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May 26, 2025 - Judging Freedom - Judge Andrew Napolitano
27:54
Larry Johnson : Isn’t Russia Winning the War?
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Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom.
Today is Tuesday, May 27th, 2025.
Larry Johnson will be here with us in just a moment on Does Donald Trump Know That the Russians Are Winning the War?
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Larry Johnson, welcome here, my dear friend.
Before we get into some of the work you've been doing, analyzing what the Americans and what Trump knows and doesn't know, I want to raise this issue that you and I texted each other about over the weekend.
I was appalled, and I would imagine you were as well, to learn that the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, contrary to many positions she took when she was in the House of Representatives, has now announced a central location from which various members of the various 17, 18 federal intelligence surveillance communities
I thought she was going to dial back on warrantless surveillance, not make it easier.
Well, I'm not sure so much dialing back on warrantless surveillance as we've got this Problem that there's so much private information collected by so many private companies.
And, you know, anybody who's logged on to Google, they're capturing your information.
You know, whoever your cell phone company is, they're capturing your information.
Your email provider, they're capturing that information.
So I guess what, and I'm not sure this is her proposal, but she's certainly going along with it, is Right now, the government is accessing.
They're going out and buying that information.
Well, they shouldn't be buying it.
The government's subject to the Fourth Amendment.
Yeah.
They shouldn't be doing it.
It violates the Constitution.
But what we've created now is the state that George Orwell envisioned in 1984.
You know, a little bit like Lord of the Rings with the Eye of Sauron, that the government now has so much access to your private information that the line between private and public has been completely erased.
So, you know, Tulsi is, at this point, she's just one of the symptoms.
She's not the cause of the disease because the push to do this is, I think, within the bureaucracy.
And it is dangerous.
And it's something that, you know, but it's not just confined to the United States.
It's global.
So we've really entered an age where the ability of these, with all this data that's out there, they can monitor what you do.
You know, for example, if you're on YouTube and like if you're on your broadcast, if an ad pops up about, And if you happen to click on it, all of a sudden you are going to get targeted with that.
You're going to get the influx.
So that shows that there's the ability to take this information.
So if the government then decides, hey, we want to identify people who are speaking out against the genocide in Palestine.
Then, you know, it becomes very easy to quickly identify and then target.
And this is, you know, this is the threat.
So in the old days, if the government wanted to follow me as I move about the countryside with my mobile device, they'd need a search warrant.
Today, they would buy that information from my carrier.
Correct.
And she, or not she personally, but somebody that works for her, would post that information.
So NSA can get it, DEA can get it, FBI can get it, any one of the three or four letter agencies that wants it can get it.
The Constitution, the Fourth Amendment, the right to privacy be damned.
She never would have done when she was in the House of Representatives.
She was on our side in those days.
She'd be screaming about it.
You know, the only saving grace here is that the government is collecting so much data.
And thank God the government is generally incompetent.
And so the volume of information is so large that they don't necessarily have the ability to fully exploit it.
It's only when they decide to go after one or two or a few individuals that they can then turn the power of the government against them.
We saw that.
And actually, Trump, ironically, Yes.
You and I, this is public knowledge, cut our teeth in the past 10 years on this issue.
Revealing the spying that was going on against Mr. Donald Trump before he was the president and then President Donald Trump.
And now his director of...
Yeah, in fact, the very time that I was talking with you and trying to help you fend off the attacks that were coming against you from both Fox and the media, I asked I got in touch with Devin Nunes and asked to meet with him.
Because, you know, I had been asked to brief him about the House Intelligence Committee when he was first assigned to it.
He had no experience whatsoever.
And so when I met with him, I went in and I informed him.
I said, look, Devin, here's what's going on.
The British are collecting intelligence on all these presidential candidates, but particularly on Trump.
That information is passed to the National Security Agency and the CIA is also getting that information.
It's a loophole.
And he goes, what?
And I said, well, you know, that's why Robert Hannigan resigned.
And he goes, who's Robert Hannigan?
Now, remember, here's Devin on the Intelligence Committee.
He didn't know that Robert Hannigan had been the guy in charge of Britain's GCHQ.
