Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Trump Calls Bob Woodward A ‘Sleaze;’ & Gen. Milley Backchanneling With China ‘Treason’

Transcript

Trump Calls Bob Woodward A ‘Sleaze;’ & Gen. Milley Backchanneling With China ‘Treason’ · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: Coming out of the Pentagon as a new report out
0:03
Speaker 1: says that Mark Milly, the Joint Chiefs Chairman, told military
0:07
Speaker 1: officials to not take orders from Donald Trump, especially after
0:11
Speaker 1: the Capital riot. That's right, the Joint Chiefs Chairman Army
0:15
Speaker 1: General Mark Milly single handedly took top secret action. Were
0:18
Speaker 1: now being told to preempt then President Donald Trump from
0:23
Speaker 1: ordering any type of military strike or launching nuclear weapons,
0:28
Speaker 1: according to a new book. Now, this book, periled by
0:31
Speaker 1: Bob Woodward and Robert cost Up, accuses Millie saying that
0:37
Speaker 1: he was quote worried that after the January sixth capital
0:40
Speaker 1: breach that Trump could quote unquote go rogue and called
0:44
Speaker 1: a secret meeting on January the eighth was senior military
0:47
Speaker 1: officials to deal with Donald Trump. Now, this is a
0:51
Speaker 1: rogue military commander basically overthrowing the power of the presidency
0:59
Speaker 1: in real time while he was president. During that meeting,
1:04
Speaker 1: Milly instructed senior military officials in charge of the National
1:08
Speaker 1: Military Command Center to not take orders from anyone unless
1:12
Speaker 1: he's involved. Now, in a few minutes, you're going to
1:16
Speaker 1: hear from one US senator about this story, and also
1:20
Speaker 1: Anthony B. Lincoln lying to Congress saying that there was
1:24
Speaker 1: no plan given to him on the evacuation or the
1:28
Speaker 1: winding down of Afghanistan. We now know he lied to
1:31
Speaker 1: Congress on that, and we're going to have US Senator
1:34
Speaker 1: Bill Haggarty with us who actually questioned Anthony B. Lincoln
1:37
Speaker 1: and get his reaction to the shocking news. I'm telling
1:40
Speaker 1: you now, quote unquote back to the book. No matter
1:43
Speaker 1: what you are told, you do the procedure, Millie demanded
1:49
Speaker 1: of military people underneath him. You do the process, and
1:53
Speaker 1: I'm part of the process, Millie told the commanders in
1:57
Speaker 1: his meeting, apparently on January eighth, just two days after
2:00
Speaker 1: January the six Millie considered it an oath. Woodward and
2:04
Speaker 1: Costa wrote. The book also revealed that Millie had two
2:08
Speaker 1: back channel phone calls, which now been called treason US,
2:11
Speaker 1: with China's top general to reassure him that the US
2:14
Speaker 1: would one not attacked, and even promising to give China
2:19
Speaker 1: heads up if we did. According to a write up
2:22
Speaker 1: by the Washington Post, Millie four days before the twenty
2:25
Speaker 1: twenty president election. So this part had nothing to do
2:29
Speaker 1: with January the sixth, and I want to make that clear.
2:31
Speaker 1: This is my point is Millie was undermining Trump long
2:34
Speaker 1: before January the six. Again, the Washington Post has said, now,
2:39
Speaker 1: four days before the twenty twenty presidential election, Milly assured
2:44
Speaker 1: his Chinese counterpart, General Lee of the People's Liberation Army
2:50
Speaker 1: that the US would not strike. However, General Lee, I
2:55
Speaker 1: want to assure you his words, that the American government's
2:58
Speaker 1: stable and that everything's gonna be okay. Millie alleged allegedly
3:02
Speaker 1: said We're not going to attack or conduct any kinetic
3:05
Speaker 1: operations against you. Millie even pledged allegiance to Lee in
3:10
Speaker 1: the event of a US attack, saying, General Lee, you
3:13
Speaker 1: and I have known each other for five years. If
3:15
Speaker 1: we're going to attack, I'm going to call you ahead
3:17
Speaker 1: of time. It's not going to be a surprise. These
3:20
Speaker 1: the accusations according to this book, And there's nobody in
3:26
Speaker 1: the media right now that it's saying that this isn't true.
3:29
Speaker 1: In fact, the left is actually accepting his fact and
3:31
Speaker 1: then saying, well, this guy was just trying to protect
3:34
Speaker 1: us from Donald Trump, crazy orange Man. New headline from
3:38
Speaker 1: the Washington Post top General was so fearful Trump might
3:41
Speaker 1: spark war that he made secret calls to his Chinese counterparts.
