Scott Ritter (2:54)

Yay.

Jimmy Dore (2:55)

And then here he is when Trump decided not to.

Lindsey Graham (2:57)

There are a lot of headlines out there that are, in my view, not accurate. President Trump's resolve is not the question. The question is, when we do an operation like this, should it be bigger or smaller? I'm in the camp of bigger. Time will tell. I'm hopeful and optimistic that the regime days are numbered.

Jimmy Dore (3:26)

Wow. So Lindsey Graham has a raging sat on. He has a throbbing sat on. The only thing that gets him there is mushroom clouds. But anyway, so what do you, what do you make of this, Max? What's your reason? How are you reacting? Because you see these things better than I do for sure. Do you still think that an attack is imminent or is Trump really pulling back?

Max Blumenthal (3:53)

Seems likely. Lindsey Graham was really excited there. And the throes of warmongering, almost orgasmic ecstasy, putting on his best Martin Luther King impersonation for Iranians who are not actually just protesting, but carrying out very well coordinated riots, sabotage attacks, ISIS style attacks across Iran as part of an effort to open the, to open the floodgates for U.S. intervention. And I can talk about that a little bit more in a second. But Donald Trump was goat, was goaded, as he often is by Israeli cutouts that surround him, into issuing a message to the so called protesters in Iran at the time that Lindsey Graham was doing the same, telling them help is on the way. And this is the same thing that was done at the beginning of the dirty war on Syria when the so called moderate rebels were actually initially referred to as protesters. While they were killing Syrian minorities by the hundreds and killing Syrian soldiers. The US sent the message to them that help was on the way. And it gave them the sense that they could continue pushing forward to Damascus. Killing, getting armed, and ultimately the help they needed never really arrived because they expected Damascus to be totally flattened so they could Al Qaeda could take over. And that was the message that Lindsey Graham and Donald Trump have sent and it helped fuel the violence in Tehran. They succeeded in getting people whipped up into a violent frenzy. There are hundreds of videos online, and I'd be shocked if anyone hasn't seen them yet, of these rioters murdering unarmed guards, security guards in the street, murdering cops, operating with weapons in exchanges with Iranian police and security forces burning down mosques. There have been scores and scores of mosque burnings, burning down stores, killing civilians, beating people, randomly beating elderly men in the street, burning cars, burning ambulances, burning fire stations, burning banks. It's a lot of what we saw at the beginning of the Syrian dirty war, and it can get much worse. But the point is drive the death toll, display images of body bags and morgues, then demand the intervention that Trump comes to save the day and save all the protesters. So Trump was goaded into telling them that help was on the way. Then he has a fateful National Security Council meeting and he gets the intelligence. And some of this intelligence was coming from Israel. This took place three days ago whenever the climb down. And then Trump comes out and says, well, we think the executions of the protesters are going to stop. And so we're putting things on pause for now. The reality was that they were told, number one, the protests are over. They lasted just a couple days. The only thing left is some isolated riots and sabotage attacks, infiltrations, and that there were not enough US assets in the region to actually carry out a massive attack on Iran. And I believe Israel's missile defenses were not anywhere where they need to be to withstand an Iranian counterattack. By the end of the 12 day war that Iran and the US had Iran and Israel engaged in last June, Iran was gaining an upper hand over Israel, which can't withstand casualties. They had penetrated Israel's defenses. Israel's missile defense stock was depleted, and the US Was depleting its own stock of these very expensive Thaad anti missile systems that had been deployed to Ukraine and Taiwan. So it's becoming a kind of a crisis for everyone. And so Trump comes in with Operation Midnight Hammer, supposedly blows up Fordo and you know, the claims to have taken out Iran's nuclear stockpile. And that was his climb down there. And what happened just two or three days ago was Trump momentarily climbing down after fueling violence in the streets of Iran. However, now US Assets are moving to the region. I think it's the USS George Bush, kind of an appropriately named aircraft carrier that's heading to the Mediterranean. I heard that Abraham Lincoln is going as well. That was the aircraft carrier group that was deployed to Yemen when the US lost two F18 aircraft against the Yemeni Houthi forces and basically packed up and left because they failed. But they're moving there along with lots of, you know, Strato tanker in air refueling aircraft. And this could be the beginning of the big operation that Lindsey Graham foresees. And just one other point, I think they may have been told during this national security briefing that there isn't any real means of immediately affecting regime change. Or getting the result they want as they did in Venezuela with a much more well entrenched powerful foe in Iran. And I don't actually think they do have a plan there except to cause massive amounts of destruction, which is something Israel would love.

Jimmy Dore (9:36)

I mean it's exactly as you say, that's exactly what they did in Syria. But isn't it, you know, now we know in retrospect the Arab Spring was another Mossad CIA instigated and well funded operation. There was no organic Arab Spring and it was all to overthrow Syria so that they could put an Al Qaeda guy in charge of it and so that Israel could expand into there, so could the whole, the whole deal. But do you have any, does it make you feel any kind of hope that Lindsey Graham seems so sad right now? Like it doesn't seem like he's going to get his Christmas wish? Well, he, there's no. Does it at all make you give you hope?

