Judging Freedom - Ray McGovern : Will Trump Meet Putin?

Episode Date: October 27, 2025

Ray McGovern : Will Trump Meet Putin?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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Speeds may slow above 35 gigabytes on the unlimited plan, taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. Hi, everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for a judging freedom. Today is Monday, October 27th, 2025. Ray McGovern joins us now. Ray, a pleasure, my dear friend. And do we know who canceled the Budapest meeting? Oh, sure.

It was Trump. It was clearly Trump, yeah. And do we know why he did it? Well, the obvious explanation was that he was overruled by people like Kellogg and Rubio and people who just didn't want to get him into another discussion with Putin. It's not a tragedy. I mean, this was Trump's idea. and Lavrov has made it very clear that, well, Trump asked for it, and then he canceled out,

and he's under great, great pressure, says Lavrov, from the Europeans and other people within his administration, though on peace. So, well, it's, first he said it was canceled, but now he said it is postponed. So the ball is in their court. They made the initiative. Let's see what happens. It's a very gentle kind of reaction to, what's really? really a diplomatic foe pa, Grande.

Yeah. I mean, Lavrov will play the clip in a minute basically says that the United States offered the time and place, and we said yes, but the U.S. is under pressure from what he calls the Hawks. I don't think he's referring, and you tell me, we'll play the clip in just a few seconds, right? I don't think he's referring to the American neocons

as Colonel McGregor calls them, the sycophons around Trump, I think he's referring to the Europeans but you tell me what you think. Chris Lavrov number 13 after we talked with Marco Rubio regarding following

up on the results of Alaska he didn't mention any new meetings or conversations, and I did not raise the issue because the entire initiative was coming from the United States, productive discussion with Marco Rubio, and at this stage there is no need in a personal meeting between the Secretary of State and the Foreign Minister of Russia. So I concluded that the meeting was really good.

if they made such a comment. And I understand what is behind it. Behind it is the clarity with which we discussed the necessary steps together with Marco Rubio, steps which the Russian Federation and the United States can take to implement very clear, very blunt understandings reached in Alaska. so obviously he and rubio spoke but the result of that speaking was not an agreement to

have another meaning i don't know i honestly think this you know this far better than i do the odd ball here is not putin and not trump not rubio and not um lafroff it's zalinski because Zelensky will be assassinated if he agrees to concede the land to Russia now liberated by the Russian military. Don't you agree? Well, it's Zelensky and his patrons. Now, one has to remember that the only patrons he has left are the coalition of the, I've been calling them the coalition of the brain dead, but it's a coalition of the willing. Meirz and Macron and Stormer, lightweights to be sure.

We have the polls, their foreign minister Sikorsky threatening to bring down Putin's plane on route Budapest if he needs to and bring him to trial. So how a bunch of crazy Europeans? And that's really a big factor and it'll delay the next summit. Notice the summit is not canceled, it's delayed.

Now, let's step back for a second and take the wider picture. Number one, Russia has won. Russia has one on the ground. They have 10,500 Ukrainian soldiers encircled in two of what they callers, Trump has to deal with that. Putin, he doesn't have to deal with it, but he made a statement yesterday, a big statement saying, look, I know you armed force. would prefer to kill these people. I tell you not to do that. I tell you to give them every chance

to surrender. It'll be a P.O.W problem, but we can handle it. Make sure that they're treated according to the Geneva Convention on International Law and Russian law. Well, that means that these two cauldrons with 10,500 troops in two places there along the front lines, they're surrounded. Now, Putin is saying, look, we want to treat these guys the way we would like to be treated, according to international law. And besides, in the same briefing he gets from the general staff, he's told, look, you know, Mr. Pucci, you are really very foresighted in commissioning, commissioning this incredible weapon, which we call a board of yessnich. Borea. Borea is the Russian word for storm, like a thunderthorn. Boreum on the loy, nibokroyed.

Vichry, Srejshry, Srejjni Krujia. It's a Russian poem. Boreim, well, it talks about a terrible storm. So this is the Borewvestnik. Now, what can it do? My God, it can stay up in the air, up in the elements forever. It's got unlimited range, almost unlimited. Nothing is unlimited, and it can strike any time, and they tested it now.

And Putin, knowing full well what had happened, asked Geracimo, please give me the particular service on this. Now, how far in this go? 14,000 kilometers? And how long did it stay up there? So many hours? Whoa. Well, listen to this.

