Judging Freedom - Schumer Bows to Zelensky w/Matt Hoh

Episode Date: September 21, 2023

Schumer Bows to Zelensky w/Matt HohSee 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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Save $80 with code SPACE80 at Talkspace.com. Thanks for watching! Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Thursday, September 21st, 2023. Matt Ho joins us now. Apologies for the little internet blip from which we have happily recovered. Matt, always a pleasure. Welcome here. We give each of these segments a title, and we entitled yours, Chuck Schumer bows to Zelensky because of this. Thank you so much. We are in your corner. You ever seen anything like that before in your years in the government? No, I, you know, it's, it you'm aghast, first of all, that those are the two representatives of the United States, Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer, that are standing there like that.

You know, not to go off on a tangent on this, but we have a gerontocracy in this country. You could see that I think with this leadership that exhibits continually an inability to function in the public eye. And so if you could imagine that they can't get together, like if you can't get the Senate majority leader together to meet the head of the vassal that is taking a hundred billion dollars a year from us and not embarrass himself in our country, then what are they doing in private then what are they what's occurring behind closed doors what types of decisions are being made i mean that's what i take away from seeing that yeah but so which is worse chuck schumer saying we're in your corner double entendre on corner because uh zielinski's cornered or a mitch mcconnell looking like he didn't have anything to say or like, who are you? What are you doing here? I don't know which is worse. And listen, I know them both. I'm

not speaking negatively of someone's health issues. I wish he were healed of it, but I'm not sure which of the two of them is a worse example or I should say a better example of government at its worst. You know, and particularly the way our system works and the fact that they're obviously still in that position because of the clout and the political power that they hold that's exact, that that's exerted or executed through their subordinates. And that's all got to do with the money that runs our system, right? The corruption of our system, the legalized bribery of our system. So having those two at the top still is valuable for very important, wealthy, well-established entities in this country. To your point about the being cornered, the United States is cornered,

Judge, because we have been putting all this money into a corrupt government. We see this over and over again. The seven top Ukrainian defense ministry officials were just fired because of corruption, right? You had the Ukrainian defense minister fired earlier this month because of corruption, as well as the fact that Ukraine's summer 2023 offensive has failed. You had that scandal where all of the recruiting command, commanding officers for the Ukrainian military were fired in August. I mean, so what we are doing in the United States is we have put ourselves in a corner. Because if you even begin to let go of the idea of diminishing funding to that corrupt country, that corrupt country will fall apart. It will collapse. I mean, we saw that happen in Afghanistan.

As soon as the threat of the money drying up, it causes the house of cards to collapse. And so that is the corner that the United States has been placed in by the Biden administration, because it's either continue this war, go along with all this fruitless and worthless and eventually counterproductive killing and destruction, or pull out and then see a collapse of Ukraine, you know, and then all the things that could come from that. So really the corner is Zelensky's corner. But, you know, importantly for us and our viewers here in the U.S., the United States is also cornered because of the decisions of this administration. Gary, put up the donor countries chart. Take a look at this, Matt, a chart depicting who's given what.

No surprise. Look at the United States up there. Now, this is just weapons and equipment. The actual number for the U.S., well, the number shown there is $46.6 billion, but we're actually north of $100 billion because the rest is in cash and payment of Ukraine bills for them. But do the math. We are greater than all the others combined, Matt. So a serious threat that that first bar is going to shrink or stop. What is Zelensky going to do? Head for Miami? Right. I mean, I think if I was Zelensky, I'd be thinking of ways to get out of this. I don't think he's that type of person. I think he sees himself as a historic figure and wants to continue that, wants to be the great man of the age, wants to be this age's Churchill, if you will.

