Latest / Brian Thomas / Judge Napolitano - Trump's Unjust and Unconstitutional War

Transcript

Judge Napolitano - Trump's Unjust and Unconstitutional War · Brian Thomas

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Experts, deliver person of ice treatments, groundbreaking research and integrated
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: support services. Learn more at uc health dot com. CRUSE
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: continue to work with an accident at westbound two seventy
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: five near Ward's Corner. Traffic is heavy from the Milford
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Parkway southbound seventy one break lights from two to seventy
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: five past red Banks, southbound seventy five. Heavy in and
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: out of Lackland northbound seventy fives over a fifteen minute
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: delay out of Florence into downtown. This weekend we spring
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: forward and our next guests will be personally going door
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: to door to fix all your clocks and for an
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: added donation, we'll be able to change the batteries and
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: your smoke detector. Yes, you're right, The Judge is next
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Chucking ramon fifty five krz DE talk station.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Eight thirty one fifty five rc detalk station. Is that
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: time of week we talk concert fual Well, we talked
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: about the constitution regularly. It's Judgeennenapolatan and welcome back, my friend.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: It's always a pleasure to have you on the morning show.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: Well, thank you, Brian, it's good to be here. And whoops,
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: are you still there.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm here.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: Oh all right, well I can't see you all of
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: a sudden anyway. You can't get it back anyway. I'm here,
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: I'm happy to I'm happy to be here. And there
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: we are back to seeing each other. I don't put
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: batteries into smoke detectors and other people's homes. And I
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: hate the concept of changing the time an hour twice
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: a year.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Thank you, even though it has nothing to do with
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: the crazy world which we find ourselves in the war
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: we're you're going to talk about right now. I'm with
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: you all day long. Could they just pick a time
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: and stick with it right right?
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: I mean, this goes back to World War Two when
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: they were worried about Nazi planes being able to see
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: lights on in people's homes or farmers not having the
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: sun available when they were collecting their crops. This is ridiculous.
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: In twenty twenty.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Six, yeah, don't forget. We have elected people who think
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: Guam can capsize your honor. So we've elected people who
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: think they can change time. Okay, well, thank you for
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: the levity on that one. I'm glad you share my
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: agreement that we just need to stick with something and
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: quit doing it all right, your calm, I know you
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: call this unlawful, unconstitutional war. You articulate all the reasons
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: in your calm, which comes out tonight Trump's unjust and
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: unconstitutional war. I wanted to pivot over because this is
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: something you and I have talked about time and time again.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: The War Powers Act nineteen seventy three in order to
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: reign in Nixon on Vietnam, which have been raging. I
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: guess we had advisors in Vietnam back to the late
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: nineteen fifties. Kennedy inherited that it just got bigger and
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: bigger and bigger. And we can all sit back and
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: ask ourselves why how did that conflict rage on until
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: nineteen seventy three or four when there was no declaration
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: of war? And this was a time that preceded the
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: authorization and use of military force, which wasn't that brought
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: about by the War Powers Act itself?
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, yes, and yes, I mean the Vietnam War
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: is an example of the slow and inexorable growth of
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: presidential force, where instead of declaring war, Congress ratifies a
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: war that has already been started by the president. This
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: would have been anathema to Jefferson, Madison, even Washington and Adams,
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: any of the framers and the founders at the creation
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: of the republic. Trump has taken this to a new
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: level by giving one version of why he's doing this
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: in a public diatribe that read like one of his
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: political speeches to everybody in Congress, and another version to
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: the Gang of Eight in secret, in which intelligence information
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: was apparently revealed. We don't know a gang of eight
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: is the Congress within the Congress, but because they are
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: sworn to secrecy, can't share with other members of Congress,
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: with their constituents, with the press what they learned.
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: So, pardon my language.
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: What the hell kind of a democracy or a democratic
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: republic is this?
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: When the executive branch can tell a secret to eight
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: members of the legislative branch who represent us and we
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: don't know what they were told.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: So, to the extent there was any deliberative process, it
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: was basically between nine people, the President and the gangab eight. Interesting, right,
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: all right? But moving over to the War Powers Act
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: and the language within there, because I'm taking a look
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: at it. Sixty days after congressional notification, so that he
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: can centerps in he launches his war. He's got to
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: give a notification to Congress, and then this clock starts
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: ticking sixty days, and during which time Congress can maybe
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: either declare war or issue an authorization for use of
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: military force, Which what is that a mini a war,
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: that's not a war. I was kind of just like,
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: if we're fighting, we're.
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: Find well the dangerous of an authorization for the use
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: of military force is and this is a creation of
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: the Bush administration. This is not coognizable under the constitution.
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: It's open ended. I mean, when Donald Trump assassinated General
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: Soleimani in twenty nineteen, he used as his legal authority
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: the Authorization for Use of Military Force in two thousand
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: and one, which of course had nothing whatsoever to do
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: with attacking in Iranian general. So these authorizations are open ended.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: A declaration of war, on the other hand, ends when
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: the country on whom they've declared war surrenders. So the
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: declarations of war that were issued by the Congress, actually
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: a statute and signed by FDR in December eighth, nineteen
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: forty one, ended when Italy and Germany and Japan surrendered.
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: Presidents would like the authorization for use of military force
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: because it's open ended and they can use it wherever, whenever,
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: and however they want. It's profoundly unconstitutional.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: Well, and you know it's interesting. It's give me an
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: opportunity to congratulate. Congressman Warren Davidson, who on this program
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: last week said he is opposed to this absence some
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: congressional involvement. He pointed out, and he said, listen back
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: to the start with the war in Iraq he served,
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: which I opposed personally, but the country decided to go
