WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:03.879 All right, I decided to let about forty eight hours 2 00:00:03.879 --> 00:00:08.359 go by before commenting on the whole Pete heg Seth, 3 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:13.480 Mike Waltz, Marco Ruby, all these top national security people 4 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:20.039 who accidentally put together a signal chat to discuss the 5 00:00:20.120 --> 00:00:28.039 recent American strikes against the Huthis who are disrupting American 6 00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:33.320 shipping in the Red Sea and in the Red Sea. 7 00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:40.039 And because a couple of reasons, I had a liberal 8 00:00:40.039 --> 00:00:42.000 friend who was like, this is terrible. Don't you see 9 00:00:42.039 --> 00:00:45.399 this just as bad as Hillary's emails? And everyone needs 10 00:00:45.399 --> 00:00:47.719 to be fired. This is horrible, and it vioally it's 11 00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:49.960 federal law this way, this way, this way, and oh 12 00:00:49.960 --> 00:00:55.799 classified information people. And this is a thing I've learned 13 00:00:55.920 --> 00:01:01.280 as a lawyer. You have to hear both sides of 14 00:01:01.320 --> 00:01:03.840 the case. You have to hear both sides of the case. 15 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:10.799 And I very distinctly remember this during the Brett Kavanaugh 16 00:01:11.480 --> 00:01:17.840 confirmation hearings, where you know, some people like him, you know, 17 00:01:18.519 --> 00:01:21.640 but this was just an instance of how bad this 18 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:26.760 could be. You have the Brett Kavanaugh hearings and they 19 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:30.159 bring in Christine blasi Ford, the woman who accused Kavanaugh. 20 00:01:30.439 --> 00:01:33.079 Maybe at some point I don't know when, but I 21 00:01:33.079 --> 00:01:34.879 definitely know it was him. I don't know when, I 22 00:01:34.920 --> 00:01:36.760 don't know where, I don't know how any witnesses. I 23 00:01:36.760 --> 00:01:42.159 don't have any contemporaneous evidence whatsoever, barely my own recollection. 24 00:01:42.280 --> 00:01:46.200 Somehow I know that Brett Kavanaugh actually assulted me, and 25 00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:48.000 then her lawyer after the fact said, well, she was 26 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:51.079 motivated because she didn't want him to overturn Robe Wade. Okay, great, 27 00:01:52.840 --> 00:02:00.200 where Christine blasi Ford testified that Brett Kavanaugh actually assaulted her, 28 00:02:01.879 --> 00:02:07.359 And it was the hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee. 29 00:02:07.719 --> 00:02:10.360 It was I remember the day. It was. She was 30 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:13.680 testifying first, like she was testifying in the morning, and 31 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:15.639 then he was testifying in the afternoon or something, and 32 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:18.400 I remember it was like I remember like I was 33 00:02:18.439 --> 00:02:20.360 like watching it in my office. It was like, you know, 34 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:28.280 it was appointment viewing, and it was this in between 35 00:02:28.520 --> 00:02:33.599 break between Christine blasi Ford and Brett Kavanaugh, and there 36 00:02:33.639 --> 00:02:38.960 were conservative commentators just rushing and by the way, one 37 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:41.400 of them was Ben Shapiro. By the way, so leads 38 00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:43.439 me to I have ever since I've taken Ben Shapiro 39 00:02:43.479 --> 00:02:46.680 with a grain of salt, rushing to say that the 40 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:52.240 Brett Kavanaugh nomination was finished, that it was done, Trump 41 00:02:52.319 --> 00:02:56.680 was gonna have to withdraw a Brett Kavanaugh. What a disaster. 42 00:02:57.240 --> 00:03:03.599 Christine blasi Ford was so convincing. Why because they only 43 00:03:03.599 --> 00:03:10.039 heard one side of the case. Then within minutes, Brett 44 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:15.000 Kavanaugh came up in front of the Judiciary Committee, he testified, 45 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:19.840 and everyone was like, oh wow, because he's still he's 46 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:22.960 totally denying this and he's actually pretty dang convincing. And 47 00:03:23.800 --> 00:03:28.719 then everyone's minds on the right certainly changed and said, well, Okay, well, 48 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:31.479 maybe he shouldn't withdraw his nomination. Maybe Trump shouldn't withdraw 49 00:03:31.560 --> 00:03:35.120 his nomination, maybe Republicans shouldn't vote him down. And Brett 50 00:03:35.159 --> 00:03:38.439 Kavanaugh gets nominated, gets confirmed as a Supreme Court justice. 