Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Lloyd Austin & Joe Biden put Our National Security at Risk w/ Latest Cover Up

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Lloyd Austin & Joe Biden put Our National Security at Risk w/ Latest Cover Up · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: I want you to imagine, for just a moment, that
0:03
Speaker 1: you're the CEO of a major company. I want you
0:07
Speaker 1: to imagine that you decide to go have an elective
0:09
Speaker 1: surgery and you tell no one about it, and then
0:12
Speaker 1: you get sick from that surgery, and then you go
0:15
Speaker 1: into the ICU and still tell no one about your absence.
0:23
Speaker 1: Question is would you then be fired? I think most
0:26
Speaker 1: of us know the answer to that question is, well, absolutely. Imagine, however,
0:30
Speaker 1: that you're in charge of the Pentagon. You're in charge
0:34
Speaker 1: of every man and woman or transgendered weirdo that's in
0:38
Speaker 1: the military, and your job is to be on the
0:42
Speaker 1: ready for all threats foreign and domestic.
0:45
Speaker 2: While there are multiple wars.
0:47
Speaker 1: Going on in the war in the world right now
0:50
Speaker 1: that you're supposed to be involved in or even leading
0:54
Speaker 1: on them. Well, that's exactly what happened with the Secretary
0:58
Speaker 1: of Defense Austin. That's right, Austin, and don't worry. The
1:04
Speaker 1: Biden administration is like, hey, we're not considering sacking the
1:08
Speaker 1: Defense secretary who failed to disclose his hospitalization to us
1:12
Speaker 1: and everybody else in the administration.
1:15
Speaker 2: That's right.
1:15
Speaker 1: Defend Secretary Lloyd Austin and The question now is is
1:18
Speaker 1: there anything you can do in this administration that would
1:21
Speaker 1: get you fired? He failed to inform the White House
1:25
Speaker 1: about his hospitalization. President Joe Biden is not considering firing him.
1:30
Speaker 1: That is what Politico is now reporting. The outt side
1:33
Speaker 1: a group of senior administration officials, if Austin were to
1:37
Speaker 1: issue a resignation, Biden would refuse it. A person among
1:40
Speaker 1: them also stated, Austin is going nowhere, is what one
1:45
Speaker 1: official told Politico. The report noted Republicans have been calling
1:49
Speaker 1: for Biden to dismiss the Defense Secretary. During a recent interview,
1:54
Speaker 1: Senator James Langford, a Republican from Oklahoma, said this Apparently
1:59
Speaker 1: the National Security Council didn't.
2:00
Speaker 2: Know it either. The White House didn't know it. Congress
2:04
Speaker 2: didn't know it.
2:06
Speaker 1: We're at a time of a lot of termoil internationally,
2:09
Speaker 1: and suddenly we have the Secretary of Defense more than
2:13
Speaker 1: just a matter of wasn't there Actually he sent over
2:16
Speaker 1: false information saying I'm working from home when.
2:19
Speaker 2: He's not actually available at all. He's in the ICU.
2:24
Speaker 2: That's right. Who knew?
2:25
Speaker 1: No one knew, is what we're being told right now.
2:29
Speaker 1: No one at the White House was aware of any
2:32
Speaker 1: of this. Austin is also being criticized for failing to
2:35
Speaker 1: tell officials that he'd been hospitalized at Walter Read National
2:39
Speaker 1: Military Medical Center regarding complications from a quote undisclosed surgery.
2:45
Speaker 1: Former President Donald Trump on Sunday urge Biden to fire
2:50
Speaker 1: Austin for the delayed announcement regarding his stay at the hospital,
2:54
Speaker 1: saying this failed. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin should be
2:58
Speaker 1: fired immediately for improper perfer national conduct and dereliction of duty.
3:03
Speaker 1: He has been missing for one week and nobody, including
3:06
Speaker 1: his boss, Crooked Joe Biden, had a clue as to
3:09
Speaker 1: where he was or might be. He has performed poorly
3:14
Speaker 1: and should have been dismissed long ago, along with General
3:17
Speaker 1: Mark Milly for many reasons, but in particular the catastrophic
3:21
Speaker 1: surrender in Afghanistan, perhaps the most embarrassing moment in the
3:25
Speaker 1: history of our country.
3:27
Speaker 2: Now. It was reported on Sunday that Austin.
3:30
Speaker 1: Was in the hospital's intensive care unit for several days
3:34
Speaker 1: and not a single person was told where he was.
3:38
Speaker 1: The Outlet noted the failure to communicate happen as military
3:43
Speaker 1: confrontations between US troops and I ran back proxy groups
3:48
Speaker 1: was heating up in the Middle East, threatening a bigger crisis.
