Top Trump Official Cross-Examined for His War Crimes!!!
4/16/202626 mincomplete
0:00Wow, Democrats in the United States Senate just had the opportunity to cross -examine a
0:05top Donald Trump official on the war crimes being committed by the Trump regime.
0:11And these Democrats in the United States Senate did not hold back as they were
0:16cross -examining the ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Walls, as well as the representative
0:23of the United States of America to the United Nations for UN Management and Reform,
0:28a guy by the name of Jeff Bartos.
0:31I want to show you what went down as Democratic Senator Van Hollen cross -examined
0:38Mike Walls about the war crimes being committed by the Trump regime.
0:43Watch Mike Walls, Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, squirm.
0:48And I should note, this is the first time that any top Trump official was
0:53able to sit before the United States Senate, before any was presented before the United
0:58States Senate, to be cross -examined.
1:01And this hearing was supposed to be about an entirely different topic, but Democrats utilized
1:06it to expose the war crimes being committed by the Trump regime and the complicity.
1:11Watch this. You're going to be shocked to play this clip.
1:14Would you agree that we should enforce that there be consequences for war crimes?
1:23And let me ask you a different way.
1:26Would you agree it would be a violation of international law to blow up a
1:30bunch of civilian infrastructure in Iran because Iran did not agree to open the Strait
1:35of Hormuz? That would be a violation of international humanitarian law if we actually did.
1:39Actually, that is incorrect. It is.
1:44We have a long history.
1:46We could look at video after video of the bridges that we bombed in World
1:50War II and Vietnam and conflict after conflict, power plants in Serbia under the Clinton
1:56administration. Mr. Ambassador, this was not my question.
1:59And this is particularly a regime that has dual use.
2:01Mr. Ambassador, that was not my question.
2:06President Trump threatened to hit civilian infrastructure if Iran did not open the Strait of
2:13Hormuz. We all know international law.
2:15We know there are some exceptions to the general rule that you shouldn't hit civilian
2:19infrastructure. The enemy is occupying it.
2:21But my question was different.
2:23You don't think it's a violation of international law to blow up a bunch of
2:27civilian infrastructure because the government of Iran refused to open the Strait of Hormuz?
2:30You don't think that would be a violation?
2:32I think President Trump, the American people, do you think that would be a violation
2:34of international law? To use every bit of leverage that he that he has.
2:38I'm asking you if you.
2:39And if you have if you have military units using bridges to go down to
2:43the Straits of Hormuz to attack international shipping and launch missiles into resorts and airports
2:49and ports across the straits.
2:51So that's absolutely a valid.
2:53Ambassador, essentially. And I got to tell you, as a veteran who who had to
2:56pull these triggers, Mr. I think the president's absolutely in the right.
3:00I know you all like to talk rather than answer questions.
3:02But let me ask you this.
3:04Your testimony is that if you have an authoritarian regime anywhere in the world, that
3:08because they're authoritarian regime, if they don't obey the U .S.
3:11demands, you can wipe out their civilian infrastructure.
3:14Let me ask you this.
3:15Would it be a violation of the international law to destroy a civilization?
3:19Would that be a violation of international humanitarian law?
3:22I think what you're talking about, Senator, is a mean tweet that got with a
3:28regime that's genocidal, chanced death to America.
3:31And you're going to talk about some tough language that actually the result of it
3:36was diplomacy. Well, the result of it was the highest meeting in the history of
3:40the United States in the Iranian regime was a return to the ceasefire.
3:44So, you know, once again, we're focused on what he says.
3:47And maybe we should return to the time when the Strait of Hormuz was open
3:51before we started the war that closed the Strait of Hormuz and got a more
3:55radical and more extremist. Now, if that doesn't shock your conscience, I'm going to show
4:00you another clip right here where Democratic Senator Von Hollen cross -examined Mike Walls about
4:06a statement that he made when he was in the House of Representatives.
4:10He used to be a Congress member, Mike Walls.
4:13So he was asked, hey, remember when you were a member of Congress and you
4:16said Vladimir Putin is a war criminal and that if Biden didn't say that, which,
4:21by the way, Biden did say it, that you would impeach Biden and Biden should
4:25be removed from power? Remember when you said that?
4:27So is Putin a war criminal?
4:30Again, watch Mike Walls, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, squirm.
4:35This is so utterly pathetic.
4:37Play this clip. You said that President Biden needed to make clear that, quote, Putin
4:43is an absolute war criminal, unquote.
4:46Do you stand by your statement that Putin was an absolute war criminal?
4:50I'll tell you, Senator, statements I made as a member of Congress, very different than
4:56what I make now as an ambassador to the U .N.
