Judging Freedom - Phil Giraldi : Can Trump Do Whatever He Wants?

Episode Date: September 3, 2025

Phil Giraldi : Can Trump Do Whatever He Wants?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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That's an equivalent to $15 a month. Limited time new customer offer for first three months only. Speeds may slow above 35 gigabytes on unlimited. plan. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. Hi, everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Wednesday, September 3rd, 2025. Phil Giraldi joins us now. Phil, always a pleasure. Before we get to President Trump's views of the powers of the presidency,

I want to ask you this. The outcome of the war in Ukraine seems so obvious at this point. The Russians are moving so slowly, but methodically, inexorably, and without any retreat. Their use of offensive weaponry is sophisticated and massive. Do you think that Ukrainian leaders themselves, diplomatic, military, military, political, but not President Zelensky? Recognize that the end is near, but just can't say anything? I suspect that's the case.

I mean, Zelensky is not a military leader. He is an ex-comedian. And the fact is he doesn't have enough depth, either as a politician or as a military person, to understand what's going on. I think he's looking at, he's very much like Trump, that he sees everything through his own optic. And his optic is telling him to hang on.

And if he has to get out and go to one of his several houses, he'll do that. But the fact is, I think there's a huge ignorance gap, just like with Trump that drives him. And it's personal ambition. But at the same time, it's very clear that some of the people under him are beginning to speak out and are also saying, or are also saying as a group that the situation is dire.

So, you know, it depends on the way this thing falls. Is he a free agent, or is he still a puppet of the ultra-nationalist, bandariffs, neo-Nazis, whatever you want to call them? Well, I think he's to a certain extent of puppet in that they have a decisive shall we say ability to terminate his rule if it comes to that so i think he's got to be very careful than looking over his shoulder and that's what he has to do to survive but yeah i think these people have a great deal of power in terms of of what the decision making is and where it's going to be leading On Israel, there have been many public oppositions to Prime Minister Netanyahu's stated plans of invading and occupying Gaza and some from significant people, the head of the IDF, the head of Shenbet, their spy agency, the head of Netanyahu's own security council, Netanyahu's own foreign minister. Are these substantive or just for show?

I think they're substantive. I think these people are looking at this situation and saying, look, this has been playing out for two years, and we haven't won, even though we're fighting what is basically a poorly armed militia. And we've had a lot of casualties. We've had a lot of damage to our infrastructure because we brought Iran into it. And there are a lot of things going very badly here, and we do not believe that victory is in sight. So, again, this is a case of Netanyahu, for his own personal reasons, his own personal political survival, playing this a certain way.

And unfortunately, Trump is letting him get away with it. Are Israeli reservists failing to show up for their assignments? That's been the story that they're having great difficulty getting the reservists to show up. A number of them I have heard from some of my sources that have actually fled the country. You've probably heard that Israelis have been buying up large chunks of land in Cyprus, which of course is right across the water from Israel. and people have been going there using their European and American passports so no one will even know they're Israeli. So that's been going on.

And, of course, the ones who are, again, have the European passports have been going back to their countries of origin in Europe. So they're having a problem where reservists are actually fleeing the country to avoid conscription. And if they're in Israel, they're obviously high. hiding their warehouse. What will happen, in your view, if the IDF does invade and purports to, or purports the wrong word, attempts to occupy Gaza? Well, that depends. I mean, will it be their Vietnam?

Will Hamas just wear away at them? That's a good question, and it kind of depends on what precedes the IDF attempted occupation of Gaza. Now, obviously, it would seem to me from stated comments from people like Ben Gavir, Smotritch, and from the prime minister himself, that they see a removal you know, program preceding an actual occupation. That would mean getting rid of virtually all or all of the Palestinians in Gaza by either deporting them. somehow to Sudan was the most recent place named or killing them and Trump has it according to Netanyahu this week Trump has advised Netanyahu to finish the job now what would that

imply to you continue the slaughter yeah exactly so if you kill everyone that yeah an occupation is easy isn't it but if you have difficulty which they've been having for two years having difficulty. Why does anyone expect that necessarily to change overnight? Do you think that Netanyahu and his regime are actively planning another attack on Iran, notwithstanding the severe beating that they took in the 12-day war? Well, you know, I would have to go with Colonel McGregor and others on this that are confident that something is coming very quickly and it will be another attack and the assumption on the part of Netanyahu will be that Trump will get automatically drawn into it, drawing in the United

States. So that's kind of what everyone is foreseeing and I have no reason to doubt that. There's a there's a there's a hegemonistic desire on the part of the Israeli people in general in the current government there and they have they see enemies on all sides they're talking about taking over Syria all the way up to damascus they're talking about taking over a huge chunk of Lebanon Jordan can't be that far from having a chunk of it or maybe all of it taken so this is a this is a desire Zionist desire to create the greater Israel the air rich Israel which will incorporate parts of all these countries. And it's what really has destabilized the region ever since 1948.

