Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Who is Viktor Bout, Russia's 'Merchant of Death' & why did Biden make this horrific trade. I'll explain it all.

Transcript

Who is Viktor Bout, Russia's 'Merchant of Death' & why did Biden make this horrific trade. I'll explain it all. · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, there was a trade that took place, a trade
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: for a w NBA player that doesn't like America, who
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: decided to break the law in Russia and decided to
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: say that in America, we shouldn't play the national anthem.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: That we traded for a merchant of death, an arms
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: dealer that was wanted around the world. The media is
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: reporting this as an amazing, great moment for Joe Biden,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: in a great moment because we got back a very
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: important person. Van Jones over at CNN he put it
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: this way as he talked about Brittany Grinder being freed
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: in exchange for the convicted arms dealer known as the
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Merchant of Death, saying it's important that we got her
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: back because, quote, you can't allow a black female icon
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: to be treated like garbage on a plane back to
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: the United States free coming home. This exchange, we're told Waite,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: was happened at the Oblidabi Airport. See their underscreen the
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: podium at the White House. The President expected to speak,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: supposed to start at ay thirties, a little bit late,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: but he's going to speak, and we're told that they
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: were maybe some family members there, the President and the
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Vice President on the call when this happened and making
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: this decision. What do you make of this? Is huge?
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Is huge. First of all, that's a decade defining image.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: When you saw her wife sitting there, Kamala Harris is there,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: the President's there, such a human image, and yet it
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: just shows this president got it done. He cared enough
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: about this individual person to get her home. It was
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: shocking for the I think for young Americans to see
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: an icon like that snatched, locked up, treated like garbage.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: And she was nine years ten years for bringing some
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: cannabis oil medically subscribed. So these are decade defining images.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: I guarantee you they're going to be young people ten
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: years from now, twenty years from now, thirty years from now,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: who will remember this moment because she is an and
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: it's it's really really extraordinary. And people got talking about, oh, well,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: this other guy, he's so terrible. Now, there's a lot
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: of terrible people in the world. There's a lot of
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: terrible people in Russia. But what you don't have and
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: which you can't allow to happen, is to have a
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: black female icon treated like garbage and America do nothing
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: about it. A black icon, right, a black female icon
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: be treated like garbage. You noticed he said nothing about
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: an actual American hero that was left behind, someone who'd
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: been there treated like garbage for more than four years,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: someone who served his country, someone who should matter and
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: should have been traded. But we decided to ask, screw it,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: who cares? Right, because we got the icon back. We
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: got the black lesbian female icon back, and among young people,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: this is what mattered, So that's why the President did it.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: He also dismissed who Victor Bout is the Merchant of Death.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: The media cared about that story back in two and
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: ten when it happened, In fact, so much so that
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: sixty minutes dedicated fifteen minutes to telling the story about
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: the Merchant of Death and just how bad of a
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: human being he was. But apparently today no one cares
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: that we traded a w NBA star because apparently she's
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: an icon and left another American behind. But before I
• 3:28
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• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Now you might want to know about the other American
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: that was left behind. Paul Wheeling served as a police
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: officer in Michigan for fifteen years. Right, So that doesn't
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: fit the narrative of the left, because they what do
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: they want to do? They want to defund police officers.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: They want to defund law and order. And the other
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: problem is he's just another white guy, so screw him.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Paul Wheland also enlisted in the Marines in nineteen ninety four.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: In fact, Paul Wheland was deployed to Iraq in two
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: thousand and four. Paul Wheeland came back an American hero.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: And then on December twenty eighth, two eighteen. Look at
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: your calendar today and think about how long it's been
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: since December the twenty eighth to twenty eighteen. That's how
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: long Paul has been in jail in Russia. He was
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: accused of espionage in Russia. That was a lie. Did
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Biden do anything to free him? Know? So to recap,
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: we just gave Russia back one of the biggest terrorists
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: in the world for a w NBA player who actually
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: hates our country. We send one hundred billion dollars to
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Ukraine at the same time to fight Russia. And then
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: we have literally given Russia their number one arms dealer
