Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Iran on the Clock After Daring U.S. Rescue, Trump Warns "Hours, Not Weeks"

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Iran on the Clock After Daring U.S. Rescue, Trump Warns "Hours, Not Weeks" · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: If you're trying to figure out where things stand right
0:02
Speaker 1: now between the United States and Iran. The president's press conference, well,
0:07
Speaker 1: Donald Trump gave a very clear answer.
0:10
Speaker 2: We're at a turning point.
0:11
Speaker 1: The President walked into the White House Press Briefing room
0:14
Speaker 1: not just to update the country, but to lay out
0:17
Speaker 1: in unmistakable terms that the situation has moved beyond warnings
0:22
Speaker 1: and into a moment where decisions are about to be made.
0:25
Speaker 1: The President started by pulling back the curtain on what
0:28
Speaker 1: had been happening behind the scenes, the high stakes rescue
0:32
Speaker 1: mission that most Americans didn't fully understand until now. Two
0:37
Speaker 1: US pilots had gone down inside of Iran, not in
0:41
Speaker 1: a safe zone, not in friendly territory, but deep inside
0:44
Speaker 1: a country controlled by a hostile regime, and yet US
0:48
Speaker 1: forces went in anyway. According to the President, this wasn't luck.
0:53
Speaker 1: This was precision planning and overwhelming capability, special operations teams,
1:00
Speaker 1: dated air power, and intelligence assets all working together to
1:04
Speaker 1: do one thing, bring Americans home. And that's exactly what
1:09
Speaker 1: they did. Both pilots have been recovered safely, as the
1:12
Speaker 1: President described it, a result that the President pointed to
1:16
Speaker 1: a proof that at the United States Military can operate
1:19
Speaker 1: anywhere in the world and succeed under the most dangerous conditions,
1:23
Speaker 1: then that's a warning to everyone you don't want to
1:25
Speaker 1: mess with the United States of America. That is what
1:28
Speaker 1: you can also describe as peace through strength. But that
1:32
Speaker 1: success story also came with a serious warning from the President.
1:37
Speaker 1: The President shifted from what had already happened to what
1:40
Speaker 1: could happen next. The tone became far more serious where
1:44
Speaker 1: he talked about Iran and he said now is a
1:48
Speaker 1: very narrow window for a randed change course, not months,
1:53
Speaker 1: not weeks, but days. The message was very simple. There
1:58
Speaker 1: are demands on the table, from nuclear activity to control
2:01
Speaker 1: of key shipping lanes, and Iran has a simple choice
2:05
Speaker 1: to make you either comply or face the consequences. And
2:10
Speaker 1: those consequences, according to the President, would not be symbolic.
2:14
Speaker 1: He made it clear the United States has the ability
2:17
Speaker 1: to carry out decisive, large scale action targeting critical systems
2:23
Speaker 1: inside Iran if necessary. At one point he suggested that
2:28
Speaker 1: the US could move so quickly and with such force
2:31
Speaker 1: that the outcome would be determined in a matter of hours,
2:34
Speaker 1: not weeks.
2:36
Speaker 2: Now.
