Judging Freedom - Ray McGovern : What Is Trump’s Russia Strategy?

Episode Date: January 26, 2026

Ray McGovern : What Is Trump’s Russia Strategy?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Undeclared wars are commonplace. Pragically, our government engages in preemptive war, otherwise known as aggression with no complaints from the American people. Sadly, we have become accustomed to living with the illegitimate use of force by government. To develop a truly free society, the issue of initiating force must be understood and rejected. What if sometimes to love your country you had to alter or abolish the government? Jefferson was right? What if that government is best, which governs least? What if it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong? What if it is better to perish fighting for

freedom than to live as a slave? What if freedom's greatest hour of danger is now? Everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for judging freedom. Today is Monday, January 26, 2006, Ray McGovern joins us now. Ray, before we get to the United States, Russia, Ukraine, the meetings in Abu Dhabi, the new START treaty, I want to ask you a few questions about Minnesota. How can the government possibly justify shooting a man in the back when he's been blinded by pepper spray and is on his. belly on the frozen earth surrounded by seven federal agents.

Well, Judge, this is the justification. Don't believe your lying eyes. He was an attempted assassin. That's what Stephen Miller has said. And Stephen Miller, of course, never lies. The worst thing, in my view, is that the local authorities, including the state authorities, have once again been brushed aside by the FBI. So there'll be no credible investigation of this outright murder captured on video. A federal judge, I don't know if the feds are going to comply with this, so they would risk their own freedom if they don't. But a federal judge has ordered the feds to preserve all evidence as we speak,

although a few minutes from now, she'll start in a hearing in Minneapolis. The same federal judge will be asked, A, to order the surge in ICE in Minnesota to go home, and B, to make available to the state the evidence that they have, because keeping that evidence from the state impairs the state's obligation to maintain safety in the streets. That's part of state's sovereignty. So the feds are actually interfering with state sovereignty. Can you draw a line between the murders of people on speedboats and fishing boats in the Caribbean and the murders of people in the streets in Minneapolis?

Of course. It's a new normal. And Judge Smudge, Lash, Maugh. I mean, hello. We're in a new era. Stephen Miller, who is running things in the White House, I am quite sure, has no respect for law, precedent, or anything else. So it is good that a federal judge is trying to do the right thing. My cynicism is, I think, well justified. I think the feds, well, let me just say this.

I don't know how it works when the Minneapolis National Guard is called in with a distinct. Vest. Is there a possibility that they will do their job and engage ICE directly? I don't know. I don't know if I wish that to be the case, but is that possible? What do you think, Judge? Well, I hope not. I mean, that would be an extraordinary level of violence, and the feds would ultimately prevail. It's not why I don't want it to happen. I don't want people to be killed, whether they're involved in such a conflagration or whether they're innocent bystanders. I hope that this federal judge grants the application of the Attorney General of Minnesota and sends the ICE surge home. That would reduce ICE to the capacity that it had before Christmas, before they sent this surge before all the violence in the streets happen.

I mean, which is more dangerous to human life? killings in the streets by federal agents or some undocumented aliens trying to earn a living? Well, I think the answer is very clear. It's just beyond belief what's happening here. I see ICE, as I've described it when they came to North Carolina, the black and tans, okay? These are the people, it's very documented now. People don't have any, need any qualifications to sign up. Just a body is what they need.

And they've got twice as many bodies that they did last year. So we have the kind of, well, we have the kind of mini Gestapo, which is not so many anymore. And they're discharging what people like Miller and others in the White House want them to do. And my fear is that if this is, continues. Well, we have the midterms coming up and then we have the presidential election in two more years. Well, what does that mean? Trump has said, well, maybe we might run again, for God's sake. Well, our Constitution is in great peril. It's up to each and every one of us

to stand up now and do it every he or she can to defend it. Switching gears, Ray, has the Trump administration responded yet to President Putin's offer to extend the new, the end date on the new START treaty? They have not officially responded, and we have a full court press by people in the foreign ministry, Peskov, and others saying, look, 10 days left, 10, okay? February 5th, everything expires. It's not too late. They say this openly. It's not too late. It's late, but not too late. Big Jeejav said the same thing, all of them over the weekend. So this is big, Judge. Suffice it to say that if Trump doesn't do the necessary, namely just say, okay, no new negotiations are necessary. All he has to say is, okay, we will, as you suggest, Mr. Putin, abide by the limits, okay, of the New Star Treaty after it expires on February 5 for one more year. Well, yes, it's going to say yes, and the Russians would be very reassured. Now, if he doesn't say anything official, if he says, no, this is big.

