Judging Freedom - Scott Ritter : On My Way to Russia I Met Big Brother.

Episode Date: June 4, 2024

Scott Ritter : On My Way to Russia I Met Big Brother.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Thank you. Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Tuesday, June 4th, 2024. Our dear, my dear friend, dear friend of the show, Scott Ritter joins us now. Scott, a pleasure, my friend. Thank you for joining us. Of course, we didn't expect as recently as two days ago that we would be talking like this. We thought we'd be talking in person in Russia. But before we get to why I am not there, what happened to you yesterday at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York? Well, I was in the process of doing the final boarding of the aircraft where, you know, right before you cross the threshold into the airplane, the airline attendants asked,

you know, just to review your tickets and your passport. And I handed it to them. They motioned to go on the airplane and suddenly three, um, uniformed armed customs and border patrol, um, officers came up and, uh, asked if I was, um, you know, William Scott Ritter Jr. I said, yes, I am. They ushered me out of the line. Um, then they, uh, demanded that I give them my passport, which I complied with. And then they asked me that if this was my only travel document, do I have any other travel documents? I said, no, this is my U.S. passport. It's the passport I use to travel overseas and I have used frequently, including to Russia. And they said, well, we're seizing it. And I said, on what authority? They said, on the orders of the United States State Department. I said, who in the State Department? They said, we don't know. I said, well, who ordered you to do this? So you obviously are, we don't know. We can't tell you. We're not authorized to tell you. They wouldn't give me a receipt for the passport. They just said, you got to contact the State Department. I said, who in the State Department? They said, we don't know. You just, you're going to have to figure that one out.

Then they got my bags off the airplane and escorted me out of the security zone into the general, you know, where you walk in and said, you're free to leave. And that was that. Do you have the names of or a photograph of any of the three of them? No, I mean, I was, I mean, you know, Judge, in retrospect, there's much that I should have done. I was in my mindset getting ready to get on an airplane and go to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. I was focused on that. My mind was already what's going to happen when I land in Russia. And so this took me completely by surprise. And I failed to get the names of the three officers.

And I failed to get a photograph. I mean, there are security systems all over the place. And, you know, I am going to be making a call to the Customs and Border Patrol unit at JFK to get the names of these officers. Whether or not they'll give them to me is another question. Well, eventually you'll get all of this under the proper legal process. speech rights and you're protected by the First Amendment and your right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures protected by the Fourth Amendment and what the Supreme Court has recognized protected by several amendments is your right to travel. Was I with you? No, you weren't. Actually, you weren't with me because I made a phone call to you earlier in the morning recommending that you not travel to Russia.

And it had nothing to do with what happened to me and everything to do with what happened to our sponsor, Alexander Zyryanov, who, from my standpoint, tragically was placed under arrest in Novosibirsk on his way to St. Petersburg. We can discuss that in a moment if you'd like to. I like you. I consider you a friend, not just a colleague. And there was no way, because I'm the guy who came to you and said, hey, Judge, you need to come to Russia. You need to do this. Let's make this happen. I got people that want to talk to you. They extended invitations to you. In retrospect, you could have gone to Russia. But I couldn't guarantee a positive outcome. And I am not going to be responsible for putting Judge Napolitano on an airplane into an unknown situation. Today, I now know that Alexander Zyryanov's team, together with the presidential administration, had cobbled together a group that was going to

receive us and lead us through the St. Petersburg Economic Forum to ensure no hassles, no anything, that nothing bad would have happened. But when I initially got this information, there's my good friend Alexander. When I got the information, I didn't know what was going on. I didn't know if this was reflective of a change in Russian government attitude or policy. And while I am dumb enough to get on a plane and fly into the unknown hoping for the best. I wasn't going to be responsible for that happening to you. So I made a phone call, and I strongly recommended that you not get on that airplane. And we had that phone call about 5 in the morning as I was about to leave my house. The only reason I've asked you this is because of all these news reports that the same thing happened to me has happened to you. I am deeply and profoundly grateful for your friendship, which will be a lifelong friendship,

for the care and courtesy you have for me as a person and for my public persona, and for these efforts to introduce me to people who are interested in what we have to say. And I know those efforts will be unending. You have a very, very serious case against the United States State Department. And many, many lawyers will happily bring that case for you in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, which sits in Brooklyn, but which covers events at JFK. You could also bring it in the Northern District of New York, up in New York State, where you live. You could bring it in either place. I can't imagine what conceivable defense there could be for this. No matter what you and I have said anywhere on the planet about Russia, about Israel, about Gaza, about Ukraine, about Joe Biden, about Vladimir Putin, it is all

