Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Democrats Campaign on Impeachment Chaos plus Inside Trump’s High-Risk Iran Gamble

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Democrats Campaign on Impeachment Chaos plus Inside Trump’s High-Risk Iran Gamble · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: If you want to know what Democrats are going to
0:03
Speaker 1: do if they get control of the House and the Senate,
0:06
Speaker 1: well they're now literally campaigning off of their agenda item,
0:11
Speaker 1: and that is to impeach and remove not just President
0:14
Speaker 1: Donald Trump but also Vice President jd. Vance, even if
0:19
Speaker 1: it means rigging the US Senate's two hundred and fifty
0:22
Speaker 1: year old impeachment process. How do we know that. Well,
0:27
Speaker 1: at far left Democrat, a guy by the name of
0:29
Speaker 1: George Conway, has explained it all in a new interview
0:34
Speaker 1: and here is what he said.
0:35
Speaker 2: And I do think we're going to have also a
0:37
Speaker 2: democratic Senate, and yeah, I don't know whether it'll be
0:41
Speaker 2: fifty two, fifty three, fifty four, maybe even more. And
0:46
Speaker 2: that when you have control of the Senate in that way,
0:49
Speaker 2: you can set the rules, and the rules this time
0:53
Speaker 2: should be should provide for a real trial, not these
0:58
Speaker 2: show arguments, these you know, these statements on the floor
1:01
Speaker 2: by managers where there's politicians giving speeches, but where you
1:06
Speaker 2: put on live witnesses and you can show that they're
1:09
Speaker 2: lying and you can show how they're being done and
1:12
Speaker 2: they have to answer the questions. And the Chief Justice
1:14
Speaker 2: of the United States will direct them to answer questions.
1:17
Speaker 2: A trial, a real trial, that's what the framers of
1:21
Speaker 2: the Constitution meant, and that will be I think an
1:25
Speaker 2: education for the American people who will be suffering from
1:29
Speaker 2: all of the deleterious effects of Trump's chaotic policies and
1:34
Speaker 2: his you know, psychotic policies. Frankly, he's just he's now
1:37
Speaker 2: just out of his mind. And at that point, you know,
1:42
Speaker 2: the trial will show people that this is not the
1:44
Speaker 2: way government is supposed to operate. This is corrupt buying.
1:49
Speaker 2: You know, a good trial presentation is going to basically,
1:53
Speaker 2: I think flip enough Republicans who will be exhausted by
1:56
Speaker 2: this and who want to rescue their party.
2:00
Speaker 3: And then gives him jd Vance.
2:02
Speaker 2: But jd Vance But look, I mean jd Vance is
2:06
Speaker 2: you know, subject to impeachable offense. He may be impeached
2:09
Speaker 2: two and removed. That's that's also possible. But also it
2:13
Speaker 2: will have even if he is not, it will have
2:17
Speaker 2: a a a chilling or an effect on everybody else
2:23
Speaker 2: who comes after that. You know, we can't, you can't
2:27
Speaker 2: do this. You have to obay the law, you have
2:29
Speaker 2: to obay the constitution, you have to obey your duties
2:32
Speaker 2: and your oath.
2:33
Speaker 3: Now let's go back to just the words you heard there.
2:35
Speaker 1: One of the things he said was a good trial
2:38
Speaker 1: presentation is going to basically, I think, flip enough Republicans
2:42
Speaker 1: who will be exhausted by this and who will want
2:45
Speaker 1: to rescue their party. In other words, he's looking for
2:49
Speaker 1: the neo cons he's looking for the rhinos Republicans in
2:53
Speaker 1: name only. And then he added this jd Vance is
2:58
Speaker 1: subject to impeachable Offen says he may be impeached two
3:02
Speaker 1: and removed. That's also possible. This is now the Democratic
3:07
Speaker 1: Party's playbook. And after admitting that they would violate the
3:12
Speaker 1: two one hundred and fifty year constitutional norm of the
3:16
Speaker 1: impeachment process, the Democratic Party is literally saying, and we
3:22
Speaker 1: need to reassert those norms that we used to accept
3:26
Speaker 1: and take for granted. And if we don't do that,
3:29
Speaker 1: there's no one else to do it. If Congress can't
3:32
Speaker 1: do it, nobody can. Now this is the playbook for
3:37
Speaker 1: the Democratic Party of the midterm elections.
3:39
Speaker 3: If they gain the houses.
3:41
Speaker 1: In it, they're saying, to hell with the Constitution, to
3:45
Speaker 1: hell with America, we are going to go after and
3:49
Speaker 1: throw out of office every person we don't like we're
3:54
Speaker 1: going to go after the president, We're going to go
3:56
Speaker 1: after the vice president, and we'll go after anybody else
3:59
Speaker 1: that we can understand.