But certainly finding a way out, have the head of the army, Zoluzhny, run for president when they finally get around to having elections, if they ever do. That gives him an out. But it's certainly because if that money stops again, just the fear of the money stops, starts a chain reaction where the corruption, oh, my God, I'm not getting my payday. And so that that pyramid starts to fall in on itself. And again, we saw that in Afghanistan. We saw that in Iraq. You see that. So the government is probably going to shut down on October 1st. I don't know what is in the pipeline already, and I don't know the effect of the shutdown on aid to Ukraine, because a lot of the DOD is not subject to the shutdown. So that fear may be in Zelensky's gut. He's walking around the Capitol as we speak. That fear may be in his gut right now. If one of those House Republicans calls him over and says, by the way, this government is shutting down in 10 days. Well, we saw, too.

Well, first of all, the money, the money will run out regardless whether or not it would be authorized. However, it's authorized through DOD or through the State Department. The money runs out anyway. The pot of money that was authorized by Congress for Ukraine is running dry. And we saw this in Iraq and Afghanistan. Is that because Joe has spent it all or because the fiscal year ends on September 30th? Well, both, both actually. So you have the possibility of them still having funds remaining on September 30th? Well, both, both actually. So you have the possibility of they're not, of them still having funds remaining on September 30th to spend, but also too, they have run through most of the money, including that $6 billion plus up that they gave themselves,

right? Remember several months ago. Right. Over their own lousy, supposed lousy bookkeeping. And of course it went, the, the the book, the error went in their favor. Yeah, I mean, but you know, so you have this, this, this, this, what happens if the money runs out? And I could tell you, I saw it in Iraq, and I saw it in Afghanistan, when the money for whatever administrative reason didn't reach the Iraqi police or the Iraqi army or the Afghan police or the Afghan army, they went home, you know, and you have that case of what happens if the money dries up. There's also some really troubling things that have come out of Washington this last week. If you read the letter that J.D. Vance and Chip Roy sent from Congress to the White House saying, look, we're really concerned about this money because you

don't have a plan. What you said would happen hasn't happened. But, you know, there's some other things in there, too, that that they rose that they brought up that was very concerning. One is that there are amounts involved here that we don't even know. So as Vance and Roy said in their letter to the White House, we've authorized one hundred and fourteen billion. But that's undoubtedly on the low end. I'm paraphrasing now because there's been all kinds of- But Matt, Chuck Schumer and Kevin McCarthy said, we don't need inspectors general. And when Senator Rand Paul and Congressman Thomas Massey

moved to amend this stuff, they ended up voting against it anyway, to add inspectors general, it never came to the floor for a vote. Correct. There is a really great story in the USA Today at the beginning of this month, I think it was on September 5th. And it was about how 3.3 million.50 caliber rounds went from the United States to Ukraine. How does that stuff actually get there? Who does it? What companies are involved? Anyway, the contractor involved at one point gives this quote, and he says, yeah, war is bad.

Loss of life is bad. But the money is so good. Right. And that's what's underlying all the money is so good. There's so much profit and there's so much also, too, in terms of how long can this go on for? We've said this before. As long as there's a political interest in it, as long as there's, it's politically desirous of this. I can guarantee you that both Mitch McConnell and, and Chuck Schumer this week are sending out fundraising appeals with them standing next to Zelensky.

I mean, all the members of Congress that went today to meet with Zelensky as he shows up in his, you know, his work outfit, you know, his work outfit, you know, his war outfit. Not that it matters because Chuck Schumer, as you probably know, has changed the rules of dress for the Senate floor anyway. But the standard for the Senate is no Senator Fetterman. Exactly. Exactly. So you can see the pandering that goes on here, right? I mean, like, I mean,

like people might think we're getting off on something here, but we're really not. It shows the fact that you've had a level of decorum. The Senate is the highest chamber of the United States government. All types of legacy and history to it. They pride themselves that way. But in order to pander to one newly elected senator from Pennsylvania, they're going to change the rules addressed to allow this guy to wear a sweatshirt and basketball shorts on the Senate floor. So if you can understand that, you can understand then how the pandering can go across the board. The problem that comes down to, and if people watching this past week, the interactions between, say, Ukraine and Poland and the divisiveness that's occurring there, a lot of it stemming from the fact that Ukrainian grain and wheat has flooded European markets. A lot of it got to do, most of that has to do with the fact that Russia is blockading Ukraine's ability to ship that wheat via sea. So it has

to go over land. And Poland, Hungary, Slovakia are banning the import of Ukrainian wheat and grains now. And that has escalated to the point that the Ukrainian ambassador was called in to the Polish foreign ministry. A planned meeting between the president of Poland and the president of Ukraine didn't happen this week at the UN General Assembly. And just in the last two days, the Poles have very vocally, very overtly announced that we're not giving any more weapons to the Ukrainians. Now, this may happen simply because the Poles have given everything they can give. We've got nothing more to give. But you know what?