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: that they desperately need back. And we did this next
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: change for a basketball player who's a quote icon for
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: young people. I hate to say it, but this is
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: part for the Biden administration. This is part for the course.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: The other thing that people don't understand is why they
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: made this trade. Now, this wasn't because America was the
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: one saying let's make the trade. Of course we wanted
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: a trade, but this was Russia's time where it made sense.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Why because they desperately needed to get their arms dealer back.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: One of the things that has actually happened, so that
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: you understand, one of the important things that has happened
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: is Russia is running out of some of the weapons
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: they need to finish off the job or really re
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: engage in Ukraine. And this is the arms dealer that
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: knows how to get the weapons that are needed. Secretary
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Anthony Blincoln tweeted out after months of wrongful detention Russia,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Brittany Grinders on her way home to her wife and
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: her other loved ones. We will not cease in our
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: efforts until Paul Wheeland is back with his family too.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: This was the opportunity, maybe the only opportunity to actually
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: get him back. But don't worry. This isn't about that.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: This is about an icon a moment where you could
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: make the liberal left happy. You have a w NBA player,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: she's African American, she's a lesbian, checks all the boxes.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Let's get her back because that'll give us a bigger
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: boost in the polls. What's gonna happen because of this trade,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Russia gets back in the person they so desperately need
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: to get them back in the game when it comes
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: to trafficking on the black market for arms that they
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: need for their soldiers to finish off the job and
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: kill innocent people in Ukraine. We already know what Russia
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: has done to innocent people in Ukraine. We know they've
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: tortured them, we know they've raped them, we know they've
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: had mass grapes. But one of the things that's happened
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: that has stopped them, one of the things that's been
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: a real problem for Russia is the fact that Russia
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: has not a lot of arms that they had stockpiled
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: from what we've been told, and that's a problem for them.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: So who do you go to and how do you
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: get the arms deals done? You bring back the number
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: one arms dealer in the world, You bring back the
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: mercenary of death. You bring back Victor Bout because right
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: now he's worth more to Russia than at any other
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: point since we got him, and back in twenty ten,
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: getting Victor bout was such a big deal that sixty
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: minutes right the liberal news media did entire show just
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: about how important it was to get this guy out
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: of the world stage, out of the world game. Take
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: a listen to what they had to say. Rarely does
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: the US government want anyone more than it wanted this man.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: His name is Victor Boot, and he's known as the
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Merchant of death. US government officials say Boot became the
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: world's most notorious arms dealer by fueling civil wars around
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: the world courted by drug lords and dictators. The US
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: saw him as a threat because of his ability to
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: arm terrorists targeting the United States. A former Russian military officer,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: Boot has been protected by powerful friends and long considered
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: untouchable by law enforcement. But three years ago the DA
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: devised a bold undercover operation to capture him. This past week,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: they brought him to New York to face terrorism charges. Tonight,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: those at the heart of Operation Relentless, a sting that
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: spanned three continents, tell the story behind it for the
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: first time. Victor Boot, in my eyes, is one of
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: the most dangerous men on the face of the earth
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: on the face of the Earth without a doubt. Mike Braun,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: the former chief of operations for the US Drug Enforcement Administration,
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: told US Boot first exploded on the scene in war
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: torn West Africa in the late nineteen eighties, elevating bloody
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: conflicts from machetes and single shot rifles to AK forty sevens.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: Not by the thousands, but by the tens of thousands.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: So he weaponizes civil war in Africa. He transformed these
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: young adolescent warriors into insidious, mindless, maniacally driven killing machines
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: that operated with assembly line efficiencies. Now forty three, Boot
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: from the Soviet Republic of Tajikistan is a mystery man
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: who reportedly served in the Soviet Air Force and intelligence service.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: The US has indicted him on four terror related charges,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: including conspiracy to kill Americans. What makes him a threat
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: to the United States He is a shadow facilitator. He's
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: arming not only designated terrorist groups insurgent groups, but he's
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: also arming very powerful drug trafficking cartels around the globe.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: So let me get this straight. The I who America
