Judging Freedom - Larry Johnson: Can Trump Intimidate Putin?

Episode Date: March 17, 2025

Larry Johnson: Can Trump Intimidate Putin?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 Monday, March 17th, 2025 St. Patrick's Day here in the West. Larry Johnson is here and will be with us in just a moment. On Can Donald Trump, Can Anyone Intimidate Vladimir Putin? But first this. Markets are at an all time high, euphoria has set in, the economy seems unstoppable. But the last administration has buried us so deep

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Call Lear at 805-11-4620 or go to learjudgenap.com for your free gold ownership kit and special report, $4,200 gold ahead. When you call, ask how you can also get up to $15,000 in bonus gold with a qualifying purchase. Call 800-511-4620, 800-511-4620 or go to learjudgenstnap.com and tell them the judge sent you. Larry Johnson, welcome here, my dear friend. Always a pleasure to be with you. Before we get into your understanding of what cards,

if any, the Americans have and what purpose was served by Marco Rubio and Mike Waltz initialing that ceasefire agreement. Big picture. Can Steve Witkoff, the president's emissary in Gaza and in Ukraine, can Marco Rubio, the Senate confirmed Secretary of State, be honest brokers, whereas in reality the American government is a co-belligerent against Gaza and against Russia. Yeah, no, in fact I think what we with respect to the Arab side of the equation. You know, up to this point, I think there was some hope that they could out the hope that because Donald Trump was not going to be standing

for election again, that he had some independence and freedom from the APAC Zionist coalition. And that turns out absolutely not to be true. They got their hooks into him so deep, you know, you'd think he was a fish caught on a giant hook. You know, he's just, he's under the complete control. And so to that end, Wittkopf, instead of being able to actually provide some direction, independent of that Zionist coalition, the independent of that Zionist coalition, completely subservient to it. Is Israeli efforts by Netanyahu to restart the war, which apparently he needs in order to stay in office. Will Trump support that? Yes, without a doubt. Again, Trump, we've had the second time, it was a week ago,

for the second time Trump said to Hamas, you release those hostages by Saturday or there'll be hell to pay. Well, they're already living in hell And you know Trump made its threat and didn't follow through on it and even if you know, he made a threat I'm not sure what he could have done That would there's nothing. Let me rephrase that there's nothing that he could have done that would have compelled Hamas to quote release the hostages could have done that would have compelled Hamas to quote release the hostages. So this is where Trump is just squandering whatever limited credibility he had. How do you view the attack over the weekend on the Houthis? Is it a prudent military move? Is it foolish? Is it likely to be counterproductive? It's US terrorism. We killed civilians. The use of violence against civilians for political purposes.

Not my definition. That definition was offered by Bibi Netanyahu to William F. Bachman 40 years ago. And it's one of the few things that I agree with Netanyahu on that's an absolute correct definition of terrorism. We killed Yemeni women and children They weren't launching missiles they were not engaged in any military operations we killed them and For what? The Houthis had not

launched any attacks on any ships. I think the last one was really in November of 2024. Since the initially ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, the Houthis basically said, okay, yeah, we'll go along with that. They had endorsed it. And now what had happened was they had issued threats to the Israelis and, hey, you follow through with this agreement and get into phase two or else we're going to restart. We'll walk the Red Sea again. That's what they said. But they hadn't taken any action. And then the United States, without any justification under international law, proceeded to launch this attack using the

claim, oh, we're trying, we're supporting freedom of navigation. Well, the Houthis had not been blocking freedom of navigation for at least three months under the terms of that ceasefire. So this was the United States, yes, a terrorist nation engaged with an act of terrorism against these people. And I think we're gonna pay a price for it. But look, the Houthis are a side show. This is all about, I believe, based upon what the statements that have been made by Marco Rubio and Michael Waltz, this is laying a predicate to justify an attack on Iran.