If that's the case, why say it out loud? Why make it into a major incident? And my thoughts looking at this from the American perspective is that American diplomacy is so bad. We can't handle dealing with nations that aren't aligned with our interests. How do we expect them to handle our own problems within our own alliances? And so you see this fracturing start to occur because the decisions that were made 18 months ago, two years ago, back in 2014, all those decisions are now starting, those consequences are starting to birth, right, the children of those consequences.

Right. Gary, put the chart up again for a second. I want to see how much the Polish government has given. I think it was 3.3 billion. Right. Yes, it is 3.3 billion. All right. So that's going to stop. This is a full blown political crisis, Matt. Watch the prime minister of Poland outside the UN yesterday comparing Ukraine to a swimmer who's drowning and dragging the lifeguard down with him. Now, this is in Polish, so I'm going to have to speak over it and read the subtitles. This is about as creepy and catastrophic and poignant an analogy as you've seen the head of a government make. It's like we're dealing with a drowning person. Anyone who has experienced rescuing a drowning person knows

that it is extremely dangerous because he can pull you to the depths. He has unimaginable strength due to fear and the influence of adrenaline and can simply drown the rescuer. Matt, this was Ukraine's strongest supporter a year ago. This was the country that put 90,000 troops on their border and there are 40,000 American troops with them. This is the country that talked about putting boots on the ground in Ukraine, now washing their hands of it. Right. Poland is a country that up until a few months ago, I would have thought would have provided 25,000, 30,000 volunteers in the coming years to the war in Ukraine.

And now you have this this this issue, which is a very real issue. And this has got to do with Polish domestic politics. They have an election coming up in October. The war in Ukraine has really hurt the polls. It's really hurt the Europeans. It's hurt people all around the world. And just as an aside to the CNN reported today that it's believed that Ukrainian drones attacked Wagner forces in Sudan. So now you can see the war militarily expanding around the globe as well. But, you know, this idea of of what we're saying before about the consequences of decisions. I mean, the root of this, the hurt that the polls are under because of this war,

this all goes back to 18 months ago, not negotiating with Russia, right? It goes back to disavowing, cheating on the Minsk Accords. This goes back to the coup in 2014. It goes back to 2007 saying Ukraine would be a part of NATO. This goes back to 2007 saying Ukraine will be part of NATO. This goes back to 97 goes back to Bill Clinton saying, you know, NATO expansion is good for me because I'll get Eastern European votes in the Midwest of the US. All these things. here in the U.S. Well, now those folks who are saying that are looking like they might have had an idea of what might have happened. Certainly, I don't think anyone had crystal balls to say exactly what happened. But certainly the idea that the Polish government and party for its own domestic political interests is turning its back on Ukraine to deal with it.

You know that it's going to occur over and over and over again throughout the chickens are coming home. The chickens are coming home to roost. You may have seen this and our audience has seen it, but I want to play it again. This is Joe Biden's version of the modern history of Russia in the world. Here he is at the U.N. two days ago. We strongly support Ukraine in its efforts to bring about a diplomatic resolution that delivers just and lasting peace. Russia alone, Russia alone bears responsibility for this war. Russia alone has the power — bears responsibility for this war. Russia alone has the power to end this war immediately.

