Judging Freedom - Judge Andrew Napolitano - Phil Giraldi : Can Trump Do Whatever He Wants?

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Sept. 2, 2025 - Judging Freedom - Judge Andrew Napolitano

24:32

Phil Giraldi : Can Trump Do Whatever He Wants?

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	Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom.
	Today is Wednesday, September 3rd, 2025.
	Phil Giraldi joins us now.
	Phil, uh, always a pleasure.
	Uh, before we get to President Trump's views of the powers of the presidency, um, I want to ask you this.
	The the outcome of the war in Ukraine seems so obvious at this point.
	The Russians are moving so slowly but methodically and exorably and without any uh retreat.
	Their uh use of uh offensive weaponry is sophisticated and massive.
	Do you think that the Ukrainian leaders themselves, diplomatic, military, political, but not uh President Zelensky, recognize that the end is near but just can't say anything?
	Uh I suspect that's the case.
	I mean, Zelensky is not a uh a military leader, he is an ex-comedian.
	And the fact is he doesn't have enough depth either as a politician or as a military uh person to to understand what's going on.
	I think he's looking at he's very much like Trump in that he sees everything through his own optic.
	And he's uh his optic is telling him to hang on, and if he has to get out uh and go to one of his several houses, uh he'll do that.
	But the fact is, I think his there's a there's a huge uh ignorance gap, like just like with Trump, that drives him, and it's a personal ambition, and uh, but uh at the same time, it's very clear that some of the people under him are beginning to speak out and are also saying or are also saying as a group that uh the situation is dire.
	So uh, you know, it uh it depends which way this thing falls.
	Is he a free agent or is he still a puppet of the uh ultra-nationalists, bandarefs, neo-Nazis, whatever you want to call them?
	Uh well, I think he's to a certain extent a puppet in that they uh they have a decisive uh shall we say ability to uh terminate his rule if it comes to that.
	So I think he's got to be very careful that looking over his shoulder, uh, and uh that's what he has to do to survive.
	But uh yeah, I think these people have a great deal of power in terms of of uh what the decision making is and where it's going to be leading.
	On Israel, uh there have been many public oppositions to Prime Minister Netanyahu's uh stated plans uh of invading and occupying Gaza, and some from significant people, the head of the IDF, the head of Shenbet, their spy agency, the head of Netanyahu's own security council, Netanyahu's own foreign minister.
	Are these uh substantive or uh just for show?
	Uh I think they're substantive.
	I think these people are looking at the situation and saying, look, this has been playing out for two years, and we haven't won, even though we're fighting what is basically a poorly armed uh militia, and uh uh we've had a lot of casualties, we've had a lot of damage to our infrastructure because we brought Iran into it, and uh there are a lot of things going very badly here, and we do not believe that victory is in sight.
	So again, this is a case of Netanyahu for his own personal reasons, his own personal political survival, uh playing this a certain way, and unfortunately, Trump is letting him get away with it.
	Are Israeli reservists failing to show up for their assignments?
	That's been the story that they're having uh great difficulty getting the reservists to show up.
	A number of them, um, I have heard uh from some of my sources that uh have actually fled the country.
	They um you you've probably heard that Israelis have been buying up large chunks of land in Cyprus, which of course is right across the water from Israel, and uh they've been people have been going there using their European and American passports, so no one will even know they're Israeli.
	So that's been going on, and of course, the ones who are uh again have the European passports have been going back to their countries of origin in Europe.
	So they're having a problem where reservists are actually fleeing the country to avoid uh conscription.
	And if they're in Israel, they're they're obviously hiding their whereabouts.
	What will happen in your view if the IDF does invade and purports to, or purports the wrong word, attempts to uh occupy Gaza?
	Well, that depends.
	I mean, will it be their Vietnam?
	Will they will the will uh Hamas just wear away at them?
	That's a good question, and it kind of depends on what precedes the IDF attempted occupation of Gaza.
	Now, uh obviously uh it would seem to me from stated comments from people like Ben Gavir's Smotrich and from the Prime Minister himself that uh they see a removal uh you know program preceding an actual occupation.
	That would mean getting rid of virtually all or all of the Palestinians in Gaza by either uh deporting them somehow to uh Sudan was the most recent place named, uh, or or killing them.