Max Blumenthal (10:29)

Tucker Carlson was photographed with Trump in the White House today and the Laura Loomer crowd was very disappointed to see that. And I know based on what I know about Tucker in his public statements that he was probably there to lobby against attacking Iran. So there's clearly a debate and some reconsideration taking place inside the White House. But I also know Trump is kind of on a sugar high after what took place in Venezuela and that he has cut a devil's deal like literally with the devil with Miriam Adelson, $150 million into his campaign and and much more for down ticket candidates like whatever Israeli tool is running against Thomas Massie. And there are other billion like Zionist billionaires that are, that have decided to come in and fund Trump like Paul Singer. And they want one thing which is regime change in Iran. That's the bargain. That's the deal. Miriam Adelson's late husband Sheldon Adelson, the Vegas casino baron actually called for a nuclear bomb to be dropped on Iran during a speech he gave for a pro Israel audience. So they're very clear about what they want. They're acting on behalf of Netanyahu. That's why Netanyahu was in Washington in December. That's why you're seeing this gigantic ultra Zionist Mighty Wurlitzer getting cranked up sort of the digital Mighty Wurlitzer on Elon Musk's X and every other social media platform to convince you that Iran has slaughtered 12,000 peaceful protesters who are like trying to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge. That's why cbs, Barry Weiss's CBS is taking the lead here, that this is the one thing that one of the most powerful forces controlling Trump wants. And so it's very hard to imagine Trump resisting this inertia. But he has to understand that there will be real consequences. Unlike in Venezuela, a country that didn't have standoff capacity, Venezuela wasn't going to be able to attack southcom bases across the Caribbean. That's not the kind of country that was. Iran has a massive stockpile of short range ballistic missiles, and they're surrounded by US Bases, and they can do serious damage if they choose to. And they can do damage to Israel with medium and long range missiles. And they have a population, a part of their population that is willing to fight and die to defend the Islamic Republic. At least, I would say at least 10 million members of their population think and feel that way. So this is a situation where Trump is playing with fire. He's risking the lives of American service members. He could be sending boys from Spokane to Sacramento to Salem, Massachusetts, to go die for Benjamin Netanyahu and Greater Israel in Iran. And that would be a political catastrophe for Trump. And it would be Benjamin Netanyahu's greatest dream because it's what would drag the US Deep, deeper into the region, just as he helped do when the US Was drawn into Iraq. Remember, Benjamin Netanyahu testified before the Senate about a year before George W. Bush authorized what was originally called Operation Iraqi Liberation. They had to change the name because the initials were oil or oil. But Netanyahu came and said, I swear to, I swear to you, I promise you that Saddam Hussein is in bed with Al Qaeda and he is, you know, right now, like, cuddling with, with Osama bin Laden in Baghdad. And I promise you, he has WMD and told every lie possible. And he's doing the same thing with Trump on Iran. And he has more leverage over Trump than he did over George W. Bush.

Jimmy Dore (14:40)

And so the, the idea that Israel wants to overthrow Iran, what's their. So is it just like in Syria, is it part of the Greater Israel Project, where they want to expand into parts of Iran just like they've expanded into southern Syria? Is that what this is about? I mean, this is the final piece of the puzzle that General Wesley Clark talked about on Democracy now when he said that they, after nine, 11, they had a plan to go into seven Muslim countries in five years. While Iran is the last one on that list, they've gone into all the other ones. And so this is the last. So is this part of that? Is that, is that what Israel gets Out of this, they want to expand into Iran.

Max Blumenthal (15:24)

Iran is the last powerful country in the region and in the Muslim world that is willing to militarily resist Greater Israel and the entire project of Israeli US Domination of the world. And they are the base of the axis of resistance that has. They've tried to establish a umbrella of protection across the region to defend the Palestinians and all oppressed people in a region that has faced constant Israeli attacks since Israel's establishment in 1948, as well as US wars. And that's the real reason that Iran every year observes Al Quds Day in the middle of Tehran where hundreds of thousands of Iranians come out and demonstrate their support for Palestine and demonstrate their support for armed resistance against the occupiers of Palestine. And it's something that is just a source of pride for Iranians, including some I spoke to when I was in Iran, who were not hardcore religious conservatives, were basically politically educated, middle class people who are proud of a foreign policy that stands for Palestine. Whereas you have like 80 million Egyptians, almost, almost like 50% of the population is young. They have very strongly pro Palestinian sentiments. They are deeply opposed to Israel because Israel kind of wrecked their country through the Camp David Accords. And there's nothing they can do about it. If they come out in the streets and protest for Palestine, they will be beaten and jailed by the security services that are essentially controlled from the outside. And so that's the real reason that Iran is this target. And if you don't get all confused and by all the media you're reading about why Trump is going to attack, it's really not that confusing. Just look at a picture of Donald Trump and Miriam Adelson standing together and you'll have the answer. The only reason that there's some. This is all a manufactured crisis. There's no real crisis right now. The United States doesn't need to do anything to Iran. Iran doesn't threaten the United States in any way. And it actually contravenes US national security to stir up a war with Iran in the region. It's all about Israeli control over the Trump administration and the US Government. That's all this is about. The only reason that the US Is going in is because of Israel and the so called special relationship. It's just very simple. And there's only one country in the world that has this obsession. Saudi Arabia and its leadership under Mohammed bin Salman. They do not like Iran. They have a sectarian Sunni perspective on the world and they consider the Shia majority of Iran to be like real like rejecters of Islam. I mean, they see them in a very negative light, I would say the Saudi leadership and the Saudi ulema, the Saudi clergy. However, Saudi Arabia opposes this war and it's made that very clear to the United States and to Donald Trump because they see that it will be destabilizing for the region. It will affect their oil shipments, it will, it could potentially wreck their economy. It could destabilize their own society. And they have a Shia population in the Katif region in Saudi Arabia which is very poor. And they don't want to stir things up with them. So only Israel wants this. That's the only reason we're doing this. And it's not simple. I mean it's not complicated at all. And that's the only reason that we care so much about these so called protests which are actually violent riots while Donald Trump is classifying antifa and virtually anyone who resists ICE in the United States as terrorists. That's the only reason.