4:00
Speaker 3: This is the reason why.
4:02
Speaker 1: You should believe this is because this is all a
4:06
Speaker 1: piece of the never Trump plan in general. Remember, the
4:09
Speaker 1: never Trump plan has been to bankrupt President Trump, bankrupt
4:14
Speaker 1: his family members, overturn Trump's selection. That doesn't work, then
4:19
Speaker 1: we jail Donald Trump, don't forget, he's got a mug shot,
4:22
Speaker 1: and then jail the Trump family as well, and then
4:26
Speaker 1: we act like we're just going to go back to
4:28
Speaker 1: normal life. No, this is the Democratic Party, now, this
4:32
Speaker 1: is the new norm Now. When all of that didn't work,
4:34
Speaker 1: what came next assassinate the president of United States of America.
4:39
Speaker 3: They tried that as well.
4:40
Speaker 1: Never forget, the president was in fact shot in the ear,
4:44
Speaker 1: and if he wouldn't have turned his head, by the
4:46
Speaker 1: grace of God, unfortunately, we would probably be without Donald
4:49
Speaker 1: Trump right now. And that's the Democrats whole plan and goal.
4:53
Speaker 1: The only way to save the norms is to burn
4:56
Speaker 1: all the norms to the ground. Is also what the
4:58
Speaker 1: Democratic Party is saying, meaning, we don't respect this country,
5:02
Speaker 1: we don't respect the laws of this country. We sure
5:04
Speaker 1: as hell don't respect the Constitution. We don't respect the
5:08
Speaker 1: founding fathers, we don't respect the court system, we don't
5:10
Speaker 1: respect the Supreme Court. We delegitimize all of it. Now,
5:16
Speaker 1: you may say, all right, Conway is a political guy
5:19
Speaker 1: that's been out there for a long time, and he's kind.
5:23
Speaker 1: We know he's a lefty, we know he hates Trump.
5:25
Speaker 1: He's got Trump Dranger syndrome. Surely he can't be speaking
5:28
Speaker 1: on behalf of like Democratic candidates.
5:30
Speaker 3: Well, let me just remind you.
5:33
Speaker 1: Conway is now running for the United States Congress to
5:37
Speaker 1: replace retiring Representative Jerry Naviler in New York's twelfth congressional district,
5:42
Speaker 1: which is kind of perfect if you think about it.
5:45
Speaker 1: Conway would be the perfect replacement for Democrats.
5:48
Speaker 3: Both I and Naveler are old.
5:50
Speaker 1: Well, they're ugly, they're fat, they're homely, they're leftists, they're authoritarians,
5:54
Speaker 1: and they both walk funny.
5:56
Speaker 3: You can't make it up.
5:57
Speaker 1: Conway, by the way, is an individual here who is
6:01
Speaker 1: behind in the polls. He's got some other crazies he's
6:04
Speaker 1: got to run behind as well, and some of those
6:08
Speaker 1: are just really creepy. Individuals. I'll save that for another show.
6:12
Speaker 1: But what I do want you to understand about what
6:15
Speaker 1: George Conway is saying here, and what is very real
6:18
Speaker 1: is the Democrats that are on the ballot. This is
6:21
Speaker 1: what they are running on. This is the same party
6:25
Speaker 1: that already spied on the American people. We know in
6:29
Speaker 1: fact now, and this coming from the Blaze media, that
6:32
Speaker 1: the government funded a weapon to fight terrorism and instead,
6:37
Speaker 1: do you want to know what happened? They used it
6:40
Speaker 1: on the Blaze, a conservative news site. An agency established
6:46
Speaker 1: by Barack Obama backed companies that took steps to limit
6:51
Speaker 1: America's speech. And it didn't take long for a federal
6:54
Speaker 1: government agency originally designed to censor certain foreign entities and
7:00
Speaker 1: curate their narratives on terrorism to literally be turned on Americans. Now,
7:05
Speaker 1: this goes back to President Barack Obama. He issued an
7:08
Speaker 1: executive order all the way back in twenty eleven establishing
7:11
Speaker 1: the Center for Strategic counter Terrorism Communications within the State Department.
7:16
Speaker 1: That doesn't sound threatening to any of us, right, Well,
7:19
Speaker 1: you'd be wrong. They weaponized this exact agency and these
7:23
Speaker 1: strategic counter terrorism communication against conservatives. Now, the agency was
7:28
Speaker 1: initially tasked with quote using communication tools to reduce radicalization
7:33
Speaker 1: by terrorists, an extremist violence and terrorism that threatened the
7:39
Speaker 1: interest in national security of the United States quote unquote.
