no equivalent ability to, you know, turn, flip a switch and in anything approaching a cost-effective manner, spin these things up. So it's, I mean, it's just a complete indictment of the entire system that we have constructed. And and Rubio has the gall to come out and be like, oh, the Iranians are spending all their money on their military rather than helping their people. First of all, we're attacking them. So they're under existential threat. I imagine their people right now are quite an understanding of why the military budget needs to be upped a little bit while they're directly at war with us and with Israel. And by the way, everybody else in the region who, you know, these uh attacks are being launched from. Second of all, look at our country. Trump literally came out and said, Well, we can't have nice things because we got to spend all this money on our military. Like, this is what you're doing. Uh-huh 1.5 trillion and it's the greatest threat to our country if we don't hand all of that over to And 1.0 trillion for what?
SPEAKER_07What will it get us? More munitions? Because that's what they always say, more money. Where's the bullets? The bullets don't exist. It's like, where's the tomahawk missiles? Oh, that'll be six years. Sorry. Did I didn't remember I covered the story how Japan, so we went to Japan and we shook them down. We're like, hey, you guys got to buy some tomahawks. The Japanese are like, okay, we'll buy some. Here's our money, here's the order. And then you know what happened? We launched the Iran war, and we're like, yeah, you're gonna have to wait a few years for those tomahawk missiles if they come at all sometime in the future. That's a one minuscule example. And this whole supply chain, it's a nightmare from the tomahawk missiles. I was talking to you guys privately about gun cotton. There's one factory in the whole United States that makes gunk. It's one of the most critical inputs for these artillery shares. One, it's in Radford, Virginia. If it goes on fire, which is literally a highly flammable substance, good luck. We're out, and so is half a NATO, where they import 40 something percent of their gun cotton also comes from that same factory. What are we gonna do? And there's no modernization, there's no actual like efficiency. You're talking about the Shah Head drone, it costs $20,000 to $100,000 a pop. Something like these Tomach missiles, $4,5 million, you know, and they have to be built in one factory in Arizona. Where is the money going? For what purpose? And how like no other, and I not not to say government is a business, but the sheer like even attempt at trying to have some level of efficiency. And then if you're going to say that we're running like a government, we should make it hardened as in not very vulnerable to potential disasters or problems like a fire, I don't know, at one factory, which is deeply critical, they don't even do that. You know, the afternoon, but all they're doing is covering up all of the problems that exist in these gigantic boondoggles. And all of us are the ones who are paying for the it only goes exponential in terms of the cost. That's what's so staggering when you compare the Afghan conflict to this one. You're like, how did you do how did you accomplish the boondoggle that we all saw on the withdrawal in just a hundred-day period? It's it's it's genuinely sunny.
SPEAKER_32One tomahawk missile, single missile, 18 to 24 months from the moment of the orders.
SPEAKER_07Two years. People who listen, like, they think I'm exaggerating. If anything, I'm underplaying it. Like I you need to go. They're all of this, the word, this is what they're trying to do. They're actually stopping, like I said earlier, the release of these open source documents on THAD and on Tomahawk. You people accuse me of saying, like, how would you know the stockpile? I go, luckily, we actually have Congress, which is mandated, you just have to release the report. You don't know the exact number, but based on a general estimate, you can do plus or minus five to 10%. We actually do know. A lot of this stuff has been highlighted in the open source environment. So yeah, almost 60 to 80% of the fads are gone. Gone. I mean, it will take five years at a minimum just to replace that. And we continue to fire today. I mean, the actual cost of the one actual cost estimate of the first 60 days of the war was 82 billion. That was 40 days ago. You know, it's like when you when you start to put all this stuff together, it's nuts. There's no accountability in our government. And just to you know, continue this. Here uh we have uh Mike Waltz getting grilled by Ted Lew, who is you know also trying to underplay the amount of people who've now been killed in the Iran War. Let's take a listen.
SPEAKER_11How many American troops have been killed in the Iran War? In these ongoing operations, 18 okay. Now, President Trump has repeatedly stated that Iran's military was obliterated on March 16th, President Trump stated that Iran's military was quote, literally obliterated, end quote. How is it possible that 482 American troops have been wounded and 18 service members killed by an Iranian military that's been purportedly obliterated?
SPEAKER_17The Iranian Navy, Air Force, air defense system, and industrial capacity have been massively damaged, if not completely ineffective. But this is a state that is trying to reconstitute. This is a state, a regime that is obsessed with a nuclear weapon, and it's a regime that still maintains some missile and drone capability that it's firing on all of its neighbors, including our bases. I think that's a pretty common sense uh evaluation, but if I need to explain it to you further, I can.
SPEAKER_11You need to explain to the American people how an Iranian military that's been reportedly obliterated killed 18 UR service members and wounded 480. As you notice seven of those service.
SPEAKER_07Well, let me finish in a plane.
SPEAKER_11So there you go.
SPEAKER_07They died in a plane crash. First of all, that plane crash. Yeah, there's a lot of questions about that one in terms of what they claim. Also, where are those pilots? Anybody seen them? Weird.
