6/21/25 BREAKING: Trump Bombs Iran

Summary

Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar
Episode: 6/21/25 BREAKING: Trump Bombs Iran
Release Date: June 22, 2025
Host/Authors: Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti
Description: Breaking Points is a fearless anti-establishment multi-week YouTube and Podcast that holds the powerful to account, hosted by Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti.

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1. Overview of the Strike

The episode opens with a significant breaking news event: former President Donald Trump has ordered a series of airstrikes against key Iranian nuclear sites, including Doe, Natanz, and Esfahan. Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti delve into the immediate implications of this military action, analyzing its motivations and potential fallout.

Emily Schrader [02:05]: "We have completed our very successful attack on the three nuclear sites in Iran including Doe, Natanz, and Esfahan."

2. Background and Intelligence Assessment

Krystal Ball provides a comprehensive background, highlighting that the official intelligence assessed by both the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) concluded that Iran was not actively pursuing a nuclear weapon.

Krystal Ball [05:08]: "Our Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, at the end of March told us the Iranians are not close to a nuclear weapon, they are not pursuing a nuclear weapon."

3. Administration's Justification and Propaganda

The hosts critique the Trump administration's rationale for the strikes, pointing out the lack of legitimate intelligence supporting the claim that Iran was on the brink of developing nuclear weapons. They argue that the strikes are a pretext for a broader regime change agenda.

Krystal Ball [07:54]: "We know from Reuters, we know from Ken Klippenstein that the regime change operation had already been greenlit by Trump."

Krystal further emphasizes the manipulation of diplomatic narratives to mask the true intentions behind the military action.

Krystal Ball [14:10]: "We've used pretend diplomacy to run cover for bombing campaigns."

4. Potential for Retaliation and Escalation

The conversation shifts to the alarming possibility of Iranian retaliation against U.S. forces and facilities in the Middle East. Saagar Enjeti and Krystal discuss the strategic vulnerabilities of U.S. military bases in Iraq and Syria, and the potential activation of Iranian-backed terrorist cells targeting American interests.

Emily Schrader [10:30]: "The U.S. military is now briefing troops that its strike on Iran will likely result in counter strikes on U.S. bases and facilities in the Middle East."

5. Political Reactions and Divisions

The hosts explore the internal divisions within the U.S. government regarding the strike. They highlight mixed reactions from political figures, including support from some congressional leaders and opposition from others who view the action as overreaching executive power without congressional approval.

Ken Klippenstein [25:22]: "Matt Gaetz is someone who was adamantly in opposition to the way war powers have been used and abused by presidents in the last two decades."

6. Media's Role in Shaping Public Perception

Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti critique the media's role in framing the strike, arguing that major news outlets have adopted a biased narrative that supports the administration's actions. They express concern over the controlled dissemination of information and the lack of critical analysis from mainstream media.

Krystal Ball [14:21]: "It is hard to see how that is what plays out here ultimately."

7. Implications for U.S. Foreign Policy and Military

The discussion delves into the long-term implications of the strike on U.S. foreign policy and military strategy. The hosts express skepticism about the administration's commitment to restraint and highlight the risks of further entanglement in Middle Eastern conflicts.

Krystal Ball [40:01]: "We are doing all we can over here. Independent media has a much larger footprint than it did during the Iraq war."

8. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

In their concluding remarks, Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti urge listeners to critically assess the administration's actions and the narratives presented by mainstream media. They emphasize the importance of understanding the true motivations behind the strike and the potential consequences for international stability.

Krystal Ball [40:11]: "We are doing all we can over here. Independent media has a much larger footprint than it did during the Iraq war."

Emily Schrader [41:09]: "The best case scenario right now is Libya. That's the best case. The best case is we bomb, we came, we saw, we bombed and we left, right?"

Krystal Ball reiterates the need for public awareness and resistance against propaganda efforts, stressing that the current situation represents a significant threat to global peace and U.S. integrity.

Krystal Ball [40:11]: "We are, you know, we're doing all we can over here. Independent media has a much larger, vastly larger footprint than it did during the Iraq war."

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Emily Schrader [02:05]: "We have completed our very successful attack on the three nuclear sites in Iran including Doe, Natanz, and Esfahan."

• Krystal Ball [05:08]: "Our Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, at the end of March told us the Iranians are not close to a nuclear weapon, they are not pursuing a nuclear weapon."

• Krystal Ball [07:54]: "We know from Reuters, we know from Ken Klippenstein that the regime change operation had already been greenlit by Trump."

• Emily Schrader [10:30]: "The U.S. military is now briefing troops that its strike on Iran will likely result in counter strikes on U.S. bases and facilities in the Middle East."

• Ken Klippenstein [25:22]: "Matt Gaetz is someone who was adamantly in opposition to the way war powers have been used and abused by presidents in the last two decades."

• Krystal Ball [14:21]: "It is hard to see how that is what plays out here ultimately."

• Krystal Ball [40:01]: "We are doing all we can over here. Independent media has a much larger footprint than it did during the Iraq war."

• Emily Schrader [41:09]: "The best case scenario right now is Libya. That's the best case. The best case is we bomb, we came, we saw, we bombed and we left, right?"