But my point in that was Devin had no idea.
Until he went to the White House and then all of a sudden got briefed, giving him the name of someone that he should ask for, that would be able to divulge to him what was going on.
So this kind of massive spying, it's only accelerating.
As people become more and more dependent upon their social media and electronic devices.
And as you said a few minutes ago, it's really information overload.
There's so much data there that they can't even claim we're collecting this for national security because they're not scrutinizing it.
It's too much to scrutinize.
Yeah.
It's like suspicious activities reports that banks are supposed to file.
You'd think that The way, ideally, you'd think the system would work is every day those reports come in and somebody sits there and goes through them and says, oh, this is an issue.
We should look at this.
No.
They get into this giant warehouse out of Indiana Jones where, at the end, they put the Ark of the Covenant in this massive warehouse.
It gets stored there until somebody decides to go looking in it to see what they can find.
Wow.
All right.
Does Trump even remotely understand the status of the special military operation, or does he follow what the Washington Post, New York Times headlines, and the Lindsey Graham's and Tom Cotton's whisper into his ears?
Trump is coming off as a buffoon and someone who has no clue as to what is going on.
His comments over the weekend, labeling Trump, Apparently, nobody had told him.
You know, the initial number I saw reported in the West was 700, but it turns out, And fortunately for the Russians, their air defense system was quite effective.
It defeated those drones.
And then on top of it, there was a reported attack of those drones trying to assassinate.
Vladimir Putin during his trip to Kursk.
Well, here's Trump said, Putin just launched these missiles and drones for no reason.
And then one of the reporters asked him, hey, well, are you aware that they tried to assassinate Putin?
Oh, I haven't heard that.
Well, he's not hearing a lot of things.
It looks like he may be getting the mushroom treatment, you know, kept in the dark, covered with manure.
His comments were simply not helpful.
And frankly, I think from the perspective of the Russians, reaffirmed that the man is an intellectual lightweight.
And his word, you cannot trust his word.
This stuff makes me wonder.
You wondered aloud about this over the weekend.
What the hell they're going to say to each other the next time they talk.
But here's what he said at Morristown Airport yesterday, or over the weekend on Sunday, as he was flying from Bedminster, New Jersey, back to Washington.
It's just what you said, Larry.
Chris, cut number three.
Thank you.
Tick-tock.
I think we have it.
Chris, can you get it?
Yeah, I'll give you an update.
I'm not happy with what Putin's doing.
He's killing a lot of people, and I don't know what the hell happened to Putin.
I've known him a long time, always gotten along with him, but he's sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don't like it at all, okay?
We're in the middle of talking, and he's shooting rockets into Kiev and other cities.
I don't like it at all.
President, what do you want to do about that?
I'm surprised.
I'm very surprised.
We'll see what we're going to do.
What am I going to tell you?
You're the fake news, aren't you?
You're totally fake.
Any other questions?
I don't like what Putin is doing, not even a little bit.
He's killing people.
And something happened to this guy, and I don't like it.
Can I follow up on that?
A Russian commander reportedly said that Putin was almost caught in the middle of a drone attack from Ukraine.
I haven't heard that, but maybe that would be a reason.
I don't know, but I have not heard that.
Isn't it inconceivable that he wouldn't know that, Larry?
Well, yes.
He's not reading.
I mean, it's that kind of stupid comment by him.
I haven't heard that.
Maybe that might be a reason.
Oh, you think?
You think someone trying to kill you might be a reason for retaliation?
Not that you'd know anything about that Donald Trump.
I mean, look how Trump reacted to the assassination attempt on him, okay?
Number one.
But then, oh, the Russians are killing lots of people.
The Russians, from May 24th through May 25th, the Russians fired well over 750 drones.
It may have been in the 800 range.
And they launched 83 ballistic missiles.
They killed a total, according to Ukrainian sources, 30 people, 30 civilians.
They're not reporting the military casualties.
They're not reporting possible U.S. casualties, but civilians, 30. Now, if that alone shows you that Russia is not trying to kill civilians, because if all they were doing was bombing and hitting with drones and missile civilian targets, the casualties would have been in the thousands, perhaps tens of thousands.
