Bulwark Takes - Trump’s Sickening Russia Deal Has One Clear Winner: Vladimir Putin

Episode Date: October 11, 2026

Michael Weiss and Marc Polymeropoulos give their takes on Trump’s latest deal with Vladimir Putin and why Trump suddenly announced an energy ceasefire. Sources tell Michael that Ukraine was blindsided by this weekend’s series of announcements from Trump as his approach only benefits Moscow even more. They also examine the threat to intelligence sharing, the future of U.S. weapons sales to Ukraine, and why Europe is increasingly preparing to defend itself without Washington.Plus, the latest revelations surrounding U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle, mounting pressure for her removal, and the corruption concerns threatening U.S.-Greek relations. Finally, there's new investigative reporting on Havana syndrome and a major new book challenging the U.S. government’s long-standing position on the mysterious condition.Buy 'The Havana Syndrome: Secret Weapons, a Government Cover-Up, and the Greatest Spy Mystery of Our Time' - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GM5K93ZR

U.S. Voters Abroad. Have you got your ballot yet? All states are now sending ballots to overseas voters. So if you want to vote this year, you should request your ballot right away. Go to vote fromabroad.org and click request my ballot. Ask to receive it by email. Questions? Ask our support team directly. Don't miss this chance to shape the future. Don't delay. Vote from abroad.org. Hi, everyone. This is Mark Palomropolis. I'm joined by my podcast co-host Michael Weiss for a special, it seems like we were doing a lot of special episodes of the bulwark takes. This time on a potential crisis on U.S.-Ukrainian relations, Michael, it was a dizzy couple hours. I mean, I think you've probably been up for the last 24 hours. I've been down the beach, by the way, dodging a tropical storm in the outer banks. You've been working your

butt off. But, you know, all of a sudden, you know, my phone blew up. You and I talked quite a bit because several things occurred, which frankly, I think it took a lot of people by surprise. It started off with some type of deal that President Trump reached with Vladimir Putin, which had to do with 300,000 tons of diesel that Putin would provide to the United States ostensibly to solve some type of crisis on diesel. I think you could talk about how that's probably not the case. there was talk of dropping sanctions on Russia. Then President Zelensky responded to this, not too pleased.

Trump then kind of retaliated and made mention that Ukraine needs a new leader. And then all of a sudden, Trump announces that there is a deal between Ukraine and Russia to stop hitting each other's energy infrastructure, which then Russia immediately violated twice. So a dizzying series of events, there's no better person, frankly, than you to unpack this. always give my kind of two cents from the bleachers as a former intelligence official, but you've been kind of talking to sources throughout the region. And so I think if you can kind of give all the listeners an idea of what's happening, and really the overall picture on it, is this a major crisis in U.S.-Ukrainian ties and how damaging it is it for the war effort for Ukraine?

So we'll start from the end and move backwards. It is another crisis in U.S.-Ukrainian ties. the full damage assessment, very difficult to give at the moment. So let me just give you the reporting that I have. So I've been on the phone talking to Ukrainian officials, talking to U.S. intelligence officials, talking to basically everybody can get a hold of. Here's what the Ukrainians said. So there was negotiations between the Americans and the Ukrainians taking place in Miami just two days ago, right? I was told the Ukrainians and the Europeans, by the way, there were Europeans at that

meeting. I'm not at liberty to divulge which officials were there because it's a closely guarded secret, but the Europeans were in the room. They did not expect to hear any kind of bilateral diesel deal negotiated and solidified between the United States and Russia. Jared Kushner was the one who announced this during the meeting. Everybody on the Ukrainian side was shocked. The main idea of this came, surprise, surprise from Kiddil Demetriev, the head of the Russian Southern wealth fund, and one of Kushner and Witkoff's main interlocutors on the Russian side, a guy who believes that ending the war and offering the United States all kinds of incentives to do so is inextricably tied to U.S. Russian economic relations, opening up Russia and doing all kinds of deals on energy

and God knows what, crypto, whatever else would also potentially benefit Kushner and Whitkoff and the Trump family down the line. Number three, most of the time, the deal that was being discussed between the Ukrainians and the Americans was about territorial concessions, security guarantees, you know, the usual kit and caboodle about how to end the war. Kushner was the one who first hinted, although he did not explicitly say, that the United States could cut critical intelligence sharing with the Ukrainians if they didn't roll over and just accept this. I want to come back to this point later.