2:36
Speaker 1: He also made a point to say he's not looking
2:38
Speaker 1: to start a war, but there was no ambiguity in
2:41
Speaker 1: his message either. If Iran forces the issue, the United
2:46
Speaker 1: States is ready to respond immediately. Standing with the President
2:50
Speaker 1: was a Secretary of War Pete Headseth, reinforcing these positions
2:54
Speaker 1: as well. He described the pilot rescue as a clear
2:57
Speaker 1: example of how the US military operation today fast, coordinated
3:03
Speaker 1: and mission focused, and he emphasized something that's become a
3:06
Speaker 1: defining principle, no American is left behind. He also indicated
3:12
Speaker 1: that forces in the region are already positioned and prepared,
3:17
Speaker 1: meaning any next step wouldn't require build up, it would
3:20
Speaker 1: happen quickly. And then came one of the more troubling
3:24
Speaker 1: revelations of the day. The President disclosed that during the
3:27
Speaker 1: operation there was actually a second pilot whose existence had
3:32
Speaker 1: been kept secret to protect him while he was still
3:34
Speaker 1: on the ground, but that secrecy didn't hold. Details were
3:40
Speaker 1: leaked from the United States of America, and according to
3:43
Speaker 1: the President, that leak changed the entire risk environment, potentially
3:47
Speaker 1: alerting Iran that there was another American to find. He
3:51
Speaker 1: made it clear that his administration is now working to
3:55
Speaker 1: identify exactly who was responsible and how the information got out. Well,
4:00
Speaker 1: so when you step back and look at everything that
4:03
Speaker 1: the President said at this press conference. There is a
4:06
Speaker 1: new reality. The United States clearly just demonstrated what it
4:11
Speaker 1: can do militarily and successfully brought its people home. And
4:15
Speaker 1: at the same time, the President has drawn a line
4:19
Speaker 1: for ran and made it clear that the window to
4:21
Speaker 1: avoid escalation is closing very fast, within hours. This is
4:26
Speaker 1: no longer a slow moving situation. It's a moment where
4:30
Speaker 1: decisions on both sides are about to shape what happens next.
4:34
Speaker 1: And as the present made clear, whatever the next step is,
4:39
Speaker 1: America is ready for it. I want to play for
4:42
Speaker 1: you what the President had to say, and you can
4:44
Speaker 1: also hear how thankful he was for the American soldiers
4:47
Speaker 1: that were brought home, the brave men and women that
4:49
Speaker 1: allowed it to happen, and the fact that it also
4:53
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7:52
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7:55
Speaker 1: the White House Press briefing room, and I want you
7:58
Speaker 1: to listen to so much of what he had to
8:00
Speaker 1: talk about and how thankful he was for our brave
8:02
Speaker 1: men and women in uniform.
8:05
Speaker 4: It's a great honor to be with you, and happy Easter.
8:10
Speaker 4: We had a great easter. This is one of our
8:12
Speaker 4: better easters. I think in a lot of different ways,
8:14
Speaker 4: I can say militarily, it's been one of the best.
8:19
Speaker 4: So good afternoon. We have quite a bit to discuss.
8:22
Speaker 4: We'll go into a pretty good detail, and we have
8:26
Speaker 4: the people that are most involved. We'll give you exactitude.
8:32
Speaker 4: And we're here today to celebrate the success of one
8:35
Speaker 4: of the largest, most complex, most harrowing combat searches. I
8:40
Speaker 4: guess you would call it a search and rescue mission
8:43
Speaker 4: ever attempted by the military. Generally, when planes are knocked
8:48
Speaker 4: down in war, especially when you're finding a strong group,
8:52
Speaker 4: an evil group, you can't really do this because you
8:58
Speaker 4: send in two hundred men to pick up one, and
9:01
Speaker 4: it's something that's usually not attempted as much as you
9:03
Speaker 4: want to attempt. And bad things happened to that one
9:07
Speaker 4: or two, And in this case we did too, and
9:11
Speaker 4: might not have been attempted before, but we did, and.
9:14
Speaker 2: We had great talent.
9:16
Speaker 4: We got a little luck too, I would say, and
9:21
Speaker 4: we were helped by a lot of people, a lot
9:23
Speaker 4: of great people.
9:24
Speaker 2: Then it was an honor to be involved with it.
9:27
Speaker 4: It's very historic. This is a rescue that's very historic.
9:33
Speaker 4: It'll go down to the books. Late Thursday night, an
9:36
Speaker 4: American fifteen Fighter jet went down deep inside enemy territory
9:41
Speaker 4: in Iran while participating in Operation Epic Fury, where we're
9:46
Speaker 4: doing unbelievably well well at a level that nobody's ever
9:50
Speaker 4: seen before. The entire country could be taken out in
9:55
Speaker 4: one night, and that night might be tomorrow night. Both
9:59
Speaker 4: members of the crew ejected from the aircraft and landed
10:02
Speaker 4: alive on Iranian soil. I immediately was asked to make
10:09
Speaker 4: a decision. I ordered the US Armed Forces to do
10:12
Speaker 4: whatever was necessary to bring our brave warriors back home.
