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John Kerry's secret CCP negotiations probed by GOP · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You've been hearing a lot about Hunter Biden, Joe Biden,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: James Biden investigation, documents that are missing, documents that are classified,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: and raids. This was not on my radar screen. It
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: was not on actually really anyone's radar screen. And that
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: is now the House Oversight Committee has announced an investigation,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: not into the Bidens, but into John Carey, specifically with
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: negotiations with a Chinese Communist Party. That's right. The House
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer announced today that
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: the panel will be opening an investigation into White House
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Climate Zar John Kerry for high level negotiations with the
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Chinese Communist Party party related to climate. Comer officially informed
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Kerry of the investigation in a letter sent out Thursday
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: from his office specifically seeking information from the Special Presidential
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Envoy for Climate the Biden administration. Now this letter it
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: comes after James Comber previously requested access to documents related
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: to Kerry's negotiations with the Chinese government, but did not
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: receive any materials from Kerry. This, according to the Committee
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: chairman quote, to date, you referring to Kerry, have failed
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: to respond to any of our requests. Yet you continue
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: to engage in activities that can undermine our economic health,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: skirt congressional authority, and threatened foreign policy under the guise
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: of climate advocacy. The Committee request documents and information, he
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: goes on to say in the letter to understand your
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: role and provide necessary transparency over the spec and its activities.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: As a member of the President's cabinet, you should be
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: representing the United States interest. Your statements, however, consistently showed
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: disregard for American national security and specifically taxpayer dollars. Now
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: this announcement is important because it comes after John Kerry
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: told the Associated Press in May of last year that quote,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: he was negotiating with the CCP to create a group
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas admissions. This prompted concerns among
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: several Republican leaders who say the relationship could undermine the
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: country's economic health, and Republicans have repeatedly requested Carry to
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: provide documents detailing his negotiations with the CCP leaders during
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: the previous Congress. Those requests were denied by Carry, according
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: to James Comer, saying, quote, your office continues to ignore
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: requests for information. We are left with an insufficient understanding
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: of your office as activities as well as the spending
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: that would be our tax dollars and make sense for
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: us to know this, and also you're staffing now. As
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: part of this latest request, the House Oversight Committee says
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: they are seeking access to documents that are detailing the
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Special Envoy's budget from the last three fiscal years, as
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: well as a list of all those who were present
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: for any discussions where Carrie's budget was mentioned, as well
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: as a full list of people who are employed by
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: the Office of the Special Envoy. Now, this is your
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: tax dollars and we don't know any of this for
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: the last three years. That's pretty darn scary. Comer's also
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: asking for all communications between those from inside the office
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: with any third party, and any communications regarding Carrie's domestic
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: or international travel. Now, Carrie officially has until February the
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: sixteenth to submit to the request of materials. Democrats are
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: have an essence laughed and mocked any Republicans requesting for documents.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: Now that they're in control of the House and they
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: have subpoena power, this obviously could change. What we do
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: know now is James Comer is saying not only are
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: we probing the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, but we
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: are probing what is really secret negotiations with the Chinese
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Communist Party with his counterparts. That's why he sent this letter.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: He's making it clear that we should see these documents
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: because you're supposed to be working for the taxpayers. We're
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: requesting this information to understand your role and provide necessary transparency.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: The American taxpayers deserve to have this. And John Kerry again,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: you are a member of a cabinet of the United
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: States of America's presidency under Joe Biden, a President Biden,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: as you may know, a point John Kerry to the
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: usp SPEC It's a position that hadn't previously been even
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: existed and which did not require Senate approval. He did
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: this shortly after taking office in early twenty twenty one.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: The SPC office is also housed at the State Department,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: and we're being told has an estimated thirteen point nine
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: million dollar annual budget with approval for forty five staff members.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Kerry's position gives him a spot not only on the
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: President's cabinet but also the National Security Council. So what
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: information is he's sharing with the Chinese from the National
