In short
The episode covers (1) U.S.-Iran negotiations for an end to the war, including nuclear and Strait of Hormuz issues, Congress’s role in sanctions relief, and likely political obstacles; (2) Tulsi Gabbard’s resignation as DNI amid a Washington Post investigation into alleged influence from her guru; (3) Sudan’s looming mass atrocity risk in Al-Obed, allegedly enabled by UAE support for the RSF.
Guests and backgrounds
Dr. Trita Parsi (Quincy Institute; Iran policy analyst). John Swain (Washington Post reporter; investigated Tulsi Gabbard’s alleged guru-linked memos). Nathaniel Raymond (Yale Humanitarian Research Lab; satellite/atrocity analysis). Chris Van Hollen (U.S. Senator; Sudan/foreign policy). Jeremy Conondyke (Refugees International president; advocacy on Sudan and UAE “sports washing”).
Key claims
Iran negotiations are “successful so far” via Lebanon/Strait mechanisms, IAEA involvement, working groups, and U.S. pressure on Israel; nuclear concessions may increase under “all sanctions on the table.” Congress could delay via secondary sanctions and possible legal framing. The Tulsi story alleges hundreds of unsigned talking-point memos matching her verbatim language and includes abusive directives and pseudonymous social media support. Sudan: RSF/“UAE-backed” forces may commit another massacre; U.S. warns mass atrocities are imminent; UAE arms/financing should raise the “cost” to prevent it.
Notable examples
Lebanon mechanism including Iran; 19-hour negotiations; working groups with Turkey/Egypt/Qatar/Saudi/Oman/UAE. Trump rally claims about Iran’s disarmament. Memo example: “boo-hoo, I’m going to miss the party” phrasing. Sudan: prior El Fasher mass graves visible from space; estimates of tens of thousands to 100,000+ killed; proposed U.S. amendment to block UAE military equipment; UAE “sports washing” via NBA/Arsenal.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOIran-U.S. Negotiations Update
2:14 to 6:15
Insights into the ongoing negotiations between Iran and the U.S. and challenges ahead.
“At the same time, we want to keep our eye on what is unfolding with regard to negotiations between Iran and the U.S.”
Trump's Strategy on Iran
6:15 to 10:13
Analysis of Trump's approach regarding Iran and the implications for U.S.-Iran relations.
“the latest tweet or now the Iranians are backing off of what they're saying in the IAEA.”
Perceptions and Narratives in Politics
10:13 to 14:00
Exploration of how narratives shape political perceptions, especially relating to Iran.
“So let's take a look at how Trump is selling this to his base.”
Perceptions and Narratives in Politics
15:21 to 15:51
Exploration of how narratives shape political perceptions, especially relating to Iran.
“Hi, I'm Cindy Crawford, and I'm the founder of Meaningful Beauty.”
Iran's Internal Dynamics on Nuclear Negotiations
16:00 to 21:51
Explore the internal Iranian factions and their stance on nuclear negotiations.
“and very noteworthy when, you know, they put out, the Supreme Leader put out his analysis.”
Congress and Sanctions: A Political Landscape
21:51 to 23:08
Understand the complexities of Congress's role in U.S.-Iran relations and sanctions.
“I fully understand that they want to criticize aspects of it, and they certainly don't want to give Trump credit, etc.”
The Importance of Quick Negotiations
23:08 to 26:12
Learn why timely negotiations are crucial in the context of U.S.-Iran relations.
“So the primary sanctions are sanctions that the United States is imposing on American companies wanting to trade or invest in Iran.”
Investigating Tulsi Gabbard's Political Influence
28:52 to 42:35
Explore the influence of Tulsi Gabbard's guru on her political career.
“especially in the early days of her political career, used the verbatim talking points that came from her cult leader guru.”
Sudan Conflict Update
44:45 to 46:04
An overview of the ongoing humanitarian crisis and impending massacre in Sudan.
“As that one is receding, the war between, hopefully receding between the U.S., Iran, Israel, Hezbollah, we want to pick back up on some of that coverage.”
International Response to Sudan Crisis
46:04 to 52:06
Discussion on the international community's response and the UAE's role in Sudan's violence.
“And now they're on the precipice of doing it again as the world just continues to watch.”
Show all 13 chapters
Political Commentary on UAE Involvement
52:06 to 56:00
Analyzing the political implications of UAE's actions and the need for accountability.
“The UAE is on the cusp of carrying out a horrific massacre in El Obeyed.”
Previewing Tomorrow's Topics
56:00 to 56:54
Krystal and Saagar discuss the need to focus on election outcomes and save other topics for the next episode.
“So, you know, make sure you guys are engaging with your members of Congress to encourage them to sign on to these efforts.”
Previewing Tomorrow's Topics
58:23 to 58:53
Krystal and Saagar discuss the need to focus on election outcomes and save other topics for the next episode.
“Unlock the savings at Boost Mobile and save up to$600 a year.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human. I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything. It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people. We got clear facts. Maybe we can calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the facts Let's move forward from there NBC News Reporting for America Why is it always chaos when we link up? Cause nobody plans anything bro Good thing the Rogue's ready like that For real Rain, dirt, whatever Available all wheel drive Five modes We still outside And they got some kick too That turbo?
