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Why did a Chinese-American bank 'willingly' provided Biden family financial records? · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: A Chinese American bank has quote willingly provided Biden family
0:08
Speaker 1: financial records. Senator Ron Johnson is revealing now that this
0:14
Speaker 1: Chinese American bank is doing something that no other bank
0:17
Speaker 1: has done so far. Here is the money, here are
0:22
Speaker 1: the transactions, Here's where it came from. Total transparency. Now
0:27
Speaker 1: you may be asking yourself the same question I was asking. Okay,
0:30
Speaker 1: why would a Chinese American bank do this? Is this
0:33
Speaker 1: a shot across the bow at the Biden crime family
0:37
Speaker 1: that you better shut up and be quiet, because if
0:40
Speaker 1: you don't, we're gonna bury you. Take a listen to
0:43
Speaker 1: what Senator Johnson had to say about this bank. The
0:46
Speaker 1: only bank records were you gotten? This is pretty interesting.
0:49
Speaker 1: We got them from Cafe Bank. Is that the Chinese
0:53
Speaker 1: Communist parties at a shot across across a President Biden's bow,
0:57
Speaker 1: saying listen to this is some of them for me
1:00
Speaker 1: we have. If you don't total the line, if you
1:02
Speaker 1: don't do things that please us, we're going to even
1:06
Speaker 1: provide even more information. A bank from China, Let's face it,
1:09
Speaker 1: to the Communist Party controls those types of institutions. They
1:13
Speaker 1: willingly gave us the documents that backed up the Treasury records.
1:17
Speaker 1: Now you think about why would China do this, The
1:20
Speaker 1: only reason I think is to make it very clear
1:22
Speaker 1: that Biden crime family, you guys better shut up and
1:24
Speaker 1: play the game the right way, because if you don't,
1:27
Speaker 1: we have you compromised. And here's proof of what we
1:29
Speaker 1: have on you. These comments from Centa Ron Johnson also
1:34
Speaker 1: tell you that this was a deliberate decision because China
1:38
Speaker 1: doesn't give up anything. They don't want to look at
1:39
Speaker 1: what they did with covering up for hunt insuit of virology.
1:45
Speaker 1: China did this on purpose. A bank from China that
1:49
Speaker 1: controlled by the Communist Party willfully gave the documents that
1:53
Speaker 1: were asked from the Treasury Department from the back up
1:56
Speaker 1: the Treasury records. They did this to to the Biden
2:01
Speaker 1: family will ruin you. We own you. This is right,
2:08
Speaker 1: We will own you, and you will be destroyed. Now,
2:12
Speaker 1: let me give you some background on this bank, so
2:14
Speaker 1: you understand this bank has been around for a long time.
2:19
Speaker 1: This bank has actually been around since nineteen sixty two.
2:23
Speaker 1: This was the way that the Chinese were able to
2:26
Speaker 1: get into the American banking system, which they desperately wanted
2:29
Speaker 1: access to. They did it under the skies of serving
2:33
Speaker 1: Chinese Americans or people from China in America. That was
2:36
Speaker 1: the way they did it, but they desperately needed ties
2:39
Speaker 1: to the American banking system. A lot of suspicious activity
2:42
Speaker 1: reports come out of this bank as well. Take a
2:45
Speaker 1: listen to what Maria Bartomo had to say about the
2:47
Speaker 1: history of this bank. Cafe Bank is the oldest operating
2:50
Speaker 1: bank in the United States. It was founded by Chinese
2:53
Speaker 1: Americans to serve the Chinese community. It has offices in
2:58
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, as well as representative offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei.
3:05
Speaker 1: The GPS investigation finding that the Biden family received payments
3:09
Speaker 1: from Hunter Biden's business associate, Rob Walker and their joint
3:12
Speaker 1: venture with a Chinese energy firm. Mike I thought this
3:16
Speaker 1: was really interesting that when Ron Johnson was demanding the
3:20
Speaker 1: financial records, it was only Cathay Bank who handed them over.
3:24
Speaker 1: Now we know that James Komer on the House Oversight
3:28
Speaker 1: Committee has received some banking records from American banks, but
3:33
Speaker 1: only having to do with one deal. Comer says there
3:36
Speaker 1: are eleven other deals out there that he thinks will
3:39
Speaker 1: be similar to what he saw with the first deal.
3:41
Speaker 1: Which was Rob Walker got a check for three million dollars.