7:43
Speaker 1: Obama then broadened the mission of the agency and renamed
7:45
Speaker 1: it the Global Engagement Center in another executive order just
7:51
Speaker 1: months prior to Donald Trump's election victory in sixteen. Now,
7:55
Speaker 1: the Global Engagement Center, overseen by a steering committee of
7:59
Speaker 1: Deep State officials, codified into law in the twenty seventeen
8:02
Speaker 1: National Defense Authorization Act and afforded both grant making authority
8:09
Speaker 1: and the ability to quote leverage expertise from outside the
8:12
Speaker 1: federal government, eventually became, as one former intelligence source said,
8:18
Speaker 1: an incubator for the domestic disinformation complex quote unquote, well,
8:23
Speaker 1: in the final days of the first Trump presidency, we're
8:26
Speaker 1: now learning that the deep State and its censorship contractors,
8:31
Speaker 1: desperate to control the narrative about the twenty twenty presidential
8:34
Speaker 1: election and the COVID nineteen virus, turned this disinformation complex
8:40
Speaker 1: on conservative site Blaze Media, and a quote proof of
8:44
Speaker 1: concept test is what they claimed it was. According to
8:49
Speaker 1: the discovery evidence gleaned by the federalists in a now
8:52
Speaker 1: settled case against the government, the Global Engagement Center backed
8:56
Speaker 1: a trial targeting Blaze Media and the free speech in
9:01
Speaker 1: its platforms. Despite concerns at the State Department about possibly
9:05
Speaker 1: censoring an American company with an American audience in contradiction
9:11
Speaker 1: of the agency's foreign focus mandate, it didn't matter.
9:16
Speaker 3: The Global Engagement Center.
9:18
Speaker 1: Which Secretary of Saint Marco Rubio acknowledge actively silenced and
9:23
Speaker 1: censored the voices of Americans that we're supposed to be serving,
9:28
Speaker 1: was nominally closed in January of twenty twenty five, then
9:32
Speaker 1: effectively killed by the Trump administration last April hundred, its
9:35
Speaker 1: final name the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation Interference Hub. Now
9:41
Speaker 1: two years prior to the agency's demise, the Federalists and
9:45
Speaker 1: several other plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against the Global Engagement
9:49
Speaker 1: Center and the State Department. You may be asking yourself,
9:52
Speaker 1: why have I never heard about this? Because the media
9:55
Speaker 1: didn't want you to know about it. The lawsuit accused
9:59
Speaker 1: the government of action actively intervening in the news media
10:01
Speaker 1: market throughout the Global Engagement Center to render disfavored press
10:07
Speaker 1: outlets unprofitable by funding the infrastructure, development, and marketing and
10:13
Speaker 1: promotion of censorship technology and private censorship enterprises. To covertly
10:20
Speaker 1: suppress speech of a segment of the American press. We'll
10:25
Speaker 1: guess exactly what press that was. It was conservative media.
10:30
Speaker 1: So if you think that Democrats in this midterm election
10:34
Speaker 1: are not going to turn this agency right back on
10:37
Speaker 1: to silence and censor conservatives, you're insane. And if you
10:41
Speaker 1: think the Democratic Party isn't going to go a wall
10:44
Speaker 1: and destroy America's constitution right away if they get power,
10:49
Speaker 1: you're also wrong. They want to get rid of Trump
10:52
Speaker 1: and the vice presidency and anyone else that stands in
10:55
Speaker 1: their way, and now they're saying it openly in interviews
10:59
Speaker 1: for every one to see. All Right, so let's deal
11:03
Speaker 1: with a elephant in the room and this really growing
11:07
Speaker 1: conversation right now about President Trump just straight up saying
11:11
Speaker 1: what so many Americans are thinking, and that is that, well,
11:15
Speaker 1: NATO and our quote unquote allies are like pretty much worthless.
11:21
Speaker 1: They don't do much for us, right like they have
11:23
Speaker 1: hung us out to dry. So is there a way
11:26
Speaker 1: is the president described it to punish NATO allies? And
11:29
Speaker 1: if you understand history, it's not hard to see why.
11:33
Speaker 1: Now if you go back and look at the data
11:34
Speaker 1: the United States has carried the overwhelming burden of NATO,
11:39
Speaker 1: not just in money, but also in manpower, in leading it,
11:44
Speaker 1: with strategy with other bad actors in the world, and
11:48
Speaker 1: just overall leadership. NATO was, in theory created as a
11:53
Speaker 1: collective defense alliance.