4:59working for President Trump and representing the United States.
5:01So are you retracting? So I certainly, I support President Trump in everything he is
5:07doing and trying to end this awful conflict.
5:10I just find it very interesting.
5:11Thank you. Mr. Ambassador, that you called upon the former President Biden in no uncertain
5:15terms to condemn Putin as a war criminal.
5:18And you won't call upon President Trump to do the same thing.
5:22As you know, he has refused to do what you called upon President Biden to
5:26do. Let me move on.
5:27As you know, Senator, it's quite difficult to mediate the end of the war if
5:31you take such maximalist approaches.
5:33And now being a diplomat and a mediator and fulfilling his goals, working for him
5:38and his agenda is very different than when you're elected a senator.
5:42It's interesting, though, I have to say, Mr.
5:44Ambassador, it was a simple question.
5:45I guess you are you're not asking this president to do what you asked the
5:50last president to. Next up, you have Democratic Senator Murphy cross -examining Mike Walz about
5:56his statements about destroying the entire civilization of Iran.
6:02Play this clip. But President Trump has said that if Iran does not comply with
6:07his demands, that he will end Iran's civilization with specific threats to target civilian infrastructure.
6:17This looks to a lot of us into the world like a promise by the
6:22president of the United States to commit war crimes.
6:25I'm sure you don't I'm sure you don't agree with that assessment, but we have
6:30never had a president before threatened to end an entire civilization and double down on
6:37that claim if that country does not accede to the demands of the United States.
6:43So what does the president mean when he says that if these negotiations don't work
6:50out, he will end Iran's civilization?
6:55Well, Senator, I think that statement in the broader context, he also talked about attacking
7:00infrastructure, bridges, power plants. And we all know Iran has a long history of co
7:08-bingling both civilian and military of hiding weapons in hospitals and schools and using what
7:15could be just pure civilian infrastructure to also power factories for drones, for missiles.
7:21And the IRGC controls nearly 50 percent of the economy.
7:26I think it looks like, frankly, well, look, I guess, what does it mean?
7:32What does it mean to end the civilization?
7:34But I think we have to look at the fact that you have a regime
7:37that literally chants death to America for the last 47 years and has acted on
7:43it, has killed thousands of Americans, has slaughtered its own people.
7:48Do you know, I mean, how many machine gun bullets does it take over the
7:51course of a week to kill 40 ,000 of its own people?
7:55Right, but does that merit a threat to civilization?
7:58I think it's, Senator, it was some tough talk.
8:01And what are the results?
8:02What are the results? Was we had the highest level engagement in the history of
8:08the Iranian regime with the vice president and speaker of the parliament less than a
8:13week later. We had a ceasefire 48 hours later.
8:16They clearly got the message and they clearly came back to the table.
8:20Yeah. And I guess it's an open question as to whether we should try to
8:24pursue our aims by threatening another nation with mass civilian casualty.
8:30I don't know that that's something that we should celebrate, that we are able to
8:33cow nations to our demands by threatening to kill civilians.
8:37But as a former military member, and I'm safe in speaking for our military, they
8:43take every precaution possible to avoid civilian casualties.
8:48But this regime responded. And again, if we focus on the results over the rhetoric,
8:54they came to the table, they got the message, they put the ceasefire in place.
8:57They haven't honored it with the Straits of Hormuz.
8:59And now we have talks ongoing.
9:02More cross -examination here by Democratic Senator Murphy to Mike Walls about the Strait of
9:09Hormuz and whether or not you all anticipated that the Strait of Hormuz would be
9:15shut down by Iran, to which Mike Walls is like, of course we war gamed
9:21it out of. Donald Trump didn't say that.
9:23Donald Trump said it was all one big surprise.
9:25What about regime change, Mike Walls?
9:28Here play this clip. The results over the rhetoric, they came to the table, they
9:32got the message, they put the ceasefire in place.
9:34They haven't honored it with the Straits of Hormuz.
9:36And now we have talks ongoing.
9:39Let me ask you about the Strait because obviously that is what is impacting our
9:42constituents in a significant way.
9:48Did the administration anticipate that Iran would close the Strait or was that a surprise?
9:55Oh, I can tell you having formerly worked in the Pentagon and been in the
10:00military for 27 years and the committees I sat on in Congress.
10:03That has been war gamed over and over and over again by CENTCOM.
10:08And as you know, the CENTCOM commander was the former Fifth Fleet commander out of
10:14Bahrain. So it was anticipated?
10:16Well, it was anticipated to my knowledge.
10:21Again, I'm sitting up at the UN.