Because that gave people a heart attack, frankly. Correct. Right. Yes. There was no plan for a second day of the meeting. Kushner and Whitkoff are planning to go to Monday. Moscow, again, I think this is the ninth or 10th trip that Wittkoff has taken to discuss new proposals, apparently, that have been floated by the Americans and the Ukrainians with the Russians. From the Ukrainian side, their idea was to dangle possible deals with the Russians regarding diesel fuel, but only tied to an energy infrastructure ceasefire.

So in other words, the Ukrainians would agree to stop attacking Russian oil. refineries, which is something Donald Trump has been banging on about for several weeks now, in exchange for which the Russians would stop attacking Ukrainian power plants and energy facilities. So you mentioned there were two strikes today. One was on a power plant in Kharkiv. It already shows that there is no energy ceasefire despite what Donald Trump posts on truth social. So his most trusted advisor, as ever, is his own febrile imagination, right? The Russians have not agreed to anything.

The Ukrainians are not aware of the Russians agreeing to anything. but Donald Trump puts it out on social media as if a dictat will become manifest. Not true. Zelensky, as you can guess, and as you probably have seen, is absolutely furious because yet again, he has been sidelined. You know, the United States went under the Biden administration from using the mantra, nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine to now Ukraine is basically being told what is being negotiated behind their backs between the U.S. and Russia.

And this is very important because this is exactly what the Russian government. government wants. It does not treat Ukraine as a peer. It does not treat Zelensky as a legitimate president. This is one of the reasons Donald Trump keeps saying Ukraine should replace its president because this is a central Russian demand, right? They believe if we get rid of Zelensky, the Ukrainians will just roll over and accept whatever we impose on them, territorial concessions, neutrality, the rest of it. This is also very short-sighted and stupid, both by the Russians and the Americans, because if they got rid of Zelensky, the next person to come to power would almost certainly be even more hawkish and more nationalistic than he is.

And also, also one thing on that, isn't Zelensky bolstered? I mean, Trump's, when Trump goes, when Trump does this, actually totally counterproductive because Zelensky, who is under some heat for some corruption stuff back home all of a sudden is seen, this popularity will gain because of Trump attacking him. So it's, so it's even stupid on Trump's point. It's incredibly dumb. It's incredibly, I mean, look, let's be very clear. Ukraine is is very much an open society. It is an imperfect and flawed democracy, but a democracy nonetheless. There's a ton of criticism of Zelensky from the Ukrainian street, including and especially

related to corruption scandals that come very close to him personally, right? I mean, Andre Yermak, his former chief of staff, who was fired and is now under house arrest. I mean, so-called Mindigategate. A lot of Ukrainians are very dispeptic about Zelensky's administration. But what ends up happening is whenever he is attacked by, certainly by the United States or any foreign powers, his popularity rises. So this is having the exact opposite effect that Donald Trump would like. Now, let me give you some other reporting. So I mentioned to you Kushner has threatened to cut off intelligence sharing. That is not a portfolio that Jared Kushner has any custody of.

Jared Kushner is a private citizen. He's Donald Trump's son-in-law. He is not a U.S. government official. He is up to his eyeballs in conflicts of interest with pay-to-play diplomacy scandals, which, again, coming back to something we discuss on the show all the time, I hope to Christ, the Democrats, have put him and everyone else on notice that they're going to turn his finances inside out if and when they take the House and or the Senate. So the person who is, there's two people who decide intel sharing with Ukraine. Donald Trump and John Ratcliffe, CIA director. Now, what am I hearing from my national security sources close to John Ratcliffe? I will, I will read you out a quote, okay?

And I think you know who this person is. There is no conversation at all about cutting off intelligence. I asked, is this a sign of desperation on the part of both Putin and Trump? You know, Trump is absolutely, you know, he thinks that the only way to kind of salvage the midterms is to have some kind of agreement, diplomatic deal or win. And he's pitching this as such. I am told it is desperation and wishful thinking. No one talks on the American side about cutting off intelligence anymore because, quote,

we need Ukrainian innovation and drones in the Middle East. Okay, now that's not to say Donald Trump won't get on the golf links with Ratcliffe and say, cut it, John. But here's the thing. And this is also coming from the Ukrainian side now. And this is the first time I'm hearing this from the Ukrainian side. Even if the United States cut intel sharing with Ukraine, the Europeans, particularly the French, are providing a sufficient amount of intelligence. It would affect the deep strike campaign.

