All Episodes
Previous Next
Oct. 6, 2025 - Judging Freedom - Judge Andrew Napolitano
26:09
Larry Johnson : Trump Duped by His Own Advisors.
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
Hi there, everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for a judging freedom.
Today is Monday, Sept uh October 6, 2025.
Larry Johnson will be here in just a moment.
Is Donald Trump being duped by his own advisors?
But first, this.
My friends, if you care about your liberty and your right to control your own future, you need to hear about this.
From October 10th to 12th, Mikel Thorpe, host of the Expat Money Show, is bringing together top experts from around the world for the Expat Money Online Summit, and it's completely free to attend.
You'll learn how to legally protect your wealth, secure second residences and citizenships, reduce your tax burden, and own property abroad, all to safeguard your freedom.
This year's focus is on Latin America, where opportunity is booming.
Argentina is shifting to free markets.
El Salvador is undergoing a dramatic transformation, and Panama and Paraguay are offering simple residency programs.
A plan B is no longer optional.
It's essential.
Reserve your free ticket at expatmone summit.com.
And if you want VIP access with special perks, including lifetime replay access and exclusive VIP panels, use promo code Judge for 20% off your upgrade.
That's expatmone summit.com.
Promo code.
Larry, welcome here, my dear friend.
Before we get into uh Trump and his uh advisors, I'm going to read an email I got from our colleague uh Phil Giraldi, who got it from a friend that uh that he trusts.
I've spent the afternoon helping a young U.S. citizen after he was detained for walking on his own sidewalk on his way home when ICE troops with masks and a camouflage pulled him to their unmarked vehicles, demanding to see his legal documents and proof of citizenship.
No warrant, no telling him their name badge or other identification of the government authority they represent.
He tried to cooperate, they refused to accept his Illinois real ID driver's license.
They asked for a social security card, which he didn't have with them, or his passport, which was home.
A man walking on his own sidewalk back to his home.
That was not the end of the story.
They beat him up, took him to a nearby train station, destroyed his cell phone.
Some people who witnessed the abuse gave him a few dollars to take the train home.
Why are federal troops doing that to Americans in American cities?
Yeah, you know, it's one thing to uh identify and deport people who are here illegally, but you still got to follow the rules.
But you know, unfortunately, Donald Trump has set the precedent that uh you can use government force however you want without any regard for the law.
Uh, as he continues to attack boats that are allegedly carrying drugs and killing the people on those boats and blowing them up.
You know, if if a police officer tried that with a drug deal going down in Baltimore or New York City or Washington, D.C., they'd they'd be criminally charged.
And should so uh yeah, this is you know, uh, examples like that.
That's those kinds of abuses are going to awaken uh pushback in the American society where where Trump did enjoy support for uh dealing with the that you know the hordes of illegals that have flooded across the borders.
Uh it's then gonna elicit a pushback against him on those policies.
You know, um Justice uh Kavanaugh wrote a concurring opinion uh in a case in which the Supreme Court allowed um troops to ask your for your papers, saying, What's the big deal?
Show your papers.
Well, it is a big deal.
We don't show our papers in America, you don't have to prove anything.
The burden is on the government to prove that it has an arrest warrant that has the right to arrest you.
You don't have to prove that you're an American citizen, you have the right to be on a street.
That's a police state when you have to affirmatively prove something in order to please the government.
Yeah, well, it's just again, it's a natural evolution.
This didn't start with Trump.
So I don't want to just blame Donald Trump on this.
This is you know, it it goes back, good lord, 24 years with the installation of the Patriot Act.
Right.
Where we start, we start encroaching upon civil liberties, we start dismissing the fundamental freedoms.
Then people they grow accustomed to it, they become numb.
Comf, you know, Roger Waters' song Pink Floyd, comfortably numb.
That's exactly what we've become.
The um Secretary of Defense who calls himself the Secretary of War announced that they blew up another uh ship on Saturday.
Or it's not a ship, it's a boat.
Boat, boat.
So four speed boats.
We don't even know uh the numbers uh of deaths in international water, so it's inconceivable an American crime uh was being committed.
None of them, none of the people on the boats had been identified, none had been charged, none had been uh indicted, no evidence had been sought just enough to satisfy the Secretary of Defense and the President of the United States, and now these people are dead, and the evidence is destroyed.
Something's going to happen to bring this to a halt.
I don't know what it's going to be.
Yeah.
Well, the what bothers me so much about it, it'd be one thing if there was uh a US uh Navy or Coast Guard vessel trying to detain that boat, and the people on board that boat were firing weapons.
Oh, that's an entirely different story.
If that was taking place, then yeah, okay, you've opened your, you know, you decided to play that game to complain.
But that's not what's going on here.
And uh it's uh it's just all well, trust us, we have intelligence.
