Judging Freedom - U.S. Veteran & His Ukraine Experience Accused of Being Fraud - Jack Posobeic

Episode Date: March 24, 2023

Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Friday, March 24, 2023. It's about 2.15 in the afternoon here on the East Coast of the United States. Jack Posobiec joins us now. Jack, of course, with a great and admirable history in military intelligence in the Navy. Jack, always a pleasure. Welcome back here. Thank you. I recently saw a piece that interested me, and I know it aggravated you. It probably would aggravate all veterans of an American Army veteran who only served about 11 months in the Army, falsifying photos of himself, purporting to show that he was fighting with the Ukrainians in Ukraine against the Russians, and now he's been exposed as a fraud. What do you know about this? How do you

feel about this? I mean, when you see something like this, and set aside your feelings on Ukraine, Russia, which side you support, the geopolitics of all of it, what you're doing about it, and I don't think there's anybody who really would even attack the Ukrainian people for defending their home. I mean, I get that. Who doesn't get that? Who doesn't sympathize with that to some extent? But to see a guy come out there like this individual named James Vasquez of Ripley's Heroes, to have spent a year being the essentially most famous, most most cited in media uh volunteer ukrainians him and malcolm nance essentially uh feeded by newsweek feeded by telegraph by the guardian

running around saying this is a guy who newsweek had just stated back in 20 in March of 2022, that he had taken out seven Russian tanks. It's been a long day. And then he poses with a photo of a of a of a destroyed it looks to be a Russian tank, you can't really see everything that's on there, even though I've actually heard some people point out that because of the, the specific grading that's on it, they may have actually been a Ukrainian tank, that it turns out that other volunteers from Ukraine, this NAFO group and other pro-Ukrainians

have pointed out that he's never actually been a soldier in the armed forces of Ukraine. He's never signed in. He admitted it to them in writing that he never joined the Ukrainian foreign forces, that the whole thing has essentially been a grift where he's been raking in the dough using these media appearances to raise money for this organization called Ripley's Heroes and then pocketing the vast majority of it. He deleted his account a few days ago, writing, I'm done. All the negative people win. Thank you for all who have supported me in Ukraine. I'm a ghost. However, about two hours ago, it looks as though he has restarted his account, because of course, you got to keep the gravy train going well you know he he has the

freedom of speech he has the freedom to lie we'll get into that in just a minute but he does not have the freedom to deceive people into giving him money there there's the crime that's right i mean he better start returning every nickel he got before the fbi comes uh uh knocking on his door. I mean, these cases are rampant where people get on the Internet and show false sob stories and then go to, what's the name of the website? You can GoFundMe. GoFundMe or there are other websites as well. And that's where the crime is. You know, it used to be a federal crime to lie about your

service in the military or exaggerate it. And the Supreme Court threw that crime out. The guy was prosecuted, convicted. The conviction was upheld in the federal appellate court. The Supreme Court threw it out saying freedom of speech. He can lie all he wants. And this character, Vasquez, can lie all he wants. And I know, I can only imagine how real veterans like you and your friends who devoted a good portion of the prime of your youthful years to the service of the country feel about this. But the crime comes into play where he dupes the people into giving him money you better return every nickel i mean and there's receipts and and to be clear i've never claimed combat vet status or anything like that if anything i try to downplay my military service

uh it was an intel intel weenie right you know i was the guy who's you know sat sat at the computer or you know maybe sat sat in the booth or something, but that's, if anything. But to claim combat status, and I've got friends who have deployed to Afghanistan multiple times. I've had friends that didn't come back. I've had friends that came back and had some dark nights, put it that way, because we know that obviously suicide has been a huge issue for so many vets. I've got people I served with who were completely just medically destroyed in the burn pits. A female sailor that I served with, she had her, I've talked about this before, actually with Jon Stewart, believe it or not.