	And uh Trump has according to Netanyahu this week, Trump has advised Netanyahu to finish the job.
	Now, what would that imply to you?
	Uh continue the slaughter.
	Yeah, exactly.
	So if you kill everyone, then yeah, an occupation is easy, isn't it?
	But if you have difficulty, which they've been having for two years, having difficulty, uh why does anyone expect that necessarily to change overnight?
	Do you think that uh Netanyahu and his regime are acting planning another attack on Iran, notwithstanding the severe beating that they took in the 12-day war?
	Well, I would, you know, I would have to go with Colonel McGregor and others on this that uh are confident that something is coming very quickly and it will be another attack, and the assumption on the part of Netanyahu will be that uh Trump will get uh automatically drawn into it, drawing in the United States.
	So uh that's kind of what everyone is foreseeing, and I have no reason to doubt that.
	There's uh there's a uh there's a hegemonistic uh desire on the part of the Israeli people in general, uh, and this is manifest in the current government there, and they have they see enemies on all sides.
	They're talking about uh taking over Syria all the way up to Damascus.
	They're talking about taking over a huge chunk of Lebanon.
	Uh Jordan can't be that far from having a chunk of it or maybe all of it taken.
	So that this is uh this is a desire, uh Zionist desire to create the greater Israel, the air its Israel, which will incorporate parts of all these countries.
	Uh and um it's uh it's it's what really has destabilized the region ever since 1948.
	Can Trump kill whoever he wants to kill?
	Well, Trump claims, and let me quote him so I don't misquote him.
	He said last week that he has the right to do anything I want to do.
	Now, what does that tell you?
	I mean, he's just killed 11 uh Venezuelans uh who were in our international waters because he claims they were narco-tra narco-terrorist traffickers, if you want to swallow that one.
	Um come on, this is uh this is of an administration which believes it can do anything because nobody's stopping them.
	Uh here is uh Secretary Heggseth purporting to this time.
	I mean to use the word purporting, purporting to defend what happened, and then you and I will have a conversation about the law, the Constitution, and the morality of what Heggseth is attempting to defend.
	Chris Cut number 15.
	We knew exactly who was in that boat.
	We knew exactly what they were doing, and we knew exactly who they represented.
	President Trump is willing to go on offense in ways that others have not been, and to send that clear signal to Tran de Aragua, Cartel del Sols, and others emanating from Venezuela.
	Uh, we're not going to allow this kind of activity.
	You're poisoning our people.
	We've got incredible assets, and they are gathering in the region.
	Uh, and so you want to try to traffic drugs?
	It's a new day, it's a different day.
	And so those 11 drug traffickers are no longer with us, sending a very clear signal that this is an activity the United States is not going to tolerate in our hemisphere.
	I can't disclose precisely how this went down.
	I can tell you it was precision.
	It was very well uh understood exactly what assets would be used in order to achieve the effect.
	So uh that's classified how it was done.
	Uh, but you can see publicly a lot of the assets that we have in the region, which are which to include an ARGMU, which holds 2200 combat infantry marines, uh, and has plenty of its own organic assets.
	So we've got assets in the air, assets in the water, assets on ships, uh, because this is a deadly serious mission for us.
	Uh and it won't it won't stop uh in with just this strike.
	Uh anyone else trafficking in those waters who we know is a designated narco-terrorist, uh, will face the same fate.
	So this is a brave new world for the military to undertake law enforcement and to undertake it by killing people without any due process.
	In my opinion, what happened was an act of homicide, an act of premeditated murder, uh, and everybody involved should be prosecuted uh for murder.
	If what Heg Seth said is true about what these people were up to, they should have waited until that boat entered United States waters, gotten a search warrant, stopped the boat, searched the boat.
	If they found drugs, seize the drugs, and arrest everybody on the boat.
	If they didn't find drugs, let them go.
	Instead, they slaughtered them.
	I absolutely agree.
	Uh this is uh outrageous.
	This is a uh well, this is the most outrageous thing to happen in the last week because there have been outrageous things taking place for the last six months, almost on a weekly basis.
	Uh this is they were in international orders orders.
	I assume they had some kind of intelligence uh information suggesting who these people were and what they were doing.
