Trump Team Spewing Lies to Cover-Up Scandal with Rep. Jason Crow

Summary

IHIP News: Trump Team Spewing Lies to Cover-Up Scandal with Rep. Jason Crow

Release Date: April 1, 2025

In this gripping episode of IHIP News, progressive hosts Jennifer Welch and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan engage in a candid and impassioned discussion with Representative Jason Crow. Delving deep into the heart of political turmoil, the conversation navigates through national security failures, the manipulation of truth by the Trump administration, and the alarming rise of Christian nationalism within the U.S. government. This episode stands out for its raw honesty, incisive critique, and the heartfelt insights shared by Congressman Crow.

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1. Opening Remarks and Introduction of Representative Jason Crow

[00:05] Caroline Levity:
The episode kicks off with Caroline Levity highlighting the incompetence within the current administration. She introduces Representative Jason Crow, presenting a clip where he vehemently criticizes Trump's Cabinet.

[00:22] Representative Jason Crow:
Crow emphasizes his dedication to national service, saying, “I spent my life in service to this country... It is outrageous, and it is a leadership failure” ([00:22]). He condemns Secretary Hegseth for mishandling classified information and calls for his immediate resignation, stressing the necessity of accountability within the administration.

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2. National Security Failures and Media Distractions

[01:58] Caroline Levity:
Caroline praises Crow for his factual discourse amidst a media landscape overshadowed by trivial content, such as “Trump’s got Kid Rock in an Evel Knievel costume in the Oval Office” ([01:58]). She challenges how to keep significant national security issues from being sidelined by sensationalist news.

[02:35] Representative Jason Crow:
Crow responds by asserting the importance of persistent dialogue on critical issues to prevent them from becoming normalized distractions. He criticizes the Trump administration’s approach to governance, likening it to “a reality TV show” ([02:35]). Emphasizing the real risks faced by military personnel, he differentiates genuine leadership from the performative tactics employed by Trump and his team.

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3. The Signalgate Scandal and White House Response

[03:32] Caroline Levity:
Caroline introduces a contentious segment by labeling the White House Press Secretary as “a compulsive liar,” leading into the discussion on the Signalgate scandal.

[03:52] Representative Jason Crow:
Crow questions the transparency of the administration regarding the investigation into how a confidential number appeared in a group chat, highlighting ongoing issues of accountability ([03:52]).

[04:06] White House Press Secretary Clip:
The Press Secretary attempts to downplay the scandal, stating, “Mike Waltz continues to be an important part of his national security team” and claims the matter is “closed here at the White House” ([04:06]).

[04:40] Representative Jason Crow:
Crow expresses skepticism about the administration’s sincerity, suggesting a lack of genuine concern for public intelligence ([04:40]). He underscores the administration’s sense of impunity and the resultant erosion of military discipline and culture.

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4. The Erosion of Military Leadership and Accountability

[06:00] Caroline Levity:
Caroline shifts the conversation to the broader implications of national security mismanagement, expressing fears about the military’s preparedness against global threats due to leadership incompetence.

[07:51] Representative Jason Crow:
Crow elaborates on how the administration is undermining national security by neglecting essential services and fostering a flawed perception of strength through superficial displays. He emphasizes the importance of robust support systems for troops, including training, healthcare, and international alliances, contrasting it with the administration’s misplaced priorities ([07:51]).

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5. The Rise of Christian Nationalism and Its Impact

[09:53] Caroline Levity:
Caroline introduces a critical discussion on the infiltration of Christian nationalism within the government, highlighting figures like “Moses Mike Johnson” who claim divine inspiration ([09:53]).

[11:00] Representative Jason Crow:
Crow explores the concept of "spiritual warfare," debating its role in politics and its potential to replace rational decision-making with divisive, faith-based agendas ([11:00]).

[11:37] Caroline Levity:
Caroline vehemently criticizes the normalization of spiritual rhetoric in politics, equating it to a regression toward a dystopian "Handmaid's Tale" scenario where fundamental rights are suppressed ([11:37]).