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2:14Ryan Grim:At the same time, we want to keep our eye on what is unfolding with regard to negotiations between Iran and the U.S. for a potential end to that war. And joining us now to break down his view of all of those things and also whether Congress could thwart any potential peace deal is our great friend of the show, Dr. Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute. Great to see you, sir. Thank you for having me again. Yeah, of course. So we haven't spoken since the weekend negotiations. So I'm just curious your view of how things went and what you see as being the biggest stumbling blocks here? Look, I have to tell you, I think this was quite successful.
2:48I know there's a lot of noise. And a lot of that noise is aimed at grabbing headlines. And they do if the Vania say that they're going to close the straight or if Trump issues a tweet and says that he's going to bomb again. If if there isn't a breakthrough that will take all the oxygen out of the room. But that pushes you away from seeing the actual achievements. And some of the key things, of course are that they set up the conflicting mechanisms both in Lebanon and for the Strait of Hormuz. In Lebanon, the Iranians are included, which was never the case before. Before you had a mechanism in which essentially if there was a dispute between Israel and Hezbollah, only the United States would determine who was right.
3:30And you can imagine how that went. So it wasn't much of a mechanism at all. Now you have the Iranians and the American side both involved in it. So that's going to be a completely different balance. The IAEA is going to be involved, although there's a kerfuffle about that. But nevertheless, that is part of Article 0.8 in the memorandum. They negotiated for 19 hours. And perhaps most importantly, we've seen a significant pushback by the United States against Israel in Lebanon and beyond. Channel 13 reported yesterday that the administration has told them that their restriction, that their freedom of maneuver and their unrestricted maneuverability that they've enjoyed for quite some time now is now changing.
4:14And they're going to be restricted, not just in Lebanon, but on several different fronts. That was the message from the administration to the Israelis. And then publicly, of course, we have seen how J.D. Vance essentially has been trying to despecialize the U.S.-Israeli relationship by saying they're a great partner and friend, just like France is. That is a huge demotion of the relationship between the U.S. and Israel. Of course, it hasn't happened, but I think he's signaling the direction of travel if the Israelis continue to try to sabotage things, which they have and they most likely will continue to do.
4:48But that is, I think, the real outcome of this. It's not the noise. It's not the tweets, et cetera. And I think we should be ready for the fact that this is going to be an extremely bumpy ride. It's probably going to be more than 60 days. Almost certainly when there is a deadline in U.S.-Iran relations, it's almost meant to make sure that it's never met. There was not a single deadline that was meant in the JCPOA. I suspect this will be the same. I just hope that it doesn't go as exaggeratedly long as the JCPOA did. But it's going to be extremely bumpy and we're going to constantly be thrown distractions and it's going to take our eye away from the actual things happening.
5:25Let me just add one other thing that I think is really fascinating. They set up these working groups, several different working groups to better organize how the memorandum is going to translate into a final deal. There are regional countries from Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi, Oman, UAE, I believe as well, involved in each and every one of these different working groups. They may not all be involved in all of them, but they're all involved in some of them. So you have a regional anchoring of this, an involvement. It's not a deal that is being sold to them. It's a deal that is being mediated and negotiated by regional states.
6:03That makes it fundamentally different from the JCPOA in a way that can make it much more durable, but that in and of itself is also a massive success so far. Nothing is finished yet. Nothing is done. But I would just caution the viewers to not be taken away by all of the headlines about the latest tweet or now the Iranians are backing off of what they're saying in the IAEA. All of that is just part of the negotiations.
6:26Ryan Grim:Let's talk a little bit more about some of the issues that you raise here in particular. Put B1 up on the screen, this IAEA issue. Trump is, you know, he's wanting to sell his victory narrative, which he needs to do if he's going to be able to, you know, proceed with this deal. And so obviously the whole idea of the memo of understanding was, OK, we're going to have a framework for how we're going to go about deciding some of these more difficult issues, in particular around the Strait of Hormuz and the nuclear file. So you've got them offering sort of conflicting account of where they are in terms of the nuclear discussions.
7:04Ryan Grim:What do you make of this? And how hard line do you think that the Iranians will be on the nuclear issue, given that the whole idea of nuclear weapons is to establish deterrence and establish some sort of leverage that you could use in exactly this type of negotiations. Well, now they have a very powerful, perhaps even more powerful tool of deterrence with their demonstrated capacity to close the Strait of Hormuz. So look, on the nuclear issue, I think you're likely going to see in some aspects more concessions from the Iranians compared to the JCPOA. Certainly that was the case on the deal on the table back in February that Trump foolishly rejected.
7:43And I think they're doing that because the memorandum spells out all sanctions are on the table. Doesn't mean that Trump will lift all sanctions, but he's signaling that all sanctions are under discussion and can be lifted depending on what the Iranians offer in return. I think the biggest mistake the Iranians can commit right now is that they will end up thinking too small or that they will go for too small of a deal out of fear of the ultra hardliners in Iran, fearing that they otherwise will throw a fit and create too big of a problem internally in Iran. But I think this is an opportunity to actually go really big and make sure that their relationship is fundamentally transformed and without transforming the entire region.