Putin will not be able to face down his critics saying, you trust this guy? Well, maybe he's a nice guy, but he's weak. weak. And that's the word that prominent, Russian people have been saying now, look, don't fool around with this guy. He might have good intentions, but he can't do a damn thing. He's weak because he's bound in by the deep state. He can't even say a simple yes to this very, very simple offer to tamp down the golden dome over a piece of ice or a gold. I mean, it's so feckless. Reagan was guilty of the same thing. You can't do a missile defense that is impregnable.

You can't do it. We told Reagan that Star Wars, now we're trying. I hope that Tulsi Gabbard is saying, look, all my scientists and engineers say, it'll never work, and the Russians already have ways around it. They can go around the South polling. They could go into the scene. It's all kind of so effectless. And it's a measure of how potent the military.

industrial complex is because there's billions, there's trillions at stake here. What does the START Treaty do? What has it restrained? The deployment of offensive nuclear missiles or bombs. The limit is 1,550 on each side. This is big. This is down from thousands before, and there is every expectation to think from the Russian point of view that as soon as February 6th comes, actually there is congressional legislation requiring the U.S. to build up all kinds of missile, all kinds of offensive arms, and the balance that went in with New Start and was started actually in 72 by the ABM Treaty, balance of terror, but a balance, if I got, it'll be fritted away. And the Russians, well, they say they're not scared. Of course, they are scared. Everyone should be scared. They have countermeasures,

but they don't want to have to use countermeasures. The whole world will be gone. Investing is all about the future. So what do you think is going to happen? Bitcoin is sort of inevitable at this point. I think it would come down to precious metals. I hope we don't go cashless. I would say land is a safe investment. Technology companies. Solar energy. Robotic pollinators might be a thing. A wrestler to face a robot, that will have to happen. So whatever you think is going to happen in the future, you can invest in it at WealthSimple.

Start now at WealthSimple.com. Wow. Has the U.S. offered a better deal and alternative? Or has the State Department and the Abunders? administration just remained silent. Surely they know about February 6th. Well, Riepkov, the deputy foreign minister, said over the weekend, look, Trump said that, you know, he'd like to make a better deal here. Well, what was he having mind? We don't have any idea what a better deal would be. I mean, can he keep this in an interim basis? I mean,

what we get, what does he mind? He never says anything about a better deal. It's just, just delaying tactics. It's very important how the Russians read this, and they can read it in no other way than to think Trump is weak and cannot follow through on any of his promises because of the people that really dictate to him and make it impossible for him to move forward in a decent relationship with Russia. Does the intelligence community have anything to do with influencing him on this, your former colleagues? Well, I haven't seen anything on that, but I do have a sign that Tulsi Gabbard lives. What is that sign?

Desperate for this. But there's this new thing put out over the weekend, the National Defense Strategy, required by Congress every year. This is for 2026. Iran, quote, President Trump has consistently made clear that Iran will not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. Iran's leaders have also left open the possibility that they will try again to obtain a nuclear weapon. Oh, wait a second. Okay.

Iran's leaders have also left open the possibility that they will, that possibility that they will, that possibility that they will try again to obtain. Oh, you mean they're not trying to? Oh, well, Tulsi lives. That's what she said in March of last year. We have been consistent. That is, intelligence analysts, the only thing I can really brag about for the last 20 years. But in 2007, we said they stopped their nuclear weapons program in 2003. If I do the math, it's what, 23 years or so since they've been working on a nuclear weapon, if they were then.

And there's not much evidence that we're doing it, 10. back to start. If it expires, what happens on February 7th? The United States starts borrowing more money and enriching the military industrial complex so they can start building where Congress is authorized and the Russians do the same. Well, Russia don't have to do the same.

