Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / Why has Jay Clayton not been sworn in as DNI 'Because Bill Pulte wants to act up'_ Brennan

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Why has Jay Clayton not been sworn in as DNI 'Because Bill Pulte wants to act up'_ Brennan · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: The dog leadership on the line.
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  Speaker 2: I want to bring in former CIA director John Brennan
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  Speaker 2: is also an ms NOW senior National Security and Intelligence.
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  Speaker 1: Is always good to see you, Director Brennan.
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  Speaker 2: Your reaction to this idea, the President is floating putting
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  Speaker 2: Blanche's nomination on ICE, leaving him as acting ag essentially
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  Speaker 2: for another five months.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we know that Donald Trump doesn't like to hear
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  Speaker 3: no with any of his interests or his nominations, and
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  Speaker 3: so you know, Todd Blanche can stay in acting capacity and
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  Speaker 3: definitely sounds like and so I can see that Tom
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  Speaker 3: Tillis and John Cornyn are not going to budge on
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  Speaker 3: these very fundamental issues. And as I think they said,
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  Speaker 3: it reflects I think concerns also within the Committee among
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  Speaker 3: other Republicans that you know, this slush fund that you
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  Speaker 3: know the President had cooked up, as well as this
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  Speaker 3: IRS issue are really you know, bothering many of the Republicans,
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  Speaker 3: not just because of the Todd Blanche nomination and confirmation process,
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  Speaker 3: but he posts it's also dragging a Republican party down
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  Speaker 3: because again, I just I think exposes the corruption and
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  Speaker 3: the fraud that this administration involved in. Now, Donald Trump
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  Speaker 3: says that he can just wait until these two senators go.
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  Speaker 3: But as we well know, there is a reasonable chance
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  Speaker 3: that the Democrats take the Senate and the midterm elections,
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  Speaker 3: and if that's the case, then Todd Blanch's nomination, I
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  Speaker 3: think will be dead, because then the Democrats will have
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  Speaker 3: the committee chairs and they will have the majority votes
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  Speaker 3: within these committees.
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  Speaker 1: Doctor Brennan, I want to just remind everyone what's at
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  Speaker 1: stake here. I spoke with Senator Chris Koon's last hour.
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  Speaker 2: We talked about Todd Blanche and how he thinks this
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  Speaker 2: helps put the nomination in perspective.
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  Speaker 3: To a listen.
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  Speaker 4: And his confirmation hearing, many of us pressed him about
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  Speaker 4: this multi billion dollar fund. It's set up in a
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  Speaker 4: sham piece of litigation in Florida that is designed to
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  Speaker 4: allow President Trump and his family to get relief from
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  Speaker 4: the IRS and to allow anyone who believes himself to
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  Speaker 4: be a victim of DOJ weaponization to file and to
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  Speaker 4: receive payment. He would not answer when I pressed him
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  Speaker 4: in his confirmation hearing whether or not those who were
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  Speaker 4: convicted of assaulting police here in the United States Capitol
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  Speaker 4: on January sixth would be eligible for potentially multi million
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  Speaker 4: dollar payouts.
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  Speaker 2: Director Brennan, the senator lays out the two pieces of this,
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  Speaker 2: preserving the seventeen seventy six fund and Trump's community from
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  Speaker 2: the IRS in the long term, which piece is more
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  Speaker 2: dangerous to American democracy?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think, you know, it's hard to choose between
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  Speaker 3: two the very corrupt pieces of the litigation that came out.
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  Speaker 3: But you know, being able to use this lush fund
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  Speaker 3: to pay the assaulters at the capital, the ones that
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  Speaker 3: were involved in basically was an insurrection, I think that's
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  Speaker 3: very dangerous. But you know, giving Donald Trump and his
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  Speaker 3: family a pass as far as any type of you know,
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  Speaker 3: IRS audit or tax liability also sends a clear signal
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  Speaker 3: to folks that, you know, the corruption of this administration
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  Speaker 3: runs so deeply, and that clearly Todd Blanche is following
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  Speaker 3: the direction and the guidance and the demands of Donald Trump.