Well, having worked in that field, I don't trust a damn thing you're saying.
Not at all.
Uh in fact, uh, I I don't doubt the ability to lie uh about these kinds of things to to claim that it's drugs when it's not.
You know, one of the things we saw right after 9-11 in Afghanistan, where they decide, man, we're gonna put out a we're gonna wrap up all the uh the Al-Qaeda fighters, we're gonna offer a hundred thousand dollars uh for every al-Qaeda person that the Afghans turn over.
Well, the ranks of Al Qaeda swelled because man, the Afghans with the nose for making money showed up, yeah.
This guy, he's al-Qaeda.
And they were they were grabbing taxi drivers.
I found out, you know, one of my one of my uh classmates and friends, he was over there at the time, and he said they they brought in so many people who were actually innocent.
But but because somebody had a grudge against them or had something that they were, you know, something that they wanted, maybe they were a competitor, they they got them identified as the terrorists.
Well, in this case, so I don't doubt that that's what's going on here.
Well, you answered my question before I asked it, and that's if uh actionable intelligence is uh trustworthy.
Here's the mentality of the person operate uh uh operating on that intelligence, claiming he warned about claiming he warned Pete Hegsef about Osama bin Laden when he wrote a book about Osama bin Laden, forgetting that when he wrote that book, Heggseth was a 19-year-old sophomore at Princeton.
Yeah.
Here's what he said to the troop to the Navy troops just over the weekend, number seven, Chris.
And history will never forget that it was the SEALs who stormed the compound at Osama bin Laden and put a bullet in his head.
Remember that?
And please remember I wrote about Osama bin Laden exactly one year ago, one year before he blew up the World Trade Center, and I said, You gotta watch Osama bin Laden.
And the fake news would never let me get away with that statement unless it was true.
But I said one year before to Pete Hag Seth, I said one year before whispers.
In the book, I wrote, whatever the hell the title, I can't tell you, but I can tell you there's a page in there devoted to the fact that I saw somebody named Osama bin Laden and I didn't like it, and you got to take care of him.
They didn't do it a year later, he blew up the World Trade Center.
So we've got to take a little credit because nobody else is going to give it to me.
You know the old story?
They don't give you credit, just take it yourself.
Well, listen, I don't want to dump on him needlessly.
The book he wrote uh was called The America We Deserve.
It was published in January 2000.
In January 2000, uh Pete Heggseth was a sophomore at Princeton.
So the president is obviously confusing things, but what level of confusion operates in his mind when he gives the kill order, Larry?
Yeah, well, um uh I I will simply note that uh Milt Beard and I wrote an op-ed in the New York Times uh that appeared, I believe it was November 7th, 2000.
And in that we specifically identified that because it at that point it was not clear who was going to be president, whether it was Al Gore or George W. Bush.
Uh, but we identified that uh whoever was president that they needed to focus on uh if they were going to deal with the terrorism issues, um, that one of those was the the uh the rise of al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.
So you know the Trump's just simply trying to take credit where there was really none to be uh earned.
Uh he could have you know, he was reacting probably to the previous uh claims of uh Al Qaeda's role in the East Africa embassy bombings in 1998.
But but again, the the the narcissism of it is what's I mean, the insecurity on this guy is just terrible.
Yeah, you know, tell tell me I'm wonderful, tell me I'm great.
Okay, okay, you're wonderful and great.
Can we like set some reasonable realistic priorities?
Why I'm gonna talk about the Gaza peace plan.
Why would um Hamas even negotiate with these people?
Trump lured Iranian negotiators into a trap.
Netanyahu murdered uh Hamas and Hezbollah negotiators.
Why would these people even negotiate, much less come to an agreement with them?
Well, I think they're in a trust but verify.
Remember that uh they were uh Trump helped try to kill him, I believe, uh a few weeks ago in Doha when the Israelis launched that attack where the Hamas negotiating team is supposed to be, right?
But um, you know, this I still believe that this agreement's not gonna go anywhere because Hamas number one, Hamas is not the only group fighting the Zionists in Gaza.
There are 14, at least 14 other Palestinian groups.
Not all of them are Islamic either.
There are some secular groups as well.
So this is this is more of a broad based about Palestinian opposition.
They're not gonna surrender their weapons.
I think they know very well, based upon what's happened in the past, that neither the Zionists nor the United States are to be trusted uh with surrendering weapons.
The other aspect is that they're not going to accept a Tony Blair uh you know arrangement where you got Westerners with Jared Kushner sort of calling the shots for the government in Gaza and the West Bank.
That's not gonna happen.
It's going to be Palestinian with the backing of Arab and Muslim countries.
Those will be complete non-starters for Bibi Netanyahu.