11:57
Speaker 3: That's not what it really is though, all right.
11:59
Speaker 1: The reality is that America has been acting as the
12:02
Speaker 1: only defender, the primary defender, if you want to call it,
12:06
Speaker 1: that of Europe while many of the quote unquote and
12:10
Speaker 1: I call them quote unquote allies because they don't act
12:12
Speaker 1: like it, have failed to live up to their commitments
12:15
Speaker 1: for decades and they knew that America would keep footing
12:18
Speaker 1: the bill. Let's just start with the basics, Okay. NATO
12:22
Speaker 1: countries agreed to spend two percent of their GDP on defense.
12:28
Speaker 3: Now, that was not a suggestion. I want you to understand.
12:32
Speaker 1: That was the actual promise, like the guarantee, and for
12:36
Speaker 1: many years, many of these countries haven't done that at all.
12:40
Speaker 1: Instead of investing in their own security, they just decided,
12:44
Speaker 1: we'll rely on America to not only pick up the tab,
12:47
Speaker 1: but to come save our aas's if we ever need them. Now,
12:52
Speaker 1: that's when it gets even more frustrating for me. Because
12:56
Speaker 1: some of the same countries that are literally purposely underfunding
13:02
Speaker 1: their own militaries, they're actually spending heavy on domestic programs.
13:08
Speaker 1: Why are they doing that? Because they expect you and
13:10
Speaker 1: I as taxpayers to guarantee their protection.
13:14
Speaker 3: Now.
13:14
Speaker 1: President Trump has been signing the alarm on this four years.
13:17
Speaker 1: He was talking about this in fifteen and sixteen and
13:20
Speaker 1: even before that when he was in the private sector
13:23
Speaker 1: that America has taken advantage of. And his position now
13:28
Speaker 1: is actually pretty simple. If you want America to protect you,
13:33
Speaker 1: then you need to start paying your fair share. And
13:36
Speaker 1: it's not even about just the money. It's also about
13:39
Speaker 1: loyalty and priorities. The White House Press Secretary had this
13:43
Speaker 1: to say when she was asked about it from the
13:45
Speaker 1: briefing room.
13:47
Speaker 3: John John, go ahead, thanks a lot, Caroline.
13:50
Speaker 4: Two questions for you. One has to do with a statement,
13:53
Speaker 4: a joint statement put out this morning by some of
13:56
Speaker 4: America's European allies Arnato allies, and in that joint statement,
13:59
Speaker 4: they said, regarding the Strait of Formuz, our governments will
14:03
Speaker 4: contribute to ensuring freedom of navigation in the Strait of
14:07
Speaker 4: for mouse, at least, the administration's reaction to that joint statement.
14:11
Speaker 4: Is that smooth things over when the President meets with
14:14
Speaker 4: NATO's Secretary General a little bit later this afternoon.
14:17
Speaker 5: I have a direct quote from the President of the
14:19
Speaker 5: United States on NATO, and I will share it with
14:21
Speaker 5: all of you.
14:21
Speaker 3: They were tested and they failed.
14:24
Speaker 5: And I would add it's quite sad that NATO turned
14:26
Speaker 5: their backs on the American people over the course of
14:28
Speaker 5: the last six weeks when it's the American people who
14:30
Speaker 5: have been defunding their defense. As you know, President Trump
14:34
Speaker 5: will be meeting with Secretary Ruta in a couple of
14:36
Speaker 5: hours here at the White House, and I know he
14:37
Speaker 5: looks forward to having a very frank and candid conversation
14:40
Speaker 5: with him.
14:41
Speaker 1: Now, before I even get to some of the money
14:43
Speaker 1: aspects of this, let me just talk about the loyalty aspect,
14:47
Speaker 1: all right. There have been repeated moments where NATO allies
14:51
Speaker 1: have been deliberately slow to act. They've also been multiple
14:55
Speaker 1: moments where they've been divided or outright unwilling to step
15:00
Speaker 1: up when it matters the most, because it's all about
15:03
Speaker 1: the money to them, whether it is confronting our adversaries,
15:06
Speaker 1: whether it's increasing their own defense readiness or they're were
15:09
Speaker 1: less reliant on the US or backing US let initiatives
15:13
Speaker 1: on the global stage. Our NATO allies have been screwing
15:17
Speaker 1: us every chance they get. So what happens if the
15:21
Speaker 1: United States of America stops treating NATO as a one
15:25
Speaker 1: way street? That is the question the media should be asking,
15:28
Speaker 1: and they're not. It could actually mean a range of
15:31
Speaker 1: different things happen. It could actually make Europe stand up
15:35
Speaker 1: for themselves more and that would actually be a good
15:38
Speaker 1: thing for US in this country. It would also force
15:42
Speaker 1: them to more directly meet their obligations to applying economic
15:47
Speaker 1: or even diplomatic pressure on others and saying to their
15:52
Speaker 1: allies within NATO outside the US like, hey, we got
15:55
Speaker 1: to step up, and you got to step up, and
15:56
Speaker 1: in other countries like, well, if we're going to step up,
15:59
Speaker 1: then you better step up because then there would be
16:01
Speaker 1: actual accountability. Now, the goal for the White House, I
16:05
Speaker 1: want to be clear, and I've talked to the White
16:07
Speaker 1: House about this, is not to abandon NATO. It is
16:11
Speaker 1: to in essence, rebalance it as it's been described, or
16:15
Speaker 1: even rework it, or reorganize it, or if you really
16:21
Speaker 1: want to look at it, for what it is, it
16:23
Speaker 1: needs to have a balance sheet that has changed drastically.