3:53
Speaker 1: It was also noted early Monday morning that Biden was
3:57
Speaker 1: also on vacation at the same time Austin was in
4:00
Speaker 1: the hospital, and no one knew about it. Biden Austin
4:04
Speaker 1: apparently had a phone conversation on Saturday. President said he
4:08
Speaker 1: was looking forward to seeing the Defense Secretary at work
4:11
Speaker 1: in the near future. Quote unquote from the White House. Now,
4:15
Speaker 1: I want you to hear what John Brennan, former CIA director,
4:19
Speaker 1: on MSNBC had to say about this. Take a listen,
4:22
Speaker 1: and thank you very much for joining us.
4:24
Speaker 3: The White House was in the dark for three days
4:28
Speaker 3: about Secretary Austin's hospitalization. There's the Israel Hamas War, Ukraine War,
4:34
Speaker 3: attacks on American troops in Syria, and Iraq hostilities in
4:37
Speaker 3: the Red Sea, just to name a few things that
4:39
Speaker 3: are happening in the world. You've held a similar cabinet
4:42
Speaker 3: level position as the Secretary, and you have worked closely
4:45
Speaker 3: with Secretary Austin in the past.
4:46
Speaker 4: What's your reaction to.
4:47
Speaker 5: This, Well, Ema, First of all, I think we all
4:52
Speaker 5: wish Secretary Austin a full and speedy recovery, and as
4:55
Speaker 5: you point out there's still a lot that we don't
4:56
Speaker 5: know about his medical condition and what it was that
5:01
Speaker 5: required him to go back into a well to read
5:03
Speaker 5: and the ICU on one January, and it is possible
5:07
Speaker 5: that his health condition or his medical condition clouded his
5:11
Speaker 5: judgment at that time. I don't know whether or not
5:14
Speaker 5: he was under certain types of medication, whatever else, and
5:17
Speaker 5: so that could have been the reason why he decided.
5:19
Speaker 6: Not to notify people as he should have.
5:22
Speaker 5: That said, it's clear that the system broke down because
5:26
Speaker 5: there needs to be established protocols that if a cabinet
5:29
Speaker 5: secretary or a senior member of the president's staff is
5:32
Speaker 5: going to be incapacitator in the hospital and the authorities
5:36
Speaker 5: that they have to execute could be in fact affected, that.
5:39
Speaker 6: Needs to be that immediate notification that is done.
5:42
Speaker 5: And so I know over the holiday period and there's
5:44
Speaker 5: reports that his chiefest staff, Kelly Maximum, was ill, but
5:48
Speaker 5: there still needs to be this chain of command in
5:51
Speaker 5: terms of any type of notification that should have taken place.
5:54
Speaker 5: So I do think that the Pentagon is going to
5:56
Speaker 5: do quite a review of what happened, what needs to
6:00
Speaker 5: place under these types of circumstances, but also I think
6:03
Speaker 5: the White House is going to make sure that there's
6:05
Speaker 5: going to be no similar type of occurrence, whether it
6:08
Speaker 5: be in the Pentagon or in other cabinet offices.
6:12
Speaker 3: Can you just tell us what the rules are, what
6:15
Speaker 3: is the protocol typically for notification in a situation like this.
6:20
Speaker 5: Well, again, if a cabinet secretary, particularly one with such
6:23
Speaker 5: genormous responsibilities and authorities such as the Secretary of Defense,
6:27
Speaker 5: is going to be out of commission in any way
6:30
Speaker 5: or it's going to be unavailable, there needs to be
6:33
Speaker 5: this notification done to deputies, to the person's deputy, and
6:37
Speaker 5: also to the White House, because we don't want there
6:41
Speaker 5: to be any type of misstep or a miscommunication in
6:45
Speaker 5: terms of what has to happen, particularly a time of
6:48
Speaker 5: a lot of crises around the world. So, whether or
6:51
Speaker 5: not you're the Secretary of State, a Secretary of Defense,
6:53
Speaker 5: or the director of the CIA, your staff is supposed
6:56
Speaker 5: to have on readiness calls in terms of who needs
7:01
Speaker 5: to be notified, what steps need to be taken, whether
7:04
Speaker 5: it's a delegation of responsibilities and authorities, or whether it's
7:07
Speaker 5: not a simple notification as done to the White House
7:09
Speaker 5: or to members of Congress and.
7:11
Speaker 6: Clearly that system was not followed.
7:14
Speaker 5: Again, maybe it was a result of the holiday weekend
7:17
Speaker 5: and the fact that some people were out of their
7:19
Speaker 5: position for illness or whatever, but there always needs to be,
7:23
Speaker 5: irrespective of whether or not there are holidays or illnesses,
7:26
Speaker 5: the ability to be able to transfer those responsibilities to
7:29
Speaker 5: others so that those protocols are followed, those notifications are made,
7:34
Speaker 5: and that all of the different responsibilities of the individuals
7:36
Speaker 5: are going to be taken care of.
