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Kash Patel (2025) - Russia Gate, Epstein and the FBI · The Joe Rogan Recap

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Welcome to the Joe Rogan recap. Great to be here.
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Today we are diving deep into the transcript of a pretty
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significant recent conversation from The Joe Rogan Experience.
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That's right. Our source material is coming
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straight from someone who's well recently been placed in a major
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leadership role within the FBIA. Very senior position.
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Exactly. So the mission for this deep
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dive is really to unpack the key insights, the claims, basically
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what was shared from his, you know, unique perspective inside
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the Bureau. Yeah, and it's a fascinating
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look, isn't it, this conversation, It covers just a
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huge range of national security, law enforcement challenges
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facing the US right now, right? And it's giving us this view
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from the inside, someone actually tasked with tackling
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these things head on. Priorities, past actions,
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current OPS, it's all in there. Straight from someone now high
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up in the Bureau, it's definitely a perspective you
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don't hear everyday. Definitely not worth exploring
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for sure. So let's jump right in.
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One of the first big points the source made was about a pretty
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significant shift maybe in how the FBI operates.
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And maybe surprisingly, he talked about a real kind of
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appetite for change among the people actually working there.
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What did he find coming into this new role?
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Well, he described it as finding the people inside the Bureau.
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You know, agents, analysts, folks with decades of
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experience, they were ready, even eager, he said, for changes
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they felt were, frankly, long overdue.
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Interesting. So not resistance, but
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readiness. Exactly.
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He mentioned them saying things like, dude, we wanted to do that
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15 years ago. It suggests the desire was
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already there, just maybe blocked.
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Right. And his view of his own role
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wasn't like I'm the hero coming in, but more about clearing
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obstacles. You know, getting the hell out
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of the way, as he put it, so the agents could do their jobs.
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The implication being maybe past leadership had been the
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obstacles sometimes. OK.
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And what was the most sort of striking example of a change he
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was putting in place? Something they'd wanted for a
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while. The big one he focused on was
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workforce distribution, agent distribution.
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So according to the source, he cited U.S. government statistics
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showing that out of roughly 37,000 FBI employees like this,
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about 11,000 were based in the National Capital Region.
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Wow. 11,000 in the DC area. Yeah, almost a third of the
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entire workforce. He really highlighted that
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contrasting this huge concentration in one spot with,
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you know, where crime is actually happening across the
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rest of the country. And did the source claim there
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was a specific reason for that heavy concentration why so many
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people were there? Yes, he did.
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He claimed the structure, the way things were set up,
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essentially required agents to be based in DC if they wanted
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promotions. To move up the ladder, you
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typically had to cycle back through headquarters.
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So it was baked into the career path according to.
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Him. That was his assertion, yeah.
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An incentive structure that pulled people into DC maybe,
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regardless of where the operational need was greatest
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out in the field. So what's the concrete step
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being taken now to address that? What are they actually doing?
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He stated pretty clearly they're actively moving 1500 agents and
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intelligence analysts out of the DC area. 1500, that's a
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significant number. It is and moving them into field
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offices nationwide. He really emphasized how long
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agents had apparently wanted this.
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And he talked about the potential impact, even one extra
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agent fully focused on cases in the field, you know, potentially
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preventing a homicide, a major drug bust, things that really
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hit communities outside the Beltway.
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And the agents reaction. He felt they were very positive
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about this, Schiff eager to get out there and well do the job
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they signed up for in the places that needed them.
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Now, he also tied this, didn't he?
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This DC concentration in focus. He linked it to what he saw as a
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shift in priorities under the previous administration.
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He did, yeah. This was a key claim.
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He asserted that drug trafficking wasn't actually
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classified as a tier one threat during that time.
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Is that right? That's exactly what he claimed.
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He argued that instead the priorities were placed on other
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issues. He mentioned things like climate
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change and diversity, equity and inclusion, and his argument was
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that prioritizing those diverted limited resources and buy
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resources. He mainly meant people, agents
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away from what he clearly believes are core FBI threats
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like major drug trafficking operations.