3:44
Speaker 1: The very next day he sent one plus million of
3:47
Speaker 1: that distributed to Biden family members. Wol Maria, you know,
3:52
Speaker 1: a lot of this information was leaked. One Hunters laptop
3:55
Speaker 1: came out, and some of the Rosemont Seneca Big records
4:00
Speaker 1: came out. But look when the Democrats were in charge
4:03
Speaker 1: and they demanded phone records without warrants on all sorts
4:06
Speaker 1: of people attached to the Trump or We're bit, they
4:09
Speaker 1: were given uniformly without question, and a lot of times
4:14
Speaker 1: the people whose phone records are being turned over head
4:16
Speaker 1: a day or two notice to try and sue and
4:17
Speaker 1: block that. It's just funny how none of these banks
4:21
Speaker 1: will comply with Congress now now that it's a Democrat.
4:24
Speaker 1: It is beyond the pale of a two tiered justice
4:28
Speaker 1: system on the way these things work. And let's just
4:31
Speaker 1: let's just go back in time and remind everyone like
4:34
Speaker 1: nobody gets a billion dollars sole mandate from the Chinese
4:37
Speaker 1: government to start a private equity firm, especially one that
4:39
Speaker 1: doesn't have any private equity experience, especially someone that doesn't
4:42
Speaker 1: have any private equity experience, It as a debilitating crack Abbit,
4:45
Speaker 1: So what type of influence did they buy As a
4:48
Speaker 1: Chinese comedist party is running around with Russia, Saudi Arabia
4:51
Speaker 1: Iran setting up a new reserve currency to take out
4:56
Speaker 1: the United States of America. What did the Bidens give
4:59
Speaker 1: up and what is it doing to our national security?
5:01
Speaker 1: What did the Bidens give up and what did they
5:03
Speaker 1: do to our national security? That is the exact question
5:06
Speaker 1: that needs to be asked here. Now you go back
5:09
Speaker 1: to the amount of money that we're talking about here.
5:10
Speaker 1: We know three million is the amount of Chinese energy
5:13
Speaker 1: firm paid to the Biden family associates, and that was
5:15
Speaker 1: when the Biden crime family expanded. Okay, but that's actually
5:19
Speaker 1: the smaller payments. Let's let's go back over these payments
5:23
Speaker 1: for a second. So you understand, okay, you had from
5:28
Speaker 1: Ye and Rob Walker the original three million that came
5:32
Speaker 1: on three one of seventeen, that came from the head
5:35
Speaker 1: of an affiliate of Shanghai bay Cefe wiring in that cash.
5:40
Speaker 1: You fast forward the very next day James Glare again
5:44
Speaker 1: another Biden crime family associate. There's one million, sixty five
5:50
Speaker 1: thousand and change. Rob Walker wires roughly a third directly
5:55
Speaker 1: to Hunter Biden associate James Glar's firm, European Energy and
6:00
Speaker 1: Infrastructure Group. Then the money gets washed again companies linked
6:05
Speaker 1: to him. Hunter Biden gets six hundred ten thousand, six
6:08
Speaker 1: hundred ninety two dollars, Hallie Biden twenty five thousand, also
6:13
Speaker 1: ten k from Robin Walker on to thirteen of seventeen.
6:17
Speaker 1: Then James Biden, the President's brother, gets three hundred and
6:20
Speaker 1: sixty thousand on six or excuse me, on three eighteen
6:25
Speaker 1: of seventeen. And then there was the unknown Biden. They
6:28
Speaker 1: got seventy grand. We don't know who that unknown person is.
6:32
Speaker 1: We know they have the last name Biden. Now that's
6:35
Speaker 1: just one of the paychecks that came in from the
6:38
Speaker 1: Chinese communist government. But when you have a bank, they
6:42
Speaker 1: just decides to let all this money go in China,
6:47
Speaker 1: and then they're willing to give over the bank records.
6:49
Speaker 1: They're the only bank that's willing to give over the
6:53
Speaker 1: bank records. The question you have to ask is why
6:57
Speaker 1: do they do it? And we also found out something else.
7:00
Speaker 1: Hunter's business partner who paid Biden family a million dollars
7:05
Speaker 1: we now know was a frequent visitor during Biden's Vice presidency. Now,
7:12
Speaker 1: the bank records show that not only did Walker wire
7:15
Speaker 1: over a million dollars in Chinese funds the Biden family members,
7:19
Speaker 1: but Hunter Biden's former business partner, Rob Walker appeared to
7:22
Speaker 1: have visited the White House at least sixteen times when
7:25
Speaker 1: President Biden was the vice president. We didn't say his residence,
7:27
Speaker 1: we said the actual White House. So why would China
7:31
Speaker 1: be sending money to the Biden crime family. Well, if
7:34
Speaker 1: you get sixteen visits to the White House, that's to
7:36
Speaker 1: have a lot of visits to talk about Chinese interests
7:39
Speaker 1: and to have influence. Is that worth it? How about
7:42
Speaker 1: giving a billion dollars for a venture capital right from
7:45
Speaker 1: a crackhead to a crackhead that doesn't have any experience
7:48
Speaker 1: in that industry. You think that right there would be
7:52
Speaker 1: enough for you to get some influence the White House.