[12:36] Representative Jason Crow:
Crow acknowledges the destructive influence of mixing spirituality with governance, advocating for a separation that respects diverse belief systems without allowing religious fanaticism to dictate policy ([12:36]).

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6. Comparative Analysis of State Policies: Oklahoma vs. Colorado

[15:15] Representative Jason Crow:
Crow draws a contrast between Oklahoma’s restrictive policies under a Republican supermajority and Colorado’s more libertarian, inclusive approach. He points out the disparities in rights, healthcare access, and overall quality of governance, highlighting Colorado as a model for respecting individual freedoms and fostering a more effective political environment ([15:15]).

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7. Vision for the Future and Concluding Thoughts

[17:13] Representative Jason Crow:
Crow delineates the stark contrast between the administration’s exclusionary, minimalist vision and the Democratic vision of abundance, inclusivity, and freedom for all. He champions a future where diversity of beliefs is respected, and policies promote growth and happiness for every citizen ([17:13]).

[18:24] Caroline Levity:
Caroline expresses solidarity with Crow’s vision, emphasizing the urgent need to address and combat the rise of extremist ideologies within the government. She underscores the importance of opening conversations around these critical issues to safeguard democratic values ([18:24]).

[18:48] Representative Jason Crow:
Crow thanks the hosts, reiterating his commitment to fighting for a more inclusive and accountable government ([18:48]).

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Key Takeaways:

• Accountability in Leadership: Representative Jason Crow underscores the critical need for accountability within the administration, particularly concerning national security breaches and the handling of sensitive information.

• Media's Role in Political Discourse: The hosts and Crow highlight the detrimental impact of sensationalist media overshadowing significant national security issues, advocating for a continued focus on substantive political discussions.

• Threat of Christian Nationalism: A major concern raised is the infiltration of Christian fundamentalism into government operations, posing a threat to the secular foundation of the state and marginalizing non-religious and differently-believing citizens.

• Contrasting State Policies: The episode contrasts the oppressive policies of Oklahoma with Colorado’s more progressive and inclusive approach, illustrating the tangible effects of political ideology on governance and citizen well-being.

• Future Vision: Crow articulates a Democratic vision centered on inclusivity, freedom, and abundance, contrasting it with the administration’s divisive and minimalistic approach.

This episode of IHIP News offers a profound exploration of the current political landscape, emphasizing the importance of leadership accountability, the dangers of intertwining religion with governance, and the necessity of fostering inclusive policies to ensure national security and societal well-being.

Transcript

[Caroline Levity]

What happens when you appoint an untreated alcoholic and Fox News host to be Secretary of Defense? Breathtaking incompetence. And I want to play this clip from Representative Jason Crow where he rips into Trump's Cabinet.

[Representative Jason Crow]

I spent my life in service to this country. I deployed three times to combat in service to this nation. I learned in that time in service that responsibility is core to leadership. You accept responsibility when things go wrong. You admit mistakes. You set the standard from the very top. It is completely outrageous to me, completely outrageous to me that administration officials come before us today with impunity, no acceptance of responsibility, excuse after excuse after excuse. Well, we send our men and women downrange to do incredibly difficult, incredibly dangerous things on our behalf, and yet nobody is willing to come to us and say, this was wrong, this was a breach of security, and we won't do it again. It is outrageous, and it is a leadership failure. And that's why Secretary Hegseth, who undoubtedly transmitted classified, sensitive operational information via this chain, must resign immediately. There can be no fixes. There can be no corrections until there is accountability. And I'm calling on the administration to.

Move forward with accountability.

[Caroline Levity]

All right, this badass congressman is here with us today on IHIP News. Let's welcome Representative Jason Crow. Congressman, how are you today?

[Representative Jason Crow]

I'm doing pretty well today, all things considered, being in Washington these days, but it's good to be with all of you.

[Caroline Levity]

Yeah, we're so happy to have you, because it's so nice to hear somebody speak factually and call a spade a spade. And that seems to be a scarcity these days. But this was such a massive national security failure, a face plant. And it seems like, you know, I look at the news cycle yesterday, and Trump's got Kid Rock in an Evel Knievel costume in the Oval Office. And then this terrible failure of national security gets bumped down the news cycle. And now we're talking about Kid Rock. How do we keep this at the forefront?