51 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:42.280 And I continue to this day to think that the 52 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:45.719 Christine Blasiford thing was ridiculous, Especially with more space and 53 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:51.759 time away from it, I realize, huh, Like, why were 54 00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:55.240 we convinced that this was like a huge like this 55 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:58.800 was someone who made a bare accusation and had no 56 00:03:58.879 --> 00:04:03.919 other evidence, no corroboration whatsoever of something that allegedly happened 57 00:04:03.960 --> 00:04:06.840 forty years ago, where she can remember absolutely no details 58 00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:09.599 except conveniently for the detail that it was Breck Kavanaugh, 59 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:13.080 and we learned that she was politically motivated to do it. 60 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:19.319 That was sort of how I felt about this story 61 00:04:19.399 --> 00:04:22.560 about the hoofies, Like it was so bad, the first 62 00:04:23.720 --> 00:04:29.040 telling of it, so bad, so terrible, that eh, I 63 00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:31.800 was like, Okay, hold on a second before I talk 64 00:04:31.839 --> 00:04:34.959 about this. The legal analysis that was given along with 65 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:38.399 the Atlantic article I was also highly suspicious of. I'm like, okay, 66 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:41.199 the Atlantic is saying that all of these laws were broken. 67 00:04:41.240 --> 00:04:44.680 All right, let's Usually the legal analysis for a story 68 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:46.920 like this, it takes like twenty four to forty eight 69 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:49.879 seventy two hours, maybe even a whole week before people 70 00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:52.759 really get a solid sense of the legal issues at play. 71 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:56.040 So I was like, all right, well, let's hold off here, 72 00:04:57.439 --> 00:05:02.800 let's wait and see. And I'm glad I did because 73 00:05:02.920 --> 00:05:06.360 I think there's a better a clearer legal picture here, 74 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:11.279 and a clearer picture sort of the of a bunch 75 00:05:11.319 --> 00:05:20.519 of different issues involved. All right, so let me discuss 76 00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:23.399 sort of what happened, because I've actually used this app, 77 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:28.879 this app called Signal. All right, all of these top 78 00:05:29.560 --> 00:05:34.040 defense officials, along with Vice President Vance, they think one 79 00:05:34.040 --> 00:05:38.600 of the participants was Steven Miller, who's one of the 80 00:05:38.600 --> 00:05:43.240 president's top advisors. We're all on this chat in this 81 00:05:43.319 --> 00:05:48.680 app called Signal, and Signal is basically a forum for 82 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:56.560 secure and encrypted a synchronous group discussions. Think of it 83 00:05:56.639 --> 00:06:00.319 like your a text group that you have with multiple people, 84 00:06:03.040 --> 00:06:05.800 which for high level government officials who are trying to 85 00:06:05.800 --> 00:06:14.199 discuss sensitive top difficult topics. Some kind of asynchronous platform 86 00:06:14.759 --> 00:06:17.839 for talking with each other where you don't you don't 87 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:21.600 have to coordinate that everyone has to be online all 88 00:06:21.639 --> 00:06:24.439 at the same time to all discuss it together. This 89 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:26.959 could be useful for a bunch of high ranking government 90 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:30.600 officials who all are busy and have busy lives and 91 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:36.040 busy schedules, where you can go in, send a message, 92 00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:39.240 review what other people have said, give your opinion, and 93 00:06:39.319 --> 00:06:45.160 go about your day. Now, the problem is is that 94 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:49.519 actually safe? Well there, I guess there are two problems. 