3:45
Speaker 1: New book says twice. In the final months of Trump administration,
3:48
Speaker 1: the Post writes, the country's top military officer was so fearful,
3:52
Speaker 1: so fearful the Trump might sparkle over with China, that
3:56
Speaker 1: he moved urgently to avert armed conflict, and a pair
3:59
Speaker 1: of secret phone calls, which, by the way, is treason.
4:01
Speaker 1: US General Mark Millie, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs
4:04
Speaker 1: of Staff, assure the Chinese counterpart General League, that the
4:09
Speaker 1: United States would not strike on a call that took
4:12
Speaker 1: place October thirtieth, Okay, October thirtieth, four days before the
4:19
Speaker 1: election that unseated President Donald Trump, and the other on
4:22
Speaker 1: January eighth, two days after the capital siege carried out
4:25
Speaker 1: by his supporters in a quest to cancel the vote.
4:28
Speaker 1: At the times are the Post, I should say, Washington
4:31
Speaker 1: Post Rights. The first call was prompted by Millie's review
4:34
Speaker 1: of intelligence suggesting the Chinese believe the United States was
4:37
Speaker 1: preparing to attack. That believe, the author rights was based
4:40
Speaker 1: on tensions over military exercises in the South China see
4:44
Speaker 1: and deepened by Trump's belligerent rhetoric towards China, or just
4:48
Speaker 1: holding them accountable for what they were doing. The world.
4:49
Speaker 1: But hey, I'm reading to you from the Washington Post,
4:52
Speaker 1: so you of course you know they got to spend
4:53
Speaker 1: this right generally. I want to show you that the
4:56
Speaker 1: American government's stable. Everything's gonna be okay. We are not
4:58
Speaker 1: going to attack and duck any kinetic operations against you.
5:02
Speaker 1: And the book's account, Millie went so far as the
5:04
Speaker 1: pledge allegiance that he would alert this counterpart in the
5:07
Speaker 1: event of that US attack, stressing the rapport they had
5:12
Speaker 1: established through a back channel. Lee took the Chairman his word,
5:16
Speaker 1: the author writes in the book, which is set to
5:19
Speaker 1: be released next week, and a second phone call placed
5:21
Speaker 1: to address China's fears at the events of January sixth,
5:25
Speaker 1: Lee wasn't as easily convinced, even after Millie promised him, quote,
5:30
Speaker 1: we are one hundred percent steady, everything's fine, but democracy
5:33
Speaker 1: can be sloppy sometimes, so now he's undermining our own country.
5:37
Speaker 1: Lee remained rattled, and Millie, who did not rely relay
5:41
Speaker 1: the conversation to Trump, according to the book, understood why
5:44
Speaker 1: the Chairman, sixty two at the time and chosen by
5:47
Speaker 1: Trump in twenty eighteen, believe the president had suffered a
5:49
Speaker 1: mental decline after the election, the author writes, I view
5:53
Speaker 1: he communicated a House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a phone
5:55
Speaker 1: call in January the eighth, as well. He agreed with
5:58
Speaker 1: her evaluation that Trump was quote unstable, according to a
6:02
Speaker 1: call transcript obtained by the authors, believing that Chinica lashed
6:07
Speaker 1: out of it felt risk from an predictable and vengeful
6:10
Speaker 1: American President, Millie said he took the action same day,
6:14
Speaker 1: called the admiral overseeing the US Indo Pacific Command, the
6:18
Speaker 1: military unit responsible for Asia and the Pacific region, and
6:21
Speaker 1: recommended postponing the military exercises. According to the book, the
6:24
Speaker 1: admiral complied Millie, and this is, by the way, all
6:29
Speaker 1: off the reservation when he's doing this. Also someone senior
6:33
Speaker 1: officials to review the procedures for launching nuclear weapons, saying
6:36
Speaker 1: the president alone could give the order, but crucially that
6:42
Speaker 1: he Millie also had to be involved. Looking each in
6:45
Speaker 1: the eye, Millie asked the officers to firm that they
6:48
Speaker 1: had understood, the author writes, and what he considered an
6:51
Speaker 1: oath again, that's treason us. The chairman knew that he
6:57
Speaker 1: was pulling a tough move here, the author rights, resorting
7:03
Speaker 1: to measures resembling the ones taken in August of nineteen
7:07
Speaker 1: seventy four by the Defense Secretary of the time, James Slesinger.
7:13
Speaker 1: Remember back then, James, the Defense Secretary told military officials
7:17
Speaker 1: to check with him and the Chairman of the Joint
7:19
Speaker 1: Chiefs before carrying out orders from President Richard Nixon, who
7:23
Speaker 1: was facing impeachment at the time. Though Millie went furthest
7:26
Speaker 1: and seeking to stave off a national security crisis, they
7:29
Speaker 1: claim his alarm was shared throughout the highest ranks of
7:32
Speaker 1: the administration. The author revealed the CIA director were being told.