[Representative Jason Crow]

Well, by doing what we're doing right here, talking about it and not letting it become normal. Right. I mean, you have Donald Trump and all those around him who are treating government national security like a reality TV show. Right. So long as you can get on TV and play the part and look the part and look smooth, it's okay for him. Right. As long as you can do the sound bites on TV. Problem is, we have 2 million men and women in uniform who are around the world, many of whom right here, as we're sitting here having this conversation, are actually Doing dangerous missions, putting their life on the line. And their decisions or indecisions are putting, putting them at risk, at great risk. And it's not okay. I spent my life in service to this nation. And the number one responsibility that I have as a member of Congress is to make sure that we are protecting our country. We are defending the Constitution. We are giving our men and women uniform their best. And this administration is not giving them their best.

[Caroline Levity]

Okay, Now I want to play a clip for you from the White House press secretary. And I think it's just important to call it what it is. She's a compulsive liar, a pathological liar. These people avoid facts at all costs. And here she is talking about the scandal that is Signalgate.

[Representative Jason Crow]

As you said last week, Caroline, you said there would be an investigation or a review into how Jeffrey Bullshorn's number got on that group chat.

What's the status of that review and.

What is the status of National Security Advisor Mike Waltz?

[White House Press Secretary]

As the President has made it very clear, Mike Waltz continues to be an important part of his national security team. And this case has been closed here at the White House. As far as we are concern, there have been steps made to ensure that something like that can obviously never happen again. And we're moving forward. And the President and Mike Waltz and his entire national security team have been working together very well. If you look at how much safer the United States of America is because of the leadership of this team.

[Caroline Levity]

What'S your, what's your take on that? I mean, do they think we're dumb?

[Representative Jason Crow]

I'm not sure they care. I think that the underlying issue, I'm not sure they even think about whether people are dumber, smarter than they believe it. I don't think that's the point. I just don't think they care. They believe in their mind that they have power. And in Trump world, when you have power and when you're at the top, you can do anything you want, right? There's impunity, and there are many problems with that. But let's approach this from a military perspective. Military leadership is all about leadership by example. From day one in boot camp, that's actually the mantra that's pounded into you, is that you set the example, you set the standard, and then only then the people around you will follow and will emulate that. That is the core of military leadership. But in Trump world, it's the opposite. It's that if you're at the top and if you have privilege, then the rules don't apply to you. And that's exactly the message that's being sent. When you have Secretary Hegseth and you have Tulsi Gabbard and others that do things that would have got anybody else fired. Right. If any sergeant or colonel or captain or private had done that, they would have immediately lost their job. There would have been an investigation, and there would have been accountability, but not if you're at the top. So I'm worried about the message that sends to our military and the impact that's going to have on our culture.

[Caroline Levity]

What about your colleagues that are big national security Republicans that for years have just been like, the Republicans support the troops and we stand for strong national security, like Ronald Reagan. And, you know, they go on and on, such blowhards behind the scenes. Are you getting anything in the gym or in the lunchroom, like, where these guys are like, oh, Jesus Christ, this is bad?

[Representative Jason Crow]

Yeah, I get that all the time, actually. They tell me, you know, they don't like Trump. They want to get beyond the era of Trump, and frankly, I don't give a damn anymore. Right. I don't care what they tell me behind closed doors. I don't care how much indignation they show about the position we're in, because that does nobody any good. What we need is their public leadership. And I've been telling them this for years, and they come back to me and say, oh, I don't know how we got to this point. I don't know how we got this far. I'm like, yeah, you do. You actually do, because you let it go. You let it get here. Right. Four, five, six years ago, there was an opportunity for you to stand up and show some leadership and show some courage and push back. But you. You shrank from that duty. And here we are. Right. So don't tell me behind closed doors. Go out to the cameras and say it. That's. That's my response.

[Caroline Levity]

I'm concerned about. We have the war of words between Iran and Trump. We have, you see, China and Japan, they're uniting for the. Because of the economic issues. I'm scared that our military, because it's being led by someone that's wholly incompetent, that we are not prepared for the things that Trump is threatening and. Or that Putin might be laying at our doorstep.