95 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:54.360 One is that safe? Two is that legal? So one 96 00:06:54.399 --> 00:07:06.240 is it legal if you're sharing highly sensitive intelligence material, 97 00:07:07.879 --> 00:07:11.040 there's a question about whether it's legal to do so 98 00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:17.079 over a forum like Signal. Signal is encrypted, it's more 99 00:07:17.120 --> 00:07:19.759 secure than just texting your buddy from your smartphone, but 100 00:07:19.800 --> 00:07:25.920 it's not perfect. Russians had hacked signals servers once before 101 00:07:26.040 --> 00:07:30.839 in the past, so it's not a perfectly immune thing. Also, 102 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:36.759 signal officials can use signal from their phones. Now were 103 00:07:36.759 --> 00:07:41.399 they using it from their phones? Unclear? You can also 104 00:07:41.480 --> 00:07:43.920 use it from a desktop or a laptop computer, which 105 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:50.240 that's how I've used signal. Also, there are some issues 106 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:52.240 that some of the officials who are on the thread, 107 00:07:52.560 --> 00:07:56.240 or thought to be on the thread, were in foreign countries. 108 00:07:56.360 --> 00:07:59.639 One of them was allegedly in Russia. One of them 109 00:07:59.720 --> 00:08:05.319 was in South Korea. Being in Russia with your phone 110 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:10.680 doing messaging with your phone could leave your phone open 111 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:20.040 to hacking from intelligence agencies. You know, if you're in Russia, Russia, 112 00:08:20.040 --> 00:08:23.079 there are hostile actors and hostile intelligence agencies trying to 113 00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:27.160 hack into your stuff. If you're in South Korea, there, 114 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:31.439 you know, there's far more Chinese influence in South Korea 115 00:08:32.039 --> 00:08:40.879 as far as intelligence, official intelligence entities, blah blah blah. However, 116 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:44.159 there's also this that signal might be the best thing 117 00:08:44.200 --> 00:08:51.000 we've got. There's an interesting piece by an interesting piece 118 00:08:51.399 --> 00:08:56.480 by Michael Brendan Doherty from National Review who wrote that basically, 119 00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:03.639 basically Americans have this idea that our intelligence services have better, 120 00:09:04.279 --> 00:09:07.200 more secure They've watched too many James Bond movies and 121 00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:09.879 think that we've got that. Here. They are using this 122 00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:14.559 commercially available app on their phones for communications. How insecure 123 00:09:14.759 --> 00:09:17.399 is that? And what Dherty is saying, well, first of all, 124 00:09:18.120 --> 00:09:23.480 there was a Biden era memos sent out through the 125 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:26.919 Department of Homeland Security actually recommending the use of signal 126 00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:35.639 for high level discussions. And what Dherty is saying is, well, look, 127 00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:40.159 let's not kid ourselves. The US government actually doesn't necessarily 128 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:45.919 have like more secret, more secure, like better channels for 129 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:50.639 asynchronous communication than this. Now, some people have pointed out, 130 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:53.000 if you're going to share classified intelligence, you need to 131 00:09:53.039 --> 00:09:58.679 be in a skiff, a secure contained intelligence something. It's 132 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:00.840 an acronym, but it basically needs Hey, you need to 133 00:10:00.840 --> 00:10:04.480 be in this secured area. All of these officials probably 134 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:06.759 have a skiff in their homes. They can also set 135 00:10:06.840 --> 00:10:11.039 up a sort of traveling temporary skiff for anyone who's 136 00:10:11.399 --> 00:10:17.279 on the road. But as far as asynchronous communications go, 137 00:10:17.480 --> 00:10:21.600 signals seems to be the best thing going. And again, 138 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:26.000 the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which is the part 139 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:29.279 of the Department of Homeland Security recommended that high level 140 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:35.480 government officials switch to signal last year. So there's a 141 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:39.080 couple of different things. Was the law violated. It seems 142 00:10:39.159 --> 00:10:44.480 like maybe the law was violated. There is a dispute 143 00:10:44.559 --> 00:10:50.440 right now. Jeffrey Goldberg, Now, why did this? All of 144 00:10:50.440 --> 00:10:52.480 this become known? I