And it's Russia alone that stands in the way of peace, because Russia's price for peace is Ukraine's capitulation, Ukraine's territory, and Ukraine's children. Russia believes that the world will grow weary and allow it to brutalize Ukraine without consequence. But I ask you this — if we abandon the core principles of the United States to appease an aggressor, can any member state in this body feel confident that they are protected? If we allow Ukraine to be carved up, is the independence of any nation secure? I'd respectfully suggest the answer is no. We have to stand up to this naked aggression today and deter other would-be aggressors tomorrow. That's why the United States, together with our allies and partners around the world,

will continue to stand with the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their sovereignty and territorial integrity and their freedom. Matt, he was a flop at the UN, an absolute flop, suggesting that Ukraine wants a negotiated peace when it was Russia that asked for a negotiated peace 16, 17 months ago, saying that Russia could stop the war tomorrow. He could stop the war right then and there. If he walked down and said to Zelensky right there on the floor of the General Assembly, it's over. Zelensky would have stopped the war.

Yeah, a couple of things that stand out in that speech he gave, really the main thing is the hypocrisy. As he's talking about the values of the United States and fighting aggressors and standing up for human rights, the same day he's saying that, literally at the same moment, the New York Times is publishing a major story on the proposed U.S.-Saudi defense pact. I mean, so Saudi Arabia, no worse violator of human rights. They have killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis in their brutal war of aggression. And that is what's being negotiated. At the same time, too, Joe Biden talked about Russia wanting to carve up other nations, while it doesn't take much of a Google search to go back and find Joe Biden's remarks

during the Iraq war, where he talked about carving up Iraq, about partitioning Iraq. I mean, so this hypocrisy is important because it shows that there is no substance to the strategy. There is nothing that underlies or is foundational to what they are trying to accomplish here in the West. Your point about negotiations, Judge, absolutely spot on. Not just at the beginning of the war after Russia invaded, but before the war, throughout the last eight years, the coup. Thomas Friedman, who is important to read because he reflects a certain mindset that has power in this country, not because he's correct or he's wise. But if Friedman had a very long column in the New York Times this past week on Ukraine, and he does have a very important

section in there, very brief, because that was probably all he allowed to have, basically saying that territory will have to be ceded to Russia in order to achieve some degree of peace. But everything else in there, you read it and it talks about how important Ukraine is, what type of industrial force it could be, how it could transform the European Union. And you look, read this. How can you read this and think that anything, anything could have been done? Why wasn't anything else done then? If it's so important, why wasn't everything done to preserve this, protect this country that is so important, as opposed to expose it and to use it as a pawn for the empire's own ambitions? And that's something we got to keep coming back to, is that President Joe Biden is going to give a speech to the UN that dictates the needs of the empire. Correct. Of the empire and of his re-election. Exactly. And his re-election. It's all short-term political interests. And in terms of the US presidency, the goal of every president is to, if not expand the empire, maintain it. And the

slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, the loss to their family, the destruction of that country, the environmental devastation, the consequences of the world. So be it if that's what's required for the benefit of the empire. Right. Right. Gary, let's run it again. It's repellent to see this as the two leaders of the United States Senate, one of them bowing to President Zelensky, the other mumbling something utterly incoherent. But this is where America is today. are in your corner. I don't know what McConnell said, but maybe it's just the acoustics. You know, I was thinking today, because there were supposedly some members of Congress who did attend the meeting with President Zelensky, who are opposed to the U.S. role in

Ukraine. And hopefully he did hear at least one or two frank and candid and honest voices on his visit to D.C. today, because he's not getting it from those two. He's not going to get it from Jake Sullivan, President Biden, the White House. Mike McCaul, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, when asked what, Gary, do we have that where he said he's winning, asked what Zelensky told the Republicans in their conference, he said, he told us he's winning. That he's winning, that he's winning, but that I asked, what do you need? What's your plan for victory? What do you need?

Two things. He took air cover of the F-16s and the attackers. He needs the long-range artillery to hit Crimea where the Iranian drones are coming out of. He doesn't have it. Right now his troops are going in with no air cover. They have to take the mines by hand at nighttime. We wouldn't send our troops into that situation. So we need to give them everything they need. If this administration won't give it to them, then I submitted that we write it in our appropriations bill.

