Judging Freedom - Ray McGovern : Why Is Trump Stealing Oil?

Episode Date: December 15, 2025

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Thank you. Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Monday, December 15th, 2000-25. Ray McGovern, we'll be here with us in just a minute. Why is Donald Trump stealing oil from the Venezuelans? And what is MI6 up to? But first, this. History tells us every market eventually falls. Currencies collapse. And look at Look at where we are now, $38 trillion in national debt. Stocks at record highs defying gravity. So what happens next?

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and silver from Lear. And right now you can get up to $20,000 in bonus medals with a qualified purchase. Call 800511.4620 or go to Learjudgeonnap.com today. Ray McGovern, welcome here, my dear friend. Thank you for accommodating my schedule. It's always a pleasure to chat with you. Before we get to your understanding of the seizure of the Venezuelan tanker on the high seas and the consequences of it, the Guardian of London is reporting. that the head of MI6 is going to give, she may have given the speech already, and a speech warning the British people that the Russians are exporting chaos. How unusual is it for the head

of an intelligence agency like MI6 to give a speech like this where the transcript of the speech is released in advance? It used to be unusual. No more is that the case. Her predecessor Moore, I think, even before he left, announced themselves on these same issues, they're crazy issues in terms of how they look at Russia. It's the old Russophobia. What really will be interesting to watch is the state of play on Ukraine this week, because this is the crucible. This is when Whitkoff gives Zelensky the real hard news. And when Ursula von der Leyen finds out if she is really all.

powerful, or whether the central banks and the other banks in Europe and the UK will say, no, Ursula, this is crazy to steal money from the Russians. Right. You're talking about her Ursula Vandalion's efforts to freeze the assets of Russia. This is government money deposited in Euricle, and of course, she and her crazy friends, Starmer Mertz and Macron want to seize that money and either use it as security for a loan to Ukraine or actually steal it and give it out right to Ukraine. But before we get to Ukraine, and we have an interesting clip from Kayakalas about Ukraine and NATO, which will play for you, not only is the head of MI6 giving this talk, but the military chief of defense staff,

that's the British equivalent of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is giving a similar talk saying Britain is in more danger now than at any time in his long, which in his case is 40 years, military career. What are they trying to do to the British public? Well, I think they're trying to scare them the same way as Merz is trying to scare the German, public. It's sort of a retzel, sort of a puzzle. It's really hard to understand, except for the notion that these people will fall from power as soon as their populaces have definitive proof that the billions of dollars that they gave to Ukraine, which they should have given to the local populations to shore up their social services services, well, that that was just frittered away And even the U.S. has bowed out now because they know they're not going to throw good money after bad.

Then comes the revolution, or then comes at least the unseating of these. They've been called, what, the three stooges or the three idiots, or what did you call them? I called them the three blind mice the other day. They call themselves, and this is really ridiculous, because George Bush was so mocked over this name, the Coalition of the Willing. And it's what Bush and Cheney called these countries that supposedly joined us in the invasion of Iraq. But that's what they call themselves, the coalition of the willing. What are they going to do with Zelensky? What can they offer them?

They can't borrow any money. They can't raise taxes. They probably can't steal this money from the banks. What are they going to do? Just a comment on the coalition of a willing. The adoption of this same phrase just shows that these people don't. know anything about history, not even recent history as of 20, 25 years ago. They were probably in high school. They came up through the political ranks. They don't know nothing. So you're

right in pointing out the irony of that. Now, your question about what are they going to get Zelensky to do? Well, he says now, oh, maybe I don't want to get, maybe I don't need to get into NATO. Maybe I need Article 5 type assurances. Well, give me a break. What Trump was going to say about that is, oh, yeah, talk to the Europeans about that. They're really jelly well and in your camp. Have them give you Article 5 assurances. You're not going to get them from NATO and say, don't matter at all because we are, have been, will be as long as NATO exists, NATO.