should have led with this. This 145 00:10:52.559 --> 00:10:56.279 all became known because Mike Waltz, the National Security Advisor, 146 00:10:56.840 --> 00:11:04.360 accidentally added Jeffrey Goldberg into this chat. Jeffrey Goldberg, who 147 00:11:04.399 --> 00:11:06.960 is not a national security official. He's just a writer 148 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:13.600 for The Atlantic, a mainstream media journalist and a pretty 149 00:11:13.639 --> 00:11:17.360 liberal one at that. And Goldberg was added to this 150 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:22.480 and just was astonished as he was reading, like all 151 00:11:22.519 --> 00:11:25.480 this stuff about attacks against the Hoho thies that turned 152 00:11:25.519 --> 00:11:31.679 out to be true. Now, Goldberg characterized some of the 153 00:11:31.720 --> 00:11:38.440 stuff that was shared as quote, war plans, and the 154 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:42.000 Trump administration is saying, well, no, there wasn't any classified 155 00:11:42.039 --> 00:11:46.480 info that was actually shared on that. Goldberg also said 156 00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:50.840 that something was shared that might have involved an active 157 00:11:51.320 --> 00:11:57.159 CIA intelligence agent, and he so he didn't publish certain 158 00:11:57.200 --> 00:12:01.200 of these things. Now more stuff has been published, I 159 00:12:01.240 --> 00:12:03.759 think in response to the Trump administration saying none of 160 00:12:03.799 --> 00:12:09.240 them are Trump administration officials who keep saying, no, none 161 00:12:09.240 --> 00:12:15.279 of the stuff actually shared on that was classified. So 162 00:12:15.799 --> 00:12:17.679 it's a bit of a screw I mean, it's a 163 00:12:17.720 --> 00:12:22.960 screw up, certainly, and I continue to dislike this thing 164 00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:28.480 where now and by the way, it doesn't seem like 165 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:32.519 anyone's head is going to roll over this, even for 166 00:12:32.600 --> 00:12:35.440 the obvious mistake of adding a journalist to a conversation 167 00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:38.919 between the Secretary of State, the National Security Advisor, the 168 00:12:39.320 --> 00:12:41.919 Vice President of the United States, blah blah blah blah 169 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:45.519 blah blah blah. It doesn't seem like anyone's head is 170 00:12:45.559 --> 00:12:48.600 going to roll over this. And the National Security Advisor 171 00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:52.639 has publicly been stating he's never met Jeffrey Goldberg, he 172 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:54.519 has no idea who he is. He doesn't know how 173 00:12:54.759 --> 00:12:58.159 that would have gotten into his signal contacts. There's a 174 00:12:58.200 --> 00:13:03.480 thought that there's a different Trump mitration official whose initials 175 00:13:03.480 --> 00:13:08.559 are JG, whom he was trying to add. I wish 176 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:10.000 he had added me. I mean that would have been 177 00:13:10.039 --> 00:13:14.039 super cool. But you know, alas as also a JG. 178 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:21.799 But it sounds like nobody's heads are going to roll 179 00:13:21.840 --> 00:13:26.200 over this. And there's a part of me that doesn't 180 00:13:26.279 --> 00:13:29.279 like that. So again, though we were not one hundred 181 00:13:29.320 --> 00:13:32.200 percent sure was all of this information classified. Was all 182 00:13:32.200 --> 00:13:36.879 this information not classified? Unclear if classified information was being 183 00:13:36.919 --> 00:13:45.039 shared over an unauthorized platform. Low level people who do that, 184 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:48.840 a lot of them tend to get prosecuted. If you're 185 00:13:48.879 --> 00:13:53.080 like a low level government contractor a low level official 186 00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:55.600 who works for the CIA, a low level member of 187 00:13:55.639 --> 00:13:59.320 the United States military and you share classified information in 188 00:13:59.320 --> 00:14:01.720 a way you're not post do you get prosecuted and 189 00:14:01.759 --> 00:14:06.240 you go to jail. If you're a high ranking government 190 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:09.799 official and you do it, if you're Donald Trump, if 191 00:14:09.799 --> 00:14:15.919 you're Hillary Clinton, if you're Joe Biden, if you're you know, 192 00:14:16.519 --> 00:14:19.399 Secretary of State or something, you don't get in trouble. Now. 193 00:14:19.480 --> 00:14:25.720 Actually Trump almost got Trump was indicted for it. Actually 194 00:14:25.799 --> 00:14:30.000 Trump faced more potential retribution over it than anyone has, 195 00:14:30.679 --> 00:14:35.039 and even he it didn't go very far. Now that 196 