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Conclusion

In this episode, Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti provide a critical analysis of President Trump's unprecedented military strike against Iran. They highlight the lack of credible intelligence backing the administration's claims, the potential for significant escalation, and the problematic role of media in shaping public perception. The discussion underscores the necessity for vigilant and independent media to counteract governmental propaganda and advocate for informed public discourse on matters of international conflict and national security.

Transcript

[Crystal Ball]

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[Tulsi Gabbard]

21/Terms and gets conditions apply.

[Emily Schrader]

Hello everybody. Some very big news that we can share with all of you. Crystal if you want to go and put it up there on the screen, we'll read directly from Donald J. Trump's Truth Social. We have quote we have completed our very successful attack on the three nuclear sites in Iran including for Doe, Natanz and Esfahan. All planes are now outside of Iranian airspace. A full payload of bombs was dropped on the primary site for Doe, all planes are safely on their way home. Congratulations to our great American warriors. There is not another military in the world that could have done this. Now is the time for peace. Thank you for your attention to this matter. We've also been informed by President Trump we're recording this roughly around 8:30pm Eastern Time. President Trump will be giving an address to the Nation at 10pm at the White House regarding our successful military operation in Iran. Quote, this is a historic moment for the United States of America, Israel and the world. Iran must now agree to end. End this war. So it happened. And yeah, I mean, turns out that the two weeks was actually a ruse basically to get all of the military equipment in place. It does appear, guys, that this was done with the B2 bombers, the Stealth B2 bombers, capable of dropping these, these massive ordinance penetrators. Crystal, if. Do we want to put up some images, if we can? These were, these are, by the way, these are being dispersed right now by the Israeli military. Please keep that in mind. But they do, at the very least, for the moment that we're.

[Crystal Ball]

You know what, this account actually took those images down.

[Emily Schrader]

This is why we always have to be careful.

[Crystal Ball]

Yeah.

[Emily Schrader]

So we don't yet know what the images that have come out of there, by the way. We don't actually know a lot, even about the, the attack itself. Trump, you know, is expected to perhaps announce details. But, you know, part of the reason I think that we're all doing this right now is this is it. You know, the dies cast, like it's where we're at war with Iran and there's really just no getting around that very simple statement at this point.

[Ken Klippenstein]

So we have not declared war on Iran, and we are waiting for the White House to even muster the legal justification, though if it exists, if they point to anything, it will be dubious at the very, very best.

[Emily Schrader]

I'm really glad you highlighted that, because that's something that I think we should all really spend a lot of time on. I mean, this is one of the most extraordinary and aggressive independent, unilateral actions launched by a President of the United States ever. And I'm, I'm just, I'm struck by that. I'm struck by, in my opinion, just such a foolhardy decision given. I mean, the consequences that are unfortunately very likely to come. We have thousands and thousands of U.S. service members. You know, the Straits of Hormuz is at risk. We have the naval base in Bahrain. We have air bases and US Military bases in Iraq. And, yeah, I mean, I spent my whole career, and I've met so many people who've suffered in the global war on terror. And it's, it's, it's really just terrifying, you know, to think that we're right back and it's totally unnecessary.

[Crystal Ball]

And let me just explain some of how this went down. You know, just tracking from the beginning. So first we had the revelation that Israel had bombed a bunch of sites in Iran. The initial reaction from the Trump administration, from Secretary of State Marco Rubio was, was to feign effectively surprise and say, oh, well, this was a completely unilateral action. Very shortly thereafter, it became clear from Trump himself that he was claiming credit for it. And they put out to the press that actually all of their recent attempts at diplomacy and the claim that they were going forward with this next round of nuclear diplomacy talks, that this was actually a ruse to create an ability for this Israeli surprise attack. Since then, we've had this whole will they or won't they? Very reality show esque, you know, theater put on from Trump where he's seeking the advice from this one. And different things are being leaked to the press and all sorts of misinformation. And really the propaganda effort kicks into full effect suddenly. Even though our Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, at the end of March told us the Iranians are not close to a nuclear weapon, they are not pursuing a nuclear weapon. The IAEA says the same thing. We have no evidence that the Iranians are pursuing a nuclear weapon. But suddenly Trump and Fox News and CNN to a great extent as well, suddenly it's, Iran is on the brink of a nuclear weapon. This is taken as effectively a fact very wmd, Iraq war. The vibes are off the charts. And so you get this drumbeat going. And the question that he, the President of the United States, is asking the American people isn't, hey, do you want a regime change? Which, based on the reporting, is what we have actually greenlit and the logic that we're headed on already, I mean, even all the strikes in Tehran, there weren't nuclear facilities in Tehran, so what are we doing there? The question that's being asked to the American people from the present isn't, hey, do you want to get involved in another idiotic, disastrous, like, morally atrocious, illegal regime change war? It's, oh, Iran's about to have a nuke. We can't. We can't let him have a nuke. And from there, the logic flows to this moment when we directly engage. But I don't want anyone to be fooled by the idea that we weren't already involved, that this operation hadn't already been greenlit. We know from Reuters, we know from Ken Klippenstein that the regime change operation had already been greenlit by Trump. And I think a lot of the machinations that we've seen going back and forth over this ensuing time period has been mostly for show. And you know, this was, this was the intention effectively all along.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

And Crystal, just to add to that point real quickly, you said that, you know, as Tulsi Garber, Gabbard said that the nuclear program was not up and running. What she also said is that it had not been running since 2003.