10:23Absolutely. But at the same time, the measures they took to sink nearly two dozen
10:31mine layers to go after those land -based missiles missiles that are they are using
10:37to go after. Uh. the drone, not just the drones, but the manufacturing capability was
10:43to drastically reduce that threat, which is why I think you've seen now dozens of
10:48ships moving over the last few days.
10:50And dozens of ships moving compared to hundreds of ships normally.
10:54Well, sure. I mean, Iran, in violation of international law, declared now the Straits of
10:59Hormuz its own waters. It's essentially punishing the entire world.
11:04And I think the president should be applauded for flipping the script because now their
11:08ships can't move. Lastly, just one clarification on another war goal.
11:12Is it a goal of the war to enact regime change?
11:15And if so, have you accomplished that goal?
11:19The president has referred to the regime having change and that being a successful byproduct
11:24of the war. Senator, I think the president's made his goals quite clear from a
11:29military standpoint. The vice president made it clear in Islamabad, open the sea lanes, no
11:36nuclear program, end its decades of support for terrorism, and have a negotiated arrangement that's
11:43verifiable and enforceable. So not regime change?
11:46Well, if the regime ends up changing in some fashion or form, I'll tell you
11:51what, the regime's got to change its behavior.
11:52It's unacceptable and we cannot let it have a nuclear weapon.
11:55What I found interesting and also very pathetic about Mike Walls' testimony right there is
12:01when he was like, you know, because of Donald Trump's harsh statements and his social
12:06media posts, that's what got Iran to the ceasefire negotiations.
12:11No, it didn't. What did is Donald Trump lied and said that he was agreeable
12:16to Iran's 10 -point negotiating framework, which gave Iran everything, control over the Strait of
12:21Hormuz, keeping all of their ballistic missiles, enriching uranium, permanent security guarantees for Iran, Hezbollah,
12:30the Houthis in Yemen, Shiite groups in Iraq, and much more millions of dollars per
12:36ship that goes through the Strait of Hormuz.
12:37That's why Iran entered the negotiating table because those representations were made.
12:43And then did you notice what Walls said is, and now Iran is not honoring
12:47the ceasefire. They agreed to the 10 -point framework and y 'all changed the deal.
12:52Ever wake up sweaty, freezing, or just uncomfortable?
12:55The temperature in your bedroom can make or break your sleep.
12:58That's why I switched to Miracle -Made Sheets.
13:00They're inspired by NASA technology and use silver -infused temperature -regulating fabric to help you
13:05sleep perfectly all night long.
13:07Miracle -Made Sheets feel just as good, if not better, than sheets you'd find at
13:10a five -star hotel, but without the steep price tag.
13:13Smooth, breathable, and ridiculously comfortable.
13:16Thanks to their antibacterial silver technology, Miracle -Made Sheets stay cleaner and fresher up to
13:21three times longer than regular sheets.
13:23That means fewer odors, fewer wash cycles, and way less laundry.
13:27All that hidden bacteria in regular sheets, it can clog your pores and cause breakouts.
13:32Miracle -Made's antibacterial design helps you sleep cleaner and clearer night after night.
13:37Miracle -Made Sheets are crafted with NASA -inspired silver -infused fabric that helps regulate your
13:42body temperature. Hot sleeper, cold sleeper, it doesn't matter.
13:46These sheets help keep you in the comfort zone all night long.
13:49Upgrade your sleep or give the gift of better rest.
13:52Go to trymiracle .com slash Midas to try Miracle -Made Sheets today.
13:56You'll save over 40 % and when you use the promo code Midas, you'll get
14:01an extra 20 % off plus a free three -piece towel set.
14:05They make for an amazing gift and with a 30 -day money -back guarantee, there's
14:09no risk. That's trymiracle .com slash Midas, code Midas at checkout.
14:14Thanks to Miracle -Made for sponsoring this episode.
14:16And even let me show you Democratic Senator Coons.
14:19Here's the cross -examination that he did at Mike Walls talking about war authorization, that
14:25this is the duty of the United States Senate and the Congress in general controls
14:31war authorization. So what do you think about, you know, a little something called war
14:35authorization? And I don't know, Article 1, the authority to declare war ultimately rests with
14:41the United States Congress. Tell us about that.
14:44Play this clip. We haven't declared war officially in decades, but we have in the
14:48previous conflict in the Persian Gulf had hearing after hearing after hearing and votes in
14:53Congress for an authorization of the use of military force.
14:56We also, in a number of conflicts, have respected the War Powers Resolution 60 -day
15:02termination clock, which if we were following that would have about 15 days left.
