Aaron Maté (2:55)

For what?

Reporter/Interviewer (2:55)

For the strike on the school in Iran.

VRBO Advertiser (2:57)

A milit.

Reporter/Interviewer (2:57)

A new report says the military investigation has found it was the United States that struck the school.

Aaron Maté (3:03)

I don't know about, he says, I don't know about it. It's interesting. It was initially the United States was not at fault. It was Iran. Now it's, I don't know about it. Yesterday he also said something to the effect of, let's investigate. It seems as though the president understands that what he's been saying is wrong. But it's not just that. The president has long been saying that someone else may have bombed the school using a Tomahawk missile. We know that the only party in this war that has Tomahawk missiles is the United States of America. And so he's seemingly trying to get around the fact that the United States was responsible for when the United States killed a whole lot of children. And instead of fessing up and admitting it and talking about it and saying this was a mistake, he's deflecting. But that's not the only thing the government isn't properly telling us right now. Because we're now learning that an Iranian drone attack in Kuwait that killed six US Service members in the early hours of the war with Iran was a lot more severe than has been previously reported. More than 30 military members remained in hospitals as of last night with battle injuries from the attack. One at the Brook Army Medical center in San Antonio, 12 at Walter Reed Medical center in D.C. and 25 at a medical center in Germany. Regional Medical center, mind you, that closed its labor and delivery ward a few days after the war began. And now we know why. Of those, about 20 arrived on a C17 military transport aircraft at the German medical facility with injuries the military designated as urgent and requiring evacuation. More than 100 medical personnel were sent there to assist. Defense Department officials initially didn't specify how many had been hurt in the Kuwait attack, but it is a lot worse than the government is letting on. Remember, six of them, six service members died. Okay? A lot more were seriously injured. But that's not all, because we're now learning that a foreign government may very well have the Epstein files. A foreign government may very well have the Epstein files. Or rather, a foreign hacker of sorts. It's not a foreign government. A foreign hacker. Foreign hacker may have the Epstein file. So according to the Guardian's latest reporting, what we're learning right now is that I'll kind of pull a Little bit. Foreign hacker breach Servers connected to the FBI's New York Field office and may have access related files related to the investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The incident occurred during a break in at the office three years ago, according to Reuters and the Guardian's reporting. Now, the details of this intrusion were not publicly known until today. And the FBI, in a statement to Reuters said that it was a cyber incident, an isolated one. Quote, the FBI restricted access to the malicious actor and rectified the network. The investigation remains ongoing, so we don't have further comment at this time. Now, what's important here is that this wasn't a foreign government hacking. This was a foreign cyber criminal. Now, whether they were working, gave it to a foreign government, gave it to someone else, that's speculative. We don't know. But a foreign hacker was able to get into the FBI servers and review the Epstein files or at least part of the files related to the investigation. So we'll see what happens next. But I spoke with Governor JB Pritzker about the war in Iran, ICE and much more this afternoon. So I want you to watch that interview and let me know what you think. Like comment, share and subscribe. Here's my interview with the governor. Excited today to be joined by Governor J.B. pritzker again. Now, Governor, it is great to have you on today. I want to talk about the war in Iran to start out with because you have some of your constituents, service members from Illinois may be serving right now abroad in the Middle East. So I want to get your reaction to what's happening overseas and whether or not you condone the ongoing conflict.

Governor J.B. Pritzker (6:55)

Well, thanks, Aaron, and good to see you. We do have our National Guardsmen over there from Illinois, men and women, and we also have members of the military from Illinois that are serving. And look, they're following orders and they're the best of the best. I am very concerned about what's happened here that the president of the United States sought no congressional authorization. He engaged us not in a defensive posture on behalf of an ally, but in an offensive posture on behalf of an ally without seeking authorization and isn't intending to seek authorization now that the war has begun or, you know, we're two weeks in now. So, you know, there's that aspect of it that's quite disturbing. It's, you know, it's a, another move by a wannabe dictator, wannabe authoritarian in Donald Trump that is taking the rights of Americans away and putting Americans in harm's way. Meanwhile, I have to say, as an important Note here that the leadership of Iran are a bunch of thugs. The. The Ayatollah, the people working in the Revolutionary Guard leading it, are terrible, torturous people. So the idea that they're gone doesn't make me sad in any way, but the idea that we have decided as a country or our leaders did, that it's okay for us to engage in war across the world, including Venezuela, without any authorization and not having been directly provoked. You know, Iran is definitely a promoter of terrorism around the world. So everybody's been provoked by Iran. But what is the immediacy that requires the President to move our troops, our carriers, et cetera, into the region and declare war on his own entirely? There really hasn't been a precipitating event.

Aaron Maté (9:10)

Well, I think based on that, are you at all concerned about the lack of transparency coming out of this administration right now? In the first few days of the war, we saw a deadly strike on an elementary school in southern Iran. A New York Times report came out just about an hour ago confirming that the United States was likely responsible. Again, the President says he doesn't know anything about. It was likely Iran. A lot of Americans feel as though this government just isn't telling them the truth right now. Do you share those concerns?