People remember that whole arts occasion where her fingernails were falling out, her toenails were falling out, her hair was falling out because of these burn pit injuries. And so if you're going to sit there and claim the same kind of status as somebody who went through all of those things when you're running around, we can see that James Vasquez's uniform. It's amazing, you know, Judge, he's able to take out seven tanks without getting a single speck of dirt or mud on his uniform. It's all pristine condition. You can still see the the fold lines. I guess he hasn't had time. I can't can't find an iron out there in the front lines of Buck moot, apparently.

But it's ridiculous. In fact, we've got actual literal receipts. They say, you know, they say, oh, you know, Pacific snow for dropping the receipts. They say, you know, they say, oh, you know, Posobiec's known for dropping the receipts. I have actual receipts of him from the Grand Hotel Casino and Spa in Lviv, where it's just Jack Daniels after Jack Daniels after Jack Daniels, a couple of Pepsis at the very end of that. It's 4,500 hryvnia. And, you know, this is what let me let me ask you about big picture here how rampant is false Valor well I I think what people are doing and you see this with Malcolm Nance as well and some other people is that they're you're there's a lot of people right now who uh either they didn't have the combat experience they always wanted or they've they're looking they are looking at Ukraine as a financial opportunity for them.

And particularly you get this with guys like this who are middle-aged or older that are looking for, you know, maybe their lives have fallen apart, they don't have good marriages, they don't have good relationships with their children. And suddenly they're looking at Ukraine as a way to make money, to live out maybe their youthful, adventurous lifestyle. And so they go over and then they start raising money saying, oh, we're doing the right thing. We're helping out. And then they make these videos on Twitter, which, by the way, it's kind of interesting

how he's always able to post on Twitter, even though he's supposedly constantly in the middle of the fighting over there in Ukraine, that they find ways you saw this also, by the way, in with some of the the withdrawal from Afghanistan, it was it was brief, but there were during the withdrawal for Afghanistan, they were able to use these sob stories with the power of social media, the power of GoFundMe, none of this is verified. And you had people that were raising 1000s of, tens of thousands of dollars from otherwise good meaning people. They're stories. They use images of, oh, we're helping the children.

We're helping the poor women of Afghanistan. We're helping the poor kids. All right. Let me let me let me interrupt you for a minute. I didn't see any of his videos. Is it is it a joke? Is it absurd or is it enough to trick well-meaning, vulnerable people into giving him cash? Oh, I think it's absolutely good enough. And he has been raking in cash over this.

You know, the whole, oh, we've got we need new equipment. We need new help. Got to get the helmets to the front line. We've got to get the medical kits to the front line. And of course, there's no explanation whatsoever of where this is coming from. There's no transparency on how much he's paying. Who is he paying? Is he buying this in the U.S.? How is any of it work? No transparency whatsoever.

And then the fact that he's claimed specifically to be in the fighting. And by the way, this guy heavily promoted by the likes of Adam Kinzinger, Malcolm Nance. He's been in Newsweek. He's been across the media, not actually involved in the fighting. And the fact that you've actually got, and this isn't me that's accusing him, by the way, you've got other people that are over there that are actually volunteering, that are actually fighting, say, you know, this guy's playing all quiet on the Western Front over here, like he's sitting in the trenches with us, but he's not. He comes in afterwards, he takes photos, he poses with his buddies, and then he hangs. How easy is it for a person not in the Ukrainian military just to walk into a battle zone and take pictures of himself there? Could you or I do this or would somebody stop us?

You know, it depends on what part of the country you go to. So last year, we, my brother and I traveled. We took a train to Odessa and then we were able to travel by car from Odessa to Nikolaev. So just across the river from Hursan. And we were stopped at checkpoints, but at the same time, we had some basic passes that we were able to get very easily. We showed our passports as US citizens and they waved us along. So yes, we were able to get very, very close within probably about 15 kilometers of where the fighting was going on at the time. This is last summer, last May,