Jimmy Dore (19:42)

Hey, you know, here's another great way you can help support the show. It's you become a premium member. We give you a couple of hours of premium bonus content every week and it's a great way to help support the show. You can do it by going to jimmy dork.com clicking on join premium. It's the most affordable premium program in the business and it's a great way to help put your thumb back in the eye of the bastards. Thanks for everybody who was already a premium member. And if you haven't, you're missing out. We give you lots of bonus content. Thanks for your support. But here's Steve Bannon and he's going to give you a positive spin on this right now. And I just want to get your.

Steve Bannon (20:23)

Reaction on this situation. Iran, President Trump looked at all the information, look at what Scott Besson's doing. He knows the regime is falling, which we've been saying they're not having. Cut off the oil yet, although he's put China on notice, the CCP 25% tariff if you keep taking the oil. And he laid it out to the CIA, the Mossad, to Bibi and all of them said, hey, there's a target set that can actually at the end take this down and let the people be free. I'll consider it. But if you don't have, it's a big massive bombing campaign. I'm not in. And this is what they wanted to do back in July. This is a full facial to Bibi and that entire Israel first crowd. And this is why Lady G's crying, he's moping around, and he's now on a plane over. He says, I'm over there to plot straight strategy with, with Israel and with, with Bibi. The people in South Carolina should be outraged by that. Where is your senator? Was he like, is he like a military aide to Bibi?

Jimmy Dore (21:20)

So he's saying this is a full facial, that this is a complete repudiation of these people who wanted to go to war with Iran. And he's saying that it looks like the Iran regime is going to fall anyway. Now, you were in Iran early last year. Do you think it looks that like the Iran regime, as they refer to it, is about to fall? And wouldn't, wouldn't a bombing by the United States of Iran and Israel make people coalesce around that, which is what happens in every country. So what do you, what do you, how do you respond to what you just heard Steve Bannon say?

Max Blumenthal (22:00)

Well, I think he's saying they're about to fall and that Trump has just exacted this devastating economic blow on Iran with 25% tariffs to anyone who buys Iran or Iranian oil and sanctions on certain IRGC leaders. He's saying that because that helps Trump climb down by believing that he has done something harsh to Iran and punish them without getting the US Involved in a war. That's sort of, that's a strategic move by Bannon. And the faction that Bannon represents is, includes Tucker, and they even include J.D. vance, the Vice president. I don't know what's going on in there, but, you know, he seems to align with them. And he's making a great point about Lindsey Graham, who he refers to as Lady Lindsay. That's who he's talking about. Senator Graham from South Carolina, the biggest warmonger in the Senate, is now in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and he's giving Netanyahu advice on how to manipulate the Trump administration into war. That's what he's doing there. He's part of a kind of Israeli fifth column in Congress, and Bannon is properly calling him out. But the pressure on Donald Trump is enormous right now. And you can just feel, you can see from the kind of noise, background noise on X. Just if you follow these issues at all, go to the for you tab, which is basically the psyop tab that Elon Musk has created.

Jimmy Dore (23:37)

Yes.

Max Blumenthal (23:37)

And, and you can see they're still going. They're escalating. Like, they think that they can actually get Trump to do this and that once he initiates any conflict, it will continue to escalate until it's out of control because the Israelis want to draw the United States in indefinitely. Bannon recognizes that, so I hope he's right. But I can't imagine that that's the. That that will be the end of it. And no, the so called regime is not about to fall. They've had 8,000 sanctions on them, maximum pressure since like 2017, since Trump reversed the Iran deal. And you can see from the displays in the streets in support of the government, pro government rallies, pro Islamic Republic rallies, rallies of people expressing indignation that their family members and public workers are being murdered by these rioters and gangs. These are unprecedented. Western media won't show it to you, but the size of these rallies is unprecedented. And that means that there is a modicum, I would say a strong degree of legitimacy for the Islamic Republic that they command a very large constituency that's organized and that's more motivated than their opponents. So you can't just say, oh, they're on their last legs. And many of the people, you should also. This is also important to understand. The protests that started earlier this month included many people that were part of that base of support for the Islamic Republic, who are the merchant class. And they were being hurt by the collapse of the riyal, the Iranian currency. And many of them are mad about monetary policy that's being made through the office of the presidency. They have a reformist president, but they might actually be more corporate, quote unquote hardline than President Pesceskian, who really came into office promising renewal of negotiations with the U.S. so a war, of course, will produce a rally around the flag effect. The institutions of the Islamic Republic are united right now and it will take a lot enormous amount of military force to dislodge it. And then what then what do you get? Do you get a cakewalk what happened in Iraq? No, you can you just like deep d Islamicize a nation of 80 million people and government governing and cultural apparatus that's been in place for over four decades? No, they don't have a plan for that.