8:28This is clearly what the administration is looking for. And I think it's important to understand Trump's motivation throughout all of these different things has been to achieve big historic things that are worthy of legacy. He thought that he could do that by overthrowing the government of Iran, doing regime change there, defeating them militarily. None of that worked. So now he is trying to see if he can achieve the same historical outcome, the same legacy-worthy outcome, if he strikes a transformative deal with the Iranians. And I think there's elements on the Iranian side that are very much open to this, but they're more split on that issue than on the broader issue of just making a deal.
9:12That I think they can get through, but a larger deal could be trickier. But I think it would be a big mistake by the Iranians if they don't aim for that at a minimum. not only because it would be better, but it would also be much more durable. If it is a deeper deal with more sanctions relief, American companies returning to Iran, you can very easily in that scenario, frankly, see a complete reversal of the regional situation in which you have Iran's decontainment after decades of being isolated and Israel's recontainment after decades since 1991, when Israel came out of its isolation because of the Oslo Accords, but now because having committed a genocide and done everything to prevent peace, it may actually end up going back into isolation.
9:57Not necessarily as badly as it was before 1991, but clearly very different from what it has been in the last two or three decades, all because of its own conduct. These are fundamental changes that can happen in the region, but it all depends on whether they succeed with this deal and the size and depth of this deal.
10:16Ryan Grim:So let's take a look at how Trump is selling this to his base. He spoke and touched on it a little bit at a rally yesterday. Let's take a listen. And other people, other countries, too. We're not the only one that never did anything. They were the bully of the Middle East. And now we're leaving Iran with no Navy, no Air Force, no anti-aircraft, no missile capability, no nuclear program. We're leaving them without any nuclear capacity, and they've agreed to that. And we're getting along quite well. Obama gave them$1.7 billion in green cash. Remember, on a 747, they flew over piles of cash. $1.7 billion.
10:58Gave them hundreds of billions of dollars and thought they could bribe them into peace. No, the only thing they understand is what these guys in the front row understand is the hammer.
11:09Ryan Grim:So Trump is not bound by truth or reality. He also has a very unique hold on his base. I'm saying these things very diplomatically. But in a way, the fact that he does have this very personalized approach to the presidency and this cult-like following with his base could be very helpful in selling the deal that, you know, any objective analysis, you look at the deal and you're like, oh, we lost this war. But that's not going to sell very well with, you know, with the American people. And because he's unbounded by truth and reality and has this particular relationship, it seems like he may actually be able to pull off convincing at least his people that he is getting something out of this and we emerge the victors and the tough guys, etc.
11:52Yeah, you're absolutely right. This is the line he's going to be driving for now. I think once there is a deal, I think you're going to see him add to it other talking points, such as saying that he's the peacemaker. He ended 47 years of enmity. No other president has managed to do so. He already hinted at a little bit when he said that, you know, we're getting along very fine, apparently. So he's laying the groundwork for that. But also if there is a deal and there is a lifting of sanctions, primary sanctions, he's going to say that we're now also going to trade with this country and we're going to bring benefits to the manufacturing industry in the United States because this is actually a huge market of 90 plus million people.
12:33the largest market has opened up since the fall of the Soviet Union. So there's other talking points that I'm sure he will use later on. But for now, this is the line that he's likely going to be sticking with. And what I find interesting is that the Iranian side were earlier on saying things of this kind as well. At least in English Twitter, they have kind of tempered it down and are trying to avoid the gloating that they did earlier on. You may remember that when the talk of the MOU first was starting to get serious, and then there was some hint that there would be a deal, the foreign ministry spokesperson tweeted a picture of the Persian emperor, Shah Poodle first, defeating the Roman emperor, Valerion.
13:20And after that, the Romans had to sue for peace on Persia's terms and kind of compared the MOU to that. He took that down later on. And since then, they have stopped speaking in that manner, which I think is pretty wise because it's not going to help them or the Trump administration if there is that type of a narrative being pushed, because that narrative right now is primarily pushed by the Israelis who want to sabotage this team. Why is it always chaos when we link up? Because nobody plans anything, bro. Good thing the rogue's ready like that. For real. Rain, dirt, whatever. Available all wheel drive, five modes, we still outside.
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15:59Ryan Grim:We talked to Jeremy Scahill, who had some reporting on the internal dynamics in Iran, and very noteworthy when, you know, they put out, the Supreme Leader put out his analysis. He said, I'm not really too sure myself, but I trust Galiboff. I trust Arachi. We're going to pursue this piece. So sort of passing the buck to them, hey, if this doesn't go well, this was their idea. How significant is the faction in Iran that is not really in favor of these negotiations and thinks that this is giving up leverage, thinks that the U.S. hasn't frankly suffered enough pain to serve as an effective deterrent from future military action?
16:38It is significant, but it is not necessarily one that can stop this. It's not that the other factions are afraid of them. It is about how do you manage them throughout this process to make sure that they don't create problems. In the Supreme National Security Council, the vote was 12 in favor, one against of the 13 votes. Only one. And that was Saeed Jalini who voted against us, who was one of these ultra hardliners. So they have a position within the system. They are intimidating, they are strong in some ways, but they are also in a small minority at this point and increasingly isolated. That the new Supreme Leader issued this statement in which he essentially distanced himself a bit from it and signaled that he was not necessarily in favor, but he was convinced by the others and he trusts them, is exactly what the previous Supreme Leader did.