[Crystal Ball]

Right.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

Khamenei shut it down in 2003. That's, that's the intelligence assessment that it's, that it has been dormant for more than 20 years and the intelligence community believed that it, that it remained dormant. I think there, there's one piece of news that I wanted to put up here that emerged today which is relevant to this, which is Amwaj Media. Really, really impressive. They've, they have a ton of like, sources like very close to like senior leaders in, in Iran. They reported today that the Supreme Leader assembled what's called the, as you see it here, the assembly of Experts. This is the, in Iran's constitution. This is like how they, and I'll, I'll scroll this up. So if anybody wants to pause and like read this, like, this is how they, they determine their successor. They've got this little 88 member clerical council. They sit down, they come up with candidates that are going to replace the Supreme Leader and then they pick one and that becomes the new Supreme Leader. So K. Khamani is saying here, like, okay, this, this might be it for me. Like, I'm going to take Israel and the United States at their word. You know, after this hospital was hit yesterday, the day before Israel, Israeli President Herzog was saying like, okay, Khomeini cannot live any longer. And there have been all of these, you know, reports that Khomeini is going to be killed by the Israelis. But Trump has been holding him back. We don't know whether or not we can believe any of this because, you know, we're in the fog of like intentional disinformation in order to gain advantage in the war. What, what Khomeini is saying there. And he's been under pressure for years now because he's in his 80s. It's like, guys like you need to come up with a successor. But he'd been put, he'd been pushing off this, this creation of a successor. So now today he's announced, all right, we're going to do a successor. What does that, what does that mean? You can kill him, you can bomb the nuclear sites. What, what he's trying to signal is that the, the Iranian state is going to continue from Israel. You hear them saying, we need to get rid of this threat to us. We need to be done with this. It's like, be done with it how? Like, it's, it's a thing. It exists. It's going, it's going to, it exists today. You can bomb it all night long. It will exist tomorrow, and you can kill Khomeini and they'll have somebody else.

[Emily Schrader]

Emily, sorry, just before you speak, Crystal, could you put Ken Klippenstein's feed up? He has a report just out from a single minute ago, which is very important because there's two things that we all have to focus on here right now. Regime change and potential escalation and retaliation by the both the Iranians and then escalation from the United States. So I'll read here from ken, quote, the U.S. military is now briefing troops that its strike on Iran, quote, will likely result in counter strikes on U.S. bases and facilities in the Middle east and likely activate Iran and other foreign terrorist organization cells abroad, including the US to conduct strikes against US Persons and facilities, according to a briefing I have obtained. So obviously, Ken, great friend of the show with great reporting there, but that is the nightmare scenario. And that is why I'm so afraid that there is no stepping off this ladder now that Donald Trump has again unilaterally put us on. You know, he says peace. You know, you bomb a country and pay for, pray for peace. As Ryan just highlighted, you know, the Iranian state is arguably, I mean, at this point, something Sora Bamari said on our show that I have really been thinking about is that in a way, you know, the Iranians were so infiltrated by Mossad that initially it was a disaster and it was a total humiliation. But they've regrouped to a point where they've been able to militarily continue their activity against Israel, at least with some limited amount of success, to the point where Israel's own reporters are saying this place looks like Gaza. So that's their still, you know, military capability. We have to look to the Straits of Hormuz. The barrel of oil price could go to $100 per barrel. All of our US facilities in Iraq and in Syria, I mean, there's so many Iranian proxy groups all over the country of Iraq. The government of Iraq, by the way, will not be supporting us very much. They protested our own action just today at the United nations and the Gulf Arab states also are not supportive of this. So the logistics operation is a total nightmare if this thing gets worse. Two carrier strike groups and in the region. So as you, we have to highlight that. Go ahead, Emily. Sorry.

[Ken Klippenstein]

No, I was actually going to ask you where we should be looking at retaliatory action potentially happening.

[Emily Schrader]

Iraq is a big one. Iraq is a really big one because Iraq is actually the place where our forces are probably the least protected and are very vulnerable, possibly to getting rushed by like those ground cut up Hezbollah folks who have rockets who for now have not had the Straits of Hormuz is the biggest one. Also, don't forget about the Houthis, which, you know, despite bombing the shit out of them for what, like 12 years straight now or something.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

While you're talking, let me put this up, let me put this up on the screen. Yeah, this is, this is to your point, Secretary General of Al Nujaba, Iraq's, you know what, you know, Iraq is filled with these Iranian backed militia groups. One of the biggest ones said you bomb them. You know, we're going to target Americans, not just military, but also civilian and nerves.

[Emily Schrader]

Yes.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

Thousands and thousands of Americans, you know, running around.

