Transcription
Well, Donald Trump confessed last night. Donald Trump confessed that he was lying. Donald Trump turned himself in as a pathological liar last night.
During his first term in the White House, Donald Trump was quoted by unnamed sources who were constantly leaking what Donald Trump was saying in private. And one of the quotes attributed to him was Donald Trump referring to African countries where he has never been using the worst dirtiest term he could think of for those countries. It's the kind of language I've heard from hardcore racists my whole life. I knew he was lying in 2018 when he denied using those words. And last night in Pennsylvania, the man who doesn't drink sounded as drunk as the racists you can hear saying things like this in the safety of their neighborhood bars. "Mell holes" like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia, and many other countries.
"I didn't say 'hole.' You did. Remember I said that to the senators? They came in, the Democrats, they wanted to be bipartisan. So they came in and they said, 'This is totally off the record. Nothing mentioned here. We want to be honest because our country was going to hell.' And we had a meeting and I said, 'Why is it we only take people from hole countries, right?'"
It's not news that Donald Trump is a racist. It's not news that Donald Trump, who was documented to have told over 30,000 lies in his first term in office, is a pathological liar. It's not news that Donald Trump is a vile, ugly stain on American public life. What we are seeing now is a very sick man in mental and physical deterioration who seems to have no capacity left to remember what he's already lied about, what he's already denied and has less and less public control over the poisonous racism that seeps inside him and oozes out of him. He is a poison that children should not be exposed to.
We don't know much about the oil tanker that Donald Trump seized off the coast of Venezuela today. And it turns out, according to him, he doesn't either.
"Can you, uh, explain a little more about this Venezuelan oil tanker and, uh, share a little more information?"
"Well, I'll let the people do it, but you see the result and I guess they probably have released the pictures by now or pretty soon. Uh, you'll discuss that with the appropriate people later on, but, uh, no, it was seized for a very good reason."
We have never heard what that very good reason was from Donald Trump today. No other president would have treated news like that. No other president would have said, "Oh, it was a very good reason," and leave it at that. And what about the oil? What happens to the oil on that ship?
"Well, we keep it, I guess."
"We keep it, I guess. I don't know. He said he doesn't know. I don't know either. And so there we are. The president of the United States doesn't know what happens to everything he sees today. He doesn't know what happens to the vessel. He doesn't know what happens to the oil."
He later said to another reporter, "I can assume we're going to keep the oil." Why can he assume that? The Venezuelan government is calling it piracy. According to a government official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the New York Times reported it was not clear whether the seizure warrant, there was a seizure warrant in this case issued by a federal judge. And the Times is saying it's not clear whether the seizure warrant, which is sealed, was for the ship or the oil or both. The White House did not immediately respond when asked whether the United States had the legal authority to keep the oil.
That is exactly what American forces could do when they believe they see drug smuggling heading for the United States. They could just seize the vessel. That's what they've always done until Donald Trump decided to kill everyone on those very small boats, open boats, most of them less than 20 feet long with outboard engines. The kind of boats that people use for water skiing in this country, boats that cannot possibly carry enough fuel and are not seaworthy enough to cross oceans, boats that are over a thousand miles away from the United States of America and are not capable of reaching the United States of America. If you're on one of those boats, the smallest targets the United States military has ever had at sea. If you're on one of those boats, Donald Trump will kill you. But if you're on a super tanker, Donald Trump won't fire a shot at you.
In that discussion with reporters, Donald Trump unintentionally revealed why he seized that super tanker today.
"Mr. President, has Secretary Hegsmith told you why he hasn't released the video of the second strike?"
"No, he hasn't told. I thought that issue was dead. That you're surprised you're bringing. You must be. You must be CNN."
And there you have it. Donald Trump trying to declare an issue dead, just like he tried to declare the Epstein files dead six months before Congress was forced into a unanimous vote to release the Epstein files. Donald Trump seized that ship today to change the subject from the second missile that he and his incompetent and unqualified Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegsmith, fired at two men who were clinging to the wreckage of a very small boat already destroyed by a missile that may have been bigger than the boat itself.
When Senator Mark Warner, the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, became one of the first members of Congress to see that video of the second missile strike of the two survivors clinging to the wreckage, he came on this program and told us that he believed those two men were incapacitated. That was his word, incapacitated, when the second strike was ordered to kill them. It is the most important crisis that Pete Hegsmith has faced in his incompetent service as Secretary of Defense. And the issue is not dead. Donald Trump knows the story is not dead. And Donald Trump is not surprised that the reporter brought it up. This is the very same act that Donald Trump tried with the Epstein files six months ago.
"Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy's been talked about for years. You have Texas, we have this, we have all of the things. And are people still talking about this guy, this creep?"
That is unbelievable. Unbelievable indeed that that buffoon thinks that that play is going to work again. That's the Donald Trump playbook. Declare an issue to be dead. Wish it to be dead. Donald Trump can kill people, but he cannot kill that issue. That second strike missile that killed those two men clinging to the wreckage is going to be haunting Donald Trump possibly for more than the next year. Donald Trump is trying the same maneuver he tried with the Epstein files, which is to manage a cover-up of that video the way he tried to cover up the Epstein files. Make sure no one ever sees the video of the second missile strike.
And it may be that Donald Trump succeeds in intimidating the Republican leadership of the committees in the House and the Senate with jurisdiction over this issue to not conduct real investigations. And if that happens, then our first guest tonight will ultimately be in charge of the first real investigation of that missile strike in the House of Representatives. Congressman Adam Smith is the top-ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. And when the Democrats win back the House of Representatives in November, as polls indicate they will, Congressman Smith will become Chairman Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee with jurisdiction over Pete Hegsmith and the Defense Department, and he will have the authority to obtain that video.
On November 28th, the Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker announced that the Senate Armed Services Committee would conduct an investigation into the second missile strike. Last night, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee announced that he has completed his investigation of the missile strike. This morning, Chairman Rogers reported on his investigation. "I did exactly what I said. I was very vigorous. I personally got involved. I talked with the chairman of Joint Chiefs first. I talked with the second. Then we had Admiral Bradley come in. He gave us a full readout on what happened. We saw the video, got all our questions answered, talked yesterday at length with Admiral Hoy. I know everything that happened and I'm completely comfortable. We got all the facts."
"And you feel comfortable and you believe that the administration acted within its bounds and it—"
"I absolutely do."
"Okay. And no, you have no more questions about—"
"I have no more questions."
Yesterday, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee and House Armed Services Committee met privately with Admiral Alvin Holsey, who announced his resignation as the head of US Southern Command. Politico reports, though reports indicate Holsey expressed concerns about the legality of strikes against alleged drug boats and was ousted by Defense Secretary Pete Hegsmith, Chairman Rogers said Holsey told lawmakers his departure is personal. "He just said that's private," Roger said. "He said it had nothing to do with the operations in his command."
Democratic Senator Jackie Rosen of Nevada is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. She said this this morning before the seizure of the oil tanker later today off the Venezuelan coast.
"Secretary Hegsmith doesn't have the character, demeanor. He just likes to, well, I'm just going to say it this way. He just likes to show pictures of blowing up. I got a bunch of video games if that's what he wants to do to do that. That don't put any active duty men or women in harm's way. He wants to blow up and put pictures of it up. God bless him. But don't you dare put anybody in harm's way for your visual."
Senator Jackie and protect everyone.