17:37The difference, of course, is this Supreme Leader has been in his position for about two or three months. He's not had a chance to actually establish himself. And he has, in this short term, two and three months, been faced with the biggest and most consequential decision of the Islamic Republic's 47 years in power since he got founded. So it's a very, very tough decision for him. And he has chosen to pursue the path of his father, which is to approve it, but saying that he disagrees with it or that he's skeptical about it in order to provide himself with some protection. At the same time that he did this, the Iranians wanted Trump to sign the MOU.
18:19And that's why Pizesh Kiyon was the co-signer, which is an unprecedented thing. This is not what happened with the JCPOA. because they wanted Trump to really commit himself to the deal while the Supreme Leader himself kept a certain distance from it.
18:34Ryan Grim:On our side, we've got Trump saying, if it doesn't go well, I'll just blame J.D. It's J.D.'s. They're playing our own game here as well. We talked ad nauseum on this show about the obstacle that Israel poses and their continued commitment to their invasion and attacks inside of Lebanon. So I think everybody pretty well understands that dynamic. But I really wanted to get you to lay out the obstacle that Congress could pose. Many of the same people who said, oh, Congress doesn't need to sign off on a war are now the first in line to say, oh, but Congress does have to sign off on the peace. And it is true that some of the sanctions did come through Congress and would probably require Congress to roll them back, although Trump operates in his own way and doesn't always abide by the law or the rules.
19:18Ryan Grim:So what do you see as the biggest obstacles? And how do you understand the political dynamics between Republicans and Democrats and who would be in favor of the sanctions relief and who would be opposed? Because to me, it's a little bit murky at this point. Look, first, let me start off by saying that I was deeply disappointed in seeing that some of the Democrats, many of them actually having been very constructive on this issue before, took positions that, in my view, were not terribly different from the bad faith positions and accusations that the Republicans did against the JCPOA back in 2015.
19:54And, you know, such as the criticism, the$300 billion reconstruction fund, etc., making it sound as if it was American money going there, completely disregarding the fact that, A, this is after the Iranians have suffered $300 billion plus of damages in this war, and they are in dire need of reconstruction, be that this is driven by regional states who have now come to understand that containment of Iran does not work. It eventually leads to war. And as a result, they now want to approach security in a different manner. And they want to try economic integration and interdependence, similar to what Europe did after World War II with the guidance of the United States, with the Steel and Coal Union, et cetera, trying to create so much economic interdependence so that going to war would just become too costly for all sides.
20:46And this is because they experienced this war. So they want to do it. They're the ones who are driving this, completely disregarded. It would be their money that would be used for investments, not American money necessarily. And also forgetting that they themselves on many occasions rightfully have stood by the Iranian people and criticized the repression of the Iranian government, but now are saying, let's not reconstruct this country that has been ravaged by$300 billion of war damages inflicted by Donald Trump. And at the same time, wanting to pretend that they're still standing with Iranian people who are in dire need of this reconstruction.
21:21So I'm very disappointed in that, but also I'm stunned by the strategic lack of wisdom here, because if their criticisms amount to enough to actually scuttle the MOU and collapse this pathway out of this war, then the next war that will likely occur because this negotiation fails is a war that the Democrats will also own. It won't just be Trump's war because they helped blow up the exit ramp from this war. So it's just stunning to me that not only have they taken this very reactionary position mirroring what the Republicans did in 2015, but on top of that, not thought this through a couple of more steps, that this could actually end up really bad for them politically if they're standing in the way of getting a deal.
22:09I fully understand that they want to criticize aspects of it, and they certainly don't want to give Trump credit, etc. I think that's totally fine. But the degree and the depth and the intensity that I saw some of these attacks, I think, go beyond what is warranted. And if you want to criticize it, there's great ways of criticizing it from the left instead of criticizing it from the right, which unfortunately too many of the centrist Democrats tend to do. Now, what could Congress do? First of all, almost all of the secondary sanctions go through Congress. So they would have to lift them if they're part of the deal, which to a certain extent I think is very likely.
22:42The primary sanctions are primarily through executive orders, and Trump can lift those on his own without their involvement. A lot of the secondary sanctions become somewhat moot if there isn't a foundation of primary sanctions underneath them. So the necessity of lifting the secondary sanctions may not be that strong. Can you explain that difference?
23:05Ryan Grim:Can you explain that difference between primary and secondary sanctions? Yeah. So the primary sanctions are sanctions that the United States is imposing on American companies wanting to trade or invest in Iran. It includes also a lot of designations, such as designating certain banks for sanctions because of whatever violations they're accused of. Secondary sanctions and what we're telling a Spanish company, even though we don't rule you, we have decided that you are not allowed to trade or invest in Iran because if you do, you lose access to the American market. And those sanctions primarily go through Congress.
23:41And they are, of course, very important because they prevent the rest of the world from going into the Iranian market. But if the U.S. itself goes into the Iranian market, you can understand the contradiction of the U.S. being in the Iranian market while preventing other companies from other countries to going in. That's one aspect of it. But the other aspect of it is also is that a lot of the sanctions that are coming through, the secondary sanctions, are targeting companies or banks that have been designated in primary sanctions. So if you take away the primary sanctions designations, the secondary sanctions essentially become hollow.