Governor J.B. Pritzker (9:37)

I do. And I think you could have. You could have predicted that this would happen. Think about ICE and CBP invading our cities and that the laws that they clearly have broken, the rules of engagement, that they clearly have broken, the protocols for law enforcement, they've broken. And then no one held accountable. No one. And indeed, this idea that every one of those incidents was someone else's fault. So you knew that this is, you know, that it's the kind of moniker of this administration that, you know, never our fault. It's always somebody else's fault. And so here they are in a situation where, look, we don't know what the facts are. Certainly the evidence so far would indicate that it was a mistake. I assume it was a mistake, but maybe not. But the important part is we think it was a Tomahawk missile. There's only one military using a Tomahawk missile. And so it needs to, you know, that is part of what you're describing as a lack of transparency in this administration and a lack of faith on the part of the American people, and me in particular, about their willingness to fess up when they make mistakes or, God forbid, they actually were aiming. I assume they were not at the school. So, yes, it's quite disturbing.

Aaron Maté (11:02)

Now, residents of Illinois and really, folks across America right now are experiencing higher prices at the pump because of what's happening overseas. Are you doing anything, is your state government doing anything to make sure that Illinois residents can afford getting gas these days?

Governor J.B. Pritzker (11:17)

You know, I don't think anybody expects to have an oil shock to have gas prices go up by a dollar a gallon, you know, and people honestly are having to cut back on all of the other things that they have in their lives in order to pay for gas. We're working very hard broadly on lowering costs, but we had not anticipated. This is what we're two weeks in and certainly maybe a week and a half into higher gas prices. So we're looking at all the ways in which first, we want to make sure that if gas prices go up where they have gone up, which is everywhere, but when they go up, that we're able to monitor whether or not the, the increase in gas prices is appropriate to the increase in oil prices. So, as you know, there are companies that try to take advantage of a lack of transparency around pricing. That's true in the grocery pricing. When we had high inflation and it came down, there were lots of folks in the grocery business who kept their prices high, claiming that inflation was continuing. And the same thing is true, can be true in the gas business. So that's one thing that we're doing is, you know, looking for kind of what I would describe as improper pricing and maybe even fraud. So I think, you know, the rest of it is we have, and we did this a few years ago when inflation was very high. We have looked at things like if this sustains, do we need to cut temporarily gas taxes or other. Like we had grocery taxes in the state. I've now eliminated the grocery tax, but we eliminated the grocery tax at the time, time too. So those are examples of things we can do in the very short term that might help people. But we'll have to see if, if it's, you know, these gas prices continue where they are and we aren't able to end the conflict in the Middle east soon, this is going to be a problem not just for Illinois, but for the entire country.

Aaron Maté (13:25)

You mentioned earlier about ice, dhs, cbp. Kristi Noem has obviously been forced out of her job. After she was forced out, you put out a short video essentially alluding to the fact that this may not be the end of accountability for Kristi Noem. What did you mean by that?

Governor J.B. Pritzker (13:42)

Well, let me start by saying hallelujah. You know, I hope she left the keys and was out by five. You know, she was a terrible pick to begin with. I hope Republicans and any Democrats that voted for her confirmation recognize that you can't do that again. We can't have somebody leading Homeland Security who has no idea what they're doing. And I'm very concerned about the new pick about Mark Wayne Mullen. But that's for another conversation, perhaps. What I mean is that, look, there's so many things this administration is doing and they're not holding themselves accountable. And the president, by virtue of a determination by the Supreme Court, is immune. And so when they let, when there's no supervision over ICE and cbp, when there's nobody who's going to suspend somebody and do a proper investigation, then how can you trust anything that they're doing? And so what we've done in Illinois is we created an Illinois Accountability Commission. And I'll, in a moment, we'll talk about how this applies to Nome. But, but we're basically gathering testimony and video of what the crimes potentially, but certainly improper behavior on the part of federal officials was. So that when the time comes, when we actually have a Congress who will investigate, we have a president who will allow people to be held accountable, they will be held accountable. We'll either take them to court on criminal charges or on civil charges, but it's very important that we do that. And Kristi Noem being top of the stack here, you know, we could talk about Tom Homan, we can talk about Gregory Bevino, and we can talk about the ICE and CBP officers on the ground level, but all of them, all of them need to be, you know, interrogated about why they didn't follow the law, why they didn't follow the protocols and the ways in which they didn't do that so that, you know, we can make sure it never happens again.

Aaron Maté (15:48)

Now, Governor, before I let you go, I do want to ask, you were in Selma, Alabama, for the 61st anniversary of Bloody Sunday. What did you take away from that experience, being there?

Governor J.B. Pritzker (15:58)

Well, I was so honored to march with some of the original marchers, the people who suffered during that Bloody Sunday. They were there with us and crossing that bridge. I have to say, you know, I don't know what to call it. It was a kind of a dream of mine to be able to walk, especially with those, those original marchers. And also, I guess I'll say it's a bucket list item, you know, that I think everybody, if you care about civil rights and many people take for granted the rights that we have today, they were fought for by people who gave their lives or people who were injured and who repeatedly showed up to do the right thing, to make their voices heard. We now live in a moment when racism is at a high I haven't seen since I was a little kid, anti Semitism is at a high that I haven't seen maybe in my lifetime. And all fomented, I mean, you have to ask yourself, is it a coincidence that Donald Trump is president of the United States while this is all happening? But that Selma march is an example of people standing up, speaking out, protesting peacefully, suffering for having done that, but having truly changed the world, or at least the United States. And so it makes me really proud to stand with them in the memory of those that were lost and with people who truly have changed the trajectory of this country in a positive way and reminding people we need to do that now.

Aaron Maté (17:35)

Governor, thank you for taking a few minutes. I appreciate it.

Governor J.B. Pritzker (17:37)

Thank you, Aaron.

Aaron Maté (17:38)

Hey folks, thanks so much for watching. Feel free to add this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you watch for the latest breaking news and daily hits throughout the day. Make sure to follow subscribe. See you soon for more Early Birds

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