[Emily Schrader]

Not to mention as a story that Crystal and I highlighted in our show, do you know how many Americans are trapped inside of Israel right now? Hundreds of thousands. There is no, there are no evacuation flights. The entire airspace is closed. So we could possibly see something there. Who knows what the Iranian.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

And we have what, 10,000 service members in Qatar, which Qatar has been, you know, engaging in direct diplomacy with Iran, saying, like, look, we're not involved with this, please don't hit us.

[Emily Schrader]

Yep.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

And Saudi and the UAE have been saying the same thing, like, like we're sorry that we are this close to the United States. Like, we're not doing this. Like, please do not retaliate against us.

[Crystal Ball]

Well, and twice. I think it really bears emphasizing twice. Now we used the pretext of supposed diplomatic negotiations as a ruse.

[Emily Schrader]

Yes.

[Crystal Ball]

You know, I mean, how serious can you be about negotiations? Actually, Tim Dillon was making this joke. When you're killing the people you're negotiating with.

[Emily Schrader]

Exactly.

[Crystal Ball]

Like, is, is that a serious, you're serious about diplomacy when you're murdering the people that you're supposed to be dealing with? So now twice over the course of just weeks, we've used pretend diplomacy to run cover for bombing campaigns. And, you know, I. So, you know, not only with Iran in the future. Cause now I'm sure Trump, when he comes out tonight, he's gonna say, here's a few things I predict he's gonna say. First, he's gonna say, we tried. You know that we tried. We were at the table with them. They just were obstinate. They wouldn't come around. We tried again. They rejected us again. And he's probably, he may even say, hey, now, come to the table. Now let's, now let's come to a deal. Who in their right mind you're threatening right now to kill their leader? You're. You, actually, if you're Iran, you're thinking now we should have had a bomb long ago to prevent exactly what's unfolding right now. So, Sakur, you were pointing out the polymarket odds of Iran developing a nuclear weapon have actually gone up, because that is the actual logic that we've created. And I want to emphasize this because this is so important in terms of thinking about where we're going to go next. Because now what the hawks are going to say is, you can see the poly market odds there. Now what the hawks are going to say is, well, maybe we took out Fordeau or maybe we degraded for do, but they still have these capabilities. And by the way, they can still build that. And we still have this evil regime in place. And as long as they're in place, we can't feel safe that they're not going to build a nuclear weapon. And then. Okay, so what do you do then? Oh, well, I guess we just have to take this regime out and let democracy flourish. And, you know, democracy, Shah's fail son or whatever the bullshit is going to be. But that's, that's the way this logic goes. And listen, Bibi Netanyahu knows that, right? But I also, I am so reluctant, in a sense, to bring him into this because there's all this language, oh, we got dragged into war and Trump's getting tricked at bullshit.

[Emily Schrader]

Yes.

[Crystal Ball]

This man promised to bomb Iran on the campaign trail multiple times. You can go look at the White House feed. They put out a very nice compilation of all the times that he said that Iran can't have a nuke. And he specifically said that we should be bombing that, you know, their nuclear facilities should be bombed multiple times on the campaign trail. Okay, Joe Biden, million issues with him. According to the reporting, the Israelis have been pushing this regime chain operation for years at this point. And the Biden administration said, no, this would be too catastrophic. This is a bad idea. No, no, no. From what we can tell, Trump did the same for a while. You know, this is not a good idea. I can see how this would go poorly. I can see how this would, you know, get us involved in all sorts of things we don't necessarily want to be involved with and we've got other priorities, et cetera. And then he gets to a point and he decides, you know, I'm bored with these negotiations, let's just bomb them. Doesn't that seem quick? Doesn't that seem easy? And now here we are on this chain of escalation, that it, Listen, maybe we'll be wrong. Maybe they'll just bomb Fordo and that'll be it. And there'll be no retaliation, there'll be no fallout. We won't get pulled even further, and maybe that'll be it. But it is very hard to see how that is what plays out here ultimately.

[Emily Schrader]

I think I've said this before. I'll just reiterate it. The best case scenario right now is Libya. That's. That is the best case. The best case is we bomb. We came, we saw, we bombed and we left, right?

[Tulsi Gabbard]

And, oh, it's 2010 year, 10 to 15 years of chaos.

[Emily Schrader]

It erupted into a, you know, 15 year civil war.

[Ken Klippenstein]

But then, of course, a beautiful democracy.

[Emily Schrader]

Democracy rises like a thriving democracy that we have right now. I also, I think Crystal is so correct. Like Israel. Israel is both a primary and a secondary actor. But at the end of the day, like, they are the secondary actor now, especially with Donald Trump. One thing I do especially want to highlight on the regime change front is I have been watching this Raza Palavi stuff very closely, which, which I know it sounds crazy, but we talked about it here before. Fox News is referring to this guy as His Royal Highness Crystal, if you want. My latest tweet is specifically highlighting a Israeli report that came out just three hours ago. This is from YNET News inside of Israel. This Emily Schrader quote, multiple sources. There are discussions ongoing with the United States and the Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi for the day after the Islamic regime fails. So as you can see, that is a very. That look. I mean, I am forced at this point to take these seriously. I also would highlight Pahlavi's latest tweet himself. He says sources inside Iran say that regime's command and control structures are collapsing at a rapid pace. Meanwhile, the international community is beginning to realize the Islamic Republican has no future. Our Discussions about a post Islamic Republic Iran have begun. We have our Ahmed Chalabi, and I'll be honest, Ahmed Chalabi was way more legitimate, as illegitimate as he was. I think that's fail, son.