7:38
Speaker 3: Just in the last hour, we got a statement from
7:42
Speaker 3: a Republican leader in the House, Elie Stephonic, calling for
7:44
Speaker 3: his resignation, saying that this was a significant national security
7:49
Speaker 3: threat the.
7:50
Speaker 1: President national security threat. Did you notice that there? They said?
7:56
Speaker 1: I mean you heard her there. National security threat protocol
8:01
Speaker 1: was not done the right way, clearly, But maybe after
8:05
Speaker 1: ten hours or twelve hours. This went on for multiple days,
8:09
Speaker 1: more than one, more than two, at least three that
8:11
Speaker 1: we know of so far, where no one knew where
8:14
Speaker 1: the Defense secretary was.
8:16
Speaker 2: What if the you know what hits the fan?
8:19
Speaker 1: You're telling me we couldn't find him, and then who
8:21
Speaker 1: would make the decisions?
8:24
Speaker 2: That's the first thing here.
8:25
Speaker 1: The second thing is, how do you defend this and
8:27
Speaker 1: say he's not going anywhere when clearly there was some
8:31
Speaker 1: sort of of cover up slash corruption that was involved here.
8:36
Speaker 1: This is not a joke, by the way, this is
8:38
Speaker 1: a very very very significant issue that should matter to
8:44
Speaker 1: all Americans.
8:45
Speaker 2: You're talking about national security.
8:47
Speaker 1: You've got a war going on right now between terrorists
8:50
Speaker 1: and Israel.
8:51
Speaker 2: You've got a war with Ukraine in Russia.
8:54
Speaker 1: You've got another basically war that's going on in the
8:57
Speaker 1: Middle East where Americans are being targeted and hit by
9:00
Speaker 1: terrorists organizations in the Middle East on a regular basis.
9:04
Speaker 1: And you've got to defend secretary that forgets to tell
9:07
Speaker 1: them that he's going in for surgery and that he's
9:09
Speaker 1: in the ICU, and we're supposed to act like this
9:11
Speaker 1: is somehow not.
9:12
Speaker 2: A big deal. Get me a break.
9:15
Speaker 1: Joe Biden, by the way, was asked about Lloyd Austin,
9:20
Speaker 1: and it's in the background. I'm going to play it
9:23
Speaker 1: for you, but you can hear the reporters yelling at
9:25
Speaker 1: him as he's getting off of Marine one. Listen to
9:29
Speaker 1: this in the background, saying like dude, like come on,
9:32
Speaker 1: like you got to comment about Secretary Austin not knowing
9:35
Speaker 1: where he was listen.
9:42
Speaker 2: Nothing. They confused.
9:44
Speaker 1: Joe Biden was ignoring reporters when he was asked again.
9:48
Speaker 1: Their words, they were yelling, mister President on Secretary of Austin,
9:51
Speaker 1: are you still confident of Secretary Austin. Sir Biden's response incomprehensible.
9:57
Speaker 1: You could not understand what he was saying. It was
10:00
Speaker 1: a confused President of the United States of America when
10:03
Speaker 1: answering that question, I guess there's any time to be confused.
10:06
Speaker 1: It's when something like this is happening, because the rest
10:09
Speaker 1: of the world is, by the way, paying attention. Secretary
10:14
Speaker 1: Blinken was also asked about this issue.
10:17
Speaker 2: Here's what he said about it.
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Speaker 7: With regard to Lessera Austin, I wasn't aware of his
10:24
Speaker 7: undical issue. In fact, I talked to Lloyd last weekend
10:30
Speaker 7: for the system, and I know that he's put out
10:33
Speaker 7: a statman addressing. What I can say is this, it
10:39
Speaker 7: has been, it remains one of the great privileges in
10:43
Speaker 7: my career for thirty years now working in government to
10:48
Speaker 7: serve alongside Loud Austin. He is an extraordinary leader for
10:55
Speaker 7: this country in uniform and now out of uniform, and
11:01
Speaker 7: it's been a highlight of my service to be able
11:04
Speaker 7: to serve alongside him, and I'm very much looking forward
11:09
Speaker 7: to seeing fully recoverment and working side by side in
11:15
Speaker 7: the year ahead.
11:19
Speaker 2: Policy.
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Speaker 1: By the way, Secretary Lincoln is sitting there and he's like,
11:25
Speaker 1: all right, I want to distance myself from this. So
11:27
Speaker 1: he's like, I didn't know he was out, So he
11:30
Speaker 1: didn't know the secret So if the Secretary of State
11:33
Speaker 1: had a major problem, he couldn't call the Defense Secretary.
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Speaker 2: He didn't know he was out.