Read the full transcript
24:17This is the case in some of them, obviously not in all. But then there's the other aspect, which is Inara, which is that after the JCPOA, Congress decided that the president had to come to Congress and make sure that he got it approved. But it was a reversal approval. It would have to be a vote of no confidence that would have to have 60 votes. And all the president needed to have back in 2015 was 40 votes to make sure that that vote of no confidence wouldn't go through, essentially. But that is in case if it is a nuclear deal, a new variation of the nuclear deal. If you notice, the Trump administration has never referred to this as a nuclear deal.
24:58They're talking about a U.S. Iran deal, a transformational deal. I suspect that that is because they're at least hoping that perhaps they can avoid Inara altogether by saying it doesn't meet the definition because this is not a nuclear deal. But even if it does and they have to go to Congress, the biggest concern I have is not that they wouldn't be able to pass it or that they wouldn't be able to defeat a resolution of no confidence, but rather that this will just add more time to the clock and would create more problems and delays more than anything else. And I really do hope that they try to wrap this up as quickly as possible.
25:39So let me tell you one reason why. Sure. The JCPOA essentially ended up taking roughly a year longer than it should have because the two sides were just over negotiating. By the time it was struck and by the time the implementation started, there was such fatigue in the White House with Iran. They had focused so much on Iran at the expense of other issues. But it also left the Obama administration with very little time to do proper implementation of the deal.
26:06Ryan Grim:Interesting. And then it made it easier for the next administration to uproot it. So if they manage to get this done fast and give enough time of implementation and anchoring of this deal, it will make it more difficult for any future administration if they were to choose to go against this, to be able to uproot it. And having had that experience, I think they should be very careful not to repeat that mistake. Well, Dr. Truj Parsi, as always, value your analysis so much. Thank you so much for taking the time this morning. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. Why is it always chaos when we link up?
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28:51Ryan Grim:A new extraordinary report in The Washington Post details just how much Tulsi Gabbard, especially in the early days of her political career, used the verbatim talking points that came from her cult leader guru. This is a Washington Post report by John Swain. We can put this up on the screen. The headline here is Tulsi Gabbard, her guru, and the mysterious messages that helped shape her political career. And the journalist who tracked all of this down in an extraordinary investigation, John Swain, joins us now. John, welcome. Great to have you. Thanks for having me. Yeah, of course. So I would, this is the story of how you came across all of these memos being exchanged is incredible.
29:37Ryan Grim:The content of the memos themselves is extraordinary. So why don't we start with the backstory here of how you stumbled upon this story, how you dug into it, and were able to come up with this treasure trove of communications? Sure. So there had been good coverage in recent years about the fact that Tulsi Gabbard grew up in this faith group, the Science of Identity Foundation. but there was still this sort of central mystery of whether that mattered and what if any influence her guru Chris Butler who's the leader of the group had on her and on her politics and so when she was nominated to be director of national intelligence excuse me by Donald Trump we at the post decided we should try and answer that question and I looked into it in November 2024 I went to Hawaii I tried to speak with people and kind of struck out I got pretty much nowhere no one wanted to talk to me.
30:27I got asked to leave the street where the guru lives by the police. And I kind of had to move on. And nine months later, someone from the group, a member of the group who I'd spoken with originally, and had sort of played down the importance of the group and the importance of the guru to Tulsi Gabbard. She got back in touch. Her name's Rebecca Salzberg. And she basically told me, you know, I didn't really give you the full story last time. And over the course of weeks, she told me how she had actually worked very closely with Tulsi Gabbard on her election campaigns and had worked for and with the guru.
31:05She'd had meetings with him and spoken with him. And to cut a long story short, some questions I asked her prompted her to log in to an old Gmail account that she had. And in that inbox, remarkably, were hundreds of memos which documented advice, guidance, directives, talking points to Tulsi Gabbard from the years when she was in Congress.
31:30Ryan Grim:Now, the pushback that came from this faith group, some may say cult, I guess I'll leave it to the viewers to decide how they want to characterize it, was effectively these memos that you got your hands on, they're unsigned. You don't know who they came from. You don't know, you know, you don't know what this guidance directly, where it directly came from. So how did you go about ascertaining that pretty likely these memos were coming from the leader of the faith group himself? So first of all, Rebecca Salzberg, the source I mentioned from the start, said, you know, she understood these to be from the guru, Chris Butler.
32:06She was one of the recipients of these documents. There was a small political team around the guru, including Rebecca and Tulsi's parents and a few other select disciples of the guru. And she was adamant, you know, these are all from Butler. And the reason they're unsigned is precisely to protect him in the event that a reporter or someone else got hold of them. and there are hundreds of them and in 19 of them I managed to find that there were indirect identifications, self-identifications that showed it was Butler. There would be times when the unsigned or the unnamed voice would be talking to Tulsi and saying you know I'm your guru, you're my disciple, that sort of thing and so in those ones it was obvious that it was Butler.
32:49As you said the group basically said well sure but all the other ones are not him and it didn't really it didn't really seem to like hold much water all of the documents were formatted exactly the same there was nothing to distinguish the other ones from the ones where Butler did self-identify so it wasn't really clear to me how people receiving them were supposed to sort of distinguish who was speaking if not only one person and there were clues dotted around various documents you know there was this 173 page dossier of policy advice for Tulsi on all sorts of different things. And deep within it was just this offhand reminiscence about working as a teenager in Hawaii.