Jimmy Dore (26:30)

If you know the history of Iran at all, in 53, the United States, the CIA, the, they overthrew Mosaddegh, who was the democratically elected president, because just like Maduro in Venezuela, they wanted to keep the oil profits for their own people. And you can't do that. That's our oil. That's British Petroleum oil. That's Exxon oil, That's Chevron oil. And how dare you do that. So we overthrew him and we installed a dictator. We installed the United States, installed the Shah of Iran, which was on a very oppressive dictator. But people look, they go look. They could wear miniskirts though. That was. So that's how many skirts equals freedom, even though they didn't have any. So then they finally overthrew him and installed the Shah of Iran. So I mean, installed the ayatollahs and that's why they have a theocracy now. It was, it's what the CIA even terms themselves. It's called blowback. Right. So we do that and then we set the stage for a right wing takeover. And so it's like when the Democrats get in bed with the, with the, with Wall street and they do nafta, it sets a stage for a right wing bullback, right? So because they have, the workers have nowhere to go, same things happen in places like Iran. And so now we come in, we're going to promise to bring them freedom. Well, the last time we brought the Iranians freedom, it was a dictator called the Shah of Iran who everybody hated. So that we have no interest in democracy. In fact, we really prefer to have dictators. That's what the United States likes. They don't like democracy because dictators are easier to control and that's what they really want. So that's the list, a little bit of the history that people I think need to understand about what's really happening and why the Iranian people are so against the United States. Although let me just say this, the news media's pro Iranian war propaganda has been off the hook from local Media. I'm watching LA Channel 5 news here in Los Angeles and they're going and they're interviewing people from Iran and how much this is the time that the Iranian people really need the United States to stand with the people of Iran. And that, that's the kind of news segments that without any commentary from anybody on the other side giving a pushback to that, they just put that complete propaganda out there. And it's like really the people who are, are from Iran want the United States to bomb the shit out of Iran? I don't think so. We have a special guest with Scott Ritter, one time Marine intelligence officer who served in the former Soviet Union implementing arm control agreements and from 91 to 98 served as the chief inspector for the United States United nations in Iraq, leading the search for Iraq's prescribed weapons of mass destruction. He was later a vocal critic of the American decision to go to war with Iraq. He's Also the author of nine books, including his latest, highway to Hell, the Armageddon Chronicles, from 2015 to 2024. Welcome back to the show, Scott Ritter. Hey, Scott, how are you?

Scott Ritter (29:33)

I'm doing great, Jimmy. How are you doing?

Jimmy Dore (29:35)

I've been better. But listen, I heard you got debanked, so you're not. You're doing worse than me. So you're, you know, you've been. The deep state has been screwing along. They ripped you off a plane when you were onto a summit in Russia, and now they're debanking you. Tell me what happened.

Scott Ritter (29:54)

Well, I mean, what happened is I tried to use my credit card yesterday and. Or my debit card, and it didn't work. I called my wife and she. I said, do we have money in the account? I thought we had some money in the account. And she checked the account. It was all zeroed out. And we contacted the bank and they basically couldn't tell us anything. And then we finally got a hold of corporate and they said, no, we've decided to terminate our banking relationship with you. They said, we'll return your money in 10 to 14 days. We'll. We'll send it to you, but, yeah, we're done. And I said, why? They said, well, we don't have to tell you, we don't have to explain why, etc. I did some more research. It. It turns out that somebody had tipped them off on what they call suspicious activity that generates suspicious activity activity reports. And if you get enough suspicious activity reports, that makes you a bad banking risk, and they de. Risk you by debanking you. And this is what the United States government did against the January six people. It's what they do against anybody they don't like. The FBI just goes to a bank and generates these suspicious activity report. In my case, apparently these reports were linked to the three trips I made to Russia last year, trips that were designed to pursue peace and disarmament. And, you know, nothing bad, nothing nefarious, but, you know, because of sanctions, Russia can't. You can't take a credit card there. You have to come in with cash. And because I'm doing a podcast where I broadcast from there, I have to rent the studios, I have to rent, I have to hire the translators. I have to do all that. So I have to bring in $10,000. And apparently me assembling $10,000 in cash generated or caused the FBI to say, this is suspicious. Even they knew exactly what I was doing because I told them what I was doing. This is just A deliberate effort to harass me. It's. That's what it is. It's pure harassment. I'll recover. I'll get over it. I mean, I'm not, you know, I'm not totally, you know, destitute, but it's, It's. It's a huge harassment. I mean, you know, tomorrow's the 15th. Bills get paid on the 15th, and they ain't getting paid because I don't have any money. And we'll, we'll get through that. But, you know, it's just.

Max Blumenthal (32:20)

It's.

Scott Ritter (32:21)

It's harassment, pure and. Pure and simple.

Jimmy Dore (32:23)

And so why would the United States government, the FBI, want to coerce banks into debanking you?

Scott Ritter (32:32)

Because it is harassment. It's a, It's a form of harassment that they can get away with because of the, the banking security laws. You know, the banks are. Are not obligated. I mean, it's, it's. It's.

Jimmy Dore (32:45)

But why do they want to harass you? Why. Why do they. Why. Why do they want to harass you?

Scott Ritter (32:51)

Oh, I would imagine it's because why did they send 40 FBI agents into my home in August of 2024?

Jimmy Dore (32:58)

That's right. Right.

Scott Ritter (32:59)

Because I've been speaking out about Russia.

George Clooney (33:01)

They.

Scott Ritter (33:01)

They accused me of being a Russian agent. Those accusations fell flat. They seized all of my electronics to prove that I had covert communications with the Russians. I wasn't. I didn't. They've got nothing. They. They impaneled a grand jury to try and, you know, railroad me. And the grand jury found nothing. And so when they have nothing, they still need to harass, and they do that by debanking you.

Jimmy Dore (33:29)

And I was told that, you know, it was the. What was that agency? The. The one that was invented to protect consumers, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. I watched the Joe Rogan episode, and I forget who the guy was at Ackman, who was the guy on. Who said that that was the consumer financial protection age, was debanking people. But it turns out, of course, it's not the. Those people. It's the deep state that is debanking people. Just like they did in Canada. They did that in Canada to anybody who spoke up for the civil rights and wanted to question authority over Covid. They immediately debunked them and debanked people who were supporting them. And then, of course, they did it to the January 6th people. And here is the Trump administration's FBI doing the exact thing that he campaigned against people thought they were voting against. And it turns out he is the deep state am I wrong about this? Is his Trump is 100% deep state now, right?