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Security Council. Since taking on the role, he has traveled worldwide.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: He has attended high profile climate summits and diplomatic engagements
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: in an effort to quote push a global transition from
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: fossil fuels to green energy alternatives. Now, despite all of
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: this high level role that he has with the Biden administration,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Kerry's office has been basically totally silent about the internal
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: operations and who even works for him, like what the
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: staff members names are. This has sparked the criticism from Republicans,
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: including James Komer, who have demanded transparency for such an
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: important office that is there again housed in our government
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: a member of the National Security Council and at the
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: State Department. How can you have a big staff, How
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: can you have all this money coming in and we
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: don't even know who you're employing, and we as taxpayers
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: are paying for this. Comer also said this, and I
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: want to go back to part of this letter and
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: why this is important. We are laughed with an insufficient
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: understanding of your office's activities, spending and staffing. In other words,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: you have a secret office with a secret staff, with
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: secret activities that are negotiating on behalf of America with
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: a Chinese Communist party, and we don't know a damn
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: thing about it. He says, again, it's time to ing
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: able long over to oversight of your office. And that's
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: why I said, we are demanding the following documents and information.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: You have until February, middle of February to give this
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: to us. Now, the Oversight Committee chairman also wasn't done there.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: He also added that not only has John Kerry not
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: been transparent with the American people, but John Kerry has
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: been quote too soft on China's human rights violation while
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: promoting climate negotiations that the CCP does not even appear
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: interested in entering. Now, let's talk about those human rights violations. Okay,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: there is an American hostage that has been held we
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: now know for ten years, for a decade. They are
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: a Republicans that are now coming together and demanding answers
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: on this American individual who's been held in China for
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: ten years. This goes back to John Cary being too
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: soft on China's human rights violations. The United Nations is
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: now saying that he is a hostage, this American and
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: that he's been being held again, not only for no
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: reason at all. Basically they're saying that it's unjust what
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: China has done. Carry has also been blasted for various
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: comments that have appeared to downplay vast human rights abuses
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: tied to China's green energy supply chain, the same thing
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: that he claims he's a champion of. In fact, he
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: was asked in November twenty twenty one about how slave
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: labor was reportedly employed by solar panel firms in China.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Carry said that he had to quote, stay in his lane,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: stay in his lane when negotiating with Chinese officials, not
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: bringing up actual slave camp slave labor. Gotta stay in
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: my lane, folks, doesn't matter how I get what I
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: want is long is I stay in my lane. Now,
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: you talk about all this with John Kerry and what's
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: happening with now he's going to be investigated. And this
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: coincides with two other big stories that deal with China.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: And you may have seen this. We've got a Chinese
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: spy balloon that's just over the US right now and
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: we're not shooting it down. Montana GOP Senator Steve Danes
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: said that he wants a briefing from the Secretary of
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Defense about this Chinese spy balloon that is over his
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: state of Montana, and he said, quote, I am alarmed.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: This Chinese balloon, which the Defense Department called a surveillance balloon,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: it's a spy balloon, flew over Montana, where intercontinental Ballistic
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: Missiles ICBM our fields are located. The Montana Senator wrote
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: an urgent letter to Defense Secretary of Lord Austin demanding
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: a full security briefing. After the balloon was detected, the
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Millie,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: and the chair Vice Chair Joint Chiefs of Staff, Christopher Grady,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: recommended that no kinetic action be taken because of possible
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: falling debris. Now, Montana is an area where you can
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: have a lot of areas where falling debris would probably
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: be just fine. Quote. The fact that this balloon was
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: occupying Montana airspace creates significant concerns that the air base
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: or air force base and the United States inter continental
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: Ballistic missile ICBM fields are the target of this intelligence
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: gathering mission. Danes wrote, given the serious nature of the event,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: I'm requesting a full security briefing from the Administration on
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: this situation, it is vital to establish the flight path
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  Speaker 1: of this balloon, and he compromised US national security assets
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: and all telecomer it infrastructure on the ground within the
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: US that this spy balloon was utilizing. Danes continued by