And again, this just highlights how ridiculous Trump looks saying stuff like this.
How many civilians did Trump kill in Yemen?
Where no war is declared, no moral, legal, or legitimate military purpose was served by those bombings.
And finally, they gave up the ghost after, I think, your estimates were they spent over a billion dollars.
Well over a billion dollars was just lost equipment.
When you put a factor in the cost of the aircraft carriers and the accompanying ships and the other ordnance expended and the air operations, it was probably in excess of $3 billion.
This is, again, Donald Trump missing the opportunity to be presidential because what's important to note is how the Russians responded.
Instead of getting into it back and forth or casting any insults or aspersions, you know, Peskov, the spokesman for Putin, comes out, takes the high road.
He goes, well, listen, we've really...
And, yeah, we understand that sometimes people can get overly emotional.
kept it very diplomatic.
And that's why, you know, I don't know if...
You can't count on him.
He's not a trustworthy negotiating partner.
No matter what he tells you in private, it doesn't mean that that's something he's going to do in public.
He's not reliable.
And I think they take that into account.
They will flatter him.
They will cater to his narcissism.
But at the same time, Russia is not going to take the foot off the gas with its offense to demilitarize Ukraine.
And in the process, demilitarize NATO until the job is finished and there's going to be an unconditional surrender by Ukraine.
That's where this is headed.
Here's the Truth Social that he posted.
The clip that we saw was in Morristown, New Jersey, Sunday morning.
Here's what he posted back at the White House Sunday night.
Chris, if you want to put it up, I'll read it.
I've always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia.
But something has happened to him.
He has gone absolutely crazy!
He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I'm not just talking about soldiers.
Missiles and drones are being shot into cities in Ukraine, and for no reason whatsoever.
I've always said that he wants all, in caps, of Ukraine, not just a piece of it.
And maybe that's proving to be right.
But if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia.
It's hard to read this with a straight face, Larry.
Likewise, President Zelensky is doing his country no favor by talking the way he does.
Everything out of his mouth causes problems.
I don't like it and it better stop.
This is a war that would never have started if I were president.
This is Zelensky's, Putin's, and Biden's war, not Trump's, in quotes.
I am only helping to put out the big and ugly fires that have been started through gross incompetence and hatred.
So what is Putin going to say to him the next time they have one of their phone calls after listening to this drivel?
Well, Putin will say to him, say, well, Mr. President, you obviously are not being properly informed about events.
Here's what happened.
And we'll explain all the different drone attacks, all the attacks on civilian targets, attacking a church, for example.
And, you know, at that point, I can see Trump going, oh, well, I didn't know that.
Okay, yeah, now I understand.
What's shocking, though, is what he put out on True Social.
You know, that was like 10 hours after the meeting with the reporters in New Jersey.
At that point, he said, well, I haven't heard that.
Okay, so you'd think you'd get on the plane and say, hey, what about this?
was Putin attacked.
Instead, 10 hours later, he's still putting out the same gun.
For informing him of what's going on, is it his National Security Advisor, who's also his Secretary of State, who's rarely in Washington, who tells him, hey, by the way, they tried to kill Putin.
The drone came within half a mile of his helicopter.
Who would have told him that?
Yeah, it's Rubio, Susie Wiles, the Chief of Staff, and Tulsi Gabbard, you know, and John Radcliffe, you know, somebody in that chain.
They need to keep, they need to tell him that.
If he's not asking, if he's just taking what's being spoon-fed to him, but it just makes him look ridiculous.
And this, you know, I would recommend that anybody that, if you've never watched Oliver Stone's four-part series, it was done nine years ago, his interview with Vladimir Putin.
It covers roughly about two hours, two and a half hours.
It will give you all the insight and understanding you need in order to understand what's taking place now and how Putin, the kind of man he is, calm, rational, thoughtful,
but also has a memory and remembers the various betrayals he has experienced at the hands of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and then Joe Biden.
So it's incumbent on people to get a sense of Putin because the cartoon figure that we're presented with is Trump.
He's crazy!
You know, without saying, you know, why did Russia retaliate with such force against Ukraine?
Well, because they had Ukrainians that attacked them with 1,400 drones.
