Latest / Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar / 7/29/26: Iran Surprise Attack On US As Trump Threatens Retaliation, Lindsey Graham Bibi Plot Against ICC

Transcript

7/29/26: Iran Surprise Attack On US As Trump Threatens Retaliation, Lindsey Graham Bibi Plot Against ICC · Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar

0:00
Speaker 1: Hey, guys, Saga and Crystal here.
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Speaker 3: Good morning, Welcome to Breaking Points. Crystal is in for
0:36
Speaker 3: the one only Ryan Grimm, so we've replaced Ryan grim
0:38
Speaker 3: with the one and only Crystal Ball.
0:40
Speaker 2: It's great that Ryan is kind of irreplaceable if we're
0:43
Speaker 2: being honest, though.
0:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's singular. He's singular. We'll put it back here.
0:47
Speaker 2: It's singular, very true. Lots of big stories to get into,
0:51
Speaker 2: including some significant developments in Iran. They launched an attack
0:54
Speaker 2: on the US and Jordan. This is really the first
0:56
Speaker 2: time that they have attacked without it being a sort
0:59
Speaker 2: of eye for our and I where their retaliating situation.
1:01
Speaker 2: So that is a very significant development. We'll dig into that.
1:04
Speaker 2: The filmmaker who followed Lindsay Graham around in the last
1:07
Speaker 2: months of his life is going to join us with
1:09
Speaker 2: some new raw footage and to talk to us about
1:12
Speaker 2: what he was up to in those final days. This
1:14
Speaker 2: comes on the heels of Graham's memorial services yesterday, attended
1:18
Speaker 2: by all sorts of dignitaries and very interesting speeches there
1:21
Speaker 2: emily eulogy from Trump and also from Sean Hannity, you know,
1:26
Speaker 2: and oh yes, explains.
1:29
Speaker 3: There this is the funeral program, and it was I
1:34
Speaker 3: got it if we promised to talk about how to
1:36
Speaker 3: praved Sean Hannity's eulogy was and that seemed like a
1:39
Speaker 3: fair deal.
1:39
Speaker 2: To me, easiest deal you've ever made. Well done, Securious.
1:43
Speaker 3: Stick around because we have a little bit of sound
1:45
Speaker 3: from Hannaday's eulogy.
1:47
Speaker 2: Indeed, we've also got Jasper Nathaniel. He's going to join
1:49
Speaker 2: to talk both about Nan Yahoo. I think this was
1:52
Speaker 2: his eighth visit to DC with Trump, and he's saying
1:56
Speaker 2: it went great. There's some other indications that maybe it
1:59
Speaker 2: didn't go so great. For from his perspective, I don't know.
2:01
Speaker 2: We'll see what edge what Jasper thinks about that. And
2:04
Speaker 2: then even more significantly, he's just back from a trip
2:07
Speaker 2: to the West Bank where he witnessed the ongoing programs there.
2:10
Speaker 2: Those programs have only escalated since his departure, so he's
2:15
Speaker 2: going to talk to us about what exactly is happening
2:17
Speaker 2: in the West Bank. We've got an interesting story here
2:20
Speaker 2: about the Shopify CEO apparently coming out against democracy. He
2:25
Speaker 2: thinks that if you don't pay income taxes, you shouldn't vote,
2:28
Speaker 2: and that the rich should get more votes than the
2:31
Speaker 2: non rich. So it's pretty interesting ideas coming from the
2:33
Speaker 2: oligarchs these days. And then we've got a whole bunch
2:36
Speaker 2: of polls. We say Texas here because there's a pole
2:39
Speaker 2: that has tallerigo up in Texas. But we've also got
2:41
Speaker 2: some really interesting data out of Wisconsin. We just interviewed
2:44
Speaker 2: yesterday Francesca Hank who is the front runner in that race.
2:48
Speaker 2: She's a DSA candidate to be the Democratic gubernatorial nominee.
2:52
Speaker 2: They had a debate last night that was pretty interesting,
2:55
Speaker 2: and we've also got some poll numbers that show her
2:57
Speaker 2: Emily just running away with that race at this point,
3:00
Speaker 2: and it looks like data centers are really dominating voters'
3:04
Speaker 2: minds as they consider who they want to support moving
3:07
Speaker 2: into the general election in Wisconsin. So, you know, we
3:10
Speaker 2: asked her some about that yesterday. That's been a really
3:12
Speaker 2: important part of her policy platform.
3:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, no surprise there at all to hear that. It's
3:16
Speaker 3: what's popping in this race. But the other Democratic candidates
3:20
Speaker 3: are woefully behind Francesco hung on that particular issue, So
3:24
Speaker 3: you're going to want to stick around and see the
3:26
Speaker 3: facts from that race. Christal wills to be doing an
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4:11
Speaker 2: Exactly. If you are in a place where you can't
4:13
Speaker 2: listen to a whole video but you want to get
4:15
Speaker 2: a gist of what's going on in the world and
4:16
Speaker 2: what we talked about today, that is the way to
4:19
Speaker 2: do it. So, of course, just after we finish wrapping
4:22
Speaker 2: our Iran blog, Trump had to come out and make
4:24
Speaker 2: some really wild and provocative comments about how he will
4:28
Speaker 2: respond to Iranian attacks from yesterday. Let's take a listit
4:32
Speaker 2: of that.
4:32
Speaker 5: President Trump reacting to that Iranian attack on US forces
4:36
Speaker 5: overnight and Jordan. President Trump tells Fox News about Iran,
4:40
Speaker 5: we are going to beat the effing s out of them,
4:44
Speaker 5: He went on to say, We'll be hitting them hard.
4:46
Speaker 5: They're going to get a beating. So clearly the United
4:49
Speaker 5: States is going to respond to what the President described
4:52
Speaker 5: as a surprise attack. He says US forces had just
4:55
Speaker 5: minutes to shoot down these incoming Iranian ballistic missiles. The
4:59
Speaker 5: President says he he has reviewed video of the shootdown,
5:01
Speaker 5: and it was US forces conducting this operation to defend
5:05
Speaker 5: that area.
5:06
Speaker 4: He said it was real time.
5:07
Speaker 5: They were calling out coordinates and ensuring that none of
5:10
Speaker 5: this incoming Iranian fire got through. I also asked the
5:13
Speaker 5: President about those US and Saudi air strikes against Iran
5:17
Speaker 5: backed Iraqi Shia militias overnight. He says those strikes were
5:21
Speaker 5: coordinated with the Iraqi government. He called these Iran back
5:24
Speaker 5: militias a cancer on the world and says he is
5:27
Speaker 5: considering additional warnings against Iranian proxies and their link to
5:32
Speaker 5: the Iranian regime. The President also talked about his meeting
5:35
Speaker 5: yesterday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office.
5:38
Speaker 5: He says it was a great meeting, adding he understands
5:42
Speaker 5: now it appears that the relationship between President Trump and
5:46
Speaker 5: the Israeli Prime Minister is strengthening. And again the President
5:49
Speaker 5: called that meeting in the Oval great. In terms of
5:51
Speaker 5: possible talks with the Iranian regime, the President says, We're
5:54
Speaker 5: going to let them keep talking. Remember, the Iranians came
5:57
Speaker 5: to President Trump after thirteen straight days of US bombing
6:01
Speaker 5: against Iran, asking to meet about the strait of Warmuz
6:05
Speaker 5: and their broader nuclear ambitions, and those talks are taking
6:08
Speaker 5: place as we speak, behind the scenes. And then this
6:11
Speaker 5: surprise attack launched against US forces overnight, and again President
6:15
Speaker 5: Trump telling Fox News we are going to beat the
6:18
Speaker 5: fing s out of them, and that US strikes will
6:20
Speaker 5: take place against Iran in response to this surprise attack
6:24
Speaker 5: overnight against US forces in Jordan.
6:27
Speaker 2: There you go, the President in response to Iranian attempted
6:30
Speaker 2: attacks on Jordan, saying We're going to beat the fings
6:34
Speaker 2: out of them, as they were saying they're on Fox News.
6:38
Speaker 2: And any sign of negotiations or any idea that this
6:42
Speaker 2: was going to be a new cooling period I think
6:45
Speaker 2: are completely off the table.