This was given, this information was given by Kiril Dmitriev a couple of days before the Wittkov in Florida. It's well known, Dimitriov said that, you know, among these economic overtures, yeah, I told them about the Buradiyaznik, okay? So the Russians are making a big point about, look, you know, we're one in Ukraine, for those who are people, those people who say, you know, we don't have a deterrent anymore. Well, think about not only the Yiddishnik, think about the Buddha Vyaznik. We got it made. Guys, relax. And that's why Putin can adopt this apparent calm and say, look, it's unfortunate, but we still place top priority, again, I'll say it again, top priority on developing a reasonable relationship with the United States of America. Why? Well, because of the way to deal with delusional narcissists

is to humor them, is to give them a chance to come to reality, but in a friendly kind of way, in hopes that they will come to recognize reality. And if they don't, well, that's unfortunate, but we won the war for God's sake. Last thing, and maybe this is the most important. On the 20th of October, the U.S., according to the press, made it clear that they would not support the Europeans raiding those Russian funds, most of which are in Belgian banks, okay? whoa, what happened next? On the 24th, the Belgian prime minister, the Weaver, he made an incredible statement. You really ought to see it. It's on YouTube. And he said, look, no deal. You know, you guys say we won't be liable if we do these things. It's never been done before. Forget about it. And so the European people could not come to a resolution about how they could use

these considerable funds to fund Ukraine. What does that mean? That means Ukraine has no money. That means that the Europeans have no money to give Ukraine. And so for those who have been depending on raiding these Russian funds and letting the conflict go on for three more years, forget about it. That's over too. So Putin, Lavrov, they're sitting back and saying, yeah, it's kind of hard to figure out these Americans, but we'll continue to talk to them. Maybe there will be an uncannselled summit with their idea to begin with.

We're good. We've got the Riesnick, and now we have the Board of Yersnik. What is the missile that the Russians recently tested that has Trump so upset?

Well, the Bureau of Yersnik is the one that Putin advertised just yesterday, okay, on Sunday. But as I said, that Kirill Dimitiev told Whitkoff about by Demetrius' own admission in Florida a couple days before. Now, this is an incredible weapon, okay? It's nuclear, of course, but it's nuclear-powered, okay? The first such weapon in history, in my view. And it goes around wherever it wants to go. It's a cruise missile. It has a nuclear tip. Otherwise, it does make any sense. And this one flew around almost forever and then came down.

But it has a way of evading any conceivable air defense or missile defense. And that's the point here. Not only is Arasnich not defend, you cannot defend against it, will a board of Yersnik the same way in spades. So, you know, this is a background judge. Back in 2016, Putin gathered a group of Western journalists around. There was a economic summit in, I was going to say, Leningrad, in St. Petersburg, okay? And on the sidelines of this, he gathered them together. He says, now look, we're sensible people, and I'm sensible enough to know that what I tell you, albeit the truth, you're not going to even tell your editors about because you'd be afraid of it.

And then he went on and I said, look, we try to talk to the Americans about their so-called ABM defenses in Romania and Poland. and they say it's to defend against uranium missiles. Give me a break. We know what's going on. We're going to just have to do our own thing. ABMs, forget about it. We'll find a way around it. And on the 1st of March, 2018,

in his State of the Union address, a state of this nation address, they call it there, Putin did a show and tell. And he illustrated with videos, four or five of these new weapons, and they say, Some of them are almost there, and now the Budaviesnik has come online. My memory is not clear, but I think the Budapestnik was one of those missiles that was advertised

at a State of the Union address on March 1, 2018. So, Judge, the whole thing is this. Russia has the edge not only in conventional forces, but in nuclear forces. Now, the edge of nuclear forces were both dead, okay? So that doesn't matter as much. But what they've had in terms of the experience in Europe, in terms of their army, which now is about 700,000 in Ukraine alone and a million otherwise, the Europeans don't have any armies like Stalin-esque and the Pope.

You know, how many divisions do you have? Well, NATO, how many divisions do you have? Maybe two or three we could scrape together. So there's fury from the Europeans, but they're going to have to calm down because they ain't got no money. And last of all, I'll just repeat this crazy syllogism of some kind. You know, we don't have the weapons to give the Europeans, but we're going to build them, and they'll be ready a couple of years,

and then we'll sell them to the Europeans. We don't have the money to buy them. And when they find the money, and then they give them to the Ukrainians, the Ukrainians don't have any people to man these systems, and they're not going to be banned by U.S. people, which would be necessary for some of these tomahawks and other things. So it's a complex thing, but if you take two steps back and you realize that it's really true, Putin thinks that this is the way to deal with Trump, I can hardly differ with him on that. the guy is irrational, irascible, he's unpredictable, he's all the things that Russian needers don't like in terms of the U.S. President.

So has he deal with him? Shmooses with him. He placates him and tries to wait for a time when finally Trump realizes it's over in Ukraine, don't give him any more support, and indeed the key point, I'll just say one more time again, they're not going to be able to draw on those Russian frozen assets in Belgium, because the Belgian Prime Minister has made it very clear, four days after the U.S. made it clear that they disapproved of it. Bloomberg was my source for that.