It might not be as successful, particularly with mobile air defenses that the Russians put up, which we provide the Ukrainians with the, you know, geolocated positions of, but they would still be able to carry out deep strikes. And I last heard that Ukraine has no intention to stop deep strikes in the absence of a bilateral ceasefire on energy infrastructure. Which Russia just violated. Which they just violated, even though there was no agreement to begin with. However, they are not going to basically flatter Donald Trump and agree to stop hitting oil refineries because he's decided to make some deal with the Russian. And this is the other important point about this, Mark.

So you're hearing a lot of MAGA voices chattering that, well, this is great for the United States. Fuck Ukraine. Why are they hurting energy infrastructure? You know, this benefits us. No, it does not. Number one, the amounts agreed to, I think you said 300,000 tons or whatever, that the Russians promise to export. First of all, there's a big question as to whether the Russians can export this.

Because Ukraine has successfully chipped away at something like 50,000. percent of Russia's refining capability. And by the way, the Russians cannot replace or repair those facilities overnight. So this is going to take a long time. Number two, Canada, our closest partner in NATO, in Five Eyes, and geographically, all they would have to do is increase their production by 4 percent to export the same amount of diesel to the United States. So if we wanted to alter our consumption of diesel or, you know, make up for the shortfall, thanks to, you know, by the way, a war that Donald Trump started in the Middle East and he can't get his ass out of, we could need only go to our closest ally up north.

Well, it used to be. It used to be our closest ally. Exactly. Used to be our closest ally. So here's the top line. This is a Potemkin bullshit deal that benefits nobody outside of Moscow and Miami. It's not going to change the price of gas at the pump, certainly not going to have an impact on it before the midterm elections. What it does do, though, is it waives sanctions on Russia, which is something that the Russians are desperate to have, even though they claim on an hourly basis, sanctions are having no impact on us. Bullshit, they are. And it facilitates a process of rapprochmann with the Russians, which both Donald Trump and on the other side, at least Kiril Demetriov are very keen to see happen. But the big question

is, is does it end the war? Do we get closer to ending the war? Does Vladimir Putin's ambitions, both territorial and geopolitical, are they altered by any of this? No. U.S. voters abroad, have you got your ballot yet? All states are now sending ballots to overseas voters. So if you want to vote this year, you should request your ballot right away. Go to vote fromabroad.org and click request my ballot. Ask to receive it by email. Questions? Ask our support team directly. Don't miss this chance to shape the future. Don't delay. Vote from abroad.org. So all it does is hurt Ukraine and Ukrainians.

But fortunately, and again, this is my final point, then I'll shut up. For the last two years, you and I have been talking about this. I have been screaming from the hilltops. Ukraine's policy can be described as one of crisis management and crisis mitigation. People are not under any illusions that Donald Trump is going to fall in love with this country or that he's going to have perpetually good ties with Volodymyr Zelensky. He hates Zelensky. He's hated him since term one because he bled.

for his first impeachment saga over his attempt to cajole the Ukrainians to dig up dirt on Joe Biden, right? That's never going to change. But what they've been trying to do is by time, keep the Americans going long enough such that they don't require, they don't need the same dependence. They don't have the same dependency on us that they used to. And now we reach a point where they say, actually, we don't even need your intel. We can continue to bomb Russian oil refineries. And so now the next thing that the Financial Times has reported is that the U.S. is perhaps threatening to cut off the pearl mechanism by which NATO countries and other countries, Australia, Japan, buy weapons from the United States and donate those weapons to Ukraine.

