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Mitch McCann: US Correspondent on the White house group chat saga · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Sir, we're off to America. A much McCann goodbarding to you.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Andrew, good morning. How are you good.
• 0:05
  Speaker 3: So this group chat thing goes on. I think I
• 0:07
  Speaker 3: watched the late night shows last night, and what everyone
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: was amazed at is how the administration is doubling down
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: that this did not happen, that this is alone, that
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: Jeffrey Goldberg is a discredited journalist. Do we have enough
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: out there yet to say this really did happen.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Well, there has been a change this morning. Well, the
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: government firstly has acknowledged this is a real chat that
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: happened over Signal. But the question the administration has, while
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: it calls this a hoax, says that they don't know
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: how Jeffrey Goldberg got into the chat. Did he do
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: something that allowed himself into the chat? Really kind of
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: hard to believe sort of stuff. And for people that
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: are just starting to follow this, this is the story
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: where a prominent US journalist from the Atlantic was accidentally
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: added to a group on this messaging app called Signal
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: alongside some of Donald Trump's closest top cabinet officials. Now,
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: they weren't discussing what they were going to have for dinner,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: they were discussing bombing Yemen, and the journalist were sitting
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: there watching this whole thing unfold. The latest development Andrew
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: this morning is that Jeffrey Goldberg has decided, because Donald
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: Trump says it wasn't classified, to release the entire chat. Initially,
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: he hadn't done that because he said some of the
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: information might be classified. He shouldn't be doing it. But
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: he has decided this morning to do that. And the
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Democrats say the contents of these messages that he's released
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: today proved that it was classified information, and they're now
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: calling on Pete Higgsseth, the Secretary of Defense, to resign.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Wow, well that won't happen. Pete, seems very bold. Now
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: let's get to some real big stuff. Russia, Ukraine. Russia's
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: made some demands before they're going to start any ceasefire
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: in the Black Sea.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. Both Russia and Ukraine have said that
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: they're committed to a ceasefire in the Blank Sea, but
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: it remains unclear if this is actually going to happen
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: and how it could work in practice. This is because
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  Speaker 2: the Kremlin has said, yes, well we'll go along with
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  Speaker 2: the ceasefire, but we have some things that we want
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: before this actually happens. It says it's not going to
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  Speaker 2: agree to the ceasefire on the water unless it's agricultural bank,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: it's State Agriculture Bank and other banks involved in sort
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: of trade and fertilizers and things are reconnected to the
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: international payment system known as SWIFT. And there are a
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: few other sanctions that it wants pulled back as well
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: before it's going to agree to this. Now, Ukraine says,
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: this is madness because you just forgiving Russia what it wants.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: But the Trump administration is going to consider this and
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: they're going to come up with an answer in the
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: next couple of days. But it is movement, but Russia
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: here it seems really dictating the terms of how it's
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: going to move on this.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Mitch, thank you so much.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: to News Talks it be from five am weekdays, or
• 2:46
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