Trump’s DNI Pick Under Fire on Capitol Hill

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0:44Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump is panicking this morning as his nominee to become the Director of National intelligence, a guy by the name of Jay Clayton, who currently serves as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, just completely froze and collapsed under pressure during a Senate hearing. He was grilled and cross-examined by Democratic Senator Ossoff. Let me show you what went down when Senator Ossoff asked a basic question. Who won the 2020 election? Watch as Donald Trump's pick quite literally melts down and goes silent and just freezes up. Here, play this clip. Yes. Who won the 2020 election?

1:29You know, I'm not going to do this with you. This is a job interview. We've established that you have an obligation to be honest and forthright with the committee. Yes, you do have an obligation to be honest and forthright with the committee. Yes. Who won the 2020 election? Like I said, I'm not going to get into that with you. But you do have an obligation to be honest and forthright with the committee. Is anything that I just said not honest or forthright? Yes, you're not being honest or forthright. Who won the 2020 election? I think I've answered the question. We can keep doing this. Well, we're going to keep doing it because you're not being honest and forthright.

2:05I'm not going to engage in the theater. It's a simple question, Mr. Clayton. And I've answered it. Who won the 2020 presidential election. I've answered it. You're here asking for the support of senators to lead America's intelligence community. We've established that you have an obligation to be honest and forthright with this committee and with the American public, but you refuse to answer a simple matter of fact about the 2020 election. Is that right? No, that's not right. Then answer the question. Who won the 2020 election? I have answered the question. Answer it. What is your answer? I've given you my answer.

2:43What is your answer?

2:47You refuse to answer a basic question about who won a presidential election, but you asked to lead America's intelligence community. Isn't it humiliating to be unable to answer this question, to have to indulge the president's delusions? we know you know everybody in this room knows the truthful answer to that question why can you not

3:16Ben Meiselas:give it i think i gave you the answer are you aware that director gabby more cross-examination here by senator ossoff of jay clayton reminding you this is who donald trump wants to lead the office for the director of national intelligence. Like the top intelligence job is this guy right here. Watch what goes down next. Let's play this clip. Are you aware that Director Gabbard was present at the Fulton County raid in Georgia earlier this year? You discussed that with me yesterday in your office. Are you aware that Director Gabbard was present at the Fulton County raid earlier this year? You brought it to me, my attention.

4:03What is going on here? You've said at the beginning of this you have an obligation to be honest and forthright with the committee. I'm asking a very simple question. Are you aware that Director Gabbard was present at the Fulton County raid earlier this year? Yes or no? Are you aware? I was. You won't answer that question either. I just said I was made aware of it by you yesterday. The first time you learned that Director Gabbard was present at that raid was in my office yesterday? It was the first time that in my recollection I've thought about it recently. Now, was I aware of it before?

4:34I mean, you brought it to my attention yesterday. I had not thought about it until - I had not thought about it until you brought it to my attention yesterday. Your answers lack credibility. Your testimony lacks credibility. You're being evasive and you're not being candid or forthright. And everybody across the country is going to watch this and know that. Are you aware that former director Grabber testified that her presence at the raid was, quote, requested by the president?

5:05I'm not aware of that until now.

5:08Ben Meiselas:OK, you are now aware of that. Yeah. And then Senator Ossoff continues to grill Jay Clayton about Donald Trump pardoning Juan Orlando Hernandez, one of the top narco drug traffickers in the world in history, worked with Sinaloa, worked with El Chapo, brought in huge quantities of drugs. And then in order for Donald Trump to continue to launch these silent coups of countries in the Western Hemisphere, Donald Trump pardon Juan Orlando Hernandez. Here, let's play this clip. You have an obligation to be honest and forthright with this committee, correct?

5:53Yes.

5:57and is it the case in the Juan Orlando Hernandez case that the president of the United States pardoned a man who had worked with the Sinaloa cartel to facilitate massive narco-trafficking into the United States? I don't remember the specifics of that case. He was convicted in your district. He was convicted. We convict a lot of people for a lot of drugs. Convicted of narco-trafficking, yes? I believe so. Know so at massive scale, yes? Well, you're telling me what I know. That's kind of... He was, I believe... Look, I'll take your word for it. He was a convicted narco-trafficker. Did the president of the United States, Donald J.

6:39Trump, pardon a convicted narco-trafficker? I believe we just discussed that. The president provided a pardon, yes. Yes or no? Did the president of the United States pardon a convicted narco-trafficker?

6:55Ben Meiselas:yes this hearing got so out of hand it was such an absolute disaster that the chair of the committee maga republican tom clayton uh tom cotton was crashing out at the end of jay clayton's hearing here play this clip thank you mr clayton for your testimony today your chair do we have time for any follow-up questions no they're not in second round the capitol police will receive the annoying or remove the annoying lunatic from the crowd.

7:35I apologize to lunatics for comparing that guy to them. Mr. Clayton, thank you for your testimony today. As a reminder, we expect to have a vote next week. Members, questions for the records will be due today at 5.30. Mr. Clayton, I trust you can respond to those no later than 530 on Friday. This hearing is adjourned.

7:56Ben Meiselas:But then you had people like Senator King saying, no, no, we want to know your answer to these basic questions. Here, play this clip. So I want to ask a follow up question to the vice chairman. Who won the 2020 election? I've answered that question. I'm not going to get into that. You have not answered that question. Could you answer the question? Who won the 2020 election? Pretty simple question. Yeah, I said I'm... So it's A or two. My answer, I'm going to give you the same answer. The answer to the chairman was, he asked me if I was an election denier. I am not an election denier. Joe Biden was certified as the president.

