Judging Freedom - Rep. Andy Biggs of AZ. (R) - Congress, Ukraine, Israel, and Putin

Episode Date: February 13, 2024

Rep. Andy Biggs of AZ. (R) - Congress, Ukraine, Israel, and PutinSee 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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Congressman, thank you for working today, although I've always thought our liberty and property is safer when Congress is not working, but you're the only one there. Thank you. Thank you for coming on to chat with us. What is the status of aid to Ukraine? Not how much has been sent, we already know, but this next tranche that the president wants, which seems to be around $61 billion, what is the status of that, Congressman Biggs, on Capitol Hill? It passed out of the Senate yesterday and is due to come to the House. I'm hoping that the speaker will prevent that from happening. I'm not very sanguine about it, but I'm hopeful. There are a lot of people here who want to stop that. There are a lot of people that want to leverage it for this or that. Maybe they want to leverage it for the border. I just want to stop it.

I just want to stop it. It's $61 61 billion dollars and judge we're paying for everything from seeds for their farmers to their government their retirement system wow it's it is a total um expansion of of purpose as well as dollars going to ukraine we're, as you know, on pace to be, I think it's within 30 or 45 days, we will be at $35 trillion in national debt. Wow. So the money we're spending is obviously borrowed, and the money is going directly, as you indicated, to pay Ukrainian industry individuals and government. They've almost become a vassal state. And of course, some of the money is going to the infamous

military-industrial complex to compensate them to make new weapons for us because of the weapons we already own, which we've sent to them, sort of a musical cheers. I'm very disappointed. I was going to raise this at the end, but since you mentioned it in Speaker Johnson, no criticism of you and our small government friends who were, I think, largely responsible for him getting elected. But it seems to me as soon as he got in office, he's the same as Kevin McCarthy, not as glib, not as communicative to the press. And the spending is like the Pelosi days. Am I missing something here, Congressman? Well, so I will tell you that there's a lot of lessons that I've learned from this. Number one is that the D.C. cartel is incredibly powerful.

And Mike Johnson, who is, I've known him for years, sat next to him on judiciary for years. He is a movement conservative. But and I've told him this. I don't mind saying this publicly, I've told him that, Mike, you wake up as a conservative every morning, but by noon, you're looking for your spine, and we need you to be courageous. I tell him, you know, because he's very concerned he's going to lose all the time. I said, look, I would rather fight and lose than surrender and lose because at least if you fight and lose there are some positive things that come with it not the least of which is you actually will win

sometimes you won't lose every time the second thing is everybody will know that there's distinction between the the dc cartel the the unit party whatever you want to call it and an institution that is embedded in corruption and people who want to stand up and fight for freedom and liberty. So I know what the deep state is. I know what the military industrial complex is. I know what the Uniparty is. But what's the D.C. cartel? Is it another name for the same things that I'm characterizing or is it a different group of people? It is the way I characterize the same thing, because I view it as our government,

it's ties to media, it's ties to the lobbyists, it's ties to the military industrial complex, the educational industrial complex, all of these things have been cartelized. That is to say, we've created this rubric, this cartel that's wrapped itself around the institutions which are meant to govern this country. I don't want you to think I'm getting personal with Speaker Johnson, but was he this way when he was plain old Congressman Johnson? Did he of play a little bit less out there than I do. But he was conservative. But the reality is he's gotten very nervous. So we deal with the FISA thing, Judge, which I know you know all about. But his deal on the pfizer thing is this

it's it's he he was he's for all the whole time he was with us on judiciary he was with us on warrant requirements he was with his son fourth amendment not for sale stuff he was with us on all of those things he became speaker and the intel committee and the cartel again because the intel committee is part of the cartel they came in and they basically told him you will be responsible for any terrorist attack in the u.s because you're going to take away one of our big tools wow and he doesn't care about the constitution as he once did before he had the speaker's job I'm going to play a clip of President Biden asking for more money for Ukraine. I don't know if this is aimed at you, the conservatives, the libertarians, the moderate Republicans, the Speaker Johnson Republicans, but this is about a week old.

This bill would also address two other important priorities. First, it provides urgent funding for Ukraine. I'm wearing my Ukraine tie, my Ukraine pin, which I've been wearing because they're in dire straits right now defending themselves against a Russian onslaught. A brutal conquest. The clock is ticking. Every week, every month, it passes. Without new aid, Ukraine means fewer artillery shells, fewer air defense systems, fewer tools for Ukraine to defend itself against this Russian onslaught. Just what Putin wants.