7:35
Speaker 1: Gina Haspell, for instance, reported they told millye we were
7:39
Speaker 1: on the way to right wing coup. The book's revelations
7:43
Speaker 1: quickly made Millie target of GOP anger. You think you
7:49
Speaker 1: have a guy who's in charge of the military who's
7:54
Speaker 1: basically overthrowing the power of the president. Yeah, I'd be
7:58
Speaker 1: a little angry if I'm Donald Trump, for example. In fact,
8:01
Speaker 1: Donald Trump was on Newsmax and had this to say. So,
8:06
Speaker 1: first of all, if it is actually true, which is
8:08
Speaker 1: hard to believe, that he would have called China and
8:13
Speaker 1: done these things and was willing to advise them of
8:17
Speaker 1: an attack or in advance of an attack, that's treason,
8:21
Speaker 1: and I would think I've had so many calls today
8:23
Speaker 1: saying that's treason number one, number two, It's totally ridiculous.
8:28
Speaker 1: I never thought of it. You were there, You would
8:30
Speaker 1: do what was happening in the White House. You have
8:32
Speaker 1: plenty of friends. You never heard the words China mentioned
8:35
Speaker 1: in a thing like this. You heard a lot of
8:38
Speaker 1: anger about China on trade, and we made a great
8:40
Speaker 1: trade deal. You heard a lot of anger in China
8:43
Speaker 1: with the China virus. But them for him to say,
8:48
Speaker 1: for him to say that I would even think about
8:51
Speaker 1: attacking China. I think he's trying to just get out
8:55
Speaker 1: of his incompetent withdrawal out of Afghanistan. It's pretty good
8:59
Speaker 1: point for the president, by the way, right, pretty good
9:01
Speaker 1: point that he's making there. He's just trying to get
9:04
Speaker 1: out of his incompetent withdrawalf Afghanistan. And this is a
9:06
Speaker 1: great way to distract from that. If you think about it,
9:08
Speaker 1: it's pretty brilliant. You look at the Biden administration right
9:13
Speaker 1: now and you want to talk about total chaos. It's
9:16
Speaker 1: so funny how the people that were screaming that the
9:18
Speaker 1: Trump administration was filled with chaos when The reality is
9:22
Speaker 1: people are dying and there is extreme chaos now because
9:26
Speaker 1: of the Biden administration. Tembercive of Americans left behind, a
9:30
Speaker 1: rogue general who joint chiefs, who's just decided he's going
9:32
Speaker 1: to be present whenever he wants to calling. Apparently the
9:35
Speaker 1: Chinese general would tell them he's he gave them advanced
9:38
Speaker 1: warning of a US attack. Look at Anthony b. Lincoln.
9:43
Speaker 1: Lincoln did flat out lying during a ten tiering on
9:47
Speaker 1: Biden's Afghanistan debacle. The Republican represented Brian Masselforda confronted the
9:53
Speaker 1: Secretary of State Anthony Blincoln as he testified in front
9:55
Speaker 1: of House Foreign Affairs Committee, telling the Biden administration officially
9:58
Speaker 1: didn't want to listen to his lies while demanding answers
10:00
Speaker 1: about the withdrawal US forces from Afghanistan. Lincoln appeared before
10:05
Speaker 1: the committee via video call, which really irritated some of
10:09
Speaker 1: the people on the commitee. And you can't even show
10:11
Speaker 1: up for this. You know you've got Americans that are
10:16
Speaker 1: left behind. You have American forces to follow the orders
10:21
Speaker 1: that came from Millie. I guess he's running the whole
10:24
Speaker 1: show now to leave by August the thirty first, hand
10:27
Speaker 1: the country back the Talbans training Americans in a hostile territory.
10:32
Speaker 1: Thirteen service members and hundreds civilians died in that tears
10:36
Speaker 1: attack near the airport where evacuations were taking place, giving
10:40
Speaker 1: up Bigram Air Base. I mean, we've got one tragedy
10:43
Speaker 1: piled on top of another. And then we got a
10:45
Speaker 1: leak transcript from July twenty third call between Biden and
10:49
Speaker 1: then the Afghan president, hinting that the administration knew even
10:52
Speaker 1: then that they were in dire straits. Biden allegedly asked
10:57
Speaker 1: the nation's leader to quote project a different pick sure
11:00
Speaker 1: and downplay the severity of the situation, the fact that
11:04
Speaker 1: masks wanted Blincoln answer for if the fudge intelligence led
11:09
Speaker 1: to poor decisions that bots the operation, mister Secretary, is
11:12
Speaker 1: the leak transcript, as you referred to it says, did
11:16
Speaker 1: President Biden work with the coward exile president of Afghanistan
11:20
Speaker 1: and manipulate the intelligence about the Taliband question mark Blincoln
11:24
Speaker 1: reiterated the official, the official narrative that Biden is in
11:27
Speaker 1: his Afghan counterpart thought quote, the issue was not whether
11:30
Speaker 1: afghanston had the capacity would stand the Taliband. It's whether
11:33
Speaker 1: it had the will and the plan to do so.