[Crystal Ball]

That's. And that's actually one of the things, Emily, I was thinking about today is like, I am, like, I am actually in disbelief. As negative of an opinion as I have of Donald Trump. I am actually in disbelief that we're doing this again. Like, and it's so much dumber because at least in Iraq war, they bothered to, like, have a propaganda show for us. They bothered, you know, and we were all, you know, after 9, 11, like, we were galvanized. We wanted to do something. They put on the propaganda show and they had Colin Pal at the UN they did the whole thing. And this, like, we have. I really want people to think about this. We have not been offered one shred of intelligence that suggests Iran was close to or developing a nuclear weapon. Our own intelligence community says they're not. The IAEA says they're not. And all Trump says is, well, I don't care what Tulsi Gabbard said. Trust me, that's basically it. And Sager, I know you were reporting that none of the in new, quote, unquote, new intelligence comes from our own intelligence community. We're trusting the word of the Israelis. How many decades have they been saying Iran is the day or a week or a month or a year, whatever, away from a bomb? Like, the stupidity and like, they think we are so stupid. And when I see the propaganda and Fox News is the absolute worst, they're the ones out there calling the Shah failson His Royal Highness and ready to put him right on the throne. CNN is egregious. The little bit I watch of MSNBC was slightly more tolerable, I'll say, if you're going to grade them in terms of rank, just because they're, you know, they're negatively polarized against Trump. But I can't believe how easy it is to whip these. Well, I can. Sadly, I can. But it's astonishing to see how quickly you can whip these places up into total manufacturing consent propaganda shops regurgitating whatever it is that the administration wants them to, framing it in the way they want it to be framed. And it is so wild to me to see this all playing out again, but in a speedrun, like social media AI slop version of what we got the original time.

[Ken Klippenstein]

So this is 24 minutes apart. 24 minutes apart. Matt Gaetz on. Yep, so on the one hand, he's saying, I'm so proud of this administration, in reference to an Alex Ward report that Rubio has told European allies the Trump administration's preferred option with Iran is diplomatic deal. Then after Trump posts on Truth Social that Fordo was bombed, Matt Gaetz says President Trump basically wants this to be like the Soleimani strike one and done. No regime change, war. Now, for what it's worth, Matt Gaetz is somebody who, when he was in Congress, was adamantly in opposition to the way war powers have been used and abused by presidents in the last two decades. And actually the comparison with the Bush administration is interesting because I take issue with the way that George W. Bush used war powers, but at least did some Congress semblance of going to Congress, Right? And now we are looking at the imminent, potentially the imminent deaths of American service members in a war that we have entered because we have just dropped massive bombs on another country with no congressional authorization. So I just want to say I've been checking in with sources. I know we all have. But a couple of things from just two people close to the administration. One referred to this and Crystal, this gets to the politics that you were talking about. One referred to this furiously as a betrayal and went on in all kinds of different colorful ways about how exactly this is a betrayal. Another says the staff at the White House is split pretty much down the center. That's their estimate on what this is. A lot of people are being very vocal behind closed doors about being opposed to any use of force in this situation. Other people saying even more intense things from that. Some are worried that because the NSC was gutted not long ago, that you're going to have a lot of resentment in the NSC about what happened after the gutting of the nsc. So I think that's actually somewhat interesting to the point that you were making about. We had that post of Michael Tracy posted Douglas McGregor at the MAHA Rescue the Republic rally on the National Mall a couple of weeks before the election where it was like barefoot hippies and evangelical Christians. I know because I went and covered it. And a lot of it was about peace. It was a lot of hope and change, optimism about Donald Trump being the peace candidate. And that's where you saw the horseshoe of the hippies and MAGA evangelicals coming together under the banner of peace. And I think it is really cheap talk to have people in the administration, you know, now leaking that JD Vance was reportedly being vocal against it. And I think we're going to see a Whole lot of ass covering through leaks in the next few weeks. So I think a lot of that is, is really cheap. It also though speaks to how powerful the war machine is. This is something Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon were talking about in their conversations recently, that once that thing gets going, if Donald Trump and the people around him are cowing, being cowed by it, it's over. Nobody will ever stand up to it. And whatever you think of that assessment, I think it's wrong because Trump is much more of a warmonger than people give him credit for.

[Crystal Ball]

But whatever that was their view, Look.