6:46
Speaker 3: Emily, Yeah, absolutely, And we have already lost twenty American
6:52
Speaker 3: troops in that neighborhood, in that ballpark. Unfortunately, I'm not
6:56
Speaker 3: sure actually what the real number is. Christal, I don't
6:58
Speaker 3: know if anybody has confidence in what the real number is.
7:00
Speaker 3: But there's a non zero chance that we see more
7:07
Speaker 3: American deaths in the days to come if this escalates.
7:10
Speaker 3: As President Trump says, We're going to beat the fucking
7:13
Speaker 3: shit out of them. That is to me a pretty
7:18
Speaker 3: terrifying sign. Of escalation potentially. Now, of course, Trump likes
7:24
Speaker 3: to talk an escalatory rhetoric and then not actually do
7:27
Speaker 3: the escalation part of the escalatory rhetoric. Sometimes sometimes he does,
7:30
Speaker 3: sometimes he doesn't. So yet to be determined what actually happens,
7:34
Speaker 3: especially as reports mount about our munition stockpiles and how
7:39
Speaker 3: serious of a problem that is internally at the Pentagon
7:42
Speaker 3: right now. So we'll see what actually happens. But that's
7:45
Speaker 3: you know, the bomb bast you can never ignore, of
7:48
Speaker 3: course when it's Donald Trump, And that's kind of his point.
7:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, the analysis from yesterday and the
7:54
Speaker 2: day before that, and the day before that and the
7:55
Speaker 2: day before that stands. Okay, Let's say that you do
7:58
Speaker 2: more of an air bombing campaign of the same thing,
8:02
Speaker 2: you know, type of actions that we've been taking previously.
8:05
Speaker 2: That's unlikely to change the fundamental dynamics. The other options
8:10
Speaker 2: are a ground invasion. Are you going to try to
8:12
Speaker 2: take carg Island? Are you going to deploy a tactical
8:15
Speaker 2: nuclear weapon against Pickaxe Mountain or something of that nature.
8:18
Speaker 2: These are all terrifying scenarios that I think we have
8:21
Speaker 2: to consider still to be very much on the table.
8:24
Speaker 2: With all of that, being said, let's go ahead and
8:26
Speaker 2: get to the remainder of our analysis, and so you
8:29
Speaker 2: guys can see the build up to how we ended
8:31
Speaker 2: up at this threat from Trump and exactly what the
8:35
Speaker 2: Iranians were able to accomplish in Jordan. All right, with
8:40
Speaker 2: all that being said, let's go ahead and jump into
8:42
Speaker 2: the latest with regard to Iran. Here we can put
8:45
Speaker 2: these images up on the screen. So send coom announced
8:48
Speaker 2: that Iran had launched an attack toward a US base
8:51
Speaker 2: in Jordan. Now they are claiming Sentcom is the US
8:55
Speaker 2: is claiming that none of these missiles found their targets.
9:00
Speaker 2: This is all unconfirmed, but there is some footage from
9:03
Speaker 2: the region that would seem to indicate otherwise. This is
9:05
Speaker 2: from drop site. They say Iran has launched ballistic missiles
9:08
Speaker 2: toward a US base in Jordan. Arab and Iranian telegram
9:11
Speaker 2: accounts separately reported explosions and direct impacts at that airbase.
9:16
Speaker 2: All claims remain unconfirmed. Purported footage shared on regional news
9:20
Speaker 2: channels is linked, so we don't know.
9:24
Speaker 6: We do know.
9:24
Speaker 2: The US has lied about these sorts of things in
9:26
Speaker 2: the past, Emily, so it would not be surprised if
9:29
Speaker 2: some of the missiles did get through. We also know
9:31
Speaker 2: from NBC News reporting that they've been having to ration interceptors.
9:35
Speaker 2: We know Iranian missiles and drones have found their targets
9:38
Speaker 2: in the past, so that's as much as we know
9:41
Speaker 2: about that situation. You could put the Sentcom announcement up
9:43
Speaker 2: on the screen so people can see exactly what the
9:46
Speaker 2: US is saying. Here they say. At five forty five
9:48
Speaker 2: pm Eastern time today, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Core forces launched
9:52
Speaker 2: multiple ballistic missiles from Iran in an attempted surprise attack
9:55
Speaker 2: on US forces based in the Middle East. All Iranian
9:57
Speaker 2: missiles were successfully intercepted. US forces remained vigilant and had
10:01
Speaker 2: a high state of readiness. Obviously no shock that Iran
10:06
Speaker 2: would be firing missiles at US assets and potential US
10:10
Speaker 2: service members here, but this is a very This is
10:14
Speaker 2: really quite significant because previously Iran has mostly responded to
10:19
Speaker 2: provocations from the US and from our regional allies. This
10:24
Speaker 2: occurred at a time when there's no ceasefire in place anymore,
10:27
Speaker 2: but there had been no exchange of fire for several days.
10:32
Speaker 2: So for Iran to be the ones that break that
10:35
Speaker 2: lull in the action is quite notable, and I think
10:39
Speaker 2: speaks to the fact that number one, they see the
10:42
Speaker 2: US blockade, they see that and I think justifiably so
10:45
Speaker 2: as an active war. Number Two, while Trump is running
10:48
Speaker 2: around saying, oh, they want to negotiate with us, they're
10:51
Speaker 2: begging for negotiations. You know, we were going to try
10:53
Speaker 2: to negotiate with them, what the Iranians are saying is
10:56
Speaker 2: something quite different, That they are not interested in negotiations
11:00
Speaker 2: and that any negotiations moving forward would require the US
11:03
Speaker 2: to accept a Runian control over the Strait of Hormuz,
11:07
Speaker 2: something that the US at this point see as unacceptable.
11:10
Speaker 2: And so the Iranians feel that they have escalation dominance,
11:14
Speaker 2: that you know, the US is on the back foot,
11:17
Speaker 2: and that the US needs to feel more pain before
11:19
Speaker 2: the Iranians will be able to secure at the negotiating
11:22
Speaker 2: table the gains that they have secured on the battlefield.
11:25
Speaker 2: So I think this is quite noteworthy and also shows,
11:28
Speaker 2: you know, the the destruction of the MoU really at
11:33
Speaker 2: the hands of the US. Undermining the terms of that
11:37
Speaker 2: MoU from the beginning is a massive missed opportunity for
11:41
Speaker 2: the US, because the Iranians once again have an example
11:44
Speaker 2: of you know, you can't negotiate with these people in
11:46
Speaker 2: good faith. The hardliners who said that, you said that
11:49
Speaker 2: all along and said this is a bad idea to
11:51
Speaker 2: we're giving up our leverage to go into this MoU.
11:54
Speaker 2: Their hands have been strengthened, and you know, now you're
11:57
Speaker 2: going to have a much more difficult time getting to
12:00
Speaker 2: negotiating table, and the terms that you're going to secure
12:02
Speaker 2: are going to be worse than they were when they
12:05
Speaker 2: were able to put together the MoU.
12:07
Speaker 3: It's certainly a very high possibility at this point. And meanwhile,
12:11
Speaker 3: obviously we're going to talk about this in more depths later.
12:13
Speaker 3: Trump and Netsan Yahoo were meeting at the White House
12:16
Speaker 3: yesterday here in Washington, d C. And Trump called into
12:19
Speaker 3: Fox and Friends yesterday morning. Let's go ahead first put
12:22
Speaker 3: a three up on the screen to just head over
12:25
Speaker 3: to Iraq for a second. This is from the So
12:29
Speaker 3: this is the US and Saudi Arabia launch joint aarstrikes
12:32
Speaker 3: on Iran back to militia targets in Iraq after more
12:34
Speaker 3: than thirty IRGC directed drone attacks over the past seven
12:38
Speaker 3: two hours.
12:38
Speaker 4: Percent Com.
12:39
Speaker 3: The statement from Sentcom comes just hours after Iranian strikes
12:43
Speaker 3: targeted a US base in Jordan, so you have Saudi
12:46
Speaker 3: involvement there as well. And Donald Trump before the Lindsay
12:50
Speaker 3: Graham service yesterday called into Fox and Friends too well.
12:54
Speaker 3: He actually briefly got pushed on where the negotiations stand
12:58
Speaker 3: and who's actually being spoken with on the Iranian side,
13:02
Speaker 3: just to give you a kind of glimpse at what
13:05
Speaker 3: seems to be or what they're willing to what the
13:08
Speaker 3: public framing of where the negotiating stands is, at least
13:11
Speaker 3: from the President himself.