So pearl is worth about $6.7 billion in counting. I don't even know what the latest calculations are. So this is now hurting, potentially, if he agrees to do this, to cut off Pearl, this is hurting the American defense industry and American employees that are hired by Raytheon and Lockheed in red states. to build American weapons and ammunition, to sell, not to give away, but to sell to Europe. Everything about this is ass backwards. Everything about this is imbecilic. And therefore, it is the prioritized requirement of Donald Trump to put forward because he's so keen to make

nice with a country that fucking hates him and hates our country and is bombing and killing civilians on a daily basis. I think that was outstanding. I agree with you on everything you said. That was a perfect encapsulation. And I think that actually is going to be helpful for listeners because this is a confusing time. I have a couple questions on the on on on doesn't matter this deterioration in and personal ties between Zeletsky and Trump. But let me just hold on on one second because I look at

this and you are steeped in Ukraine. You're well sourced. You have the big picture on this. I think you nailed it. When when I hear something like this, I think back to my time is when I was a practitioner if I had been at embassy keve and you then have to real. And so and so you spend every single one of your days, whether you're an intelligence officer, you remember the special operations world sitting side by side with Ukrainian counterparts. You just by definition, because it is David versus Goliath, we are supposedly, we're supposed to be on the side of the good guys who is Ukraine. You are invested.

You get personally invested in the convict, just like I did when I headed a paramilitary base in Afghanistan, I had a thousand Afghan indage. I love them. They saved my life. We saved. Same type of thing. Like the American side, my old world, loves the Ukrainians. It ain't easy right now when Trump goes off.

on this bat-shit stuff along with Kushner or whatever, and you have to sit there and look your counterpart in the eye. Now, your personal tires are probably very strong, but it is very embarrassing. It's embarrassing to be a U.S. official at this time. And so that's just what kind of creeps into my mind. All right, let me ask you the question, because, you know, we live in an era of Trump every day,

getting in front of the cameras. God knows what he's going to say tomorrow about Zelensky. Does the personal animus now, that is now broken out to the open again, And it took, by the way, what, a year plus to recover from the disastrous oval office meeting. I mean, I think the Ukrainian side, Zelensky, you've talked about this. We're brilliant in learning how to manage Trump. Are we back to square one again?

Or is this now a relationship beyond repair? Because it seems pretty nasty right now because Zelensky's pissed. And, you know, and Trump is desperate. And so does that personal dynamic, that deterioration, you know, does that matter? So look, Mark, you're fond of always saying signal versus noise, right? When we hear a lot of chatter and commentary and the president gets up and, you know, keep in mind, this is not a man who is cognitively all that well. I think he's got cream of wheat for brains. I mean, you don't announce a ceasefire between two parties when one of those parties, in fact,

both of those parties, because as you said, Russia is still bombing, and Ukrainian energy, haven't agreed to it. I mean, he's trying to make manifest the chaotic contents of his equally chaotic mind. anything can happen here. Like I said, is the animus between or that he feels towards Zelensky? Is that going to dictate what happens policy-wise? Not necessarily, because we've seen this movie before. He's called Zelensky a dictator. He dressed him down in the Oval Office in February 2025, backed up by J.D. Vance.

He's called for him to be replaced innumerable times on social media, on the tarmac when he's got a gaggle of reporters in front of him. So, I don't know. I mean, I think, you know, one of the things that has been consistent in all of this, so the Russians are going to be very happy about this, at least because they love it optically, they love the atmospherics when Trump beats up on Zelensky. But then there is a school of thought in the Russian system among the Siloviki and the war party, as it's called, that, you know what, it doesn't matter because Trump is, he's, you know, he can't deliver the things that we want. And also, he is untrustworthy.

You know, everything I was saying to you about intel sharing and the pearl mechanism, all of the policies that are objectively good for Ukraine that the United States still does, the Russians focus on that. They don't focus on the noise and the chatter, right? They focus on the actual signal. And the signal to them is, whatever he says, whatever he does, the United States still helps Ukraine kill Russians in Ukraine and now in Russia, right? And therefore they are the main adversary. So the question now is, is which party, which element is? within the Kremlin or within the elites in Russia is going to win out and prevail in an argument with Vladimir Putin. Is it the Kiddil Dmitri of pro-Raprochement element, which just had a very good tactical victory in the last two days? Or is it the Siloviki element that says, no, we must press on with the war no matter what? And now, again, I don't see any assessments from Intel on either side, the Ukrainian side, actually three sides, the Ukrainian side, the European side, because you know I'm very close with European intelligence services too. And on the American side that tell me that Putin has, his ambitions have altered, that he's genuinely

sincerely interested in a peace agreement. So where does that leave us? Probably not all that, you know, in any place, you know, that we weren't before. You know, Trump has played games, little reindeer games with sanctions before. Remember, during the active combat phase of the Iran war, he waived sanctions on Russian oil that he himself had imposed, right? And then those waivers expired very quietly, very subtly. Nobody paid attention to the PR of the expiration. So now he's trying to waive waivers to import diesel. Is the money that the Russians make from this, though? It will go to the war machine, but is it going to make a material difference? Are they going to gain more on the battlefield? They're going to be able to take Donbos in a faster way.