15:06My simple question is, are you aware of any plans to seek authorization from Congress
15:12if a full -scale ground war begins or if this conflict resumes, if the ceasefire
15:17stops? And would you support Congress authorizing this conflict so that the war fighters who
15:24we are sending into this region know that they have the support of the American
15:28people through their elected representatives?
15:30Well, Senator, thank you for the question.
15:33I certainly wouldn't and shouldn't get ahead of the President and his engagement with Congress.
15:40And I certainly wouldn't presume that we will have, as you described, full -blown ground
15:44combat. I think we've seen the President as we're seeing right now.
15:50There is a whole slew of options in between where we are now and some
15:58type of ground combat and, you know, taking the leverage away from Iran.
16:04They are trying to punish the world.
16:07And with the closure of the Straits of Urbuz, with attacking civilian shipping, I can
16:13tell you in the UN, we had a UN record, 135 nations join Bahrain, the
16:20GCC countries of the United States, condemn Iran for its attacks on hotels and ports,
16:25resorts and neighborhoods, which was incredibly notable to see that kind of unity.
16:32But I'm glad also that we agree that we cannot have a nuclear armed Iran.
16:38And I'm thankful the president is taking bold, decisive action now before it's a fait
16:42accompli. Before I run out of time, Ambassador, I just we were not briefed on
16:47an imminent threat. We were not presented with information either in a classified setting or
16:52an open setting that justified the idea that there was an imminent threat and we
16:56couldn't pursue negotiations. And the absence of either that briefing or a clear request for
17:02Congress to engage in authorizing this conflict has given me a great pause.
17:07We share a view on the dangers of the of the region and of our
17:10increasingly aligning adversaries around the world, DPRK, Iran, Russia, China.
17:15I am hopeful that you will be that you'll convey the message back that a
17:20prompt briefing on what was the imminent threat that precipitated this conflict and an urgency
17:26around requesting authorization. Instead, we will simply keep voting on war powers resolutions here that
17:34will send a divided message.
17:35And I don't want us to send our young men and women into harm's way
17:39with a divided message from this Congress.
17:41Next, you have Democratic Senator Cain from Virginia talking about how Donald Trump ripped up
17:48the nuclear disarmament deal that former President Obama negotiated with Iran that was effective and
17:55that was working. And you'll notice Mike Walls was like, you know, Iran wasn't obeying
18:00the deal. That's why we had to attack their nuclear facilities last June.
18:05And we obliterated it to which Senator Cain's like, because Trump ripped up the deal
18:10in 2018, there was no deal for them to comply with because y 'all shredded
18:15it. Donald Trump shredded it in 2018.
18:18Watch Democratic Senator Cain play this clip of a nuclear.
18:22We had controlled it diplomatically.
18:24Why do we need to risk American service lives?
18:27Because we tore up a diplomatic deal.
18:28It's madness. That diplomatic deal, Senator, would have had Iran flush with cash, its terrorist
18:34proxies flush with cash, the missile components already expired, the enrichment components expired last year.
18:41The deal did not forbid us from going after any of those activities.
18:44But this is incredibly important because the IAEA went to its board of governors and
18:48for the first time in decades said Iran was absolutely not in compliance.
18:53After the U .S. tore up the deal.
18:55There's no need to enrich to 60 percent.
18:57No country in the world has 60 percent enriched.
18:59And they wouldn't have had we not tore up the deal.
19:02They did not do that until we tore up the deal.
19:04We shouldn't have torn up a diplomatic deal.
19:07But, Senator, they were cheating on the deal before the deal.
19:10That was exposed in 2018.
19:12You were only allowed to see certain sites with a month's advance notice.
19:16And they had a whole slew of hidden military sites that not only are allies,
19:21but the IAEA exposed. They were absolutely.
19:24I represent Senator Cain. I've been really generous.
19:26You have. And we've had this debate here a number of times.
19:30Obviously, we haven't resolved the debate, but I appreciate that.
19:34We're off subject. And then Democratic Senator Cain also explains what this deal was about
19:39and how we got here.
19:41I think this is a very strong moment of this hearing as well.
19:44Let's play this clip. But most people in America would not agree with America alone.
19:49And I think the interpretation of the actions of the administration, a lot of people
19:54are wondering whether it's America first or America alone.
19:58I would like to introduce for the record a list of organizations and treaties that
20:03the U .S. has withdrawn from during President Trump's first and second administrations.
20:08It's a five -page list, if I might, Mr.
20:10Chair. Folks see that. They see the president trash -talking allies, talking about Canada as
20:19a 51st state or an invasion of Greenland connected to a NATO ally.
20:26They look at a president willy -nilly imposing tariffs on allies, including allies with which
20:33we are in trade surplus, like Australia, not trade deficit.