10:16
Speaker 4: A risky decision because we could have ended up with
10:20
Speaker 4: one hundred dead as opposed to one or two.
10:23
Speaker 2: It's a hard decision to make.
10:25
Speaker 4: But in the United States Military, we leave no American behind.
10:30
Speaker 2: We don't do it.
10:32
Speaker 4: Within hours of our Armed forces deployed twenty one military
10:35
Speaker 4: aircraft into hostile airspace, many flying at very low altitude,
10:39
Speaker 4: being shot by bullets. You bring rifles into play when
10:44
Speaker 4: you go in that low but there are also certain advantages.
10:49
Speaker 4: And in broad daylight over Iran for seven hours, at
10:53
Speaker 4: times facing very very heavy enemy fire. We have a
10:57
Speaker 4: helicopter that's got a lot of bullets in it. We
11:01
Speaker 4: just realized how good those weapons.
11:04
Speaker 2: Are, those our machines are.
11:06
Speaker 4: Nobody has, Nobody has the equipment that we have, and
11:09
Speaker 4: nobody has the military that we have, not even close
11:13
Speaker 4: the most powerful military anywhere in the world by far.
11:16
Speaker 4: The flight crews and warfighters aboard those aircraft took extraordinary
11:21
Speaker 4: risks to rescue their fellow service members. This first wave
11:25
Speaker 4: of search and rescue forces successfully located the pilot of
11:29
Speaker 4: the F fifteen, and he was extracted from enemy territory
11:34
Speaker 4: by an HH sixty Jolly Green two helicopter fabulous machine
11:40
Speaker 4: as their warriors faced gunfire at very close range. It's
11:45
Speaker 4: amazing that when you look at the machinery what happened,
11:50
Speaker 4: that nobody was even injured. Meanwhile, the second crew member,
11:55
Speaker 4: weapons system officer, a highly respected colonel, had landed a
11:59
Speaker 4: significant distance away from the pilot. When you're going at
12:02
Speaker 4: those speeds, even if you go out two or three
12:04
Speaker 4: seconds later, it's miles, it's miles and miles away because
12:10
Speaker 4: you're going fast. He was injured quite badly and stranded
12:14
Speaker 4: in an area teaming with terrors from the Islamic Revolutionary
12:19
Speaker 4: Guard Corps ROUGH group, as well as besieged military militia
12:24
Speaker 4: and local authorities. Many on top of everything else, they
12:30
Speaker 4: told the communities actually withinside of Iran, the people of Iran.
12:36
Speaker 4: They were given a tremendous incentive to find this pilot.
12:41
Speaker 4: Despite the peril, the officer followed his training and climbed
12:45
Speaker 4: into the treacherous mountain terrain and started climbing toward a
12:49
Speaker 4: higher altitude, something they were trained to do in order
12:54
Speaker 4: to evade capture. They want to always go as far
12:59
Speaker 4: away from the sight of the shootdown. They want to
13:03
Speaker 4: go as far away because they all head right to
13:05
Speaker 4: that site. You want to be as far away as
13:07
Speaker 4: you can. And he was injured, and he was an amazing,
13:12
Speaker 4: amazing thing. He scaled cliff faces, bleeding rather profusely, treated
13:19
Speaker 4: his own wounds, and contacted American forces to transmit his location.
13:25
Speaker 4: They have a very sophisticated beeper type apparatus that is
13:32
Speaker 4: on them at all times, and when they go out
13:36
Speaker 4: on these missions, they make sure they have lots of
13:39
Speaker 4: battery space and they're in good shape. And this one
13:42
Speaker 4: worked really well, amazingly saved his life. We immediately mobilized
13:47
Speaker 4: a massive operation to retrieve him from the mountain holed out,
13:53
Speaker 4: and he kept going higher and higher. The mountain kept
13:56
Speaker 4: getting rougher and rougher and really very very hard to find.
