Top Trump Official Under Fire During War Testimony

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3:25Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump's ambassador to the United Nations just collapsed under cross-examination by Democrats in the House of Representatives in a hearing over Donald Trump's catastrophic and unlawful war in Iran. Let me show you as Democratic Congress member Ted Lieu is cross-examining Mike Waltz, Donald Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, and Lieu calls for Waltz's resignation. Let's play this clip. I didn't hear this from you in the last year when they died under the Biden administration. You don't even know how many U.S. troops were wounded in this Iran war. Shame on you for not even knowing basic facts.

4:04Ben Meiselas:You are the U.S. ambassador and you don't even know how many U.S. troops were wounded in Iran. Well, you got that wrong. You should be shameful. You don't know basic facts because you should resign. You don't even care about the number of U.S. troops that were wounded. More from this exchange between Congress Member Liu and the United States ambassador to the U.N., Mike Waltz. Let's play it. So I'm going to ask you again, are U.S. troops currently stationed in Jordan? Let me show you as Democratic Congress member Ted Lieu exposes that Mike Waltz does not even know the amount of U.S. service members who were injured.

4:45Ben Meiselas:Let's play this clip. Service members are in the Middle East risking their lives in the war with Iran. How many U.S. troops have been wounded in the Iran war? My understanding from the Defense Department's latest numbers is over 100, but about 70 percent or 90 percent of those have immediately returned to duty. OK. That number is wrong. According to defense casualty analysis system, 482 American troops have been wounded. Now, it's not surprising to me that you did not know their answer to that. The reason you are here today and in your position is because you were fired by the president from your former position as national security advisor.

5:31Ben Meiselas:You disclose classified information that harmed American pilots and put them at risk. About me. That's your spin, I guess, for your next campaign commercial. I don't know. More from this powerful cross-examination. Let's play it right here. How many American troops have been killed in the Iran war? In these ongoing operations, 18. Okay. Now, President Trump has repeatedly stated that Iran's military was obliterated. On March 16th, President Trump stated that Iran's military was, quote, literally obliterated, end quote. How is it possible that 482 American Jewish have been wounded and 18 service members killed by a Iranian military that's been purportedly obliterated?

6:28Ben Meiselas:The Iranian Navy Air Force Air Defense system and industrial capacity have been massively damaged, if not completely ineffective. But this is a state that is trying to reconstitute. This is a state, a regime that is obsessed with a nuclear weapon. And it's a regime that still maintains some missile and drone capability that it's firing on all of its neighbors, including our bases. I think that's a pretty common sense evaluation. But if I need to explain it to you further, I can. You need to explain to American people how an Iranian military that's been purportedly obliterated killed 18 U.S. service members and wounded 482 service members.

7:11Ben Meiselas:As you know, seven of those service members died in a plane crash. Let me finish my question. And has struck multiple U.S. facilities in the Middle East repeatedly. Wow, how utterly horrific that you have Mike Waltz try to downplay the deaths and say because seven of them died in a plane crash. How utterly horrific is that? Let me show you more of that first exchange that I played at the beginning of this video. I'll give you the full context right here. Let's play it. I'm here as the UN ambassador, but I'm happy to refer you to Pete Hegseth, Secretary Hegseth's testimony yesterday. Of course we still have.

7:51Ben Meiselas:In your opening statement, you bragged about doing a Security Council resolution on Iran. So, yes, Iran is in your job responsibility. Focus on it and focus on the troops that have been wounded and killed. Do not be so callous with the safety and lies of American troops. I'm going to ask you again. Are U.S. troops currently stationed in Jordan? Are U.S. troops currently stationed in Jordan? Try to get reelected. I will. November is coming for you and this administration. Are U.S. troops stationed in Jordan? It's not even a trick question. Are they? Of course they are. Okay. And if Donald Trump doesn't trust the Jordanians to protect U.S.

8:35Ben Meiselas:troops, do you trust them? Who are we going to have to protect U.S. troops? They are exposed right now in the Middle East. Repeatedly being exposed to Iranian missiles and missile strikes and drones. You don't even know how many U.S. troops were wounded in this Iran war. Shame on you for not even knowing basic facts. You are the U.S. ambassador, and you don't even know how many U.S. troops were wounded in Iran war. You got that wrong. You should be shameful. You don't know basic facts. You should resign. You don't even care about the number of U.S. troops that were wounded. You did not know how many U.S.