Blaming it on the administration. They're all of one mind. Question, what are ATTACOMs? I know that's an acronym for something. What is it, Matt? Yeah. Well, first of one mind. Question, what are ATTACOMs? I know that's an acronym for something. What is it, Matt? Yeah. Well, first of all, let me correct the congressman because we did look for minds. We called them IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan by hand. And there are plenty of young men. There's still young men who are walking around without, not walking around, excuse me, who have no legs, who have no testicles, who have no hands because of those wars that McCaul was a cheerleader for. So this idea that we wouldn't put our boys into what we're putting the Ukrainian boys is complete nonsense. It just shows, again,

the mendacity and the meanness of empire. But the ATAKOMs are the latest wonder weapon. They are a TACM stand for Army Tactical Missile System. It has a range about 200 miles. So very similar to the Storm Shadows you've heard about, the HIMARS you heard about, but with a longer range and probably more advanced target location capabilities, probably better equipped to evade Russian air defenses. And I think what you're going to see is this will prompt, like everything else will, an escalation of the war. These attackams will be used against Crimea as we're staying there. They'll be used against the Kerch Bridge, so the bridge that connects Crimea. They'll be used on the Ukrainian civilians in eastern Ukraine,

or we're speaking Russian. Right, exactly. They will. They'll be used. And then, of course, at what point, then what do the Russians do? So Vladimir Putin is going to have to make a choice, his people are going to make a choice, and their choice will be to accelerate. Right. And we just, you know, it's been about a year since the Nord Stream pipeline was destroyed. It's been about a year since the first attack on the Kerch Bridge occurred. And what was the Russian response to that? They went after critical Ukrainian infrastructure. That's when they start bombing the power plants. That's when they start hitting the transmission cables. Right. I mean, so the response will be respiratory. It will be it will, of course, be escalatory as well And it's a wonder weapon. I mean, and we've seen this over and over and over again. I think there's a gree

here too, though, that the Americans have to show that they're doing something, but the Americans are also eager to see how these weapons work in combat. And I think they've been frustrated with how unsuccessful some of these weapons have been. And so to put the attack into combat now gives them an idea of how well will these weapons work, not simply against the Russians, but ultimately against the Chinese. Because I think so much of D.C. and particularly the Pentagon, their emphasis is China. So let's test these attack them out against the Russians, see how well the Russians can counter them, what we have to do to beat the Russians with them to beat their defenses. And then we can further enhance the attack them to use them against the Chinese when we go to war

with them. We'll end on this note. One of our commenters says, President Zelensky just bought a mansion here in Cauca, C-A-U-C-A, Columbia, next to Coca Field. Maybe he's going to go south instead of going east at the end of his trip in Washington, D.C. Who the heck knows?

I would have bet, Judge, he would have gone to Dubai with Ashraf Ghani. You know, I mean, you're getting to the point where you could have a commune, a resort set up for all these former U.S. puppets because they have to go someplace when the House of Cards collapses. They'll probably ask for some American

aid even though they've stolen tens of millions already. Shouldn't laugh at it. We shouldn't. It's terrible. It's tragic, but it's, it's, you know, what, uh, what Socrates said, the intersection of the tragic and the comic is like light and shadow, right? Like this is, this is what we're dealing with here. And this is the human condition. And all we can do is stand against it because if that's all we can do, then that's, that's what we do.

Matt Ho, thank you very much for joining us. Always a pleasure, my friend. Thanks, Judge. There you have it. Let me give you the schedule for tomorrow because I didn't give the times the last time. Bear with me for a second. So tomorrow on Friday, the roundtable, the intelligence roundtable, that's Larry Johnson and Ray McGovern. Boy, do we have a lot to cover.

Did the American intelligence community know that the polls were going to turn off the spigot just like that? And at 3.30, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, what is the origin of COVID? And how bad did Joe Biden and Vladimir Zelensky do with the United Nations this week? And of course, as always, more as we get it. Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom. Thanks for watching!