13:13
Speaker 4: Let's take a listen.
13:14
Speaker 7: We have had some very good talks and very interesting
13:16
Speaker 7: with Lindsay. He was very much a hawk, as you
13:19
Speaker 7: would say on a run, and over the last few weeks,
13:22
Speaker 7: I would say that he became like, if you could
13:24
Speaker 7: make a deal, it's better better making a deal in
13:27
Speaker 7: this case than just destroying the rest of the country.
13:31
Speaker 7: We've destroyed most of it, frankly. But he was somebody
13:35
Speaker 7: that said it's a good time to make a deal.
13:38
Speaker 7: Nice time to make a deal, is a good deal.
13:40
Speaker 7: Look now, I wouldn't say necessarily he feels that way
13:42
Speaker 7: about Ukraine. Ukraine he's very militant about I mean, Lindsay
13:48
Speaker 7: liked war to be honest with you, okay, And I said,
13:50
Speaker 7: you're a nice guy. How come you like war so much?
13:53
Speaker 7: He was a guy that liked war, I jokingly say,
13:57
Speaker 7: and it's nothing funny about it. But he's never seen
14:00
Speaker 7: the war that he didn't like. But I have some
14:02
Speaker 7: Republicans said, well, why don't we hit him harder? So
14:05
Speaker 7: you know it's at some point.
14:07
Speaker 4: So I have.
14:08
Speaker 7: You have a lot of competing factions. You have a
14:10
Speaker 7: group of people that wanted to be obliterated in the
14:15
Speaker 7: truest sense of the word. Then you have a group
14:17
Speaker 7: that there's this is actually a good time to make
14:20
Speaker 7: a deal for them. If they don't make a deal,
14:22
Speaker 7: then I go back and I finished the job. But
14:24
Speaker 7: that's going to take them forever to rebuild already, it'll
14:27
Speaker 7: take them many years to ever to rebuild. And I
14:31
Speaker 7: go back and finish up the job as some people
14:33
Speaker 7: would like with the bridges, with the very easy I
14:36
Speaker 7: could take out most of their bridges in less than
14:38
Speaker 7: an hour. Less than an hour, And you're.
14:41
Speaker 8: Going to be we hear that you're talking right now
14:44
Speaker 8: with leaders on Iran.
14:46
Speaker 9: But Iran has come out publicly and said we're not
14:48
Speaker 9: talking to the US. Well, that we are.
14:51
Speaker 7: Talking a little while ago, because this president, for some reason,
14:57
Speaker 7: for some reason, we can be in the midst of
14:59
Speaker 7: a beautiful discussion and they'll come out and say, we're
15:02
Speaker 7: not talking, or we didn't discuss nuclear Well, that's all
15:05
Speaker 7: we discussed, because they'll never have a nuclear weapon. They
15:08
Speaker 7: understand that kill me.
15:10
Speaker 3: They're pushing Trump to say who by saying who are
15:13
Speaker 3: you talking to? Crystal Trump basically glossing over that it
15:17
Speaker 3: doesn't appear that talks are really happening in substance right now.
15:22
Speaker 4: I think that seems pretty obvious.
15:24
Speaker 2: Well, and this interview happened before the Iranian strikes on
15:28
Speaker 2: the base in Jordan, so I think the Iranians sent
15:31
Speaker 2: a message about how exactly they feel about talks right
15:34
Speaker 2: now with this attempted or possibly successful attack in Jordan,
15:38
Speaker 2: and just on the piece from A three that let's
15:42
Speaker 2: put it back up on the screen there. This was
15:44
Speaker 2: significant too. You know, when we had Professor Morandi on
15:47
Speaker 2: the last time, he was talking about how no one
15:49
Speaker 2: really discusses the Iraqi militias that are also allies of Iran,
15:56
Speaker 2: and that in their view, they are the you know,
15:59
Speaker 2: the most capable and most significant allied force of the Iranians.
16:05
Speaker 2: So here we have the US and Saudi Arabia launching
16:07
Speaker 2: joint strikes on some of those malicious in a rock.
16:11
Speaker 2: The malicious themselves are saying there were some twenty two
16:14
Speaker 2: roughly fighters who were killed somewhere in that ballpark, and
16:18
Speaker 2: this seems to be in retaliation from some of the
16:21
Speaker 2: strikes on Saudi oil refineries and a Ramco facilities, some
16:27
Speaker 2: of which have had to shut down because of the
16:30
Speaker 2: successful strikes there. So you know, we're yes, that's right,
16:34
Speaker 2: we can put a five up. We've got some of
16:37
Speaker 2: the some of the images here, you can see satellite
16:41
Speaker 2: imagery if we put the next one up that shows
16:43
Speaker 2: the before and after of the of the strikes, so
16:47
Speaker 2: you can see that they were significant, that damage was done,
16:51
Speaker 2: et cetera. And in any case, we've got oil going
16:55
Speaker 2: back up this morning. You know, the idea that oh
16:57
Speaker 2: there's going to be a lull, there's going to be
16:58
Speaker 2: new negotiations, we're going to go back to the memo
17:01
Speaker 2: of understanding. I think that's all been blown up this
17:04
Speaker 2: morning will literally and figuratively so to speak.
17:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a four hundred thousand barrel a day. Refinery
17:12
Speaker 3: and according to Reuters, exactly as Crystal just described, that
17:16
Speaker 3: was shut down following an attack by as a lot.
17:19
Speaker 3: Now let's go to Oman, which presented this is the
17:22
Speaker 3: next element, ran with a proposal for a joint regional
17:25
Speaker 3: mechanism to manage the Strait of Horror moves with voluntary
17:28
Speaker 3: user fees. According to a Reuters report, under the proposal,
17:31
Speaker 3: which reportedly has regional packing, Iran would not exercise Soul
17:35
Speaker 3: control over the waterway. For ministers from the Golf Cooperation Council.
17:40
Speaker 3: Countries also held the virtual meeting on the ongoing negotiations Tuesday.
17:43
Speaker 3: According to Oman, now again a reminder which our audience
17:50
Speaker 3: doesn't need, this was not on the table before the war, Christie.
17:56
Speaker 3: This is an L for the United States, no matter what,
18:00
Speaker 3: even if even if Iran does not exercise Soul control
18:05
Speaker 3: over the waterway and there are voluntary user fees. That
18:10
Speaker 3: is a complete L based on where we were February
18:14
Speaker 3: twenty seventh, day before the war started.
18:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's exactly right. And you know from the Iranian perspective, look,
18:20
Speaker 2: Trump was trying to do his typical Okay, let me
18:23
Speaker 2: stop attacking. I need the markets to open things are
18:26
Speaker 2: looking a little shaky on the economy. I don't want
18:29
Speaker 2: to be Herbert Hoover. Let me see what I can
18:31
Speaker 2: do to calm things down and manipulate the markets for
18:34
Speaker 2: another week and lie and say that the Iranians are
18:36
Speaker 2: begging for negotiations when they're really not. And the Iranians
18:40
Speaker 2: are basically saying, no, we're not going to let you
18:42
Speaker 2: do that. It's a different day. We are not going
18:45
Speaker 2: to wait around for you to set the pace of attacks.
18:49
Speaker 2: We are taking control of the pace and the dynamics
18:52
Speaker 2: of the situation. So their strategy has long been that
18:57
Speaker 2: the US needs to feel economic pain, that Trump needs
19:01
Speaker 2: to feel political pain with the midterms looming, and the
19:06
Speaker 2: hardliners argued in advance of the MoU that the US
19:10
Speaker 2: had not yet felt sufficient pain, and with Trump immediately
19:14
Speaker 2: trying to undermine that by establishing a separate cord or
19:16
Speaker 2: through the strait of horror, moves, that sent the message that, yeah,
19:20
Speaker 2: that is correct, the US and the global economy need
19:23
Speaker 2: to feel more pain, which is a terrible situation for
19:27
Speaker 2: the entire world to be in, but that is where
19:29
Speaker 2: we are. So I think this is a highly, highly
19:33
Speaker 2: significant development that now the Iranians are not waiting and
19:37
Speaker 2: just responding to US or Israeli or Gulf Arab attacks,
19:41
Speaker 2: that they are actually taking the initiative and setting the
19:43
Speaker 2: pace themselves. We can put this drop site analysis of
19:47
Speaker 2: the Iranian position here. This is according to a senior
19:50
Speaker 2: Iranian official laying out Tehran's strategy on Hermuz negotiations and
19:55
Speaker 2: the nuclear program. This is from their deputy Foreign Minister
19:58
Speaker 2: for Legal and international affairs. They say Number one, Auran
20:02
Speaker 2: says hormones will never return to the pre war status quo,
20:05
Speaker 2: and if I could just pause on this particular item itself,
20:09
Speaker 2: this is really the whole ballgame, and Iran is not
20:12
Speaker 2: going to go back to negotiations based on what we
20:14
Speaker 2: can see until this is clearly affirmed by the US
20:18
Speaker 2: and the MoU. The language is left a little bit squishy.