[Representative Jason Crow]

Yeah. I mean, this administration is gutting in so many ways, essential government services, and that includes national security. Right. There's a lot of people that pound their chest, that tough, that talk tough. I mean, all these scenes, all these videos of, of Pete Hegseth running around, lifting weights. That's not what, that's not what makes us tough, right? What makes us tough is when our, our troops get the training they need, when they have allies and partners overseas and we don't have to go it alone because we have partnerships. When we have the best equipment, right? When we have dental care for our troops and health care. When they deploy and they know that their kids and their family is taken care of back home and they don't have to worry about it, they can focus on the mission, right? Those are all the things that we do here in D.C. or we're supposed to be doing here in D.C. to make sure people can be focused, disciplined and trained, not this macho BS that the Trump administration thinks makes us tough, right? So I'm really worried about it. I'm really worried about the erosion of culture in discipline because of the message that's being sent, and frankly, just the total disregard for support of our allies as well. We can have all the aircraft carrier battle groups in the world, we can have all the best weapons in the world, but really what makes us strong is one our people, that we have the best people, and they know that they're taken care of in our partners, our alliances. The fact that we never go it alone, right? When I was in Iraq and Afghanistan, I did my three tours. I always served with, always served with our NATO partners. They were there fighting with us shoulder to shoulder, right? The only time in the history of NATO where the mutual self defense component of the treaty was invoked was after 9, 11. And our NATO partners stepped up and fought with us and protected us, right? So these are not just marriages of convenience. They really mean something and they help keep us safe.

[Caroline Levity]

I want to talk to you about something that I think is somewhat underreported. And it's where you have the fascists, the oligarchs, the Elon Musk's, and it seems like they are somehow connected to Vladimir Putin. And then you have the Christian nationalists and somebody who I could sit here and start talking about right now and not finish for like three weeks is some. Is the speaker of the House. I call him Moses Mike Johnson, because he says on camera that God told him and he heard God's voice in his ear say, hey, Mike, you're Moses. And we've all just moved on from that, like that's normal. And I think we have these crazy, fanatical Christians, not Christian like people, not everyday people that don't want to cram their religion down Everybody's throat but the Moses Mike Johnson's of the world are a cancer in the United States government and they have a dangerous long game agenda. And I want you to hear from Caroline Levity again because she addresses some of this magical thinking that Moses Mike Johnson also believes. Listen to this clip there.

[Representative Jason Crow]

You know, in Christian terms, people will call what's happening in our country today spiritual warfare.

Do you see it in those terms.

Kind of good versus evil out there? And you know, that, that context, how.

Do you see that?

[White House Press Secretary]

I certainly think, I believe. I certainly believe in spiritual warfare. And I think I saw it firsthand, especially throughout the campaign trail with President Trump. And I think there certainly were evil forces. And I think that the President was saved by the grace of God on July 13th in Butler, Pennsylvania. And he's in this moment for a reason. We're all here for a reason. And I think it's a miraculous thing that has taken place in our country.

[Caroline Levity]

Okay, Congressman, this, pardon my language, but this is fucking bananas. This is crazy. They're starting to normalize this spiritual warfare and evil forces. The suggestion that the evil forces are people like you and me and Angie, this is completely insane. And it goes unchecked all the time because too many politicians are too scared to call out the fanatics out of fear of alienating what would be a normal Christian base. These Christian fanatics have played the long game, decades long. They already overturned Roe, now they're going after. There's some bill I think about women being able to vote. They will not stop. This is like the Christian Taliban in the United States. And I'm fearful that we're not attacking it enough because too many people are scared to call it what it is, magical thinking. Bananas.