00:14:35.039 --> 00:14:36.720 he's been elected, I think that whole case is going 197 00:14:36.759 --> 00:14:38.480 to now that he's president of the United States, I 198 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:41.960 think that whole case is going to get dropped. And actually, 199 00:14:42.200 --> 00:14:44.720 out of all of the lawsuits filed against Trump, the 200 00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:48.480 only one that I ever thought was like legitimate was 201 00:14:48.559 --> 00:14:53.080 his retention of documents in mar A Lago that I 202 00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:55.519 think that was the one thing that he clearly actually 203 00:14:55.519 --> 00:14:58.120 did something wrong. And of course Joe Biden did the 204 00:14:58.159 --> 00:15:01.480 exact same thing. So there's a part of me that 205 00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:07.840 doesn't like this culture of like we will literally send 206 00:15:08.279 --> 00:15:11.080 low level people to jail for doing the same thing 207 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:13.519 that high level people do. But I also I don't 208 00:15:13.559 --> 00:15:18.519 know if what level of objective seriousness this is getting 209 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:21.639 away from what the law requires. I don't know how 210 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:25.639 bad this is as far as now. Obviously adding a 211 00:15:25.720 --> 00:15:30.519 journalist accidentally is bad, but using signal itself as a 212 00:15:30.559 --> 00:15:32.639 means of communicating this stuff, I don't know how bad 213 00:15:32.639 --> 00:15:36.960 it is. It seems like it's not sort of what 214 00:15:37.159 --> 00:15:41.399 is authorized legally, but at the same time it's more 215 00:15:41.480 --> 00:15:44.360 secure than what is authorized, or as secure as what 216 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:47.679 is authorized, and actually far more useful. If that's the case, 217 00:15:47.720 --> 00:15:50.279 then probably the law needs to change to reflect that, 218 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:55.639 and or we need to be less severe in punishing 219 00:15:55.679 --> 00:16:03.919 low level people who violate the law. So I guess 220 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:07.840 I obviously adding a journalist to a text thread like 221 00:16:07.879 --> 00:16:10.120 this is bad. I think we need to wait and 222 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:17.559 see about how classified was all this stuff actually and 223 00:16:17.720 --> 00:16:21.600 when we return, I want to talk about people's selective 224 00:16:21.799 --> 00:16:29.600 outrage at selective select members of this group chat and 225 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:32.519 how it all just seems to line up with people's 226 00:16:32.879 --> 00:16:38.080 ideological priors. That's next on the John Girardi Show. It's 227 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:43.559 very funny to read who people think, whom people think 228 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:47.879 should be fired, who people think should be fired. I'm 229 00:16:48.919 --> 00:16:50.480 get a little confused by who and whom they're I 230 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:52.879 think it should be whom whom people think should be 231 00:16:52.919 --> 00:16:58.960 fired for the accidental adding of Jeff Goldberg, a columnist 232 00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:05.279 for The Atlantic, into a signal chat group discussing the 233 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:09.960 imminent American strikes against the Houthis that happened earlier this month. 234 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:13.720 Who should be fired over it? Whose heads should roll? 235 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:19.480 Democrats say everyone should be fired. The same Democrats who 236 00:17:19.480 --> 00:17:22.799 didn't think a single person should be fired for the 237 00:17:22.839 --> 00:17:26.599 Afghanistan debacle where people actually died, think all these people 238 00:17:26.680 --> 00:17:31.720 should be fired over this. And both sides accused the 239 00:17:31.720 --> 00:17:33.799 other side of hypocrisy. And it's sort of like, well, 240 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:37.319 if both sides are accusing the other of hypocrisy, are 241 00:17:37.400 --> 00:17:45.680 both sides hypocritical? Here? You then have the selective people 242 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:51.000 who selectively we want to fire there are certain kind 243 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:55.720 of more neo con leaning outlets, including I like National 244 00:17:55.720 --> 00:17:57.480 Review a lot. I write a lot for National Review, 245 00:17:57.519 --> 00:17:59.680 but they're definitely Their foreign policy tends to lean a 246 00:17:59.720 --> 00:18:03.640 