20:21
Speaker 2: They're not going to allow that in whatever the next
20:24
Speaker 2: agreement may be. Number two they say Iran is prepared
20:26
Speaker 2: to keep this straight closed even if it means war resumes,
20:30
Speaker 2: and they reject restoring that southern shipping lane that is
20:33
Speaker 2: what the US was trying to establish during the MoU period.
20:38
Speaker 2: Number Three, talks are only with Oman, not Washington. So
20:43
Speaker 2: they're willing to negotiate with Aman with regard to the
20:45
Speaker 2: Strait of Hormuves, they are not willing to negotiate with Washington.
20:48
Speaker 2: Number four, Iran says military pressure will not force concessions,
20:53
Speaker 2: so no matter how much they are bombed, they are
20:55
Speaker 2: not going to move off of this position. And number
20:58
Speaker 2: five on the nuclear file, they said Iran is effectively
21:02
Speaker 2: operating as if it were no longer an NPT member.
21:05
Speaker 2: No IAEA inspections, no declarations, all agency access suspended. He
21:09
Speaker 2: adds that Tehran is debating whether to leave the Nuclear
21:12
Speaker 2: Non Proliferation Treaty altogether. The other side should not think
21:15
Speaker 2: Iran will remain in the NPT forever. All options are
21:19
Speaker 2: on the table. This is something else we discussed yesterday,
21:21
Speaker 2: which is that, you know, we killed the guy, the
21:25
Speaker 2: previous Supreme Leader, who was adamantly opposed to and had
21:29
Speaker 2: issued a religious edict against developing nuclear weapons. That guy
21:33
Speaker 2: has got gone. The new guy seems to be much
21:35
Speaker 2: more open to it. So on every single issue, we
21:39
Speaker 2: have set ourselves back in terms of the stated goals
21:43
Speaker 2: of this war. By starting this war on every single issue,
21:47
Speaker 2: we are further away from the stated objectives here, And
21:51
Speaker 2: you know, I think it's I think it's a pretty
21:53
Speaker 2: extraordinary place that we're in right at this moment where
21:56
Speaker 2: it's no longer Aroan waiting to see what the US does.
22:00
Speaker 2: Now the US is having to respond to Iranian actions here,
22:04
Speaker 2: and the previous prospects of negotiations quickly bringing this to
22:08
Speaker 2: a close are completely off the tables we over six
22:11
Speaker 2: months in here too. And one other thing, Emily, I
22:14
Speaker 2: saw one analyst projecting perhaps the Iranians want to make
22:21
Speaker 2: a deal before the midterms because part of their leverage
22:23
Speaker 2: is this political leverage of Trump caring what happens in
22:26
Speaker 2: the midterms, and after the midterms are done and that
22:28
Speaker 2: cake is baked, then you lose that piece. So that
22:31
Speaker 2: would at least give some hope that there could be
22:33
Speaker 2: some resolution, you know, around November leading into those November elections.
22:38
Speaker 2: But you know, we still got months to go, and
22:40
Speaker 2: a lot of dismal and horrifying things could happen between
22:43
Speaker 2: now and then.
22:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think back to the first month
22:47
Speaker 3: of the war, whereas an a pen and pad with
22:49
Speaker 3: Senator Ron Johnson, Republican Senator Ron Johnson, who described this
22:52
Speaker 3: as a two week bombing run. We're not six months
22:55
Speaker 3: in the MU has fallen a park and there's really
22:58
Speaker 3: no right now, there's no indication that this is going
23:01
Speaker 3: to slow even in the near future. As if to
23:05
Speaker 3: underscore a Crystal's point, let's put the next element up
23:07
Speaker 3: on the screen. This is a good point made by Sinatuci,
23:11
Speaker 3: who posts the CNN article with the headline few ships
23:15
Speaker 3: risk straight of Hormoves crossing and none US route promoted
23:19
Speaker 3: by the US. So Tuccy points out Trump restarted the
23:21
Speaker 3: war because he wanted ships to abandon Iran's designated route
23:25
Speaker 3: through Hormuz for the.
23:26
Speaker 4: US backed route.
23:28
Speaker 3: Weeks later, after major escalation and Brent going back above
23:31
Speaker 3: one hundred dollars, every transiting vessel is using Iran's designated route.
23:37
Speaker 3: None none are using the US route, so hardly going
23:42
Speaker 3: according to plan Crystal.
23:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's exactly right, and this is crucial because this
23:48
Speaker 2: shows you who is in control here and who is
23:50
Speaker 2: setting the pace in terms of the global markets. That's
23:53
Speaker 2: before I even talk about now the disruptions in the
23:56
Speaker 2: Red Sea adding to the pressure in the global oil markets.
24:00
Speaker 2: There are some workarounds that Saudi Arabia is able to use,
24:04
Speaker 2: including a pipeline, and you do have access to the
24:06
Speaker 2: sus Canal. The very large cargo ships that are used
24:10
Speaker 2: typically for transporting oil cannot fit through there. There are
24:13
Speaker 2: some workarounds to eat some of the pressure, but things
24:16
Speaker 2: are looking pretty grim, and that is a very telling indication,
24:20
Speaker 2: you know, all of the war of rhetoric, aside of
24:23
Speaker 2: who is actually in control here and who is able
24:26
Speaker 2: to determine what is going to happen with the global markets.
24:31
Speaker 2: At the same time, wanted to just throw this in
24:33
Speaker 2: there because it's I'm not quite sure what to make
24:36
Speaker 2: of it, but there's a new pull out that shows
24:39
Speaker 2: that the public is trusting Republicans at this point slightly
24:43
Speaker 2: more than Democrats on Iran, which, given how dismally unpopular
24:47
Speaker 2: the Iran War is, how dismally unpopular, Trump's handling of
24:51
Speaker 2: the Iran War is, I think has to be read
24:53
Speaker 2: as a complete and utter indictment of the Democrats' ability
24:56
Speaker 2: to formulate a coherent opposition and articulate their position. Let's
25:00
Speaker 2: go ahead and take a listen to a little bit of.
25:01
Speaker 10: This and April accordin to a Washington Post hips Paul,
25:04
Speaker 10: the Democrats are more trusted by two points again close
25:07
Speaker 10: marchin no clear leader, but look where the shift has been.
25:09
Speaker 10: If anything, the shift has been in the Republican direction.
25:13
Speaker 10: Now the Republicans and Donald Trump are trusted more by
25:17
Speaker 10: two points on a run. So again, over the course
25:20
Speaker 10: of the war, of anything, the Republicans have been the
25:23
Speaker 10: ones that have been gaining ground, which I think just
25:26
Speaker 10: goes so opposed to all of the news coverage that
25:29
Speaker 10: we have seen so far and all of you know,
25:32
Speaker 10: the media, you would think, hey, but no, the American
25:35
Speaker 10: people are actually trusting the Republicans and Trump, if anything,
25:38
Speaker 10: more now than they were let's say, halfway.
25:40
Speaker 2: Through the What do you think about that?
25:42
Speaker 3: M I don't know what to make about that, because
25:44
Speaker 3: it is so close. The swing is going from plus
25:47
Speaker 3: two Dens plus two Republicans.