16:27
Speaker 1: The President has made it clear that the current system
16:31
Speaker 1: rewards weakness and dependency. It penalizes the country doing the
16:36
Speaker 1: most to keep the alliance strong, which, over and over
16:38
Speaker 1: again is you guessed it, us, the United States of
16:41
Speaker 1: America and our tax dollars. And for far too long,
16:45
Speaker 1: as Trump has been saying this, America has been expected
16:48
Speaker 1: to do more, spend more, risks more, including our men
16:51
Speaker 1: and women in uniform, and the others who are doing
16:55
Speaker 1: the least are benefiting the most from our protections. Now,
16:59
Speaker 1: let's also just talk about the money, because this matters.
17:03
Speaker 1: As of the twenty twenty four to twenty twenty five budget,
17:05
Speaker 1: that's the latest that we have, the United States is
17:09
Speaker 1: the largest contributor to NATO's direct budget, accounting for approximately
17:13
Speaker 1: fifteen point eight to sixteen percent of the shared common
17:17
Speaker 1: funded budget.
17:18
Speaker 3: All right.
17:19
Speaker 1: This direct funding, by the way, covers NATO's headquarters, joint operations,
17:25
Speaker 1: and infrastructure, amounting to about five hundred and seventy two
17:29
Speaker 1: million to seven hundred and fifty three million in twenty
17:34
Speaker 1: twenty four. These are the best numbers I have. That's
17:36
Speaker 1: a hell of a lot of our tax dollars. Now,
17:39
Speaker 1: the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the North Atlantic Treaty
17:42
Speaker 1: Organization and the Extended Group is very interesting because here's
17:47
Speaker 1: the breakdown of the US funding. Number one, direct funding,
17:52
Speaker 1: that is the common budget. It is a percentage share.
17:55
Speaker 1: The US contributes about one sixth of NATO's direct annual
17:59
Speaker 1: budge budget, which totaled around three point five billion in
18:03
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. Now, as in March of twenty twenty four,
18:06
Speaker 1: the US and Germany shared the highest percentage, both paying
18:10
Speaker 1: fifteen point eighty eight percent of the Common funded budget.
18:15
Speaker 1: You go back and look at the twenty nineteen agreement,
18:19
Speaker 1: all right, it reduced the US share from twenty two
18:22
Speaker 1: percent to about sixteen percent. That would be matching Germany.
18:27
Speaker 1: Then NATO has another part, and that's their indirect funding.
18:30
Speaker 1: That's defense spending. There's a two percent target. NATO members
18:35
Speaker 1: aim to spend two percent of their own gross te
18:38
Speaker 1: metastic product on national defense. Now, the US is spending,
18:42
Speaker 1: for example, in twenty twenty three, about three point four
18:45
Speaker 1: to nine percent of its GDP on defense and total
18:49
Speaker 1: defense output in terms of raw dollars, the US accounts
18:53
Speaker 1: for roughly sixty to sixty two percent of the total
18:58
Speaker 1: defense spending of all NATO nations combined.
19:00
Speaker 3: What does that mean?