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: noting that Montana housed the nuclear missile silos at our
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: air base. Then stated bluntly, I am alarmed by the
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: fact that this bible and was able to infiltrate the
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: airspace of our country and Montana, saying there is no
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: higher priority for our administration than the safety and the
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: security of the American people, and it is imperative that
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: your administration reassure them of this fact at this time.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: He concluded, Now, why is it that this balloon was
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: just allowed to fly all over the place and it's
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: still up there right now as we speak. The balloon
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: was actually reported by several people in Billings, Montana, on Tuesday,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: according to a senior defense official. How is it the
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: people on the ground were the ones that spotted this
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: and not apparently are military. The balloon had flown over
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: the Aleutian Islands, then Canada before reaching Montana, and was
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: still flying over the US after all of this had
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: happened now. On Wednesday, all flights at Billings Logan International
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  Speaker 1: Airport were grounded for roughly two hours because of this thing.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: You did see report yesterday of a groundstop at Billing's
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: airport and the mobilization of a number of assets, including
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: F twenty twos, and the event that a decision was
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: made to bring this down while it was over Montana.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: The senior defense official acknowledge, so we wanted to make
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: sure we're recordinating with civil authorities to empty out the
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: airspace around that potential area. It was a judgment of
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: our military commanders that we didn't drive the risk low
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: enough that we didn't take the shot. Montana Governor, by
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: the way, issued a statement saying I received an informal
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: briefing yesterday in the situation involving a suspected Chinese spy
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: balloon flying over Montana. From the spy balloon to the
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: Chinese Communist Party spying on Americans through TikTok, to the
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Chinese Communist Party linked companies buying American farmland, I'm deeply
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: troubled by the constant stream of alarming developments for our
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: national security. Now this goes back to why is that
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: that this administration clearly has no intention of standing up
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: to the Chinese Communist Party. In fact, China responds a
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: spy balloon flying over the United States of America, making
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: it very clear that you know, in their minds, this
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: is not really a problem. The CCP happens to be
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: buying land near US military bases, and this administration is
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: letting that happen. That's a fact. We know that they're
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: also amassing natural resources in the US. That's a fact.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: We also know that Hunter Biden was trying to do
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: a deal with the Chinese Communist Party to give them
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: natural gas liquid natural gas coming out of Louisiana. That's
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: a fact. We know that they're embedding tens of thousands
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: of grad students inside US companies right now. That's a fact,
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: stealing information. In fact, some of them were arrested just
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: last week. Are we gonna shoot down a balloon? Nah?
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Are we gonna ban Chinese land purchases? Nah? Are we
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: gonna expel these grad students? No? Why the hell would
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: the Biden administration do that? Could it possibly be because
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: they are actually compromised because of the billions of billions
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: of dollars and loans and the millions of dollars that
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: we're going to the Biden crime family. How is it
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: that they cannot stand up to the Chinese Communist government
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: with everything that I just mentioned. It gets even worse.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: There's an American right now, an American that's being held
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: in China that's happened now for ten years. That American.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: The United Nations is now saying he should not be
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: detained and they have sentenced him to death. What is
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: the administration doing about this story? While sender Ted Cruz
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: and I talked about this on our podcast Verdict, and
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: he is now asking for every American to get involved
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: because this American's life should matter and it's something that
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: the American people should know about. We all knew Brittany
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Grinder's name. Why is it that no one's talking about
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: this American that's been detained for ten years? Listened to
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: this story? It's also an important one and it's time
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: we demand that the Biden administration do something about it.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: It began in twenty twelve where Mark traveled to China
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: on a business trip and on November thirteenth of twenty twelve,
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: he was abducted by China's public security bureau, and a
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: witness to the abduction said that he was abducted because
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: the Chinese government wanted to view the contents of his
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: cell phone. He was accused of being part of a
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: criminal conspiracy to manufacture and sell drugs. They tried to
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: coerce him into confessing, He refused to confess. He pleaded
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: not guilty. They had a trial in twenty thirteen. He
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: was found guilty. The prosecution at the trial produced no