Um it remains to be seen whether Trump is going to try to force or compel Bibi to accept it.
I doubt it.
But there's always, you know, again, we can go back to his narcissistic behavior, his desire really to get credit for something big.
He might be willing to do that if he's getting enough uh promises and assurances from the Saudis and the Egyptians that this is the way that uh he'll go down in history as the greatest president if he makes this deal with one that will at least allow the Palestinians to remain intact.
So but but as far as you know Hamas has got to surrender in 24 hours or else we've we've had so many deadlines from Donald Trump uh that uh they're morabund.
Why would uh Hamas surrender hostages and their arms trusting that the IDF would leave Gaza?
Who would trust them?
Yeah, no, they're gonna they're gonna insist there's gonna have to be movement of Israeli forces out of Gaza before that deal is consummated, number one, and that the uh that the Palestinian prisoners are uh being released, it'll be a simultaneous release.
Again, there's there is a deal to be had here.
Uh and uh you know the Egyptians are trying mightily uh to uh make it happen, but as you correctly note, the level of trust has been dramatically eroded as a consequence of both uh Israeli and U.S. actions over the last six months.
Wow.
Axios is reporting when Hamas came back with a yes but to President Trump's Gaza peace proposal on Friday.
Trump called Netanyahu to discuss what he saw as good news.
Netanyahu felt differently.
BB told Trump this is nothing to celebrate, and that it doesn't mean anything.
U.S. official with knowledge of the call told Axios, Trump fired back.
I don't know why you're always so blanking, starting with an F negative.
This is a win take it.
I don't know where this is gonna go.
Yeah, uh yeah, I think I think the the major the variable is uh who who who gets uh who convinces Trump that he's going to be the greatest ever as a result of the decision that he makes.
You know, this this brings us to what I wanted to talk to you about.
Is he he listens to whoever's been speaking to last, whether it's about Gaza or Ukraine.
Yeah, the the his uh I'm I'm not impressed with his critical thinking skills.
Uh we we've seen um with respect to the war uh in in Ukraine.
Trump uh on the one hand has sort of washed his hands of it and dumped it into the lap of the Europeans.
On the other hand, he has not reigned in his government.
And this recent article by Cy Hirsch, basically arguing that the the war in Ukraine is a stalemate, there's no way that uh Russia can win it, Russia's got severe economics.
Where is Sai getting this from, Larry?
He's getting it, he's getting it from senior officials either in the Trump administration and or the intelligence community.
I mean,'s always had good contacts both with DOD and CIA.
And what's really alarming is that these people are not they're not only telling Psy this, but that's what they're telling Trump.
So you know, I can't entirely fault Donald Trump for not pushing back or having enough curiosity to try to ask them that okay, show me the receipts on this.
Uh where you know, where are you getting this?
Um, but the the belief has settled in that Russia is suffering is barely making progress, hardly moving at all, uh, that they've got terrible economic problems because Ukraine is just destroying their oil refinery and and the and the Russians are critically dependent upon oil revenue, and therefore their economy is gonna collapse, and and the army, though they're suffering horrific losses.
Now, all of that are those are those are complete lies, misrepresentations about what's really going on.
However, they believe it.
That's this is what's so troubling.
Um Hagseth believes it, uh Kellogg believes it, Rubio believes it, and they got Trump believing it.
So they think they're in a stronger bargaining position with the Russians.
Meanwhile, they're not listening to Putin.
And you know, if if all of these dire predictions about Putin's uh and the state of Russia were correct, you would have seen a real nervous Vladimir Putin uh last week at Sochi at the Valdae dialogue.
Man, he was relaxed.
Right.
He was making fun of uh of uh you know Trump's paper tiger.
He says, Yeah, I you know here that you know we're a paper tiger, and geez, uh we've been fighting not just Ukraine, we've been fighting all of NATO now for three years, and they haven't laid a glove on us.
So if we're a paper tiger, what are they?
You know, that that kind of uh uh you know sarcasm.
So it is uh there's a real disconnect here, and it comes at a time that Russia is uh rapidly ramping up its military operations, launching six, seven hundred drone missile attacks like every other day.
And you know, Ukraine Ukraine not only cannot stop them, we had uh Vladimir Zelensky whining yesterday about oh my god, well let's uh let's have a unilateral ceasefire on all these air ops.
Yeah, you know, wait, I thought you guys were shooting down 90 percent of them.
Yeah, we'll what's the story?
When um Trump and uh Netanyahu speak by telephone.
Is Russian Intel listening?
They'll try.
Chinese too.
I mean, you know, look any any good foreign intelligence service worth or assault are going to try to penetrate those kinds of communications.
Now, normally they would be handled in an uh something that's encrypted.
It's not to say that there's always perfect encryption.
Uh if man makes it, it can be broken or penetrated.