end of last May. So yes, it's actually quite easy. And keep in mind, this is a country where the government in many parts of the country has totally lost control. You've got local gangs, local criminals that are running amok. Obviously, you've got actual fighting going on along the front in the east. And so it's not hard at all to be able to go. Can you carry a weapon for self-defense in Ukraine, or is that against Ukrainian law? I'm not asking you what you did. I'm asking you if it can be done. We didn't personally have them when we were there, but let's just say it's not hard to get guns while you're in Ukraine right now. Okay. All right. This week um president xi of china uh met with president putin of russia in the kremlin three very public days there uh and president xi articulated the desirability

of a ceasefire now he said this from the kremlin he said it physically in the presence of President Putin. So I am sure that diplomats from both sides knew this was going to be said and President Putin agreed with it. I was surprised but happy to hear President Putin agree with it. So if President Zelensky agrees, I mean, this is a monumental turn of events, except for the following. Gary. We'd be concerned if coming out of this meeting, there was some sort of call for a ceasefire, because right now, while a ceasefire sounds good, it actually ratifies Russia's gains on the ground. It actually serves Russia's purpose for a ceasefire to basically call a stop right now

without any acknowledgement that Russia is illegally inside Ukraine. So United States will be against the ceasefire because this principal issue or because it was proposed by China? I think I've been very clear. It's about the principle of a ceasefire called for right now, which would essentially just ratify Russia's gains. A couple of points before I want you to weigh in on this. That, of course, was Admiral John Kirby, who's the chief spokesperson for the National Security Council. This interview was taped before President Xi made his statement. And the questioner, a news anchor from Beijing, an employee of the Chinese government, I thought asked a terrific, terrific question.

What do you have to think? What do you think about this? Well, this is still worthy of being called admiral. idea that there's some strategic interest for the United States in continuing the war and continuing the bloodshed continuing to allow this insanity like the like the James Vasquez is but but more importantly the the fact that you've got a country now where so many people have fled so many women so many children have fled they're in an absolute demographic collapse inside Ukraine right now not to mention the fact that you've got people actually dying that are caught up in the middle of this not just the fighters clearly the fighters that the men the boys that are being sent over but the people that

are caught in the middle because for whatever reason financial means etc they can't get out that you wouldn't call for a ceasefire as fast as possible. It just goes to show you that I think that the question that the reporter there asked, the second part was the salient point. They don't like the fact that it's China that is backstopping all of this, because here's the dirty little secret, which isn't even so much of a secret because we can all see it, that Russia and China working together with the rise of the BRICS nations, the fact that you've got so many I think 17 other nations, major economies around the world, including the global south, are all are all chomping at the bit to get into the BRICS network. They're looking at one belt, one road.

They're looking at China, they're looking at Russia, they say, you know what, you don't shove all of these, these extra programs down our throat when we work with you economically. And people forget that it wasn't just China and Russia meeting during that meeting in Moscow. It was, there were 40 African nations that were also there meeting at the Kremlin at the same time. So there was a third audience for all of this. They're to say, who's the bloodthirsty warmonger aggression out in the world right now? is it the people that have got 900 bases around the world including one in eastern syria that you know we've got this attack

and the strikes that are going back and forth why is there a u.s base in eastern syria to begin with declared invasion was there you know are we fighting us could someone explain this other than the fact that there's obviously oil fields in the vicinity? Under what authority is the American military in Syria? The authorization for use of military force of 2001, which Senator Rand Paul tried to get repealed yesterday, a vote that he lost nine in favor to 86 against, as if the people in Syria now or ever had anything to do with planning 9-11. It's just a farce what the government goes through. You know, you're talking about honesty. And I give credit, by the way, to Congressman Gates as well, who just a couple of weeks ago predicted that something like this would happen if we kept troops in Syria.