[Emily Schrader]

I mean it's, this is all for another day. This is just a much bigger conversation about the failure of the quote, unquote anti war movement and all of this. I mean, I think, for what it's worth, I don't ever, I don't think I ever said Trump would be anti war. I was expecting him to be extremely pro Israel. Did I expect him to bomb Iran? No. And I'll be honest about why. The main reason was because there actually was a professional project over the last four and a half years to basically operationalize, quote, unquote restraint style views. And the cope from a lot of the people on the inside was yeah, he says a lot of shit to get Miriam Adelson's endorsement. And look, of course you're going to get, you know, you're going to get, look, Gaza's gone. You know, I think I said that I was like that's, that's going to happen and all of this. But in terms of active intervention, you know, the John Kelly and the Mattis style people who were actually pushing this in the first term, they're out now. And so a lot of that influence won't happen but instead was actually is fascinating. There's been an inverse where I can back up what Emily is saying. There is a massive amount of this administration which is furious about this decision. I'm talking all the way from the top to the bottom inside of the White House and inside of the Pentagon, the State Department, the CIA, the ODNI in terms of the political appointees. But this time around the pressure is largely been from the external. It's been Mark Levin, it's been, you know, the foundation Defense of democracies. It's been these major pro Israel groups and specifically the coordination. We have Fox News, right, the Murdoch family. The Israeli government is basically working hand in foot with those folks and what they did and this is really the indictment of Trump and actually is going to force me to rethink a lot of my priors is what they did is they use the chaos and the lack of inner agency of Trump and his sheer accessibility of anybody he would talk to to influence a lot of his thinking and to actually circumvent so much of his professional staff. So that's more of like an inside baseball thing. But I do want to return to the intelligence because this is a very important story. No matter what Donald Trump says. I'm telling you this and I back, I can back this up. And one day the Iran War Study Group will come out into the, you know, as it did in 06, which showed that all the Iraq war intel was bullshit. Well, one day this will all come out. So unfortunately I have to wait a little bit to see it in writing. There is not one scrap of United States intelligence that backs up the claim that Iran was actively trying to make a nuclear weapon. Now, what you're going to hear a lot about is something called highly enriched uranium. We're going to have Scott Horton on the show on Monday. He's going to break all this down in a much better way than I can. What they are going to claim is that having the capacity, the capacity using that capacity of where they are at 60% and then the timeline between 60 and 90% and then the timeline from there for assembly was the reason for the strike. Now, remember this, this gets to the Tulsi Gabbard point about what's going to.

[Ken Klippenstein]

Pull up her most recent post.

[Emily Schrader]

Go ahead. Please do. Because what has happened is that Tulsi herself is now a turncoat. She is the Cohen Powell of this administration by faking the way that US Intelligence actually thinks to present a false case for why this strike was supposed to happen. If you want to put it up, Emily. So here's what she says. She says the dishonest media is intentionally taking my testimony out of context, spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division. America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months. Let me tell you something again, that sentence is complete made up bullshit. America does not have that intelligence. Israel has that.

[Crystal Ball]

She knows.

[Ken Klippenstein]

America has Israeli intelligence. America has. This is how she's doing. America has Israeli intelligence according to your reporting Sagar. And when she says this is where it gets really Colin Powell, within weeks to months produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months. And that's where suddenly this becoming a crisis in the last few days doesn't even comport with her explicit statement there.

[Emily Schrader]

Yes.

[Crystal Ball]

And also, and she has the video there. Like, you can listen to it, you.

[Emily Schrader]

Can watch it, and you can read.

[Crystal Ball]

It, too, and watch it. This is something we were talking about before. This is like the new thing is to put on a video and put some text with it that completely contradicts the video and just hope nobody watches it and puts two into two together. Like, that's how dumb they think that we are. That's how dishonest they are. And listen, do. I mean, do you all think there will be a single resignation from this administration? I mean, if anyone was going to, it should be Tulsi. This was supposed to be her whole bit. Like, to the extent she had any shred of a principle left that she was still interesting in maintaining, this was it. And listen, when she didn't support, honestly, Biden getting out of Afghanistan, which, you know, was obviously, like, really unpopular, and she was over on Fox News, I think she had a contributorship or whatever. She was conveniently absent for the first portion of it. And then she went out and, you know, wasn't supportive of that. It's like, okay, you don't actually believe anything. And unfortunately, those of us who have been saying that proven correct, you believe in your own ambition, you're going to say what you need to say to keep your job, and you have no shred of integrity. No one should trust a word out of your mouth.

[Emily Schrader]

Well, especially on the intelligence. Again, that is not American intelligence, it's Israeli intelligence. And by the way, the US Intelligence community does not agree with that. And by the way, you know, just even stepping back even further, this claim that 60% uranium is just so magically easy to turn into 90% and then magically easy to put on top of a ballistic missile, which is then magically going to reach New York City. What the fuck are we talking about? Again, Scott will explain a lot of this, but I'm telling you, at a technical level, it is ridiculous, even on its face, if they wanted to, which they do not. And instead, Trump has fulfilled. This is another thing. I mean, it's not just my reporting. It's New York Times as well. I didn't put this in there because it was already out. The only two things that America believes that would make Iran produce a nuclear weapon is hitting Fordeau and assassinating the ayatollah. So we just fulfilled one of them.