7:54
Speaker 1: Sixteen visits to sixteen visits, folks. Walker's name resurfaced again
7:58
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago after the House Oversight Committee
8:01
Speaker 1: Republicans said they obtained the records showing members the Biden
8:04
Speaker 1: family received more than a million dollars in payments from
8:06
Speaker 1: account through they did a Walker and they're Chinese business
8:09
Speaker 1: ventures in seventeen. So again, connect these dots. You go
8:12
Speaker 1: back to seventeen, you go back to Hunter Biden's former
8:15
Speaker 1: business partner, you go back to visiting the White House
8:17
Speaker 1: at least sixteen times minimum, and there is your smoking gun.
8:22
Speaker 1: So then why did this Chinese bank give over all
8:25
Speaker 1: the financial records to Jim Jordan and Senator Ron Johnson
8:31
Speaker 1: and James Comer. They were sitting a signal. You want
8:34
Speaker 1: to screw with us, all right, you want to play,
8:37
Speaker 1: we'll play. You want to be put, you want you
8:40
Speaker 1: want to go. You think you're gonna you think you're
8:42
Speaker 1: gonna not do what you said you were gonna do.
8:44
Speaker 1: We own you, Biden's that's what communists China is saying.
8:47
Speaker 1: Right now, you better, you better calm down. Okay, you
8:51
Speaker 1: better shut up? Right you better you better play the game,
8:55
Speaker 1: because if you don't, we own you and we will
8:57
Speaker 1: destroy you. It is not normal for a China American
9:00
Speaker 1: bank to willingly provide these financial records. That's just not normal.
9:05
Speaker 1: And I think everybody understands that. We also know that
9:09
Speaker 1: Biden denying in recent weeks as son Hunter Biden, his
9:12
Speaker 1: brother Jim, and Hallie Biden, the widow of the sun
9:14
Speaker 1: Bow receives split payments of a million dollars from Hunter's
9:17
Speaker 1: business associate Rob Walker. Johnson claims a new Kathaway Bank
9:22
Speaker 1: records solidify the House Oversight Committee's investigation into the family's
9:26
Speaker 1: international business ventures. This is the Chinese Communist Party. This
9:30
Speaker 1: is the shout across the bow. Right. This is clearly here, folks.
9:36
Speaker 1: This isn't just a Chinese bank. This is an American
9:39
Speaker 1: bank that was founded by Chinese Americans. After everything that
9:42
Speaker 1: we've been through with China and this moment, only fifteen
9:46
Speaker 1: percent of Americans actually trust China. The American people are
9:48
Speaker 1: rightly concerned, is what Carter said. They deserve to have answers,
9:52
Speaker 1: and I think at a minimum, the President needs to
9:54
Speaker 1: make a statement address people's concerns because they are valid.
9:57
Speaker 1: Now the question now is why is that the President
10:00
Speaker 1: of the United States of America is not being asked
10:03
Speaker 1: questions about this from the media. How is it that
10:07
Speaker 1: he is able to sit there and not have to
10:09
Speaker 1: answer these basic questions. It's because they don't care if
10:13
Speaker 1: he's compromised by the Chinese, because he's their guy. I
10:17
Speaker 1: want to just also remind you, when it comes to
10:21
Speaker 1: all of the corruption of the Biden crime family. That
10:25
Speaker 1: Representative James Comer said this. Now, I'm going to go
10:29
Speaker 1: back to February all right, day after Valentine's Day, Representative
10:34
Speaker 1: James Coomer said, that's about Hunter Biden talking about how
10:37
Speaker 1: he was knee deep with China. And this comes after
10:39
Speaker 1: the shout across about from the Chinese bank saying, hey,
10:41
Speaker 1: Biden's get in line, shut up and be quiet, because
10:44
Speaker 1: if you don't, we're going to expose you with more
10:46
Speaker 1: bank records. Listen here, House Oversight Chairman James Coomer, Congressman,
10:51
Speaker 1: it's good to see you. Good to be back. Hey, congressmen,
10:54
Speaker 1: what was your reaction when you heard Obama's former DNI
10:58
Speaker 1: James Clapper slam three years after the fact, say political
11:03
Speaker 1: quote deliberately distorted his claim and the claim by fifty
11:07
Speaker 1: other intelligence officials that Hunter Biden's laptop was rushing to
11:11
Speaker 1: information before the twenty twenty election in order to help
11:14
Speaker 1: out This is in order to help out Joe Biden.
