Latest / Brian Thomas / Judge Napolitano

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Judge Napolitano · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: 55 KRC, the talk station. 831 on a Wednesday. Boy,
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  Speaker 1: it hasn't been the same last couple of weeks with
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  Speaker 1: that Judge Anna Napolitano, who's been in Russia, but he
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  Speaker 1: is back. He's written a column, which will come out tonight,
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  Speaker 1: which I have, More Threats to Freedom of Speech, but
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  Speaker 1: he was in Russia, so I'll start off this morning
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  Speaker 1: to see if I can pronounce Russian correctly. Wish you
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  Speaker 1: good morning by saying, Dobroye utro. Judge Anna Napolitano, great
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  Speaker 1: to have you back, my friend.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Brian.
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  Speaker 3: A pleasure to be back with you. Of course, I
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  Speaker 3: missed you.
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  Speaker 2: You know, you can't fly JFK to Moscow, which is
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  Speaker 2: a 10-hour flight. You have to fly through Dubai or Istanbul,
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  Speaker 2: and then you have to go east in order to
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  Speaker 2: avoid the area around Ukraine. Bottom line, it takes about
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  Speaker 2: 30 hours to get from New York to Moscow and
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  Speaker 2: about 28 hours returning.
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  Speaker 1: Uh, that would be Brian Thomas would say, no, I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to take a pass on that. I'm not a
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  Speaker 1: huge fan of air travel anyway, just because of the
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  Speaker 1: time and flying around in a tin can and you're
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  Speaker 1: stuck based upon their whims and kind of like being
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  Speaker 1: under government control, but 30 hours, man, you obviously you
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  Speaker 1: were motivated to be there. What, what drew you to
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  Speaker 1: Moscow judge Napolitano?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I was invited to dinner with Sergei Lavrov, the
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  Speaker 2: foreign minister. So my four traveling companions, John Mearsheimer, Alistair Crook,
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  Speaker 2: Larry Johnson, Alistair's wife, and I had a three-hour dinner
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  Speaker 2: in the residence with Foreign Minister Lavrov.
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  Speaker 3: He looked at me and said, ask me anything.
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  Speaker 2: Then the next day, I interviewed him with a Russian-American
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  Speaker 2: journalist friend of mine, Dmitry Symes, for an hour, and
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  Speaker 2: that interview ran all over the world. So It was
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  Speaker 2: those two events plus two lecturing opportunities at the School
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  Speaker 2: of International Diplomacy at Moscow State University, of which Lavrov
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  Speaker 2: is himself a graduate, which drew me there. It was
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  Speaker 2: a compelling and professionally fulfilling, if somewhat exhausting, but professionally
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  Speaker 2: fulfilling time there. So I was gone for nine days.
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  Speaker 2: I was only there for five and a half because.
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  Speaker 3: Of all the time traveling.
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  Speaker 2: Word.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, take a pass on that. What did you learn
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  Speaker 1: from Lavrov? If you had to come up with some
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  Speaker 1: of the most interesting or revealing, if I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: use that word, comments from him that maybe we don't
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  Speaker 1: have any awareness of, what would you say it is?
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  Speaker 2: It is that shortly before the Anchorage meeting between President
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  Speaker 2: Trump and President Putin, the Americans made a proposal for
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  Speaker 2: a permanent peace, which would have given the Donbass and
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  Speaker 2: Crimea to Russia. which was the American proposal, which would
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  Speaker 2: have allowed the Russian language and the Russian religion everywhere
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  Speaker 2: in Ukraine, and which would have assured the permanent neutrality
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  Speaker 2: of the rest of Ukraine. President Putin was skeptical of it.
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  Speaker 2: They talked him into it. He came to Moscow. He
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  Speaker 2: shook hands with Trump. They agreed to it. President Putin
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  Speaker 2: said in Sergei Lavrov's presence to President Trump, what about
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  Speaker 2: President Zelenskyy? President Trump responded typically, Zelensky will do whatever
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  Speaker 2: I tell him to do. They shook hands, they went home,
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  Speaker 2: they believed they had an agreement, and then the Americans
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  Speaker 2: reneged on their own agreement. This is the Russian version
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  Speaker 2: of this. We know that the European leaders to whom
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  Speaker 2: Trump spoke, as well as to his own people back
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  Speaker 2: here in the U.S., almost to a person advised against
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  Speaker 2: the agreement, and the war went on and on and
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  Speaker 2: on and on. So the bottom line is, They don't
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  Speaker 2: trust the Americans. They surely don't trust Witkoff and Kushner,
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  Speaker 2: who they believe are in Russia for their own financial benefit,
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  Speaker 2: not as true emissaries of the American government. That's my
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  Speaker 2: takeaway from the three-hour dinner with him. When I interviewed
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  Speaker 2: him the next day with cameras rolling, he obviously was
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  Speaker 2: a lot more dialed back than he was after the
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  Speaker 2: shots of vodka at dinner.