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: to Well, there was a vote Congress authorized it, but
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: it was supposed to be a limited war with a
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: limited objective to get the weapons of mass destruction, and
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: then noted the expansion of what you suggested. Listen, once
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: you've gotten AUMF they use it for pretty much anything.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: They're not worded tightly enough, and they're just uses it.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: I understand that. But process wise, if Congress votes Thursday
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: and they vote in favor of some authorization use of
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: military force or to pull the troops out completely, Trump
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: can veto that, as I understand it.
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: I know it's very interesting.
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: The War Powers Resolution, it's actually a law, but.
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: It calls itself a resolution.
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: So I'm not miss speaking here, it's odd to do that.
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: The War Powers Resolution, which was enacted over President Nixon's veto,
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: intimates that it's a legislative veto, meaning that the president
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: can't veto it. Now, the Supreme Court has ruled in
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: other connections that there is nothing that the Congress does
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: that the president can't veto, except for impeachment. So I
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: think the president can veto it. It would be very
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: telling if a majority of both houses say stop the
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: war and he vetoes it. The war right now enjoys
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: a twenty six percent approval rating and a fifty six
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: percent disapproval rating. Of those numbers would would change a
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: little bit against the president if he were to veto this,
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: But we'd be in Virgin territory because since nineteen seventy three,
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: the Congress has never used the War Powers Resolution to
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: stop a president from fighting a war, so there's never
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: been an opportunity for a president to veto it. Now,
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: you mentioned this congressman that was on with you. I
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: assume he's a Republican. He is, okay, So it only
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: takes two Republicans, and we know who the other one
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: is to join the Democrats, and you have a majority
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: in the House saying stop the war. I don't know
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: what will happen in the Senate, and again I don't
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: know what will happen in the courts.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: Question number two. According to the War Powers Resolution, you
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: got to terminate the conflict absent some action by Congress
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: to authorize the use of force along some limited way
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: with an AOMF or declaring war. If that does not happen,
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: you got a sixty day clock ticking with a potential
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: thirty day extension to get him out of wherever they are.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: That seems to me be the end of the road.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: There at that point, that.
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: Would be the end of the road, except that this
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: president is not faithful to the Constitution or to federal statutes.
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: We know he doesn't believe in international law because he's
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: told us that, and his behavior manifests a consistency with it.
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: So again, I don't know how this is going to result.
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: The courts are loath to get involved in a matter
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: involving war or foreign policy.
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: Indeed, leading me to my next question, which it sounds
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: like you anticipated. Assuming Trump goes rogue the sixty day
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: clock tick, let's say he gets his thirty day extension
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: because I needed to keep troops out of harm's way
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: and to get him out of there. That's ninety days total.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: If he ignores all that and continues to engage and
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: commit our troops to this region, is there any recourse?
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: I guess that would be impeachment, wouldn't it.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: Be I guess it would be a Republican house. It
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: would be the Democrats plus a few Republicans at peaching him,
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: which would be a extraordinary for that to happen when
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: the president's party controls both houses of Congress.
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: I think he's created a mess.
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: For himself, and I think he's done so because of
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: his antipathy to the Constitution.
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: Look you heard the State of the Union address.
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: The Democrats sat in their hands, except for once when
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: he condemned heran. The Democrats, led by Elizabeth Warren, Senator
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: from Massachusetts, probably the most or second most left wing
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: member of the Senate, stood up and cheered. All he
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: had to do was asked for an authorization, he his
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: military force or asked for a declaration of force. And
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: his legal problems are over, not his moral problems, but
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: his legal problems. But because he is so has such
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: antipathy and indifference to the other two branches of the government.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: He didn't do so fair enough, you know, to appease
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: my list, I think we can go backwards in time
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: to all of the other military engagements let me call
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: them wars like the Vietnam War, the Korean War, and
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: all the other wars have been wages in spite of
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: the fact that nobody bothered to get a declaration of
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: war or even back then some kind of approval from Congress.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: Except final point, the power of the purse. Congress can
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: at any time defund it.
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: Well, that would take a two thirds majority, because that
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: he could veto. But the answer is yes, if he
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: became enormously unpopular, if the perception in the land was
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: that he was a madman and a totalitarian, and two
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: thirds of the Congress wanted to defund it, they could
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: turn the lights out in the White House. Two thirds
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: of the Congress can do anything except amend the constitution
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: that takes three quarters of the states.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: Three quarters of the states. Well, you know there is
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: a constitution. We get you to remind us every week. Yeah,
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: it's right there, it exists, it's real, and we need
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: to pay more attention to it. So a judgment Anapauliton
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: appreciate it. It's always great being able to engage in
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: these kinds.
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: Now, these are fabulous conversations. Brian.
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: Again, I'm stirring the pot. I'm doing so with a
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: little bit of passion because I'm devoted to this thing
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: that's the supreme law of the land.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: I know you are. I appreciate you for it. It's
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: the reality that we're talking about, Judge Anapaula, Tana. We'll
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: do this again next week. Every week at eight thirty
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: on the fifty five KRSCY Morning show Judging Freedom. Real quick,
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: your honor, who are you talking to today?
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: Oh? In an hour, I have a professor Mohammed Mirandi
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: born in Arlington, Virginia, now a professor at the University
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: of Tehran, live from the basement of his home in
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: Tehran at noon, Colonel Douglas McGregor.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: Douglas McGregor, Well, check for Judging Freedom. Wherever you find
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: your podcast will be on next week. Your on have
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: a great week between now and then, certain Thanks again,