certain direction that I don't one hundred percent agree with 247 00:18:03.640 --> 00:18:06.519 all the time. I probably align most with their writer, 248 00:18:06.599 --> 00:18:10.680 Michael Brendan Dherty. They've got two columns out, one saying 249 00:18:10.759 --> 00:18:15.640 that Now, again, these are not editorials by the newspaper, 250 00:18:15.640 --> 00:18:18.759 by the paper, it's just, you know, individual pieces by 251 00:18:18.839 --> 00:18:22.200 individual people. One that Trump should fire Pete hagg Seth 252 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:24.799 and the other that Trump shouldn't fire Mike Waltz. Mike 253 00:18:24.799 --> 00:18:27.559 Waltz is a good guy, Mike Waltz the National Security Advisor, 254 00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:31.559 So we should fire Pete hegg Seth, the Defense Secretary, 255 00:18:31.559 --> 00:18:34.319 but we shouldn't fire the National Security Advisor, even though 256 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:37.200 it was the National Security Advisor himself who started the 257 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:42.240 whole group chat, added Jeff Goldberg to it, the guy 258 00:18:42.279 --> 00:18:44.599 who wasn't supposed to be on it. It's the whole 259 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:48.559 reason this debacle started in the first place. Now, why 260 00:18:48.599 --> 00:18:51.480 are people wanting to fire Pete hagg Seth and not 261 00:18:51.519 --> 00:18:56.200 wanting to fire Mike Waltz. Well, Waltz as the National 262 00:18:56.200 --> 00:19:01.039 Security Advisor, was not thought to be a particularly maga 263 00:19:01.079 --> 00:19:06.359 pick by Trump, and Waltz seems to be more favored 264 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:12.119 by some of the more neo con leaning people. He 265 00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:15.400 has more friends in sort of what used to be 266 00:19:15.480 --> 00:19:19.559 the quote establishment, right, so everyone it seems like there's 267 00:19:19.559 --> 00:19:21.440 a bunch of people like rushing to say no, no, no, no, 268 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:22.000 no no. 269 00:19:22.039 --> 00:19:25.000 Mike Waltz is a good guy. You know, this one 270 00:19:25.039 --> 00:19:26.240 screw up, you should get fired. 271 00:19:26.519 --> 00:19:30.480 Meanwhile, none of that crowd likes Pete Hegseth one bit. 272 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:36.119 Heg Seth is very much a maga pick and a 273 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:39.279 maga darling. So no, no, no, we got to get 274 00:19:39.359 --> 00:19:44.920 rid of Pete Hegseth. And it's also one of the 275 00:19:44.920 --> 00:19:48.319 things I've been laughing at is sort of the outrage 276 00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:53.559 over the content of what was shared in the text 277 00:19:53.559 --> 00:20:01.039 group that that makes neo conservative commentators so angry. I mean, basically, 278 00:20:01.079 --> 00:20:07.000 there's what I've seen in the conservative commentariat is sort 279 00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:11.680 of at this higher level of like neo conservative commentators 280 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:16.000 hate JD. Vans. They just despise him. They hate everything 281 00:20:16.039 --> 00:20:20.200 about him that. They hate his foreign policy, they hate 282 00:20:20.200 --> 00:20:23.640 his views of foreign relations and the foreign policy stuff. 283 00:20:23.720 --> 00:20:28.119 Really drives these people. Their knives are sharpened. They hate 284 00:20:28.119 --> 00:20:30.359 his views on Ukraine, they hate his views on America's 285 00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:33.039 role in the world. That they are just desperate for 286 00:20:33.160 --> 00:20:35.519 any chance to knife him, any chance they get. And 287 00:20:35.559 --> 00:20:38.480 I think they're trying to think, Okay, whom can we 288 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:41.920 groom to replace JD. Vans in twenty twenty eight. They 289 00:20:42.200 --> 00:20:45.960 just despise him, and they've really been playing up certain 290 00:20:46.039 --> 00:20:48.160 aspects of what was shared in this signal group that 291 00:20:48.160 --> 00:20:49.960 I actually thought was fascinating. When we return, I'm going 292 00:20:50.039 --> 00:20:53.119 to talk about the actual content of what was shared 293 00:20:53.640 --> 00:20:56.920 and why it left me actually somewhat impressed. That's next 294 00:20:56.920 --> 00:21:02.519 on the John Girardi Show. Less discussed, although definitely noted, 295 00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:06.440 definitely noted in the commentariat, especially among neoconservative commentators who 296 00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:10.119 despise Jade Vance and all his works and all his 297 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:14.880 pomps and just hate