14:00
Speaker 4: The second rescue mission involved one hundred and fifty five aircraft,
14:04
Speaker 4: including four bombers, sixty four fighters, forty eight refueling tankers,
14:10
Speaker 4: thirteen rescue aircraft and more. We were bringing them all
14:15
Speaker 4: over and a lot of it was subterfuge. We wanted
14:18
Speaker 4: to have them think he was in a different location
14:21
Speaker 4: because they had a vast military force out there. Thousands
14:25
Speaker 4: thousands of people were looking, so we wanted them to
14:28
Speaker 4: look in different areas. So we were scattered all over
14:32
Speaker 4: like we were right on top of him. We had
14:35
Speaker 4: seven different locations where they thought, and they were very confused.
14:39
Speaker 4: They said, well, wait a minute, they've got groups here,
14:41
Speaker 4: they've got groups there.
14:42
Speaker 2: It's an amazing thing.
14:44
Speaker 4: I was listening to these great people, these great generals.
14:50
Speaker 4: General Raisin Kane was amazing and Pete Hegseth was amazing.
14:54
Speaker 2: But I listened to the whole thing. It was pretty amazing.
14:57
Speaker 4: So that all these different sites where everybody thought he
15:01
Speaker 4: was located. We think we have him over there, because
15:03
Speaker 4: they have nine planes circling a little area that's twenty
15:07
Speaker 4: five miles down the coast. So in a breath taking
15:13
Speaker 4: show of skill and precision, lethality, and force, America's military
15:17
Speaker 4: descended on the area, the real area, engage the enemy,
15:22
Speaker 4: rescued the stranded office that destroyed all threats and exited
15:28
Speaker 4: Iranian territory while taking no casualties of any kind. The
15:33
Speaker 4: heroic F fifteen weapons system officer had evaded capture on
15:37
Speaker 4: the ground in Iran for almost forty eight hours. That's
15:42
Speaker 4: a long time when you're in tough shape and when
15:45
Speaker 4: you're bleeding, it's a long time. When we left, as
15:50
Speaker 4: you probably know, we had two large planes, all pretty
15:55
Speaker 4: old planes that carried a lot. We needed a lot
15:57
Speaker 4: more equipment going in than coming out of Yeslakas.
16:00
Speaker 2: Going in, we.
16:01
Speaker 4: Needed to be able to scale mountains, and we had
16:05
Speaker 4: a lot of equipment. But the sand was it was sandy,
16:09
Speaker 4: wet sand, so we thought there may be a problem
16:12
Speaker 4: taking off because of the weight of the plane. And
16:15
Speaker 4: then we also had all the men jumping back onto
16:18
Speaker 4: the planes and they got pretty well bogged down and
16:21
Speaker 4: we had a contingency plan which was unbelievable. We're lighter,
16:26
Speaker 4: faster aircraft came in and they took them out. We
16:30
Speaker 4: blew up the old planes and we blew them up
16:32
Speaker 4: to smithereens because we had equipment on the planes and
16:36
Speaker 4: frankly we'd like to take but I don't think it
16:38
Speaker 4: was worthwhile spending another four hours there taking it off.
16:42
Speaker 4: So we didn't want anybody to have We have the
16:43
Speaker 4: best equipment anywhere in the world. We didn't want anybody
16:47
Speaker 4: examining our anti aircraft and other equipment. So these were
16:53
Speaker 4: large planes that were old and pretty old, and we
16:56
Speaker 4: blew them up and we had faster, lighter planes come
17:01
Speaker 4: in and they were able to land on the sand.
17:03
Speaker 4: We needed the bigger planes because we had so much
17:05
Speaker 4: equipment that we took three helicopters over there which were
17:09
Speaker 4: very strongly used and couldn't have lived without them. They
17:12
Speaker 4: they performed unbelievably well and if you'd see it, you
17:16
Speaker 4: wouldn't believe it. They came off the plane and these
17:19
Speaker 4: guys had them, the rotors were off. They rebuilt these
17:25
Speaker 4: helicopters in less than ten minutes, and that was one
17:29
Speaker 4: of the more amazing things.