In one of his clips, he said, if Putin takes Ukraine, what will stop him from going to Poland? Putin doesn't want to take Ukraine. The last thing in the world Russia wants is to have to govern Ukraine, and they have no bone to pick with Poland. I think the president is just trying to scare people. Question, does that work on members of Congress? Does it work on Republicans? Does it work on small government Republicansans it works on some of them it works on some of them but don't don't forget you're exactly right judge i've been saying for a couple years now that putin does not wish to take all of ukraine what he wishes to do is he wants to get crimea back and the donbass region. That's really what they wanted, because

that's what they believed was their historical claim. Ukraine disputed that claim, but instead of leading to some kind of peaceful negotiations, this president actually is a warmonger and encouraged the fight, just like we have members of the U.S. Senate and even in the House encouraging a fight. And there's no purpose for the U.S., really no strategic interest. And so as I asked for that very beginning, as we were getting into that, I said, what is our strategic purpose? What is our mission? What is our goal? What is our objective? And when you know what they said, Judge, they changed it from we're going to help our ally and our friend. Well, technically, Ukraine is not our ally.

And maybe they're a friend. Maybe they're not. Maybe they're not. But ultimately, they let the cat out of the bag. These guys want regime change in Russiaussia right and they and they want to use ukraine as a battering ram right so we we we have uh all been aware of um media reports uh and comments by the negotiators that an agreement was negotiated between Ukraine and Russia two years ago, literally, in March of 22, which would have prevented all this bloodshed. In his interview with Vladimir Putin, Tucker

Carlson asked President Putin about it and acknowledged that, you'll see this in a minute, he holds his fingers up showing they're about an inch apart as to how thick and detailed the agreement was how it was signed how it was initialed and then Boris Johnson at the behest of Joe Biden Boris was Mr Johnson was then the great uh the prime minister of Great Britain came in oh don't do it don't do it uh we got your back. UK and US have your back. And 500,000 dead Ukrainians later, here's where we are. So let me play this clip with Tucker Carlson asking President Putin about this very issue. Can you imagine a scenario where you sent Russian troops to Poland? Only in one case, if Poland attacks Russia. Why? Because we have no interest in Poland, Latvia or anywhere else.

Why would we do that? We simply don't have any interest. It's just threat mongering. So I just want to make sure I'm not misunderstanding what you're saying. I don't think that I am. I think you're saying you want a negotiated settlement to what's happening in ukraine right and we made it we prepared the huge document in istanbul that was initialed by the head of the ukrainian delegation he affixed his signature to some of the provisions, not to all of it.

He put his signature and then he himself said. We were ready to sign it and the war would have been over long ago, 18 months ago. However, Prime Minister Johnson came, talked us out of it and we missed that chance. I think you're right when you said Joe Biden is a warmonger. I don't know if he personally is a warmonger, but he is certainly controlled by those around him who are. And many of them are Republicans in the Congress, sadly. And here's the problem because they actually, some people have said this, this is a chance for us to burn through our used and older stockpile and inventory of materiel and then build it back up with newer next generation materiel. To me, that is the wrong way to view war. I mean, war is just a horrible waste of human life, property, economy, society, culture, everything. And what they did is they chose, when I say they, I'm talking about the UK and US leadership at the time. They chose to actually encourage and foster greater war instead of moving

into, and I hear I sound like a dove, but I mean, instead of actually encouraging peace negotiations, which it sounds like, and I'd heard this before, that there actually was negotiations in 2022 to resolve the issues. Why not encourage that? Why not encourage that? And there's just no justification right now for not doing that. And they can't defend themselves. While we're talking about talking, here's Tucker Carlson asking uh President Putin uh have you picked up the phone and called Joe Biden watch this and so why don't you just call Biden and say let's work this out what's there to work out it's very simple I repeat we have contacts through various agencies I will tell you what we are saying on this matter and what we are conveying to the US leadership if you really want to stop fighting you need to stop supplying

weapons it will be over within a few weeks. That's it. And then we can agree on some terms. Before you do that, stop. What's easier? Why would I call him? What should I talk to him about? Or beg him for what? And what messages do you get back? You're going to deliver such and such weapons to Ukraine? Oh, I'm afraid. I'm afraid. Please don't. What is there to talk about? See, I think people like you and the people watching us now have the same attitude as war, only a last resort and only defensive. But the neocons around the president and the neocons in the Congress want to use this. I'll use the phrase I used before, it's a battering ram to drive them from

office. In fact, it's had the opposite result. You're an economist, and you know the Russian economy is humming along better than it was and more independent than it was before the sanctions were imposed. They have a draft, they're fighting a war, and they're making more independent than it was before the sanctions were imposed they have a draft they're fighting a war and they're making more money than they were three years ago go figure joe biden yeah that it it that is a remarkable a remarkable uh data point because you're right most of their economy the russian economy is driven by oil and gas, right? Right. So what we did is something that was strategically indefensible. We put sanctions on them when what really would have happened, which would damage the Russian economy,

which was curtailing the Russian economy pre-war, was we unleashed our own energy economy. And by unleashing our own energy economy, guess what? That really caused problems in Russia because we could sell more. We sold more liquid natural gas than anyplace else. We sold it cheaper. We could deliver it cheaper. And it benefited our economy and really helped our economy. But it also put the squeeze on Russia now what's happened you know I don't want to get into too much but what's happened is quietly um the the this Biden administration these green new dealers have had to realize that in an election