everything about him. Is the actual 298 00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:19.599 content of the discussions that took place in this leaked 299 00:21:19.880 --> 00:21:25.240 signal chat room between Mike Waltz, the National Security Advisor, 300 00:21:25.480 --> 00:21:29.160 Marco Rubio, JD. Vance, Pete Hegseth, et cetera, et cetera, 301 00:21:29.160 --> 00:21:33.400 et cetera, Stephen Miller. It's thought one of the President's 302 00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:42.079 close advisors. In this discussion about the houthis and it reflects, 303 00:21:42.119 --> 00:21:44.839 I think, a very different kind of approach to American 304 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:47.480 foreign policy. All right, so, what's the problem. You have 305 00:21:47.559 --> 00:21:52.759 these houthies who are harassing shipping in the Red Sea 306 00:21:53.480 --> 00:21:59.319 international shipping. Now, some American shipping goes through the Red Sea, 307 00:21:59.400 --> 00:22:05.240 but it is more so a benefit to Europe. A 308 00:22:05.279 --> 00:22:07.200 lot of European shipping goes through the Red Sea. And 309 00:22:07.240 --> 00:22:12.519 these hoothy rebel pirates basically are huge disruptors to international 310 00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:17.319 trade and have made things more expensive, made things more difficult. 311 00:22:17.400 --> 00:22:25.519 It's bad, okay, And so the discussion comes, well, should 312 00:22:25.559 --> 00:22:32.720 we more aggressively strike Vance in this discussion, I thought, 313 00:22:32.720 --> 00:22:34.880 by the way, that the level of the discussion was 314 00:22:34.920 --> 00:22:37.880 actually like the kind of thing you would expect and 315 00:22:37.960 --> 00:22:41.279 want to see from top administration officials. The problem is 316 00:22:41.400 --> 00:22:45.079 us seeing it no in the pages of the Atlantic 317 00:22:45.160 --> 00:22:51.799 rather than you know, them just keeping it confidential. Vance 318 00:22:53.240 --> 00:22:57.039 discussed at length a couple of points that I thought 319 00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:02.119 were noteworthy, that this would be another instance of the 320 00:23:02.200 --> 00:23:09.119 United States bailing out Europe. That you know, again, this 321 00:23:09.160 --> 00:23:13.440 is Europe freeloading on the United States. As military build up, 322 00:23:14.039 --> 00:23:20.079 that the Europeans have been able as NATO members to 323 00:23:21.200 --> 00:23:26.160 reduce their level of military spending in their countries as 324 00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:28.960 a percentage of GDP lower and lower and lower and 325 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:31.880 lower and lower, including lower than sort of the required 326 00:23:32.279 --> 00:23:36.000 levels for NATO membership. Why Well, because they know that 327 00:23:36.039 --> 00:23:41.559 the United States has got it, and we kept building up, up, up, up, 328 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:43.920 up up up our military, especially for our misadventures in 329 00:23:43.960 --> 00:23:48.279 a rock in Afghanistan. So are another bad consequence of 330 00:23:48.279 --> 00:23:50.839 a rock in Afghanistan? I think is we built up 331 00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:59.880 our military and they built down theirs. So Dvance starts asking, 332 00:24:00.039 --> 00:24:04.880 I mean, why are we doing this? This is properly 333 00:24:04.920 --> 00:24:07.200 something that europe should do. Yes, it does involve some 334 00:24:07.279 --> 00:24:09.680 American shipping, but it's far more a benefit to Europe 335 00:24:09.720 --> 00:24:12.480 than it is to us. What are we going to 336 00:24:12.519 --> 00:24:15.240 get out of this? We should get something out of it. 337 00:24:15.559 --> 00:24:20.279 Are there concessions that we can get from the Europeans 338 00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:28.119 for this? And that was a big part of the discussion. 339 00:24:29.480 --> 00:24:34.599 Now after the fact, and by the way, let me 340 00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:41.960 just say this, I think most Republican voters hearing that 341 00:24:42.200 --> 00:24:47.960 would say hell yeah, hell yeah, jd Vance. They are 342 00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:51.480 free loaders like That's been the funniest thing thing to 343 00:24:51.519 --> 00:24:55.559 me in the Ukraine discussions, where you know, President Trump's 344 00:24:55.559 --> 00:24:59.279 trying to do some kind of negotiated ceasefire whatever between 345 00:24:59.319 --> 00:25:02.680 Russian and Ukraine. 