protected free speech. Protected because we have the natural right to speak and expressly protected by the First Amendment. The same goes for your right to be free from unreasonable search and seizures. They didn't have a warrant. If they had a warrant, they would have shown it to you. And of course, they violated their own profound regulations by not giving you a receipt. They're supposed to give you a receipt so that when you sue them, the court will know who it is that took this away from you. Now you're going to have to do some investigation on your own. The State Department is huge. Was this Tony Blinken? Was this Jake Sullivan? Or was this some local functionary who didn't like something they heard

you say? It's an outrageous abuse of power. It is profoundly unconstitutional. And I am aggrieved that you, my friend, were hurt by this. But it's bigger than this, Judge. I mean, the State Department, using government-appropriated monies for this purpose, created a Center for Countering Disinformation as an adjunct of the Ukrainian president's office. They did this in 2022. One of the first things that this Center for Countering Disinformation did under the guidance and direction of the State Department of the United States was to issue a blacklist of people that they called information terrorists. And on that blacklist were a large number of Americans, including myself. And this list, this center since that time. And so I've been accused of saying things that make the Ukrainian government unhappy. They now say that I must be hunted down and arrested,

detained, killed, as would any other terrorist in the world and other Americans as well. They have made me, this center, again, with the U.S. State Department's support, has put out a list that, you know, a weekly list where they say, I'm the number one threat to truth about Ukraine. I'm the number one threat to Ukraine. I must be dealt with. They put out a monthly list where I top this list regularly. Plus, there's the Mir Tvoritz hit list run by the Ukrainian intelligence services that I'm on, which marks you for death. They actually assassinate people. They have made two attempts against me on previous trips to Russia. The State Department has never condemned

the Ukrainian intelligence services for marking U.S. citizens for death simply because they disagree with what they say. Free speech means nothing in the Biden America today. It actually, free speech has not only become something that gets you targeted for your passport removal, that's an inconvenience that I am confident will be dealt with in due course. They're marking me for death, Judge, and that's something you don't come back from. And you're telling us that there's some purported NGO, which is actually funded by the State Department, that is behind this. Well, it's behind the most recent outpouring of things. The Center for Countering Disinformation is not an NGO. That's a government that works for the president, the office of the president in Ukraine.

But it's organized, funded, and directed by the State Department. When you look at the meetings where they promulgated the blacklist, in there they say, and at this meeting are the following State Department officials and the following officials from the United States embassy. Now, one would imagine that at any meeting of this nature where somebody said, topping our agenda today is we're going to blacklist 40 American citizens for exercising their, you know, for saying things we disagree with. At that juncture, duty demands that American government officials stand up and say, we object. You can't prosecute Americans for free speech. You can't use American money for this regard. But instead, the U.S. government sat there and supported this, facilitated this. And this is done on the direction of the U.S. Congress. This money was allocated by the U.S. Congress, voted on by the U.S. Congress, which appears to violate, again, not just the intent, but the letter of the law. Congress shall not pass any laws or legislation

that are designed to infringe on the free speech of Americans. Congress gave the Ukrainian government money, which they're using, to infringe on the free speech of Americans. Another example of the government attempting to do indirectly through another government what it can't do directly. So the American Congress, Joe Biden allowed to spend this money however he wants. I think it's $165 billion at last count. He can spend it however he wants, and he's chose to spend some of it in this gaggle of people, Ukrainians and Americans, who have a list of people whom they want to silence and whom they want to kill. This is just not the America that the founders gave us, Scott. You are a remarkable example,

not only of intellectual honesty, but of personal courage. As you know, because we are friends, I will be happy to work on this litigation with you. I hope it doesn't come to that. I hope a couple of phone calls will return your passport. But there's much more of an aggrieved situation here, as you pointed out, than just the passport. And those of you watching ought to know, the world needs to know how corrupt the Joe Biden, Tony Blinken State Department is that they would do something like this, pay to silence Scott Ritter, interfere with his freedom of travel, suppress his rights to free speech, and, I am sorry and almost terrified to utter this, threaten him with death. Well, we'll see where this goes, my dear friend. Joe Biden has threatened Russians with death by publicly authorizing the Ukrainians to use American military equipment to attack inside Russia. How crazy is this? It's the definition of insanity.