9:11Ben Meiselas:troops were wounded. You gave false information to Congress. You should be ashamed of yourself for not even knowing how many U.S. troops are wounded in the Iranian war. The gentleman's words should be taken down. You should not use such derogatory language for the distinguished ambassador. Seriously, I know you're upset, but you bring this honor in yourself. Zero. Politics and the worst of it. He lied to Congress. He gave a flat-out false number minimizing the number of U.S. troops wounded in Iran. Mr. Chairman - That's what he did in his first answer to my question. It should be recognized that the ambassador is a 27 year veteran of the military.

9:50Ben Meiselas:Thank you. Mr. Smith, do you have a point of order? Then we had Democratic Congresswoman McBride cross-examining Mike Waltz. Let me show you what went down here. Let's play it. There are votes, no votes. Only send a message to Vladimir Putin that we are not there. I think President Zelensky has repeatedly been in the Oval Vladimir Putin with kids' gloves, you are insulting American allies, including our longstanding ally Denmark, whose soldiers fought and died alongside U.S. soldiers. Have you gotten any positive feedback from your colleagues at the United Nations about the president's desire to seize Greenland?

10:25Ben Meiselas:As one of the soldiers who fought alongside Danish soldiers in southern Afghanistan, they're a fantastic ally. At the same time, they were paying very little to zero attention to the Arctic, and they now are. And we are in meaningful negotiations to secure our northern border. I'll take that as a no, you haven't gotten any positive feedback. Thank you. I yield back. I've actually given a lot of positive feedback to the ongoing negotiations to answer your question. Sure. If you're looking to feel your best this summer, don't just think skin deep. Think cell deep. That's one of the reasons I like Prolon's five-day fasting mimicking diet.

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12:23Ben Meiselas:Do I think it's wrong? Just generally speaking? Your personal values. Yes, sir. I'm pleased to hear that. So I guess the question then is, how do you square that circle working for a president who just last year made 20 ,000 stock trades, including companies who benefit from markets that he is actively manipulating, whether that's through announcing ceasefires, reversing course and allowing chip exports, or simply promoting these firms on his social media? How can you say it's wrong but be silent as the president's sons benefit from mining deals paid for by U.S. taxpayers as one of America's top diplomats?

13:04Ben Meiselas:As a former member of Congress, does that not conflict with your value, sir? Well, let's not talk about Congress and the stock trading that – I support a full ban. I think it's wrong for any member to trade. That wasn't the question, though, sir. I hope to see that bill pass. I'm on the discharge petition. Number one. Number two. And a full ban, not the joke that my colleagues are trying to perform. The president, members of his cabinet have all complied with the Office of Government Ethics, as have myself. We have ethics rules in place. We have an agency that oversees ethics. We all subject ourselves to the Senate and to this office and receive that clearance before we come for confirmation.

13:44Ben Meiselas:So you're okay with the president's stock trades? In accordance with transparency and in accordance with the rules of the Congress, we publicly put our finances out there every year in our financial disclosures. So you're comfortable with the president buying stocks in companies like Energy before he announces a ceasefire? The president is complying with the ethics rules, as they sit on the books. Under questioning from Democratic Congress member Pocan, UN Ambassador Mike Walls admitted that he hasn't even read the State Department's report about Cuba, but that he says he knows a lot about it because he lived in Florida.

14:23Ben Meiselas:Let's play this clip. Have you ever been to Cuba? I have not. You have not. Okay. Did you get a chance to read the report that came out this week from the State Department on Cuba, 95 pages? I have not read the entire report, but as a native Floridian, I'm familiar with the antics and adversarial actions of the Cuban report. Gotcha. Can you explain to me, on July 7th, there was a vote in the UN to continue debate about the U.S. blockade of Cuba, and we opposed that. And we kind of had an embarrassing defeat, 136 to 9, with 30 abstentions. But given what this report said, why are we afraid to have that debate if there's so much information we want to share with the world about Cuba?