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So a misallocation of focus in his view.
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He basically called it crazy in the context of FBI priorities.
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Now, he did acknowledge these were broader government wide
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priorities that influence resource allocation across
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departments, not just the FBI, right?
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But he felt this lack of specific FBI focus on something
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like drug trafficking had real negative consequences down the
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line. Which leads us, I guess,
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directly into a crisis he talked about with just intense urgency.
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Fentanyl. Oh.
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Absolutely. He framed this as a massive
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threat. And directly connected it, it
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seems, to that alleged lack of focus you just mentioned.
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He shared some really, really stark statistics from the source
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material. He did.
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He cited U.S. government stats showing over 100,000 people
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dying every year from drug overdoses in the USA. 100,000 a
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year. Yeah, which he broke it down.
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It's about one death every 7 minutes.
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Now, he acknowledged not all of those are fentanyl, obviously,
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but he strongly connected that overall devastating number to
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the fentanyl crisis being a primary driver.
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Just staggering numbers. And what did the source identify
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as the root cause? Where's this stuff coming from?
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He was absolutely unequivocal on this point, he stated.
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The necessary ingredients, the precursors for making fentanyl,
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they come from mainland China, supplied, he alleged by the CCP,
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the Chinese Communist Party. OK.
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So precursors from China? Yes, and he described these
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alleged tactics. The CCP uses things like
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providing the precursors while publicly denying they make
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fentanyl itself, or changing which precursors they supply to
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stay ahead of detection effort. And getting it here.
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Facilitating these roundabout shipping routes, he claimed.
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Sometimes going through India or even setting up manufacturing
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labs in Canada to sort of bypass US interdiction efforts that
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might be focused just on, say, the southern border.
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And the motivation? Why would the CCP allegedly do
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this, according to the source? What's the goal?
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He framed it as a very deliberate long term strategy.
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His words were to kneecap the United States.
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He kept the US. That's strong language.
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Very strong. His perspective was that by
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contributing to the deaths of 10s of thousands of young
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Americans every year, the CCP is essentially targeting future
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generations, people who might serve in the military and
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critical industries. You know, the future workforce.
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He called it a dark, dark thing, but he seemed convinced it was a
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directed play by the CCP. He even suggested it wasn't just
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about profit from the precursor chemicals, but more about the
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strategic damage to the US. And the way this drug actually
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gets to the users, Yeah, the source described that as
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particularly insidious, didn't he?
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Absolutely disturbing. Yeah.
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He highlighted the role of drug trafficking organizations, the
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cartels, mainly using pill presses.
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They make fake pills that look exactly like legitimate
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pharmaceuticals. Fake Oxycontin, Adderall, Xanax,
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whatever. So people don't even know what
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they're taking. Exactly.
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They're laced with deadly amounts.
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It's a fentanyl. Someone thinks they're taking a
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painkiller or something else and it kills them.
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And even more horrifying, he mentioned reports cases where
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illicit narcotics are being shaped or colored to look like
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candy, gummy bears, things like that.
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They target kids. Specifically targeting youth,
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yes, he cited just tragic examples of high school kids
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dying after taking one pill they thought was something harmless
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they got from a friend. It's just.
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A truly horrifying. So given all that, what's the
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current approach? What is the FBI doing now to
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combat this? According to the source, it
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sounds like a multi pronged effort.
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It is. He described it as an olive
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government effort and an international one too.
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It involves working closely with the Treasury Department, for
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instance, to put sanctions on those Chinese precursor
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companies. Getting them financially.
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Right. Also collaborating really
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closely with the Five Eyes partners, that's US, Canada, the
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UK, Australia, New Zealand, sharing intelligence,
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coordinating operations. And beyond the Five Eyes.
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Actively seeking cooperation, he said from the governments of
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India and Mexico, asking them to help shut down precursor
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shipments transiting their countries or manufacturing
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operations being set up there. It's a global network, so the
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response has to be global. And he seemed to tie the scale
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of the current problem back to that earlier point.