Can Trump kill whoever he wants to kill? Well, Trump claims, and let me quote him so I don't misquote him. He said last week that he has the right to do anything I want to do. Now, what does that tell you? I mean, he's just killed 11 Venezuelans who were in international waters because he claims they were narco-terrorist traffickers, if you want to swallow that one. Come on, this is an administration which believes it can do anything because nobody's stopping them. Here is Secretary Hegseth purporting to, this time I mean to use the word purporting, purporting to defend what happened.

And then you and I will have a conversation about the law, the Constitution, and the morality of what Hegseth is attempting to defend. Chris, cut number 15. We knew exactly who was in that boat. We knew exactly what they were doing. and we knew exactly who they represented. President Trump is willing to go on offense in ways that others have not been. And to send that clear signal to Trend, Aaragua, Cartel Del Soles, and others emanating from Venezuela,

we're not going to allow this kind of activity. You're poisoning our people. We've got incredible assets, and they are gathering in the region. And so you want to try to traffic drugs? It's a new day. It's a different day. And so those 11 drug traffickers are no longer with us, sending a very clear signal that this is an activity. The United States is not going to tolerate in our hands.

I can't disclose precisely how this went down. I can tell you it was precision. It was very well understood exactly what assets would be used in order to achieve the effect. So that's classified how it was done, but you can see publicly a lot of the assets that we have in the region, which are, which to include an Ardmew, which holds 2,200 combat infantry marines and has plenty of its own organic assets. So we've got assets in the air, assets in the water, assets on ship, because this is a deadly serious mission for us. And it won't stop with just this strike.

Anyone else trafficking in those waters who we know as a designated narco-terrorist will face the same faith. So this is a brave new world for the military to undertake law enforcement and to undertake it by killing people without any due process. In my opinion, what happened was an act of homicide. an act of premeditated murder, and everybody involved should be prosecuted for murder. If what Hegseth said is true about what these people were up to, they should have waited until that boat entered the United States waters, gotten a search warrant, stop the boat,

search the boat, if they found drugs, seize the drugs, and arrest everybody on the boat, if they didn't find drugs, let them go. Instead, they slaughtered them. I absolutely agree. This is outrageous. This is a, well, this is the most outrageous thing to happen in the last week because there have been outrageous things taking place for the last six months, almost on a weekly basis. This is, they were in international orders. I assume they had some kind of intelligence information suggesting who these people were and what they were doing. This was enough to go there and kill them when there were other options. As you point out, if you have all that intelligence, you know these people are there. You track them until they get into U.S. waters and are about to commit a crime, and you arrest them. This is what we do as a civilized nation.

We're not on the civilized nation track anymore with Donald Trump and his crew. I mean, this is just so awful. and it's but a symptom of what's coming. If Trump says he can do anything he wants to do, there's going to be more of this stuff. Is it no coincidence that on Friday, the U.S. government put a $50 million head bonus on Maduro,

the president of Venezuela, and then all of a sudden this happened. I mean, this is a, and the fact that they said, now there are five warships down in the region of Venezuela. Are we going to invade with those 2,200 Marines? This is insane. Did Venezuela threaten the United States? This is insane. Here's the current director of national intelligence when she was a member of Congress on whether or not Venezuela, you can guess what's coming poses a national security threat to the United States. Chris, cut number 12. Because every time the United States, and particularly in Latin America, has gotten involved in regime change, using different tools to enact that regime change, there have been both

short and long-term devastating impacts. The United States should not be in the business of intervening, of picking who should lead their country, and we certainly should not be threatening military action. Venezuela poses no threat to the United States. Congress has not authorized the United States to go to war in Venezuela, and there's no justification for our country to violate the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people. This administration and the neocon warhawks that surround President Trump have made no secret about what their intentions are to further this regime change effort, both in Venezuela as well as as in Iran. We do have a situation with a cabinet full of neocon warhawks whose history is very well known

in leading our country into one regime change war after the other, and to great expense in American lives, to trillions of dollars coming out of our taxpayers' pockets, as well as the lives and the suffering, the devastation of the people in the countries where we've waged these wars. I wonder if she feels the same way today, and if she'll say that to the president, I doubt it. She probably feels that way, but won't say it. I think you're probably right, but she makes very profound arguments

with which you and I and everybody that appears on this show and the people that watch us are in general agreement. But this is a very, very big issue in my view, Phil. Put aside Trump's view of himself. We all know of his narcissists. put aside his view of the presidency, this use of massive military force to kill people who are legally innocent, remember, innocent until proven guilty, who haven't been charged as to whom

there is no arrest warrant. How much longer will it be before that attitude comes to the mainland United States, Pete Hagseth? Well, you know, this goes back away. So unfortunately, You remember with President Obama with the Ollaki's father and son that he had killed in the Middle East, they had been charged actually with no crime. They had done, were not as far as anyone knows, involved with any terrorist groups or anything like that, but they were both assassinated by the orders of the President of the United States. And I fear that Obama was probably restrained compared to what Trump is likely to be. And I think this is going to become a kind of general rule. I mean, we have, obviously, there's a lot of tension going on with Brazil also. And today, Trump made the comment about the meeting between the Russians and the Chinese and in China.