17:31
Speaker 2: These are helicopters.
17:34
Speaker 4: Small, unbelievably powerful, but small, very small, so it can
17:39
Speaker 4: get into certain areas. And they got them off the
17:43
Speaker 4: plane and they rebuilt all three of them in a
17:46
Speaker 4: matter of less than I would say, less than ten minutes.
17:49
Speaker 4: It's pretty amazing. What the genius of these people who
17:53
Speaker 4: would think that. You'd think it would take five days
17:55
Speaker 4: to build them, and in some companies that would take
17:58
Speaker 4: five days, and they wouldn't do it well, but they
18:01
Speaker 4: served us well. As Commander Chief, I never forget the
18:05
Speaker 4: extraordinary risk taken by the warriors that we send into
18:09
Speaker 4: battle and the genius. I mean, think of it having
18:12
Speaker 4: a contingency of three planes waiting because we think the
18:15
Speaker 4: sand is so bad it probably won't be able to
18:18
Speaker 4: take off. And the planes really got bogged sand. This
18:23
Speaker 4: was not much of a runway. This was a farm,
18:25
Speaker 4: not a runway. It's a farm. But it did the trick.
18:30
Speaker 4: But to have a contingency as opposed to having to
18:32
Speaker 4: wait two days, can you imagine right in the middle
18:34
Speaker 4: this was central This was right. You would call it
18:39
Speaker 4: central casting if you were doing a movie for location,
18:42
Speaker 4: and probably the toughest area of Irana where we'd be
18:46
Speaker 4: sitting there. So these planes came in, those pilots came
18:48
Speaker 4: in so fast and so quick and got out of there.
18:51
Speaker 4: Everybody got aboard and just got fifteen minute intervals, one
18:56
Speaker 4: load out, one load out, one life out. It happened,
19:02
Speaker 4: and we will watch it, and we said, that's amazing.
19:05
Speaker 4: In many ways, I was almost more impressed by the
19:08
Speaker 4: contingency that we had than the fact that if we
19:13
Speaker 4: would have had a runway or decent soil. But it
19:16
Speaker 4: was an amazing thing. But we thank God for every
19:19
Speaker 4: single one of them. And the talent. The genius is
19:23
Speaker 4: not even talent, it's genius. It's the whole ballgame, every
19:26
Speaker 4: one of them.
19:27
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Speaker 4: If you look at what we did with Maduro, we
20:57
Speaker 4: went into a military compound and the massive with thousands
21:01
Speaker 4: and thousands of soldiers. Within a matter of minutes, and
21:05
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Speaker 2: We're going to bring our people home safely.
21:26
Speaker 4: I want to thank every member of the US Armed
21:28
Speaker 4: Forces involved in these historic operations.
21:30
Speaker 2: They really were historic.
21:32
Speaker 4: It's just not something that's done and you'd understand it.
21:35
Speaker 4: Not that they don't want to do it, but when
21:38
Speaker 4: you're going into areas, when you look at these helicopters,
21:40
Speaker 4: when you look at the amount of bullets and everything
21:42
Speaker 4: else that they took, when you go into these areas,
21:46
Speaker 4: you don't come out like we came out. God was
21:49
Speaker 4: watching us. Well, it was the Easter. We were in
21:54
Speaker 4: Easter territory, I guess. But God was watching us amazing
21:58
Speaker 4: because when you look at the machinery they took damage
22:02
Speaker 4: tells you. First thing I say is these are unbelievable.