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He did. He reiterated his claim that a
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lack of focused effort specifically on this for about
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four years allowed the problem to metastasize to grow
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significantly worse. You could really hear the
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commitment in his voice though, when he talked about fighting
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them. Oh absolutely.
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He made it crystal clear this is a top priority now stated very
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firmly, something like we are committed to stopping kids from
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dying from fentanyl overdoses. And he mentioned a massive
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operation underway globally to tackle it.
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OK. Let's shift gears a bit, moving
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to a different but also really significant challenge, the
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source highlighted. He spent quite a bit of time on
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what he sees as a pattern, a pattern of government processes,
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even information itself being allegedly weaponized for
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political purposes. Yes, this was a major theme.
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He clearly views this as deeply damaging to public trust in
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institutions. And where did he trace this back
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to? He said essentially all roads
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lead back to Russia gate. That was his framing.
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OK. And how did he describe Russia
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gate from his perspective as presented in the source?
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Well, the core of it, as he laid it out, was this.
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A political party allegedly funding foreign intelligence
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gathering specifically to target a political opponent's campaign,
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then taking that questionable material and allegedly using it
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in applications to the secret federal FISA court, the Foreign
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Intelligence Surveillance Act Court.
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To do what? To get warrants to surveil
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individuals associated with that opponent's campaign, he claimed
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there were deliberate lies told to the court and importantly,
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omissions of exculpatory information, stuff that might
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have weakened the case for surveillance.
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So manipulating the system, he alleged.
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He called it a coordinated conspiracy involving elements he
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claimed of FBI leadership at the time and parts of the
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intelligence community. A very serious allegation.
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Did he give specific examples beyond that broad framing to
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illustrate this pattern, this alleged weaponization and
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disinformation? He did focus on one example
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quite heavily related to alleged disinformation right before an
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election. That was the Hunter Biden laptop
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scenario. Yes.
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What was his take on that? He highlighted the letter, you
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remember, signed by 51 former senior intelligence officials,
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the one claiming the laptop story, which emerged just weeks
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before the 2020 election, had all the hallmarks of Russian
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disinformation. I remember the letter right.
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Well, he claimed that the FBI at that very time knew the laptop
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was real, not disinformation, and that it contained relevant
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information and in fact was part of an active criminal
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investigation they were conducting.
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So the. SB-9 knew, but these officials
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put out the letter. That was his claim.
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He viewed that letter and its timing just before the vote as
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intentional politicization, an effort he suggested designed
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specifically to suppress the story and influence the election
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outcome. It was happened since.
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He noted with what sounded like quite a bit of frustration, that
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even after the laptops authenticity was widely
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confirmed, some of the signatories have reportedly
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doubled down on their initial assessment refused to retract.
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It and he seemed to connect these instances Russia gate the
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laptop letter connect them back to that broader concern about
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trust. Exactly.
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His overall point, drawing from these examples presented in the
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source, was that when government processes are perceived as being
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weaponized, or when former intelligence officials
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participate in what he alleges are disinformation campaigns,
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especially when amplified by the media, it just shreds public
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trust. Is it hard to know what's real?
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Precisely, it damages the credibility of the institutions
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themselves, makes it harder for citizens for you to discern
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truth from narrative on critical issues.
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And he sees that erosion of trust as a direct risk to
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national security. Part of his stated mission, he
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said, was to expose this pattern to help prevent it from
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happening again and start rebuilding that trust.
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OK, that's a lot on the controversies.
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Let's shift now to what the source discussed about the
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current work, the priorities of the FBI today.
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He did mention some positive trends they're seeing, didn't
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he? Yes, he did bring up some
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positive developments. He cited recent FBI statistics,
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for example, indicating a pretty significant drop in the murder
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rate nationally. Oh really?
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By how much? Down 20%, he said, and
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potentially, he added, heading towards the lowest murder rate
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in decades if the trend continues.
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He seemed quite optimistic about that, noting it happened within
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his first 100 days or so in his current role.