Nobody I'm seeing from the military analytic side of the House seems to think that things have been changed much. You know, you have Marco Rubio saying just a few days ago that this war is in a state of stalemate. Well, if it's in a state of stalemate, is our policy going to be, let's help the Russians actually take more ground? And if that's the case, then just come right out and say it. We are on Russia's side. Well, there's not the case. I mean, the policy dysfunction here is just so massive. I mean, it's so, you know, it's so funny because I remember when I was serving at the agency at a senior level, in my old counterterrorism role in the nearest division, and I used to go to all the various National Security Council meetings.

This was particularly in the Obama administration. The NSC was staffed by 400 people. We had IPCs and DCs and PCs and all the different acronyms, and I spent more time trotting down there, and I wanted to kind of shoot myself in the head with this. Little did I know that actually that worked. Maybe decision-making was slower, but at least every agency would provide input,

and you'd have a coherent policy. You might not like the policy, but there wasn't this whiplash and dysfunction. And it's just, again, it's, it's embarrassing. And it's not productive. It's not productive. And, you know, look, everybody's confused, by the way. Our allies are confused.

Our adversaries are confused. And this is not, this is not Trump's kind of mad, some kind of magic weave. I'm the mad scientist and everywhere. This is good. That it is totally destabilizing basically for everybody. Correct. Correct. If he had his druthers, this war would have been over immediately, right?

But let's keep in mind. You know, there are certain things that the, even the president of the United States, much less an atlpated, easily distracted, emotionally unwell president of the United States, cannot do. So I think his frustration, his anger is he can't deliver. The Russians' frustration, their anger is he can't deliver. And the Ukrainians get a vote, right? I mean, what do we say when we go to war with somebody? The enemy gets a vote. The Ukraine isn't an enemy. It's an ally. It's a partner. But they get a fucking vote. And they're pressing on because they can't afford not to. So, and the Europeans do, too. I mean, even if the United States were to lift all sanctions,

which is also, let's talk about how Donald Trump's hands are somewhat tied here. You have Katsa, which was passed in term one, which make it congressionally, Congressually approved sanctions relief, meaning you can't lift certain sanctions without a settlement to the war and without a congressional oversight, right? Now you could say, well, he doesn't give a shit about Congress. Well, he's going to have to after the midterms, right? Because the Republicans are not necessarily going to be in control of both houses. So there's that aspect to it.

And then there's just the dynamics. Europe is now the main custodian of Ukraine's defense. Of Ukraine, yep. Yeah. And you've called, you know, you've said that for a while. And I think that, you know, as, as, you know, you don't ever want to catastrophize, especially on a 24-hour news cycle. But so now it's not a time.

So this is not good what happened. But the fact that happened now is better than if it happened a year and a half ago because Ukraine's in a better position vis-a-vis Europe. But there's one part that, you know, it's my favorite subject. that I talk to you about all the time. And that's the kind of the pro-Ukraine GOP crowd. I saw something on Fox. It was interesting.

Maybe they can pull a clip. This is Brian Kilmead going at it with Rachel Duffy. Because of what Zelensky is doing, we're probably going to get peace there because President Trump is now working with Russia because Zelensky is so arrogant. It would be the biggest mistake of his administration to work with Russia. That is a, that is the modern Hitler of our generation. He is the cause of all the problems in the region and now is helping Iran

kill our guys and blow up our bases. And now the story you pointed out to me today in the Wall Street Journal, you see that they in China are providing drones to the Houthis. Yeah, I mean, the Houthi's situation is going to be a big story. China and Russia are the problem. Rachel Duffy, who is kind of hysterical,

saying Ukraine's the enemy and Kilmead, who is very pro-Ukraine, and has consistently been that way, was pissed. And so I've been, you know, as part of, you know, my joy in retirement, I like seeing how Fox reacts at these things, because there are people on the GOP side, you know, who are pro-Ukraine. Look, you've got, you've got, you know, Don Bacon in the House, he's retiring, outspokenly pro-Ukraine and not afraid to criticize the president, right?