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  Speaker 1: Brian?
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  Speaker 2: They drink vodka like we drink water. The minute he
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  Speaker 2: put the glass down, the waiter filled it again to
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  Speaker 2: the brim.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was my experience with our British clients when
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  Speaker 1: I was practicing law in Chicago, Your Honor. Lots and lots.
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  Speaker 1: In their particular case, it was scotch. But either way,
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  Speaker 1: lots of drinking goes on, more so than here. But
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  Speaker 1: I guess the idea, and I know Trump has made
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  Speaker 1: similar comments like, you know, so once he's going to
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  Speaker 1: do what I say, what I want, But the other
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  Speaker 1: day he told Zelensky not to bomb any more Russian
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  Speaker 1: petroleum facilities. And he said, I told Zelensky not to
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  Speaker 1: do it. And the Russians said, fine, we won't bomb theirs.
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  Speaker 1: And it was just yesterday. Well, the Ukrainians started bombing
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  Speaker 1: Russian facilities and, in fact, hit one. So I guess
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  Speaker 1: Zelensky isn't under the thumb of Donald Trump, as Donald
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  Speaker 1: Trump has suggested.
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  Speaker 3: Unfortunately, that's correct. That's correct. With the new arrangement.
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  Speaker 2: Of American arms, but Europeans paying for them. And with
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  Speaker 2: a pretty much renegade CIA, you know, there are 20,
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  Speaker 2: 20 CIA stations in Ukraine, all established once the war started.
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  Speaker 2: This is almost out of Donald Trump's hands. He almost
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  Speaker 2: can't even control what goes on there.
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  Speaker 3: It's a terrible, terrible state of affairs.
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  Speaker 2: I know we don't usually talk about foreign affairs like this,
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  Speaker 2: but he can't seem to get out of the Iran
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  Speaker 2: war that he started. The Democrats are rising in the
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  Speaker 2: polls because it costs so much money to fill up
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  Speaker 2: your tank and now to buy a loaf of bread.
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  Speaker 2: People are going to blame all of this on his
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  Speaker 2: wars against which he campaigned very clearly.
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  Speaker 1: And unambiguously when he ran. There is no question in
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  Speaker 1: my mind, but I keep going back to that's an
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  Speaker 1: undeniable fact right there. I mean, anyone who's an always
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  Speaker 1: MAGA person, they get mad at me when I criticize
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  Speaker 1: Donald Trump. And fine, you're entitled to your opinion. But
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  Speaker 1: there is a direct line between our bombing Iran and
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  Speaker 1: what has happened since, which is the price of oil
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  Speaker 1: going up. There's chokeholds on both sides of Saudi Arabia.
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  Speaker 1: It's not getting in and out. Certainly not at a
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  Speaker 1: level it was before the war. We're all feeling it. So, but.
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  Speaker 1: I keep pivoting back over. Fine, you can be mad
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  Speaker 1: about inflation. We all are. You can be mad about
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  Speaker 1: $ 5 a gallon gas. We all are. But this is
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  Speaker 1: exactly what the Democrats wanted in the first place with
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  Speaker 1: their global warming agenda. They told you they wanted the
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  Speaker 1: price to go up. They put regulations on the books
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  Speaker 1: which forced that on us. That's a policy platform, reducing
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  Speaker 1: our dependence and our use of oil and natural gas. So-
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  Speaker 1: You get it from Trump because of a war, which
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  Speaker 1: I guess at some point will be open, which over
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  Speaker 1: which will allow the markets to come back to a
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  Speaker 1: sense of normalcy. Or you vote for the Democrats and
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  Speaker 1: get pissed off because of your current reality. And you'll
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  Speaker 1: end up with policies in place that are going to
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  Speaker 1: result in the same thing. I mean, we're in a
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  Speaker 1: catch 22 right now.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think the electorate has the sophistication to understand
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  Speaker 2: your argument.
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  Speaker 3: I think they're going to blame. It's going to be
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  Speaker 3: an anti-Trump vote.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. A lot of conservative Republicans who voted for
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  Speaker 2: Trump three times will want to send him a message.
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  Speaker 3: By voting for a Democrat.
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  Speaker 2: How is Bernie Marino's ex-son-in-law doing?
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  Speaker 3: I think that race is near you. Is he likely
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  Speaker 3: to get reelected?