This is a conspiracy against the United States. This, I mean, this is reaching the point where paranoia has replaced any kind of thinking or logic or good diplomacy or good relations for the United States with the rest of the world. We're being, we will be despised by everyone and hated by everyone. Well, I hope that that was a tasteless joke when he said that. And Putin's aide, the name now is Skow Yushikov, indicated that they thought it was a joke. They used the word ironic. I want to play another Hegseth clip in the same Fox and Friends interview where he intimates the government will bring about regime change. in Caracas, and that's why all these troops and all these military assets are there.

And, of course, this will all be done without a declaration of war. Even a declaration of war would be unconstitutional because we have signed treaties that limit our ability to declare war to those countries that pose imminent threats to us. And Venezuela poses no threat to us. Well, save your fire until they have to, if you can stomach this, I'm sorry to put you through this, Phil. This next head, Seth, clip, Chris, cut number 14. The only person that should be worried is Nicholas Maduro, who's running effectively as a kingpin of a drug, a narco state,

not actually elected, and indicted for $50 million by the United States. And we know he's involved in the types of drug running that has affected the American people directly. What we have there in the Caribbean is a clear demonstration of military might. President Trump has shown whether it's the southwest border, whether it's the Houthis in freedom of navigation, whether it's midnight hammer in Iran, that the precise application of American power can have incredible impacts and reshape dynamics around the world and in the region. So Nicholas Maduro, as he considers whether or not he wants to continue to be a narco-trafficker,

has some decisions to make, and that's all I'll say about that. regime change our goal there? Well, that's a presidential decision. And that's, we certainly understand the indictment. We understand that $50 million, anyone would prefer that he would just give himself up. But that's a presidential level decision. And we're prepared with every asset that the American military has. So it's not an indictment.

It's a bounty put on his head by the State Department. Pete, go back to Princeton and study basic rules of criminal procedure and constitution. The sickens may fell. Well, it shows the ignorance of these people. This guy is framed as a narco-trafficker, which I find him is somewhat implausible. Venezuela has a lot of oil, as I recall. And, you know, it's the way they frame these people as terror. as drug dealers.

And this is a game that's being played to depict these people in the worst possible terms, rather than try to deal with them and come to terms in a non-threatening way. Everything that the Trump administration has been doing is backed up by a threat. And this is what is really, to me, depressing. because you and I used to live in a world where the United States was seen in a positive way and where the American government was always ready to help foreign nations and was ready to talk. And that has gone away since basically really, I would say, since Ronald Reagan. I have to correct myself.

It turns out that Hague Seth was right and I was wrong. Maduro was indicted by the Biden administration on a charge of distributing drugs. They're probably going to try and kidnap him like they did to, the name is escaping me, the president of Panama under George, Moriaga, under George H.W. Bush. Except that they, on Friday, they doubled the indictment. they went from 25 million to 50 million, is my own thing. So they're playing a game here. Well, these are dark days, Phil.

Dark days for the basic meaning of the Constitution. Dark days for the concept of personal liberty. Dark days for due process. Dark days for a limited government. Dark days for a president who stays within the confines of the powers conferred upon him by the Constitution. and until January 20th, 20209, I don't see any relief in sight. Well, and what about posse comitatus? I mean, just today, Trump is threatening to send troops in New Orleans.

That's on top of Chicago, that's on top of Baltimore, that's on top of Los Angeles, and D.C. where they're already in place. For some of the federal judges will stop him, because this does not have to do with foreign policy. commentatus is very clear. This is the statute enacted in 1876 to conclude the military occupation of the southern states following the war between the states, and it prohibits absolutely, absolutely the use of the military for ordinary law enforcement. A federal judge in San Francisco just so ruled, presumably the same thing would happen in Chicago, New York, and and New Orleans and Baltimore

all these other places that he has I guess he's fantasized about being a big city police chief I guess I guess well

anyway dark days I hope your family as well I hope the dog as well and we'll see again next week Phil okay we'll take care all right thank you very much

my dear friend thank you and still coming today At 4 o'clock, Max Blumenthal, let me tell you about tomorrow, 8 o'clock Ambassador Freeman, 9 o'clock in the morning from Shanghai, who's at the Shanghai Organization Gathering, Pepe Escobar, at 1 in the afternoon on all of this Latin American dangerous stuff, an Anna Parenthold, at 2 in the afternoon, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, at 3 in the afternoon. afternoon, Professor John Mearsheimer at 4 in the afternoon, Colonel Douglas McGregor.

We'll see you at 4 o'clock today for the great Max Blumenthal. Judge Napolitano for judging freedom. Thank you.