11:17
Speaker 1: What was your reaction when you heard this? Well, of
11:19
Speaker 1: course he's going to try to back paddle, but the
11:22
Speaker 1: truth remains that he didn't say a word about that
11:24
Speaker 1: political story when it came out. If he was offended
11:27
Speaker 1: by Politico, he should have made his statement that day
11:30
Speaker 1: because we're right up against the presidential election when that
11:33
Speaker 1: story came out. Yet he said nothing. So it's pretty
11:37
Speaker 1: disappointing to see him comment at all, much less trying
11:41
Speaker 1: to throw Politico under the bus for his mistake or
11:44
Speaker 1: his bias. You know, we don't know, but we're gonna
11:47
Speaker 1: find out. This is something that's very important to the
11:50
Speaker 1: Select Committee on the Weabinization of the federal government. This
11:53
Speaker 1: is an issue that Jim Jordan will champion, and he's
11:56
Speaker 1: gonna give all fifty one of these people an opportunity
11:59
Speaker 1: to explain himself. So maybe that's why he's now rushing
12:02
Speaker 1: to try to clarify his statements three almost three years
12:06
Speaker 1: after the fact. And to your point, Congressman, he did
12:08
Speaker 1: not rush to go on TV to fix it before
12:11
Speaker 1: the election of us said we've got the receipts. Let's
12:14
Speaker 1: watch this. Watch to me, this is this classic textbook
12:20
Speaker 1: Soviet Russian tradecraft. Were all of a sudden two and
12:25
Speaker 1: a half weeks before the election of this laptop appears
12:29
Speaker 1: somehow well, we know that this whole smear on Joe
12:32
Speaker 1: Biden comes from the Kremlin. That's been clear for well
12:37
Speaker 1: over a year now. The US authorities are seeing if
12:39
Speaker 1: those emails we just talked about are connected to an
12:42
Speaker 1: ongoing Russian disinformation effort. It is so obviously a Russian
12:47
Speaker 1: operation Hunter Biden, this laptop that intelligence officials have warned
12:51
Speaker 1: is likely Russian disinformation, ongoing Russian disinformation effort. It's broadly
12:57
Speaker 1: known and widely known, Peter, that there was a odd
13:00
Speaker 1: range of Russian disinformation back in twenty twenty. Okay, that's
13:03
Speaker 1: clearly propaganda. CNA, New York Times, Washington Post, NBC have
13:08
Speaker 1: since authenticated information on the Hunter Biden laptop revealing the
13:12
Speaker 1: Biden family was basically selling access via Joe Biden's gage job.
13:16
Speaker 1: This is alleged corruption. What was your response, what's your
13:19
Speaker 1: reaction to what you just heard? Well, if Clapper or
13:22
Speaker 1: those other fifty intelligence officials want to blame someone, if
13:25
Speaker 1: they want to throw someone under the bus, they should
13:27
Speaker 1: throw Joe Biden under the bus. Because remember in that
13:30
Speaker 1: presidential debate, when Donald Trump phrased the term the laptop
13:35
Speaker 1: from Hell, Joe Biden flatly denied that said it wasn't true.
13:39
Speaker 1: He implied it was Russian disinformation. So these characters that
13:44
Speaker 1: worked for the intelligence community all went along with Joe
13:48
Speaker 1: Biden's narrative. So if they're really sincere about trying to
13:51
Speaker 1: find someone to blame, they should blame Joe Biden. And
13:54
Speaker 1: this is something the media. Remember when I had the
13:57
Speaker 1: press conference in November after the Republicans the midterm elections
14:01
Speaker 1: to formally announce that we were going to investigate the
14:04
Speaker 1: Biden family for influence peddling, all those media outlets attacked
14:08
Speaker 1: the Republicans for having the audacity to investigate Joe Biden,
14:13
Speaker 1: and even the associated Preston Bloomberg. As early as November
14:18
Speaker 1: of just a few months ago, we're saying that the
14:20
Speaker 1: laptop was Russian disinformation and that it was a conspiracy theory.