33:29And the guru grew up in Hawaii. The two other people that the group claimed were behind these things did not. And so every piece of information that pointed towards someone in particular pointed toward the guru and to not someone else. There was never any counter indication among these documents. And so we feel that the evidence is pretty weighty. Rebecca, the source who gave us the documents is adamant and, you know, says that they were butler. And we lay out the kind of the case as to why in the story.
34:01Ryan Grim:So some people may say, OK, well, you know, political candidates, they get advice from a variety of places. What's the big deal? And I think one of the things that's very compelling in your piece is you're able to track down these memos and the language that is offered in the memos with direct verbatim tweets that were put out by Tulsi, and also with specific language that she used in her media appearances. You pulled one example from a CNN media appearance at the time where the language is almost verbatim, what was suggested in the memo that appears to come from her guru. This is C3, guys. Let's go ahead and play this so people can take a look.
34:40The issue here is not about me saying, boo-hoo, I'm gonna miss the party,
34:50Ryan Grim:So for those who are just listening, there's a visual comparison here of her language, boohoo, I'm not going to miss the party, or I'm going to miss the party with the language from the guru, which also included boohoo, I'm going to miss the party. So, and this was not an isolated instance. Talk about the overlap and how significant this advice was, how much Tulsi seemed to adhere to what she was being told to do, instructed to do via these memos. Yeah, I think there are really three things, three areas that make it unusual and different to the usual situation that you mentioned, where people have advisors who give them advice and sort of suggest things.
35:30One, the talking points memos that you just talked about, where we found 32 talking points documents for specific interviews she was to give. And in 24 instances, a colleague and I, Aaron Schaefer, went through the transcripts, compared them with the talking points. we found that she'd used almost verbatim phrasing from these documents and the other eight times similar ideas. You know, that's pretty remarkable. I think, you know, politicians, the principle in that relationship between advisor and politician gets advice and steers on where they should go and what they should avoid. But, you know, to use verbatim phrasing from one person, it seemed seemed unusual.
36:13The second area is that in some of these memos, we see remarkably specific instructions, you know, release a press release tomorrow on this, then propose a bill. And sure enough, the next day she releases a press release, and then a week after proposes a bill in exactly the same terms as the memo recommended. And I think the third area that really sets it apart from this usual advisor-politician relationship is this sharp criticism, this harsh language that the unnamed advisor who outsources his butler, criticizing Tulsi Gabbard for her poor performance as he saw it. So he uses expletives to tell her no one cared about her response to Barack Obama's State of the Union speech, tells her that she's mealy-mouthed, that she's lazy, she hasn't done her homework.
37:03And people I speak with say that's pretty unusual for an advisor to be being quite so bold in sort of in slapping down a member of Congress and telling them basically that they suck. And so, you know, that in those three ways, it really seemed to be more than usual.
37:22Ryan Grim:You also document and your source, Rebecca, was part of an effort to create sort of inorganic, you know, anonymous accounts or I guess, you know, with pseudonyms, fake accounts to back up and go to bat for Tulsi and various social media platforms. So that part is significant as well. But to your point about the language, I mean, some of it was really borderline abusive. It actually made me feel some sympathy for her because it's long been known. You know, she was raised in this group. Her parents were high up in this group. Chris Butler has apparently been long been interested in politics, ran a slate of candidates in Hawaii.
37:56Ryan Grim:So these pieces were known. But to see this sort of like, you know, like humiliating language there also gave a little bit of a sense of the way the mechanisms of control seem to work here. You know, where you would you would degrade someone. I remember at one point I think he said something like, don't worry, no matter how much you screw up tomorrow, me and Krishna will still love you. Things like that. That just seems sort of like classic manipulative and abusive techniques. I wanted you to respond to one of the criticisms I saw of your piece, which is that this is anti-Hindu bigotry, that if this was a Christian group, you wouldn't single them out for such scrutiny in this same way.
38:40Ryan Grim:Which personally, I think if there is a Christian group operating this way and Christian groups are very influential in our politics, they should receive this level of scrutiny. But I wonder what is your response to that allegation? It's pretty much what you just said. If this were a Christian group and we got hold of these documents that documented quite such harsh criticism and direct instructions, we would do the story. It would just make no difference. And Tulsi Gabbard has long said that Chris Butler is her spiritual teacher and likened him to an imam, a priest, a rabbi. I think the piece makes pretty clear that this goes way beyond the usual relationship with a faith leader.
39:21And to come back around to what we were just both saying, if any rabbi, priest, imam were being quite so direct and quite so harsh with a member of Congress, we would do the story all the same. It has no difference.
39:35Ryan Grim:Last question for you is on the timing, because it is a little bit unfortunate. Now we're learning all this and she's out of the job. Her removal, resignation, however you want to characterize it, from her position as DNI came shortly after your reporting on this story was set to drop. So what do you make of that timing? Was that incidental? Was that related to your piece? And why was there – I know you've been working on this for months. I'm not trying to impugn you here whatsoever. But I'm just curious about the timing of how this worked out because for those of us on the outside, it's like, oh, dang, now that she's gone, we know all these things.