11:36
Speaker 1: Congress and Masks pressed him on the line again, asking
11:39
Speaker 1: whether boln we're saying that the transcript is a lie,
11:42
Speaker 1: it's false, it's incorrect. He did not work to tamp
11:46
Speaker 1: down the intelligence on the Taliband question mark B. Lincoln
11:49
Speaker 1: and lied and doubled down. Mask was angry, asserting that
11:54
Speaker 1: quote everybody looking for an explanation about what happened and
11:57
Speaker 1: how everybody got it's so wrong, how you're miss got
12:00
Speaker 1: it so wrong, needs to look at that as the
12:03
Speaker 1: most likely explanation. Asked the president to manipulate the intelligence
12:06
Speaker 1: in Afghanistan of what was actually going on with the Taliban.
12:10
Speaker 1: Then Congress and Mass, who lost both of his legs
12:12
Speaker 1: want tour of duty in Afghanistan, held up photos of
12:15
Speaker 1: each of the thirteen service members killed in action in
12:17
Speaker 1: August twenty six, naming each of them and telling B.
12:20
Speaker 1: Lincoln their families deserve to know what happened. After making
12:24
Speaker 1: it through each of the deceased men and women, Mass
12:26
Speaker 1: focus his ear back on Blincoln, saying quote, I do
12:29
Speaker 1: not believe whatsoever that you're saying what you're saying about
12:33
Speaker 1: the administration not working to manipulate the intelligence. To me,
12:37
Speaker 1: this is the most logical explanation of how so many
12:39
Speaker 1: in the intelligence community got this so wrong about what
12:41
Speaker 1: was going to happen in Afghanistan. As b Lincoln began
12:45
Speaker 1: to answer, calling mass dead wrong, the Republican lashed out
12:48
Speaker 1: of him again, saying quote, I do not wish to
12:49
Speaker 1: hear from you. I'm not yielding you a moment of time.
12:52
Speaker 1: I don't wish to hear your lies. Good for this
12:57
Speaker 1: congressman for actually standing up and saying enough, you deal
13:01
Speaker 1: with this debacle. Let's go back to the other debacle here.
13:04
Speaker 1: Let's go back to Donald Trump for a moment. Donald
13:06
Speaker 1: Trump also called Bob Woodward a sleeves and said Millie
13:10
Speaker 1: back channeling with China is, in his opinion, quote treason.
13:15
Speaker 1: Take a listen. In Bob Woodward's new book, he claims
13:18
Speaker 1: that General Mellie twice tried to reassure Chinese officials that
13:22
Speaker 1: he would prevent a military strike because he was for
13:25
Speaker 1: some reason concerned about you. One, was there ever any
13:28
Speaker 1: consideration of using the military And two what do you
13:32
Speaker 1: think about General Millie's actions? So, first of all, if
13:36
Speaker 1: it is actually true, which is hard to believe, that
13:39
Speaker 1: he would have called China and done these things and
13:44
Speaker 1: was willing to advise them of an attack or in
13:47
Speaker 1: advance of an attack, that's treason. And I would think
13:51
Speaker 1: I've had so many calls today saying that's treason number one,
13:55
Speaker 1: number two, it's totally ridiculous. I never thought of it.
13:58
Speaker 1: You were there, you were you were new was happening
14:00
Speaker 1: in the White House. You have plenty of friends. You
14:02
Speaker 1: never heard the word China mentioned in a thing like this.
14:06
Speaker 1: You heard a lot of anger about China on trade,
14:09
Speaker 1: and we made a great trade deal. You heard a
14:11
Speaker 1: lot of anger in China with the China virus. But
14:15
Speaker 1: them for him to say, for him to say that
14:19
Speaker 1: I would even think about attacking China, I think he's
14:23
Speaker 1: trying to just get out of his incompetent. Withdrawal out
14:26
Speaker 1: of Afghanistan the worst, the dumbest thing that anybody's seen,
14:30
Speaker 1: probably the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to our country,
14:34
Speaker 1: where they killed our soldiers. We left with embarrassment on
14:39
Speaker 1: our face. We left Americans behind, and we left eighty
14:43
Speaker 1: five billion dollars worth of the best equipment in the
14:46
Speaker 1: world that I bought because I was the one that
14:49
Speaker 1: rebuilt our military and then Biden gave it away. For
14:52
Speaker 1: him to say that I was going to attack China
14:55
Speaker 1: is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, and everybody
14:58
Speaker 1: knows it. And I have to tell you, I don't
15:00
Speaker 1: know if they have him on tape saying this, but
15:02
Speaker 1: I found Woodward and I found his cohorts to be
15:07
Speaker 1: extremely dishonorable people. That's why I didn't do an interview
15:10
Speaker 1: with him. And I think he's highly overrated. This guy
15:12
Speaker 1: is one of the most overrated guys. He's a sleeves.