Here's Kayakalas, who's the prime minister of Estonia. But she's speaking here as the, I'm not sure of the title, Ray, sort of the chair of the EU's foreign commission. I think I'm pretty much describing what her job is. I have friends who are in grad school with her who are very critical of her. I don't even want to repeat on here what they've said about her. But here she is, Chris, cut number six. What we have to keep in mind is that why countries want to be in NATO is because they don't want Russia to invade them, to attack them. And that's why Sweden and Finland joined NATO.

That's why the Baltic states joined NATO to have this defense umbrella, really. Now, if this is not in question or this is out of the question, then we need to see what are the security guarantees that are tangible. They can't be, you know, papers or promises. They have to be, you know, real troops, real capabilities so that Ukraine is able to defend itself. Real troops, real capabilities, but not NATO. What is she talking about? Well, yeah, this is sort of a red herring. Let me explain.

She is of the mind that Russia, as President Biden said in his last State of the Union address, if anyone in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you he will not. And so this whole shibboleth of Putin moving. with his full force, unprovoked, to take over Poland and the Baltic states. Well, as I've said before, he did stop in Ukraine six weeks after he started the war and successfully scared the pants of Zelensky. They came through an agreement, and it was the UK and the U.S. that threw the kabash on that and are responsible, really,

for the million or so Ukrainian youth who have perished because of this war. So, by extension, if she's saying that, you know, Biden was right, that there's going to be war in Europe, and if she's seconded by, let's see, I just, yeah, I had a quote from the Secretary General Ruta. This is just four days ago. This is what he said. In Berlin, for all places. Conflict is at our door. Russia has brought the war back to Europe, and we must be prepared for the scale of war that our grandparents and our great-grandparents endured. Imagine it. A conflict reaching every home, every workplace, destruction, mass mobilization, millions displaced, widespread suffering, and extreme losses. The guy is deranged, okay? This is the notion that the Russians will not stop

in Ukraine. They will stop when they have liberated those, in their view, liberated, when they have taken over those regions that they said part of Russia. And, you know, it's becoming inexorable. And the sooner these political hacks recognize that and stop meeting together in groups of three or four and say, oh, what will we do? As soon as they recognize that, then maybe they'll read the national security strategy, which brings them a priority of maybe three or three or,

for, that is Europe and Russia. Let me just, I have the, you know, when I got the table of contents of the national security strategy, I looked at it right away, and then I saw, whoa, this is a revolutionary doctrine. Priorities, Western Hemisphere? What's next? China? Once after that, Europe, what about the Soviet Union? What about Russia?

Well, Russia is part of Europe, and, you know, Russia has core interests there. And we have core interest is a Russian expression. We have core interests. Here it is in the national security guidance. Our core interests, that of the United States, is to negotiate an expeditious cessation of hostilities in Ukraine and stabilize European economies, prevent unintended ethnic. escalation and, quote, reestablish a strategic stability relationship with Russia. My God, that's revolutionary.

And I want to get back to the quote you gave, which was a terrific one. I hadn't heard it from Ruta. I mean, this isn't just any political hack. This is the Secretary General of NATO. Am I correct? Yes, actually both. Yeah, right. Right.

He's also a political hack. You're right. Thank you. but he's making it sound as though Europeans should be prepared for a land war of the magnitude that they suffered during World War II. But not three, not for five years.

You see, the Russians, even though they're prepared to do this, and my God, the supreme irony is that they are prepared in a way never before in an intolerance ratio where they could if they, I've been in Poland, I mean, why would they want to take over Poland and the Baltic? I don't know.

And Putin expressed disbelief that anybody can believe this. Why do you think they are saying this? Why would Ruta say this? Why is the head of MI6 and the head of the military and Great Britain scaring people? If Putin has, and I agree with you entirely, no designs whatsoever on anything other than what he and his colleagues believe historically and ideologically has always been a part of Russia. They have no designs on anything other than that. They have no designs on anything other than their legitimate security needs. Why are these people, these European leaders trying to scare the daylights out of the

everyday European folks? So that they can garner enough approval to steal Russian money to keep the war going for two, maybe even three more years, that all happens this week. Will they succeed in doing the? If they succeed, they can stay in power. If they succeed, they won't be, well, they probably