SPEAKER_32In a few months, you know, there was there was another hot exchange between them where Lou asked him, you know, how many US troops have been wounded in Iran? And Walt is like, eh, maybe around 100. It's like, no, it's 482. How do you not know that? Um, and I mean it is it is literally disgraceful. And so obviously, he's getting caught there in the fact that Trump is constantly making these grandiose pronouncements about how they're obliterated and we won the war and their nuclear program is obliterated and all of these things. Well, if the nuclear program's obliterated, why are we now getting all this propaganda about pickaxe mountain? If the nuclear program was obliterated, why didn't we do this war in the first place? If the Iranian military is obliterated, how are they still able to kill our service members, take on our radars, and wreak destruction across the entire region? So, you know, sometimes sometimes Trump's lies do meet with reality in a way that becomes somewhat undeniable.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, that's very true. Last thing, I just want to flag this for everybody, B6. This would be an insane thing, and it looks like it's going to happen. Trump is now saying that Republicans should add Iran to the Russia sanctions bill. For those of you who don't know, the entire Congress is currently united in honoring Lindsey Graham by putting these massive sanctions on the Russian economy, so-called secondary sanctions. And now they want to add Iran per Trump in and in the honor of the great Lindsey Graham who would have wanted this. So, what this piece of legislation would do is it would be even more of an economic declaration of war on the Russian economy. You can, you know, support that, not support that. I can tell you it'll certainly will continue to send oil prices higher because that's a way that they're mostly funding their economy and then also in terms of the Iranian economy. It would also give Trump massive presidential and discretionary power to use the same type of national security authority he originally imposed his original terrorists on. So it's not
Congress Grills War Strategy
SPEAKER_07really just about Russia and it's not just about Iran. Really, what they're doing is passing one of the most neoconservative pieces of legislation ever forward in the name of national security and Ukrainian democracy or whatever, adding Iran in there, and it would absolutely cripple even more of the black market oil, which is currently on the market. You may say that, oh, that's a good thing, but of course, coming at this current time, it gives Trump more extraordinary powers and would further hurt, actually, and probably drive oil prices even higher. So if that's something that you want, then I guess that that's something that you should support. So last that was the last thing I just wanted to put on everybody's radar. It's very, very underplayed in Washington because the whole you know neocon media supports it, but it's like it's a terrible piece of legislation that they didn't want to pass originally because they knew it would genuinely have leave us no negotiating options whenever it came to the Kremlin. And yet, of course, in honor of Lindsay, that's what we all have to do. All right, let's get to the polls.
SPEAKER_24Thank you, uh Chair, and uh thank you to our witnesses uh here today. I want to uh begin by first uh echoing uh my colleagues' uh comments uh that we've heard throughout uh the hearing here, and join them in mourning the loss uh of American service members uh who were killed uh in action these last few days. Uh my thoughts are with their families, uh with a service member who remains uh missing, and with all those injured uh during the strikes. Um I will continue to uh pray for their families. Secretary Hegsaf, uh, over the course of the war with Iran, I have uh repeatedly expressed concerns regarding the administration's lack of uh winning strategy and repeated contradictions uh about uh the state of the war. It frankly doesn't help that you uh and your president continues to mislead the American people. You and the president have repeatedly said that the war, as we've heard over and over again, uh, is almost over or already won. In fact, the president alone has said the war is almost over more than 30 times. On March 1st, the president said uh we'll be done in four or five weeks. On March 9th, he said the war was very complete. On April 8th, he declared total and complete victory. 100%, no question about it. On the same day you declared Operation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield, a capital V military victory by any measure. And yet today, July 21st, we have soldiers whose remains are sadly going to be returned to their deeply grieving families tomorrow. Clearly, the war is not over yet. After months of conflict, our strategy to win remains unclear. I have long said the United States has the strongest military in history in the world, and I have no doubt that our brave service members can execute any mission and prevail in any battle. But without a clear-winning strategy, we're at risk of being in another four-ever war that'll put our service members in continued harm's way and continue to cost taxpayers billions of dollars. Secretary Hagg said, despite uh our your failure to win this war, uh, you are back now before Congress asking for almost $70 billion in additional funding. You're asking the American people for a blank check because once again, the Trump administration's efforts have been an utter and complete failure to win this war to this point. So, my question for you, sir, is how is your strategy different than what we've seen in the past? So far, we have not seen a strategy that's been successful. You mentioned nuclear material is the primary goal of the war. It still exists. We haven't dealt with that issue yet. You talk about the destruction of missiles, and yet the missiles that we saw hit recent targets are actually somehow more lethal, more deadly, more maneuverable than what we have seen in the past. So they're obviously improving uh their munitions. The Strait of Hormuz uh is uh still closed, reminding everybody it was open before the war. Prices were lower for everybody until the war, and it still remains uh closed. And of course, uh tragically, people, service members, our war fighters who we care deeply about, are still dying. So what's different?
unknownMr.
SPEAKER_24Exit. So Secretary Hagson.
SPEAKER_18I think your characterization of this incredible effort as a failure is reckless. Uh and I think it's irresponsible, and I think it smears the sacrifice of the troops that are out there making on behalf of the American people to ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon. Shame on you and others who call this a quagmire and a failure, and then you want to turn around and say you support the war fire. Either you do or you don't. Is the nuclear material still there? I can get you a ticket out to CENTCOM and talk to what those Americans are doing and how committed they are to this effort, and how they want to ensure that Iran never threatens their families with a nuclear weapon. It's a it is that that's the kind of intensity that our warfighters have about making sure that Iran isn't capable of doing it.
SPEAKER_24If you listen to my comments, you totally would have heard me say. How amazing our warfighters are.
SPEAKER_18I heard failure. The word heard failure I heard exactly.
SPEAKER_24I will tell you how I use the word failure. Because I use the word failure to their leaders. You are the failure. Not the men and women who are on that front line, not the men and women who hold up their honor with uh distinction. But if there's a lack of a winning strategy, they're in harm's way. Their leaders have failed them. And that's what's happening. We have political leadership. You don't have a strategy. You don't have a long-term plan to actually win this war. Win the war. The men and women are going to be able to do it, but they need to have leadership.
SPEAKER_05When will you show leadership?
SPEAKER_18When will you show leadership? Why don't you show some leadership and stand up to your fellow Democrats who won't fund the troops, who stand and play partisan politics while you don't give us the money? You want to stand up here and talk about the troops? You won't show any political courage to actually fund our department because you have Trump derangement syndrome and can't actually commit to anything meaningful. So I put this on you, Senator.
SPEAKER_24Sergeant Haggs, if you have trillions, you have over a trillion dollars, you're asking for one and a half trillion dollars. It's not a question of money, it's a question of leadership and understanding what it takes to actually win.
SPEAKER_18Political cowardice of Democrats who won't fund the troops. So as far as a military assessment of Iran's capabilities, it doesn't mean by any stretch of the imagination absolute zero.