15:15
Speaker 1: But I did not ever think of attacking China. One
15:19
Speaker 1: other thing, I just read a report about a week
15:22
Speaker 1: ago where they said Donald Trump was the only president
15:25
Speaker 1: in decades that didn't start a wart. You know, it's amazing,
15:31
Speaker 1: And the point there Donald Trump sang, He's like I
15:33
Speaker 1: didn't Not only did my guy that didn't start a war.
15:35
Speaker 1: But if you listen to what Millie saying, if you
15:37
Speaker 1: work listen to what Blincoln saying, if you listen to
15:39
Speaker 1: what Biden was saying, you listen to what Woodward saying,
15:43
Speaker 1: They're all saying that I was a deranged, crazy man
15:46
Speaker 1: that was going to take us to war. I'm the
15:48
Speaker 1: only guy, and it is a fact in my lifetime.
15:52
Speaker 1: He's the only president that didn't take us to war.
15:57
Speaker 1: He's the only one I want, I want you to
16:01
Speaker 1: think about that. He is the only one that actually
16:08
Speaker 1: didn't take us to war. So when they tell you, oh,
16:15
Speaker 1: they were afraid he was gonna, you know, start nuclear war.
16:18
Speaker 1: So I had to take over the government. I had
16:19
Speaker 1: to go behind him, right, I had to. I had
16:22
Speaker 1: to do this. I had no other choice but do this,
16:27
Speaker 1: no other option but to do this. This dude never
16:30
Speaker 1: took us to war. He did the complete opposite of this.
16:33
Speaker 1: Did he make us have a strong military? Damn straight,
16:35
Speaker 1: he did. I'm proud of him for doing that. He
16:39
Speaker 1: understood that these guys around the world only understand strength.
16:45
Speaker 1: This exactly the reason why for eighteen months you didn't
16:48
Speaker 1: have a single American killed in Afghanistan, because he made
16:51
Speaker 1: it clear to the present and to the Taliban that
16:55
Speaker 1: we will have a conditional pullout of Afghanistan. But if
16:59
Speaker 1: you screw with a single American or American interests, or
17:03
Speaker 1: interpreter or anybody that worked with us, you will have
17:06
Speaker 1: held a pay and I will unleash the full weight
17:09
Speaker 1: of our military on you, and they knew he wasn't kidding.
17:13
Speaker 1: They knew he wasn't screwing around. And as soon as
17:20
Speaker 1: that conditional pull out was removed from the table and
17:24
Speaker 1: an arbitrary date was given, right. This is all about
17:30
Speaker 1: a moment where Joe Biden wanted one thing, and wanted
17:35
Speaker 1: one thing only. What Joe Biden wanted was the only
17:38
Speaker 1: thing he wanted. To be clear, was a grandstanding moment
17:43
Speaker 1: where the senile old man could walk out on TV
17:47
Speaker 1: and say, I'm the guy that got us out. I'm
17:51
Speaker 1: the guy that got us out of Afghanistan. I ended
17:54
Speaker 1: the twenty year war. I'm brilliant. Everyone before me was stupid.
17:57
Speaker 1: This is my legacy. Pat me on the back of
17:59
Speaker 1: the greatest person in the world. That is exactly what
18:06
Speaker 1: this was about. They said, condition base, We're not gonna
18:09
Speaker 1: do that. We don't want to be in charge of
18:12
Speaker 1: even kable. We're getting Americans out. We don't care. We
18:14
Speaker 1: just want to get out. We'll take the airport, fine,
18:15
Speaker 1: you guys, the Taliban take over everything else. Oh, the
18:19
Speaker 1: military support Bagram Air Base, No, we don't want any
18:21
Speaker 1: of that. The plan for the Trump administrations always have
18:25
Speaker 1: a small force there to react to terrorist threats in
18:28
Speaker 1: the country. No, we don't even want that. We don't
18:30
Speaker 1: want we don't want to have any presence in Afghanistan
18:34
Speaker 1: where we know that al Qaida Taliban isis. Everybody hangs out.
18:38
Speaker 1: They want to give all that up so he can
18:41
Speaker 1: have a press conversation. I'm the ones that got us out. Disgusting,
18:46
Speaker 1: all right, joining us now to talk about this is
18:49
Speaker 1: a man that actually got to question Anthony B. Lincoln yesterday.
18:55
Speaker 1: He's a man that has served as an ambassador to
18:57
Speaker 1: this country as well and knows a thing or two
19:00
Speaker 1: about China, knows a thing or two about exit strategies.