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  Speaker 3: And you know, as he was testifying when he said
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  Speaker 3: that he was the president's lawyer, I mean clearly that
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  Speaker 3: is the case. And so something is truly wrong if
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  Speaker 3: the nomination for an attorney general is somebody who is
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  Speaker 3: going to abide by by these you know, really again
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  Speaker 3: corrupt practices that Donald Trump is insisting on for his
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  Speaker 3: own self.
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  Speaker 2: Aggrandizement as a reminder, not that you or audience needs it.
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  Speaker 2: Here is Blanche's testimony on this very topic.
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  Speaker 3: I believe you have said that the weaponization fund is
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  Speaker 3: a moot issue.
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  Speaker 1: Is that your position?
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  Speaker 5: Yes, it is a moot issue, meaning there is no
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  Speaker 5: weaponization fund. The website fund is dead.
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  Speaker 3: It's not moving forward. Has there been a written agreement
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  Speaker 3: of the parties to modify the settlement fund? No, the
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  Speaker 3: settlement funds just not moving forward.
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  Speaker 5: There's no modification, it's just never started. This narrative that
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  Speaker 5: you won't put it in writing happens not to be true.
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  Speaker 5: I'm under oath today and I've said it's dead repeatedly.
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  Speaker 3: I said it.
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  Speaker 5: To the House Oversight Committee, and I'm happy to say
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  Speaker 5: as many times as necessary.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we had Mary mccoran on earlier, who of
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  Speaker 2: course is a DOJ veteran, and we talked about the
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  Speaker 2: fact that DJ they love to paper everything. It's a
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  Speaker 2: bunch of lawyers. They put things in writing by design.
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  Speaker 2: Why this particular resistance on Blanche's part to putting in
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  Speaker 2: writing that this fund is dead.
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  Speaker 3: I think it's quite obvious that Donald Trump doesn't consider
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  Speaker 3: it dead, which is why Todd Blast refuses to write
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  Speaker 3: that it is dead. I also would be concerned about,
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  Speaker 3: even if you give some type of written assurance that
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  Speaker 3: it is dead, what's to stop Trump or Blanch as
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  Speaker 3: Attorney general to rescind that claim or that statement. So
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  Speaker 3: it's very clear that Donald Trump wants to have these
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  Speaker 3: two elements. One is to make sure that he's not
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  Speaker 3: going to be held liable at all for any of his,
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  Speaker 3: you know, tax obligations or the corruption that you know
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  Speaker 3: he has been involved in, as well as wanting to
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  Speaker 3: make sure that he's able to pay off those individuals
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  Speaker 3: that came to his aid. And I do think it's
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  Speaker 3: he's trying to send the signal to those who might
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  Speaker 3: be contemplating doing something similar in the future, either after
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  Speaker 3: the midterm elections or following that, that he is going
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  Speaker 3: to have a way to be able to compensate individuals
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  Speaker 3: for any type of legal liability that they may face.
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  Speaker 3: So again, I think these are very very worrisome developments,
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  Speaker 3: and I'm so glad that at least till us some
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  Speaker 3: Cornant are holding the line here and not going to
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  Speaker 3: be confirming Todd Blansch's Attorney.
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  Speaker 2: General, especially because we are learning more about what is
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  Speaker 2: happening inside of the DEEO under Blanche's leadership, reporting that
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  Speaker 2: former FBI Director James Comy is accusing the Secret Service
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  Speaker 2: of legally surveiling him, not only that internal record show
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  Speaker 2: they were pressured into it. Just as an intel expert,
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  Speaker 2: I just wonder what that says to you. And if
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  Speaker 2: you have an FBI, if you have a secret service
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  Speaker 2: in which members are operating at the president's phase, do
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  Speaker 2: you have any concern that the same is happening at
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  Speaker 2: the agency you once headed?
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  Speaker 1: The CIA?
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  Speaker 3: I have an abundance of concerns about what is happening
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  Speaker 3: at all federal departments and agencies if in fact, individuals
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  Speaker 3: who show fealty to Donald Trump are directing their employees
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  Speaker 3: to carry out unethical and even illegal activities. So, whether
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  Speaker 3: it's the FBI at Department of Justice, or the CIA
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  Speaker 3: or other parts of the federal government, the fact that
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  Speaker 3: Donald Trump continues to believe that this is his own
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  Speaker 3: sort of government that he can direct to do whatever
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  Speaker 3: he wants them to do. I'm glad that some people
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  Speaker 3: are refusing to do it, and they should continue refuse
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  Speaker 3: to do it, and if they feel as though they're
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  Speaker 3: being directed to do something that is a danger to
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  Speaker 3: our national security or illegal, they have recourse and not
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  Speaker 3: just resigning, but they also can go to inspector generals,
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  Speaker 3: they can go to their committees of jurisdiction and the Congress.