14:23
Speaker 1: Now everyone knows CBS did the forensic audit, the Twitter
14:27
Speaker 1: executives testified in our committee last week. There's no question
14:30
Speaker 1: the laptop is authentic, and there is very damaging evidence
14:36
Speaker 1: within that hard drive that would implicate not just the
14:39
Speaker 1: Biden family but also Joe Biden in influence peddling with
14:43
Speaker 1: our adversaries, including communist China. So let's and you go
14:47
Speaker 1: back to the communist China part there what James Komer
14:49
Speaker 1: keeps saying, and this was before we got these bank
14:51
Speaker 1: records that just came out from this Chinese American bank,
14:54
Speaker 1: and it's clear that what they're trying to do is
14:56
Speaker 1: they're trying to say, Hey, Biden's played by the rules
14:59
Speaker 1: of our okay, played by the rules of our agreement,
15:03
Speaker 1: whatever that agreement was, You better tow the line better,
15:08
Speaker 1: you better really calm down and remember that we own you.
15:13
Speaker 1: The only reason why China did the deal that they
15:17
Speaker 1: did with the Biden crime family is because they wanted
15:19
Speaker 1: to influence Pedal, but they also want to protection and
15:21
Speaker 1: with that money that they were paying, there was something
15:25
Speaker 1: else that happened. They were able to compromise them. This
15:28
Speaker 1: is no different than the Russian government in the Russian oligarchs.
15:31
Speaker 1: You look at today what has happened. We now know
15:34
Speaker 1: that the Russians are holding an American journalist, an American
15:40
Speaker 1: journalists representing the Wall Street journal who's now being held
15:43
Speaker 1: on espionage charges. Did the White House immediately come out
15:46
Speaker 1: and demand that he be returned. No, they're very quiet
15:49
Speaker 1: right now. Okay, they're being very quiet. Maybe they can't
15:54
Speaker 1: say anything at all. People need to really think about that.
15:57
Speaker 1: Maybe they have to just let this happen and then
16:00
Speaker 1: try to find somebody that can trade to get him back. Now,
16:02
Speaker 1: this is also two Americans now being held, So we
16:05
Speaker 1: were at two. We got the w NBA Woke starback,
16:08
Speaker 1: Britney Griner. We left an actual American behind that'd been
16:11
Speaker 1: there for even longer. Doesn't matter, right, that's a problem.
16:15
Speaker 1: And now we have this also a really big problem.
16:20
Speaker 1: We have another American. So the number has not gone down,
16:23
Speaker 1: the number has gone up. People should be angry about that,
16:27
Speaker 1: in my opinion. And this administration hasn't even had the
16:32
Speaker 1: cajones to sanction the oligarchs that loaned not O money
16:40
Speaker 1: gave money to the Biden crime family. There was another
16:44
Speaker 1: round of sanctions that went out last week. And still
16:47
Speaker 1: admitted from the sanctions is the former Moscow mayor's wife,
16:53
Speaker 1: who's a Russian oligarch who should have been sanctioned. That
16:57
Speaker 1: Russian oligarch is who gave millions of doors to Hunter Biden.
17:01
Speaker 1: There's another oligarch that gave millions of dollars to Hunter Biden,
17:04
Speaker 1: the Biden crime family. That oligarch has also been admitted
17:09
Speaker 1: from the Russian sanctions on oligarchs. Why is that? It's
17:14
Speaker 1: only one way I think we can describe it at
17:16
Speaker 1: this point. There's only one way you can describe this.
17:21
Speaker 1: In my opinion, it's because they are compromised. There's no
17:26
Speaker 1: other logical explanation for this, folks. They're compromised. They're completely compromised,
17:32
Speaker 1: and every step of the way, especially with what the
17:35
Speaker 1: Chinese just ad here, here's bank records. We dare you
17:39
Speaker 1: ll let's remind you what we have on you. They've
17:42
Speaker 1: got everything they can down. They could unload. The Chinese,
17:46
Speaker 1: I believe, have the Biden crime family so compromise that
17:50
Speaker 1: they could destroy them in three seconds with releasing data
17:53
Speaker 1: they have on them. I think that's the same thing
17:55
Speaker 1: for the Russians right now as well. I think that's
17:58
Speaker 1: the reason why the President can't stand up to Russia
18:00
Speaker 1: and demand Americans be back. I think that's the reason
18:03
Speaker 1: why they're just sitting here saying, okay, it is what
18:06
Speaker 1: it is. One last thing on this that also I
18:09
Speaker 1: think goes back to the lack of the media's focus
18:13
Speaker 1: on all the intel we have in the laptop, which
18:15
Speaker 1: they all have one hundred percent access to. There were
18:18
Speaker 1: emails in there where Hunter Biden was really boasting about
18:22
Speaker 1: his connections to China. To China's ambassador, he was selling
18:26
Speaker 1: this and they brought this up to James Comer. Listen,
18:29
Speaker 1: so let's stay in this. Fox News is reporting emails
18:32
Speaker 1: from the Laptop show. Hunter Biden boasted about having a
18:35
Speaker 1: quote very very good relationship relationship with Obama's ambassador to China,
18:40
Speaker 1: Max Bacas, set they quote can ask anything we need
18:43
Speaker 1: right now is they were doing family business deals with China.