Scott Ritter (34:27)

Yeah. No, I mean, look, you're talking to somebody who. Who believed in the potential of Trump being different. I never liked Donald Trump. You can go back to my writings on him, back to 2015 when he came down the escalator. I've never been a fan of Donald Trump. I've always viewed him as an orange face buffoon. But, you know, I. I saw a man who, you know, talked that he wanted peace with Russia, and I had been promoting peace with Russia. That's why the Biden administration came after me, because they were promoting war, I was promoting peace. I was traveling to Russia and having big impact on changing people's opinion about Russia. So the Biden administration sought to silence me. I thought Trump would be an ally. But it turns out that Trump has never wanted peace. I mean, he, as you said, is Mr. Deep State when it comes to Russia. You know, he appointed Scott Bessant to be a Secretary of Treasury. All Scott Besson wants to do is destroy the Russian economy and bring the Russian society down. To remove Vladimir Putin from office, he appointed, you know, Radcliffe to be director of the CIA. All he's done is run a secret war against Russia with the President's permission. And, Jimmy, on December 29, the president of the United States tried to kill. The Russian president. Tried to kill. Authorizing the CIA to send 91 drones against the Russian president's residence and then pretend it didn't happen. The Russians got the guidance chip it says, right? It told them exactly where it's going. They gave that guidance chip to the defense attache in Moscow without explanation. But they said on that chip is everything you need to know. And what the United States learned is that the Russians know everything. So, yeah, Donald Trump is deep state. He's not to be trusted. And everything, all those executive orders he signed mean nothing because he just told us, Jimmy, he doesn't believe in law. He doesn't believe in international law. He doesn't believe in the rule of law. He only believes in his own sense of morality. I mean, my God, this is what a king thinks like. We fought a revolution to liberate ourselves from people who fought like that. We created a constitution and a constitutional republic, and now we have a president who says he doesn't believe in anything we stand for as a nation. He believes in nothing we stand for as a nation. I've never seen a more legitimate reason to implement the 25th Amendment than the one we have right now.

Jimmy Dore (36:44)

So there seems to be continuity between Joe Biden's FBI deep state and the Donald Trump FBI deep state. I thought that Cash Patel and Dan Bongino and Donald Trump were going to come in and clean up the deep state because that half the FBI was assigned to trying to lock up the January 6th protesters and frame them and illegally and that they were going to come in and break heads and arrest people and expose. And none of that happened.

Scott Ritter (37:13)

None of that had the National Security Division of the FBI, which is the division, by the way, that turned on Donald Trump. They're the ones who ran Operation Crossfire Hurricane. They're the ones who managed Christopher Steele, that British spy was working for Hillary. The PDOTs who invented this entire, you know, Russiagate scandal, they're the ones behind what's coming after me, the National Security Division, the FBI. I'll watch my language out of respect to you and your audience, but when I resigned from my position as a chief weapons inspector with the United nations back in August of 1998 through RAN operation Crossfire Hurricane, they're the ones who managed Christopher Steele, that British spy was working for Hillary. The PDOTs who invented this entire, you know, Russiagate scandal, they're the ones behind what's coming after me, the National Security Division, the FBI. I'll watch my language out of respect to you and your audience, but when I resigned from my position as a chief weapons inspector with the United nations back In August of 1998, the Chief of Station of the CIA in New York, yes, they run stations in the United States, called me in and said, if you resign, the FBI will f you for the rest of your life. And he was dead serious. He said, if you resign, you would become a permanent enemy of the FBI. And they followed through on that. The FBI, you know, there was a, there was an FBI special agent. You might know the story. After 9 11, they found a radio in one of the hotel rooms, air to ground radio. And the last person to occupy that was an Egyptian student exchange student. So they, they hauled him in and he said, that's not my radio. I don't know what that is. They said, no, it's a, a guy named Mike Templeton, an FBI agent, did a, did a polygraph examination. But the way they did the polygraph examination was to have the Egyptian Intelligence Service video, live stream a video of the man's mother and sister in a room. And Templeton said they will rape them to death in front of you unless you confess. And so he confessed. Now they had the confession. They're making a move now to take this guy and put him in jail forever. An American Airlines pilot shows up at the hotel and says, hey, I stayed in this room before 9 11. And I had this ICOM air to ground radio. We pilots tend to do that to listen to monitor traffic. Does anybody have my radio? And the FBI went, damn. And then that allowed Temple to me. He's the guy that polygraphed my wife in 2002. And he literally. It was a setup. They said, we need to polygraph your wife because she's a former Soviet citizen so that we can then work with you to find out if there's weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. I talked to my wife. She said, sure. Templeton polygraphs her, but he doesn't. He accuses her of falsifying documents, says, you've committed a federal crime. I'm going to put you in jail for the rest of your life unless you confess your crimes. Tell us your husband's a spy. Tell us your husband's working for the Israelis. Tell us your husband. She went, what are you talking about? And she said, if you have something on me, arrest me now. Otherwise, this interview is over. As she's leaving the FBI headquarters here in Albany, Templeton screaming that, we are going to F you for the rest of your life, f your family, f your daughters, f your husband, f everything about you. Jimmy, what I'm trying to say is the FBI is serious about this. Mike Templeton apparently wrote a file that's on record in the national security division that says, f Scott Ritter for life. And every once in a while, somebody in the national security vision opens up and goes, when was the last time we asked Scott Ritter, let's F him again? And they debanked me? It's pure harassment, 110% harassment. And this was what Donald Trump said he was going to stop. No, the national security division of the FBI is the deep state. They have something on Donald Trump. They have something on everybody except me, because they can't shut me up. They've been trying for the 30 years and they haven't succeeded yet.