19:01
Speaker 1: We're the ones doing all the work and they're getting
19:03
Speaker 1: the benefit of our hard work. That is estimated to
19:06
Speaker 1: be about one trillion dollars in twenty twenty five. That
19:10
Speaker 1: number is going to go up in twenty twenty six
19:11
Speaker 1: because of what's happening in Iran. Just so you understand now,
19:15
Speaker 1: the recent quote promises or developments have been a five
19:19
Speaker 1: percent target. Following pressure from the Trump administration that NATO
19:24
Speaker 1: allies in June of twenty twenty five agreed to a
19:27
Speaker 1: new non binding goal of increasing spending defense spending to
19:31
Speaker 1: five percent of GDP by twenty thirty five. Guess what,
19:35
Speaker 1: Most of the countries aren't moving at all, because it
19:36
Speaker 1: kicked the can down the road a decade to twenty
19:40
Speaker 1: thirty five. All right, European allies in Canada have significantly
19:44
Speaker 1: increased their spending, however, with estimates suggesting all members would
19:49
Speaker 1: meet the two percent target at least now for the
19:53
Speaker 1: first time. But there's still far too many other countries
19:56
Speaker 1: that are not doing it. This goes back to exactly
19:59
Speaker 1: what I said about the President of the United States
20:02
Speaker 1: of America, Donald Trump understands that unless you're willing to
20:07
Speaker 1: walk away and directly criticize these quote allies and say
20:12
Speaker 1: good luck defending yourself, nothing will change, nothing at all
20:19
Speaker 1: will change.
20:20
Speaker 3: And the President knows that.
20:23
Speaker 1: So is it time for America to say to our allies,
20:27
Speaker 1: our fake allies and NATO, good luck, like defend yourself,
20:30
Speaker 1: good luck. Yes, overwhelmingly, that is exactly what we should
20:34
Speaker 1: be doing. I think there's a very good chance that
20:38
Speaker 1: is where we're headed. I think there's a very good
20:41
Speaker 1: chance that this is what the future is going to
20:43
Speaker 1: look like. And I'm honestly beyond thrilled that this is
20:47
Speaker 1: what's happening.
20:50
Speaker 3: Vice President JD.
20:51
Speaker 1: Vance is heading to Pakistan to lead the US delegation,
20:55
Speaker 1: and direct negotiations with Iran is what we're being told
20:58
Speaker 1: at this hour, are expected to begin immediately. And the
21:03
Speaker 1: reason why is President Trump is clearly impatient and ready
21:07
Speaker 1: for results, for something real to happen now. The US
21:11
Speaker 1: expects good faith negotiations, and if Iran stalls or plays games,
21:16
Speaker 1: the White House says, pressure will ramp right back up.
21:20
Speaker 1: Vance has even worn that Iran would be making a
21:22
Speaker 1: serious mistake if it allows these talks to collapse.
21:27
Speaker 6: A threat to wipe Iranian civilization off the map still
21:31
Speaker 6: on the table. Is it fair to keep ninety million
21:33
Speaker 6: Iranians under that threat for the actions of their leaders.
21:36
Speaker 7: Well, look, the leadership is really to blame for the
21:39
Speaker 7: condition of the country in Iran. The President of the
21:41
Speaker 7: United States has made very clear that the United States
21:44
Speaker 7: has a lot of leverage here. We have economic leverage,
21:47
Speaker 7: we've got military leverage. What he's trying to do is
21:50
Speaker 7: make sure the American people are safe and strike a
21:52
Speaker 7: deal that's good for the American people. I just look,
21:55
Speaker 7: I encourage the Iranians to come to the table. Seriously,
21:58
Speaker 7: we've seen some signs that they're we're going to do that.
22:00
Speaker 7: We seen some signs of bravado. Fundamentally weren't a good spot.
22:04
Speaker 7: They're reopening the straits, we have a ceasefire, and frankly,
22:07
Speaker 7: if they break their into the bargain, then they're going
22:09
Speaker 7: to see some serious consequences.
22:11
Speaker 6: Wiping them off the map is different than an economic
22:13
Speaker 6: leverage or military leverage. Why is that kind of language
22:17
Speaker 6: useful in this kind of scenario.
22:19
Speaker 7: Well, again, the President of the United States is saying
22:22
Speaker 7: that unless the Iranians do the right thing, he is
22:24
Speaker 7: going to have some serious consequences for the regime. We
22:27
Speaker 7: obviously don't want the people of Iran to suffer, but
22:30
Speaker 7: we have a lot of leverage the President of United
22:32
Speaker 7: States could use. And it's why I think it's so
22:34
Speaker 7: important for the Iranians to be negotiators in good faith.
22:38
Speaker 1: Now what many of you may be asking this question,
22:40
Speaker 1: what is actually even being negotiated? These talks are not small,
22:44
Speaker 1: They are really massive, and at the center of the
22:47
Speaker 1: negotiations is a long term regional stability and that all
22:52
Speaker 1: revolves around Rand's nuclear ambitions. They also in the negotiations
22:57
Speaker 1: are ensuring safe passage through the Strait of for moves.
