Judging Freedom - Ukraine - an Honest conversation with You pt.2

Episode Date: February 24, 2023

Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Friday, February 24, 2023. It's about 125, close to 130 in the afternoon here on the east coast of the United States. This is Hot Topics, and I have two today. One is Ukraine, and the other is the Alex Murdoch murder trial. First on Ukraine, sometimes, as you know, you guys can message me during the show, and sometimes we get hundreds, even thousands of these. And one of them has come through that has caught my attention, and it basically says, Biden should tell us how many U.S. troops he is willing to sacrifice on World War III since he's taking us there. That is a great question. I wish that the Defense Department would tell us first how many U.S. troops are there. We know approximately how many

U.S. troops are in Poland. It's 40,000. It includes about 10,000 paratroopers from the 101st Airborne in North Carolina are now in Poland. But we don't know how many troops are on the ground in Ukraine, either in uniform or out of uniform. Colonel McGregor and Scott Ritter, Scott will be on in a few hours. Colonel McGregor was on the other day and, of course will be with us again next week, have told us that American troops are out of uniform. Some crazy theory so that President Biden can say we don't have troops on the ground. I think this is nuts because the Geneva Convention protections require that you wear a uniform and have a recognizable insignia on the uniform. So putting American troops out of uniform is highly dangerous. You've heard me talk about this. Even though I am of the view that Russia is going to win this war and America is merely

extending it by providing military support. And America shouldn't be doing that because we don't have a dog in the fight, because Russia does not pose one iota of danger to the United States. It doesn't mean that I'm without feeling for Ukraine and Russian loss. I mean, who's dying? Young men, young conscripts or young volunteers, old men wage war, young men fight war, and young men die. Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have disappeared. No sign of their bodies. The Wall Street Journal is reporting this this morning, that Ukrainian authorities don't know if their bodies have been destroyed, if they're still alive and they've been captured by the Russians, or if they've just been evaporated somehow in the detritus, the aftermath, the dirt and foul and filth that is residual on the ground after a battle. But there are thousands of young men, Ukrainian young men, whose bodies, or if alive, whose whereabouts are totally unknown to Ukrainian authorities and to their folks back home. While this is happening, the United States is sending 200 American soldiers to Taiwan. 200? First of all, that is such a small number. There's only 200

there now. So I don't know what 400 troops are going to do if the Chinese decide that they want to take Taiwan. But Joe Biden has said, we will fight this war. Here we go again. The person who sent the message in a few minutes ago that I just read is quite correct. Old Joe is leading us to World War III in Ukraine. He also wants to lead us, I guess, to World War III in Taiwan. I think he wants to run for re-election as a wartime president,

like his heroes, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt. And it wouldn't surprise me if timing is of the essence here, because for him to be a wartime president, these wars would have to get started pretty soon. Hence the demonization of the Chinese and hence the continued demonization of the Russians. A lot more troops in Eastern Europe than in Taiwan. China, meanwhile, is calling for a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire. Andy, are you ready for this? It's offered to mediate. Now, I've mediated a lot of disputes in my years as a judge, but I was the neutral. Obviously, I was the judge. I didn't have an interest in the outcome. I wasn't secretly siding with one of the two parties. How the hell could anybody take China seriously that they want to mediate the dispute between Russia and Ukraine

when they are supplying Russia with whatever it needs, whether it's cash, whether it's gold, which obviously works on the international markets, or whether it's armaments. It just doesn't make sense. But that's the latest out of China this morning. U.S. sending 200 troops to Taiwan, God have mercy on them. China's saying, stop the fighting. Let us be the mediator. I can't imagine that Ukraine would take China seriously. Dmitry Medvedev, do you remember that name? He's the Putin puppet who was the president of Russia when the Russian constitution had term limits. So Putin was elected president twice and couldn't be reelected. Dmitry Medvedev came in for four years and then Putin was elected and

reelected and reelected and they got rid of the clause, the term limits and the Russian constitution. But Dmitry Medvedev is in the Putin government. He's a Putin ally slash puppet. He is the vice chair of the Russian equivalent of our National Security Council. So the head of the military, the head of the intelligence services, et cetera, would sit on that council. You would think that when he speaks, he's speaking on behalf of the government. What he said yesterday is absolutely chilling. Absolutely chilling. Russia intends to liberate all of Ukraine, even to the Russian, even to the Polish border, and will capture some of Poland if necessary. Now, even if that's their plans, I don't know why they'd say it. I don't know what justification there possibly could be morally, legally to take any of Poland.

This is exactly what the president of Poland wants to hear because he wants to strike at the Russians before they get anywhere near his border. of NATO would certainly trigger Article 5, which is the defense mechanisms of all the NATO countries, including the United States. At the same time that President Medvedev said this, the president of Poland once said he wanted to see Crimea liberated, which is a military impossibility. It's filled with Russian speakers and has been part of Russia for 300 years, was recaptured without a shot being fired by the Russians right around the time of, or a little bit after the coup that threw out the pro-Russian Ukrainian president, that's the American coup, the CIA fommented coup in 2014. Anyway, the Polish president said that the Polish prime minister, they have a system with a president and a prime minister, has delivered Leopard tanks to Ukraine.