[Representative Jason Crow]

Well, you know, I was raised Christian and I respect spirituality of all, of all types and forms. And spirituality and people's views of religion can and should play a part in how they approach leadership, how they approach legislation. Where it becomes an issue is when it replaces data, when it replaces rational, logical thinking. And when it really becomes an issue is when it leads somebody to believe that other people are evil and will then attack their own way of being. Right? Because that's not, you know, my Christian faith. That's not what my Christian faith and background teaches me. What my Christian faith and background teaches me is servant leadership, is protecting the vulnerable, is loving each other and being there for each other. Right. That, that is my, that is my faith tradition and where I'm from. And certainly some folks have twisted and contorted that for their own purposes for a variety of different motivations. And yeah, it bothers me when it inserts itself into the. Into a politics in a nefarious way. That means that it's impacting people's lives and it's actually preventing them from exercising their own faith tradition because it becomes a binary choice. Either you're with us or not, and there's no other alternative.

[Caroline Levity]

Yeah, I think it's just really scary when we are supposed to be secular separation of church and state. And you hear the speaker of the House and you hear now the White House press secretary talking about spiritual warfare and evil forces. And I think this, if this is what you want to talk about at Sunday school, swing for the fences. But to represent a country. I'm not religious. I'm an atheist, and that's my right. And I don't want to hear this stuff from politicians. And I feel like there's always this deference given to even the fanatics under the Christian umbrella. And I think they're very dangerous. I think they're ambitious and they played this very long game. And where we sit right here in Oklahom City, women that are raped have to drive to your state of Colorado to be able to receive medical care because of these crazy fanatics. And I just feel like there is a fear of politicians to address it. And it worries me all the time because in our state, it's unleashed. We have the Ten Commandments now on the public, classrooms, superintendents buying all these Trump Bibles. And it's just. I just feel like we're slipping into Handmaid's Tale.

[Representative Jason Crow]

Well, I'm glad you raised Colorado because Colorado, Oklahoma distinction is a good one in that there's this libertarian strand in Colorado where it's live and let live. As long as you're not harming somebody else or intruding on their privacy or their rights. We have room for a lot of different belief sets, spirituality, you know, backgrounds. That's kind of the Colorado way. And I guess you can contrast that with what you're dealing with there locally and how people don't have certain rights and how they're having to now come to Colorado to exercise that and get health care is certainly a stark contrast. There's no doubt about it.

[Caroline Levity]

Yeah. And you can look no further to the rankings a Oklahoma, which has had a Republican super majority for decades. We're ranked like, you know, we're a bottom 10, bottom five state. And when you look at you actually, we actually have data in all of the Bible Belt. And you can see what Republican super majorities do and how much they marginalize and help enhance the wealth disparity. And then you look at a state like Colorado and you're ranked a lot higher and your policies are far more effective. But I want to thank you so much for coming on. Thank you for talking about dipping your toes in a little bit about the religion. I know that it's something that we don't talk about out of fear of offending people. But where I sit in a Christian nationalist state and I see the government bullying trans kids, gay kids and women that are victims of crimes, it's really terrifying. And I think we have to start opening up the conversation because I believe that most rational Christians like yourself do not want to impose draconian laws onto other people or force people to join their religion.

[Representative Jason Crow]

Yeah, I mean, there's just two drastically different political visions at play here. Right. The mega political vision is a minimalist one. It's a narrow minded one. It's an exclusionary one. It's a one of dividing and keeping us all small, you know, in the way we live our lives, in pitting us against each other. And my vision and Democrats vision is a bigger vision that we can have abundance, that there's room for everybody, there's room for growth, that it's inclusionary, not exclusionary. It's forward thinking, not backward thinking. There are just two very different visions at play here, frankly. I'm living my life and I'm happy being a Democrat with a broader vision where everybody can be happy and grow and live their lives and have their own beliefs and have independence and have freedom. Because ultimately that's what our country is and should continue to be about. Freedom for everybody to live their life and to do so without fear of being attacked by others.

[Caroline Levity]

I really want your vision to prevail because I share with you that vision. Thank you so much for joining us. You're welcome back anytime. This was a heavier episode, but anytime you want to hop on here and talk about petty grievances, maybe like your co workers talking on their speaker in the elevator, we can talk about that too. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us and good luck in D.C. with your co workers.

[Representative Jason Crow]

Yeah, thanks for having me.

[Caroline Levity]

Okay. All right, bye.