That's coming down the pipe. Here's the statement to which you refer. It's a little long. It's about 80 seconds, but I'll be anxious to hear your comments on it, Larry. This is Mike Waltz yesterday on this very topic, Chris, cut number four. Iran needs to hear him loud and clear. It is completely unacceptable and it will be stopped.

The level of support that they've been providing the Houthis, just like they have Hezbollah, just like they have the militias in Iraq, Hamas and others. The difference here is the Houthis, just like they have Hezbollah, just like they have the militias in Iraq, Hamas and others. The difference here is the Houthis have incredibly sophisticated air defenses and they also have anti-shipping cruise missiles, drones, sea skimming types of attack drones and other ballistic missiles even. They've launched dozens of attacks on multiple warships, dozens of attacks over 175 on global commerce, sank multiple ships. I just think the American people need to understand what has happened here. The previous administration had a series of feckless

responses. President Trump is coming in Overwhelming force we will take we will hold not only the Houthis accountable But we're going to hold Iran their backers accountable as well. And if that means their targeting ships that they have put in to help their Iranian trainers, IRGC and others, that intelligence, other things that they have put in to help the Houthis attack the global economy. Those targets will be on the table too. Wow. Sounds like John Bolton, Larry. Yeah, no, these guys are fools.

They think that they can solve this militarily. They pretend that the military strikes the US Navy carried out while Biden was president were just pin prints. They were simply symbolic gestures. That's nonsense. The United States found out that with all

of our so-called military prowess, we're incapable of stopping the Houthis, because the Houthis are using mobile launchers. If the Houthis had fixed military bases, then, yeah, it'd be easy to destroy those. And we would definitely render their offensive capability move. But that's not the case.

So the United States is going to keep throwing bombs at targets in Yemen. Some of them are decoys. Some of them are not. And many times, you're not going to hit them. And then they're going to turn around and launch attacks on the US. One of these days, they're're gonna succeed in sinking a US ship

And boy if it's carrier then then you know, that's really going to be a disaster But you know Walt's betrayed it right there in his comment. This isn't about stopping the Houthis This is about stopping Iran for an imaginary nuclear weapons program that Netanyahu has insisted that for 20 years that the Iranians are just two weeks away from developing. And the United States has climbed on board with that silliness. The Russians and the Iranians signed an agreement on January 17th that made it very clear that Russia is going to work with Iran on developing peaceful nuclear energy and that Russia, based upon its track record, is not going to allow or facilitate any development of nuclear weapons.

But the United States seems hell-bent on getting itself into a war in the Middle East. And this, as I've written, I think it will destroy the presidency of Donald Trump, and he'll have nobody to blame but himself and his Zionist enablers. Well, here is one of those other Zionist enablers who was, until two months ago, an arch neoc, and now is the Secretary of State on the same subject matter as Mike Waltz. Chris, not to overload you on this, Larry, Chris, cut number six. What we can't ignore,

and the reason why the president mentioned Iran, is because the Iranians have supported the Houthis. They've provided them intelligence, they've provided them guidance, they've provided them weaponry. I mean, there's no way the Houthis, okay, the Houthis would have the ability to do this kind of thing unless they had support from Iran. And so this was a message to Iran, don't keep supporting them because then you will also

be responsible for what they are doing in attacking Navy ships and attacking global shipping. Yeah. I don't, I don't get it. Have the Houthis killed a single American? And not yet. You know, you can go back to the attack on the USS Cole, which was, you know, anchored just off the shore of Yemen back in 2000.