20:37And they raise the question, is this about America first or is this about America
20:42alone? They look at the president's threats to withdraw from NATO and they ask the
20:46same question. And I think those questions have been very sharpened by the war in
20:51Iran. It's a war where the president has not sought congressional authorization as other presidents
20:57have in the past. It's a war where the president did not consult in advance
21:02with allies whose economies are being significantly affected by the war.
21:09It's a war that the administration has not yet presented, to my satisfaction, to Congress,
21:15a clear rationale or a clear plan.
21:18And the information that has been presented thus far has only been presented and classified
21:23so that we're not able to share fully with our constituents, even those who have
21:28kids deployed in the theater of war, what we know about it.
21:32We're still awaiting the first sets of public.
21:34hearings. And Mr. Secretary, it is unfair for you to be the first, you know,
21:40kind of principle before us, because these are questions that aren't completely in your remit.
21:45And I get that. But the issue of this war has really sharpened this question
21:51of, is the administration pursuing an America first policy or an America alone policy?
21:56As you know, the war has cost 13 service members, their lives.
22:00Hundreds have been injured. Innocent civilians have been killed, which is always the case, even
22:05under the best of circumstances.
22:07It's sad that you can't avoid that.
22:10And the economic consequences to the United States are sharp.
22:14My constituents are paying a dollar more for a gallon of gas than they were
22:18on February 27th. Virginians buy 8 million gallons of gas a day.
22:22That's $8 million coming out of Virginians' pockets every day.
22:25And this is spread throughout the country and throughout the world.
22:28We're reading news about allies like Australia and how they're really suffering because they import
22:34oil and what that escalating oil cost since February 27 has done to them.
22:40Do we care about allies or are we pursuing an America alone strategy?
22:46Now, Mr. Ambassador, or to the Honorable Waltz, representative, not ambassador, you have an ambassador's
22:53rank. You know, you've talked about the president wanting to make sure that Iran doesn't
23:00have a nuclear weapon. And you know this, but just in case there are folks
23:04who are watching who don't know this, the United States over the course of two
23:09years negotiated a deal with Iran, with our European allies, and with adversaries, China and
23:18Russia. And the first page of that agreement said as following, Iran reaffirms that under
23:25no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop, or acquire any nuclear weapons.
23:33That was a forever promise.
23:35There were some aspects of the deal that were 10 -year promises or 15 -year
23:39promises. There were two forever promises.
23:41One was accession to the additional protocol requiring intrusive inspections by the IAEA.
23:48And the second one was this forever promise, that Iran would never seek to acquire
23:53or develop nuclear weapons. And Iran abided by that until the United States, under President
24:00Trump's leadership, tore up the deal unilaterally.
24:03Our allies said it was working.
24:05The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was working.
24:09President Trump's first Secretaries of Defense and State, Madison Tillerson, urged him to stay in
24:15the deal, that it was working.
24:17The president tore it up.
24:19And what I find tragic is we have service members now losing their lives because
24:24the United States destroyed a diplomatic deal.
24:27When you make diplomacy impossible, you make war inevitable.
24:33There you have it, folks.
24:35Let me all know. Let me know what you think.
24:37But I think it's important that you saw all of those clips right there in
24:41its full context, right? So you can see what's really going on in the Senate
24:45and what Donald Trump's top officials are saying.
24:47By the way, you know who hasn't testified about the war yet?
24:50Pete Hegseth, Marco Rubio. By the way, don't you find it interesting as well that
24:55the Secretary of State Marco Rubio has had zero involvement in the negotiations with Iran,
25:02wasn't in Pakistan, was at a UFC fight.
25:05Instead, as Donald Trump was telling the UFC male fighters how handsome and good looking
25:11men they were. And Marco Rubio was out there like celebrating like he was some
25:16like, like celebrity at a UFC fight.
25:19What's Rubio doing right now?
25:20Is he planning the invasion of Cuba?
25:22Is that the detour we go on next?
25:25The next war crimes are in Cuba?
25:27Well, the war crimes in Cuba are already happening right now with the Trump regime
25:31starving the people, the people to death.
25:33We could be very critical and have serious, serious issues, understatement with the regimes.
25:39But what the Trump regime is doing, they're killing the people, the little girls in
25:43Manab in Iran, the people who are in the schools and the hospitals, the civilians,
25:49the people in Lebanon and Beirut.
25:51That's what Donald Trump and Netanyahu were doing.
25:54And in Cuba too, hit subscribe.
25:56Let me know what you think.
25:57Let's get to 7 million subscribers.
26:06That's store .midastouch .com.