[Crystal Ball]

Yeah, and they're trying. Trying for the other one. Clearly trying for the other one. I mean, and just like, can we be adults here and not be children? Why do they have this highly Enriched uranium because they need it for leverage to keep Israel from bombing us for bombing. It's a negotiating to obviously like clearly, you know, try for five seconds to think about how they may be viewing things. Israel is wiping Gaza off the map. I mean they've accelerated their level of massacres. These aid massacres have just continued endlessly day after day after day. They have watched Israel turn Gaza into rubble, you know, destroy has will like bomb all sorts of the neighborhood. And they're supposed to feel comfy, like oh sure, we'll just like disarm and give up, you know, any sort of credible deterrent threat against Israel, a nation that has at least 90 nuclear weapons and isn't in the non proliferation treaty. Like and, and Iran is supposed to just, you know, feel like they can sit back and be comfy and not be threatened at all. Let's be grown ups about this situation and understand what we're dealing with here. It's just, it's so insane to me and I'm already seeing, you know, all the, a number of the MAGA figures who were claiming that they were against this. You've already got Charlie Kirk here out saying with the weight of the world on his shoulders, President Trump acted for the betterment of humanity. For the next few hours, spare us the armchair quarterbacking saga. Instead, trust our Commander in Chief.

[Emily Schrader]

I told you, this is Versailles and.

[Crystal Ball]

This is the leg.

[Emily Schrader]

It's a perfect way to be questioned.

[Crystal Ball]

Yeah, no, and that's it. And that's the danger of having a movement built around a cult of personality. You've got your little views about what this movement is. It doesn't matter what Charlie Kirk or Steve Bannon Tucker or anyone else thinks America first is or MAGA is or whatever at the end of the day, really, Don Jr.

[Ken Klippenstein]

It doesn't matter what Don Jr. Thinks.

[Crystal Ball]

No, what Trump thinks, what he does. And I don't know anyone who hasn't learned that by this point. I don't even know what to say.

[Emily Schrader]

Yeah, and continuing in this vein, I mean, yeah, like MAGA and all that, that's probably the most insignificant story at this point. Just because I don't think this is a political question now. Because now this is in the hands of the Iranians and the US Military. It's not even in the hands of Congress. It's in the hands of a single man. And the lives of literally millions of people are at stake. Remember Mr. Evacuate Tehran. So I'm not exaggerating when I say millions of people are actually, let me here at State.

[Crystal Ball]

Let me put this up, guys. I'll spare you having to listen to Sean Hannity, but he's claiming here. I just spoke to the President, have new information. Appears the US completely obliterated Iran's top secret nuclear facility with six huge bunker buster bombs. Two other nuclear sites wiped out with 30 Tomahawk missiles launched by submarines 400 miles away. Yeah, and they are, they are, they are gleeful over there. Gleeful.

[Ken Klippenstein]

So RCP reporting that Trump and Netanyahu spoke after the strike was complete and the US also gave Israel a quote, unquote heads up before the strike. No surprise there. But interesting that of course Trump immediately got on the phone with Netanyahu.

[Emily Schrader]

That is crazy. Six is a lot higher actually than initially was telegraphed. Wow. Yeah, this is, I was just looking here at the equivalent power of tnt. This is just shitload of TNT here that was dropped. Then those are. Tom. Hot missile.

[Ken Klippenstein]

What soccer. $18 million a pop.

[Emily Schrader]

So we. Oh, the actual, the production cost. I don't even know. I mean that's probably the technical. That doesn't even keep in mind a lot of the research is 2.4 metric tons of high explosive. It doesn't, it's not worth getting into. The point is this is absolutely massive bomb. It's less than a nuclear weapon, but it is still like it's very, very significant to be dropped. And then they said 30 Tomahawk missiles that were fired. Is that what he said? 30 Tomahawk missiles from Sean Hannity. So I mean that's an extraordinary.

[Crystal Ball]

Yeah.

[Emily Schrader]

You know, by probably indicates the US Navy was involved then in terms of where they were, in terms of how they were used. It's, it's again, you know, here it does indicate we got two carrier strike groups there. We've got the Straits of Hormuz, which everybody is taking a look at. We've got all these bases in Iraq and in Syria. You know, the potential here again for a serious, serious problem with US forces is very high and it will just lead to immediate snapback. The congressional question is very important as well. I mean, I don't expect anything to happen. It's just Thomas Massie and 45 other Republicans already. The leaders of both chambers speaking.

[Crystal Ball]

45. You mean 45 Democrats, sorry, Democrats.

[Emily Schrader]

Yeah.

[Crystal Ball]

He's the only Republican who had the ball to sign onto it.

[Emily Schrader]

So Speaker Johnson and Senate and Senator Senate Majority Leader John Thune have both now approved of the strike. So the both two leaders of the houses of Congress are basically saying, hey, great job. They're not Even saying that you had to come to us and to seek approval from Congress. I mean, you know, and it's just, again, just demonstrates like, we truly, like our fate is in Trump's hands. And that's insane. And, and it is something now where he has, he has created this situation. It's a situation where, you know, the domestic implications of this, I don't want to undermine either this whole, you know, this whole, like, DOJ antisemitism thing. I mean, by tomorrow, this show and everything we're saying is anti Semitic as well, it's going to be anti Semitic to say that we've declared war, you know, an unconstitutional war on Iran. We all know already. Emily, I'm sure you'll get this reference. Famously, Crystal, in 2003, David Frum wrote a National Review piece called Unpatriotic Conservatives.