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  Speaker 2: The one who allegedly, I know he denies it, was
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  Speaker 2: engaged in abusing his wife?
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  Speaker 1: I can only rely on history and the fact that
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  Speaker 1: Ohio has been a Republican state for some time now.
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  Speaker 1: I honestly have not been following that race closely, and
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  Speaker 1: I haven't seen any polling on that. But my concern is,
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  Speaker 1: going back to your point, people sort of making a
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  Speaker 1: protest vote. The polls are pretty neck and neck on
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  Speaker 1: most all of the races. I was talking earlier about
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  Speaker 1: the John Husted, Sherrod Brown race. Obviously, Senate race is
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  Speaker 1: critically important. They're polling neck and neck, and I think
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  Speaker 1: even Sherrod Brown's a Scotia head of John Husted. Amy Acton,
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  Speaker 1: who apparently doesn't, I mean, can't even answer a question,
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  Speaker 1: hiding in her basement, literally running a Joe Biden-type campaign,
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  Speaker 1: won't do an interview with Vivek Ramaswamy. She's afraid of him.
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  Speaker 1: She hides and she won't answer questions to any of
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  Speaker 1: the press. That race is neck and neck. Amy, let's
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  Speaker 1: lock the whole state down. Let's close the schools.
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  Speaker 2: Acton.
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  Speaker 1: And she's got really no platform to run on. And yeah,
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  Speaker 1: there we have it. Going to your point, more people
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  Speaker 1: are worried about the current situation and going to be
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  Speaker 1: blaming Donald Trump and the Republicans for where we are.
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  Speaker 2: Now, I don't use diesel. I don't own a diesel vehicle.
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  Speaker 2: But diesel in New Jersey is $ 6. 50 a gallon.
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  Speaker 3: In California, it's $ 10 a gallon.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Now, that will affect all of us because almost everything
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  Speaker 2: you eat has been in a truck powered by diesel
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  Speaker 2: as it made its way to the supermarkets.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and I'll just turn to the left. Uh, we
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  Speaker 1: haven't built a refinery in this country and I can't
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  Speaker 1: remember when it's been decades and decades, environmental regulation, NIMBY lawsuits,
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  Speaker 1: everything stands in the way. If you find a place
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  Speaker 1: where you can even build one, it won't even a
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  Speaker 1: shovel won't hit the ground for at least 10 years
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  Speaker 1: because of litigation. There's a challenge. Where'd that come from?
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  Speaker 1: Green leftist policies, preventing it from happening.
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  Speaker 2: Correct.
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  Speaker 3: Correct. So, um, Here we are.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, the president is probably not campaigning aggressively because
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  Speaker 2: his advisors have said, nobody wants their picture taken with you. Look,
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  Speaker 2: they had a convention in Dallas, Dallas, Texas, and they
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  Speaker 2: couldn't fill the place.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. It does tell a tale, doesn't it, Judge Napolitano? Again,
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  Speaker 1: that's why I keep reminding people what they will be
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  Speaker 1: voting for. To read the Democrat Socialist of America platform,
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  Speaker 1: which you, as a protector and defender of the Constitution
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  Speaker 1: of the United States more so than anybody. any human being, sees, well,
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  Speaker 1: evaporating in front of his very eyes if they adopt
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  Speaker 1: those policies. How they bring them about, I don't know,
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  Speaker 1: but getting rid of the Supreme Court, getting rid of, well,
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  Speaker 1: the executive office, basically, getting rid of criminal justice system
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  Speaker 1: across the board. It's a recipe for absolute chaos and disaster.
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  Speaker 2: There is someone out there. who says we cannot normalize murder.
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  Speaker 2: The great Thomas Massey yesterday on the floor of the
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  Speaker 2: House of Representatives, I was just beaming, beaming, listening to
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  Speaker 2: him as he outlined his articles.
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  Speaker 3: Of impeachment against Pete Hegsa. This is not over the war.
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  Speaker 2: This is over the killings of and the speedboats in
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  Speaker 2: the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific. And the way Congressman
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  Speaker 2: Massey wrote it, framed it, read it, and advanced it,
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  Speaker 2: it's irrefutable. And he did it under a rule that
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  Speaker 2: will force the House to vote on it. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And as I was reading those articles of impeachment, and
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  Speaker 1: I was going, you know what, there's a bunch of
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  Speaker 1: people that are going to be screaming out loud about
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  Speaker 1: Congressman Massey, backstab or whatever, call him what you want.