Uh so uh in theory, but don't discount that the Russians also have intelligence assets within Mossad, within the Israeli military, because you've got you know, roughly two million Russians that live uh in Israel, and it would not not surprise me at all that they've got other uh intelligence access beyond just having to use electronic intercepts.
Do the Russians have intelligence assets in the American intelligence community?
Uh I would hope so, as I would hope that we would, but uh I I'm I'm doubtful uh candidly.
Uh because I think uh and I think the U.S. is similarly uh unlikely to have had any success penetrating uh the Russian intelligence service.
Um all they can do though is they they do have to watch with some puzzlement these things that Donald Trump says and does, and uh trying to you know, trying to figure out are the Americans genuine about seeking a peace.
Right now, despite the the meetings that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have had, the frequent conversations with uh Steve Whitkoff, uh, we've not seen really anything tangible yet in terms of normalizing diplomatic relations,
reopening consulates, uh allowing direct flights from the United States uh to Russia, and and vice versa, uh returning property that was seized by Barack Obama uh in the waning days of his administration from the Russians.
Uh getting getting the frozen assets of the Russian government released.
Now, none of that is you know, the United States just has not made that a priority.
And so again, the Russians have to look at what what tangible things is the United States doing to signal that they want to have normal relations with Russia.
All right, let me play you this clip.
It uh starts with um Vladimir Putin and goes to Caroline Levin and ends up with the president, and it has to do with uh uh Putin's suggestion that the uh start treaty limitations be extended.
I think it's number nine, Chris.
Yeah, to Bashivia.
After February 5th, 2026, Russia is prepared to continue adhering to the central quantitative limits of the strategic arms reduction treaty for one year.
Going forward, based on an analysis of the situation, we will make a decision if we continue adhering to these voluntary self-limitations.
We believe this measure will only be viable if the United States acts in a similar manner.
The president is aware of this offer extended by President Putin.
Um, and I'll let him Comment on it later.
I think it sounds pretty good, but he wants to make some comments on that himself, and I will let him do that.
President Putin offers for people from New Blue on a lot more years for them hope from the New Gosh and you sound like sounds like a good good idea to me.
Yeah.
That's so you get those, you know.
It's hopeful.
We still can't forget that in the Russians haven't forgotten that it was Donald Trump that abrogated the intermediate nuclear forces agreement in 2018.
Uh so the fact that uh Trump is signaling a willingness to entertain that, great.
You know, we've had, you know, throughout this period, this stormy period, uh, we've had cooperation between the United States and Russia on the space uh program, with particularly with the Russians playing it playing a critical role in transporting U.S. astronauts to and from the space station over about a 20-year period.
So there is a foundation there for uh for respect and for getting along.
But uh, you know, Russia's got its interests and wants those respected, as uh as well as uh you know, willing to respect U.S. interests, but it's it's got to be a two-way relationship.
Is Trump being duped by his um advisors, or are they telling him what they think he wants to hear?
No, I think I think they're deliberately misleading him.
And Trump is going along and accepting it.
He's not uh you know, throwing the penalty flag on uh the this claim that you know Russia's in a weak position, and you know it's it's on the ropes.
You know, it can't sustain this much longer.
This is you know, the the message that uh Cy Hirsch wrote about that was hearing from senior administration officials.
So without he didn't name the sources uh beyond that.
Uh, was that what's going on in uh Ukraine right now is quote a stalemate.
And it's absolutely not a stalemate, not by any definition of stalemate.
You know, it'd be one thing if you know one day the Russians advance five kilometers, and then the next day the Ukrainians advance five kilometers, and so at the end of the day, they haven't really moved the needle.
That's not what's happening.
Uh, right now, for example, in this one sector of the battlefield, Russia reportedly uh has up uh as many as 10,000 Ukrainian troops trapped.
They are up against a massive reservoir of water.
You know, think of something like Lake Michigan.
And uh so they can't swim across it, they can't boat across it, and the Russians have them tramped all trapped on the flanks in the front.
Wow, Russia's just shelling them relentlessly, and and they're dying in in droves.
So that's the kind of thing is taking place across the front.
And you know, maybe a year ago you could make the case that Russia was only succeeding in taking maybe one uh small village or town a week, maybe every two weeks.
They're taking three or four a week now, and and it is it's accelerating.
Larry, thank you very much.
Always a pleasure, uh, my dear friend.
And no matter what we're talking about, whether ICE are beating people up or Trump's being lied to.
Your analysis is deeply appreciated.
You know by me, and certainly by the vast numbers of people that watch and listen to us.
Look forward to seeing you with the youngster McGovern on Friday.
I'll be there and thank you for the very kind words.
Sure, Larry, all the best.
Have a good week, my friend.
▲
Export Selection