25:50
Speaker 2: But you would think, I mean, just offhand, you would
25:53
Speaker 2: think it would be Democrats by thirty points, given how
25:56
Speaker 2: much everybody hates this war. But so I think it
25:58
Speaker 2: has to be the fact that the Democrats are kind
26:01
Speaker 2: of quiet about the Iran war because a lot of
26:03
Speaker 2: them are very hawkish, you know, a lot of them
26:06
Speaker 2: sort of low key support it. They don't have a
26:08
Speaker 2: clear cut position, they haven't been adamant in their opposition
26:12
Speaker 2: or had a really coherent articulation exactly. Yeah, that's primarily
26:17
Speaker 2: what it's boiled down to. So I think it has
26:20
Speaker 2: to be that, you know, at least the Trump has
26:22
Speaker 2: the position, although it changes day to day of whether
26:25
Speaker 2: we're annihilating them or whether we're talking to them and
26:27
Speaker 2: we're going to be besties, you know, in the next
26:29
Speaker 2: few days. But I also think it ties into we're
26:33
Speaker 2: going to talk later on about you know, all the
26:34
Speaker 2: Democratic Socialists who are doing really well in their elections
26:38
Speaker 2: and it looks like there's going to be a sweep
26:40
Speaker 2: right now. You've got Abdullah sayad up on Hailey Stevens.
26:43
Speaker 2: Newpole came out that shows him leading significantly in that race,
26:48
Speaker 2: even in spite of the fifty million dollars being spent
26:50
Speaker 2: against him. You got Francesca hang who is leading. You
26:53
Speaker 2: got Peggy Flanagan over in Minnesota who is also leading.
26:57
Speaker 2: And I think it speaks to the fact that they
27:00
Speaker 2: do have a clear message on Iran and is what
27:02
Speaker 2: the public wants to hear. It's part of what is
27:05
Speaker 2: giving them credibility in their campaigns as well. So this
27:09
Speaker 2: should be I mean, not that they'll they care, they'll listen.
27:12
Speaker 2: But this should be a warning sign to Democrats that
27:14
Speaker 2: the public really wants a fierce anti war resistance. And
27:17
Speaker 2: if you're doing if you're just staying silent, or you're
27:19
Speaker 2: doing a little bit of process complaints, so Trump's not
27:22
Speaker 2: doing this horrific war the right way, then you're really
27:24
Speaker 2: missing the vote.
27:25
Speaker 3: It takes moral clarity out of the equation if you're
27:27
Speaker 3: just making process complaints, because deep down you would have
27:31
Speaker 3: supported Biden doing some level of this, probably not exactly
27:36
Speaker 3: in the same way that Donald Trump did, but process
27:38
Speaker 3: aside the substance, the kind of end goal, the stated
27:43
Speaker 3: end goal, at least it does remove the measure of
27:46
Speaker 3: moral clarity that is needed to probably have a resounding
27:49
Speaker 3: level of public trust. So yeah, it's on a silver
27:54
Speaker 3: platter right now for Democrats. And to see that poll,
27:57
Speaker 3: I think you're right, Crystal, it's interesting that it's not
27:59
Speaker 3: like a five point lead, an eight point lead, lettle One,
28:03
Speaker 3: a ten point lead.
28:04
Speaker 2: Crazy. All right, Well, let's talk a little bit more
28:07
Speaker 2: about the gentleman who was one of the most influential
28:10
Speaker 2: in pushing for this disastrous war, that is Lindsey Graham.
28:17
Speaker 3: Very excited to be joined now the day after Lindsay
28:19
Speaker 3: Graham's funeral by Alex Hold, documentary filmmaker who actually had
28:23
Speaker 3: the opportunity to follow Lindsey Graham in the course of
28:26
Speaker 3: making this yet to be released documentary.
28:29
Speaker 4: Four and a half years. Is that how long you
28:30
Speaker 4: spent with him?
28:31
Speaker 3: Yeah?
28:32
Speaker 11: And a half year.
28:33
Speaker 4: That is incredible.
28:34
Speaker 3: And we just were talking before we went to air
28:37
Speaker 3: about how you were flying back and forth between Los
28:39
Speaker 3: Angeles and Washington, d C. So you must have seen
28:43
Speaker 3: so much kind of through Lindsey Graham's eyes. Oddly enough,
28:47
Speaker 3: over the last very consequential period in American politics before
28:50
Speaker 3: the twenty twenty four election, even you watched all of
28:52
Speaker 3: that through Lindsay Graham's eyes.
28:55
Speaker 4: How caught off guard were you by what happened?
28:58
Speaker 11: I think the thing that caught me off guard the
28:59
Speaker 11: most was really the amount of access that we got, right,
29:02
Speaker 11: I mean, he was generous in that respect, which was
29:06
Speaker 11: definitely something that I wasn't expecting. I mean, I think
29:08
Speaker 11: we had intended there to be something more substantial than
29:12
Speaker 11: you know, just sort of seeing people shake hands and
29:15
Speaker 11: that kind of thing. I think this was It was
29:18
Speaker 11: just totally remarkable that we were going into meetings and
29:21
Speaker 11: into you know, sort of high level conversations that we
29:24
Speaker 11: were capturing. So that was definitely something that I wasn't expecting.
29:28
Speaker 11: But yes, I mean, the amount of things that have
29:31
Speaker 11: happened in the last four and a half years is extraordinary,
29:33
Speaker 11: and he was at the forefront of almost all of
29:35
Speaker 11: these issues, so it was amazing to capture these moments
29:40
Speaker 11: all the way through this process.
29:41
Speaker 3: We have a new clip that we can show folks here.
29:44
Speaker 3: This is the late Senator Graham talking about his work
29:46
Speaker 3: with Benjamin Netanyahu and the ICC.
29:49
Speaker 6: Let's take a look, right, Bohemian judge, I would say,
30:13
Speaker 6: but will state in Europe.
30:18
Speaker 12: To have to appeal to the court to say, okay,
30:24
Speaker 12: we want to reveal this before you do anything. There
30:27
Speaker 12: has to be a revealed about the entire process, whether
30:31
Speaker 12: the prosu was motivated.
30:33
Speaker 13: Right, the original action exactly exactly.
30:38
Speaker 12: Clowns. This state has to be removed and everything has
30:42
Speaker 12: to be exposed. And then you said a letter with
30:51
Speaker 12: maybe with some other lectors I don't know, Kennedy Democrats,
30:55
Speaker 12: but you should. But if not, then the group maybe the.
30:59
Speaker 6: Group you have.
31:03
Speaker 9: I tell you, the perfect person would be the speaker
31:07
Speaker 9: Speaker Johnson.
31:11
Speaker 13: Speaker Johnson, no to have to have him on the letter.
31:27
Speaker 13: I don't know. I won't, no doubt try, but I
31:30
Speaker 13: will try. I promise you that.
31:32
Speaker 3: Well a lot to talk about just based on that
31:34
Speaker 3: clip alone, because your level of access is extraordinary, clearly,
31:38
Speaker 3: and Lindsay Graham is not just any other senator. This
31:40
Speaker 3: is a man who is a deep personal relationship with
31:42
Speaker 3: the Prime Minister of Israel in wartime and with the
31:45
Speaker 3: President of the United States, and so you are seeing
31:47
Speaker 3: foreign policy be hashed out in real time as you're
31:50
Speaker 3: taping this documentary. One thing I just want to start with.
31:54
Speaker 3: He looks diminished to me physically in that clip alone.
31:57
Speaker 3: So do you remember when that was taken? And then
32:00
Speaker 3: did you get a sense that maybe all of this travel,
32:03
Speaker 3: the stress of the travel had started to wear on him?
32:07
Speaker 4: So this passed.
32:08
Speaker 11: Yes, So this particular clip, it was actually a stressful period.
32:10
Speaker 11: He was campaigning in Ohio for the upcoming presidential election.
32:14
Speaker 11: He had just come from a rally with Don Junior,
32:18
Speaker 11: and so we were in rural Ohio and we actually
32:22
Speaker 11: stopped off because he needs to go to the toilet,
32:23
Speaker 11: and he comes out and we're sort of filming all
32:25
Speaker 11: the way, all of this except when he goes to
32:27
Speaker 11: the toilet and then he says, you know, the Prime
32:32
Speaker 11: Minister is back to call, and you know, honestly we
32:35
Speaker 11: don't even know which prime minister is about to call, right,
32:37
Speaker 11: and don't heads of state would be calling all the time?
32:39
Speaker 12: Wow.
32:40
Speaker 11: So so he says, that's probably good TV. So you know,
32:44
Speaker 11: he really wanted this stuff captured. It wasn't just by them.