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: wanted more than anybody else in the world and literally
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: moved heavan and earth to go get him and a
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: guy that the US government at the time was saying
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: was our top person we wanted to nail because so
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: many people were dying because of what he was doing.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: We just traded. I'm gonna use the words of Van
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Jones here, this guy who is desperately needed by the
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Russian government right now more than ever, because they wanted
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: literally wipe out everybody in Ukraine to get it done.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: We did it because, quote, you can't allow a black
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: female icon to be treated like garbage. Paul Wheeland's been
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: there for four years as American soldier and a former
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: police officer who served his country. He's been treated like garbage.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: In fact, Paul Wheeland is speaking out after the Grinder released,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: saying Biden did have a choice. Biden, of course told
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: the world he didn't write he didn't have a choice.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: We retired marine Paul Wheelan is speaking out after the
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: release of the WNBA player Brittany Grinder from Russian prison. Now,
• 12:07
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  Speaker 1: or nine seven to Patriot. Wheelan was detained in Russia
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: in two thousand and eighteen. This is an American hero.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: Russian authorities needed leverage with the US, and they claimed
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: at the time that he was involved in intelligence operation.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: He has now said an exclusive phone call with CNN,
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: I am greatly disappointed that more has not been done
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: to secure my release, especially as the four year anniversary
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: of my arrest is coming up. I was arrested for
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: a crime that never occurred, and that's different, by the way,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: than Britney Griner. Britney Grinder did break the law in Russia.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: Let's be clear about that. She did have an a
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: legal substance in Russia when she was attained at the airport.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: That's on her. Whelan also went on to say, to
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: see an end quote, I don't understand why I'm still
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: sitting here. Let me explain it to you. You're not
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: an icon, right, Let's go back again. I want to
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: play this because this is how sick the media is.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: This is Van Jones being asked that question about Britney Grinder,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: saying we had to get it done because you can't
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: allow a black female icon to be treated like garbage.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Vice President on the call when this happened and making
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: this decision. What do you make of this is huge?
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Is huge. First of all, that's a decade defining image.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: When he saw her wife sitting there, ka, my hair
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: is there the presidents, there's such a human image. And
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: yet it just shows this president got it done. He
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: cared enough about this individual person to get her home.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: It was shocking for the I think for young Americans
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: to see an icon like that snatched, locked up, treated
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: like garbage. And she was never nine years, ten years
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: for bringing some cannabis oil medical medically medical, medically subscribed.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: So that these are decade defining images, I guarantee you
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: they're going to be young people ten years from now,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: twenty years from now, thirty years from now who will
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: remember this moment because she is an icon, and it's
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: it's it's really really extraordinary. And people got talking about, oh, well,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: this other guy, he's so terrible. Now, there's a lot
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: of terrible people in the world, there's a lot of
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: terrible people in Russia. But what you don't have, and
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: what you can't allow to happen, is to have a
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: black female icon treated like garbage and America do nothing
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: about it. There it is. That's exactly why Paul Wheeland
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: is still there. I don't understand why I'm still here.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: It's because you're not a lesbian icon of the w NBA.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: You just served your country, you just were a police officer.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: You were wrongfully detained for doing nothing wrong. Doesn't matter,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: right because this is the dude that the White House
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: doesn't care about because he's a white guy. Wheelan said
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: he was happy for Grinder's release. He explained he was
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: led to believe that things were moving in the right direction,
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: that the governments were negotiating, and that something would happen
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: fairly soon. Imagine what he's feeling today. When asked whether
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: it surprised him that he was not including the swap
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: for Russian arms dealer Victor Boutweelan said he was. According
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: to Wheelan, he was told because the Russians claimed he
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: was a spy, they put me at a high level,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: a higher level than they did with Trevor Reid and Brittany.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: He explained that raised a lot of concerns because none
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: of it's true. They're trying to get out of the
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: United States. What the United States may not be able
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: to provide, but this is basically political extortion. Acknowledgingly he