11:38
Speaker 1: If the president was faced with a national security issue,
11:41
Speaker 1: a major problem, if they and I go back to
11:45
Speaker 1: worst case scenario, because I do think that's the point here,
11:49
Speaker 1: and when you have contingencies and plans and staffing and
11:52
Speaker 1: everything else, what if a nine to eleven attack happens, well,
11:57
Speaker 1: hell forget that, let's use the new standard by Democrats.
12:00
Speaker 1: What if another January sixth would have happened over the
12:03
Speaker 1: three days that no one could find Lloyd Austin. What
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Speaker 1: if the Secretary of State or an American official was
12:10
Speaker 1: attacked or something happened around the world on a major.
12:15
Speaker 2: Like in a major way, right, what would have happened?
12:18
Speaker 8: Then?
12:19
Speaker 1: All right, somebody called the Secretary of Defense, Like, we've
12:22
Speaker 1: got hostages, we've got a terrorist attack, we've got a
12:24
Speaker 1: nine to eleven, we've got a whatever it may be.
12:28
Speaker 1: You can't find him. What do you mean You can't
12:30
Speaker 1: find him, but no one knows where he is. What
12:31
Speaker 1: do you mean no one knows where he is? Well,
12:34
Speaker 1: we don't know where he is. What you're telling me,
12:36
Speaker 1: we don't know where he is. Nope, we have no
12:37
Speaker 1: idea where he is. So let me get this straight,
12:39
Speaker 1: the Secretary of Defense, no one can find him. He
12:43
Speaker 1: has incapacitated when you do find him. So let's say
12:46
Speaker 1: they do find him quickly, right, Let's say phone calls
12:48
Speaker 1: are made and you need, you know, advice you need,
12:52
Speaker 1: there's a major problem, there's a nine to eleven.
12:56
Speaker 2: And then you do find him.
12:58
Speaker 1: He's apparently at that point point the ICU incapacitated, so
13:02
Speaker 1: he can't take your phone call anyway, So then there's
13:05
Speaker 1: a question of chain of command. You notice how this
13:08
Speaker 1: is spiraling right now as we go through this in
13:11
Speaker 1: a real life scenario, which, by the way, is exactly
13:14
Speaker 1: why you have contingencies, which is exactly why Lloyd Austin
13:18
Speaker 1: should have made it clear. Hey, guys, I'm going in
13:21
Speaker 1: for surgery, and this is the chain of command.
13:23
Speaker 2: While I'm out.
13:25
Speaker 1: This is what's going on, so that you know what's
13:28
Speaker 1: happening in case something unimaginable happens, or even if it's
13:34
Speaker 1: not something unimaginable, maybe it's just American troops are yet
13:38
Speaker 1: again being attacked in the Middle East, and they're successful
13:41
Speaker 1: in that attack, or they're under attack.
13:43
Speaker 2: What are you going to do?
13:44
Speaker 1: Then you notice how this can again spiral very quickly. Well,
13:49
Speaker 1: if the guy you can't find him and he can't
13:52
Speaker 1: answer your call, and that's why Secretary Blincoln is doing
13:55
Speaker 1: what he was doing there, right, Well, it's you.
13:58
Speaker 2: Know, we knew where he was, right, We knew what
14:04
Speaker 2: was going on here.
14:06
Speaker 1: You know, we understood it, you know, but I still
14:11
Speaker 1: stand by him, right, I didn't know about it, but
14:13
Speaker 1: I understand it, and he's a great man. It's exactly,
14:16
Speaker 1: by the way, the same exact line. The White House
14:18
Speaker 1: presser to Jean Pierre and John Kirby had a gaggle
14:22
Speaker 1: aboard Air Force One. Here's what they said about Secretary
14:26
Speaker 1: Austin on Air Force one.
14:28
Speaker 8: Should the American people have confidence in Austin given because
14:31
Speaker 8: lack of transparency and then also seeing the American people
14:34
Speaker 8: need to be concerned about a lack of transparency for
14:38
Speaker 8: the president given this lass.
14:41
Speaker 9: So I want to go back to Austin's statement a
14:45
Speaker 9: couple of days ago where he has taken responsibility.
14:49
Speaker 4: Yeah, and so I think that's important.
14:53
Speaker 1: So, by the way, what does taken responsibility mean? Hey,
14:56
Speaker 1: I got caught? Is that now taking respect onsibility?
15:00
Speaker 4: What does that mean?
15:02
Speaker 1: What does it mean when they say he's taken responsibility?
15:05
Speaker 1: Taking responsibility would be apologizing. He's not done that, stepping down,
15:09
Speaker 1: He's not done that. In fact, he's taken no responsibility
15:13
Speaker 1: for his actions. Just saying in the future, I'll communicate better.
15:18
Speaker 1: That is not taking responsibility in any form and or fashion.