23:01
Speaker 1: There's even been discussions of a broader framework that could
23:04
Speaker 1: include sanction relief, which Iran is begging for. That's only,
23:08
Speaker 1: by the way, going to happen if Iran makes major concessions.
23:13
Speaker 1: There's also just the reality check of all this. The
23:16
Speaker 1: ceasefire is temporary, it's also conditional, and it could collapse
23:21
Speaker 1: at any moment within the next less than two weeks
23:24
Speaker 1: now since it began, even officials inside the White House
23:28
Speaker 1: acknowledge this is just a first step, not a final deal,
23:32
Speaker 1: and there are still major disagreements, especially over the nuclear
23:36
Speaker 1: enrichment that Iran is obsessed with, as well as the
23:40
Speaker 1: regional conflict like Lebanon. The vice President was asked about that,
23:45
Speaker 1: and here's what he said.
23:47
Speaker 6: There seems to be a disagreement about whether Lebanon was
23:49
Speaker 6: included in this proposal. And the Seeker of the Parliament
23:52
Speaker 6: you're going to sit across from the table from an Islamabad,
23:55
Speaker 6: it's just said that he thinks negotiations would be unreasonable
23:58
Speaker 6: while that war is ongoing. Whould you ask Israel to
24:01
Speaker 6: hold off strikes to allow some space for these songs.
24:04
Speaker 7: Well, first of all, I know there's been some conversations
24:06
Speaker 7: between the Israelis and the leadership of our country today.
24:10
Speaker 7: I haven't been involved in that because I've been busy
24:11
Speaker 7: doing stuff in Hungary. I'm actually supposed to get an
24:14
Speaker 7: up date when I get on the plane. But let
24:15
Speaker 7: me say a couple things. First of all, I actually
24:18
Speaker 7: think and there's a lot of bad faith negotiation and
24:21
Speaker 7: a lot of bad faith you know, propaganda going on.
24:25
Speaker 7: I think this comes from a legitimate misunderstanding. I think
24:28
Speaker 7: the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon, and it
24:32
Speaker 7: just didn't. We never made that promise, We never indicated
24:35
Speaker 7: that was going to be the case. What we said
24:37
Speaker 7: is that the ceasefire would be focused on Iran, and
24:39
Speaker 7: the ceasefire would be focused on America's allies, both Israel
24:42
Speaker 7: and the Golf Air of States. Now that said, the Israelis,
24:46
Speaker 7: as I understand it again, I'm supposed to get a
24:48
Speaker 7: full of report when I get on the plane, have
24:49
Speaker 7: actually offered, to be frankly, to check themselves a little
24:55
Speaker 7: bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that
24:58
Speaker 7: our negotiation is successful, not because that is part of
25:01
Speaker 7: the ceasefire. I think that's the Israelis try to set
25:04
Speaker 7: up us up for success, and we'll, of course see
25:06
Speaker 7: how that unfolds in the next few days. But look,
25:09
Speaker 7: if Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in
25:12
Speaker 7: a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which
25:16
Speaker 7: has nothing to do with them, and which the United
25:19
Speaker 7: States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that's
25:22
Speaker 7: ultimately their choice. We think that would be dumb, but
25:24
Speaker 7: that's their choice.
25:26
Speaker 1: We think that would be dumb, but that is their choice.
25:30
Speaker 1: The Vice President wasn't done there by the way. He
25:33
Speaker 1: also talked about who he's negotiating with, and can you
25:36
Speaker 1: negotiate with people that well are a little crazy.
25:39
Speaker 7: What's happening on the ground in Iran is that you
25:42
Speaker 7: have clearly the position of the government, which is to
25:45
Speaker 7: negotiate with the United States of America.
25:47
Speaker 3: You have the position of the President of United.
25:49
Speaker 7: States, which is to send the negotiators to Pakistan and
25:52
Speaker 7: engage in this good faith negotiation. And then yes, you
25:55
Speaker 7: have some crazy people at the fringes of the Iranian
25:58
Speaker 7: system who are leaking anonymous either for propaganda purposes or
26:02
Speaker 7: because they're embarrassed, or because they don't like what happened.
26:05
Speaker 7: And the final point, when I say they don't like
26:07
Speaker 7: what happened, what we know is that the United States
26:09
Speaker 7: accomplished its military objectives. What we know is the United
26:12
Speaker 7: States could have imposed significant additional military and economic costs
26:17
Speaker 7: in Iran and still has the capacity to do so.
26:20
Speaker 7: But we think, thankfully, at this point, I think have
26:22
Speaker 7: a ceasefire thanks to the leadership of the President of
26:24
Speaker 7: the United States. We have the Iranians promising to open
26:28
Speaker 7: the straits of poor moves, and we have a negotiation
26:30
Speaker 7: that's supposed to start this weekend.