40:13Sure. So you're right. Like I, in late May, sent her and her representatives a whole load of questions again and said, you know, we're probably going to go ahead with this. We would like your responses. And I gave her till 5pm Friday to respond. And 1pm Friday, it was announced she was resigning. I don't know anything beyond that connection, honestly. she says you know it seems like her husband sadly was diagnosed with a serious cancer and he's receiving treatment and that's what she said she was leaving to do to support him so you know the timing may be coincidental I honestly don't know in terms of the timing yeah it is a tough thing in the in journalism where you try and get the story out as soon as you can but it has to be ready and you know to be honest in March when I first went to Tulsi Gabbard and to the group and to other people and ending the story.
41:02They came back with this claim that the memos were not from the guru. And although I felt there was evidence at odds with that, we had to take that seriously because that's what they say. And so I had to spend a lot more time digging into that, seeing whether there was any way that what they were saying was borne out in the evidence, in the documents. And I, you know, I didn't find anything that supported their version, but we, you know, As you know, we all get a lot of abuse from politicians for rushing to the story and not giving their side of the story. We wanted to take their side of the story seriously, and we had to do that until it was ready and until we had all the responses we needed.
41:43Ryan Grim:John, fantastic work on this. I really recommend that people read the entire piece because I think it is quite extraordinary, both like I said, in terms of how you ended up with this trove, but also, of course, most importantly, what it reveals about the way that Tulsi Gabbard appears to have been operating. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm really grateful. Thank you. Bro, from the show last night to this drive, why is it never chill? Because this is our life backstage on the road. It's loud, messy, real. And that's the best part. Whole crew, no plan, just moving. Good thing Nissan builds for that kind of chaos.
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44:51And then another massive war broke out. As that one is receding, the war between, hopefully receding between the U.S., Iran, Israel, Hezbollah, we want to pick back up on some of that coverage. And particularly at this moment, because you can roll E1 here, the RSF, which is the UAE-funded kind of rebel group in Sudan, is threatening to take on an incredible massacre in Al-Obed. So previously, as we reported, when the RSF took over a city called El Fasher, the amount of bloodshed, and we put up E2 now, the amount of bloodshed is difficult to calculate. There are estimates that range well into the tens of thousands, if not even above 100 ,000 in the number of people killed.
45:44The mass graves that were visible from the air. We've spoken to guests here who did satellite analysis there, and you could see it literally from outer space, the amount of mass murder by this UAE-backed massive death squad. And now they're on the precipice of doing it again as the world just continues to watch. we can put up um e3 this is uh nathaniel raymond um who's uh the head of yale's humanitarian research lab which has been doing the the most significant work kind of uh analyzing and trying to bring attention to this uh to this crisis this crisis and this looming uh massacre which again there are hundreds hundreds of tens or hundreds of thousands of people alive right now who may not be very soon if the world doesn't do something to stop the uae's backed uh forces here so she So he testified in front of a UK committee saying that, you know, effectively what he's saying is that if anybody just says anything about the UAE here, just one word, just say something and highlight the fact that the UAE is facilitating this, it will raise the cost to them of doing it such that it just simply may not happen.
47:07Now, we can put up E4 here. The State Department has issued a warning that this massacre is possible. They write, there are alarming indications that mass atrocities could be imminent, further worsening Sudan's already catastrophic humanitarian crisis, unquote. And then they call on the RSF and their allies, but again, not mentioning the UAE. And as DropSite reports here, previously, we've been able to track military cargo shipments that went from the UAE to Libya and then moved from there into Sudan. So there's no mystery about what's happening here. Now, Julian Andrione, my drop site reporter up on the Hill, caught up with Chris Van Hollen, who has probably been the senator who's been most out outspoken on this in the House.
47:59It's been Sarah Jacobs and asked him both about the U.A.'s role and what what he thinks can be done to try to prevent this. Let's roll that. We just need to keep the pressure on. I mean, they're obviously, you know, we need to keep showing the hypocrisy of the Trump administration policy where they they claim they want to do something, but refuse to take some of the basic actions we could take as a country. We just need to keep the pressure on. So I saw your statement about the 6 ,000 civilians who were killed by the RSF in October. Now there's 500 ,000 more at risk. I'm wondering whether you've spoken with the ambassador to the UAE or what the progress is with that.
48:44Well, I have in the past, but more recently, as part of a Senate Foreign Relations Committee markup on a bill dealing with Sudan, I proposed two amendments. The First Amendment would be to say that the United States will not sell, transfer military equipment to the UAE so long as the UAE continues to finance the murders RSF organization, which has been responsible for these huge atrocities. And the transcript will be available pretty soon, but nobody seemed to object on the merits. But Republicans all voted no on that. Some Democrats voted now. So I offered another amendment that said any party that is fueling the war in Sudan.
49:36And so in order to be able to carry out this extraordinary level of violence around the world, particularly in Sudan, while also maintaining a decent image globally, the UAE engages in some of the most aggressive, what they call sports washing in the country. And that's through their financing of both the NBA and also a bunch of different football teams. I want to roll real quickly. This is Jeremy Conondyke, who's the president of Refugees International. talking about the way that even Mamdani with the Arsenal jersey, with the sport of the NBA, and never raising the level of involvement that the UAE has with these has some level of complicity as well.