15:27
Speaker 1: There is no way that you can tell me that
15:29
Speaker 1: Austin has taken responsibility for this.
15:32
Speaker 2: That is a bs PR line.
15:36
Speaker 1: That's all that is, is a bs PR line from
15:42
Speaker 1: the White House saying, oh.
15:43
Speaker 2: Well, he's taken responsibility.
15:45
Speaker 1: Show me how, Show me where he took responsibility because
15:49
Speaker 1: I'm still waiting as an American citizen to that.
15:52
Speaker 9: And I will just reiterate that the president has complete confidence,
15:56
Speaker 9: continues to have confidence in Secretary's off put to Austin,
16:00
Speaker 9: and as the adamlet just stated, I think the number
16:04
Speaker 9: one thing right now is for him. We want to
16:06
Speaker 9: see him back at the Pedsagon, get well, then back
16:08
Speaker 9: at the Pensagon. And I'll just add one more thing
16:11
Speaker 9: is at the president. As we have shared, the President
16:15
Speaker 9: spoke to Austin, a secretary of Austin on Saturday. They
16:18
Speaker 9: had a very good conversation. And again you know, the
16:21
Speaker 9: President appreciate Austin's statement.
16:24
Speaker 4: I take it full responsibility here.
16:26
Speaker 9: And I think that's what matters, is him getting.
16:28
Speaker 4: Back to to the Pentagon and taking full responsibility.
16:31
Speaker 1: So he took responsibility, but we don't know what that
16:36
Speaker 1: actually looks like. And we just want him to get
16:40
Speaker 1: better so he can get back to his job, which
16:42
Speaker 1: he didn't tell anybody he wasn't doing, and we didn't
16:45
Speaker 1: know where he was. So actually, somehow this is a
16:50
Speaker 1: great story with a great ending. That is your White
16:53
Speaker 1: House Press here, Terry, who says, oh, and again right,
16:57
Speaker 1: Biden respects the way that Austin's hand multiple crisises over
17:01
Speaker 1: the last three years, which included the withdrawal from Afghanistan,
17:06
Speaker 1: which was a complete and utter disaster as well. Here
17:08
Speaker 1: is them defending him as what he's done in office when.
17:12
Speaker 2: There are some calls for him to be fired. Is
17:15
Speaker 2: that something that the President is wanting or considering doing.
17:18
Speaker 10: President's Number one focuses on his health and recovery, and
17:21
Speaker 10: he looks forward to having him back at the Pentagon
17:24
Speaker 10: as soon as possible. The President respects the fact that
17:30
Speaker 10: Secretary of Austin took ownership for the lack of transparency.
17:34
Speaker 10: He also respects the amazing job he's done as the
17:36
Speaker 10: event secretary and now he's handled multiple crisis over the
17:39
Speaker 10: last almost three years now and very much values his advice,
17:44
Speaker 10: candor leadership, and again looks forward to having him the
17:48
Speaker 10: fact that he.
17:48
Speaker 2: Got Can anyone tell me what the success was?
17:52
Speaker 1: His amazing success pulling us out of Afghanistan in such
17:55
Speaker 1: a horrific manner was not a success.
17:59
Speaker 2: Now.
17:59
Speaker 1: There's even some Democrats now that are saying this is
18:02
Speaker 1: not okay. I'll give you example Representative Abigail Spanberger. She
18:08
Speaker 1: is a former CIA operative. She had this to say
18:12
Speaker 1: on CNN about what went down.
18:15
Speaker 2: Take a listen.
18:16
Speaker 4: A couple other questions for you.
18:17
Speaker 11: First about Defense Actuary Lloyd Austin, who is facing a
18:21
Speaker 11: lot of criticism this morning for keeping White House officials,
18:25
Speaker 11: his own deputy the President in the dark for days
18:28
Speaker 11: about this hospital stay. He remains in the hospital. You
18:31
Speaker 11: sit on the Intelligence Committee. We are in the midst
18:33
Speaker 11: of obviously the warren Ukraine continues, but also what maybe
18:37
Speaker 11: an expanding conflict in the Middle East. Do you think
18:40
Speaker 11: it is appropriate how this was handled.
18:43
Speaker 12: No, I think it's appropriate in the right step forward
18:47
Speaker 12: that he has taken ownership and asserted that this was
18:50
Speaker 12: a mistake. I think that once he's fully returned to
18:54
Speaker 12: the job, a conversation as to why this decision was
18:56
Speaker 12: made is one that in and after action, report and understand.
19:00
Speaker 12: Is an important conversation to have. But I do hope
19:03
Speaker 12: that every person in the cabinet recognizes that this was
19:07
Speaker 12: not an appropriate step, not an appropriate way to handle
19:11
Speaker 12: what was his hospitalization, and hopefully there will be greater transparency,
19:16
Speaker 12: at least within the administration.