	Uh this was enough to go there and kill them when there were other options, as you point out.
	Uh if you have all that intelligence, you know these people are there, you track them till they get into U.S. waters and are about to commit a crime, and you arrest them.
	This is what we do as a civilized nation.
	We're not on the civilized nation track anymore with Donald Trump and his crew.
	I mean, this is this is just so awful.
	And and it's uh but a symptom of so uh of what's coming.
	Uh Trump says he can do anything he wants to do.
	This is gonna there's gonna be more of this stuff.
	Uh the is it no coincidence that on Friday uh the uh uh U.S. government put a $50 million uh uh uh head bonus on Maduro, the president of uh of uh Venezuela, and then all of a sudden this happens.
	I mean, this is uh and and the the fact that they said now there are five warships down in the region of of Venezuela.
	Are we gonna invade with those 2,200 Marines?
	This is insane.
	Did Venezuela threaten the United States?
	This is insane.
	Here's um the current director of national intelligence when she was a member of Congress on whether or not Venezuela, you can guess what's coming, poses a national security threat to the United States.
	Chris Cut number 12.
	Because every time the United States, and particularly in Latin America, has gotten involved in regime change, using different tools to enact that regime change, there have been both short and long-term devastating impacts.
	The United States should not be in the business of intervening, of picking who should lead their country.
	And we certainly should not be threatening military action.
	Venezuela poses no threat to the United States.
	Congress has not authorized the United States to go to war in Venezuela.
	And there's no justification for our country to violate the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people.
	This administration and the neocon war hawks that surround President Trump have made no secret about what their intentions are to further this regime change effort Both in Venezuela as well as in Iran.
	We do have a situation with a cabinet full of neocon war hawks whose history is very well known in leading our country into one regime change war after the other.
	And to great expense in American lives, to trillions of dollars coming out of our taxpayers' pockets, as well as the lives and the suffering, the devastation of the people in the countries where we've waged these wars.
	I wonder if she feels the same way today, and if she'll say that to the president.
	I doubt it.
	She probably feels that way but won't say it.
	I think you're you're probably right, but she makes very profound arguments with which you and I and everybody that appears on this show and the people that watch us uh are uh are in general agreement.
	But this this is a very, very big issue in my view, Phil.
	Put aside Trump's view of himself.
	We all know of his narcissism.
	Uh put aside his view of the presidency.
	Uh this use of massive military force to kill people who are legally innocent, remember?
	Innocent until proven guilty, who haven't been charged, as to whom there is no arrest warrant.
	How much longer will it be before that attitude comes to the mainland United States, Pete Hag Seth?
	Well, you know, this is this goes back a ways, unfortunately.
	You remember with uh with President Obama with the Olahke's father and son, uh, that he had uh killed in the Middle East.
	Uh they had been charged actually with no crime.
	Uh they had uh were not as as far as anyone knows, involved with any terrorist groups or anything like that, but they were both assassinated by the by the orders of the president of the United States.
	And uh I fear that uh Obama was probably restrained compared to what uh Trump is likely to be.
	And I think this is gonna become a kind of general rule.
	I mean, we have obviously um there's a lot of tension going on with Brazil also.
	And and today uh Trump made the comment about the uh the meeting between the the Russians and the Chinese and in China.
	Uh this is a conspiracy against the United States.
	This, I mean, this is reaching the point where uh paranoia uh has replaced any kind of uh thinking or logic or uh good diplomacy or good relations for the United States with the rest of the world.
	We're being we will be despised by everyone and hated by everyone.
	Boy, I hope that that was uh a tasteless joke when he said that, and uh uh Putin's uh aid uh name now is Gow Yushikov uh indicated that uh they thought it was a joke.
	They used the word uh ironic.
	I want to play another uh Heg Seth clip in the same uh Fox and friends uh interview where uh he intimates uh the government will bring about regime change uh in uh Caracas, and that's why all these troops and all these military assets are there, and of course, this will all be done without a declaration of war.
	A duck even a declaration of war would be unconstitutional because we have signed treaties that limit our ability to declare war to those countries that pose imminent threats to us, and Venezuela poses no threat to us.
	Well, save your fire until after, if you can stomach this.
	I'm sorry to put you through this, Phil.