18:47
Speaker 1: The family got paid millions of dollars out of China,
18:49
Speaker 1: including things like selling liquid natural guest deals. As you
18:52
Speaker 1: point out, out of five US states to China. Max
18:55
Speaker 1: Bacas has not responded to The Evening Edit. We did
18:58
Speaker 1: reach out for comment your thoughts on this. Well, the
19:01
Speaker 1: whole Biden business model was revolved around convincing our adversaries
19:06
Speaker 1: that Hunter Biden had access to the highest levels of government.
19:09
Speaker 1: He convinced people that because he was Joe Biden's son,
19:12
Speaker 1: he could help them navigate the bureaucracy of the federal government.
19:16
Speaker 1: So obviously, the more people that Hunter Biden could prove
19:19
Speaker 1: to Communist China that he had close connections with, the
19:22
Speaker 1: more money his family would break in. And this is
19:25
Speaker 1: another example of how Joe Biden or Hunter Biden, through
19:29
Speaker 1: Joe Biden's network, sold himself to our adversaries in China,
19:35
Speaker 1: Russia and Ukraine. So this is proof that this family
19:39
Speaker 1: was needy in with communist China and trying to sell
19:44
Speaker 1: access to the federal government. Trying to sell access to
19:47
Speaker 1: federal government. And that's exactly why this Chinese American bank
19:51
Speaker 1: released all and they're the only bank to do this
19:53
Speaker 1: so far, all of the bank records that were requested
19:58
Speaker 1: by Ron John and the Republican Party. It was their
20:02
Speaker 1: way of reminding the Bidens how much you are owned
20:05
Speaker 1: by China. It's not just China, by the way, where
20:10
Speaker 1: this Biden crime family has compromised, it's also Russia. And
20:16
Speaker 1: the White House has been basically silent, and certainly in
20:20
Speaker 1: the hours after we found out that Russia has now
20:24
Speaker 1: taken another American hostage. Russia has detained a Wall Street
20:29
Speaker 1: Journal reporter and plans to hold them until late in
20:33
Speaker 1: May were now being told. The White House did not
20:36
Speaker 1: come out and immediately and condemned this. In fact, it's
20:38
Speaker 1: been twenty something hours they said nothing. Russian authorities We
20:42
Speaker 1: know for a fact of detained the Wall Street Journal reporter.
20:46
Speaker 1: Russia is one of the worst countries in the world
20:47
Speaker 1: for press freedom. We also know that, but they have
20:50
Speaker 1: not done what they just did since the Cold War ended.
20:53
Speaker 1: Now Russian authorities have come out and said they planned
20:55
Speaker 1: to detain the American journalist who works for the Wall
20:58
Speaker 1: Street Journal for two months. The reporter was attained on
21:01
Speaker 1: suspicion of espionage. According to the Russian Federal Security Services.
21:06
Speaker 1: This is basically the same as the KGB. Shortly after,
21:10
Speaker 1: a Moscow court ordered the attention to last until east
21:13
Speaker 1: May twenty ninth. According to the Journal, which side of
21:15
Speaker 1: local reports, the man's attention escalates already high tensions between
21:20
Speaker 1: the US and Russia. The US government is spending billions
21:23
Speaker 1: to support Ukrainians defense against the invading Russian forces. The
21:28
Speaker 1: Biden administration has been in touch with the journal about
21:30
Speaker 1: the situation, a senior administration official told NBC News. Now
21:34
Speaker 1: they are alleging right the KGB, basically known now is
21:37
Speaker 1: the FSB, is alleging that this journalist was quote collecting
21:42
Speaker 1: information constituting a state secret about the activities of one
21:47
Speaker 1: of the enterprises of the military industrial complex in Russia.