First of all, the logic behind this. The Ukrainians have tried to create a narrative that says we can't defend ourselves from Russian aggression emanating from Russian soil unless we are allowed to use all the weapons that we possess. They forget that this is a special military operation that was initiated by Russia in response to Ukraine's eight-year war of aggression against the citizens of Donbass, whom they called terrorists, who they bombarded, killing hundreds of children, thousands of civilians. But this isn't a war. Russia didn't invade Ukraine. Russia sought to bring an end to the Ukrainian actions. And because the United States and other nations have decided to pour in hundreds of billions of dollars in financial and military assistance, this conflict has been

extended and turned into a proxy war between Ukraine and Russia. This isn't about Ukraine wanting to use these weapons. This is about the United States and its NATO allies seeking to use Ukraine as a proxy to inflict the maximum possible damage on Russia. But the fallacy here is they say, well, Russia can't be allowed to have a safe haven on Russian soil from which they get to launch an attack. Well, what do you think all of NATO and Europe is from the Russian perspective? It's a safe haven for Ukraine. They train Ukrainian pilots. If that training was done in Ukraine, they'd all be dead. We repair the Ukrainian equipment, American equipment, German equipment. We repair it on Polish soil, on German soil, in the Baltic states. Repair

facilities are legitimate military targets. When you take a tank off the battlefield, take it back to repair it, to bring it back to the battlefield, that needs to be attacked. All the warehouses where we flow in these hundreds of millions of dollars of military equipment on Polish soil, Romanian soil, et cetera, they can't be attacked by Russia. Ukraine has this massive safe haven, which Russia is powerless to attack. And this is the danger, because if we start playing this game and attacking the Russians, the Russians have made it quite clear that they will retaliate, not just on Ukrainian soil, but on the soil of NATO nations. And this heads us down a very dangerous path that

could very well lead to nuclear war. Here's Foreign Minister Lavrov basically saying we will not put up with this. Cut number one. We have shown that we will not put up with this and that we will not allow Ukraine to be used as a direct threat to our security, as an instrument for the destruction of everything Russian on historical Russian lands. They did this for more than two decades, or even 30 years, immediately after the disappearance of the Soviet Union. Their goal was to destroy everything Russian,

from the language to the government in this territory, which they wanted to take for themselves. And they were counting on it. But as always happens, if they wake up the Russian bear, then our people have united like never before. These are not empty words. We saw this during the Russian presidential elections. The Nazi regime continues to use Western weapons to attack civilian targets, towns, and cities. I assure you that they will not be able to cross this line unnoticed. Does Joe Biden, does Tony Blinken, does Rishi Sunak, does Emmanuel Macron, does Olaf Scholz, does Donald Tusk, President of Poland, do these folks understand the significance of what Foreign Minister Lavrov said and that the Russians don't bluff? No, if they did, they wouldn't be going this far down this path. They are being advised by people who are saying that the Russians are bluffing,

that the Russians lack the capacity to back these words up with meaningful force. There's even people who say, look, Russia's focused on the BRICS summit in October and on bringing the non-aligned world together. Why would Russia risk, you know, a war with the West? Well, because the West is threatening Russia's existential survival. And this is the danger. I mean, even President Putin came out today and said, you know, this is a very dangerous game that's being played that will have fatal consequences for the United States. Judge, in retrospect, it might be a good thing that you and I didn't go to Russia, because I'm very fearful that while the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is underway, that a red line will be crossed and Russia will respond. And we will

be looking at an outbreak of actual war between the United States and Russia. This is why I wanted to travel, because I was hopeful that by speaking to the Russian government, speaking to the Russian people, speaking to the Russian nation about the potential of the American people to do the right thing, you know, come November, maybe vote in somebody who isn't hell bent on going to war with Russia, that the Russians might not be inclined to act precipitously when we cross these red lines. But I was denied that opportunity by the U.S. government. And now, sadly, there's no voice in Russia right now, American voice, that can caution this. The U.S. embassy isn't.