19:04
Speaker 1: US Senator from Tennessee, Bill Haggerty joins me, Senator, I
19:08
Speaker 1: appreciate you coming on. You have now seen not just
19:14
Speaker 1: what he had to say in front of the House,
19:15
Speaker 1: but he's also now and the Secretary of B. Lincoln
19:18
Speaker 1: has testified in front of the Senate. There. It's the
19:21
Speaker 1: first time I've seen anything really happened bipartisan in a
19:25
Speaker 1: long time, where even Senators like Menendez were being tough
19:29
Speaker 1: on Blinken for his response. Obviously, that response I just
19:32
Speaker 1: played in the House. Do you think you should resign.
19:35
Speaker 1: Let's start with that before we get into all the details. Well, first,
19:39
Speaker 1: let's go to his comment about their not being a plan.
19:42
Speaker 1: I can tell you that's incorrect. As my job before
19:46
Speaker 1: United States Senator, I was the United States Ambassador to Japan.
19:49
Speaker 1: That's the third largest economy in the world, a large embassy.
19:52
Speaker 1: When I arrived in Japan in twenty seventeen, there was there,
19:56
Speaker 1: and there always is in every embassy, a noncombatant evacuation
20:00
Speaker 1: operational plan. That's the plan to get civilians out under
20:04
Speaker 1: any sort of contingency. Of course, when I got there,
20:06
Speaker 1: ben North Koreas had been launching intercontinental ballistic muscles over Japan.
20:11
Speaker 1: They detonated a thermonuclear weapon later on, this threat profile
20:15
Speaker 1: had completely changed, and I spent months working with the military,
20:19
Speaker 1: working with the State Department in our intelligence groups to
20:22
Speaker 1: update my evacuation plan. There is always an evacuation plan,
20:27
Speaker 1: and the evacuation plan that would have been in place
20:29
Speaker 1: in Afghanistan, because I've talked with members of the Trump administration,
20:32
Speaker 1: the evacuation plan there was a conditions based plan, meaning
20:36
Speaker 1: if the Taliban had violated their commitments, for example, taking
20:41
Speaker 1: these cities that they had begun to take there would
20:43
Speaker 1: have been very swift and very punitive countermeasures that would
20:47
Speaker 1: have occurred. We would not have pulled out in this
20:50
Speaker 1: sort of circumstance under the previous administration because the plan
20:54
Speaker 1: was a conditions based plan. What we got from Biden
20:57
Speaker 1: was a calendar based plan. They d to the press release.
21:00
Speaker 1: They wanted to be able to claim on the twentieth
21:02
Speaker 1: anniversary of nine to eleven that the Biden administration were
21:05
Speaker 1: the ones that brought our people home, and they did
21:08
Speaker 1: not take into account the actual operational aspects of this.
21:11
Speaker 1: We saw this unfold. It was an unmitigated disaster, and
21:14
Speaker 1: for Secretary Blincoln to suggest that there was no plan,
21:17
Speaker 1: I think it's really is really shocking. It's not just shocking,
21:22
Speaker 1: but it's also it's not just shocking. Senator, I think
21:25
Speaker 1: the part that is the most egregious about it is
21:29
Speaker 1: you're just flat out lying, because it's very clear that
21:33
Speaker 1: Trump had not just a plan, but was willing to
21:37
Speaker 1: meet with you about that plan. The Joint the Secretary
21:43
Speaker 1: of at the Pentagon was talking about this and wrote
21:47
Speaker 1: an article about it. Patel was saying Chief US to Pentagon, Hey,
21:52
Speaker 1: I had everything ready for the Joe Biden team, we
21:57
Speaker 1: had successfully attecuted our plan until January the one, and
22:01
Speaker 1: during the time period where you're you're having a transition,
22:05
Speaker 1: there were no US casualties under Trump when the plan
22:08
Speaker 1: was in place, because it was, like you said, a
22:10
Speaker 1: conditions based plan that was number one, first and foremost.
22:14
Speaker 1: The Afghan government's Parza's conditions based methodical exit plan was this.
