Judging Freedom - Aaron Maté: Trump Rejects Peace.

Episode Date: March 26, 2025

Aaron Maté: Trump Rejects Peace.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

you Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Wednesday, March 26, 2025. Aaron Mate joins us now. Aaron, welcome my dear friend. I have a lot that I want to ask you about. I want to ask you about your debate in Britain or your debate against somebody that was on a British venue over the origins of the special military operation in Ukraine. And I also want to ask you about what's going on in the West Bank where the producer or director of an Oscar-winning film

was viciously attacked and beaten. But before we get there, what is your take on this Jeffrey Goldberg event involving the senior national security people in the Trump administration, it seems clear for all of Goldberg's fault and for his terrible background that he was telling the truth, at least in part, that he did receive military plans which under American law are secret whether the defense secretary calls them classified or not. Big question. What the hell was he doing there? Oh, I don't hear you Aaron Chris. Do you hear Aaron? No, neither of us hears you.

All right, Aaron's going to log back on. Here he is. All right, how about now? Okay. Okay. How, how did it come about in your view? What is the significance of Jeffrey Goldberg having been on that chat? It's a great question and the person who needs to answer it and has not provided a sufficient answer so far is Mike Waltz, the national security advisor who added Jeffrey Goldberg to the chat

and has so far come up with a what I have to call a moronic explanation that somehow Jeffrey Goldberg's number was added to his phone, was somehow sucked in, that's what he told Fox News, and that the person who he thought Jeffrey Goldberg was wasn't in his contacts properly, it doesn't make any sense. So that's for Mike Waltz to answer, and hopefully there will be more accountability there. But listen, on the point about Jeffrey Goldberg and who he is and his background,

this to me is such a catastrophic screw up by the Trump administration that I have to rarely find myself defending Jeffrey Goldberg whose views otherwise... This is not Sean Hannity, right? No, this is... I mean, Jeffrey Goldberg is someone who... The Trump administration has pointed out has been a fraudster and he is. He took part in the Iraq WMD fraud. He put out propaganda on behalf of Dick Cheney to help justify the invasion of Iraq in the lead up to it. He has been a lifelong advocate of the Israeli occupation and apartheid. He served as an IDF prison guard. He was a Russiagate fraudster. So there's a long rap sheet that you can

criticize him for. But in this case, this was not his fault. It was Mike Walz's fault. And in the process, we've got an extraordinary window into planning a act of aggression against Yemen. And my only complaint here about the response so far is that there's been way too much focus on the protocol mistakes in terms of safeguarding what I think is classified information and not enough scrutiny on the actual act they were discussing, which is bombing Yemen and killing civilians in the process.

Right, right. No scrutiny about the lawfulness, wisdom, morality. They lose on all three counts, in my view, and probably in yours, of bombing these people, none whatsoever. The only scrutiny seems to be, was Hegseth telling the truth when he said the plants weren't posted. Well, we know that they were posted. Were Gabbard and Ratcliffe telling the truth when they said, we don't remember seeing military plants. I don't know how they could possibly not remember that. And the text that your producer Chris is showing on screen is

so important because this is where Mike waltz is so excited that they've hit the first target, he's sort of giving a play by play. And what are they talking about? They're talking about bombing a civilian building where their target, presumably a member of the Houthis, Ansar Allah, was visiting his girlfriend. And Michael Waltz says, we had a positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend's building and it's now collapsed. So he's bragging about, and in fact, he was so excited to type it out that he screwed up his initial message because

he was so excited. They're bragging about destroying a civilian building and killing civilians in the process. And JD Vance, who was the lone voice of dissent earlier in that text thread in terms of the decision to bomb Yemen, he responds with, excellent. And JD Vance's dissent is really instructive because what's so funny about this is not even JD Vance, who was the only voice here to say, you know, this is not a good idea.

He can't even bring himself to acknowledge why they're bombing Yemen in the first place. JD Vance in advocating against the bombing, you know what he says? He says, we're doing this on behalf of Europe and I don't wanna bail them out. This bombing of Yemen had nothing to do with Europe. The only connection to Europe is that it was carried

on behalf of a European settler colony called Israel. But JD Vance can't even bring himself to acknowledge that that's why they're doing it. So to be able to even put forward a voice of dissent, he has to mischaracterize the whole reason for the military action. It's bombing because you simply cannot criticize something that's done in the name of Israel. And they're doing this for Israel because answer a lot of the Houthis were interfering with Israeli ships as an act of protest against Israel's breaking of the ceasefire by blocking all humanitarian aid and food into Gaza Chris put up the 360 degree video of the Pepe Escobar.