year they have to try to ease some of the the energy development So they've used some of that energy development. So we're starting to produce more oil and gas again. But that will take a little bit of time before it actually puts some constraints back on Russia. And that isn't why they're doing it to begin with. They're doing it because the prices are so high in our economy because of a bad Biden policy and interference into the economy in that way. Why isn't Congress screaming that the president makes war without consulting Congress? You had

three unfortunate Georgia National Guardsmen, one was a woman, killed in a godforsaken place called Tower 22 in the middle of nowhere at the border of Syria and Jordan. I don't know why the troops were even there. But in response, Joe Biden has set off 85 separate attacks in the Middle East. Over the weekend, Biden's attacks killed the head of a militia group in Iraq who had already told his militia members, stand down. We're not getting involved in a fight with the United States. They killed him anyway. Shouldn't Congress be consulted before this type of war is engaged upon?

Yeah, Judge, some of us in the War Powers Caucus, which is bipartisan, myself, Ro Khanna, some others, Ro Khanna being a Democrat from California, we wrote a letter. We wrote a letter to the president saying, hey, you need to come to Congress. You can't just go out there willy-nilly and act like you have authorities. And we requested he answered questions tell us what authority you're acting under my guess is he thinks he's acting acting under either 2001 probably the 2001 aumf which he believes is broadly construed but the the bottom the bottom line is he should be back at congress and we and then then justify why our soldiers and troops are, we've got 1,000 here, 2,000 there.

We've got thousands all over the Middle East. We've had over 170 attacks on our locales where our men and women are working. And the question is, what are we gaining from that? What does the U.S. get from that? We were much more stable in the region when we were issuing specific sanctions against Iran. And you saw the entrance into the Abraham Accords. And we were energy independent. And we could use soft power to bring stability

to the Middle East. But this notion of just keeping a military buildup there, it really doesn't actually bring stability to the Middle East. In some instances, it may actually increase the instability. Why doesn't Biden stop the slaughter in Gaza? All he has to do is pick up the phone and call Prime Minister Netanyahu and say enough's enough. He's not going to do that. That's a political question for him as much as anything else. And he's, you know, I will tell you that the pro-Gaza folks and the pro-Israel folks that are in the Democrat Party,

they've put Joe Biden into a box. And Biden kind of put himself into that box. And so there is no political win that he can see. So he's, and this is assuming he's making the decisions, Judge. Let's just let's just not kid ourselves too much. This is assuming he's making the decisions. He's got a he's got a political box that he can't get out of right now. And that's that's what's driving that.

Just to lighten things up before we end, as promised, we talked about this before we came on air. One of Thomas Jefferson's successors as secretary of state commenting on the interview between Tucker Carlson and Vladimir Putin. What does that tell you about Tucker Carlson and right-wing media and also Vladimir Putin? Well, it shows me what I think we've all known. He's what's called a useful idiot. I mean, if you actually read translations of what's being said on Russian media, they make fun of him. I mean, he's like a puppy dog. You know, he somehow has, after having been fired from so many outlets in the United States, he, I would not be surprised if he emerges with a contract with a Russian outlet.

Not surprised. Yeah. I mean, Judge, when you told me we're going to have a clip of a former secretary of state, you want to know who a useful idiot was? It was Ms. Hillary Clinton, who was Secretary of State. And we took over a little Staples button. Remember that? She's trying to get this thing to have a reset with Russia. How embarrassing, childish, and immature. And it's reflective of the entire administration's feckless approach to foreign affairs, in my opinion. Because I look at it and

I say, these people think if you know the name of a country, the name of the capital, and roughly where it is located on the globe, you're qualified to be the Secretary of State, when you have no capacity to appreciate history, historical relationships, and the realist sentiment that basically every other nation interprets international relations with. Those nations are realists. We're this goofy bunch of neoliberal institutionalists that believe multilateral institutions really can save us, but the bad people in the world, the tough people in the world, they're realists. And Hillary Clinton and the Biden administration, terrible, terrible foreign policy. They've made the world less safe. Congressman Andy Biggs, always a pleasure, my dear friend.

I hope you'll come back and visit us. We've tried to get this to happen, but the speaker doesn't want to come on the show. Maybe if you catch him at an off moment, you can twist his arm. I'll put a word in for you, Judge. Thank you, Congressman. All the best. Keep going with that War Powers group, because the most dangerous thing the president does is when he starts his own wars. We all know that. All the best, Congressman. Thank you so much, Judge. Talk to you soon. Of course.

All of your favorites coming on for the rest of the week. Scott Ritter, Colonel McGregor, Aaron Matei, Max Blumenthal, Professor Sachs, Professor Mearsheimer, and of course, the Intel Roundtable at the end of the week. Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom. We'll see you next time.