We don't have an American ambassador that's meeting with the Russians on a regular basis saying, this is all misunderstanding. What do we need to do to avoid war? We have a U.S. government together with NATO allies that think Russia's bluffing, and they are seeking to put as much pressure on Russia as possible prior to this peace summit that's being convened by Ukraine and Switzerland in the middle of this month, a peace summit that's falling apart before it even begins. But the operating notion is that we must convince Russia that we are serious about the consequences Russia will accrue if it continues a military engagement against Ukraine, that Russia's only

choice is to be compelled to the peace table. Russia's not playing that game. Russia's playing the game of we've won this war, and if you want to make it a broader war, we'll win that war too. Here's how serious Russia takes it. Here's another statement. This is a full screen. We don't have it on tape from Foreign Minister Lavrov. I'll read it aloud for the benefit of those who are taking the show audio only. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on May 30th, we do not rule out additional steps in the sphere of nuclear deterrence because our command centers and the locations of our nuclear forces will be in range of American forward-based missiles. This is about as serious as you can get.

You know, there's a lot of Americans out there. They're in the armchair warrior category who are like, unleash the attack. The attack, of course, is the long-range, up to 300 up to 300 kilometer range missile that we have provided to the Ukrainians. Ray McGovern, and next time you have Ray on, you can talk to him about this, has highlighted, you know, some of the negotiations are taking place between the Russians and the United States before the initiation of the special military operation. And the Russians kept saying, we can't let NATO into Ukraine because we can't allow American missiles into Ukraine because a lot of these Russian facilities, command centers, et cetera, that Russia uses were conceptualized and constructed during the Soviet Union when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. So from a Russian perspective, they were deep in the Russian rear protected. But if Ukraine now is carved out, made part of NATO, and you insert American missiles there, all of these places

that were thought to be safe in the rear are now reachable. And if America allows Ukraine to use attack missiles to strike these facilities, Russia will nuke NATO, not Ukraine, NATO. And this is what Lavrov just said. If you do this now, according to the Ukrainians, they're complaining that the United States will only allow them to use the HIMARS, that they won't be allowed to use the ATAKAMs to strike Russia yet. But just so everybody in your audience understands, we are one ATAKAMs launch away from everybody dying. We are one attack and launch away from everybody dying. The Russians aren't playing games here. from which the missiles came, to which the missiles were delivered, at which their accelerant facilities are stored and repaired. And many Americans who are manning those facilities.

Do we have any idea how many Americans are dead already? Didn't the Russians recently attack some NATO facility and you hear nothing, with 100 people died and you hear nothing about it in the West? Well, I'm always a little leery of these reports about the magic Russian missile that hit a underground bunker because there's no reason for NATO, the United States to hazard NATO members or American members. Remember, I talked about that safe haven. Why put 300 people into Ukraine in a bunker when you could have 300 people in Poland in a bunker that's not going to get hit by a Russian missile and have the same connectivity. So I always view these reports as a little suspicious. standpoint, I can't see any American or NATO member allowing that many Americans or NATO officials to congregate in one place on Ukrainian soil, knowing that the Russians would find it and

destroy it. I do believe the Russians did take out an underground facility. It's a facility that was used by the Ukrainians. There may have been some NATO advisors or contracted personnel, but the idea of 300 Americans and NATO soldiers or officials dying in one attack, I just think it's far-fetched and just part of the fiction that often appears on social media. Do you think Russia would attack Berlin, Paris, London? Russia has said they will attack Berlin, Paris, London, Brussels. Russia will attack the decision-making centers associated with any attack against Russia that Russia deems to represent an existential threat. Let's get back to the ATAKOMs. The ATAKOM system uses a guidance system, a GPS guidance system backed by an

inertial guidance system that requires specific information to be loaded into the system. That can only be done by an American. I'll just repeat that one more time. That can only be done by an American. Got to be top secret, whatever it is. Now it's not just, now we get to the next part. That information will be transmitted from collection platforms, overhead satellites, drones, other ground and air breathing intelligence collection resources. They collect data. That data goes to a center inside Poland or in Germany where that data is collated and is put together into a target package, which is transmitted, again, using top secret, you know, communications channels that the Ukrainians don't have access to. So we have somebody on the ground in Ukraine receiving this package from somebody who planned it outside of Ukraine, and then they will put it into the missile. And then the

Ukrainians do the last part, which is to push the button and launch it. But every other aspect was done by American hands and the Russians know this. And so wherever in Europe, this planning is taking place, this collation of intelligence data, this communication of targeting data, these are now legitimate targets that Russia will take out either either conventionally or, if required, using nuclear weapons. And if the Germans are party to this, Macron needs to understand if the Ukrainians use the French-provided scout missiles, the same thing applies. The targeting data that goes inside can only be put in place by a French actor. There's the missile I used to inspect, and that is a game changer. If that's ever used in anger, we will lose one to three American cities.