Jimmy Dore (41:15)

And so you think that's it. So you think that obviously Donald Trump is compromised, but not by Russia. He's compromised by our own deep state and possibly the Mossad. That. That's why there's a continuity between Joe Biden's FBI and Donald Trump's FBI. Instead of a break.

Scott Ritter (41:32)

Yeah, now we're getting a gross speculation here, right? You know, Donald Trump's behavior, Dan Bongino's behavior, all behavior about the Epstein files, and I don't want to go down that rabbit hole, except because I don't know enough about it to speak intelligently about it. But I'm just saying that Donald Trump's behavior when it comes to the Epstein files and the way the FBI has contradicted itself, et cetera, it doesn't take a. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to put two and two together on this thing. And it's clear to me that there is compromising material on this president held by the FBI, and that the FBI uses this and the Deep State uses is to get this president to do their bidding. And, man, is he doing their bidding.

Jimmy Dore (42:13)

Does it make you rethink Butler, Pennsylvania? Because it does me.

Scott Ritter (42:18)

Well, I was convinced at the time that Butler, Pennsylvania was a. I mean, I don't know how you're rethinking. I always viewed it as the Deep State trying to kill Donald Trump.

Jimmy Dore (42:27)

That's what I. That's what I thought it was.

Scott Ritter (42:29)

Oh, what do you think it is now?

Jimmy Dore (42:30)

Well, now that no, Donald Trump has covered it up, he has no curiosity. So there's zero. And the investigation's over. It was that lone kid that we killed immediately. He was somehow able to get on top of a roof even though three cops saw him. Everybody in the crowd saw him, but the guys who were supposed to be defending Donald Trump didn't see him. It's the weirdest thing. Just like with Charlie Kirk, nobody's looking at the roofs, even though that's the number one thing you're supposed to be looking at. And the guys with the guns on top of the roofs didn't look at that. The shooter in Butler, Pennsylvania. And until after he already killed a couple of people and got off a bunch of rounds. That is the weirdest thing. People in the crowd saw him, just like people in the crowd saw the guy who supposedly. Tyler Robinson, who supposedly killed Charlie Kirk. But the people who are in charge are supposed to be looking at the roofs, are never looking at the roofs. And Donald Trump shutting down that investigation into Butler, Pennsylvania, lets me know that he's in on it. That's what it makes me know.

Scott Ritter (43:27)

You know who ran the, the, the irony is, you know who ran the investigation in. Into Butler shooting?

Jimmy Dore (43:35)

No.

Scott Ritter (43:35)

The National Security Division of the FBI.

Jimmy Dore (43:38)

There you go. Well, there you go.

Scott Ritter (43:41)

I'm just here to say the greatest threat to Americans, to the American people today is the National Security Division of the FBI. They are a power unto themselves. They're a law unto themselves. They apparently have assembled compromising material on everybody. No judge will take action against them. Mike Templeton, I mean the polygrapher I told you about, James Comey, ran an investigation that cleared him of everything. Cleared him of everything. Because they're never going to. This is how they work. This guy's supposed to run the polygraph machine that's supposed to tell the truth. It's not a polygraph machine. It's a mechanism of intimidation. This is an FBI agent telling somebody they will rape your mother and sister to death in front of you if you don't confess to me. And then he confessed. And the FBI went, this is a good lawful confession that we can now go to a judge and get a conviction on. That's the FBI. That's the FBI.

Jimmy Dore (44:39)

Yeah. Well, I, I certainly, you know, as I told Chris Hedges, I didn't have faith in Donald Trump. I had hope. And I used the Butler, Pennsylvania attempted assassination, which I don't think it was now as example. Well, somebody's trying to kill him inside the deep state. So he's a threat somehow. And he was preaching that he was going to be a non interventionist. He was preaching that he was going to end the Ukraine war in 24 hours. He was criticizing Joe Biden for bombing Yemen. He don't have to do that. He could use a phone call all this stuff. And he comes in and does the exact opposite of what he's saying.

Scott Ritter (45:15)

We're going to avoid entangling wars in the Middle east and yet he's getting ready to bomb Iran tonight.

Jimmy Dore (45:20)

Yeah, he's gonna do it. Yeah.

Scott Ritter (45:22)

And if he does it, this isn't going to end the way he thinks it's going to end. I mean, this is not going to be, you know, Venezuela thumping your chest because you went in the middle of night, murdered 32 guards and took away Maduro. The Iranians are a different, you know, a different game altogether. And I'm nervous because this man in my opinion is a, you know, has narcissistic personality disorder. He's mentally ill and unstable. And I fear for my nation and I fear for the world as long as this man is the President. United States.

Jimmy Dore (45:56)

Here's something you caught which was great. It was BBC News. This is a perfect example of this. And here they are trying to pretend that somehow Donald Trump is controlled by Iran or got played by Iran.

BBC Reporter (46:08)

Let's listen, Kylie. It feels like we're getting very mixed messages. We've got the German authorities cautioning German airlines from entering Iranian airspace. We've got UK And US Military personnel being pulled back from that base in Qatar. We've got the Foreign Office in the last hour saying that the UK Embassy in Tehran has closed yet. We've got Donald Trump saying the killing stopped. What do you think he's going to do?