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: forensic evidence to back up their allegations. They never found
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: drugs on Mark, they never found drugs in his hotel room.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: The records in his passport show that he wasn't even
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: in China during the time of the alleged defenses, and
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: the eleven other people they indicted, none of them could
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: identify Mark. Nevertheless, he spent ten years in jail, and
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen, a Chinese court formally sentenced him to death.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: His time in jail has been horrific, horrific. They confiscated
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: his Bible, they confiscated his rosary because they want to
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: do everything they can to damp in and undermine faith.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: His cell is exposed to extreme heat and extreme cold.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: He's been deprived of sleep, He's been subjected to really
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: serious physical abuse. He's lost more than a hundred pounds
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: in jail, and throughout all of this, by the way,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: he also has been denied access to American diplomats and
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: so they haven't been able to go go see him.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: His mother. I've spoken with his mother a couple of times.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: She is a wonderful woman. Katherine Sweden is her name.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: She lives in Luling, Texas, which is where Mark was born.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: And Catherine has been fighting for her son for a decade,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: trying to get him free. The Communist government won't let
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: her speak to him. It's been years since she's been
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: able to speak to him, but she's been praying for him,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: she's been speaking out, she's been trying to draw attention
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: to get him out. And so this week I introduced
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: in the Senate a resolution formally calling on the Chinese
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: government to release Mark Swedan and also calling on the
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: Biden administration to use every tool at its disposal to
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: secure his release. And the Secretary of State Tony Blincoln
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: is going to Beijing, is going to China in the
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: next couple of days and is going to be meeting
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: with senior Chinese officials, and my resolution formally calls on
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: the Biden administration to use those meetings to try to
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: get Mark released. My resolution was co sponsored with John Cornyn,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: the other senator from Texas. There was an identical resolution
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: introduced in the House by Congressman Cloud who introduced it there.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: And I spoke this week on the Senate floor telling
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: Mark's story. And you know, one of the points that
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: I made, China tells people they aspire to be a
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: great nation. Great nations don't behave this way. Yeah, great
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: nations don't hold hostages. Third world dictators take hostages, and
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: their treatment of Mark Sweden has been shameful. And so
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: it is my hope that when Tony Blincoln is there,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: that he makes it a priority to press for Mark's release. Now,
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: you put all this together right now, and it's a
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: disaster for this country. There's also something else that's happened.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: A friend of mine, a gas Stone Institute senior fellow,
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: Gordon Chang, who's a guy that understands China extremely well,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: went on Fox Business Channel this morning and sounded the
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: alarm about Secretary Blincoln and the Defense Department in fact
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: secred secret He says it's you know, and Tom Cotton
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: has now come out from Arkansas tweeted out this earlier,
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: saying Secretary Blinkot should cancel his trip to China and
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: President Biden must answer why he has not secured US
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: airspace from China. I want you to take a listen
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: to what Gordon Chang had to say about these developments
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: as well. Right now is Gatestone Institute senior fellow and
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: the author of the Coming collect of China and the
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Great US China Tech War. Gordon Chang is here. Gordon,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: thank you so much for being here. You also believe
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: that Lincoln should not go to China. Tell us more well,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: First of all, Lincoln shouldn't have gone to China before
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: this Chinese spy balloon incident. And the reason is that
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: he's not going to accomplish anything, and by sending him there,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: the Chinese think that we are sending an envoy to
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: the Great Celestial Court and that we're a vassal. So
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: this was never going to work out. But clearly, in
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: view of the spy incident, this is just unjust. There's
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: no reason for him to go at this point because
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: what it's showing is that in Chinese minds. They believe
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: that they can do anything they want, including violating our sovereignty,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: and we will still try to seek cooperation. In China's
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: mind that shows that we will not defend ourselves. I'm
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: not saying that the Chinese are right, but that's the
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Chinese mentality. That's an extremely dangerous situation when they believe
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: that unbelievable. This is just extraordinary. Gordon. You have been
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: so good about identifying all of the surveillance programs that
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: are in place in America from China, whether it be TikTok,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: whether it be spies, and this infiltration of academia. Now
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: we find this spy balloon. Why aren't we shooting this down?