8:32He went through his process. We went through our electoral process. And I can tell you that I was in my seat at the SEC and worked hard for the transition. I'm just asking a really simple question. Who won the 2020 election? As I said to you, we went through our processes, and Joe Biden became the president of the United States. And that's not an answer to the question of who... I'm asking one more time. Who won the 2020 election? This is like, I'm just not... I'm here to talk about my qualifications. One of your qualifications is you told us you're going to tell the truth to power, and you won't answer a very simple question.

9:11I think I've answered it many times. You have not answered it. Okay. You have not answered it. Saying Joe Biden was certified is not an answer.

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10:50Ben Meiselas:M-E-I-D-A-S. Now is the perfect time to plant. Use Midas to save today. Offer is valid for a limited time. Terms and conditions may apply. Check out the link below or in the show notes and support the show. Now, the stakes could not be higher right now to have somebody as the director of national intelligence who knows what the hell they're doing and who doesn't behave that way. Isn't that just like an objective thing that I'm saying right there? I mean, like who would want that guy to lead our intelligence community, essentially? I mean, we know that last night Donald Trump held a meeting, according to Trump's personal stenographer, Barack Ravid, over at Axios.

11:31Ben Meiselas:Trump held a meeting last night in the White House Situation Room to discuss plans for a new wave of massive and devastating attacks against Iran, which will be more extensive than the bombings currently taking place in the Strait of Hormuz area. It should be noted that Iran claims that over 30 people in Iran have already been killed from these attacks by the United States. Iran claims that the US is targeting civilian infrastructure like wheat processing facilities, petrochemical facilities, and other critical civilian infrastructure. The Trump regime and CENCOM deny that. Iran, though, has made it very clear that it will cut off all transit.

12:17Ben Meiselas:This was the video I made this morning. In and out of the Red Sea with its control of the Houthis or its alliance with the Houthis in Yemen should the Trump regime continue to escalate. Iran says that's their next move, shutting down the Bab el-Mandab Strait in the Red Sea, the same way the Strait of Hormuz is shut down right now in the Persian Gulf. And if you just take a look at the marine traffic, you can see that the only ships that are leaving right now are going through the IRGC-directed route, and there's no other traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. Now, what's the Trump Prajim doing at 6 a.m.

12:54Ben Meiselas:Eastern time this morning. U.S. Central Command Forces launched another wave of strikes against Iran. As CENTCOM puts it, the strikes are designed to further degrade the military capabilities against Iranian forces. But as I shared with you earlier this morning, Iran has not had their capabilities degraded. They're striking harder in Kuwait, in Jordan, in Bahrain, in Fujara, in this UAE pipeline that they're trying to build to get around the Strait of Hormuz. You've had these strikes deeper into the Persian Gulf. Iran sending a message that any effort to try to avoid the Strait of Hormuz through pipelines, through the United Arab Emirates, or through other routes to try to route it away from the Strait of Hormuz, that's where Iran is attacking.

13:46Ben Meiselas:And lots of tankers are saying, we're just not going to go and do that. So shipping out of the Strait of Ramoos has hit a complete shutdown. As I've been warning about, our strategic reserves here in the United States continue to get depleted. So Donald Trump just put out a statement as well saying, Iran just called, they want to make a deal. And then that caused the stock market to rise. I'm not making this up. I'm not like, This isn't a parody. Donald Trump this morning said Iran wants to make a deal. They've called. They really want to do a deal. And that caused the stock market to rise on that.

14:19Ben Meiselas:Now, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson said the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran have shown that any aggression against Iranian territory will definitely be met with a reciprocal response. We have no plans for negotiations at the moment and are focused on defense. The memorandum of understanding is a set of mutual obligations. And in the event of a violation by the other party, we will also refrain from implementing our obligations. This is a principle and the same path will be followed in the future, to which Donald Trump responded this morning by trying to co-opt the fame of Taylor Swift by saying Swift and Kelsey's mystery dog debuts at Trump Airport in West Palm.

15:03Ben Meiselas:And Trump goes so cool. Also, as the American people are suffering today, Treasury Secretary Besson says, as America commemorates 250 years of independence, the U.S. Mint will begin striking a new$1 gold coin to honor the enduring legacy of liberty and lasting symbol of patriotism, featuring Donald Trump's face on it. They're doing a$1 gold coin. Federal law requires a president to be dead for two years before appearing on a U.S. coin. But the Treasury says we're making an exception because this is a commemorative coin, although it can be used. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is blocking the promotion of seven senior Navy officers, including five women and people of color, without publicly explaining why.

15:52Ben Meiselas:and you have Laura Ingraham over at State Regime Media, which calls itself Fox, saying a CNBC report came out and they listed that the 10 worst states to live in for 2026 are states that Trump won. And there's a lot of businesses going into the state, but it's the worst place to live. How could it be that if businesses are going in there, that the people are suffering. Maybe it's because the people are being treated like absolute crap and exploited in these areas. You're very close to getting it, Laura. Here, play this clip. Now, check out this recent list. 650 CEOs were polled, and they rated the best states in which to do business.

16:35The top 10, including Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, are Republican. They're run by Republicans, except Virginia, which is at number 10, and North Carolina, kind of a purple state at number five. So money and people, resources, are pouring into red states. So how do the socialists brush this off? Well, they do so either by ignoring it or distorting the data or the little help from their friends. This CNBC report just comes out. They listed the 10 worst states to live in for 2026. All the states on this list, okay? Trump won. Every state except Georgia in 2020. And the list included four of the top 10 states for business.

17:19How does that make any sense? Well, they had kind of a weird calculus there, but this is obviously a blatant effort to dismiss and denigrate more conservative states, but it's really nothing new.

17:30Ben Meiselas:There you have it, everybody. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. Thanks for watching.

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