BBC Analyst (46:32)

Well, I think the conditions are being set for an American attack imminently, I think possibly tonight.

Jimmy Dore (46:38)

Yeah. War is as imminent as the propaganda memo says it is. That's right. Okay.

BBC Analyst (46:44)

I mean, that is why you've got these closures of airspace. You've got the withdrawal and so on. The Al Abayd relates to a counterattack coming from Iran to make them safe because, of course, there's a very short distance there. So the conditions are set. But the red lines have not, according to Donald Trump, been crossed. He set the killings and executions must stop. He's been told by the Iranian regime, it seems, one hopes, by independent sources that it has indeed stopped. I think it's very unlikely that necessarily it will stop permanently. But they have bought time. The regime has managed to buy time, even if it or it's a bluff from Donald Trump. Remember that he also said over the previous attacks on Iran that they would continue talking and then everybody woke up to American and Israeli attacks. So it could be a bluff there, but he could also be being played. We saw him get played by the Iranians over the weekend.

BBC Reporter (47:35)

Right.

Jimmy Dore (47:36)

So you go, yeah, it's not the Israelis playing Donald Trump like a fiddle. It's the. So that's the, that's, by the way, unless you're a Buddhist monk, nobody trusts a completely bald guy. Just letting you know, all right, that's Stephen Miller.

Max Blumenthal (47:50)

I might have a future there. So watch out.

Jimmy Dore (47:55)

It's weird how they think someone else is playing one of the biggest con men in the history of the world. That's kind of funny. So, I mean, just if you want to speak to that about the incredible propaganda, that's just unbelievable propaganda. And that's coming, of course, from the always pro war BBC, always. And the same thing I talked about, how it's local news media here, the national news. It's amazing that anybody could resist the overwhelming pro war propaganda. But what. Go ahead, take it wherever you want, Max.

Max Blumenthal (48:27)

Yeah, I mean, I guess there's a segment of the population that consents when they're being propagandized and looks for alternative sources that actually align with their sense of critical thinking. But there's, there's less and less interest, I think, in even making the case for war here to the population like we saw in Iraq. Because Trump just will go out and behave like a mad king and go kidnap a president, go bomb Nigeria, bomb Somalia. Somalia has been bombed like 15 times this year. And there's no debate around it. There was no debate around Trump bombing Iran in June. Doesn't go, hardly ever goes to Congress. The BBC, however, is. It's there to cultivate elite opinion and it is an important propaganda weapon inside Iran, I would say is one of the two or three most important propaganda weapons inside Iran. And in fact, BBC's Channel 4, BBC4 produced a documentary on how BBC was heavily involved in the 1953 overthrow of Mosaddegh, which you mentioned before, Jimmy. So BBC Persia is a Farsi channel and I watched it by satellite when I was in Iran. And they are cultivating, in a very sophisticated way, attitudes among middle class Iranians to pit them against the government and stimulate their sense of discontent and also to cultivate this sense that things are just so much better in the West. Don't you want a big Burning man style festival in Tehran and a gay pride concert, like Pride Parade and, you know, Eurovision, that kind of stuff? That, that's, that's BBC Persia. Then you have this channel called Iran International, which was originally run out of Saudi Arabia and now it is, it's certainly controlled by the Israelis through a deal made between Iran and MBS in 2022. MBS, Mohammed bin Salman unloaded it and it's basically an Israeli Farsi channel. And it's if, if you watch it, they have an English section. They're practically handing out instructions to rioters on, like, what to attack, glorifying all the violence as, you know, these great resistance events. And it's like reading an anarchist zine produced by the CIA in Farsi for rioters. And they have had a powerful effect on the psyche of Iranians inside Iran. The Mossad is actively recruiting Iranians and doing so in public. They are telling Iranians on their social media channels that they are walking beside them in the street and that they will ultimately deliver them, that the Islamic Republic is on its last legs and is going to die. So just join us. They're openly saying that. And this guy, whoever that hack was, I think he was the editor of the Independent, which is partially owned by Saudi Arabia. A lot of people don't know that.

Jimmy Dore (51:45)

Really.

Max Blumenthal (51:46)

He, he, he was just, you know, getting high on his own supply of Neocon Hopium. Like, he's just, he believes the hype that they're pumping out. That's, that's like the, the, the Culture of elite journalism is they always ultimately have to believe their own hype in order to be effective. Stenographers and propagandists for the people who actually control them, who know that they're lying.

Jimmy Dore (52:13)

Hey, this is Jimmy. Who's this?

George Clooney (52:16)

Bonjour, mon Amy. It's your old buddy George Clooney. The Clunes.

Jimmy Dore (52:23)

Friend of the show. Clooney. How are you, George?

George Clooney (52:26)

Or should I say Le Clunes? Jimmy, thanks for asking. I am doing fantastique.

Jimmy Dore (52:34)

What's with all the French talk, George?

George Clooney (52:37)

Jimmy, baby, haven't you heard? My gazelle like wife, Amal and I have graciously been granted French citizenship.

Jimmy Dore (52:45)

What?

George Clooney (52:46)

As you know, we have homes all around the world, but our primary residence is in France because we decided to raise our children here.

Jimmy Dore (52:54)

No kidding. I. Wow. How interesting.

George Clooney (52:58)

Yeah, it's true. Yes, Jimmy, I. Oh, by the way, have you heard about Timothy Busfield? Jesus Christ. More like dirty something. Anyway, we thought rural France would be a more normal place to raise children than Hollywood.

Jimmy Dore (53:12)

Oh, well, okay. What exactly is your reasoning there, Jimmy?