We can get that. This is the residential neighborhood in which the bomb hit. You'll see Pepe in just a minute. There he is standing where this apartment building once stood. We interviewed Pepe live. now his camera person moves around. We interviewed Pepe live on Monday. This attack was sometime prior to that. But you can see it's not a military area. It's a residential neighborhood. At the time we interviewed that we didn't

know and I guess we still don't know, Mike Walz is assuming they know that this person they were trying to kill was in fact in the building. I could be snarky and say, gee, did I miss something? Did Congress declare war on the people we know it didn't? Did we know presidents don't even wait for declarations of war any longer? We know presidents don't even wait for declarations of war any longer. I am not a stickler for prosecuting people, as you can imagine. But espionage is defined as failing to keep safe national defense secrets and plans to bomb, to kill human beings by the military in another country are a secret,

whether they're characterized as classified or not. There are two espionage statutes that the Republicans wanted Hillary Clinton to be prosecuted under. One is the intentional misplacement of national security secrets. The other is the negligent misplacement of national security secrets. The other is the negligent misplacement of national security secrets. Question, do you think Cash Patel is going to and Pam Bondi are going to get an indictment of Pete Hegseth? Well, the indication so far is that there will be no accountability whatsoever. They're making the laughable claim that this was not classified information. They really want to argue that talking about bombing before it happens, talking about targets, talking about weapon systems, the type of aircraft and drones that are being used, they really want to argue that that's not classified. I just think that's laughable. If a Democrat had been in a similar situation, there's no way they'd be saying that, Oh, this is nothing to worry about. So yeah, this is a case where they're caught with their pants

down and so far no accountability for anyone. But I think someone will have, this is such a embarrassment that there will have to be something here. Someone will have to issue up a apology at minimum or maybe even resign. And I think again, this comes down to Michael Waltz. It was him who added Jeffrey Goldberg to that chat and cannot come up with an explanation for how that happened Why do you buy the story of the of the phone being sucked into his phone? I never heard of that by the way, but I'm not I'm not a technical person No, I do not we're trying to add somebody else in the mistype to the number or do you think that we're trying to add Goldberg because he carried water for Dick Cheney when he preached the same neocon nonsense that we know that Pete had

sent that Mike Waltz adhere to? This is all speculation but my best guess and again so many things are possible my best guess is that Jeffrey Goldberg like Mike Waltz is a neocon. They share a similar agenda. So it's perfectly plausible to me that they had each other's numbers because they share the same agenda in Washington. And they've both been around for a while. And that Mike Waltz accidentally typed in Jeffrey Goldberg when he meant to type in someone else with the same initials or similar initials.

That's my best guess. Here's, I think this is Mike Waltz. Just bear with me a minute. Yeah, here's Mike Waltz. Well, it's a Waltz. You tell me if he really accepts responsibility. Cut number 23. So your staffer did not put his contact information. No, no, no. But how did it end up in your phone? Well, that's what we're trying to figure out. So your staffer did not put his contact information. No.

But how did it end up in your phone? That's what we're trying to figure out. But that's a pretty big problem. That is what we've got the best technical minds, right? That's disturbing. And that's where, I mean, I'm sure everybody out there has had a contact where it was said one person and then a different phone number.

But you've never talked to him before, so how's the number on your phone? I mean, I'm not an expert in any of this, but it's just curious. How's the number on your phone? Well, if you have somebody else's contact and then somehow it gets sucked in. Oh, someone sent you that contact. Was there someone else supposed to be on the chat that wasn't on the chat that you thought was on the chat?

So the person that I thought was on there was never on there. It was this guy. Who was that person? Well, I'm not. Look, Laura, I take responsibility. I built the group. Okay. Does that illuminate things at all? No it doesn't. It just makes it more confusing.

The only way that possibly makes sense is if there's another Jeffrey Goldberg who is in a national security position with access to something so sensitive as planning a bombing of Yemen. And that's who he meant to add. It's the only possible explanation. Otherwise, this just makes no sense. What happened with your debate where somebody called for the removal of the broadcast license of the people that hosted the debate because you must have so decisively defeated their guy. It's crazy. I took part in two debates last week on the same day.

One was held before a live audience in New York City with Eli Lake. We were talking about the Ukraine proxy war and whether the US should use this leverage to bring it to an end. And the other one was with a British outlet called GB News, moderated by host Bev Turner, who I think did a great job trying to keep it balanced and fair. And a writer, a British journalist, someone who identifies as a journalist, his name is Oliver Kam. After that debate was announced, he called for Ofcom, sort of the British television regulator, to revoke the license of GB News just for hosting me for a debate before he

even had seen the debate. And that reflects the fact that people who support the Ukraine proxy war, they hate democracy. They hate the exchange of ideas because they know that in the marketplace of ideas, they're on the wrong side, especially now, three years into this horrible war where hundreds of thousands are dead and there have been so many sabotage opportunities to end it much earlier, as I tried to point out in this debate. So this guy, Oliver Kam, who's a long time journalist with the London Times. He called for Ofcom to revoke the license of GB News. Well, that was a little clip from the debate. We came across a very interesting clip