Do the Russians have a missile capability that we cannot intercept or neutralize? Yes. Pretty much every modern Russian missile is designed to evade American and NATO missile defense on the strategic level. They have hypersonic missiles, they have maneuvering hypersonic warheads, they have similar capabilities at the tactical and, you know, what's called intermediate level. We can't defend against this. And the bottom line is that the Russians launched the missiles. Those missiles will hit the targets they're aimed at. And if those targets, if those missiles have nuclear weapons, those nuclear weapons will detonate where they're supposed to.

And this will be devastating. It will be the end of Europe at a minimum and potentially the end of the United States and the end of Russia and the end of the world. Paul Jay Do Biden, Blinken, Sullivan, Austin, etc., the President, the Secretary of State, the National Security Advisor, the Secretary of Defense, understand the gravity of this moment as you've explained it? Or are they just propagandists? You know, I used to have a friend named William Polk, and I say used to because tragically he passed away a couple of years ago. But William Polk was a man who was in the inner circle for

John F. Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis. And he talks about, and he's talked to me many times about the decision-making that was going on and the role that Kennedy played in preventing a nuclear war, the maturity Kennedy had as a leader. Part of that maturity came from when Kennedy was first briefed on what was then called the Single Integrated Operation Plan, the SIOP, the American War Plan. He went to the Pentagon and they briefed him. They said, if we go to nuclear war, this is what we got. And basically, it was premised on the notion that America will be the largest surviving civilization, but in order to guarantee that, we have to kill everybody in the world. And he came out and said, that's insane. I'm not doing

that. And he turned to his advisor and said, and we call ourselves the human race. And he said, you have to give me options. Every president since then, or up until George W. Bush, reacted the same way. When they first got that briefing on how America plans to go to war, which is to destroy the entire world so that when the 20 to 30% of America that survives will be the largest remaining civilization cluster in the world, guaranteeing American global dominance in a post-nuclear conflict insanity. They all said the same thing. Insane. Give me options. I can't go to that. You can't make me do this. You have to give me options. And the Pentagon always gave them options that inevitably led to that. Since the end of the Soviet Union, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Americans have downplayed their nuclear war plan. We detargeted our missiles. Nothing was automatic anymore. We're heading in a path of, you know, getting rid of nuclear weapons.

And then George W. Bush came in a post--11 environment and said, we will use our nuclear weapons to ensure that a 9-11 never happens again. And we reinserted nuclear war planning into our military doctrine. And today we have that same mindset, that same nuclear war strategy without the maturity of John F. Kennedy. We have people who look at the plan and say, well, that's just a plan. We're not really going to do that. And they say the Russians are bluffing. We don't have to worry about this. The problem is the second something happens and that plan is pulled out, the dust is blushed off, and we start pushing buttons, we go to the scenario that John F. Kennedy said was insanity. Judge, we're going to blow up the entire world because we know that in a post-nuclear environment, we can't allow, for instance, India to survive intact because we're going to be reduced to 30% of our capacity. We can't allow India to have a superior civilization in a post-nuclear conflict. We're going to destroy the entire world. That's what the American nuclear war plan is. And the American people need to wake up and understand it's on full automatic, full

automatic. You see why the state, almost at CIA, but I see why the State Department's afraid of you because you speak the truth, because you've given understanding that the government doesn't want people to have. And a 45-year-old JFK had more maturity, understanding, and grasp of morality than an 81-year-old, barely competent Joe Biden. Scott, no matter what we talk about, it's a pleasure to talk to you. You are an American treasure, as I wrote in a blurb for your forthcoming book. I mean it from all my heart. And we'll do some battle together against the State Department. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your courage. Thank you for being you. Thank you, Judge, for having me on. And I look forward to working with you down the road. Of course. Wow. The rest of the afternoon is prepared for you as well. At 2 o'clock, Matt Ho. How can we talk about anything other than this?

At 2 o'clock, Matt Ho. At 3 o'clock, Colonel Kwiatkowski. At 4 o'clock, Colonel Kwiatkowski at four o'clock. The aforementioned Ray McGovern, who's dying to talk about Scott Ritter. We will. John Napolitano for Judging Freedom. Thank you. Редактор субтитров А.Семкин Корректор А.Егорова