George Clooney (53:17)

It's no secret that kids of celebrities who grew up in Hollywood are up rich, they're famous for no reason, and they don't really have to work.

Jimmy Dore (53:25)

It's a recipe for disaster.

George Clooney (53:28)

Sakura Blue. And what a disaster it can be. They only have a handful of options. Either the kids are Nepo babies and become successful actors themselves, or they become a white rapper, a trans child, a drug addict who ODs, or a family annihilator.

Max Blumenthal (53:44)

Right.

Jimmy Dore (53:45)

Okay.

George Clooney (53:46)

It's never like, hey, you hear about Nick Nolte's kid? Yeah. He became a civil engineer and works at Caldot now, studying traffic patterns.

Jimmy Dore (53:54)

This is true.

George Clooney (53:57)

So we wanted the opposite environment for our rugrats. Rural France, baby. Paparazzi is essentially illegal here. The French don't give a shit about fame. We can reside here in the country completely anonymously, no one bothering me. No one even really recognized me. Going to town for baguettes and wine, simple exchange of pleasantries, and I'm back home.

Jimmy Dore (54:19)

Sounds nice.

George Clooney (54:22)

It really is, Jimmy. Really, really is. George, I'm losing my fucking mind out here. Jimmy, help me.

Jimmy Dore (54:37)

I thought so. What do you mean?

George Clooney (54:40)

There's no action here, Jimmy. There's no party, no nothing. No one recognizes George Clooney. What kind of a hellscape is this? I'm walking around this empty mansion in a tuxedo with a tie undone and martini glass, just in case some sort of a phantasmic ghost party breaks out.

Jimmy Dore (54:57)

What do you want me to do.

George Clooney (54:59)

Come out here, man. Hang out. I'll fly you guys out on my jet.

Jimmy Dore (55:03)

I can't, George. I got work to do.

George Clooney (55:08)

Tried to get my buddies to move out here with me, but Brad Pitt as kid said he's busy not raising. And Matt Damon can't live anywhere they don't have Dunkin Donuts. Said France has pretty good coffee and pastries. And he called me the F word. Slur. I can't be here by myself.

Jimmy Dore (55:23)

Jimmy, I don't know what to tell you.

George Clooney (55:26)

At our house in London, it's always a party. At our villa In Italy, trust me, I am recognized. That entire boot is filled to the brim with star fuckers. It's obscene. Even in our place in Kentucky, near my parents, I'm a hometown boy done good. But here in France, Jimmy, I didn't really know what complete anonymity would feel like. And I hate it.

Jimmy Dore (55:46)

Maybe there's a therapy for it.

George Clooney (55:49)

There should be a goddamn movie star, for Christ's sakes. No one caring that I'm famous. It's unnatural. Like I'm in an episode of the Twilight Zone. It's a nightmare I'm not waking up from.

Jimmy Dore (56:01)

Well, do your wife and children like it there?

George Clooney (56:05)

Huh? Yeah, sure. I mean, I don't know. I haven't asked them. I assume so. Why wouldn't they? They're not the famous ones.

Jimmy Dore (56:17)

Well, what are you gonna do?

George Clooney (56:19)

I don't know. I gotta leave. I gotta get back to Hollywood and get some fresh air. Go to the pool at the Chateau Marmont or something. At least for a weekend. Ain't Don Cheadle in Vegas or some.

Jimmy Dore (56:31)

Come on back, baby.

George Clooney (56:33)

I can't believe I missed the Golden Globe so I could sit here in a drafty castle and eat quiche with my family. I could have been sitting there with DiCaprio watching Bill Maher lose best comedy special to Ricky Gervais wins again.

Jimmy Dore (56:50)

It always does.

George Clooney (56:52)

Okay, that's it. I'm packing my shit and headed to Marseille. In or Nash?

Jimmy Dore (56:56)

Fuck it.

George Clooney (56:57)

I'll take the red eye. Jimmy, thanks again. I really appreciate it.

Jimmy Dore (57:01)

I'm not exactly sure what I did.

George Clooney (57:04)

Neither am I. But what matters is that I was on the phone with you when I decided to leave my family. And I won't forget that. Thank you, my friend.

Jimmy Dore (57:13)

You are welcome.

George Clooney (57:15)

Oh, we still need to catch that drink sometime. That needs to happen.

Jimmy Dore (57:20)

Yeah.

George Clooney (57:21)

Probably not on this trip, though. I'm kind of booked up socially.

Jimmy Dore (57:23)

But you just decided to take this trip 30 seconds ago.

George Clooney (57:27)

George, you know how it is, baby. Hollywood. Don't go changing on me, stranger. I must you die.

Jimmy Dore (57:43)

Hey, become a premium member. Go to jimmy door comedy.com sign sign up. It's the most affordable premium program in the business. All the voices performed today are by the one and only, the inimitable Mike McRae. He can be found at mikemcrae.com that's it for this week. You be the best you can be and I'll keep being me. Now freak out.

George Clooney (58:15)

Don't freak out.

Jimmy Dore (58:20)

Don't freak out. Don't freak out. Don't freak out. Don't freak out. Do not freak out. I'm not kidding.

Scott Ritter (58:31)

Do not. Do not.

BBC Analyst (58:33)

I'm not.

Jimmy Dore (58:33)

I'm not. I'm not.

Max Blumenthal (58:34)

I'm not.

George Clooney (58:35)

I'm not.

Jimmy Dore (58:35)

I'm not.

George Clooney (58:37)

Freak out.

Jimmy Dore (58:38)

Don't freak out. Do not freak out.