And al-Qaeda carried out that attack. And you could argue that all Yemeni authorities allowed the Al-Qaeda operatives to be there. That was the last I think Americans killed on anywhere near or around Yemen. But again, all of this is right now, I'm not sure who came up with this as the idea, but they decided, hey, let's peddle that everything that the Houthis are doing is because of Iran,

and therefore we're gonna be able to attack Iran. I would simply note that this, I think this week marked the end of the seventh annual joint naval military exercise between Iran, Russia, and China. So any attack that the United States is contemplating on Iran could actually embroil both Russia and China in this. And so, you know, here's Donald Trump presented with an historic opportunity to be the peace president of the 21st century

And instead he seems now intent all upon Becoming a combination of linden baines johnson and richard nixon Creating his own quagmire That instead of vietnam, it'll be iran Wow That instead of Vietnam, it'll be Iran Wow Let's move towards Putin and and Trump and we'll start with Secretary of State Rubio how diplomatic was it?

for him to the Steve Whitcoff present to President Putin a signed document signed by Vladimir Zelensky and signed by Marco Rubio purporting to call for a 30-day ceasefire as if, okay, President Putin, here it is, take it or leave it. Is that sophisticated diplomacy? No, no. And Putin made it very clear. He was very professional and diplomatic in his response. Oh, that's interesting to know. We'll take that into account. But there are some nuances.

And I think, as Alistair Crook elucidated on your show earlier today, laid out in quite a bit of detail. You don't just say, hey, we've got to cease fire. There are a lot of details that have to be hammered out in terms of how's that cease fire going to be monitored? Who's gonna be responsible for observing it? What are the conditions that are, how does it get implemented?

A lot of details that have not been addressed at all. And that really goes to the inexperience of Rubio in this regard. He didn't even know better. And I so I don't think it was a deliberate slight. I think it was just a matter of ignorance. What do you expect will happen tomorrow when President Trump and President Putin speak, Larry? Do you expect them to be, expect Trump to be sweet and charming? Or do you think that Trump thinks he can intimidate Vladimir Putin?

Oh, no, I think Trump will be, know, we and you see the two sides of mr Trump, you know in public this bombast chest-stomping in rage to rang a tang and but you know behind the scenes he's very kind and almost Goes overboard to want to be liked and show some real personal interest in people. So I think with Putin, he's going to be Mr. Kindness. And he'll come out at the end and go, that was the best call ever. We got the most done of anybody ever in the history of the world

of having phone calls with Vladimir Putin. You know, it'll be that kind of thing. And Putin will be looking at, you know, Lavrov and the others going, man, that guy needs to adjust his medication. You know, we need to get on a level playing field here. Well, Putin is going to deliver to him, look, here's what we need, Mr. President, if you want to try to get to a deal. What cards or leverage, if any, does Trump have to play or employ in this phone call? None. I mean, look, the reality is, from Putin's standpoint, he can say, Mr President, are you sincere and wanting to bring about peace? And if Trump says yes, then all Putin has to say is then why are you continuing to

provide weapons and money and intelligence to Ukraine that they are using to attack and kill Russians with? So if you're sincere about bringing it into this war, stop enabling it. Stop facilitating it. Stop being the one who is allowing Ukraine to do this. Otherwise, I hear your words, but all I'm looking at is your actions. Putin says something like that, Trump's

going to have to step back and say, okay, what is it we're trying to do? Are we sincere about trying to achieve a peace? Do we know if the same amount of military equipment that Biden sent is continuing in that pipeline? We have no reason to believe that it's diminished at all, do we? that it's diminished at all, do we? I don't know, I honestly don't know. What we do know is that at least there have been some ships that have tried to deliver military equipment through Odessa that have been blown up by the Russians.

We know that there were some military shipments coming out of Poland that were intercepted and destroyed. And then you've got the more fundamental problem of even if that material gets through, who's going to use it? Because the Ukrainians are suffering significant losses, both in terms of territory and manpower. You remember when, it's a week ago today, you and I were privileged to spend a few hours

with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. If I said it Lavrov. Yeah, no, you said it right. You said it right. Ray would give you a... Ray, who's not wearing any green today except a little tiny bracelet that nobody can see all over me. Um, afterwards we said to him, uh, would you consider a ceasefire? And he basically said, why would we knowing how close they are to achieving their goals?