15:06Ben Meiselas:Why did we not extend that debate? That's a mischaracterization. What we opposed was Cubans or others, for that matter, abusing the General Assembly to have the same debate over and over again. It just seems that if we had such damning information that this report claims to have, that would be a great venue to have that. I guess my question is, it's been over 65 years. That's what we oppose. Yeah, no, thank you. It's been over 65 years that we've had essentially this blockade, this embargo on Cuba. And have we moved closer to a democracy, steer them towards human rights? Has, as the other ambassador said, you know, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.

15:49Ben Meiselas:Has that 65 years brought us to where we want to be? I would encourage you to read that, to read that report. I did and you didn't. I did and you didn't. Correct. Yes. Oh, no, I have not read it word for word, but I am very familiar as a native. I did too. I read it. I've highlighted it. I felt like, you know what? I put on the kinks and the who because everything's about the 60s and 70s in here. And then you would know you jumped today. A blockade is a ring of ships. A blockade is what we have. This is a blockade of fuel, of medicine, of food, of supplies. Even in war, we allow medical supplies to go through.

16:25Ben Meiselas:We don't allow medical supplies to go through to Cuba. So it's more from Congress member Pocan's cross-examination where Waltz refused to take off the option that the United States will soon be invading Cuba. All of these Trump regime officials are war criminals and they deserve to be tried in the Hague. Let's play this clip. Cuba. Are we going to have a military action against Cuba? It seems like that's what this report is setting up. I am not going to take options off the table for the president of the United States, but I would hope that you would not allow your visits to be used for Cuban regime propaganda that has oppressed.

17:00Ben Meiselas:Yeah, you know, I'll tell you, I wish people I understand, but I would strongly urge you. Marco Rubio has never been to Cuba. So many others who have strong opinions. Its entire family is from Cuba and they left before the revolution. That is decades ago. That's a ridiculous answer. It's Cuban America. But it fled the regime. To be fair, that is a ridiculous answer for being oppressed. It's worth going there. If you're going to have such strong opinions, I think you'd maybe look at it a little differently. I yield back. Congresswoman Jacobs had a powerful cross-examination as well. Let's play it right here.

17:34And while they willingly make the sacrifices for our country, it's our job on both sides of this dais to make sure that those sacrifices are worth it. So I wanted to ask you a simple question. Are we better off now than we were before we launched the war in Iran?

17:51Ben Meiselas:I will answer you very directly. Yes, the world and the American people are safer. OK, let's get into some more specifics. Before the war, the Strait of Hormuz was open. Now the Strait of Hormuz is closed. Are Americans better off when the Strait of Hormuz is open or when the Strait of Hormuz is closed? The American economy is largely unaffected by the Strait of Hormuz. We fortunately, I find it a little bit rich to hear this kind of clamoring for oil and gas when, frankly, your side of the aisle has been at war against the American fossil fuel industry for quite some time. In fact, we had an LNG export ban just under the last administration.

18:35Ben Meiselas:But fortunately, because of drill, baby drill, because of fracking, we are largely self-sufficient in the energy space. Well, my constituents who are paying on average thousands of dollars more a month in costs because of this war would beg to differ that our economy is not impacted by the Strait of Hormuz being closed. But California imports much of its oil and gas, unfortunately, because of its own regulations. Yeah, I want to talk about the national average of gas, actually. The national average of gas before the war started was$3 a gallon. It is now once again over$4 a gallon. You said, actually, in saying that the war was getting better on June 21st on Face the Nation, that it is now below$4 and falling to show that we're making progress, but it's back up at$4 a gallon now.

19:27So are Americans better off when they're paying$3 a gallon nationally for gas or$4 a gallon nationally for gas?

19:34Ben Meiselas:I think Americans are better off than not paying the highs of over$5 under the last administration because of this administration's energy policy. Yeah, that happened for two weeks during the Ukraine war. It's been over$4 for more than three months just this year. There you have it, folks. Let me know what you think. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. And also check out the book, WTF America. Pre-order it right now. It helps if you pre-order versus wait for October. It's helpful for the book and for the planning of everything. So if you could pre-order it, that would be great. Breaking news right now.

20:07Ben Meiselas:My brothers and I wrote a book. It's called WTF America. And well, Doesn't that just say it all? It comes out officially this October, but you can pre-order your copy today. Just scan the QR code or click the link in the description below.