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: has been placed in a different category by Grinder, Wheeland said,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: they've always considered me to be at a higher level
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: than the other criminals of my sort, and for whatever reason,
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: I'm treated differently than other individuals here from a Western
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: country that's also on a charge of espionage. So even
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: though we're both here for espionage, I'm treated much differently
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: than he is, and my treatment is also much different
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: than others held for espionage at the prisons quote unquote,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: that's what Griner said. Additionally, Wheeland expressed his hope that
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: President Joe Biden's administration would do quote everything they could
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: to get me home, regardless of the price that may
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: have to be paid. At this point, he had, I
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: would say that if a message could go to President
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: Biden that it's a precarious situation that needs to be
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: resolved quickly. The retired Marine has spoken to an administration
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: official about the matter, but believes quote that message really
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: needs to go to people like the presidents so they
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: understand personally what I'm dealing with and what we deal
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: with in these foreign prisons under these circumstances. Biden delivered,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: of course, his remarks following Grenner's release and said, you
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: know we're going to get him out, right, We'll never
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: give up. A yeah, okay, sure, we believe you. Don't worry.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: We checked that box though, when the President announced all
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: the saying we'll never give up, right, never. We never
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: forgot about Brittany. We've not forgotten about Paul Willen, who's
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: been unjustly detained in Russia for years. This was not
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: a choice of which American to bring home. We brought
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: home Trevor Reid when we had a chance earlier this year. Sadly,
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treated Paul's case differently
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: than Brittany's. And while we have not yet succeeded in
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: securing Paul's release, we are not giving up. We will
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: never give up. But remained in close touch with Paul's family,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: the will and family, and my thoughts and prayers are
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: with them today. They have to have such mixed emotions today,
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: and we'll keep negotiating in good faith for Paul's release.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: I guarantee that I say that to the family. I
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: guarantee you I orde Russia to do the same, to
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: ensure that Paul's health in you and your main treatment
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: maintained until we can't able to bring him home. Let
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: me say something else about this. There was a choice.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: There's always a choice. To imply that there was, it
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: means that you're being dictated to by Russia. President Trump
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: freed three students from China, did not trade a Russian's
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: arms dealer in the process. President Trump freed three Americans
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: from North Dakorea. He didn't trade Russian's arms dealer, then either.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: President Trump free two different people from Egypt, for example,
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: and he didn't trade an arms a Russian arms dealer.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: Then either the idea to be very clear that right now,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: somehow all right, that this was you had to make
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: this deal. No, you look at Britney Grinder. You look
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: at the marine Paul Wheeland. Both Americans both were convicting
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Russian courts on dubious charges, except Grinders were legitimate. Both
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: serving multi year sinces in a Russian prison. Except one
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: of them's been there for four years, the other one
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: was there for nine months. Both of them dealing with
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: these same circumstances. The only difference is Brittany actually doesn't
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: like America and said that the national anthem should not
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: be played at w NBA games. Paul actually served his
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: American country in uniform. So guess which one Biden traded
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: a actual terrorist to free, you know, Britney Grinder. So
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: let's go back to that sixty minutes interview for a moment.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Back in twenty and ten, you would think that the
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: media would be playing this for you and reminding you
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: of just how bad the mercenary of death really is.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: Of course, not right, because now it didn't fit the narrative,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: even though in twenty ten they want you to know
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: everything about this huge victory for America getting this arms
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: dealer off the streets, an arms dealer that now Russia
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: gets to use again to do the black market dealings
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: that Russia needs to get the weapons they need to
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: kill innocent men, women, and children in Ukraine. Taking advantage
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: of Russian military contacts at the highest levels and the
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: collapse of the Soviet Union federal prosecutors, alleged Boot essentially
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: became a one stop shop offering an unlimited supply of
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: stockpiled Cold war weapons to bad guys around the world,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: including Charles Taylor of Liberia, who's now on trial for
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: war crimes. According to the US indictment, Boot had a
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: unique selling point when it came to weapons trafficking. A
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: fleet of cargo airplanes capable of transporting weapons and military