SPEAKER_19But they're at the lowest level. Yes or no?
SPEAKER_18Iran's ability to challenge the United States of America at the level of which we're capable of.
SPEAKER_19That's not what I asked you, Mr. Secretary. You said on day 14 Iran's military had been, quote, destroyed and quote, made combat ineffective. Yes or no? Was that an accurate statement?
SPEAKER_18What the American military has said the Iranian military is a historic military.
SPEAKER_19Will you answer the question in that context? Three weeks later you declared victory. That was now nearly four months ago. Three weeks after you'd already said Iran's military was destroyed and combat ineffective, you said, quote, Operation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming victory. You said Iran's military had been rendered, quote, combat ineffective for years to come. And you stated we had, quote, achieved every single objective. Were those accurate statements?
SPEAKER_18It certainly was, on behalf of the men and women in uniform, a historic military victory over Iran.
SPEAKER_19Had Iran's military been rendered, quote, combat ineffective for years to come? That was a statement that you made four months ago.
SPEAKER_18It said four months. Excuse me. And I would describe to you a company that a country that does not have an effective. Mr.
SPEAKER_19Secretary, you stated four months ago that Iran's military had been rendered, quote, combat ineffective for years to come. Has Iran's military been for the last four months combat ineffective?
SPEAKER_18It's been set back not just years, but likely decades.
SPEAKER_19You stated we have quilted at the level it did before, not exactly. Mr. Secretary, you stated we had, quote, achieved every single objective. Was that an accurate statement four months ago?
SPEAKER_18The main objective of this was to ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon. Their main sites were obliterated. We're watching over them and we're holding that issue. If they don't give them up at the table, there's other ways we can take the weapon. Early in the conflict, Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.
SPEAKER_19Mr. Secretary, early in the conflict day three, you said one of those core objectives was to quote, destroy the missile threat, and as you restated on day five, to quote, obliterate Iran's missiles and drones. Those were clearly and repeatedly stated core objectives of the campaign, which four months ago you declared had been completed victoriously with every single objective achieved. Were those objectives achieved four months ago?
SPEAKER_18No one ever stated that every single missile was gone. Ultimately, combat ineffective means they're not able to dig them out of their UGFs and shadows. It doesn't mean they don't have underground facilities where they put missiles in them and hold onto them because they're the lar the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism. So we never expected they would stop having capabilities to shoot. The question is at scale against opponent like the United States of America, which went toe to toe with them in Iran couldn't answer.
SPEAKER_19You stated on March 8th, day nine of the war, on 60 minutes you assured the American people of Iranian surrender. Does that remain your prediction?
SPEAKER_18Ultimately, Iran will never have a nuclear weapon to threaten the United States of America. That has been the objective, and it remains so.
SPEAKER_19So just to review, you will not answer whether your statement made on the 14th day of the war that Iran's military had been, quote, destroyed and made combat ineffective was a truthful statement to the American people as you sit here and ask for tens of billions more for the country.
SPEAKER_04Pete Hicks says it's full of himself and full of it. You've mismanaged the money in the budget that the Congress has already given you. The fact that you're coming back and asking for another $67 billion and are proposing a $1.0 budget for next year, you are full of it. Full of it. We'll talk a little bit later what can be done with some of that money. But the reality of it is, Senator, he can't answer the question because he has mismanaged the budget. There's 17 plus troops who are dead on his watch. That's not accounted for. The use of munitions, the use of strategy, the lack of strategy. How how does he come before the committee and justify this? What was your take today? What's how do you see this playing out? Because I can't see any Republicans that I once knew sitting there thinking that this fool actually makes sense in this request today, given the money that's already been spent to what? To what end? What have we seen?
SPEAKER_12What do we see for that money? So two things. First of all, just the context. This is a war of choice. We were not under any threat from Iran. And it has been an unmitigated disaster in terms of loss of life, in terms of who's bearing the costs. My farmers, my constituents who can't afford to fill their fuel tanks, and farmers can't afford to buy fertilizer. The Strait of Hormuz now choked up. It was open before we went in. All of the political goals they've expressed, they've made no progress on. We're in worse shape now that this war has been commenced than we were before it began. But on the question that I asked Secretary Hedseth, which was about the deadliest day in this war so far, March 1st, when we lost six service members and dozens more were significantly severely injured. We were unprepared. And there's been recent reporting from many of the troops that survived that attack about the fact that they asked for additional air defense, that they asked for medical preparedness in case and were denied those requests. And he either wasn't briefed on that and didn't know that they were denied.
SPEAKER_04A form of mismanagement.
SPEAKER_12Right. Unprepared. Americans want it to come to an end.
SPEAKER_08Senator, I think the way you characterize it is very important because it is a war of choice. And this is not a war that has been authorized by Congress at all. There is no authorization for the use of military force. This is being done unilaterally by the executive branch. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson was asked about that today. I want to play what he said, please.
SPEAKER_28The administration is working very hard. The commander-in-chief and the and the whole uh Department of War are working very hard to bring this to a resolution. There's a lot of discussions about how that will be done. We're we're all uh closely watching those developments, of course. I don't think an AUMF is in order right now. I think we need to bring this to uh to a resolution.
SPEAKER_08We need to bring this to a resolution without congressional involvement, essentially neutering the legislative branch. We do have some reporting though from notice that Senate Republicans are now pushing for more of a say in their Iran war. Several lawmakers said Monday that Congress should no longer remain on the sidelines. The White House needs to explain where the conflict is headed. Quote, I think it is clear that it's time for Congress to act, Senator Curtis said, and that doesn't mean it's necessarily acting, constraining the president, but in fact defining what this looks like. 17 service members dead, billions upon billions upon billions of dollars in the country, frequently is hurting this economy. A lot of people can't make ends meet. Do you think that your Republican colleagues have the fortitude to actually have a real honest debate about this war?