Now, Leopard tanks are German tanks. According to Colonel McGregor, who spent 40 years in the military in charge of tanks, these are better tanks than the American Abrams tank. They don't require as much maintenance and they don't break down as frequently. But these tanks have already been delivered by the Germans to the Poles, by the Poles to the Ukrainians. The Daily Mail, which is a very interesting website, if you want a website that looks at the world a little differently, it's a British website, says that the Americans are prepared to spend $113 billion. Now, the number that Congress approved was $100 billion. There's always what they call rounding errors in there because the price of equipment changes, so there

may be a little buffer zone in there. But basically, President Biden has a blank check for $100 billion. The Daily Mail says it's $113 billion. What's a few billion between friends, friends that are killing each other? I'm being a little snarky here. Uh and that the president has spent 48 billion already. The remaining billion, the difference between 48 and 100 or 48 and 113, whatever the true number is, is his to spend however he wants without monitoring by any Inspector General. The Inspector General proposals in the House of Representatives

and the Senate were never brought to a vote. So the situation remains very volatile in Ukraine. This morning, the American Secretary of the Army said, tanks, forget about it for a year. We're building them. Now, if the tanks don't get there for a year, I would like to think that Colonel McGregor and Scott Ritter are right. The war will be over in a year, and the Russians will have declared victory. It may not be the total victory that they had hoped for, but it'll be enough of the Russian-speaking areas in the east out of which they will have repelled the Ukrainian government.

But waiting a year for these tanks is a year too late and far too little to help the Ukrainians. Alex Murdoch, this is the lawyer on trial for the double murder, he's been indicted for blowing the heads off of his wife and one of his sons, made the very risky decision that under the law only a defendant can make, because lawyers can't make it for him. They can advise him, but they can't make the decision to testify. In fact, in a criminal case, when it's time for the defense to present their case, the judge puts the jury out of the courtroom

and personally interrogates, I've done this many times, the defendant saying, do you understand that you don't have to testify? Yes, I do, Your Honor. Do you understand that if you don't testify,

I will tell the jury that they can construe nothing from your silence, that you have an absolute right to remain silent, that there's no obligation for you to testify. Yes, I understand that. You also understand if you testify, the prosecutors over there get to cross-examine you. Yes, I understand that when they cross-examine you, they can ask you about anything, even things that you didn't testify about in your direct examination, anything that would affect whether or not the jury will believe you. Yes, I understand that. Having heard all that, is it still your decision to testify? Yes, it is. And then the court asks defense counsel, are you satisfied that he knows what he's doing and testifying? Yes, we are. To the prosecutors, are you satisfied that he knows what he's doing and testifying? Yes, we are. To the prosecutors, are you satisfied that he knows what he's doing and testifying?

Yes, we are. The reason you have that Q&A is because of the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees you defense of counsel in a case where you could go to jail for more than a year. Defense means a competent defense, and a competent defense means that the lawyers have advised their client of the risk of testifying. Now, Murdoch himself is a lawyer, not a criminal lawyer, but a lawyer, but he understands, I think, what he's doing. So he took the stand. I watched a lot of it yesterday and a little bit of it is very, very emotional In my view, he clearly and convincingly denied, believably, credibly denied Killing his wife and son Watch And in the interview of August 11th

Did you tell Agent Owen and Agent Craw Did you lie to them by telling them that you were not down at the kennels on that night? Yes. Alec, why did you lie? As my addiction evolved over time, I would get in these situations or circumstances where I would get paranoid thinking. And it could be anything that triggered it.

It might be a look somebody gave me. It might be a reaction somebody had to something I did. I wasn't thinking clearly. I don't think I was capable of reason. And I lied about being down there. And I'm so sorry that I did. Most of all, I'm sorry to Mags and Pawpaw. I would never intentionally do anything to hurt either one of them. Mags and Pawpaw are family nicknames for his wife and son, whose brains literally were blown out by a shotgun fired at a close range. I think that's a credible

and convincing denial. I mean, that's just 65 or 70 seconds. He testified for five or six hours on direct, another three or four hours yesterday on cross, and now today, almost all day on cross-examination. We'll analyze the cross-examination for you on Monday. From what I have seen, the prosecutor is coming off as a jackass. And Alex is not being shaken at all in his story. He did give very varied versions to the police at the scene of where he was and what he was doing. His reference to his addiction is the well-known to the jury and to those watching the trial, addiction that he has to painkillers from some accident that he had.

The doctor gave him painkillers and he got addicted to them and then he started stealing them and then he started stealing money to pay for illegal painkillers. And this, of course, changes and deranges your mind as well. So in order to take the witness stand and say, I didn't kill my wife and son, he had to admit that he lied to the police. He also had to admit, and he did admit it, that he stole three3.5 million in cash from the trust accounts of his law firm. It's not law firm money. This is client money that the law firm was holding for him. He's been indicted for those thefts, and now he's already admitted them. It's a very emotional, very difficult, very complex examination for the lawyers because they have to get him to admit that he lied to the

police, a crime, that he committed the crimes for which he's going to be tried as soon as this trial is over. But in order to get on the witness stand and say, I didn't kill my wife and I didn't kill my son, I would never do it, which you just heard him say, he has to admit to other crimes. From my perspective, fascinating and complex. More as we get it. Scott Ritter at three o'clock today, Friday, February 24, on judging freedom on the latest in Ukraine. And something for all of you that are watching us now. Why? Why? I'm so happy because of you because yesterday judging freedom crossed the threshold of 100 thousand subscribers on YouTube. That's not because of me. That's because of you. It's because of your faith in our

show. It's only been around for 17 months. That puts us in the elite. If I were a quarterback, I'd be up there with Tom Brady. All right, let me not get carried away. But it does put us in the elite category. This is YouTube's phrase, not Judge Napolitano's phrase, in the elite category of podcasts, all because of you, because of your consistent devotion to our show. What do I promise in return? More of the same and even better. More as we get it. Judge Nepal Tenno for judging freedom.