32:47
Speaker 11: I mean, it was always by the buy in the
32:48
Speaker 11: sense of there were days where you know, we'd be
32:51
Speaker 11: filming and not that many interesting things would happen, And
32:53
Speaker 11: then there were days and then we'd actually get quite
32:55
Speaker 11: upset because we started getting greedy, like you know, these
32:57
Speaker 11: things were happening quite often. But then there were times where, yeah,
33:01
Speaker 11: the primaries of Israel would call. So I think he
33:04
Speaker 11: was under pressure, but not so maybe in the context
33:08
Speaker 11: of the election more than sort of all the traveling
33:10
Speaker 11: he was doing. Later in the process, there was signs
33:15
Speaker 11: of him really being quite tired and also sort of
33:18
Speaker 11: mentally tired as well from all the things he was
33:20
Speaker 11: dealing with.
33:21
Speaker 4: Yeah.
33:21
Speaker 3: Absolutely, Yeah, that is interesting because it caught everybody off guard.
33:24
Speaker 3: His death obviously caught everybody off guard. But when you
33:27
Speaker 3: look back on it, it did seem like there were
33:29
Speaker 3: signs he was getting older, and he was traveling to
33:32
Speaker 3: Ukraine right before he passed, and so much traveled to Israel.
33:36
Speaker 3: You want to show some clips here from the funeral.
33:39
Speaker 3: So this is President by the way, we have the
33:42
Speaker 3: program from the funeral right here. I mentioned this earlier
33:45
Speaker 3: in the show, but somebody gave this to me on
33:47
Speaker 3: the condition that we talk about how weird Sean Hannity's
33:50
Speaker 3: eulogy was to be charitable. So we're going to take
33:53
Speaker 3: a listen to the president himself. First, let's listen to
33:57
Speaker 3: B three. This is Donald Trump at Lindsay Graham's funeral yesterday.
34:01
Speaker 8: He did things got in Washington. Virtually everyone Republican or
34:05
Speaker 8: Democrat liked Lindsay. Well, not everybody, but it sounds good.
34:11
Speaker 4: Not everybody. He was a tough cookie.
34:13
Speaker 8: Okay, I have to be I have to revere from
34:16
Speaker 8: this versa. He was a tough cookie, Darley, but he
34:19
Speaker 8: was beautiful. Our nation needs more men and women like
34:25
Speaker 8: that great person sitting laying wherever he may be. I
34:31
Speaker 8: think I know where he is, and I think he's
34:33
Speaker 8: up there. I think he's watching us. I'm pretty sure
34:35
Speaker 8: of it. He was extremely hawkish. I will tell you
34:38
Speaker 8: he never saw a war that he didn't like. Only
34:41
Speaker 8: his true friends would understand that.
34:44
Speaker 3: All right, now, let's take a listen to Fox News
34:45
Speaker 3: host Sean Hannity, who was a close friend of Senator Graham's,
34:49
Speaker 3: and this is a bit from his eulogy.
34:51
Speaker 14: Lindsay, mister President, I'll argue, in my mind, probably has
34:57
Speaker 14: a heavenly version of mar A Lago. It may even
35:01
Speaker 14: be a little bigger. He may have a little more
35:05
Speaker 14: gold in the oval office in his mansion in heaven.
35:09
Speaker 14: And I wouldn't be surprised if he added one big,
35:12
Speaker 14: beautiful ballroom and a arch somewhere on the property, because
35:16
Speaker 14: you would want to obviously duplicate his dearest friend in life, you,
35:21
Speaker 14: mister President.
35:22
Speaker 3: A couple of other quotes from the Handiti eulogy. Senator
35:25
Speaker 3: Graham was great for ratings. He was a shameless self promoter.
35:28
Speaker 3: Nobody ever said Lindsay Graham dot Com more than he did.
35:31
Speaker 3: At one point turned to Tim Scott and said, he
35:33
Speaker 3: always knew you had much higher pull numbers than him.
35:35
Speaker 4: But he respected that. He was happy for you.
35:38
Speaker 3: I think is what the rest of the Hannity comment was.
35:41
Speaker 3: So just wanted to get your reaction, Alex to what
35:44
Speaker 3: happened yesterday. Having spent so much time with Lindsay Graham,
35:47
Speaker 3: what do you think he would have felt about the
35:49
Speaker 3: funeral proceedings?
35:51
Speaker 4: No big surprises, I suppose, No.
35:53
Speaker 11: I mean, I think he probably is actually surprised that
35:56
Speaker 11: President Trump almost stayed entirely on script, which I think
35:59
Speaker 11: is quite unique and also surprisingly was probably actually quite
36:04
Speaker 11: a good speech. I think actually in the context of things,
36:07
Speaker 11: maybe not the highest bar to reach. I don't know,
36:09
Speaker 11: but either way, I think he was would have been
36:11
Speaker 11: surprised by that. As to whether or not he's in
36:14
Speaker 11: mar Lago or a great in mar Laga right now,
36:16
Speaker 11: I don't know. But yeah, I mean, look, you know,
36:19
Speaker 11: he was a consequential politician and incredibly controversial, complicated, and
36:28
Speaker 11: I think that his impact was enormous and there will
36:32
Speaker 11: be lots of people who will see this documentary and
36:35
Speaker 11: see some of the very serious issues are affecting America
36:41
Speaker 11: and the world today, him being very influential in those decisions,
36:47
Speaker 11: and there'll be some people who support those decisions. So
36:49
Speaker 11: I think, but what the documentary does is it really
36:53
Speaker 11: shows how it was all done and are real behind
36:56
Speaker 11: the scenes of this, you know this pro which I
37:00
Speaker 11: think personally is fascinating.
37:02
Speaker 3: Well, it's funny to me that, you know, I didn't
37:04
Speaker 3: even notice that the Hannity eulogy was that odd, because
37:07
Speaker 3: I think if you followed Lindsay Graham closely, you did
37:10
Speaker 3: realize that there was a kind of shamelessness that he
37:13
Speaker 3: was comfortable with when it came to fundraising, when it
37:16
Speaker 3: came to promoting Republicans. I mean, there's this clip going
37:19
Speaker 3: around now of him at a Blake Master's fundraiser, and
37:22
Speaker 3: Blake Masters is very, very different kind of Republican from
37:26
Speaker 3: Lindsey Graham, and Lindsay Graham said I'll support any Republican.
37:29
Speaker 4: I just want to get them elected. And some people
37:31
Speaker 4: might look at that and.
37:32
Speaker 3: Say it's kind of cynical power politics, But curious what
37:36
Speaker 3: your take is on this. He seemed to really believe
37:39
Speaker 3: in the Republican Party itself, which is kind of an
37:43
Speaker 3: interesting thing these days, there's so much disillusionment about the institutions.
37:46
Speaker 3: But he seemed to be a staunch believer, like in
37:48
Speaker 3: the GOP as an establishment.
37:50
Speaker 11: Absolutely, and I think there were there are some moments
37:52
Speaker 11: earlier on in the documentary that we capture where you
37:56
Speaker 11: see the difficulties that you had with the sort of
38:01
Speaker 11: old school Republican Party and this sort of new Republican
38:06
Speaker 11: Party since President Trump came into it. So I think
38:09
Speaker 11: that's pretty fascinating, and that takes place in the first
38:12
Speaker 11: couple of years of us filming with him. I think, yeah,
38:16
Speaker 11: he loved being on TV. He absolutely loved it. I
38:19
Speaker 11: mean I was actually on Meet the Press and I
38:22
Speaker 11: was saying to the presenter there how you know, almost
38:24
Speaker 11: on every single time he would go on TV, he
38:26
Speaker 11: would send me a text saying I'm on Meet the
38:28
Speaker 11: Press or I'm on Fox, or I'm on Short Hannity tonight.
38:31
Speaker 11: And you know, he loved doing it. You know the
38:34
Speaker 11: number of times we filmed him going from the Senate
38:37
Speaker 11: office into this car, from the car to the studios
38:40
Speaker 11: around the corner. Sometimes he would practice what he was
38:44
Speaker 11: going to say with us, and then I sort of
38:46
Speaker 11: wised up to it, so I said, we're not doing
38:48
Speaker 11: this anymore, and he goes, no, no, it's fine, he goes,
38:50
Speaker 11: because basically you can use this and not have to
38:52
Speaker 11: buy the archive from Fox. Afterwards, so you know, he's
38:57
Speaker 11: you know, he loved it and he loved saying his piece,
39:01
Speaker 11: and he really didn't I wouldn't say he didn't cab
39:05
Speaker 11: the criticisms. He was able to sort of brush off
39:08
Speaker 11: quite easily, which I thought was also quite interesting.