voted out anyway within the next year and a half, but they're living day to day. They don't give a rat's patootie about what happens to Ukraine. They care about what happens to them. And if there's not an insurrection in places like France and even Germany,

there will be a strong reaction removing these guys from power, and what happens then? Will they be held accountable? Well, maybe they'll go off to some Riviera or something, but there'll be disgrace as well they should be. If the Prime Minister of Belgium sticks to his principles and refuses to do anything to enforce the will of the EU to seize or freeze these assets, what can the EU do nothing they're not going to sue him and then Russia joins the litigation what's going to happen well the litigation of course will favor Russia no matter where it takes place

the laws are very clear on this even prominent lawyers in the UK and elsewhere are saying look this is crazy this is from ab initio from the very beginning illegal so we'll have to see what happens on Thursday or 18th and 19th I think that's Thursday and Friday anyway it happens to week. So if they succeed in doing this, they're going to split the EU apart, as well as a little NATO having been split apart. The EU will not function the way it used to. The EU will have defied its own establishing laws. It's crazy. For what? For two more years of Cornish in Ukraine? I'm hopeful that Ursula will not win this one, but my hopes really don't matter. expectation is that she'll lose anyway.

Yeah, Alster Crook, and in a minute we're going to play a clip from President Putin, it's only about two weeks old, but saying he has no designs on Europe. Alster Crook says there are seven countries in the EU that have announced that they strongly oppose any effort to freeze or seize the Russian bank accounts. But then he also told me that the voting has waited. weighted by, in the EU, weighted by the population. So Germany, France, and Britain may very well have a majority. Who knows?

Yeah, if they skirt the rules, you know, if they do this state of emergency stuff, then they will be able to force a vote here. The question is, once they force the vote, will the banks adhere to all that the banks will be liable as well? Yes. The solutions just allow this to happen? So there are lots of uncertainties here. I think there still is a chance that Oslo will be brought to her senses and say, well, okay, what happens this week? Wichkopf is still talking to Zelensky.

There's a lot of intensive activity this week. Whatever happens when Zelensky gets the real deal from Whitkoff, you know, it's all in flux. I just wonder whether the EU will survive this, if it happens that she's. able to do this extraterritorial or illegal roundabout, which allows her to do this with a majority. And as you point out, they do have a majority no matter how many people are in those seven countries. Right. Here's President Putin saying he has no intention to go to war with Europe. We are not planning to go to war with Europe.

I've said that a hundred times already. But if Europe suddenly wants to go to war with us and starts it, We are ready right now. There can be no doubt about that. The only question is, in what way? If Europe suddenly starts a war with us, I think it will be over very quickly. This isn't Ukraine. With Ukraine, we're acting in a surgical, careful manner.

Right? So that, well, you get it, right? Very profound statement. We have no intention, but you want to bring it on. we will not be slow, methodical, or surgical as we have been in Ukraine. Yeah, this little surgical thing, that's really indicative of what he's talking about. And, you know, if European military planners look at the Russian forces arrayed against them, you know, unless they're really crazy, they have to advise their politicos.

Look, you know, the Russians for the first time in history, have the advantage conventionally, as well as nuclear advantage, in Europe. And so maybe we ought to play ball with them because they're ready to respond to any provocation we might make and respond in spades. Now, people say, oh, that's Putin. Now, Judge, do you believe Putin? Does Montgomery you believe Putin? Well, there's a scintilla of evidence before we overthrew the government. in Kiev, February 2014, not a scintilla of evidence that the Russians have any idea of

threatening Ukraine, much less the rest of Europe. So if you look at the evidence, you look not on what the Russians say, but what they do, they come to the conclusion that this shibboliff about the Russians, not, you'd think they'll stop at Ukraine, says Biden. Well, that was last year. No, no, no, no, the truck says, well, you know, we have to make a, that's a core interest of ours to make

a deal with the Russians. I don't think they're Soto Vouchi. I don't think they want any more from Europe or even Ukraine. Let's make a deal. That's big. That's a sea change. And we ought to welcome that and kind of put aside

our animosity to the guy who enables genocide for starvation in Gaza. That's a mental trick. You have to concede to people who just can't do that, this Trump derangement syndrome.