346 00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:00.160 And. 347 00:25:02.720 --> 00:25:04.960 You know, they had the stupid meeting at the White 348 00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:08.960 House where Zelensky sort of blew up the meeting with 349 00:25:09.640 --> 00:25:11.799 in front of the cameras with with Trump and Vance 350 00:25:12.440 --> 00:25:16.200 and all these europe A couple of these European nations 351 00:25:16.440 --> 00:25:20.119 responded by saying, well, then we should The. 352 00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:22.559 United States is not going to the United States is 353 00:25:22.599 --> 00:25:25.920 abandoning us. Therefore we should build up our militaries, have 354 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:29.839 our own deturn. Now, first of all, that that's tough talk, 355 00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:31.960 but that's going to be very difficult for them to do. 356 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:34.920 They they've you know, defunded their military so much over 357 00:25:34.920 --> 00:25:37.599 the last twenty years. There's such a gap that even 358 00:25:37.640 --> 00:25:41.319 if they, you know, massively increased their defense spending that 359 00:25:41.319 --> 00:25:45.000 they're as I've heard Michael Brendan Doherty described this in 360 00:25:45.079 --> 00:25:48.839 National Review, even if they massively increase their defense spending 361 00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:52.559 over the next ten years, there they'll barely be in 362 00:25:52.599 --> 00:25:57.720 the child's passenger seat of NATO as far as a 363 00:25:57.720 --> 00:26:04.200 big boy contributor. But the idea that these Europeans think, ooh, 364 00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:06.119 we'll stick it to Donald Trump by building up our 365 00:26:06.119 --> 00:26:08.640 own military and taking care of these, you know, helping 366 00:26:08.680 --> 00:26:12.359 out our Ukraine itself. Do you really think Donald Trump 367 00:26:12.440 --> 00:26:16.079 wouldn't love that. That's exactly what Trump's been saying. He's 368 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:18.519 desperate for you guys to build up your own military 369 00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:20.440 and take care of your own stinking affairs rather than 370 00:26:20.519 --> 00:26:21.279 us being called in. 371 00:26:25.480 --> 00:26:27.680 Oh no, the Europeans might actually build up their own 372 00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:30.440 militaries and handle their own freaking problems for once. Yes, 373 00:26:30.680 --> 00:26:33.240 Trump wants that. That's not like, this is not some 374 00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:36.400 oh dear, oh dear me, what a threat. No, that's 375 00:26:36.440 --> 00:26:38.640 precis you know what else are you gonna do? Make 376 00:26:38.680 --> 00:26:40.440 me a steak dinner and get me a nice bottle 377 00:26:40.440 --> 00:26:48.000 of white like, uh, that's what I want. However, there 378 00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:50.559 are a bunch of these sort of neocon writers now 379 00:26:50.799 --> 00:26:53.640 who are writing these things about how terrible jd Vance 380 00:26:53.720 --> 00:26:59.079 is for acting transactional with American shipping. I'm shipping free 381 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:02.440 shipping lanes or good for everyone, and it's an important role. 382 00:27:02.720 --> 00:27:05.920 How can a marine not be aware that the United 383 00:27:05.960 --> 00:27:08.680 States military has been involved in anti piracy efforts since 384 00:27:08.720 --> 00:27:10.720 the very founding of the Marines, from the wholes of 385 00:27:10.759 --> 00:27:14.519 Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, which is when the 386 00:27:14.559 --> 00:27:20.240 Marine Corps first began its action against pirates under Thomas Jefferson. 387 00:27:23.160 --> 00:27:28.640 And it's all this like preachy stuff, But this is 388 00:27:28.720 --> 00:27:33.680 the mandate that won the election, is the Vance view. 389 00:27:34.759 --> 00:27:48.440 We're tired of foreign policy stuff that isn't clearly benefiting us. Okay, 390 00:27:48.480 --> 00:27:52.000 it's bad that Russia is invading Ukraine. It's very bad. 391 00:27:52.200 --> 00:27:55.519 We don't like it. Putin's a bad guy. The Ukrainians 392 00:27:56.000 --> 00:27:59.240 totally understand that they want all the money in the world, 393 00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:03.359 all the weapons of everything possible to fight them off. 394 00:28:03.519 --> 00:28:10.119 That God bless them, but it's all on our dollar. 395 00:28:10.440 --> 00:28:13.240 It needs to be clear that there's some benefit we 396 00:28:13.319 --> 00:28:19.240 get out of this, because guess what, guys, whoever controls 397 00:28:19.319 --> 00:28:25.359 the Donbas, the territory in the southeast Ukraine that's near 398 00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:29.160 the Black Sea, whoever controls the Donbas doesn't change a 399 00:28:29.480 --> 00:28:34.680 flipping thing for you and me. It just doesn't change 400 00:28:34.759 --> 00:28:40.359 much about American life. So if we're gonna get involved 401 00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:42.839