22:05
Speaker 4: Where she is, how they flew back and not even
22:07
Speaker 4: much of a problem. But these two extraordinary rescues, because
22:12
Speaker 4: it was two and as you probably know, we didn't
22:14
Speaker 4: talk about the first one for an hour. Then somebody
22:18
Speaker 4: leaked something, which will hopefully find that leaker. We're looking
22:22
Speaker 4: very hard to find that leaker and talked about there's
22:26
Speaker 4: somebody missing. They basically said that we have one and
22:31
Speaker 4: there's somebody missing. Well, they didn't know there was somebody
22:33
Speaker 4: missing until this leaker gave the information. So whoever it was,
22:37
Speaker 4: we think we'll be able to find it out because
22:39
Speaker 4: we're going to go to the media company that released
22:43
Speaker 4: it and we're going to say national security, give it
22:47
Speaker 4: up or go to jail, and we know who and
22:51
Speaker 4: you know who we're talking about, because some things you
22:54
Speaker 4: can do. Because when they did that, all of a sudden,
22:58
Speaker 4: the entire country of a knew that there was a
23:02
Speaker 4: pilot that was somewhere on their land that was fighting
23:06
Speaker 4: for his life. And it also made it much more
23:09
Speaker 4: difficult for the pilots and for the people going in
23:14
Speaker 4: to search for him. All of a sudden, they know
23:17
Speaker 4: that there's somebody out there, they see all these planes
23:20
Speaker 4: coming in. It became a much more difficult operation because
23:24
Speaker 4: a leaker leaked that we have one, we've rescued one,
23:30
Speaker 4: but there's another one out there that we're trying to get.
23:33
Speaker 4: So actually, the country Iran put out a major notice
23:39
Speaker 4: you all saw it, offering a very big award for
23:43
Speaker 4: anybody that captures the pilot. So in addition to a hostile,
23:48
Speaker 4: very talented, very good, very evil military, we had millions
23:54
Speaker 4: of people trying to get an award. So when you
23:58
Speaker 4: add that to it, but we have to fight that
24:00
Speaker 4: leaker because that's a sick person. Probably didn't realize the
24:04
Speaker 4: extent of how bad it was. I can't imagine that
24:06
Speaker 4: the person did. But we're going to find out. It's
24:09
Speaker 4: national security and the person that did the story will
24:14
Speaker 4: go to jail if he doesn't say and that doesn't
24:17
Speaker 4: last long, and I think everybody would understand it. They
24:19
Speaker 4: put this mission at great risk, They put that man
24:22
Speaker 4: at great risk, and they put the hundreds of people
24:24
Speaker 4: that went in looking for them because everyone now knows
24:28
Speaker 4: that we're going in. Over the past thirty seven days,
24:32
Speaker 4: America's armed forces have carried out more than ten thousand
24:37
Speaker 4: combat flights over Iran, unheard of, striking more than thirteen
24:41
Speaker 4: thousand targets. The F fifteen we lost last week was
24:45
Speaker 4: the first manned aircraft down by the enemy in this
24:49
Speaker 4: entire operation with thousands and thousands of flights.
24:52
Speaker 2: He got lucky. It was a lucky hit. You know,
24:54
Speaker 2: eventually you get lucky. But we got lucky too, because
24:59
Speaker 2: we got both of them back.
25:00
Speaker 4: But it's a record that has unparalleled the history of
25:04
Speaker 4: military air operations. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. It's
25:07
Speaker 4: such an honor to be involved with it. We were
25:12
Speaker 4: up late at night and then we were waiting for
25:15
Speaker 4: those contingent planes to come in, and we say, come on,
25:19
Speaker 4: let's go get in, because they're waiting out on this
25:24
Speaker 4: farm without a runway with wet, crummy soil sand mostly sand,
25:31
Speaker 4: wet sand, and it eats planes alive. And we're waiting
25:36
Speaker 4: and we're saying, I hope that one can land and
25:38
Speaker 4: take off. And they came in like magic, boom boom boom,
25:43
Speaker 4: one after another.
25:44
Speaker 2: Was like genius.
25:45
Speaker 4: So impressed by that because we were a little concerned,
25:48
Speaker 4: we said, boy, if they don't get in and get
25:51
Speaker 4: up fast, we're sitting in the middle. And that's called
25:55
Speaker 4: I ran prime right general, that's where the whole bed is.