	This next head seth clip, Chris cut number 14.
	The only person that should be worried is is Nicholas Maduro, who's running a uh effectively is a kingpin of a drug uh narco state, uh not actually elected and indicted for 50 million dollars by the United States.
	Uh, and we know he's involved in the types of drug running that has affected the American people directly.
	What we have there in the Caribbean is a clear demonstration of military might.
	Uh President Trump has shown whether it's the Southwest border, whether it's the Houthis in freedom of navigation, whether it's midnight hammer in Iran, that the precise application of American power can have incredible impacts and reshape dynamics around the world and in the region.
	So Nicholas Maduro, as he considers whether or not he wants to continue to be a narco traffic trafficker, uh has some decisions to make.
	Uh and um that's all I'll say about that.
	Is regime change our goal there?
	Well, that's that's a presidential decision, and that's we certainly understand the indictment.
	We understand the $50 million uh anyone would prefer that he would just give himself up.
	Uh but that's a presidential level decision, and we're prepared uh with every asset uh that the American military has.
	So it's not an indictment, it's a bounty uh put on his head by the uh State Department.
	Pete, go back to Princeton and study study basic uh rules of criminal procedure and and constitution.
	This sickens me, Phil.
	Well, it's it's and it shows the ignorance of these people.
	The uh the this guy is is framed as a narco trafficker, which I find in somewhat implausible.
	Uh Venezuela has a lot of oil, as I recall.
	And um, you know, it's uh uh to the way they frame these people as terrorists, as drug dealers, and it's it's this is this is a game that's being played to depict these people in the worst possible terms rather than try to deal with them and come to terms in in a non-threatening way.
	Everything that the Trump administration has been doing uh is backed up by a threat.
	And and this is what uh is really to me depressing because uh uh you and I used to live in a world where the United States was seen uh in in a positive way, and where the American government was always ready to help uh foreign nations and was ready to talk.
	And and that has gone away since uh basically really uh I would say since Ron O'Reill.
	And I have to correct myself.
	It turns out that Heg Seth was right and I was wrong.
	Maduro was indicted by the Biden administration uh on a charge of distributing drugs.
	They're probably going to try and kidnap him like they did to uh the name is escaping me, the president of uh Panama under George uh H. Mariega under George uh H.W. Bush.
	Uh, except that they uh on Friday they doubled the uh indictment.
	They went from 25 million to 50 million, is my thing.
	So they're playing a game here.
	Well, these are dark days, uh Phil, dark days for the basic meaning of the Constitution, dark days for the concept of uh personal liberty, dark days for due process, dark days for a limited government, dark days for a president who stays within the confines of the powers conferred upon him by uh by the Constitution.
	And until uh January 20th, 2029, I don't see any relief in sight.
	Well, and what about Posicomitatus?
	I mean, just today, uh, Trump is threatening to send troops to New Orleans.
	That's on top of Chicago.
	That's on top of Baltimore.
	That's on top of Los Angeles and DC, where they're already in place.
	Presumably, federal judges uh will stop him because this does not have to do with foreign policy.
	Posse comitas is very clear.
	This is the statute enacted in 1876 to conclude the military occupation of the southern states following the war between the states, and it prohibits absolutely, absolutely, the use of uh the military for ordinary law enforcement.
	A federal judge in San Francisco just so ruled, presumably the same thing would happen in Chicago, New York, and uh uh and New Orleans and Baltimore, all these other places that he has.
	Uh I guess he's fantasized about being a big city police chief.
	I guess.
	I guess.
	Well, anyway, dark days.
	I hope your family is well.
	I hope uh the dog is well, and um we'll see you again next week, Phil.
	Okay, well, take care.
	All right.
	Thank you very much, my dear friend.
	Thank you.
	And still coming today at 4 o'clock, Max Blumenthal.
	Let me tell you about tomorrow.
	8 o'clock, Ambassador Freeman, 9 o'clock in the morning from Shanghai, who's at the Shanghai organization gathering, Pepe Escobar at 1 in the afternoon on all of this Latin American uh dangerous stuff,
	and Anya Parampel at 2 in the afternoon, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson at 3 in the afternoon, Professor John Meersheimer at four in the afternoon, Colonel Douglas McGregor.

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