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  Speaker 3: They can pursue avenues, whistleblower channels, other types of things
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  Speaker 3: that will stop them. But it's clear that Donald Trump
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  Speaker 3: sees no no limits to what he's able to direct
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  Speaker 3: his departments and agencies to do. Unfortunately, you have people
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  Speaker 3: like Codd Lanche and others who head up these agencies
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  Speaker 3: that are willing to just salute and direct their employees
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  Speaker 3: to again carry out things that are inconsistent with their
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  Speaker 3: responsibilities and obligations, as well as potentially illegal in terms
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  Speaker 3: of what it is that they're being asked to do.
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  Speaker 2: Which is particularly alarming because we are barreling towards an
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  Speaker 2: election here. I want to get your insight on the
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  Speaker 2: intelligence reports the White House put out claiming there is
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  Speaker 2: evidence that China hacked into voter rules. The Washington Posts
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  Speaker 2: is that twelve out of the fifteen states that were
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  Speaker 2: specifically named say they were never notified of a data breach,
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  Speaker 2: which would be standard operating procedure if in fact those
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  Speaker 2: voting records were compromised.
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  Speaker 1: What does that tell you then about those claims.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it's clear that the federal government Trump administrations continue
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  Speaker 3: to make these specious allegations because it's the state and
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  Speaker 3: the local officials who have in fact the authority, the responsibility,
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  Speaker 3: and the ownership of these electoral roles, and so they
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  Speaker 3: would be the ones that would know what happened to
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  Speaker 3: That doesn't mean that the Chinese and Russians and others
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  Speaker 3: are not trying to get into those voter registration roles
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  Speaker 3: to try to see what in fact they could do.
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  Speaker 3: But I would rely heavily on the states themselves because
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  Speaker 3: they're the ones who actually operate the election systems and
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  Speaker 3: in their states, they're the ones that had insight. They're
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  Speaker 3: the ones that are engaged in the various cybersecurity measures
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  Speaker 3: to try to prevent these types of intrusions. So againstration
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  Speaker 3: just makes it a habit to make these false allegations
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  Speaker 3: without any evidence at all, and unfortunately it goes into
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  Speaker 3: the MAGA world and they eat up all the things
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  Speaker 3: that this administration says.
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  Speaker 1: As Truth Director Brin just real quickly.
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  Speaker 2: Jay Clayton was confirmed as D and I but the
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  Speaker 2: US nate, but he has not been sworn in, and
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  Speaker 2: Bill Poulti, it seems, is still acting as the head
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  Speaker 2: of D and I. Any sense from you of why
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  Speaker 2: that would possibly.
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  Speaker 3: Be, I think because Bill Poulte continue wants to act
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  Speaker 3: up in an active capacity in terms of these declassifications
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  Speaker 3: of documents intelligence documents, as well as the firing of
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  Speaker 3: individuals and expertise he's created habit within the opficite of
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  Speaker 3: Director of National Intelligence. I think he's trying to do
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  Speaker 3: as much damage as possible before he has to turn
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  Speaker 3: over the baton to Jay Clayton. J Clayton doesn't have
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  Speaker 3: the background experience, and also clearly he doesn't have the
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  Speaker 3: integrity since he wouldn't acknowledge in his confirmation hearing that
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  Speaker 3: Joe Biden won the twenty twenty election. But he's a
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  Speaker 3: far better choice than Bill Poulti to be at the
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  Speaker 3: helm there. So I'm hoping he gets in place as
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  Speaker 3: sooner rather than later, because the damage being done I
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  Speaker 3: think is profound and is potentially very long lasting.
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  Speaker 2: Doctor Brennan, so much news we wanted to talk with
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  Speaker 2: you about today. Thank you so much for making the
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  Speaker 2: time