De Weaver, the head of the Prime Minister of Belgium. You ought to see, it's a very clever, very clever YouTube, about 20 minutes. I just had a chance to review it. That's big, because there's no money, there's no arms, and the cauldrons have surrounded the Ukrainian troops so much so that Putin is playing the statesman here and saying, look, troops, look, I order you, give them every chance to surrender. I know they could be shot in the back because that's what happens

to a lot of people try to surrender in Ukraine, but give them every chance. And there's no reason why they can't. They got them surrounded. There's no supply coming, and it's going to be very interesting to see. how many Ukrainian troops see the opportunity to surrender, and then how they're treated, how they're handled by the Russians. Here's President Trump on Air Force One complaining about the demonstration or the test run of this missile, Chris, cut number 12. Russia said this week that they've tested a new missile that can go more than 8,000 miles.

Is that saber rattling for you? What is it, what is that? They know we have a nuclear submarine the greatest in the world right off their shores. So, I mean, it doesn't have to go 8,000 miles. And they're not playing games with us. We're not playing games with them either. We test missiles all the time. But, you know, we do have a submarine, a nuclear submarine.

We don't need to go 8,000 miles. And I don't think it's an appropriate thing for Putin to be saying. either, by the way. You ought to get the war ended. A war that should have taken one week is now in its soon fourth year. That's what you ought to do instead of testing missiles. Well, he is getting the war. Hang on, hang on. It almost sounds a little like Keith Kellogg. The war should have been over. The war should have been over in a week. Well, let's see. Hang on, Ray, please. Let me ask the question. Sure. When something like this tested? Is the U.S. surprised by it? Are they told ahead of time it's going to be tested? Does

Intel know that it's been developed? At very least, Trump, at very least, Judge, the U.S. knows about it when it's being tested. They would almost certainly see preparations for its testing. If they don't know about the Bueviesnik or the Adjcnik, you know, this is a real blot on the intelligence community. So they've been advising, to the degree that Kellogg is not intercepting their finished product going up to the president, the president should be aware of this

if he takes the chance to read or listen to his presidential daily briefer. So it shouldn't be a big surprise. And as I say, I think it was one of those systems advertised back in March 1st, 2000, 2018, and that famous show and tell addressed to the nation, the state of the nation addressed by Trump himself. So, you know, they have the edge here.

So the notion that Putin is under some sort of fire, I think that he's able to say to these people, look, we can't predict what Trump's going to do. We're winning. That's the backdrop to this whole thing. Sooner or later, we will have one in Ukraine. We would very much like to have our core interests addressed, but we may have to address those ourselves. Hang tight.

Let's see what Trump does next week. Here's James Cardin, former State Department official on the Russia desk under the Obama years. Chris number 20. The war is, lost. And the sooner that the Ukrainians come to this realization, the better off they'll be. And Putin seems to me to have a reasonable deal in place. Ukraine cannot join NATO, but Ukraine can join the EU. That seems absolutely a fair bargain to me. But they also have to concede land.

Of course. Of course they do. But again, the land that they will be seating, they themselves have been attacking since 2014. The Ukrainians are being a bit disingenuous here. They want the, they claim to want the land in the Dunbos, Eastern Ukraine, but they don't want the ethnic Russian citizens on that land. So they've been doing everything that they can to disenfranchise those people for the 30 years. So it's time to be honest. Putin, in a way, is giving the Ukrainians what they want, which is a Ukraine for ethnic Ukrainians. And that would be a way to get rid of, which they've wanted to do, the ethnic Russians. It's not something that is often said in public, but it happens to be the truth. He's right about that. It's not something that's often said in public, but it happens to be the truth. Well, it doesn't matter too much what the Ukrainians want. It's what the coalition of the willing in Europe is trying to force down their throats. They still have the notion that they want to weaken Russia. They still have the idea that they want a strategic defeat

on Russia. Now, Jim Gordon said just then, is absolutely true with respect to Istanbul 1. April, 2022. The deal was sealed. No Ukraine and NATO? No seeding of any territory to Russia. Okay. Other things would be dealt with later. There would be a ceasefire. They would talk it through. What happened? We know that was put to Kabash on by Boris Johnson. Now we have a different situation for Istanbul too, because those four regions that Russia has conquered are not been a good to be given back anytime soon. That's the reality, and the Ukrainians and the British and the French and the Germans do have no capacity to support Ukraine. If they try those long, long-range missiles, like the storm shadow and all those kinds, those will be nitpricks. They will be a real

problem for PR in Russia, but they will not make any difference to the inexorable advance of Russian forces along that line in Danyetsk and elsewhere. Thank you, Ray. Very, very informative, deeply appreciated. We'll look forward to seeing at the end of the week. All the best, my friend. Thank you, Judge. Of course.

Coming up at 1045 this morning, if you're watching us live, that's 15 minutes from now. Professor Jeffrey Sachs and at 1130 this morning, Larry Johnson, Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom. Thank you.