SPEAKER_12Well, let me point out a couple of uh obvious things. One is they have not come to Capitol Hill until today, and one other appearance to be to to take questions in public, the administration, about this war. That's outrageous uh given um uh the loss of life, given the expenditures related. I I I also want to get to one point you made that obviously this war is not authorized by Congress, but both houses have now gone on record with a majority saying that this conflict must end absent congressional authorization. A majority of both houses passed a concurrent resolution saying that. And so we we've got to bear that in mind. Do I trust my Republican colleagues to act responsibly or act responsibly and to uh do what Congress is called upon to do at this moment? Well, I've been very disappointed that they haven't in large number thus far, but I always have hope that they will understand that we are a branch of government that is the one that declares war. We're the ones with the power of the purse strings. We need to use those powers to hold this administration to account.
SPEAKER_18Keep hope alive.
SPEAKER_30Well, as the great as the late great Reverend Mrs. Jackson would say. Well, to the point you just made then, I mean, coming out of coming into this segment, we played that sound from uh the secretary who is underscoring that like Democrats don't want to fund the military. And I think previously, which I don't think is true to be very clear, but I think previously a claim like that would have grown less. But we can all see with our own eyes. We have heard the right, we've heard the mischaracterizations from, I mean, PVX said four months ago, a couple months ago, didn't we obliterate Iran's nuclear capability? Right, and then we still went to war with Iran, and now we've done obliterated again and again, but yet they are still bombing us. I don't, I don't, it's not making sense. And so the people can see that. Are Democrats and some Republicans though prepared to say we aren't funding any of this because we needed a full accounting of what's going on in this war? We still haven't even spoken about the war crimes allegedly that this administration is committing in Iran by bombing civilian infrastructure. Are folks prepared to really hold firm on this?
SPEAKER_12Yes, and let me just remind uh some conversations we've had before on this. There's a group of us in the Senate who have come repeatedly to the floor of the Senate weekly to say uh to present a war powers resolution and to say, go on record, do you support this or not? Then last week we took the nearly unprecedented move of saying we are not moving the National Defense Authorization Act forward. We will at some point, but not right now, while this war is going on. And so there's a lot of folks drawing a line in the sand. But back to your point about do Democrats uh support funding our troops, funding defense, right now in our current fiscal year, the Defense Department reached nearly a trillion dollars in funding. That was a significant increase last year for this current fiscal year. I mean, the claim is a lie, right?
SPEAKER_30Which is all I mean, the claim is a lie.
SPEAKER_12That's right. That's right.
SPEAKER_23There's a simple thing in as a leader, and you know this having been in the military, Trump wouldn't know it because he's a draft dodging coward. But anyway, it's this a war is justified if you're willing to send your kids. Because how can you send somebody else's kids to a war if you won't send your own?
SPEAKER_20Jesse Ventura just called for Baron Trump to enlist on live television. Piers Morgan sat down with Bill O'Reilly and Jesse Ventura to talk about Iran, and O'Reilly spent his half of the segment saying he had the inside line for the White House. Fine. Then Piers pushed back with a real argument, and the best O'Reilly could manage was calling it a theory. That's it. That's the rebuttal. Look, I have watched a lot of people claim they speak for power. It is rare that the claim collapses this fast, this cleanly, on camera. But then Ventura sits down, and before he even gets to Iran, he lays his family's entire service record on the table. A grandfather gassed in World
Ventura Challenges War And NATO
SPEAKER_20War I, a father with six bronze battle stars, two tours in Vietnam as a Navy SEAL. And then he says the thing that should be on every front page tomorrow. A war is only justified if you are willing to send your own kids. And then he names one specific kid who never has. This is the stuff that gets eclipped for 15 seconds and never gets the full weight it deserves. If you want the whole exchange, not the soundbite, the actual argument, you are in the right place. Stick around, because Ventura is not done, and where he goes next with NATO is the part nobody is talking about yet. I am Silas Miller. Let's get into it.
SPEAKER_31Oh no, uh, but you're spouting a theory. Yeah. It may be right, but it doesn't jive with what my information flow is, because as I said, Trump didn't want this military action. It wasn't his arrogance that, oh, I kicked Venezuela's bot, so now I can do the same thing in Iran. I mean, he would have told me if you wanted it. That's what we would have discussed. How to go about it militarily. That's not what we discussed. It was how to get a deal. So, going forward, here's how I see it. Iran's gonna have to make a deal. Because Trump's not gonna stop. And if he has uh to lose the midterms, he'll lose the midterms. Remember, he's gonna have to run again. Okay? He's not stopping. He's not gonna say, oh, yeah, we lost. Ever. That's number one. So the deal is gonna look like Iran will allow weapons inspectors in, probably from the UN, to examine what's going on with the nukes, they'll stop enriching, and they will destroy their ballistic missile capacity, which is already almost destroyed. So we're only talking about a few missiles, not many. Okay, in return, there'll be uh more favorable economic treatment for Iran on a rebuild basis. Trump knows he's not gonna get regime change, so that's you know, he can saber rattle on it, but that's not gonna happen unless the Persian people rise up. And, you know, with these people gunning you down in the street. You know, you're a uh a student of history a little bit pierce. Uh in 1945, when the Russians were coming in from the uh east and the Allies coming in from the west to Berlin, the German people didn't rise up against Hitler. Nobody rose up against Hitler in Germany because the SS would shoot you down in the street. That's the same thing going on in Iran. So likely, and I think within a space of a couple of weeks, this thing will cease and some kind of an arrangement will be made so that the Mullers can tell their people they didn't lose, and Trump can tell his people they want. We want, America want. That's what's likely to happen.
SPEAKER_22Bill O'Reilly, I will invite you back in two weeks' time, and we shall see. If I'm not if I'm not deported, I may be in Portugal. You know what? You'll be even nearer to me, Bill. Get on a plane to London. Yeah. Uh great to have you.
SPEAKER_31We're coming, we're coming to England uh at the end of May, and I'm gonna and you're gonna do an interview with me. I'm telling you you're gonna do or I'm coming to your house about this Muslim intrusion on London. Let's talk about it. Oh, Kenny, so you're in, right? I'm happy to talk about that. All right, excellent. We'll set it on up. Thanks for having me on a panel.