21:51
Speaker 1: He's pled not guilty to the espionage charges, according to
21:54
Speaker 1: the Russian state news agency. Yeah, I've convicted this journalist
21:58
Speaker 1: could face up to twenty years in print. And look,
22:00
Speaker 1: he knows this. He's not an idiot. I'm sure he
22:03
Speaker 1: knows that. The only way he's going to get out
22:05
Speaker 1: of Russia live is if there's a prisoner swap. This
22:08
Speaker 1: is now the second American It also goes back to
22:11
Speaker 1: how bad this White House is It actually protecting you
22:15
Speaker 1: and protecting Americans around the world. They are allowing and
22:18
Speaker 1: I think it's because they're compromised by the Russians. We
22:21
Speaker 1: know millions of dollars are coming in to the Biden
22:23
Speaker 1: crime family from Russia. Even Hunter Biden believes there's another
22:26
Speaker 1: laptop of his that was taken by Russian prostitutes from
22:31
Speaker 1: a sex trafficking organization tied to Russia that he had
22:36
Speaker 1: an appetite for now. The Wall Street Journal has adamantly
22:40
Speaker 1: denied the charges, adding that it sought the immediate release
22:43
Speaker 1: of our trusted and dedicated reporter. They know that's going
22:45
Speaker 1: to mean nothing to the Russians. We stand in solidarity
22:49
Speaker 1: with Evan and his family. The journal said now, Russia,
22:52
Speaker 1: as you, I'm sure no, is one of the worst
22:55
Speaker 1: countries in the world for freedom of press. A nonprofit
22:58
Speaker 1: advocacy group said it's gotten a lot worse since Russia
23:00
Speaker 1: launce it's invasion to Ukraine in early twenty twenty two.
23:04
Speaker 1: The country's government has a long history of harassing journalists,
23:07
Speaker 1: including detaining foreigners on spying charges that appear politically motivated. Recently,
23:13
Speaker 1: President Vladimir Putin has overseen a significant crackdown on free
23:16
Speaker 1: speech and political dissent within his own country. Many Russians
23:21
Speaker 1: have gone missing who stood up to not wanting to
23:24
Speaker 1: go to war in Ukraine and are tired or frustrated
23:27
Speaker 1: with their kids being called up for duty. If you're
23:30
Speaker 1: an adult and you say that, there's a very good
23:32
Speaker 1: chance you're gonna go missing. Now, Russia has not done this,
23:37
Speaker 1: just so you understand what they just did for years. Actually,
23:42
Speaker 1: let me rephrase that decades. He is the first American
23:47
Speaker 1: reporter to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since
23:49
Speaker 1: September of nineteen eighty six. There was a Moscow correspondent
23:54
Speaker 1: for US News and World Reports that was arrested by
23:56
Speaker 1: the KGB back then now that journalist was actually released
24:01
Speaker 1: without charges twenty days later in a swap for an
24:03
Speaker 1: employee of the Soviet Unions United Nations Mission who was
24:07
Speaker 1: arrested by the FBI, also un spying charges. Not this hearing,
24:12
Speaker 1: the Moscow court ruled that this journalist is behind bars,
24:15
Speaker 1: penning the investigation. Now, while previous American detainees have been
24:19
Speaker 1: freedom prisoner swaps, the top Russian officials said, quote, it's
24:22
Speaker 1: too early to talk about any such deal. There was
24:25
Speaker 1: no immediate public comment from Washington. The AP is reporting
24:28
Speaker 1: again nothing from the Biden administration. So how much is
24:32
Speaker 1: that about the Biden administration not being able to say
24:36
Speaker 1: anything because they're compromised by the Russians. And if you
24:38
Speaker 1: notice here they're holding back. Why would a president hold
24:42
Speaker 1: back on stating that this individual should never have been
24:45
Speaker 1: grabbed and this individual should be released immediately. Unless you're compromised,
24:52
Speaker 1: you would say that. And everybody reporting on this nose
24:56
Speaker 1: this is clearly politically motivated. There was a representative Moscow
25:01
Speaker 1: Witz who is on CNN that's said exactly that. Because
25:04
Speaker 1: this is not hard to figure out. Listen, Lee, but
25:06
Speaker 1: I do want to ask you about the breaking news
25:08
Speaker 1: this morning, given that you serve on the House Foreign
25:10
Speaker 1: Affairs Committee, what we're hearing about this US journalist who
25:13
Speaker 1: has been arrested in Russia on espionage charges, the first
25:17
Speaker 1: time we've seen something like this since nineteen eighty six.