[Ken Klippenstein]

And do you know who he called anti Semitic in that?

[Emily Schrader]

Yeah.

[Ken Klippenstein]

Oh, good. But do you know who he called anti Semitic? Robert Novak, a Jew. I mean, converted to Catholicism, but, yeah, no, it doesn't matter.

[Emily Schrader]

Okay. Yeah. Anyway, yeah, proudly was apparently included in the, the 2025 version of unpatriotic conservatism from National Review. But that's my point is the, the propaganda effort, like Crystal is saying, is going to be crazy. I'm already seeing Crystal.

[Crystal Ball]

Like you said, we can't underestimate it either.

[Emily Schrader]

Oh, it's, it's cr. I mean, we covered the polling here. People don't want to believe it. It's true. The people who are gleed to those television screens, they are, you know, they're bringing on people again. And look, I hate to talk about people who served our country, but Fox News brings in a guy who's like a Delta Force operator. And I'm just, I'm the only one being like, why? You know, why do we have a former, like, guy who participated in terrorism raids talking about a B2 bot, you know, and he's like, oh, President Trump had no choice. That was the immediate reaction, you know, that I'm watching over there.

[Crystal Ball]

Yeah.

[Emily Schrader]

And I was like, this, this. And I was like, to the untrained ear, makes sense. But to somebody who, you know, knows a little bit, you're like, dude, you, you know, what are you talking about? You don't know literally anything about what's happening here. And you've got Sean Hannity beating his chest. Apparently the coverage on CNN is equal. I just saw Tommy Veeder and some of the pod save guys be like, hey, could anyone on CNN just like, not cheerlead War with Iran even.

[Crystal Ball]

This is the one time they'll find their way to being able to praise Trump. Yeah, I heard Fareed Zakaria is supposed to be one of the intelligent people there. Being like, oh, I think Trump really tried for the diplomacy. It's like, what part of murdering the negotiators makes you feel like he really gave the diplomacy his full try? Not to mention the fact he is the one who withdrew from the original diplomatic deal that we were in and was working successfully. Thank you very much. But I think we should probably wrap this so we can get it uploaded and get it out and watch what the President has to say. One thing, I have a note here. Iranian TV is saying no nuclear radiation is expected and all enriched uranium has been removed from nuclear facilities in advance. That's according to Iranian state tv. So anyway, that's what they're putting out there. Last thoughts from you guys. You know, what do you think the President is going to say tonight? What do you expect his remarks. What do you expect the framing of his remarks to be and sort of, you know, last thoughts on where you think we go from here?

[Emily Schrader]

I think he said he's going to say, I had no choice. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. As I've said repeatedly, peace through, peace through strength. Iran, you should give up now and we can make a deal. I think that's large and obviously a celebration of the B2s. Yeah, it's going to be very peaceful.

[Crystal Ball]

Yeah. And, and the, you know, the, oh, now we can make a deal, diplomacy now. What did his post say? It's like something about, you know, pray.

[Emily Schrader]

Now is the time for peace.

[Crystal Ball]

Now's the time for peace. As, as we're bombing them. Okay. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Last thing, I'll say my final word because I really think this is so important. Sagar, from our looking at the polling and Emily, I know you will see the same thing. I have never seen an issue where it matters more how the issue is framed.

[Emily Schrader]

Yes.

[Crystal Ball]

If you say, hey, we got to bomb them to keep them from getting a nuke, they're about to get a nuke. Guess what? You get a lot of Americans who are like, oh, that sounds.

[Emily Schrader]

Let's.

[Crystal Ball]

We got to do that. When the question was framed as, should America get involved in the war between Israel and Iran? Basically like, this is something they're doing. People are like, hell no. Why would we do that? And I'm sure if you ask people, hey, should we do a regime change war in Iran, they'd be like, are you high? Like, no. Have you learned absolutely nothing? And so listen, we are, you know, we're doing all we can over here. Independent media has much, a larger, vastly larger footprint than it did during the Iraq war. But I just, I, I really implore people to understand what is happening here. This is not about a nuclear weapon. This is about a regime change war. And please make sure that, you know, whoever you're talking to speak about it in those terms because that's what's really going on here and that I know the American people will not support.

[Emily Schrader]

Yeah, you're exactly right. All we can hope is that it fails, that it somehow is stopped in its track. But I'm not optimistic tonight. I'm really.

[Crystal Ball]

All right, guys, well, we're gonna watch what the president has to say. You know, we may be doing more breaking news videos over the course of the weekend and we have already planned a monster show for Monday. I'll just leave it at that as we're nailing in the guest lineup. But the people that you will like most want to hear from on this, we are going to be fortunate to have joining us on Monday. So thank you guys, appreciate you all and we will see you soon.

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[Crystal Ball]

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