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: equipment anytime, anywhere, more than sixty planes in all his
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: own private air force. Those Russian aircraft were built like
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: flying dump trucks. He could move this stuff and drop
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: it with pinpoint accuracy to any desert, to any jungle,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: to any other remote place in the world, right into
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: the hands of what I refer to as the potpourri
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: of global scum. By the late nineteen nineties, Boot was
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: a legend in the shadowy world of illicit arms dealing,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: so elusive that the only two pictures that surfaced him
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: back then were taken without Boot's knowledge by a Belgian photographer. Later,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: Boot became the inspiration behind the Nicolas Cage character in
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: the movie Lord of War. I was an equal opportunity
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: merchant of death. I supplied every army but the Salvation Army.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: US Treasury documents reveal a Boot empire so sophisticated, so complex,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: hidden behind a thick curtain of front companies that even
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: the US government unwittingly contracted with two of his companies
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: to deliver supplies to US troops in Iraq. Wanzarati, Deputy
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: National Secure, the adviser in the second Bush White House,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: and a CBS News consultant told us hiring Boot was
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: a mistake. This was one of the grave complications for
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: the United States. Victor boots tentacles reached so far and
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: so deep that he had access to planes that could
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: provide services for the US government. Zarati admitted, the US
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: could do business with Boot, but he couldn't catch him.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: I had That's insane, by the way, It's totally insane.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: This guy was so big at what he was doing
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: that we actually contract with him to drop stuff for
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: American soldiers and didn't even realize that we were doing it,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: because that's how far his tentacles were reaching. But we
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: couldn't catch him. That's how good he was, That's how
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: big he was, because he was the mercenary of death,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: and we caught him and we had him in prison.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Not only did we catch him, not only did we
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: have him in prison, but we've now traded him for
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: a w NBA star because Biden had to get it done.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Quote Van Jones CNN. You can't allow a black female
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: icon to be treated like garbage, but apparently you can
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: have an actual American war hero treated like garbage for
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: four plus years in a prison in Russia. His life
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: doesn't matter, and who cares. By the way, every Democrat
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: out there that is anti gun and wants gun control,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: this is the dude that sells guns by the tens
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: of thousands to the worst people in the world. The
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: gun control issue really should be the center point of
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: the anger and the disdain, I think for Democrats in
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: this deal. An arms dealer. That's all he does. He
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: gives people the weapons needed to murder people, masker people
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: commit genocide. This guy can help people commit genocide, kill
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: women and children, innocent people. Put more guns out into
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: the world than probably any other arms dealer that we've
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: ever known of the modern times. So if you think
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: that this was a good trade because you got back
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: your woke Brittany grinder, you're an idiot. Don't ever lecture
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: me about guns, because this is a guy. That's all
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: he does, and we're not talking about a little bit
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: of money. We're not talking about, you know, five thousand
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: guns here ten thousand. We're talking about hundreds and hundreds
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: of thousands of guns that he has sent out into
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: the world to kill innocent people. And he gives them
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: to the war lords and to the smugglers and the
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: drug dealers, and to people that take it out on
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: their citizens. And then you want to talk about gun control.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Do you have any idea how many these guns are
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: gonna be used to mask her people? These are the
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: guns that go to the worst people all over the world.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: And that's who you caught. That's who America cut. That
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: is who sixteen minutes decided to doing an entire show about.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Oh but we got Britney Grinder back, right, Van Jones CNN.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: We had to get it done. You can't allow black
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: female icon to be treated like garbage. Young people will
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: respond to that. Who cares if an American's dying over
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: their rotting in prison who actually served as country? Who
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: cares if she was only there for nine months while
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: he's been there for four years. But there's also a bigger, bigger,
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: much bigger precedent here that we also need to just
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: put into perspective. You have to look at what this
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: actually means, Look at what this means for our foreign policy.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: Now you have Biden. Not only does he saying leaving
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: a marine Paul Wheeling behind in Russia for Britney Grimer
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: and a swap that is a catastrophe, but you've now
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: just given the rest of the world and bad actors