Talk about the honesty of the Chinese. I am no fan of the Chinese government, but President Xi was open and honest about his willingness to trade with Russia and with those Africans, and I think sincere about his wish for a ceasefire. Of course. chair of TikTok was honest when he admitted that the Chinese government sometimes uses TikTok data to spy on TikTok customers. Did you hear Chris Wray admit that the FBI does that? Of course not. Precisely. And so what you're seeing here is essentially, I think this is a fait accompli by Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party. The fact that they're now able, because we've driven Russia into their arms, we've completely severed the economic ties between Russia and the West. It was the United States, possibly the British, that took out the Nord Stream pipelines, which then of course, after Olaf Scholz visits the U.S.,

we come out with this CIA-planted and Seymour Hersh has a new article up story about a pro-Ukrainian group that took it out. Well, guess what? If you're going to cut them off from any economic ties, if you're going to cut them off from the financial system, any access to Western capital, where do you think they're going to go? Where do you think they're going to go with all of those oil reserves and natural gas reserves that they have around Lake Baikal, that goes through Mongolia, that goes through Far East, Siberia? Guess what? Directly south of that is Beijing. So of course, they're going to drive directly in. And you'd think, you know, if you were a US geopolitical planner, that you'd be trying to isolate Russia and China as the two other

great powers and hopefully try to balance them against each other to put the United States in more of a better position. But no, instead, you've got people in the State Department like Blinken, who's an absolute clerk, and I think Victoria Nuland, who's actually our Secretary of State right now because she's the one who's stating the policy. People need to understand she, Victoria Nuland, is the one in the driver's seat it's not biden it's not blinkin gary gary hang on one second gary can you find that clip of victoria newland uh justifying uh a u.s use of military weaponry in crimea can you find that clip while jack and i are talking? You'll love this if you haven't seen this. This is the same Victoria Nuland whose fingerprints were all over the coup against the Ukrainian government,

the popularly elected government in 2014. The same Victoria Nuland whose fingerprints were all over the first impeachment of President Trump. She's now either, depending on how you look at this, number two or number three in the State Department. She's obviously calling all the shots for Tony Blinken. But if my producer Gary can find this clip and you haven't seen it, this is going to make your blood boil, what she said and the smile on her face and the self-confidence with which she said it. Gary, do we have it? Okay, he's still looking for it.

Gary, if you get it, just pop it up while Jack and I are talking. People need to understand that Victoria Nuland is a very sinister and a very dangerous person because she looks at the world as her own personal plaything. Like it's some chessboard that if she can remove certain pieces, if she can take out governments, if she can – obviously Libya, Syria, this was all on her watch initially, Operation Timber Sycamore, which was the initial plan to overthrow Assad by, remember the moderate jihadis, we were told the moderate jihadis will be financed and funded. This by the way, is what led all to the United States still having that base in Al-Tanf because essentially the United States and European forces in general are being completely pushed out of the Middle East. And you've got the Iranians, you've got the Saudis now working together again.

Who put them together? China, Syria and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia, which had been a partner initially in Operation Timber Sycamore, along with Israel and Jordanians, they're now re-establishing diplomatic ties with Assad. The fact that the United States targeted Assad so directly, but were unable, and of course, by the way, with Russia, the Wagner Group, etc., were able to hold on because he was able to hold on. I actually think that if you look back historically, we will view that as one, perhaps the peak of American preeminence in certainly the Middle East, possibly the world, because that was when the United States pushed too far and the rest of the world began to push back and

led to a spiral, a downward spiral to the point where we are at now, that the rest of the world is sick of the United States. They're looking for ways to divest from the petrodollar and the US dollar in general, which, by the way, is going to be great. The banks are already failing because of inflation. So if you like the idea of other countries dumping the dollar, guess what's going to happen in a couple of years when the yuan, the ruble, et cetera, are going forward. And by the way, India is going on board with this. Brazil's going on board with this.

South Africa is going on board with this. And more and more of former U.S. allies are going to be on board because they're sick of the way the United States has been acting and treating them. Gary, are you able to find her? No. Okay. We can't find her. We'll run her the next time you're on, Jack. Look, this has been a wonderful, wonderful conversation.

You're so knowledgeable about so many of these geopolitical matters. I hope you'll come back and join us again, my dear friend. Absolutely appreciate it. Sure, have a great weekend. More as we get it, my friends. Judge Napolitano for judging freedom.