26:00
Speaker 4: And here we are sitting there waiting for a plane.
26:03
Speaker 4: But they came in so fast and so hard, and
26:05
Speaker 4: these guys knew exactly what let's go, come on, get in,
26:09
Speaker 4: let's go bois. They came one right after another, not
26:12
Speaker 4: at the same time. They don't want to come at
26:15
Speaker 4: the same time. They had to come right after each other.
26:17
Speaker 4: They didn't have any room. There was barely any room
26:19
Speaker 4: to land tiny little patch of very wet.
26:24
Speaker 2: Earth and sand.
26:26
Speaker 4: So I just I'm so proud of the people that
26:28
Speaker 4: I have standing up here with me, and many others
26:31
Speaker 4: that worked, I mean so many. Steve Whitdcuffs over here
26:34
Speaker 4: is doing fantastically, Jared Kushner, but the people that are here,
26:39
Speaker 4: the job they did is amazing. And I think I'm
26:42
Speaker 4: going to introduce the head of the CIA, and he
26:46
Speaker 4: is a man who is central casting. Okay, if we
26:50
Speaker 4: cast a movie, he's going to play. The head of
26:52
Speaker 4: the CIA's few John Retcliffe. He did a phenomenal job
26:57
Speaker 4: that night. He did something that I don't know if
26:59
Speaker 4: you want talk about it. If you want, you can,
27:01
Speaker 4: I'm not sure you're supposed so I'm not going to
27:03
Speaker 4: talk about it. But he really the CIA was very
27:06
Speaker 4: responsible for finding this little speck. It's like they use
27:10
Speaker 4: an expression on one of the shows a general was
27:12
Speaker 4: talking about it's like finding a needle in a haystack.
27:15
Speaker 4: Finding this pilot and the CIO was unbelievable. And you
27:20
Speaker 4: may if you can you'll talk. It might be classified,
27:23
Speaker 4: in which case I'd have to put him in jail
27:24
Speaker 4: if he talks about it, and I don't want to
27:26
Speaker 4: put him in jail. He doesn't deserve that, Sir John,
27:29
Speaker 4: Do you want to say a few words?
27:30
Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you, mister President.
27:35
Speaker 5: It's a privilege to be here with you today to
27:38
Speaker 5: share what we can about this exceptional mission and to
27:42
Speaker 5: recognize the ingenuity and bravery of those who executed it,
27:47
Speaker 5: as well as the leadership and resolve of the President
27:50
Speaker 5: who ordered it. One thing that has been clear to
27:53
Speaker 5: me in this role is that the flawless military operations
27:57
Speaker 5: that the Department of War is known for are hostage
28:01
Speaker 5: to flawless intelligence. We saw that in the skies over
28:06
Speaker 5: Iran in Operation Midnight Hammer last summer. We witnessed it
28:09
Speaker 5: in Venezuela during Operation Absolute Resolve. We've seen it against
28:14
Speaker 5: the cartels in the Western Hemisphere, and we're seeing it
28:17
Speaker 5: every day in Operation Epic Fury, including this mission to
28:23
Speaker 5: rescue an aviator buried deep behind enemy lines. Because it
28:28
Speaker 5: is the unique tradition of the US Armed Forces that
28:31
Speaker 5: we leave no man or woman behind. This was a
28:35
Speaker 5: no fail mission that was the spirit in which the
28:39
Speaker 5: President put us to work, and we were determined not
28:42
Speaker 5: to let him down or our airman down. As an agency,
28:48
Speaker 5: the CIA possesses unique capabilities that only the President can deploy.
28:54
Speaker 5: Some of these capabilities fall under covert action authorities, and
28:58
Speaker 5: because covert means exactly that I'm not going to be
29:02
Speaker 5: able to tell you everything that you want to know.
29:06
Speaker 5: At the President's direction, we deployed both human assets and
29:11
Speaker 5: exquisite technologies that no other intelligence service in the world
29:14
Speaker 5: possesses to a daunting challenge comparable to hunting for a
29:19
Speaker 5: single grain of sand in the middle of a desert.