SPEAKER_22I'd love to see you on the set of other census while you're here. It'd be great. Okay. Bill, great to have you. Thanks very much. Well, Jesse Ventura is a former U.S. Navy SEAL, a former professional wrestler, a former actor, and a former governor of Minnesota. We've had many memorable interviews over the years. I'm pleased to say he joins me again now. Jesse, how are you?
SPEAKER_23I'm doing good, Pierce. It's been a long time for you and I. I tried to retire, but well, I tried to retire, but unfortunately, they sent the Gestapo to my high school and they hit it with chemical weapons, which are a war crime, and that brought me back out of retirement to stand up against the war criminal in the White House.
SPEAKER_22Wow. Well, that sounds sensitively dramatic.
SPEAKER_23Well, that's the way it happened. I mean, I was retired. I wasn't I hadn't watched the news since the last election. My son said, You're way better, Dad. You're not tense anymore. Keep it up. And then lo and behold, these ice characters, I call them the Gestapo, and I think I can do that. Let me get something straight right now, Pierce, so people know where I'm coming from. My uncle Emil fought in World War I. My parents both fought in World War II. My father had six brand bronze battle stars in Europe. My mother was a nurse in North Africa, which predated Normandy fighting Rommel, the desert fox, the greatest German general. Both my parents were World War II veterans. My brother and I are both Vietnam veterans and member of the Navy UDT SEAL. We both did two tours to Southeast Asia. So everyone in my family is a war veteran. I wanted to get that out right now, so it'll help with the things that I'm going to say to you in the moments to come.
SPEAKER_22So ICE agents came to your school, you said. What's that?
SPEAKER_23You said the ICE agents came to your school. Yeah, the ice agents came to the school where I went to high school, chasing some guy down just like the Gestapo. And I heard people were offended calling them that. Really? I can tell you right now, if my parents would have been alive and they would have seen what happened in Minneapolis, they would have called it the Gestapo, too. So they come to my school, they use tear gas and pepper spray at the school. Now, here's a question I have, Piers. My uncle Emil fought in World War I and he was gassed. He came home, but his life was ruined. He could never do anything. What did they do? They outlawed it. Gas using chemical weapons became a war crime. Why is it that you can't use them on your enemy, but you're allowed to use them on your own people? That has always been, where is the media on this? You know, using chemical weapons against our own people, which is in essence a war crime.
SPEAKER_22Well, I think the I wouldn't describe uh the gas used by Ice Age as just chemical weapons. I mean, that that infers the weapons are master.
SPEAKER_23They're spraying people from six inches away right in their face. I I can't use that in war. I wasn't allowed to carry tear gas or any type of chemical weapon in war. It's banned from war. It's considered a war crime. You can't use it against your enemy, but you can use it against your own people. Doesn't something ring wrong there for you, Piers? Well, I won't rang a lot.
SPEAKER_22Rang wrong about what was going on in Minnesota. And I'm very glad that uh it has been resolved, at least for now.
SPEAKER_23And I think it hasn't been resolved.
SPEAKER_22Well, no, not completely.
SPEAKER_23Nothing's been resolved. No, I understand. We have two dead people here. Two people were killed by the Gestapo here.
SPEAKER_22Yeah, I understand. And those investigations are ongoing, but at least the uh ICE activity that was going on and the way it was being conducted has been removed from Minnesota, which is a good thing. And I thought what happened was appalling. And I said so at the time. Um let me ask you about Iran and your view of this war.
SPEAKER_23Well, here's how I feel about it. There's a simple thing as a leader, and you know this having been in the military, Trump wouldn't know it because he's a draft-dodging coward. But anyway, it's this a war is justified if you're willing to send your kids. Because how can you send somebody else's kids to a war if you won't send your own? So I'm calling right now for Baron Trump. Donald Trump's son, you know, after all, he's had three wives, he's had kids by each wife, and nobody's ever served in the military. To my knowledge, a Trump in the last hundred years has never done military service. Well, Baron, you can change that. Enlist in the United States military right now. Do something your father didn't have the courage to do, do something your father didn't have the patriotism to do. I want to see a Trump in the military. Everybody in my family has served, so I think I can say that with all due confidence. Come on, Trumps. Don't just reap the benefits of this free world. Somebody put on the uniform, and that's you, Barron. And I heard the excuse that Barron might be too tall. Uh-uh. David Robinson served on active duty. He was seven feet tall before he ever went to the San Antonio Spurs basketball team. David Robinson went to the United States Navy Military Academy. He's one of my officers, not directly, but he would have been.
SPEAKER_22Okay, look, it's one argument that a Trump should serve. That's a perfectly reasonable argument to make. But it doesn't change what's going on in Iran. What is your view of this war? Do you think it's a legitimate war? Many people think that the Iranian regime has been the instrument of terror through the Middle East for the United States.
SPEAKER_23Of course they have been. Of course they have been, Pierce. But wait a minute. He then Trump then calls you guys NATO cowards. Wait a minute. NATO is set up to protect. That means that if a NATO country is attacked, they will all join together to repel it. It doesn't go in reverse. It doesn't mean if one of the NATO countries starts a war, that all the others have to join in. That ain't part of the deal. The deal is protection, not aggression.