22:20
Speaker 1: The Afghan government and the tatala Ban were both told
22:22
Speaker 1: they would face the full force of the US military
22:26
Speaker 1: if they caused any harm to Americans or American interests
22:31
Speaker 1: in Afghanisan that would include the interpreters and others that
22:35
Speaker 1: helped American Then it was about negotiating with a joint
22:38
Speaker 1: government between al Qaeda or without Alkaida, I should say,
22:42
Speaker 1: with a Taliban and the current interim government right, and
22:46
Speaker 1: to come up with something new. But the part that
22:49
Speaker 1: I think is the most shocking centers the fact that
22:52
Speaker 1: we know that he set down that Batel actually said
22:55
Speaker 1: I want to work with you, I want to meet
22:57
Speaker 1: with you. He even asked to meet with his counterparts
23:00
Speaker 1: and then Biden administration and they basically threw it out
23:03
Speaker 1: the window, the plan and fast forward six seven eight
23:06
Speaker 1: months to this this arbitrary date for this coomb bay
23:08
Speaker 1: Yah press conference. And this plan also, Patel said, had
23:13
Speaker 1: a plan for removing Americans first, then the equipment, then
23:17
Speaker 1: the machinery. Then it also had plans for contingencies. And
23:21
Speaker 1: it allowed for Bagram Air Base to be open until
23:24
Speaker 1: after we got everybody out of Kabul, not handing it
23:26
Speaker 1: over the Taliban. We know this, and they just look
23:29
Speaker 1: at you and they line they say, no, we had
23:30
Speaker 1: no plan from from Trump. Yeah. I questioned Secretary b
23:35
Speaker 1: Lincoln on this yesterday. I've put in the Center Form
23:38
Speaker 1: Relations Committee and you heard the clip from center menende
23:42
Speaker 1: as it sounds, but I questioned him very directly about
23:45
Speaker 1: the plan, the role of Bagram Air Base. Lincoln basically
23:48
Speaker 1: said that Bagram played no role in the noncombatant evacuation plan.
23:52
Speaker 1: I cannot imagine that these plans are classified. I know
23:55
Speaker 1: what my plan was I would have had. It would
23:58
Speaker 1: be very hard for me to imagine that given the
24:01
Speaker 1: military presence that existed there in Afghanistan, particularly the size,
24:04
Speaker 1: the scope and the ability to protect the bag Rom
24:06
Speaker 1: Air Base, that that didn't reckon to be a significant asset,
24:09
Speaker 1: and the whole evacuation particularly when you think about the
24:14
Speaker 1: spread of people all across the nation of Afghanistan that
24:18
Speaker 1: needed to come together, that would have been an ideal location.
24:20
Speaker 1: Yet Lincoln suggested that the only thing in their plan
24:23
Speaker 1: was a civilian air base. The Carsai International Airfield are
24:28
Speaker 1: and cobblele. That is extremely hard for me to believe.
24:32
Speaker 1: And frankly, I pressed Lincoln very hard about accountability and
24:36
Speaker 1: finally asked him, you know, have you submitted your resignation again,
24:41
Speaker 1: trying to get to the point of somebody's got to
24:44
Speaker 1: own this, somebody's got to be accountable for it. And
24:47
Speaker 1: Lincoln told me he has not submitted his resignation, to
24:50
Speaker 1: which I've probably that. I'm just shocked at the lack
24:52
Speaker 1: of accountability. The Biden administration has done everything to obviouscate,
24:56
Speaker 1: to divert, to deflect that the last thing they will
24:59
Speaker 1: do is own it. And that's not the right approach here.
25:02
Speaker 1: They're trying to blame it on Trump, They're trying to
25:03
Speaker 1: blame it on an Afghani stands. They need to step
25:05
Speaker 1: up and own this themselves. You know, it's shocking that
25:08
Speaker 1: the President of the United States of America is allowing
25:11
Speaker 1: his own cabinet members to be dismantled in this way,
25:15
Speaker 1: even if they were quote following orders. I think one
25:17
Speaker 1: of the things that b. Lincoln said yesterday as I
25:19
Speaker 1: was watching you guys question him, is he's like, well,
25:22
Speaker 1: ultimately the buck stops with the president, does it? I
25:26
Speaker 1: don't know that anymore, right, Because if it doesn't stop
25:29
Speaker 1: with you guys, Right, if it doesn't stop with you, Blincoln,
25:31
Speaker 1: and he's not listening to you, I don't know how
25:34
Speaker 1: you don't resign and protests of the president units its
25:37
Speaker 1: America making this decision, if in fact it isn't blinkin
25:40
Speaker 1: and others going along with it or colluding with the
25:43
Speaker 1: President on these ideas and these plans which were disastrous,
25:48
Speaker 1: Certainly the proof is in the pudding, as they say,
25:50
Speaker 1: and this has turned out to be in a complete,
25:52
Speaker 1: complete disaster. And you know they call on Republicans to
25:55
Speaker 1: resign and protest. You remember what this was like under
25:57
Speaker 1: the Trump administration. You know, why isn't the secretary resign?
26:00
Speaker 1: But here's a situation where clearly the Secretary of State,
26:04
Speaker 1: the chief diplomat of America is in the squarely in
26:08
Speaker 1: the line of responsibility here, and you know, the only
26:11
Speaker 1: person that has lost their job in this process so far.