We came across a very interesting clip of Ofer Kasif, who is a member of the Israeli Senate. I gather he's an Arab member of the Israeli Senate, who was sitting with the Oscar-winning producer of that film, who apparently had been beaten in the West Bank. Can you take it from there? Ofer is actually Israeli, but he is a left-winger, serves in the Israeli parliament. And yeah, he was there to greet the Palestinian filmmaker who was assaulted by Israeli settlers and

then kidnapped by Israel occupation forces and his name is Hamdan Bilal and he was brutally beaten just like so many Palestinians are every single day. And the fact that the Israeli settlers and military felt the impunity to attack him even just three weeks after he won an Oscar for best documentary. It just speaks to the leeway that they have to carry out violence every single day against Palestinians in the West Bank. And because the genocide in Gaza is so horrible, day after day, a new massacre, a new

unspeakable massacre that's now just become totally normalized. We barely have time to even pay attention to the horrors that Palestinians face in the occupied West Bank, but what just happened to Hamdan Bilal, right after he wins the Oscar for best documentary, a documentary that's all about the terror against people like him in the West Bank, it just speaks to the complete impunity that Israel has to carry out violence in in the West Bank. It just speaks to the complete impunity that Israel has to carry out violence in the outside world. Chris, cut number 25.

Hello, everybody. My name is Zofir Kasif. I'm a member of the Knesset with the El Jabba, with the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality. I came here not only on my name but to represent the Communist Party and the in Hadash and Jabha to express our solidarity with the people of the Mesafer Yatav of Susia especially with Hamdan and to wish you all the best. We are firmly with the people of the with the all-Palestinian

people who've been going through hell especially in the last 18 months genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and what we saw here is only one example out of hundreds if not thousands and I call like my friend said I also would like to appeal to the whole international community. Don't leave the Palestinian people behind. Don't leave the people of the Yata behind.

They need your support. We all need peace and justice. And the settlers, the settlements under the auspices of the occupation forces and the encouragement and support of the fascist government of the occupation forces and the encouragement and support of the fascist government, they are responsible for the whole bloodshed. Do whatever possible to stop it. We want to live together as brothers and sisters, Palestinians and Israelis, Arabs and Jews. We are not enemies.

We are not enemies. The real conflict is between those who do evil and those who seek justice, not between Arabs and Jews. Don't forget that. Be on our side, the side that seeks justice. Any idea why they beat and why the occupation forces detained this Oscar winning producer? To send a message that not even someone who's just won international praise, acclaim, the highest honor you can win in the film world, an Oscar for best documentary, not even he is going to be safe from our impunity. We can do whatever we want. The whole Israeli attitude in the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinians have no right to be there.

We can do whatever we want. We're gonna terrorize people, especially people who speak up, as this brave Palestinian filmmaker did with his movie, No Other Land. So it's just to send a message of terrorism because ultimately they want as many people to leave as possible.

That's why the genocide in Gaza has resumed and that's why these daily attacks continue in the occupied West Bank with the full support of the Trump administration continuing the Biden administration's policies. Why is Trump continuing to supply military aid and Intel to Keefe? Is this some sort of leverage with Putin? I think the U S is continuing the intelligence and military support that's already been scheduled basically that

they're not going to just go in and cut that off immediately. But again, as we've talked about a lot, once it runs out, is Trump going to go before Congress and ask for another 10 2030 billion dollars? I just don't see that. So Trump seems to me just playing along with the proxy war. Maybe he wants to avoid the public relations heat that he would take for completely cutting off Ukraine permanently. But I don't see him following through on the proxy war. Joe Biden, Jake Sullivan, and Anthony Blinken were devoted proxy warriors. They sabotaged all opportunities for peace. They refused to speak to Russia. They rewarded Zelensky every time he shunned peace over

tourists from Russia, most significantly walking away from the Istanbul Accords. I don't see the Trump administration having the same policy. So yes, they're continuing with what's left of the military support on schedule, but I do not see Trump trying to re-up that once it runs out. Do you have any knowledge from your own sources or your own research about how much longer Ukraine can last or, stated differently, how close the Russian military is to achieving its geographic objectives? There was a top Ukrainian military intelligence official who reportedly recently told a closed door session at the Ukrainian Parliament, the Ukraine has until about the summer. And he said, and without US support, we will lose by then. Now he

denied making that statement, but it came from sources inside the Ukrainian Parliament. And the denial actually had had some wiggle room. So I suspect just going off of that, that'd be my guess is by the summertime, unless the U S uh, just goes for another massive influx of military support, which again, I do not think Trump will do. Aaron Monte. Thank you, my dear friend. Uh, all the best. I know you're very busy these days. I know you're traveling. Thank you for your time. We'll look forward to seeing you my dear friend. All the best. I know you're very busy these days.

I know you're traveling. Thank you for your time. We'll look forward to seeing you again next week. Thank you, Judge. Great to see you. Sure. All the best. And at three o'clock today, Phil Giraldi,

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