29:24
Speaker 5: This was also a race against the clock, as it
29:27
Speaker 5: was critical that we locate the down aviator as quickly
29:30
Speaker 5: as possible, while at the same time keeping our enemies misdirected.
29:37
Speaker 5: For that reason, in addition to the human and technical
29:41
Speaker 5: assets deployed by the President to find our airmen, CIA
29:46
Speaker 5: executed a deception campaign to confuse the Iranians who were
29:50
Speaker 5: desperately hunting for our airmen. On Saturday morning, we achieved
29:56
Speaker 5: our primary objective by finding and providing confirmation that one
30:01
Speaker 5: of America's best and bravest was alive and concealed in
30:06
Speaker 5: a mountain crevice, still invisible to the enemy but not
30:10
Speaker 5: to the CIA. That confirmation was relayed by Secretary Hexath
30:16
Speaker 5: to the President, and the operation quickly.
30:18
Speaker 2: Moved to the execution phase.
30:21
Speaker 5: Following the successful exfiltration on Saturday night, our intelligence reflects
30:27
Speaker 5: that the Iranians were embarrassed and ultimately humiliated by the
30:31
Speaker 5: success of this audacious rescue mission. When the President asked
30:37
Speaker 5: me to lead the CIA, he made it clear, get
30:40
Speaker 5: back to basics. No politics, no agendas, Tackle the hardest
30:45
Speaker 5: problems and execute the toughest missions. This president is about results,
30:51
Speaker 5: and now that's what his CIA is about too. The
30:56
Speaker 5: professionals at the Agency and at the Department of War
31:00
Speaker 5: deserve immense credit for their flawless execution during this daring mission.
31:04
Speaker 5: Their skill, creativity, and courage are unmatched on the.
31:09
Speaker 2: Battlefield wherever they step.
31:11
Speaker 5: But none of that matters, and all of that is
31:14
Speaker 5: wasted without a president with the political courage to put
31:18
Speaker 5: them into action. Mister President, I've had the privilege of
31:24
Speaker 5: seeing you act with political courage and the best interests
31:26
Speaker 5: of the United States up close on a daily basis,
31:29
Speaker 5: and I'm grateful that this successful mission has given the
31:32
Speaker 5: American people a window into that as well.
31:36
Speaker 1: John Radcliffe there, the CIA director talking at the White House,
31:40
Speaker 1: and what you just heard from President Trump and John
31:43
Speaker 1: Radcliffe was not just an update, it was also a
31:46
Speaker 1: warning and a roadmap. The United States has already shown
31:49
Speaker 1: what it can do. Two American pilots brought home from
31:53
Speaker 1: deep inside enemy territory, a mission that proves without question
31:57
Speaker 1: the reach and the power of the US military terry
32:00
Speaker 1: and those CIA operatives behind the scenes. And now the
32:05
Speaker 1: focus will shift to what happens next. Iran is on
32:08
Speaker 1: the clock, not weeks, not months. We're talking about the
32:11
Speaker 1: next twenty four to forty eight hours. The present made
32:14
Speaker 1: it clear there is still a path to de escalation,
32:18
Speaker 1: but if Iran refuses to change course, the United States
32:21
Speaker 1: is prepared to act and act decisively. And let's be
32:25
Speaker 1: honest about what that means. This could either calm down
32:28
Speaker 1: very quickly, or it could escalate faster than anything we've
32:32
Speaker 1: seen in years. There is no middle ground anymore. So
32:36
Speaker 1: as we move forward, the question isn't what America is
32:39
Speaker 1: capable of. We just saw that. The question is whether
32:43
Speaker 1: Ran backs down or forces the next move. And based
32:47
Speaker 1: on what we heard today, if that moment comes, the
32:51
Speaker 1: United States of America is ready. Make sure you share
32:54
Speaker 1: this podcast please wherever you can on social media so
32:58
Speaker 1: others will hear it. Hit that subscriber auto download button,
33:02
Speaker 1: and I'll see you back here tomorrow