26:14
Speaker 1: Is a military officer who called on accountability at the
26:18
Speaker 1: top and they fired him. Yeah, called in public saying
26:22
Speaker 1: there has to be accountability. I want to switch gears
26:24
Speaker 1: real quick to another story that is rocking certainly the
26:28
Speaker 1: world today, and that is this Joint chiefs Millie. General
26:35
Speaker 1: Millie is a guy that if we are to believe
26:38
Speaker 1: the report's coming out of the Washington Post and this
26:41
Speaker 1: new book from Woodward, that he actually worked and colluded
26:45
Speaker 1: with China to undermine President Trump and to say we
26:50
Speaker 1: would warn you if we were ever going to attack.
26:52
Speaker 1: He basically had taken over in essence with those conversations
26:57
Speaker 1: are military and our government from the president center. Paul,
27:00
Speaker 1: your colleague is now called for Milly to be court
27:03
Speaker 1: martial removed if you went around Trump colluding with China
27:06
Speaker 1: when you saw these reports, and I will say about
27:08
Speaker 1: Woodward and the others that work with his books, usually
27:12
Speaker 1: they're pretty right when they write these things, Otherwise they
27:15
Speaker 1: wouldn't be who they are today. When you heard this,
27:19
Speaker 1: what was your initial reaction? My interaction was one, this
27:24
Speaker 1: is so far fetched. It's extremely concerning. If it's true,
27:27
Speaker 1: it's an anonymous source. So I'm going to be very
27:29
Speaker 1: careful about how I answered this been you know, I'm
27:33
Speaker 1: you know, sufficiently concerned about anonymous sources in Washington and
27:37
Speaker 1: how that's been abused time and time again here. But
27:40
Speaker 1: if something like this is true, it's a complete violation
27:42
Speaker 1: of the chain of command. The military, dating back to
27:45
Speaker 1: George Washington, has been under civilian control. The president is
27:49
Speaker 1: the commander in chief, not Mark Milly, not the germinal
27:52
Speaker 1: joint chiefs of staff, the president of the United States,
27:54
Speaker 1: and if this is true, it's complete violation to the
27:56
Speaker 1: chain of command. The German joint chiefs should know that.
27:59
Speaker 1: And if he actually made this, you know, this incredible
28:03
Speaker 1: lapse and judgment, I think it should be met with
28:06
Speaker 1: the most severe consequences. But again, I haven't seen proof
28:11
Speaker 1: of this yet, just an anonymous source in a Washington Post,
28:16
Speaker 1: you know, author publication. So I think there's more to
28:21
Speaker 1: be there's more to be investigated here. But I talked
28:23
Speaker 1: with Tom Cotton earlier. He's going to have million in
28:26
Speaker 1: front of him in just a few more days, and
28:28
Speaker 1: I think this is going to be front and center
28:30
Speaker 1: of that conversation. So it's gonna be interesting to see
28:32
Speaker 1: this unfold very and I think it does warrant two questions,
28:37
Speaker 1: an investigation, because, even as Senator Paul said, I don't
28:39
Speaker 1: care what you think of President Trump, the chairman of
28:41
Speaker 1: the Joint two Staff working to subvert the military chain
28:44
Speaker 1: of command and collude which China is exactly what we
28:46
Speaker 1: do not accept for military leaders in our country. And
28:49
Speaker 1: he's not the only one saying this. Marco Rubio called
28:51
Speaker 1: for President Joe Biden a fire million a letter charging
28:54
Speaker 1: that he undermined the commander, former commander in chief of
28:57
Speaker 1: the United States Armed Forces by planning to basically go
29:01
Speaker 1: rogue and not listen to the President United States America.
29:04
Speaker 1: So if again he should be I think you guys
29:08
Speaker 1: obviously have to investigate this. Yes, yes, but I think
29:12
Speaker 1: it's a huge concern for all of us just to
29:15
Speaker 1: see a charge like this, you know it is. It's alarming,
29:20
Speaker 1: to say the least, And there's going to be accountability.
29:23
Speaker 1: I can assure you, Senator, I appreciate you talking with
29:26
Speaker 1: us today obviously trying to hold the Biden administration accountable,
29:31
Speaker 1: especially Secretary b Lincoln, for these just flat out falsehoods.
29:34
Speaker 1: He's telling that there was no plan and going for
29:37
Speaker 1: this arbitrary date. We appreciate your time. Thanks so much.
29:40
Speaker 1: Thank you Ben. Always great to be with you. Thanks
29:42
Speaker 1: talk to you against in US sentator and former Ambassador
29:45
Speaker 1: Bill Haggerty. Would I hope every one of you that's
29:48
Speaker 1: hearing this right now will help us spread this information
29:51
Speaker 1: and get the real word out there about the lies
29:54
Speaker 1: of Anthony Blincoln. Make sure you hit that little arrow
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Speaker 1: twenty podcasts in politics yesterday all because of you, so
30:13
Speaker 1: thank you for that. Keep it up. We'll see you
30:15
Speaker 1: back here tomorrow