Surely Rubio and Wichoff and Waltz and Trump understand this, no? No, no, I don't think they do at all. I don't think they've taken time to really read and understand the history. To appreciate the fact that for the last 21 or 11 years at least, there have been repeated offers and deals from the from the West to create a ceasefire to bring a halt in the fighting. There's one that happened in 2014, there's one that happened in 2015 after the Battle of the Vltsova in which Ukraine lost and again the Europeans interceded,

you know, please ceasefire and the Russians foolishly went along with it, thinking that there was a genuine opportunity to achieve peace. Instead they used it just to rearm, re-equip the Ukrainians for the next battle. The same with the peace talks that took place in April of 2022. So repeatedly the Russians, and this is a point that Lavrov made to you and me and Mario in our session, that they've seen repeated negotiations like this and every time it's ended in failure, and so Russia has come to the conclusion that that can't be trusted. Russia's not Charlie Brown. They're not going to run up and try to kick the football again. They've recognized Lucy is a nasty piece of work and not to be

trusted. In this case, the West is Lucy with the football. How much longer do you think, I mean, let's say that nothing happens with this Rubio-Waltz-Witkoff proposal. How much longer do you think it will last? The Russians are within hours of killing or expelling all Ukrainian troops from Kursk. That has turned out to be a catastrophic disaster for the Ukrainians. And they continue very slowly. President Putin has the patience of, whatever, tremendous patience moving westward. How much longer can the Ukrainians last, no matter what the Trump administration sends them? Well, I think their own intelligence chief, Putin, was on the record, said they couldn't

last much past June, that June would be sort of the end of the line for them. So they are losing, it's not just the actions up in curse. Putin gave a deadline of 11 p.m. Eastern time Sunday night, which was 6 a.m. Monday morning. That at that point, the Ukrainian troops had to surrender or else they would be considered legitimate military targets and would be destroyed. So we're now 12 hours past that deadline

and I suspect that Putin's following through on his threat. But you've seen down in the South, in Zaporizhzhia, the Russian army has now been dancing in a way that it had not done so three weeks ago. And all along the front, in Donetsk and Luhansk, they're moving forward. So Ukraine's on its heels, and there's no, it is unlikely to be able to turn around and stop the Russian advance. So Russia's content to continue the

military operation, and the West is going to be flailing about trying to come up with a diplomatic solution, but it certainly doesn't include a temporary Ceasefire Russia's not going to buy off of that. I Often wonder if the American side knows that given Trump's bombast and and notorious tendency to change his mind given Mike waltz and Marco Rubio's voting records when they were in the house in the Senate respectively, which was arch Neocon right? I wonder Larry if they truly understand the Russian Mentality or if this is just sort of a charade because they like their jobs

Yeah, no, I don't think they seriously understand it. I don't think they've had either the education or the personal experience to take time to try to just understand the very simple point. Ray McGovern has always said, listen to what the Russians say. There's no great mystery here. government has always said, listen to what the Russians say. You know, this, there's no great mystery here. We've heard Putin say it. We've heard Lavrov say it. We've heard Sergey Rybkov say it. We've heard Maria Zakharova say it. You know, they all say it. Medvedev says it. They don't bury. It's not like they come up with different sheets of music and are

singing different tunes. They're singing the same tune and they've said it over and over and over and over. But what we've proved from our standpoint on the West is we're really bad listeners and we don't pay attention to what they say and then when they do what they say we have surprise, right? Oh, yeah, I never thought that would happen Larry you're the best Larry. Thank you very much. Thank you for your time and and for your analysis We'll see you again with that non green wearing youngster and st. Patrick's Day. We'll see on Friday. Yeah. We're going to pull his Irish passport over that.

Thank you, Larry. All the best. Thanks, Judge. Sure. Coming up later today at 2 o'clock this afternoon, Scott Ritter at 3 o'clock this afternoon, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom. You