SPEAKER_20And here is the part nobody put on the screen. Jesse Ventura called Trump a draft dodging coward, and that is not a schoolyard insult. That is a documented record. Donald Trump received five draft deferments during Vietnam, four for being a student, and a fifth, final one in 1968, for bone spurs. A medical condition so minor it left no lasting record of treatment, diagnosed at exactly the moment his student deferment was running out. That is not a theory. That is his selective service file. So when Ventura says a man who never served has no business deciding whose children go instead, he is not improvising. He is reading the record back to you. But here's the part that actually moves this forward. Bill O'Reilly told Piers this thing would be settled in about two weeks. A deal, weapons inspectors, enrichment stopped, everybody walks away able to claim a win. Let's check that against what is actually happening right now. As of this month, the ceasefire has collapsed. The United States has carried out fresh strikes on Iranian targets, including sites in Bushir province, after attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump himself said at the NATO summit that he considers the ceasefire over, and that he is not sure he wants a deal anymore. His words were to just finish the job. That is not the two-week resolution O'Reilly promised with total confidence on national television. That is a war grinding into another month with no end written anywhere. Here's what that means for somebody who is not sitting across from Piers Morgan with insider access. Every week this stretches on is another week somebody's kid is closer to being the one who goes. Not O'Reilly's kid, not the president's kid, somebody else's. And that is exactly the subhook Ventura built his whole argument around, and it holds up better every day this drags on. He did not say the war was wrong because of ideology. He said it was wrong because of who pays for it. He named names. He named Baron Trump specifically on air and dared him to be the first Trump in a hundred years to put on the uniform his own family has never worn. Nobody on that panel had an answer for that. Not O'Reilly. Not Piers. Because there isn't one. You cannot argue your way out of a pattern that clean. The people who vote for war and the people who fight it have almost never been the same people. And every time somebody with an actual record points that out, the room goes quiet. The wire does not go dark. I am Silas Miller.
SPEAKER_32So we've got a special treat this morning in studio. Both Congressmen, part of the dream team here, Thomas Massey and Rokana. Great to see you both. Welcome.
SPEAKER_07Great to see you, sir.
SPEAKER_32So um you guys have obviously teamed up on a number of initiatives, but you have a new one that you wanted to bring to us today, Congressman Massey, about the um, you know, Epstein Transparency. Tell us what you're pushing forward now.
SPEAKER_14Well, yesterday was the one-year anniversary of the introduction of the Epstein False Transparency Act that Rokana and I wrote. And we thought it was time to do a sequel because uh the first bill's been very successful. We got three million documents released, uh, but there have been some uh dragging of feet by the attorney general and the acting attorney general. And so um, you know, this is to spur the next level. Specifically, the main thing that this new bill does that we've introduced is forces the U.S. Attorney General
Massie And Khanna Push Epstein Transparency
SPEAKER_14to cooperate with state attorneys general that want to prosecute Epstein co-conspirators under state law. And it turns out in New Mexico, that's where the Zoro Ranch was. You hear a lot about Epstein Island, you hear almost nothing about Zoro Ranch, but it was expansive, it was massive, the people were going there all the time, crimes were committed there, and some of those aren't barred by statute of limitations. And so the the Attorney General in New Mexico would like to prosecute those crimes. And so we're making it easier with this bill. That's one of the things it does.
SPEAKER_07What's really interesting uh about this is that it did create a political crisis for the Trump administration. The vice president J.D. Vance actually was on the Joe Rogan podcast just yesterday. I do want curious for both of your response. Congressman Connie, you can start. The vice president said that it was, quote, nonsense that the president was forced to sign the Epstein Files Transparency Act. He said that he did it completely of his own volition, that the idea that the two of you kind of dragged them to it uh was ridiculous because nobody controls uh Donald Trump. I'm curious for for both of your reaction. Congressman Conna, you could start.
SPEAKER_15Well, in the history of the Trump administration has written what Massey and I did will be seen as the most decisive blow to Trump that began the unraveling of his presidency. I mean, no one had stood up to Donald Trump before effectively. And Trump tried everything from including intimidating uh the Thomas's colleagues, Lauren Bulbert and Nancy Mays and uh Marjorie Taylor Greene, some of them he brought into the situation room to get them not to uh support this. Uh they uh adjourned Congress. They didn't swear in Adelita Griova, they tried everything. And what happened? Uh not only did uh they realized that we were gonna pass the act, uh Donald Trump realized that he was gonna get probably 80 to 90 Republicans to be willing to overturn his veto. Right. And that's when uh he signed the act and he told uh J.D. Vance to go into the situation room and start the cover-up. Uh but what this did, it's not just about justice for survivors, which is important. After this, now there are what, a hundred discharged petitions, now suddenly everyone is willing to defy uh Donald Trump, and and we changed the entire culture uh in the Congress.
SPEAKER_32Do you agree with that, Congressman?
SPEAKER_14Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we dragged him kicking and screaming to signing this. I asked to be invited to the bill signing. I think I'm the first Congressman who's ever got a bill passed that wasn't invited to the bill signing. I've never heard of the big fat sharpie. And they did it in secret, like in a in a room with no cameras. I mean, you never see that happen. And at one point, the White House said that it would be a hostile act toward the president for any Republican to co-sign the discharge petition. And you had Jeff Freeland, who's the the legislative affairs director for the president, on Capitol Hill. I saw him going up and down the street and through the halls, running around trying to get people's names off of this bill, trying to keep people from sponsoring it. There's no way they wanted this to happen. And then what was the fallout? I mean, Howard Lutnick. We found out that the guy who's behind Donald Trump on Air Force One and behind the resolute desk, the guy who's always standing there, that guy who took his family to Epstein Island for a little picnic after claiming on TV that he had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. The man was so disgusting he would have nothing to do with him. And, you know, but what we need right now is accountability. And that's what this bill gets to. The other there's a couple other things that Bill does that I'd love to explain. So, you know, in the hearings we saw yesterday, what what was uh with Todd Blanch with his nomination, what was painfully obvious is he's ignoring the victims. And they can't even get their own files. He's still withholding files. The testimony that the victims gave to the FBI, we know it exists on 302 forms. The the victims, the survivors, the ones who are still alive, they know it's there and they can't get it. So our bill gives those victims standing in the U.S. court to sue the Attorney General to get their own files. That's that's really important. The other thing it does is the DOJ, this hasn't been widely reported, but twice they've told us in Congress in like these little notes or memos to Congress that we're using deliberative process privilege in order not to give you some of these documents. And our bill, our original bill said, you've got to tell us about your decisions on whether to prosecute or not prosecute, but they're withholding all those files. That's the nub of this. Is why didn't they prosecute people like Leslie Wexner, Leon Black, Jess Daley, people who in their own files showed that they had information on enough that at one point that you know Leslie Wexner was listed on an FBI document as a co-conspirator in a child sex trafficking ring. And also, so was Leslie Groff, the you know uh the Epstein's uh main assistant who helped traffic the women. So um, what this will do is it takes away unambiguously, we believe our first bill did anyway, but unambiguously it says you don't have these special privileges that you can exert to withhold files. And finally, it gives Roe and I standing to go to a court, get in front of a judge, and have a judge have the third branch of government adjudicate whether the executive branch is complying with the law that the legislative branch wrote and the president signed.