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: And what do you know about this spy balloon? I
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: mean apparently it could easily disperse biological weapons or have
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: a nuclear device to disable American nuclear responses. Yeah, there
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: could be anything that that balloon carries, including what you
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: just talked about. We know where it came from. Its
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: track has been public and I think probably the Big
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: administration believes that they do not want to royal relations
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: with China and that they are being responsible for restraint. Unfortunately,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: as I just mentioned, the Chinese don't view it that way.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: They put a different spin on it. And we gotta
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: remember that the Chinese leadership, especially under cijim Ping, and
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: especially in the last three or four years, does live
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: in its own world, of its own constructed reality, and
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: that reality is what's important, and it's very dangerous with
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: what they're doing with, for instance, the intercept of that
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: unarmed US Air Force reconnaissance plane in international airspace in December.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: So this is just goes one incident after another, and
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: it's not leading in a good direction. No, this is
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: really an incredible development. Now we know that China is
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: sending more than a dozen jets and four naval ships
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: around Taiwan. They did this this morning. CIA Director William
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: Burns warned yesterday that Chinese leaders Jijingping, should not be
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: underestimated with regard to Taiwan, and that Ji has ordered
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: his military to be ready to invade Taiwan by twenty
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: twenty seven. But Gordon, I mean, I spoke with the
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: head of the China Select Committee, Mike Gallagher recently, and
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: he said he's looking at twenty twenty four. That could
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: be a year that we see some kind of an
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: invasion or breach here's Mike Gallagher watches. Twenty twenty four
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: is the year I'm looking at. Obviously, we have a
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: presidential election, so we're naturally going to be a little
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: internally divided and distracted. More importantly, Taiwan as a presidential election,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: and so I think those two things conspire to convince
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: Jeju Pink he can't achieve this via political warfare, so
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: he might choose the kinetic or hard power options. So
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty four really is the year of maximum danger
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: in my opinion, twenty twenty four the year of maximum danger.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: Your thoughts could be twenty twenty three, especially with these
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: dangerous intercepts. And it's not just American planes, it's also
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: the Australian plane in May, which was the most dangerous
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: intercept yet apart from the April twenty two thousand and
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: one incident which led to the collision. I'm worried about
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: an accident that. Let me just stop right here. I
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: wanted you to hear this, and I wanted to play
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: this for you because I think it's important to understand.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: They're pushing boundaries, and they're pushing these boundaries to the
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: extreme to see what they can get away. With and
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: clearly they believe that it can get away with pretty
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: much whatever the hell they want to Right now, China
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: obviously believes that America will not protect its own country,
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: and that could be because they have us so compromised.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: They have John Kerry that I think is probably working
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: against us. They have a president that I believe they
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: have compromised, certainly a first son that they have compromised.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: That's what this really boils down to. And they know
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: that right now we have a president that apparently will
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: refuse to stand up to them. They invaded our air
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: space from China, and we've done, in essence, nothing to
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: stop it. Can we talk about that? I mean, we're
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: talking about they've done nothing to say no to this.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: They've done nothing to stop this. Now you go back
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: to this prisoner issue. Why is the administration not speaking out?
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: Why is the administration not saying the name of this
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: American the same way that they were obsessed with saying
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: the name of Britney Griner. These are all fair questions,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: questions that should be asked. Well, when you have a
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: leader that doesn't lead, when you have a leader that
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: allows for the other side, China to basically do and
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: say and act and basically just do whatever the hell
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: they want to do. This is what it looks like
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: when you lose control or you are compromised. This is
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: the fruits of those labors. This is what it costs
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: us now. I asked Senator Cruz about this, Why is
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: it ten years? Why haven't we heard about this sooner?