39:11
Speaker 3: Well, talk to us about his relationship with Donald Trump,
39:14
Speaker 3: because I don't know that there's anybody in the Senate
39:17
Speaker 3: as close to Donald Trump as Lindsey Graham was, and
39:19
Speaker 3: it seemed to me at least that they had the
39:21
Speaker 3: rare type of relationship. One thing people get wrong about
39:23
Speaker 3: Donald Trump is that they think he wants you to
39:25
Speaker 3: come in there and just glaze him, say all of
39:28
Speaker 3: the nicest possible things about him, and never ever offer
39:31
Speaker 3: any pushback. But my interpretation of their relationship is that
39:34
Speaker 3: Trump respected Lindsay Graham because he would come in and say,
39:38
Speaker 3: you know, when he disagrees with others, he's still very
39:40
Speaker 3: flattering towards the president, very flattering towards the president. But
39:44
Speaker 3: what was the nature of their relationship? And maybe you
39:47
Speaker 3: know what people don't understand about his relationship with Trump.
39:50
Speaker 11: Too, So I don't give too much away because there
39:52
Speaker 11: are some really interesting moments there. But they did have
39:56
Speaker 11: a good relationship.
39:58
Speaker 4: Overall.
39:59
Speaker 11: He did respect Trump very much, but I think that
40:01
Speaker 11: respect was very much in the context of understanding that
40:06
Speaker 11: Trump is the president and pushing against him is not
40:09
Speaker 11: good for you if you want to stay in what
40:11
Speaker 11: he calls the game. So he will move wherever he
40:14
Speaker 11: needs to move to maintain his relevance and to push
40:18
Speaker 11: his agenda. The other thing I'll say that was very
40:22
Speaker 11: important was really golf. The importance of golf in their
40:26
Speaker 11: relationship was absolutely enormous. I mean the amount of influence
40:31
Speaker 11: or in the amount of things he could push towards
40:34
Speaker 11: President Trump took place on the golf course, and I
40:39
Speaker 11: think that was key in their relationship. So, you know,
40:42
Speaker 11: the number of times again he would say that he
40:44
Speaker 11: was playing golf with Trump, and he would send pictures
40:47
Speaker 11: or selfies of him playing. Sometimes he'll put it on
40:49
Speaker 11: social media as well, say he you know, absolutely that
40:52
Speaker 11: was the key in their relationship. We have some moments
40:56
Speaker 11: in the documentary of them speaking and it's fascinating to
41:00
Speaker 11: hear those conversations. So but one of the things that
41:04
Speaker 11: you know he did with respect to Trump is sometimes
41:07
Speaker 11: he would say to try and push back against issues
41:10
Speaker 11: that he didn't agree with with President Trump. He would say, well,
41:13
Speaker 11: if you do that, that's sort of what President Obama
41:16
Speaker 11: would do, and that would you know, change his thinking.
41:20
Speaker 4: In some respects strategic.
41:21
Speaker 11: Oh absolutely, he was really he was, you know again, controversial,
41:25
Speaker 11: no question, but smart at being able to push his
41:28
Speaker 11: his agendas.
41:29
Speaker 9: Yeah.
41:29
Speaker 4: Absolutely, let's take a look care of more. This is
41:31
Speaker 4: going to be be too. Get your reaction on the other.
41:33
Speaker 9: Side, y'all should fucking pay me for all this. I
41:38
Speaker 9: should get tons of shicks. Yeah, bullshit, it's gonna be
41:43
Speaker 9: more in dinner.
41:44
Speaker 13: All right.
41:45
Speaker 9: We got them both. So they both want to do
41:48
Speaker 9: the letter. Yeah, no, I'm so here's why I'm calling you.
41:52
Speaker 9: I'm trying to get out the door Wednesday, Washington time.
41:56
Speaker 9: So send me over whatever you want to say. They
41:58
Speaker 9: want to say. Two things they want to say you
42:00
Speaker 9: should reconsider not talking to Israel. You should talk to them,
42:04
Speaker 9: and two you should move ahead until this case the
42:07
Speaker 9: cloud is lifted, so slow down. No, and both of
42:13
Speaker 9: them are Yeah, but but here's what I need you. Yeah, yeah, now,
42:20
Speaker 9: I am I just want to Yeah, but I want
42:23
Speaker 9: you tomorrow.
42:26
Speaker 13: Yeah that's right.
42:27
Speaker 9: Yeah, well yet yeah, yeah, yeah, just just send it.
42:36
Speaker 9: To me, we'll send you to that person. But I
42:38
Speaker 9: do need you, if you don't mind, tomorrow, to call
42:41
Speaker 9: Bloomenthal and Cardon and thank them for being fair minded
42:48
Speaker 9: on this and also thank them for trying to help
42:51
Speaker 9: with sorty Israel normalization.
42:57
Speaker 13: He said he'd get me in the second row at
42:58
Speaker 13: the White House. I think thereon.
43:02
Speaker 4: How exploited we just listen to what was that?
43:04
Speaker 11: So that was the subsequent call that he has the
43:07
Speaker 11: Prime Minist of Israel after essentially calling around various senators
43:12
Speaker 11: to get them to support a letter that would you know,
43:16
Speaker 11: support the Prime Minist of Israel in pushing against his
43:21
Speaker 11: at the time pending arrest warrant. I think that the
43:24
Speaker 11: arrestaurant had been issued by the prosecutor and it was
43:26
Speaker 11: now about to be looked at by a panel of judges,
43:28
Speaker 11: and there was some there was a judge that had resigned,
43:30
Speaker 11: another judge had come in, so it was before it
43:32
Speaker 11: was actually issued, I believe, And this was a letter
43:35
Speaker 11: to support the Prime Minister in what he felt was
43:37
Speaker 11: an unfair prosecution against him and others in Israel. And
43:42
Speaker 11: I think what was very interesting was in the earlier
43:45
Speaker 11: call that I think we've just heard the Prime Minister
43:49
Speaker 11: is really pushing for Democrats to be on this letter. Yes,
43:53
Speaker 11: And what I thought was very interesting during this moment
43:56
Speaker 11: was that he was calling a Republican to help him
43:59
Speaker 11: with that, which I thought was quite quite interesting. And
44:02
Speaker 11: then Senator Graham and spend some time doing trying to
44:07
Speaker 11: find these Democrats that would support this letter. And then
44:10
Speaker 11: he has this conversation with the Prime Minister afterwards. And
44:12
Speaker 11: a little color here. The Prime Minister is actually chairing
44:15
Speaker 11: a at the time, a security meeting, you know, in
44:19
Speaker 11: the midst of the Gaza war, so he's actually been
44:23
Speaker 11: pulled out of this meeting to discuss this issue, which
44:25
Speaker 11: I think is pretty extraordinary. And you know, Senator Graham
44:30
Speaker 11: would help people that he was friendly with, but it
44:34
Speaker 11: also had to, you know, sort of coincide in a
44:37
Speaker 11: line with his own goals. And Senator Graham had been
44:41
Speaker 11: pushing for a very long time a deal with Saudi
44:45
Speaker 11: Arabia and Israel, some sort of normalization day, and you know,
44:50
Speaker 11: Prime minis List was not particularly interested in prioritizing that.
44:55
Speaker 11: So in that conversation it's you know, Senator Graham was
44:59
Speaker 11: really he had one over the Prime Minister. He had
45:02
Speaker 11: helped him out, so now he expected something in return.
45:05
Speaker 11: The thing in return would have been, I want you
45:08
Speaker 11: to agree on effectively, you know, saying thank you to
45:11
Speaker 11: these senators. So it was instructing the Prime Minister to
45:15
Speaker 11: say thank you to these senators or signing it and
45:17
Speaker 11: specifically on their interest in building this normalization between Saudi
45:22
Speaker 11: and Israel. So yeah, and then you can also hear
45:25
Speaker 11: the sort of the jokiness of their friendship as well
45:27
Speaker 11: in that conversation. But but yeah, I think that was
45:30
Speaker 11: a very interesting part of the behind the scenes of
45:33
Speaker 11: the sort of diplomatic approaches that they have with each other.
45:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, in assuming of course that he would tell Prime
45:40
Speaker 3: Minister Ntnyaho that they're being taped before these conversations, I.
45:45
Speaker 11: Have no idea what he said beforehand.