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That's a significant drop. What did he attribute that
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improvement to? Well, his explanation was pretty
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straightforward. He credited it to letting good
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cops be cops. That was his phrase, meaning
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providing resources, removing politicization, basically
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getting out of the way and letting agents and police
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officers do their jobs effectively.
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His view seemed to be that the capability and the will are
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there, they just needed the freedom and support.
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Any examples? He did mention successfully
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apprehending some high profile fugitives fairly quickly, like
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the individual alleged to be the Abbey Gate bomber from the
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Afghanistan withdrawal, framing it as an example of prioritizing
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core law enforcement functions and allowing federal agents to
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execute. He also addressed the border
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issue, didn't he? Specifically, the entry of
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individuals classified as known or suspected terrorists.
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KS TS. That sounds like a major current
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concern. Yes, he framed this as a
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critical national security issue.
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Now, his claim here was quite pointed.
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He alleged that under the previous administration, KS TS
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were allowed to enter the country.
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He even cited claims he said from his predecessor about
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dozens entering whose whereabouts became unknown.
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Allowed to enter? That sounds serious.
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It's a very serious claim, he stated.
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The current focus now, alongside other border operations, is
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specifically targeting these individuals who have allegedly
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already entered the homeland over the past few years.
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Trying to find them. Now exactly viewing it as a
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critical threat mitigation effort, he stressed it involves
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close coordination with DHS and local law enforcement partners.
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He tried to separate this specific KST threat from the
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broader, often political debate about overall border policy,
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focusing just on the national security implication of known or
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suspected terrorists allegedly being inside the country.
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OK. So looking across all these
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different areas, fentanyl, crime rates, border threats, past
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controversies, what were some of the key challenges he
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highlighted? What makes tackling all this
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difficult for the FBI today? Well, one huge challenge he
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talked about is simply the speed and scale of misinformation, how
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quickly narratives, true or false, can spread, especially on
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social media. Right, the digital age problem.
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Yeah, he noted how it can be fueled by coordinated efforts,
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domestic or foreign, and how it can distract from real issues or
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again, erode trust and institutions trying to address
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those issues. And trust seem to be a recurring
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theme for him. Definitely.
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He explicitly acknowledged the significant challenge of
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rebuilding public trust in the FBI itself.
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Trust, he felt, was badly damaged by the actions, as he
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put it, of a few leaders in the past.
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How do you fix that? He believes transparency and
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demonstrating results. You know, actually solving
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crimes, neutralizing threats, holding people accountable is
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the only way. But he recognizes it's a slow,
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difficult process. It takes time to fix systemic
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issues, build infrastructure and regain credibility.
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It's not an overnight thing. So wrapping this up, this deep
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dive into the source material, wow, it really gives you a lot
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to consider, doesn't it it? Really does.
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We've covered shifts in FBI operational focus, that intense
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fight against the fentanyl crisis, different perspectives
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on a huge controversies like Russia gate and the laptop, plus
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current challenges like border security and foreign threats.
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It's a massive landscape. Indeed, and the sources
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perspective woven through all of it really emphasized A
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commitment back to what he sees as the core missions, you know,
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protecting the homeland, aggressively tackling violent
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crime, upholding the Constitution, and trying to
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restore that public trust through transparency and
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oversight. But acknowledging it takes time.
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Absolutely. His view is very much that
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achieving these goals requires sustained effort, methodical
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work, no quick fixes. And thinking about everything
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we've discussed, especially the sources, claims about past
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politicization, the alleged weaponization of information and
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these ongoing challenges with misinformation, it really does
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raise a significant question for you, the listener, as you
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navigate the news and information landscape today.
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Well, how do you verify what's being presented, particularly
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when it comes to these really critical, often complex issues
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impacting the entire country? How do you sort through the
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noise, the competing narratives, to figure out what's actually
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going on? That's a tough one, discerning
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truth from narrative when the stakes are so high.
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Definitely something to Mull over.
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Something to think about until our next deep dive.