50:20Let's roll this. Another question came in. Did Mayor Mamdani send the wrong message with his Arsenal away jersey at Eid? Seems he'd be an ally to your efforts. Yeah, we saw that for sure. We're going to reach out to his office. I think what it underscores is just how, you know, how effective this sports washing approach is, right? People put an Arsenal jersey on, they put an NBA jersey on, they don't even think about what it says on the front. It's just, you know, they don't think about what that implies and what they are part of when they do that. And so I think what we, that is also the importance of a campaign like this one.
50:59And if people become aware, just as John described in the case with Rhonda, if people become aware of what they are representing when they have that on the front of their shirt, what that means, what they are part of, why that name is on there, I think there will be a backlash. And I do hope Mayor Mamdani will try to engage him on that. I got to think he would be sympathetic to understanding why that's problematic. And the unique thing about, Dan, about the NBA is that, and we mentioned this already, but it's this history of support for social justice causes, particularly racial justice. And when we're talking about genocide that's occurring in Sudan, genocide is the deliberate destruction of people's lives and livelihoods on the basis of their identity, their race, their ethnicity.
51:48This is exactly what the RSF is doing. This is the group that the UAE has decided to support in the Sudan conflict. The war would not be as remotely as destructive to human life if the UAE was not involved in it. That's the news. The UAE is on the cusp of carrying out a horrific massacre in El Obeyed. It hasn't happened yet. It doesn't have to happen. But if none of the countries that are allies with the UAE say a word to them about it, it's going to happen.
52:25Ryan Grim:And the world will once again stand by and watch. And you do have some countries, as you point out, like the U.S., that are willing to say, like, don't slaughter civilians, but unwilling to put any culpability or use any of the immense leverage and pressure that could be brought to bear to stop the arming of the RSF. And just to give people a little bit more detail and texture here of what's going on if they haven't followed this closely. So, first of all, the reason this particular city is really, you know, is even more consequential is because you have mass displacement already of, you know, people who are now refugees within Sudan and also externally from Sudan.
53:06Ryan Grim:And this city, Al-Obaid, is one of the primary places where people have gathered, where internally displaced people have already gone. So you have we you showed earlier that images of people intense, you know, these are people who have already been forced to flee their homes. And estimates are, you know, 100 ,000 plus who are now congregated in this city, which is effectively experiencing a siege at this point. And all these RSF forces are amassing. It's also I think people will understand why the UAE is involved and other regional players are involved here, too, because Sudan has this critical geostrategic location on the Red Sea.
53:45Ryan Grim:And so, Giffen, we can apply what we've learned with regard to Iran and the Strait of Hormuz to understanding why there is such a rush to fund the sides of this war, this horrific – you can't really even call it a civil war because it's really not about the people there. The democratic movement was displaced by these – what were once in concert, these two military sides that then split off from each other after they successfully executed this military coup. So there really is no side that's like the good side or on the side of the people. There are just different forms of military dictatorship that want to be implemented here.
54:22Ryan Grim:So in any case, there's, you know, it's a geostrategic positioning. It's about fight for natural resources. There are ethnic, you know, divisions that are certainly at play here. The RSF is basically like an Arab group of Arab supremacist death squad is effectively what I would what I would call it. But in any case, that's why so many countries have interested themselves, including the UAE, in this war and in fueling this violence and these mass atrocities. Right. And meanwhile, Trump and his family are just completely on the take from the UAE. It would be nice if Trump was like, oh, hey, this would be my 37th war that I could end.
55:05And so I can get another FIFA Peace Prize or whatever. But when he hears the UAE is involved, he's like, oh, never mind. You know?
55:12Ryan Grim:Yeah. Like, it's – the level of corruption, it's kind of unprecedented to have a president that is this conflicted that, you know, he's literally – I don't think it's kind of unprecedented. I think it is unprecedented. It really is. I don't think we've ever seen anything equivalent or even remotely equivalent. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Yeah. It's – yeah. Yeah. And so unless people start raising the cost for the UAE of doing this, they're going to keep doing it. Yeah. And it wouldn't it's not that hard to raise the cost. They don't want any attention on this right now. They're getting none. If there's just a little makes it very hard for them to keep doing.
55:56Ryan Grim:Well, shout out to Chris Van Hollen and Sarah Jacobs for doing all that they can from the House and the Senate with very little backup and, you know, with a lot of odds against them. So, you know, make sure you guys are engaging with your members of Congress to encourage them to sign on to these efforts. And we are going to push the Elon versus Roe conversation to tomorrow because we had too much to say about the elections from last night. I think people will be OK with that. But I have a feeling that Roe and Elon, the world's first trillionaire, will still be fighting tomorrow. It seems like it's going.
56:30Ryan Grim:So we can cover that then. And I'm sure we're also going to get into a lot of there's just I have so much to say about what's going to happen and the media reaction and the Democratic establishment freak out. That's going to be very juicy to dive into tomorrow as well. So be me and Ryan back here again tomorrow. Any last thoughts, Ryan? No, looking forward to it. All right, buddy. Get some rest. Takeover. and get some rest. I'll see you back here tomorrow and see you guys back here tomorrow too.
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From the publisher
Krystal and Ryan discuss Iran rejects Trump's nuclear claims, Tulsi resigns, Trump sits by as UAE Sudan horrors loom.
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