Hearing descends into DISASTER as Trump official gets BRUTAL question

Tulsi Gabbard has continued what has. already been a disastrous testimony in. front of Congress, but this moment right. here takes the cake in terms of putting. on full display just how incapable she. is of doing her job. >> Were they weeks away of achieving a. nuclear weapon? Yes or no? Congressman, this is a serious matter. and you've made some very serious. mischaracterizations here. >> Yes or no? Were they weeks away? Yes or. no? >> to you and the American people to answer. this question. >> Reclaiming my time. Were they weeks away. or not?

The American people need to know if this. was an imminent threat or not. If. they're weeks away or not. If they're. months away or not. None of this. dodging. Were they an imminent threat? >> Quote, it would be a disservice to the. American people to answer with a mere. yes or no. So, apparently, it would be a. disservice to tell the truth to the. American people. And look, so as not to. bury the lead here, the reason that. she's doing this is simple. If she. answered that question honestly, which. she's required by law to do during the.

sworn testimony, who himself has unilaterally decided. that there was an imminent threat. Why? Because he needed some fleeting. rationale to justify this war and that's. what he landed on. >> It's a good thing that he's out because. he said that Iran was not a threat. Iran was a threat every country realized. what a threat Iran was. The question is. whether or not they wanted to do. something about it. >> Now, is it true? No. Did that stop Trump. from saying it anyway? Not in the. slightest. But Tulsi's job here is not.

to tell the truth, it is to defend Trump. and she knows that. So, she'll obfuscate. and deflect and filibuster. She'll do. anything she can to avoid actually. answering the question because she knows. that the golden rule here is never, ever, ever undermine the god king. And. because he's he's issued his clarion. call, now they have to treat that. clarion call as gospel. But what's most. bizarre is that Tulsi has effectively. already undermined her own argument. When she testified for the Senate. yesterday, she negated her own point by. conceding that Iran had made no effort.

to rebuild their nuclear enrichment. capability since it was {quote}. obliterated by us in the summer. >> You noted in your opening statement. you're here fulfilling a statutory. responsibility and that your testimony. {quote} represents the IC's assessment. of threats. Correct? And that opening statement as submitted. to the committee in advance of this. hearing stated that as a result of last. summer's air strikes. {quote} Iran's nuclear enrichment. program was obliterated {end quote}. correct? >> That's right.

And is that in fact the assessment of. the intelligence community? >> Yes. So the assessment of the. intelligence community is that Iran's. nuclear enrichment program was. obliterated by last summer's air. strikes. >> Yes. And the opening statement you submitted. to the committee last night also stated. {quote} there has been no effort since. then. to try to rebuild their enrichment. capability {end quote} correct? That's. right. >> And that's the assessment of the. intelligence community. Yes. The White House stated on March 1st of. this year that this war was launched.

and was {quote} a military campaign to. eliminate the imminent nuclear threat. posed by the Iranian regime {end quote}. That's a statement from the White House. {quote} the imminent nuclear threat. posed by the Iranian regime. So if. Iran's nuclear enrichment had already. been obliterated and they made no effort. to rebuild their enrichment capability, then how did they suddenly pose an. imminent threat if we'd already gotten. the job done in June? The answer is that. they didn't. And of course Tulsi Gabbard. knows that, but again, her job here is.

not to tell the truth, it is to protect. her boss. And because Donald Trump. vomited out some nonsense about Iran. posing a threat to the US, now all of. these clowns at the circus need to. parrot this new talking point and. pretend that it's gospel. And what. you're left with is the literal director. of national intelligence refusing to. admit that she is capable of answering. basic questions about national. intelligence. But it's not just Gabbard. who negated her own argument. Joe Kent, who recently resigned from the. government over this very issue, said. this on Tucker Carlson's show.