19:19
Speaker 1: So that's a Democrat saying there's not transparency in this administration.
19:24
Speaker 1: This is someone that's former CIA who's saying and understands
19:28
Speaker 1: the gravity of the situation, basically, what the hell are
19:30
Speaker 1: you doing and how did you allow this to happen?
19:33
Speaker 2: How on Earth.
19:34
Speaker 1: Could you imagine that this was somehow going to be appropriate,
19:37
Speaker 1: or that this is something that should in fact be
19:38
Speaker 1: able to happen.
19:40
Speaker 2: How did you even let this happen?
19:42
Speaker 1: And she understands how many lives were at risk because
19:46
Speaker 1: of these actions, especially if there was a nine to
19:49
Speaker 1: eleven type a terrorist attack or an attack on American
19:53
Speaker 1: troops abroad. You know, you go back to the White
19:56
Speaker 1: House and they say, oh, he has amazing accomplishments.
19:59
Speaker 10: Name me.
20:01
Speaker 1: There is not an amazing accomplishment by Lloyd Austin. If anything,
20:04
Speaker 1: the accomplishments have been total disasters. This is the guy
20:07
Speaker 1: that was in charge when we were getting out of Afghanistan.
20:10
Speaker 1: And look at what happened when we were getting out
20:13
Speaker 1: of Afghanistan. Look at the American troops that were killed
20:16
Speaker 1: there because we were taking orders from the Taliban, because
20:19
Speaker 1: we weren't giving appropriate oversight, because they weren't allowed to
20:22
Speaker 1: take the shot that they said that they need to
20:24
Speaker 1: take against the guy who ended up blowing up that
20:27
Speaker 1: bomb that killed that suicide bomber that killed multiple American
20:32
Speaker 1: soldiers there at the gates to that airport. This is
20:35
Speaker 1: the guy who masterminded the pullout of Afghanistan that turned
20:39
Speaker 1: into a massive disaster on top of everything else.
20:43
Speaker 2: I just told you.
20:44
Speaker 1: And they're like, oh, well, we're really impressed with him.
20:48
Speaker 1: We're really thankful for him. He's done an amazing job.
20:52
Speaker 1: We hope he continues to you know, we just we're
20:54
Speaker 1: not going to ask any questions. He's in the hospital.
20:56
Speaker 1: We just want him to get better. He has our
20:59
Speaker 1: full support. What screw up does it take? And I
21:03
Speaker 1: guess at the bar is at the level of your
21:05
Speaker 1: own son. If the bar is at the level of
21:08
Speaker 1: where Hunter Biden is when it comes to screw ups,
21:11
Speaker 1: and you still do business with him and everything else
21:13
Speaker 1: the way that Hunter Biden is, then I guess Lord
21:15
Speaker 1: Austin screw up with our national security in mind, really
21:19
Speaker 1: doesn't matter, right, I guess it's just a non issue.
21:23
Speaker 1: It's like, okay, so what the guy in charge of
21:26
Speaker 1: our defense. We can't find him. He's in the ICU,
21:29
Speaker 1: he's incapacitated, he can't take phone calls, not telling anybody
21:33
Speaker 1: lying to us, trying to cover it up. Hey, we
21:35
Speaker 1: get all that, but I mean it's not as bad
21:37
Speaker 1: as you know, buying an illegal gun and lying on
21:39
Speaker 1: a form that your crackhead.
21:40
Speaker 2: Right, it's all relatives.
21:42
Speaker 1: As bad is doing sex trafficking and human trafficking and
21:46
Speaker 1: taking money from communists China.
21:49
Speaker 2: Who are we to throw stones?
21:51
Speaker 6: Right?
21:51
Speaker 1: Size bad is taking money from Russian oligarchs or the
21:55
Speaker 1: CCP are sitting on a board of a company that
21:58
Speaker 1: you know nothing about, Barisma and making millions of dollars. Right,
22:02
Speaker 1: it's as bad as the honeypot scandal of these prostitutes
22:04
Speaker 1: in the Washington.
22:05
Speaker 2: DC area. Hey, look the guy out of surgery. We
22:08
Speaker 2: don't even know what it was.
22:10
Speaker 1: So what that he was incapacitated for a little while,
22:13
Speaker 1: It's all fine. That's the logic of this White House.
22:16
Speaker 1: If they're willing to treat the Defense secretary like this.
22:19
Speaker 1: Can you imagine the media's response, serious question? If this
22:24
Speaker 1: would have happened under Donald Trump's Secretary of Defense number one,
22:28
Speaker 1: there's no way that he would survive. Congress would be
22:30
Speaker 1: saying impeach. Everybody would be going nuts. They would talk
22:34
Speaker 1: about every worst case scenario. They would talk about the
22:36
Speaker 1: nine to eleven, They would talk about Pearl Harbor, they
22:39
Speaker 1: would talk about all the worst days in American history.