Could it be possible that Trump might be able to do something good in Ukraine, even if it's only to win a Nobel Peace Prize? And when I suggested that on your show a couple of weeks ago, Judge, I got a comment on these, oh, so you're so much in favor of Trump that you want to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize, right? No, I don't. But if that's what it takes. I want to jump to Venezuela before we finish, Ray.

Here's an interesting clip from President Maduro saying Trump is announcing that the CIA is here to try and overthrow me. Chris, cut number eight. Never before had any previous government since the CIA has existed publicly said that it was sending the CIA to kill, to overthrow, and to destroy countries. Is it common for covert activities to become overt? It's not common, Judge, especially on a word scale like this. We know the CIA was intimately involved in Vietnam, in Ukraine, and you can name the places. But for Trump, as he did, now this goes back several weeks, of course. I authorize the CIA to go, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Well, that is unusual. Just part of Trump's bluster. I have all these cards, including the much feared CIA, and they're being lit loose on it. It doesn't matter much that he advertised it in advance, but it's a good point for Maduro to make, of course. They come, and it's open this time. Why do you think he stole that oil?

Why do you think he had troops with automatic weapons, weapons to send on that tanker. Well, Judge, if the idea is to beat your breast and show that you're still a potent power to contend with in our hemisphere, which is what the guidance, the National Security Strategy guidance says, well, I mean, heck, all these, I mean, Larry Johnson himself has said, you know, will all these special forces and Navy SEALs and all these people being tuned up for a couple months now. Give them something to do for God's sake. There's some more going to Cuba. Let's repel down and make sure you got the pictures of this. I'll show the world what we can do. I think it's only that

for God's sake. It's a mark of how desperate they are to show that they're really, really, really very, very strong still. They're not strong. And they've recognized that in this new memorandum. The strategy thing, they've pulled back from China, they've pulled back from Russia. And as I showed you this table of contents, I mean, that is incredible. The priorities, the Western Hemisphere, where there is the end of most strategic threat? And the next one is China, but we're going to be soft on China and not like Biden. And the next one is Europe will to get its act together. And our priority, our core interest is to make sure that things don't get out of hand.

And for that, we need to negotiate with Russia, and come to agree. One thing I'd add, Judge, which is really important. On the 22nd of September, Eugene personally made the point that New Star Treaty expands on February 5 next year. There's no hope to renegotiate that in the time left, but we're willing to keep the quantitative limits on offensive strategic weapons in place for a whole other year as long as the United States. States does the same. Whoa. Now, that was this 22nd of September. There's been no response, no official response. That's big because this is a litmus test. This outweighs Ukraine. If the Russians consider that Trump cannot or will not or doesn't want to rise to this occasion and put the very simple thing, no new negotiations necessary, just say, okay, we agree,

to not exceed these quantitative limits for another year. If he can't do that, well, that's the litmus test. I think that Putin and his associates will say, well, as we've said, he's got a lot of opposition there, and this time the opposition is winning the day. We have to guide ourselves accordingly, which will be bad news. Ray McGarvin, thank you very much, my dear friend. Thanks for accommodating my schedule. Thank you for your insight.

We'll look forward to seeing you on Friday with Larry Johnson. Judge, may I make a quick announcement? Tony Aguilar has been named the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity winner of this year's award. Oh, he's a great person. And the award will be given here in Raleigh on the 7th of January. Lots of Sam Adams folks and others would be there. Details to follow up. Excellent, Ray. Thank you. We'll help you promote that. All the best, my friend. We'll see you Friday.

Thank you. Thank you. And coming up later today at 1130 this morning, Larry Johnson, at 4 this afternoon, Professor Jeffrey Sachs. And of course, on Wednesday, a one-hour special on Judging Freedom, Tucker Carlson. Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom. Thank you.