SPEAKER_32And Congressman Massey, you know, you were successfully defeated in your primary thing.
SPEAKER_14Successfully defeated, but like a jumbo shroud there.
SPEAKER_15Yeah, by the way, if Trump wanted to voluntarily sign this, he should have been endorsing Massey in that campaign.
SPEAKER_32And that's the point is, you know, you cross Trump and you cross the Israel lobby. They dumped, what, $30 million in against you? Their effort from their perspective was successful in getting you out. But I am curious if you agree with uh with Congressman Kana that your efforts on Epstein were a blow to the Trump administration. And I don't think that that was, you know, your goal. That's not the way you have framed it. But it does seem like it created a fracture in the base and was kind of, you know, the start of his approval rating really beginning to fall off.
SPEAKER_14Well, I think it was self-inflicted by the president. He he went on TV and said, if you think there's any there there in these Epstein files, you are no longer a supporter of mine. I don't want your support. He told MAGA, you're you're no friend of mine if you still want to pursue this promise that I made, right? So he basically fractured right in half MAGA. And uh he lost Marjorie Taylor Green on this. I mean, this was he called her a traitor for pursuing the Epstein Files Transparency Act, right? Like I might have had other infractions like voting against the big beautiful bill or not voting for Mike Johnson. But Marjorie Taylor Green had been loyal to the president, and the only place that she deviated was on the Epstein files. He told her on the phone, and she related this to me immediately when it happened, that you're gonna hurt my friends if you persist in getting these files released. And so um it was, I wouldn't, I don't uh bro gives us too much credit for inflicting this damage. I it at MIT we call this ballistic podiatry, which is shooting yourself in the foot, right? The original cause. Right. We gave him the opportunity, yes. Um but also uh I really think the credit goes to the survivors, and it was and it was Roe who invited them for the first time to be heard on the steps of the Capitol, right there in front of the Capitol. We gave them a voice. There were people who had never been public before, it wasn't worth the risk to them. They came out, said that they were, you know, had been victims, were survivors, and told their stories. And I think that's what motivated uh our colleagues eventually to vote nearly unanimously to pass this.
SPEAKER_15Now, one thing I haven't said one of the reasons the partnership with Massey and I works, Thomas is an MIT guy. He knows all the details. You know, you wouldn't understand discharge petition, this rule, that rule. Thomas knows all of that. And you need to know all of that to achieve what we did. Uh I uh helped bring the survivors uh and organize that press conference twice uh in front of the Capitol, and that changed public opinion, and that uh helped make sure that we could pass it. And it was the teamwork with different complementary skills, not just across the aisle, uh, that allowed us to get the Epstein files passed.
SPEAKER_14Well, one more thing. If the president is so gung-ho to get these files out, why are they still dragging their feet and exerting every privilege they can to redact anything they can?
SPEAKER_07Well, to both of your point, you know, you meant Crystal mentioned the Israel lobby. There's been a lot of speculation about Jeffrey Epstein and his connection to Israel. The administration has officially denied it, I believe, Todd Blanch, you know, in his interview with Glenn Maxwell. And yet the vice president, again, yesterday on the Joe Rogan experience, said it is clear that Jeffrey Epstein had connections to the highest levels of American intelligence and Israeli intelligence. Let's take a listen and we'll get both of your reactions.
SPEAKER_10He clearly had connections to the upper the highest levels of American intelligence. He clearly had connections to the highest levels of Israeli intelligence. In fact, one of the interesting stories, one of the interesting things the Epstein saga reveals about, and I try to make this point, is it's one of the reasons why I'm always careful, and I say there are some elements within the Israeli government who don't like our peace process, because there are a lot of elements within the Israeli government that actually do like our peace process. They recognize that this indefinite campaign is not good for them either. And the Epstein thing is interesting because as much as I know, you know, Prime Minister Netanyahu, not a particularly popular person in the United States of America right now, Epstein seemed to be connected to the elements of the Israeli deep state that were left of center. Like I've always found that fascinating. It wasn't like he was super connected to the right of center of Israeli politics.
SPEAKER_07So an interesting clip there. You know, both confirmed, well, at least, you know, he's the highest, a fewest official on record to say had connections to the U.S. intelligence and to Israeli intelligence, never been confirmed before, either by the Mossad, actually been denied by Mossad, definitely also been denied by the U.S. intelligence. But he also seems to try and to separate Epstein from the current coalition government, including Israel. Congressman Connor, I'm just curious for your reaction, considering you know these comments from the vice president.
SPEAKER_15First of all, he's not a pundit. He's the sitting vice president. He could release the remaining files. He could declassify the documents and explain to the American public what had exactly happened with Epstein, who he was. He should, if he believes this, he has an obligation to release the files and to have a report on Epstein's tie to intelligence. And this is a standard line where he politicizes everything. Oh, they were connected to the left, not the right. But what the relevant, but anyway. But the relevant point is okay, why isn't he taking action? Instead, he was in the situation room covering up at every step of the way the release of the files and transparency.