22:43
Speaker 1: When it comes to military issues that have happened. They
22:45
Speaker 1: would talk about War one, they would talk about War two.
22:48
Speaker 1: The list would go on and on and on, right like,
22:50
Speaker 1: they would give you every example, many of them I mentioned,
22:54
Speaker 1: which are right right to mention, because those are the
22:57
Speaker 1: worst days of a presidency when your defense secretary is
23:00
Speaker 1: the most important. So if one of those would have
23:03
Speaker 1: happened on the anniversary, you know, on a nine to
23:07
Speaker 1: eleven style, something happened the southern border, Americans were taken
23:12
Speaker 1: hostage somewhere in the world in a large scale attack.
23:15
Speaker 2: We got a guy, we can't find him.
23:17
Speaker 1: That is that if there's no accountability for those types
23:22
Speaker 1: of actions, then what you've just told everybody that works
23:25
Speaker 1: in and around this White House and in any part
23:27
Speaker 1: of this administration, whether it be at the DoD or
23:30
Speaker 1: Department of State, or Energy or CIA or anywhere else,
23:32
Speaker 1: it's basically, there is no screw up too big that
23:35
Speaker 1: you can do that where you're not allowed to do,
23:39
Speaker 1: where you lose your job.
23:41
Speaker 2: That's what they're telegraphing here.
23:43
Speaker 1: And that's the reason why I think you have Representative Smamberger,
23:47
Speaker 1: who is a former cooperative, who wasn't giving him a
23:50
Speaker 1: free pass as a Democrat because she actually understands this.
23:55
Speaker 1: Joe Scarborough on Lloyd Austin chilling for the White House, right,
23:59
Speaker 1: that's what he normally done.
24:00
Speaker 2: Here's what he said on MSNBC.
24:02
Speaker 13: Don't see how a guy disappears for three days and
24:06
Speaker 13: doesn't tell the President of the United States, the commander
24:09
Speaker 13: in chief the White House that he's gone and continues.
24:12
Speaker 4: Working in that position.
24:14
Speaker 2: I just don't And I.
24:17
Speaker 13: Like Secretary. I think Secretary of Austin's done a wonderful job.
24:23
Speaker 13: This is just one of those very clear cut issues. Yeah,
24:27
Speaker 13: I know, there's no doubt it's a bad one. I
24:29
Speaker 13: mean White House.
24:30
Speaker 14: I've been reporting on this story for days now, and
24:33
Speaker 14: when Secretary of Austin's one of his subordinates showed up
24:36
Speaker 14: at a White House meeting at the end of last week,
24:38
Speaker 14: Jake Sullivan was confused, like, where's the Secretary of What's
24:41
Speaker 14: going on? And only after that where they informed that
24:44
Speaker 14: the Secretary was in the hospital. And we're right to
24:47
Speaker 14: underscore the timing here. It comes as the US is
24:52
Speaker 14: ramping up its presence.
24:53
Speaker 4: In the Red Sea going after the Hooties.
24:55
Speaker 14: That's an airstrike called in by the US that Secretary
24:59
Speaker 14: Austin had approved pre hospitalization, but it's a time of
25:02
Speaker 14: real rising tensions in the Middle East, Ukraine as well.
25:06
Speaker 14: We're not clear if the Congress is going to pass
25:08
Speaker 14: funding to support Kiev it is.
25:11
Speaker 4: It is stunning that this job. So that's a good question.
25:15
Speaker 1: By the way, that's Joe Scarborough saying that. How he's
25:18
Speaker 1: even saying how does this guy keep his job? Because
25:21
Speaker 1: I do think that Joe Scarborough understands that when it
25:24
Speaker 1: comes to issues of national security, and if you were
25:26
Speaker 1: around when nine to eleven happen, you can quickly get
25:29
Speaker 1: to a point where you're like, like, there's no transparency.
25:33
Speaker 1: You can't trust this guy to be doing his job.
25:36
Speaker 1: You don't know when he's off the job. The next
25:38
Speaker 1: question should be has he done this before? And I'm
25:41
Speaker 1: not talking about being in a hospital. I'm just saying,
25:42
Speaker 1: like being completely off the grid. Does Lloyd Austin go
25:46
Speaker 1: M I A on a regular basis? And how often
25:49
Speaker 1: does that happen? That's the question that should be being
25:51
Speaker 1: asked here. But is he described like I don't know
25:53
Speaker 1: how he keeps his job? How the how the commander
25:57
Speaker 1: in chief can say this guy is doing a great job.