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: And he had an honest explanation for this. Take a listen.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: People need to call their congressmen, they need to call
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: their centers, they need to call the White House that
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: you need to get the articles online about him and
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: start posting these on social media, because this goes back
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: to what I refer to as what we saw with
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: Russia recently and the w NBA player. And when the
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: name is out there and people start to talk about it,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: it gets more pressure and it can grow. That's why
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: I tell people take our podcasts, share it, promote it,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: tell everybody you know. But there's also a question that
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: people are going to ask, and I'm going to ask
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: you this. In certain situations like this, sometimes media attention
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: can be a bad thing early on, and there's a
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: strategic nature to this, and depending on which country dealing with,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: there's different protocol that usually are followed. There's gonna be
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: people They're gonna say, why have we not heard about
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: this over the last decade? Why did it take so
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: long for us to get to this point that we're at. Now,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: Walk us through how this kind of works, because it's
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: got to be confusing. So the approach you take in
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: a hostage case actually varies quite a bit based on
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: the circumstances. And I've been very active in fighting for
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: the release of a significant number of American hostages held abroad.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: It's a deep passion of mind, and so I've spent
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: ten years fighting for the release of hostages. In some cases,
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: you make the decision that to do so publicly. In
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: other cases, and I'd say probably even the majority of cases,
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: you make the decision to do so privately. And it
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: depends upon an assessment of Okay, would the public attention
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: help or hurt in some instances. So there have been
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: instances where you know, I've talked with the US ambassador
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: in the in the country, or senior State Department officials,
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: and their judgment is, you know, we're negotiating this, we're
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: making progress, and putting public heat and attention on it.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: Right now would be counterproductive. There are other times where
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: you just make the individual judgment, okay, public attention would
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: move the ball forward here and and so, and many
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: times I'll make those determinations, or my staff will talking
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: with the families of the hostages, and it's you know,
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: you certainly hope what you say doesn't make things worse.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: I mean, that would be a terrible outcome. There's a
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: reason why. And my floor speech on the Senate floor,
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: what I said was carefully calibrated what I said on
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: this podcast. A reason why I pulled out and used
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: the same language because when you're dealing with an active negotiation,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: you don't want to say anything that screws it up.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: And so that balance can change. You know, I can
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: tell you if you go back to the Obama administration,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: there was a woman in Sudan, Miriam Ibrahem, who had
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: been who was imprisoned and sentenced to death for the
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: crime of being a Christian. And Miriam had had two children,
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: a little boy and then actually a little girl that
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: she gave birth to in jail in leg irons Wow.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: And she was sentenced to receive a hundred lashes and
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: then hang by the neck until dead, and she could
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: avoid that sentence if she renounced Jesus. And it was horrific,
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: it was evil, it was indefensible. I spoke out on
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: her behalf repeatedly. I spoke about her on the Senate floor,
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: as I just did about Mark Woodan. I also tried
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: desperately to get President Obama to engage, and I couldn't
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: do it. He would not say her name, Samantha Power,
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: who was in his administration, she would say his name.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: And I tried to get her help to get Obama
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: to say his name, and Obama would not do it.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: But ultimately there was enough heat and light and attention
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: put on the case that the government of Sudan caved
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: and they released her. They released her, and she came
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: came to New Hampshire and is living in America. And
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: I had a chance to meet her. And Miriam Ibrahim
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: is this small woman. She was in her twenty she's
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: quite young, and she's slight. And I remember asking her,
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: I said, when you were in that jail, when you
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: were with your children, when you were facing death, torture
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: and death, how did you not give up? How did
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: you not lose hope? And she looked at me with
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: this profound sense of peace, and she just said to me,
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: Jesus was with me. It's incredible. I got to say
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: it was a wow moment. So there are times when
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: public attention can be very helpful. There are other times
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: where I've been advised, based on the circumstances here, you're
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: engaging in public would be counterproductive, and so I don't
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: do it. If the judgment is made that that's scumstance,
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: it would be, it would be harmful. Now, it's very
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: clear from this conversation that I had with Center Tech
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: Cruiz on his podcast verdict that I get the honor
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: of co hosting with him, is now is the time
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: for pressure. Call your senator, call your congressman. If Anthony
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: Lincoln does still go to China, then this is a
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: conversation that needs to be having and we need to
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: make sure that everybody knows his name. Make sure you
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: download our podcasts each and every day for free by
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: hitting that subscriber auto download button. Please write us a
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: five star review as well. We'll keep you update on
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: this story. Don't worry, and I'll see you back here tomorrow.