45:47
Speaker 3: So presumably I guess, well, it's possible then net Nyahu
45:52
Speaker 3: didn't know that he had a documentary film crew with him.
45:55
Speaker 11: I would say that's probably the case.
45:56
Speaker 4: Yeah, Oh my gosh, that's wild.
46:00
Speaker 3: What did you learn about Washington over the course of
46:02
Speaker 3: this documentary? Because Senator Graham himself embodied a lot of
46:07
Speaker 3: old Washington, and people saw him as a bridge between
46:09
Speaker 3: old Washington and New Washington. You know, he voted against
46:13
Speaker 3: Katanji Brown Jackson after voting to confirm every other Democrats
46:16
Speaker 3: Supreme Court nominations, and in that sense was kind of
46:19
Speaker 3: a new it was a new chapter for old Washington.
46:23
Speaker 3: But he was also someone who nea who could call
46:25
Speaker 3: to try and get Democrats on the letter, for example.
46:28
Speaker 3: So he's an insight into the way the city itself
46:31
Speaker 3: worked and works.
46:32
Speaker 4: Now what did you learn?
46:34
Speaker 3: So?
46:34
Speaker 11: I think he, from what I understand, really was quite
46:37
Speaker 11: a standout in the sort of DC world. He was
46:42
Speaker 11: totally wedded to the job, right, I mean twenty four hours,
46:45
Speaker 11: seven days a week. I mean there was no respite.
46:49
Speaker 11: He was absolutely working very very hard. I actually think
46:52
Speaker 11: he found it well. Think is in there were moments
46:54
Speaker 11: where he was really quite disappointed that his colleagues didn't
46:58
Speaker 11: spend as much time as him on these issues that
47:01
Speaker 11: he thought was incredibly important, and was frustrated by this
47:05
Speaker 11: and felt under pressure. I think he was, I mean
47:09
Speaker 11: honestly more consequential than almost all of the other senators,
47:13
Speaker 11: at least from what I understand, in terms of his
47:15
Speaker 11: relationships with other world leaders, his relationships with President Trump.
47:20
Speaker 11: So in some respects he was quite a unique person
47:23
Speaker 11: in Washington, DC, and I think we will see the
47:26
Speaker 11: impact of his death with respect to some foreign policy
47:30
Speaker 11: decisions that are made in the future.
47:32
Speaker 3: With that question, how is he keeping up with his correspondence,
47:35
Speaker 3: Like even just the fact that he's texting you about
47:37
Speaker 3: all of the Fox News hits that he was doing,
47:39
Speaker 3: which is a lot. He must have been getting inundated
47:41
Speaker 3: constantly with text messages, calls. That just sounds like maybe
47:46
Speaker 3: a silly question, but it seems to me like as
47:47
Speaker 3: a United States Center, you have a massive job that's overwhelming,
47:51
Speaker 3: and yet he's making time to text.
47:53
Speaker 4: You about a Fox News hit.
47:55
Speaker 3: What did you get from just or what did you
47:57
Speaker 3: sense the demand was on him from people trying to,
48:00
Speaker 3: you know, cut deals talk to him. He's manipulating, He's
48:04
Speaker 3: constantly talking to media, including yourself.
48:07
Speaker 4: What did you see just on his phone? Basically?
48:10
Speaker 6: So a few things.
48:11
Speaker 11: One is that the best stuff that we actually got
48:13
Speaker 11: with him was when he's in the car or traveling,
48:17
Speaker 11: and I think that was really kind of his office,
48:19
Speaker 11: the car, the phone calls, the texts, that he would
48:24
Speaker 11: dictate his tweets to his staff from the car, and
48:30
Speaker 11: he was he was discerning though with his you know,
48:33
Speaker 11: with the people he responded to. It all had to
48:35
Speaker 11: fit a particular agenda. So if somebody was talking to
48:39
Speaker 11: him about issues that he didn't think were particularly important
48:44
Speaker 11: a lot of the time, you say, some domestic issues,
48:47
Speaker 11: those would be not prioritized. And then I think also
48:50
Speaker 11: obviously he would prioritize the leaders that were texting him,
48:53
Speaker 11: and they were I mean literally we texting his mobile
48:58
Speaker 11: phone directly.
48:59
Speaker 4: Yeah, unbelievable for you. That just must have been a
49:02
Speaker 4: wild ride.
49:02
Speaker 3: My last question, I could keep doing this all day,
49:04
Speaker 3: but my last question is where were you when you
49:07
Speaker 3: found out he had passed and how did that hit you?
49:10
Speaker 4: Just on a personal level.
49:12
Speaker 11: It hit hard on a personal level in the sense
49:14
Speaker 11: that you are spending time with somebody for four and
49:17
Speaker 11: a half years, and it was a shock. I was
49:20
Speaker 11: in Europe actually when I found out, and my sort
49:24
Speaker 11: of initial reaction really was actually immense sympathy.
49:28
Speaker 4: To his staff.
49:30
Speaker 11: His staff were his family, obviously his sister, but I know,
49:35
Speaker 11: we knew his staff pretty well, and I think they
49:39
Speaker 11: and I know that they were massively heartbroken by this,
49:41
Speaker 11: by him passing away, So you know, they took care
49:44
Speaker 11: for him over many, many years. Some of his staff
49:47
Speaker 11: had been with him since they were teenagers. I mean,
49:51
Speaker 11: he's had people that worked for him for three decades,
49:54
Speaker 11: so I think that was sort of my initial reaction
49:57
Speaker 11: was how they will be But but yeah, I mean,
50:00
Speaker 11: you know, it is terribly sad when anyone dies.
50:03
Speaker 13: I think, yeah, and it was.
50:05
Speaker 4: It was a shock.
50:06
Speaker 3: Actually, I do have one more question, because you saw
50:07
Speaker 3: his security apparatus probably up close as well, and even
50:11
Speaker 3: some kind of moderates here in the United States, people
50:14
Speaker 3: who were aligned with him, very hawkish, had suspicions immediately
50:17
Speaker 3: that this must have been a Russian operation or that
50:19
Speaker 3: it may have been a Russian operation because he had
50:21
Speaker 3: just been in Ukraine, just got.
50:23
Speaker 4: Back from Ukraine.
50:24
Speaker 3: So was there some type of espionage and some type
50:26
Speaker 3: of assassination effort? But you saw, you would have seen
50:30
Speaker 3: his security, how he traveled. What did you make of
50:33
Speaker 3: some of those concerns, And what can you tell us
50:35
Speaker 3: about how secure he was as he was traveling.
50:37
Speaker 11: I mean, I don't think there was any nevarious thing
50:39
Speaker 11: that happened with respect to his death. I think that
50:42
Speaker 11: there were changes in his security depending on the various
50:45
Speaker 11: things that were happening in the.
50:46
Speaker 4: World at the time, so sometimes so he would notice that.
50:49
Speaker 11: Yeah, absolutely, oh absolutely, yeah. Towards actually the last few
50:52
Speaker 11: months of his life, his security actually went up because
50:57
Speaker 11: of the various things he was saying about Iran and Russia,
51:00
Speaker 11: so specifically the Iranian three I believe. So I think
51:04
Speaker 11: that he was he passed away. It was most I
51:08
Speaker 11: would say, natural causes. And he yeah, he worked very,
51:13
Speaker 11: very hard, and he did not really take that much
51:17
Speaker 11: care of himself. You know, He's one of those people where,
51:20
Speaker 11: you know, eating was not as important as getting to
51:25
Speaker 11: a meeting with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia at
51:27
Speaker 11: three o'clock in the morning in a palace in read right,
51:30
Speaker 11: like you would eat afterwards.
51:33
Speaker 3: Wow, well, Alex Holder, I am very eager to see this.
51:37
Speaker 3: Where can people follow your work and look out for
51:39
Speaker 3: this documentary?
51:40
Speaker 11: Probably on X and maybe even on your show. And
51:45
Speaker 11: I always have to mention that Colby and Spencer, who
51:47
Speaker 11: are massive fans, they're my producers and they are massive fans,
51:51
Speaker 11: and they're going to be so happy that I just
51:52
Speaker 11: mentioned them.
51:53
Speaker 4: So yeah, well that's what makes us happy. So shout
51:56
Speaker 4: out to Coleby and Spencer and Alex Holder. Thank you
51:58
Speaker 4: so much for being here.
51:59
Speaker 11: Thank you so much of the treasure.
52:16
Speaker 9: H