>> Was Iran. on the verge of getting a nuclear. weapon? No, they they weren't, you know, 3 weeks ago when this this started, and. they weren't in June, either. I mean, the the Iranians have had a religious. ruling, a fatwa, against actually. developing a nuclear weapon since 2004. That's been in place since 2004. That's. available in the public sphere, but then. also, we had no intelligence to indicate. that that fatwa was being disobeyed, or. it was on the cusp of being lifted. The Iranian strategy, it's actually. pretty pragmatic. The Iranians are.

obviously aware of what's taking place. in their in their region, and their strategy was to not completely. abandon their nuclear program, because. they saw what happened to Muammar. Gaddafi in Libya when he said, "Hey, I've got no more nukes. I'll do what you. say. I'll give up my nukes." And we gave. him the Nobel Peace Prize. Yeah, we we. regime-changed him, and he was, you. know, executed by his own people in the. most horrific way. >> Oh, sodomized by a bayonet. >> Right. Okay. So, that's what That's the. lesson, I think, that the entire region. took from that when Hillary Clinton. Unfortunately, that that is what the the.

neocon, neoliberal warmongers, uh, that's the lesson that they showed. everyone in the region. And then, conversely, he the the Iranians also. knew that if they came out and said, "Okay, we've we've got a nuke," whether. they were bluffing or not, Saddam. Hussein, Iraq, right next door. So, they. kind of had the. >> hung, I think. >> He was hung by his own people, you know, after a bloody, you know, war that's. still essentially going on in in inside. of Iraq. So, the the Iranians' position, when viewed from the lens of the region, was actually fairly pragmatic. They were.

preventing, you know, themselves from. developing a bomb, but they still wanted. the ability. They wanted the ability to. to enrich. They wanted the ability to. have some components, so that they. weren't completely stripped of it. And. when we always assessed that they were. either several months or a year, 2 years. away from actually being able to develop. a nuclear weapon. And that's not because. the Iranians are stupid people. I think. we can we can tell right now that the. Iranians are anything but stupid. They. had the ability, I think, that the the. brain power to actually develop one, or. they could have simply traded a ton of.

oil with Pakistan or someone else to. actually get a nuclear weapon. They were. not doing that. We had no indicate no. intelligence to indicate that they were. So, just to make sure that I'm. understanding everything correctly here, Trump's own former administration. officials have conceded that there was. no imminent threat from Iran. Trump's. own current administration officials. refuse to say under oath that Iran was. weeks away from a nuclear weapon. And. Trump himself has given no proof that. Iran was an imminent threat to us other. than his frantic insistences, which I.

mean, that and 10 bucks will get you a. footlong at Subway. The reality is that. Gabbard, like everyone else in this. White House, is perfectly content to. abandon all of her previously stated. positions if it means she stays in the. good graces of a despot. Remember, this. was Tulsi Gabbard over the years. >> When we talk about a potential war with. Iran, which is looking like we are. walking very dangerously down that path, uh what I think is important for the. American people to know is that a war. with Iran would make the war in Iraq. look like a cakewalk. The devas- the.

devastation and the cost would be far. greater than anything we've ever. experienced before. Let's deal with the. situation where we are, where this. president and his chicken hawk cabinet. have let us to the brink of war with. Iran. I served in the war in Iraq at the. height of the war in 2005, a war that. took over 4,000 of my brothers and. sisters in uniforms' lives. The American people need to understand. that this war with Iran would be far.

more devastating, far more costly than. anything that we ever saw in Iraq. It. would take many more lives, it would. exacerbate the refugee crisis, and it. wouldn't be just contained within Iran. This would turn into a regional war. War. This is why it's so important that. every one of us, every single American. stand up and say, "No war with Iran.". We've got to be clear-eyed about the. situation that we are in. That inching. closer, actually more than inching, speeding towards an all-out war with.

Iran would make the wars that we've seen. in Iraq and in Afghanistan look like a. picnic. It will be far more costly in. lives, American lives, and American. taxpayer dollars. And all towards. accomplishing what goal? What objective? I think that's really at the crux of. this decision that President Trump made. >> That's exactly. what Trump did. He conducted and. committed an act of war without. congressional authority, seriously. escalating the situation with Iran. And.

so now we're at a point of. it's not a matter of well, are we going. to have a war with Iran? We are in a war. with Iran right now. So the real issue. is, are we going to allow this war to. continue to escalate? And if so, for how. long? And to achieve what objective? So. if you're wondering why she would be so. quick to evade answering any questions. honestly here, it's because she is not. an honest broker. She is your. run-of-the-mill ambitious politician who.

will say and do anything to have. proximity to power. And she's putting. that on full display right here. >> [music]. >> Before you go, if you enjoyed this. content and you want to see more and. support independent media, please. subscribe to this channel. The subscribe. button will be right here on the screen. But second, the reality is that we are. now in a political environment where. this administration can lean on any of. the social media platforms to suppress. certain voices if they don't like. critical coverage. That means my.

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