Great. I just don't have time for people who claim that, you know, Donald Trump is good for Ukraine, or that Donald Trump is doing more than Joe Biden. I mean, these people are intellectually and morally disingenuous in the extreme. right? Like the best you can hope for from the GOP, and I have GOP sources and I query them all the time because it's interesting to me to hear the kind of quiet wars being waged that we don't necessarily know about because these people are too afraid to put their head above a parapet and denounce the president. But there are these wars being waged. There are people within

the administration who try to blunt the effect of the disastrous policies that Whitkoff, Kushner, formerly Tulsi Gabbard, and Trump and his children are. trying to shove down everyone's throat. So, okay, great. You know, hats off to you for fighting that fight, and I'm glad that these people exist. However, I don't want to be told that, you know, Donald Trump is anything other than an unmitigated disaster.

I know. Transatlantic relationship for Ukraine, for Europe, and nothing, anything other than, you know, a wrapped gift for our adversaries. There's always the tweets. Everyone's record on this is out there in the open. And those who have kind of bent to the knee and been kind of sycophantic and their desire not to anger Trump when it comes to Ukraine.

I think the history will not judge them. But also, let's just. U.S. voters abroad. Have you got your ballot yet? All states are now sending ballots to overseas voters. So if you want to vote this year, you should request your ballot right away. Go to vote from abroad.org and click request my ballot. Ask to receive it by email.

Questions? Ask our support team directly. Don't miss this chance to shape the future. Don't delay. Vote from abroad.org. Just as a final note, like, you know, I cannot fault the Ukrainians. Because, you know, you and I will get frustrated and say, oh, you guys, why are you being sycophantic? Why are you being flattering Trump? Why are you trying? They have no choice. You know, their lives to depend on. But now, but Zelensky correctly said, whoa, and pushback. And that's a good thing. So here's what's going to drive me nuts. to stand up to Trump. By the way, if he stands up to Trump, it might actually be good because we've also discussed Donald Trump doesn't like people who behave. He respects that. He respects that.

The one thing that's going to trigger me is when Mark Ruta, if he makes an emergency visit and gets in his knees for Trump, that's something that has driven me crazy for years. I hope the Europeans don't come calling to the White House right now because that's going to be embarrassing. They should do, just as you said, thank you very much. We got this. And that's it. We'll take it from here. We're not even sourcing that many patriot interceptors to Ukraine, which is the one thing they need most of all from the United States. So Europe is trying to make up for that by giving them their own homegrown weapon systems, the Irish T for instance, which don't compete

with the pat in terms of hitting down ballistic missiles. But you know, the other thing this is doing, And I think it's important to appreciate this, going beyond even the confines of this conflict, because we're already looking down the telescope into what other conflicts might arise on European soil. We've talked about threats against NATO by the Russians, sabotage operations. The Europeans have taken a policy, a series of policy decisions, basically called bi-European. We cannot depend on the United States for our military hardware anymore because look at how they behave. look at this president. At the flip of a switch, they could decide to cut us off in the middle of an active confrontation that we are waging. So bi-European has now been given a real shot in the arm, right? Because

we have two different, we keep two sets of books on this. Number one, we call the Europeans a bunch of freeloaders and dead weights and, you know, NATO is a racket, right? This has been Donald Trump's refrain for decades. Then you have people like Bridge Colby going out and saying, well, we might not support certain countries who get invaded and if Article 5 is triggered because we don't like how much money they're not spending on their defense, right? Well, now you have the Europeans saying, okay, thank you very much. So instead of buying your product, we will procure domestically on our own backyard. And there'll be a kind of decoupling in terms of the defense relationship between the United States and Europeans. Then the Trumpies and the MAGA people, no, no, no,

wait a minute. You have to buy American. We just get to bully you and cajole you and and, you know, treat you like the help. That's, that's the. the game plan here. It's just, it's tyrannical behavior. And I think the Europeans, if they, they, you know, grow a spine on this and stick to it, they have every right to say, screw you. Like, you know, we're done being, we're done being slapped in the face by this, this, this deranged lunatic in the White House. All right, Michael, great job unpacking what was been a crazy couple, a couple days. I know you have been without sleep and have been working sources. Great reporting.

Yeah, gee, can you tell? Look, I'm all relaxed. I'm wearing my dive shirt. I came back. I was drinking some aporal sprits down the outer banks. I kept texting. I went to a grateful dead cover band. And I kept saying, you should be here.