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: of the world everything that they need to know about
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: you and how you will respond to swiping America. Donald
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: Trump Junior tweeted this out earlier. He said, you guys
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: know how to make sure Putin keeps arresting Americans and
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: severely punishing them. Trade him an arms dealer aka the
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: merchant of death, someone guilty of conspiring to kill Americans
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: and aiding a terrorist organization for an American hating w
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: NBA activists. Great trade, he said. The same administration pushing
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: gun control here at home, making it harder for law
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: buying citizens to defend themselves and their families. Just release
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: an international arms dealer who conspired to kill Americans. Just
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: let that sink in, folks. It's about control, not guns.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: You know, there's no way that these people around the
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: world are not going to look at this data, this
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: information and think to themselves, maybe we should keep doing this.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: This is not going to stop Americans from being imprisoned
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: around the world. That's going to give dictators and tyrants
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: now leverage over the United States of America. What's the
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: downside now of taking an American and holding them hostage? Really,
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: what is the downside? Someone tell me what that downside
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: is now, because I want to know. So back to
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: the sixteen minutes twenty ten expose about how bad the
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: guy is. We traded today, the media not telling you
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: any of the story in twenty twenty two. That's why
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: I had to go back to twenty tend to remind
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: you of it. And always thought of Victor Boudez untouchable.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: And I also frankly didn't think that anyone could get
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: to him. A challenge Zarani from the White House threw
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: out at a meeting with Mike Braun and his DA team.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: The DA had just pulled off a string of extraordinarily
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: successful captures of high value terrorism targets around the world,
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: like in drug Lords. D E agents lived for the hunt,
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: and Mike Noban had even gotten a sniff on this guy.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Let me tell you something, arman, When when I'm sitting
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: there next to one and my guys are sitting across
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: the table from him, the very best that our government's
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: got to offer. And he tosses this out on the
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: table and I look him in the eyes and they're
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: looking back at me like we'll do this, this, we
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: can do this. But it was about a five percent
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: chance in the back of my mind, and so um,
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: you know, I wished them well and I went back
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: to the White House Mike Bronze thinking ninety five, okay,
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: five and ninety five hundred. He was he was going down.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: He was in our crossairs. The d EA supervisor put
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: in charge of the hunt for Victor Boot was Lewis mileone.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: We felt that we could create a scenario that would
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: that would pull him in. The plan was to pull
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: Boot out of Moscow with a huge arms deal. He
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: couldn't refuse to do that. The d EA hired an
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: undercover agent to contact a trusted this a set of
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: boots named Andrew Smollion. The d EA operatives said he
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: had a big business deal for Boot. I'm thinking in
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: terms of fishing here, it's almost like you've thrown the
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: line in the water. Is a little bit of bait.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: This is a business proposition and you're waiting to see
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: if anything comes back with a nibble. We're really waiting
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: to see what exactly what Smollan says. And you know
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: what he says about Boot and that as it comes back,
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: spoke to boris anything possible with farming equipment. That's correct.
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: Boris was code for boot farming equipment for weapons. That
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: exchange led to the island of curas Out, a few
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: hundred miles off the coast of Columbia. It was here
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: that Boots Bunny Andrew Smollion would first meet the two
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: d EA undercover operatives posing his officials in the Colombian
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: rebel terrorist group known as the FARC. I tell you
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: this story all. I let sixteen minutes tell you the
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: story from twenty ten, because I want you to understand
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: how important this guy was. This is how important it was.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: White House Press secretary, by the way, very upset, stormed
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: out of her White House Press briefing after telling the
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: American people that, you know, Brittany Griner's release, she represents
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: the best of America. That's her words, not mine. And
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: then she gets angry and storms out of the room
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: after the media isn't taking everything that she's saying. You know,
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: just verbatim. Right, they're actually asking some questions about why
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: did you leave this guy in the military behind from
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: the US military that's in Russia, who's been there for
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: four years, not nine months. Listen, the US Africa. Can
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: you take a question on the US Africa? Is it
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: so hard to take a question on the US Africa? Summy?