SPEAKER_14And to some degree, he's just admitting or curating what's in the files, right? We got an audio tape now of Abud Barak asking Jeffrey Epstein, well, Abud Barak was still the defense minister for Israel. How am I going to make money? What's my grift going to be on the outside once I'm no longer a public official? And you get Epstein telling him, well, think of everybody who owes you something because of your public position and leverage that. Told him to get on the board of volunteer, right? So that's all audio. So for the vice president to admit that is no big revelation. I think it's a political admission on his part that it's he's being uh tainted. It's toxic, his association with the president and this administration that's trying to cover these things up. So he's giving you something that's already known. He's and uh but also Epstein was he met with uh Obama's CIA director, um, you know, acting CIA director. Can't remember his name right. Yeah, that's right. So obviously he was tied to the highest levels. That stuff needs to come out.
SPEAKER_15I just don't think Vance, seriously, now I'm much more concerned. Massey is gonna be the nominee on the other side. I mean, look, the the the Vance was uh tainted with Epstein. He's literally running the cover up for Epstein. He's been tainted on this war in Iran. He's literally now chairleading, and he's been tainted on Israel, as even he knows. So he's going out, well, no, no, no, I'm not terrible on Epstein. No, no, no, I'm not terrible on Israel. But, you know, it's actually a contradiction to some of the things he said before he had to do Donald Trump's bidding. No question.
SPEAKER_32Congressman, I'm curious, Congressman Massie, I'm curious if what you learned in the Epstein files changed your worldview at all. Because, you know, as a leftist, I'm looking at this, I'm like, oh, a bunch of billionaires showing a lot of class solidarity here. Right. This very much comports with my view, although it was much more explicit than perhaps I even had imagined. You're giving me examples of like, hey, let's connect you with Palantir. Here's, you know, a country's resources you can go and exploit, et cetera. But I wonder as a libertarian if it shifted your view or or if it changed your perspective at all looking at some of the revelations here.
SPEAKER_14Well, I joke, I tell people, I'm more of a conspiracy theorist than I was before I got elected. Now that now that they let me in the skiff and I can hear the top secret stuff, I'm like, yeah, well, that was true. But uh my opinion on the Epstein thing definitely has shifted over time. Look, I, you know, in Congress, people want you to solve health care, they want you to take care of taxes, national defense, all of this stuff. And so I didn't give it enough attention for the first several years. It was one of those things to me on the internet, maybe it's a conspiracy. And then as I started paying attention, and then particularly when I saw that Pam Bondi did sort of this spoof, almost a caricature of releasing these binders. And then I personally asked Pam Bondi to her face at a dinner, when are you going to release the rest of the Epstein files? Just as and I and I looked her in the face, and her answer to me was, oh, there's nothing left but child, you know, sexual exploitation material, and you'd be pervert if you'd want to see any of that stuff. And she tried to shut me down that way, and I thought, all right, there's there, right? That's what raised my suspicion. And um, and then in this last summer, it said, closing the case. No prosecutions, there's nothing here, it's done. And that's when Roe and I said, no, it's not done. And we we filed the bill. Uh, and but that moment, that audio tape of Epstein talking to Ehud Barak, it it gave me some insight into Jeffrey Epstein. Uh, that's when I decided he probably didn't kill himself. Like he had so much leverage. I believe he thought his time in the prison was temporary. Either he had enough blackmail material or he was friends with enough people that if he just sat there and didn't say too much, that they would eventually get him out. And so uh that's that's the one thing that also transitioned in my mind. I went from, okay, maybe this is a conspiracy that uh he was killed or he's still alive or whatever, to no, that's probably true. He's probably killed or somehow sprung from the jail because he had that much leverage over these powerful people.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. Interesting. So one of the things you mentioned there is blackmail, the vice president also addressing a claim uh that the president is being blackmailed. Obviously, this connects to the war in Iran, which you're both uh against as well. Let's take a listen to that and we'll get your reaction.
SPEAKER_10What I have seen, and I've looked at most of the files, is that there just uh wasn't dispositive evidence. And if that dispositive evidence ever existed, it was probably destroyed after 2006-2007. Now, look again, in our defense, uh yes, was there some you know bitching and moaning, and was there some back and forth? Yes. But uh there that we eventually collected six million documents uh as part of the effort. The president, people say the president was forced into releasing the documents. Like again, the idea that Donald Trump could not have killed that legislation, especially with the United States Senate, is a joke. He absolutely could have killed it. What did he do? He actually said, nope, we're gonna release these files. He thought, you know, he was he was annoyed by the story, he was annoyed by the Democrats accusing him of doing things bad. By the way, like, do I think there is any I've never seen a single piece of credible credible evidence that the President of the United States engaged in wrongdoing with minors ever.
SPEAKER_07So that was the claim there about blackmail. It is a layer connected also to the war with Iran. I'm curious, you know, for both of your reactions because you the Epstein files Transparency Act becomes a political crisis, and of course the war gets launched with the Iran. It's impossible not to at least look at that and be like, is there some connection? Like what exactly is happening? Congressman Khan, curious for your reaction.
SPEAKER_15Well, I think uh they both are terrible decisions. Do I believe that he went into uh Iran to distract from the Epstein? Uh no, I don't I don't think it was that. But I think he uh broke a fundamental pledge of not getting into foreign wars, yet he got talked into uh conquest. And he saw what happened in Venezuela, and he said, okay, I can turn around the regime in Venezuela. I was opposed to what he did in Venezuela, and he thought he could just march into Iran uh and ultimately betrayed his fundamental promise to the country of not getting into foreign wars. Yeah.
SPEAKER_14I I know it's easy to pick apart something like a Joe Rogan interview, but I have to take issue with the fact that he said they found six million files. Why have they released only three million? And then also the vice president says he's read or seen most of them. I don't believe that. I've been I've spent hours at the DOJ and we're barely just like scratching the surface. Three million files is hard to consume and then to connect all the dots. So uh that on its face, the claim that he makes there, and then also the ridiculous claim that the president, this was something the president wanted to do or eventually wanted to do is false. If he still wanted to do it, he would direct his attorney general and acting attorney general to just go ahead and release all this stuff. Right.
SPEAKER_07Hey, if you like that video, hit the like button or leave a comment below. It really helps get the show to more people.
SPEAKER_32And if you'd like to get the full show, ad free, and in your inbox every morning, you can sign up at breakingpoints.com.
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