But no, you had to be working. Yeah, I got a job to do. But here's, we're going to have one last segment here because we have to do an update on my favorite story, I think, possibly our entire time together on the bulwark. And that's the never-ending saga of KG, otherwise known as the, U.S. Ambassador in Athens, Kim Gulfoyle, who is once again subject of yet another Wall Street Journal piece that broke with the great title at Davos, Kimberly Gelfoyle boasted of private jet trips, luxury stays with an incredible quote here, as she said, according to a recording someone had,

I'm going to deliver the world to you, I'm going to make you a lot of effing money. So this scandal goes on. I have been actually in my time down at the Outer Banks. We had one nice speech day. I have been talking to a whole bunch of sources, both in the U.S. side and on the Greek side, and the following was just relayed to me. Number one, she's in trouble. The AP just reported, and I can certainly, that's what my sources have said, too, is that both Trump and Rubio have had it. And the other part is that the Greek government understands that this is serious. It has been relayed to them and that she may not be long for her tenure there. Because there is concern, And this is frankly on the U.S. side, as well as the Greek side that the incredible kind of, you know, push in U.S. Greek bilateral ties over the last several administrations, to a state now where it is really the best security, economic, and political relationship we've ever had. She's a huge distraction and she's threatening this. And it is embarrassing. And so, you know, there's a lot of, you know, I don't know, we didn't check Sam Steinloves. It's the Kalshi bet. You know, what's Cal she's saying on her survivability. I think she's out. And I think she's going to be out soon. And that's what a lot of people are are telling.

me. One of the things that's important to know is that if she leaves, nothing, in fact, it's all a good thing. There is a deputy chief admission. There's a number two with the U.S. Embassy at Athens. He's a foreign service officer. He is a experienced foreign service officer. He is liked by the Greek government and everything will be fine. And they will run the embassy and run it professionally without this dysfunction because she also has a staff in which, according to the press reporting and others, the staff does not like her. The security team gets abused by her. And, and, And she's obviously under the gun right now. I cannot imagine what a, you know, we call a country team meeting.

That's when all the embassy sections get together with the ambassador once a week. That must be just surreal. Probably this isn't even mentioned. But it's time for her to go. I think Rubio knows this. Trump thinks he's an embarrassment. And the Greeks would be very happy. Amazingly enough, they want to see her gone because this is a distraction.

They're very nervous on saying anything about it. It's time for her to go. Last piece on this, though. There will be congressional investigation. and Michael, you touched on this last episode, and I talked about it with some Greeks. The problem with corruption is that it goes two ways. And so she is known to be corrupt. And again, my people who I'm talking to says this, all this stuff is ongoing.

There's more coming. The Wall Street Journal has another story in the hopper. The problem is, on the other side, there are Greeks who engaged in this. And that's going to come out. And so the lesson on all of this is if you think you're riding the gravy train with Trump, and the Trump administration and all the kind of corrupt dealings, you know, sure, the U.S. side might get caught one day, but that foreign side is going to be embarrassed. Now, they might, no Greek might go to jail for this, but they're going to be really embarrassed. And it's, I think that's kind of a dark stain on those Greeks who engaged in this behavior, because that stuff comes out too. And what, who will also be embarrassed are the any Democrats who basically give a pass to the foreign countries and the foreign actors, helping to corrupt the American system because, hey, you know, we just have to continue to do business with our partners and allies abroad, right? Yep.

So, you know, people making a big deal about corruption now have to recognize this two-way street aspect to it. Yes, there's Kushner and Whitkoff and the kids of the president. But then on the other side, Greek industrialists, other people who might have services and goods that we require as the United States. How about the Qataries? How about the Saudis? I mean, didn't we just see someone, what Democratic official just was visiting the Middle East? kind of, yeah, Chris Murphy. He's talking a big game about, you know, cuttery investment in American universities. Whoa, wait a second. Are the cutteries investing in American universities because they genuinely believe in higher education for its own sake?

Or are they perhaps trying to smuggle in some of their own agenda there? I wonder. So this is the problem, right? And Republicans instrumentalize this. They use it all the time. And they're not wrong to say, you can't be hypocritical about this, right? I mean, hilariously, just to give you a I'm seeing tweets from Marker Rubio, the GOP House, about stop buying Russian oil, Joe Biden. This week, these tweets are resurfacing. You see, this is what happens. You make yourself a hostage to for sure. There's always a tweet.