25:20
Speaker 1: What's your response, Well, thank you for having me. Obviously
25:25
Speaker 1: it's distressing news. I mean, we have been an unprecedented
25:28
Speaker 1: territory with what's going on in Ukraine with Russia. You're
25:31
Speaker 1: talking about a permanent Security Council member invading another country
25:36
Speaker 1: and being able to veto resolutions at the UN about
25:39
Speaker 1: at Putin again, a Security Council member, head of state
25:43
Speaker 1: being declared a war criminal and now obviously him kidnapping
25:47
Speaker 1: an American and so this is him raising the specter
25:51
Speaker 1: we are in very dangerous territory with him. This is
25:54
Speaker 1: all about leverage and so now we have a human
25:57
Speaker 1: life in the balance and American and so you know,
26:00
Speaker 1: this obviously complicates things for the president because obviously Putin
26:05
Speaker 1: is going to use this as leverage. But you know,
26:07
Speaker 1: this is why, you know, Joe Biden put together an
26:10
Speaker 1: entire coalition of the world and of nations against Russia.
26:15
Speaker 1: And you know, listen, we all we pray obviously for
26:18
Speaker 1: his safe release, and you said kidnapping an American. I
26:21
Speaker 1: assume you believe that Russia should release him immediately, immediately.
26:25
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, you know the problem is is
26:28
Speaker 1: that you know they're now going to use him as leverage,
26:30
Speaker 1: and so it's not going to be that simple unfortunately.
26:32
Speaker 1: But obviously you know, this is not the game that
26:35
Speaker 1: Putin should be playing. I have I think Joe Biden
26:38
Speaker 1: has shown that he's not someone who's going to be
26:40
Speaker 1: toyed with when it comes to these sort of things,
26:41
Speaker 1: and so yes, for his family's sake, he should be
26:45
Speaker 1: released immediately. I'm from the town where you know, Robert
26:49
Speaker 1: Levinson lived, and so I've seen what happens when members
26:52
Speaker 1: are you know, taken away from their families, and so
26:56
Speaker 1: you know, I'm hoping that's not this situation. Obviously. Just
27:00
Speaker 1: go back to this is a Democratic congressman who clearly
27:04
Speaker 1: is not compromised by the Russians, who is coming out
27:07
Speaker 1: and saying exactly what the President the United States of
27:09
Speaker 1: America should have said. Immediately. President should have gotten in
27:12
Speaker 1: front of a podium and he should have said, do
27:14
Speaker 1: not harm this man, do not screw with this man
27:16
Speaker 1: America is not going to stand for this. We will
27:19
Speaker 1: do everything to get him back. That right. They should
27:22
Speaker 1: have said that immediately, and they're not saying anything, and
27:25
Speaker 1: they're gonna say, oh, well, it's because we don't want
27:27
Speaker 1: to antagonize or make things harder on him. Behind the scenes,
27:30
Speaker 1: somebody has to say this. This congressman just said it,
27:33
Speaker 1: right that, this congressman just said this, So why couldn't
27:36
Speaker 1: somebody else say it. Why couldn't another person stand up,
27:41
Speaker 1: like I don't know, the actual president of the United
27:42
Speaker 1: States of America and say this. The only reason why
27:46
Speaker 1: I believe it's not being said by this White House
27:48
Speaker 1: is because they can't say it. They don't have the
27:52
Speaker 1: ability to say it, because they are compromised, just like
27:56
Speaker 1: they are compromised by the Chinese. And in many ways,
27:59
Speaker 1: I want to how much the are still compromised by
28:02
Speaker 1: leaders in the Ukraine. It's amazing how what we're willing
28:05
Speaker 1: to give Ukraine without any accounting, without any questions being
28:09
Speaker 1: asked about where the money's actually going or the corruption
28:12
Speaker 1: Ukraine is that because they have such damning information on
28:17
Speaker 1: the President of the United States of America and his family.
28:20
Speaker 1: Because the millions and millions of dollars that they were sending.
28:23
Speaker 1: That is a question at also again should be asked,
28:27
Speaker 1: why is no one asking that. I don't know, but
28:30
Speaker 1: the media certainly doesn't seem to be curious about any
28:34
Speaker 1: of these international incidents. Why why is that? I think
28:39
Speaker 1: you can connect those dots. Make sure you share this
28:42
Speaker 1: podcast with your family and your friends. Please write us
28:44
Speaker 1: say five star review. We will keep you up doing this.
28:47
Speaker 1: Our thoughts and prayers are with this journalist in Russia,
28:49
Speaker 1: and I'll see you back here tomorrow.