The Russians have made clear ever since, well, 2016 is when Putin gathered some Western journalists again. I said, look, we're not going to let you guys spend this to death here. We have alternative methods, okay? Two years later, in a state of the union address, for God's sake, Putin did a show and tell. Watch this screen, six separate new offensive and defensive systems, okay? Are they online? Well, they weren't then, but they are now. Okay, you have the Erashnik, you have Buryvjskine. Buevjniznik uses a nuclear power. to power these missiles. And then you have the, what, the Poseidon missile on a submarine that

can devastate a part of the East Coast or most of Britain. So they have alternative methods. But here's the deal, as I look at it. Putin has spent 25 years building up a country that was on its back. He said very little help from others, but he's done the damn thing. Okay. Russia is very prosperous. Their economy is not failing. And they can do these weird things to get around ABMs and all this other stuff. Now, he doesn't want to risk that, for God's sake. That's why he made this overture on September 22nd of last year. That's a long time for no response. So what he wants to do is create as much as decent relationship with the U.S. as he can. And there's nothing more important than restraining. the arms race because, you know, they have to spend some money, but they won't be spending the $1.5 trillion already available, not to the Pentagon, but to the defense industries that will be spending it like murder and putting up defenses that don't work. Do you think that Trump, in his own mind, would fear being perceived as weak? I mean, as recently, it's, it, it's,

if he went along with an extension of the treaty, as recently as this past weekend. And I know you're going to laugh at this because you've told me 100 times as recently as a few minutes ago, this is impossible. He talked about building a Golden Dome again. Yeah. This is almost a childlike level of thinking.

Well, it is. But, you know, Reagan was guilty of the same thing. Our best specialists told him, Look, I'll never work, Mr. President. And when Gadabanovich, in Reykjavik, after they had developed the kind of rapport that would have enabled such a thing, he said, look, President Reagan, let's just get rid of all nuclear weapons. And to his credit, Reagan said,

let me talk to my folks about it. He went back and he talked to his folks. Some of them, I know, worked for Northrow. Drummond. Some of them worked for other defense contractors. And they very cleverly said to President Reagan, what happens to your Star Wars? We can make the U.S. impregnable. We can defense against anything. Your Star Wars, you're going to sacrifice that for this? And Reagan naively said, well, no, so we went and told God of a Shuff. No, we can't do that right now. That was 60. No, that was 9. That was 87, for God's sake.

And here we are with a golden dome over a block of ice. My God, you know. Who is profiting from this? We know the profiteers. And they usually win in the end. But this time, I'm really wondering, I think there's still 10 days, right? That's what the Russians keep saying. It's still 10 days.

I don't know what's going on in private channels. I do hope that Putin has to make it very clear. to Trump, that, look, this is important. If you can't do this, we'll read the necessary consequences from it. You'll look very weak if you can't do it. It's up to you. Who are you going to answer to the defense industries or a sensible balance in relation strategic parity?

Here is Dimitri Peskov yesterday. Now, this is not about the START treaty. It's really about Trump, the person. person, Trump, the thinker, Trump's style, these are the Europeans. But Mr. Peskov's insight is quite telling. Chris, cut number five. You know, what's very interesting is that all Europeans literally rose up in arms when Trump published his correspondence with Macron. But when Macron published a conversation with Putin, no one, no one reacted. All these changes are probably a result of the double standards and hypocrisy

that have dominated Europe for many, many decades and, unfortunately, of the poor generation of politicians currently in power in Europe. They are unable to stand up to Trump's assertiveness. Trump is an experienced politician, one who bases his approaches on business principles, of harsh, ruthless business, and he defends his interests, first and foremost, and the interests of his country. The methods he uses do not quite correspond with our approach to a multipolar world. Trump is still a proponent of bringing everyone to their knees, of solving everything through force. He says he uses force to make his decisions. In our view, he bends others to his will.

And those who bend will continue to bend. The main thing is not to do this ourselves. I'm not fascinating. I mean, this is a person who spends half his day in the same room with President Putin. one can rationally conclude when he speaks, he's speaking what he's heard his boss say. That's true, Judge. And the rest of that interview is also interesting. He dismisses Sechayakalis as somebody who's ignorant, not really up to it, and the Russians would never talk to her. This is the foreign policy person. I'm not sure of her exact title in the EU. That's correct. Yeah. It makes fun of her. And he says, these people,

really are not very, very sensible, then very smart, and that we won't deal with them. So, you know, Europe, once again, I'm saying here, Europe has no agency, not only vis-à-vis the Russians, but vis-a-vis Trump. And he made that clear in the Vaus. And, you know, that's a big deal, because now you have the Russians, Ukrainians, and the U.S. sitting around the same horseshoe table. And we know now, not from public announcements, and this is good. Let me just point out parenthetically. Trump has said anything about this.