There's always a tweet. Yeah. So it cuts both ways, doesn't it? But no, I think this is a story that's going to keep going. I think one of these episodes, we're going to sit down and say there's no more U.S. ambassador in Athens. And that's not a bad thing because that's for the benefit of U.S. or anywhere else because there actually there's a slew.

We can actually do a show on ambassadors and ambassadorships, which are a suspect, and it can go everywhere from France to Turkey, on and on and on. And so that's a whole other part of what the Trump administration, what Trump has done to the U.S. diplomatic service. And putting non, I mean, in the past, there was a ratio. It was never even, but there was career foreign service officers who ambassadors and then the political appointees. And now it is so skewed towards the political appointees.

pointees. No wonder you're kind of getting this. And by the way, you know, I mean, Rubio and Trump are pissed at Gilfoyle. Are they pissed because she's corrupt or are they pissed because she was sloppy and stupid and got caught being so corrupt? Well, that's the thing. I think I know the answer. Yeah. So someone, a lobbyist on the Hill actually said that to me and said, man, like this stuff does happen, but she's just so stupid that she got caught. And because she's open about it. You can't be doing the things she's doing in the open. So maybe that's the lesson messages. And the source is the guy who's now timed on her, including. at the bulwark.

Who? Who? Contacted Sam. That was a great kind of a successor. Hey, one last thing. We're going to make a quick mention of a book that is coming out on Tuesday. Right behind me, by the way. It's called Havana Syndrome.

Obviously, that's an issue that's near and dear to my heart. It's something that ended my career at CIA. There's two 60 Minutes producers who wrote this book. The New York Times just gave it a very favorable review. It's Michael Ray and Oriana Zill, our two producers. You know them well. You have worked with them. on these investigations.

You deserve a lot of credit for this, too. But the New York Times, why don't you go over the New York Times review? Because you actually tweeted something out that was quite interesting. For years, and I'll be brief because I know we've taken up a lot of time. But for years, we've heard Havana syndrome, a lot of speculation as to what this is. But really, the U.S. government has pushed back and said there's no there there. This doesn't exist. We have no evidence.

It is, quote, very unlikely that people such as yourself, intelligence officers, diplomats, military officials were hit with a directed energy weapon, either on the U.S. homeland or abroad, and also very unlikely that a foreign adversary is responsible for any of this. So it is very gratifying indeed when you see the paper of record review the definitive investigative book on this subject by Michael and Oriana, by the way, are two people I've worked with very closely over the last several years. Collaborative journalism is very important, at least to me. and these two, they're producers on 60 Minutes.

They are by far the most congenial, warm-hearted, and intellectually open collaborators in journalism I have ever worked with. So I just fundamentally great human beings, apart from being great journalists. But anyway, it's very gratifying when the New York Times says, Havana syndrome is very likely real, and it's being covered up by the U.S. government,

especially by the CIA, your former organization. So I encourage everyone, read the review, go out and buy their book. There's more coming, by the way. So we are working together yet again. There's another episode of 60 Minutes coming, and there's another written investigation that I'm doing with them. Stay tuned.

I don't want to give any of that away or bury my own lead here. But, yeah, I mean, it's just, it's a phenomenal achievement. And, you know, look, I mean, if you look at some of the news coverage in the last several months, including CNN, saying, oh, the Department of Homeland Security, acquired a device that does all of the things that we were told couldn't be done and that Havana syndrome wasn't real because the physics didn't exist. And that this is, this device is being tinkered up with and tested on a U.S. Army base for the last several years. Well, okay, maybe there is some there there after all, right? Yeah, well, and as I will tell you that for yourself and others who've

been on this from the media, that's the only way that the victims have ever gotten any type or sense of justice. So we appreciate it. Again, great book. I think we'll try to have some more on this issue in the episodes to come. That's it for today for Bullwork Takes. If you like this episode, just a note, Michael and I will have our actual The Reporter in the Spy podcast debut in November. And of course, please subscribe to Bullwork Takes. I think we're going to be back every week. Until then, doing our thing. And Michael, great seeing you get some rest. Thanks to the great reporting on Ukraine. And we'll see everyone next week.