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  Speaker 1: But I think the first three articles have a very
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  Speaker 1: good point, which is, don't we have a War Powers
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  Speaker 1: Resolution from 1973, and doesn't it have specific words about
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  Speaker 1: engaging in conduct? And doesn't it have specific timelines that
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  Speaker 1: need to be followed, absent congressional approval? It's a law
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  Speaker 1: on the books. It's a law of the land, and
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  Speaker 1: yet it seems to have evaporated. But I think Thomas
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  Speaker 1: Massey's trying to correct decades of, since World War II,
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  Speaker 1: you and I have talked about this, decades of Unilateral
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  Speaker 1: determination we're going to war by the president of the
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  Speaker 1: United States of America, whether it's John F. Kennedy or
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  Speaker 1: here in this case, Donald Trump.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, yes.
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  Speaker 2: But God bless Congressman Massey, of course, who is at
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  Speaker 2: the end of his time in the House of Representatives,
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  Speaker 2: continuing to stand for principles, first principles.
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  Speaker 3: We cannot normalize murder.
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  Speaker 2: And that's what this is. It is the normalization of murder. Again,
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  Speaker 2: we're not talking about Iran. We're talking about murdering people
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  Speaker 2: in speedboats and then murdering the survivors of the initial attack.
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  Speaker 1: And there are rules of engagement on the books that
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  Speaker 1: address that as well. You can't kill a guy floating
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  Speaker 1: around in the water after you blew his boat up.
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  Speaker 3: Right, right.
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  Speaker 1: Complicated questions. I think they're mad at Massey because he's
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  Speaker 1: bringing up decent points. These are legitimate points of law.
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  Speaker 1: And isn't it true in the military you cannot follow
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  Speaker 1: an illegal order?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, it is true.
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  Speaker 2: And you were taught that day two or day three
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  Speaker 2: of whatever your training is, whether it's basic training, advanced
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  Speaker 2: infantry training or officer candidate school, it.
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  Speaker 3: Is illegal to follow an illegal order.
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  Speaker 2: And killing a non combatant intentionally is always unlawful.
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  Speaker 1: Well, the funny, and it's, it's pathetic, but it's funny
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  Speaker 1: at the same time, you know, what, What is an
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  Speaker 1: unlawful order when you have elected officials and defenders of
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  Speaker 1: the conflict suggesting, well, it's not even a war, and
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  Speaker 1: therefore the War Powers Resolution of 73 doesn't apply? I mean,
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  Speaker 1: we're getting into Orwellian semantics here, aren't we, Your Honor?
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  Speaker 3: Yes.
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  Speaker 2: Did you see the photo of this beautiful young couple?
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  Speaker 2: They're both in their late 20s, a husband and wife.
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  Speaker 2: He's now dead. He was shot down in the first
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  Speaker 2: two weeks of Iran attacks. She has been denied his
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  Speaker 2: death benefits by the Pentagon.
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  Speaker 3: The Pentagon says it's.
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  Speaker 2: Not a war.
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  Speaker 3: Wait a minute.
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  Speaker 2: Her husband was killed by people the U.S. military was
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  Speaker 2: trying to kill, and you're going to deny her death benefits?
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  Speaker 3: Well, J.D. Vance says it's not a war.
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  Speaker 2: This is why people are aggravated when it comes to
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  Speaker 2: right and wrong, Brian.
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  Speaker 1: No question about it. Judge Annapolitano, your podcast, Judging Freedom,
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  Speaker 1: on throughout the week. I encourage people to check it
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: out wherever they get their podcasts. We always have a
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  Speaker 1: segment on this. Who are you going to be talking
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  Speaker 1: to today, Your Honor?
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  Speaker 2: I piled everything up early in the week because of
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  Speaker 2: some traveling I'm doing. I have Phil Giraldi and Gilbert
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  Speaker 2: Doctorow today. Yesterday, Jeff Sachs and Colonel Douglas McGregor.
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  Speaker 3: My same.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: cast of analysts just on different days because of my
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  Speaker 2: own schedule.
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  Speaker 3: But thank you for asking, Brian.
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  Speaker 1: Always like to ask. Always like to check it out myself.
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  Speaker 1: And always remember to check out Judge Ann Napolitano's column.
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  Speaker 1: We didn't really get to it, but it's a very
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  Speaker 1: valuable read. Again, going back to the Constitution and our
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: freedom of speech rights. More threats to freedom of speech
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  Speaker 1: out at midnight tonight. Judge Napolitano, I'm already looking forward
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  Speaker 1: to next Wednesday. Thank God for you, sir.
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  Speaker 3: All the best, Brian. Thank you.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: 845-55-KRC, the talk station. Don't go away. Be right back.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Right now.
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  Speaker 2: Right now.