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: When the president African leaders, the ka gunton of leaders
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: of the acmunisticians. Way, you give me a question, It
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: is not hard. I've answered. I've Would you let me
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: answer the question or you get okay? Okay, I'm trying
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: to answer your question. Go ahead, sir, go ahead. I've
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: just tried. You wouldn't let me. Go ahead. I just tried,
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: and you would not let me sir. So your colleague
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: is going to ask a question, go ahead, No, I
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: just I literally just tried to answer your question. You
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: shut me down. So now your colleague is gonna okay,
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: thanks everybody, I'll see you tomorrow. Question there, it is right?
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: How dare you actually challenge her? She'll walk out of
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: the room. I'll see you tomorrow. I'm gonna storm out
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: of the briefing room after losing her patients because someone
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: didn't allow her to get away with her lies. Now,
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: before I get into more of this story, I want
• 32:51
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• 32:56
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  Speaker 1: investments dot com. Also, White House Press Secretary refusing to
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: say American teacher Mark Fogels, serving fourteen years in a
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: maximum security Russian prison is wrongfully detained today again telling
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: you everything you need to know about this administration. They'll
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: get you back if you're a woke liberal African American
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: woman who young people say is an icon. But outside that,
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: we'll let you rot in prison. Back on Mark Vogel
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: for a second. He's doing a fourteen year sentence for
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: less than an ounce of caught. Would you say he's
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: been wrongfully detained? There's a long kes one to classified
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: that way. Again, I can't. I can't speak to any
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: individual specific case at this time. I would refer you
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: to the State Department. Everyone has a different classification. I
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: don't want to get ahead of what the State Department
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: is looking to move forward, or how they're they're diplomatic conversations,
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: or how they're looking to move forward with that particular person.
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: But we want, we want Americans to know that their
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: safety and security is among our highest priorities. Again, is
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: it really seriously? Because if Ben Ferguson goes over to
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: Russia and gets detained, wrong fully accused of something or
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: anybody else, and I don't feel you fit your woke mold.
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: Does my life really matter because you say that Britney
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: Grinder represents the best of America when she actually is
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: anti American and actually said that the naturalanthem should not
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: be played at w NBA Games. President Biden keeps his promises,
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: and today he fulfilled a deeply important promise to bring
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: Brittney Grinder home to a family that loves her, a
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: team that misses her, and a country that has marveled
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: at her strength and courage. Britney's safe return home is
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: the product of months and months of painstaking negotiations that
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: were the culmination of extraordinary efforts across the US government.
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: Officials from the White House, the State Department, and across
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: the administration worked tiresly and relentlessly to see this moment through.
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: As the Secretary of State set public in July, we
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: have been engaging in intense negotiations with Russia, pursuing many
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: different avenues over the course of last six months to
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: secure Brittany's release, and we know Brittany fought tirelessly too.
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: Throughout her ordeal. We saw Brittany, a two time Olympic
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: gold medalist for Team USA, demonstrate strength, courage, and dignity.
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: As the President said this morning, she represents the best
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: of America, the best of America. Okay, so all the
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: other people there that actually stood up for America, fought
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: on behalf of America, protected America, went to warren Iraq
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: on behalf of America. Those people, know, those are the
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: ones that we actually don't say anything, we don't do
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: anything about. Is I mean, how does that work? Van
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: Jones is right. If you're an American citizen that is woke,
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: it's African American lesbian, that is an icon, a celebrity,
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: your life matters more than an American citizen who serves
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: their country, and they're willing to trade you because they
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: value that life so much more. And they're willing to
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: trade you for an arms dealer that's going to go
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: out there and is going to now be involved in
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: murdering countless people around the world, including countless people in Ukraine.
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: That is why the Russians needed this deal now. They
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: needed the arms dealer back because he's got the back channels.
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: He understands the black market better than anyone, and he
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: will get them everything they need. Makes you share this
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: podcast with your family and friends, so people understand exactly
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: what we traded. They understand the facts. Please share this
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: on social media also makes you rise a five to
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: review as well, and I'll see you back here tomorrow