It was natural.
Can you imagine what Donald Trump would do if the Mexican drug cartels launched 200 drones into Austin, Dallas, Phoenix, Albuquerque?
Trump would have the bombers loaded and flying into Mexico.
Can you imagine what he would do if they sent a drone after a helicopter that was carrying him?
Exactly.
And we're not suggesting this should happen.
We're putting Trump into Putin's position and asking Trump to see that Putin's behavior is rational and justified.
And Trump is still saying, this is where I stopped and said, you can't say this with a straight face, that Putin wants all of Ukraine.
Larry, there is not a scintilla of evidence.
It's the last thing in the world he wants.
Is to attempt to govern a country with guerrilla warfare fighting his government?
Yeah, no, I think they're going to go back to what I call the natural western boundary of Russia, which is up to the Dnieper River.
I think they'll ultimately cross that river and take Kiev as well.
But Russia's going to end up controlling all of the territory east of the Dnieper before this is over.
They're not going to stop.
And the West continues.
People like Jack Keane and members of Congress, Lindsey Graham, they operate in a world of complete delusion.
And they actually think that there's something that we, the United States can do militarily to thwart Russia, to prevent Russia from defending itself.
And, you know, the Russians...
One of the sort of interesting intelligence points that comes out of that interview with Oliver Stone and Putin is back when George W. Bush walked away from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty Agreement, that agreement that Ray McGovern was president for back in 1972 when it was signed in Moscow,
that Putin said, hey, Why don't we work together and develop a ballistic missile system as well for Europe so that we'll all be covered and protected?
Think of that.
That's what the Russians offered.
And Bush walked away from it.
So the Russians have made repeated efforts to try to work with the West, to try to trust the West.
We're the ones who are in the position of being the actual aggressors, yet we continue to paint Putin and the Russians as bad.
Does Putin give a damn what Macron and Starmer and Tusk and Mertz and von der Leyen in Western Europe have been saying?
We all know it.
He absolutely cares about it because it shows this level of unjustified hostility directed at Russia.
Again, the history of the last, well, going back to 1991, so 34 years, is one in which the West has repeatedly lied to Russia.
Remember when George W. Bush was leading the war on terror?
We're fighting terror at the same time the CIA was providing intelligence support, financing.
To the Islamic rebels, the radical Islamists that were carrying out terrorist attacks in Russia.
And the Russians have full proof and evidence of that.
So we've always been playing this double game.
And we continue to do so today.
How do you see the war ending?
Do you see Donald Trump just throwing up his hands and...
Do you see him turning off the spigot of arms, which, though authorized by a previous Congress, are all subject to the discretion of the president?
Do you see Zelensky being overthrown and a new government suing for peace?
The United States, no matter what it does, is not going to be able to stop.
The Russian military victory over Ukraine.
This war of attrition will go to a point at which the Ukrainian army will crumble.
Whether it's this year or next year or the year after, I think it's going to be sooner rather than later.
When it crumbles, Zelensky will be out.
I don't know whether he'll be killed or exiled or will flee on his own.
There will be a new government reconstituted in Ukraine under the guidance and direction of the Russians in much the same way that the United States reconstituted the government in Germany at the end of World War II and in Japan at the end of World War II.
Russia is going to put in place a government that may go along with the existing Ukrainian constitution, but they're going to make sure That the neo-Nazi elements are out, are excluded, and frankly are going to be hunted down.
They're not going to live with that anymore.
What's left of Ukraine is going to become a buffer zone.
And the United States will holler, we can impose sanctions as much as we want.
It's not going to stop Russia.
For the Russians, this is legitimately existential.
And for the United States, if we persist, In trying to confront Russia over this, we're going to put our own existence and continued existence into question.
Thank you, Larry.
Very articulate.
Frightening, but articulate.
Thank you so much.
Thanks for your time.
Thanks for accommodating my schedule.
Look forward to seeing you with the youngster McGovern on Friday.
I'll be there.
Thank you.
All the best.
Great conversation.
I truly appreciate the depth and breadth of Larry's knowledge and his personal courage.
Coming up at 1.30 this afternoon, more knowledge and personal courage.
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