26:32
Speaker 3: That's the truth. I think it's a good first step.
26:34
Speaker 7: We're going to see if we can make more progress
26:36
Speaker 7: here in the days to come.
26:39
Speaker 1: So it seems like the Vice President is hopeful, but
26:42
Speaker 1: he also seems to be very realistic about what he's
26:45
Speaker 1: dealing with. The President clearly is sending him with, hey,
26:48
Speaker 1: good luck, see what you can get done. There also
26:51
Speaker 1: seems to be a reality within this administration that there's
26:55
Speaker 1: a very good chance that Iran and the negotiations, well,
26:58
Speaker 1: they're not coming to the table in good faith. There
27:01
Speaker 1: are wreckers within the Iranian hierarchy holding on for dear life.
27:05
Speaker 1: And the Vice President sounded a warning on competing factions
27:09
Speaker 1: within Iran, with some open to good faith negotiations with
27:12
Speaker 1: the US in the coming weeks, and then there's the spoilers,
27:16
Speaker 1: those that are wanting to do nothing at all.
27:19
Speaker 3: Now.
27:19
Speaker 1: The Vice President is also i think, being honest about
27:23
Speaker 1: the rocky start of the ceasefire, stating that look, it's
27:27
Speaker 1: really up to Iran if they want to give up
27:29
Speaker 1: almost immediately as everything started, that would be dumb, as
27:33
Speaker 1: he described it. Now, the Vice President in the White
27:36
Speaker 1: House also talked a lot about Israel over the last
27:39
Speaker 1: twelve hours.
27:40
Speaker 3: As he understood it, the Vice President said.
27:43
Speaker 1: Israel frankly offered to check themselves a little bit in
27:46
Speaker 1: Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiations
27:51
Speaker 1: the US and Iran are successful. And that's not because
27:55
Speaker 1: that is part of the ceasefire. He said, again, I
27:59
Speaker 1: think that the Israeli are trying to set us up
28:01
Speaker 1: for success, and well, of course see how that unfolds
28:04
Speaker 1: in the next few days. He also told reporters that
28:08
Speaker 1: it would be unwise for randon in the ceasefire because
28:12
Speaker 1: of the Israel strikes on Lebanon. The White House Press
28:15
Speaker 1: secretary also saying this from the Oval.
28:19
Speaker 8: Danny, thanks, thanks corn would President Trump liked to see
28:22
Speaker 8: Lebanon including this peace deal, says, you know that's been
28:25
Speaker 8: increased as really the strikes on leven In today with
28:28
Speaker 8: dozens of casualties.
28:29
Speaker 5: Then sure Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire that
28:32
Speaker 5: has been relayed to all parties involved in the ceasefire.
28:35
Speaker 3: As you know.
28:36
Speaker 5: Prime Minister in Netanyahoo put out a statement last night
28:38
Speaker 5: in support of the ceasefire. In support of the United
28:41
Speaker 5: States his efforts, and he's also asshored to President. They'll
28:44
Speaker 5: continue to be a helpful partner throughout the course of
28:46
Speaker 5: the next two weeks.
28:47
Speaker 3: Is there now?
28:49
Speaker 1: Let me also be clear, all of this that we're
28:51
Speaker 1: talking about right now is coming as the Islamic Iranian
28:54
Speaker 1: regimes military threatened to expanded strikes against the Persian energy
29:00
Speaker 1: facilities and US interests in the wake of President Trump
29:04
Speaker 1: threatening to unleash American firepower against the country's infrastructure. So
29:10
Speaker 1: if these talks are gonna go well, it honestly may
29:14
Speaker 1: take a real miracle for something to come out of it.
29:17
Speaker 1: Iran seems to be digging in and not dealing with reality.
29:21
Speaker 1: They're holding on for dear life to their power. They
29:24
Speaker 1: don't care about their people if they suffer. That would
29:27
Speaker 1: include if the bridges are hit and their infrastructure aka
29:30
Speaker 1: their energy source their electricity is gone as well. So
29:35
Speaker 1: here it is the President of United States of America
29:38
Speaker 1: in a tough spot and the Vice President doing everything
29:41
Speaker 1: he can to try to give peace another chance before
29:45
Speaker 1: they have to make a real decision which what will
29:48
Speaker 1: come next for America and our foreign policy.
29:52
Speaker 3: We'll keep following this story.
29:53
Speaker 1: I can promise you that we've got a lot more
29:56
Speaker 1: that's going to happen the days ahead, so make sure
29:58
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