26:00
Speaker 1: This is one of the worst things. Let me rephrase
26:03
Speaker 1: it this way. You would fire a nanny, you would
26:06
Speaker 1: fire a babysitter. You would fire a basic minimum wage
26:11
Speaker 1: employee if they didn't show up for work three days
26:12
Speaker 1: in a row and didn't call, didn't text, and didn't
26:14
Speaker 1: tell you where they were, right, you would do that,
26:16
Speaker 1: Like if you had an employee that just went off
26:19
Speaker 1: the grid for three days and didn't tell you, and
26:22
Speaker 1: their excuse was, oh, well, I went to the hospital
26:26
Speaker 1: and I could have told you beforehand, because it wasn't like,
26:28
Speaker 1: you know, I'm in a car wreck and I'm incapacitating
26:30
Speaker 1: and I can't call you or my cell phone was
26:32
Speaker 1: left in the car as they rushed me to the er,
26:35
Speaker 1: right Like in that type of scenario, I could even
26:37
Speaker 1: get there, But not even for three days unless you're incapacitated. Literally,
26:41
Speaker 1: this guy knew he was going to be in the hospital.
26:43
Speaker 1: This guy knew there were complications and he and still
26:47
Speaker 1: he didn't disclose it. So the question is why why
26:52
Speaker 1: did he not disclose it? That's the question that all
26:55
Speaker 1: of the media should be should be asking. And listen
26:58
Speaker 1: to this follow up question from Scarborough. Is it whack
27:00
Speaker 1: job liberal?
27:01
Speaker 6: Yes?
27:01
Speaker 4: Can I ask you, do you have it confirmed?
27:05
Speaker 13: Is it rock solid confirmed that the Secretary of Defense
27:10
Speaker 13: did not notify the Commander in chief.
27:15
Speaker 4: That he was not at his post for three days?
27:19
Speaker 4: Is that confirmed it is? Are we going to hear, Oh,
27:22
Speaker 4: they talked on the side, and no.
27:25
Speaker 13: Are you hearing from the White House that the Commander
27:29
Speaker 13: in chief was unaware of the fact that the Secretary of.
27:32
Speaker 14: Defense was not at his post for three days. We
27:34
Speaker 14: and others have reported for days now that President Biden
27:37
Speaker 14: did not know. So if suddenly another narrative was to
27:39
Speaker 14: be presented, that's not one known to not just reporters,
27:42
Speaker 14: but senior White House staff, there's no belief that Secretary
27:45
Speaker 14: of Defense Austin notified President Biden about what had happened. Now,
27:50
Speaker 14: the two men have spoken, and we are told by
27:53
Speaker 14: senior officials that for now, Secretary of Austin's job is safe.
27:57
Speaker 14: We know that President Biden does not like firing people.
28:01
Speaker 14: We know President Biden is fond of Secretary Austin. We
28:04
Speaker 14: also know President Biden is very proud of the continuity.
28:07
Speaker 14: Has had no very little turnover in his senior staff
28:10
Speaker 14: since taking office. In fact, only one cabinet member departure,
28:13
Speaker 14: which is pretty remarkable heading in here into his fourth
28:15
Speaker 14: year in office. And I think also because this is
28:18
Speaker 14: such a tense time around the globe, there's a sense
28:21
Speaker 14: that this would not be a good time to change
28:23
Speaker 14: leadership at the Pentagon, so things, of course could change.
28:26
Speaker 14: There's been an a real uproar from both Republicans, but
28:29
Speaker 14: also we should note some Democrats about the real breakdown
28:32
Speaker 14: in communication here, and there's explanations that start dav of
28:35
Speaker 14: Austin is a very private man. He doesn't like talking
28:37
Speaker 14: about things regarding his personal life and a health issue
28:41
Speaker 14: like this. That said, it is a breakdown in the
28:44
Speaker 14: chain of command, and there will be continue to be
28:47
Speaker 14: real questions raised as to what happened, even if for now,
28:50
Speaker 14: and I stress for now, Sartory of Austin's job seems.
28:54
Speaker 1: Secure, seems secure. I don't believe that White House is
28:57
Speaker 1: going to fire him. I think going to say, who
28:59
Speaker 1: get a crap? Just like the way they're running the government,
29:02
Speaker 1: who cares? Who gives a crap? Was national security at risk? Yes,
29:06
Speaker 1: if you know what hit the fan? Were we not prepared? Yes,
29:10
Speaker 1: we were not prepared. Was there a breakdown literally in
29:13
Speaker 1: the chain of commander of our government for days now
29:16
Speaker 1: twenty four hours, not forty eight, but seventy two plus hours. Yes,
29:20
Speaker 1: this is what you get with a Biden administration, zero accountability,
29:24
Speaker 1: and national security at risk, just like our open southern border.
29:28
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29:31
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29:34
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29:36
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29:37
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