Neither has Putin. No high official has said anything about what's gone on in Abu Dhabi. That is really good, because the Russians are really angry when there's a megaphone diplomacy, as they say it. But we know from Kisailov, what, the imperial wizard of, what, the imperial wizard of, of all Soviet public media, last night he said, look, there are two kinds of tracks here. One is devoted to improving U.S. Russian relations. The other one is devoted to look at what we can do in terms of a buffer zone or moving territory around. That one's going to meet again next Sunday.

We are in constant discussions trying to ameliorate U.S. Russian relations. Now, that's the track on that kind of thing. I would just remind people that superseding all of this is how Trump answers or doesn't answer Putin's 22 September formal proposal to extend the quantitative limits of the New Star Treaty. Do the Russians accept Zelensky as a legitimate, lawful negotiator? they've been saying for three years now he's an interloper who's no longer possessed of legal authority. Well, that is their view. And the answer to your question is, no, they will not accept him.

But they talk to the other Ukrainians. You know, the business is about these bilateral meeting, this meeting that took place in Abu Dhabi, both days, Friday and Saturday. And isn't it interesting how much a hurry everybody's in? I mean, Piskof also was asked about that. What's going on? He said, well, the Americans are a big rush here. Part of it is that they have already scheduled this thing in Abu Dhabi, but not only Peskov, but I think it was Iiapkoff has said,

no, no, it was Ushakov after the last major meeting between Putin and Whitkoff. He said, you know, the Americans have done a whole lot of preparatory work. They've been working really hard to set up this thing in Abu Dhabi. So this is something I don't quite grasp. I don't know what the big rush is on Trump's part, but it's real. It's happening. And the Russians are playing along with it. Yeah, let's see what we can work out.

And they are talking about territory. They are talking about buffer zones or how people can move and, you know, sort of trades and swaps and stuff. This comes out of the Alaska meetings. They keep talking that, as the Russians do, about the Alaska formula. Now we know it was no immediate ceasefire. And we also know it was getting the Ukrainians to the table. Trump, after Alaska, expressed openly his wish that let's have trilateral meetings, trilateral meetings.

But that depended on how Zelenskyy. acted. And he and the Europeans acted very badly in the Russian eyes, and there's no trivalid meeting. Now this has changed. The Europeans have been put in their place. Zelensky has been told personally by Trump two days ago, look, it's over. We're going to try to get the best deal we can from you, but it's over. The Europeans cannot be dependent on bailing you out. They never could. It's inconceivable to me how there can be any resolution of this without the absolute neutrality of Ukraine and the absolute legal dominance of Russia over the eastern territories. And I agree. He could consent to that.

I don't know how Zelensky could consent to that and expect to stay in office or stay alive. Well, he's got no options. He can go to one of his villas in southern Italy if he likes, but he's got no options other than to consent to the best deal that Trump and the Russians will give him. And that's going on. Now it'll start again on Sunday, again in Abu Dhabi. And meanwhile, as I've been saying all along, the Russians and the Americans are dealing together on the wider aspect of how we can improve relations.

That is not going smoothly. Riyapkov has even over the weekend bemoan the fact that they can't even talk about what they call the technical questions of increasing the functionality of the respective embassies and just strike questions. They can't even get, and that, of course, is Rubio, in my view. Rubio has no interest in having a decent relationship with Russia. And that's precisely why you have what you have called real estate agents, which I think is a much more important thing going on doing the real negotiations. Thank you, Ray. Thanks for all of your thoughts on all of these things. Thank you for all the materials you've sent me over the weekend, which illuminate my thinking, as you know.

All the best. We'll look forward to seeing you on Friday with that youngster Larry Johnson. comparatively speaking yes everything's comparative all the best ray thank you and larry will be here at 1130 this morning sheriff david hathaway greatly experienced in the use of federal force against state force when he was a senior official in the drug enforcement administration will be with us at one and at two o'clock scott ritter judge the pal tenor for judging freedom