Donald Trump (1:58)

Our Director of National and International Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, who's doing a great job with Tulsi, she took a lot of heat two days ago because she went in at Pam's insistence. She went in and she looked at votes that want to be checked out from Georgia they say, why is she doing it? Right, Pam. Why is she doing it? Because Pam wanted her to do it. And you know why? Because she's smart and she.

Aaron (2:35)

So now it's because Pam wanted her to do it. So, okay, last night he said he didn't know. Today he said Pam Bodney wanted her to do it. This is Tulsi Gabbard's letter to Vice Chairman Warner and Ranking Member Himes. Members of Congress, quote, read this line with me. My presence was requested by the President and executed under my broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate and analyze intelligence related to election security, including counterintelligence, foreign and other malign influence in cybersecurity. So she's saying Donald Trump requested her to do it. Donald Trump is saying he has no idea why she was there. He also said that it was Pam Bondi who requested her to do it. So is she lying to Congress or is Trump throwing her under the bus? It all comes as she has been embroiled in pretty significant scandals lately. Remember, the Wall Street Journal reported that there is a whistleblower complaint that was sent to Congress that was so secret, so potentially damaging to national security, that it has been kept under lock and key right now in essentially a safe in the Office of Director of National Intelligence. And while a lot of people are like, is this normal? I don't think it is. I spoke with someone who's actually pretty integral and knows how the inner workings of the Trump national security works. Alexander Vindman, big impeachment witness during first Trump's first term. Now he's running for Senate in Florida in Trump's second term. So I spoke with him this afternoon. I want you to take a listen to what he had to say because I think it's pretty big. So without further ado, before I do, make sure to, like, comment, share and subscribe. Spread the word. Here's my interview with Alexander Bendman. Super excited today to be joined by Alex Bendman, who recently announced his campaign for United States Senate in Florida. Now, Alex, I just gotta ask you, why do you want to run for Senate?

Alexander Vindman (4:21)

Hey, Aaron, good to see you. Thanks for having me on your show. I think, frankly, the moment requires action. I'm looking around my community here in Florida. I'm looking around the country, seeing the chaos, seeing, seeing the, the violence in the streets. Something that we haven't really witnessed in, in a long, long time. This is being perpetrated by the federal government against, you know, peaceful civilian populations. It's deeply disturbing, the corruption that we're witnessing around the country unprecedented scale. I mean, we've had problems in the past as a kind of growing democracy, but we've never seen the, the rampant theft, theft that we've seen under this administration. And, and I live in Florida, 21 and a half year army veteran, not, not a career politician. And I keep, it keeps going through my mind this mantra that, you know, wherever you go, you leave it better than you found it. And I think frankly, Florida is headed in the wrong direction right now. That that chaos is also a part of what, what Floridians face with insecurity. We have a very large Hispanic population that is seeing members of their community abused. The corruption is. It's a system that's being increasingly rigged with the powerful politicians working with large corporations to shift the burden onto working families, ordinary people to further enrich, I mean, the ultra, ultra wealthy with their enormous entitlements, feel like they still need to put the squeeze to get every last bit of blood out of ordinary people, working families. And my opponent, Ashley Moody, in this state is part of the problem. She's a career politician. She's appointed hand selected by the elites in this state to be an automatic yes vote for their radical agenda. And that is something that doesn't sit well with me. I'm here with my wife and daughter. This is where we chose to live, where we retired after 21 and a half years of the army telling me where to go. I moved my parents down here. And I just can't sit by and let this chaos, corruption and a system rigged against ordinary people to unfold without stepping up and jumping back into public service.

Aaron (6:47)

Now, you mentioned corruption and you know the Trump administration better than most. Being that you were an integral witness in the first Trump impeachment inquiry during his first administration. I got to ask you, seeing what you're seeing now, whether it's with the Epstein files, whether it's with various alleged abuse of power by the President of the United States. Do you feel like we are in a worse or better place today than when you were still in the administration?

Alexander Vindman (7:11)

We're in a much, much worse place today in the second Trump administration where there are no guardrails, no checks on power, that one of the principal culprits is a Congress is a Senate that doesn't do its job, is getting paycheck, but is not showing up to be that co equal branch of government to be a check on power. And I guess my public notoriety is around this idea that I call things the way I see them. If I think it's wrong. It doesn't make a difference which party. I'll call it out. My public notoriety was reporting corruption at the highest levels of government. So we are headed in a really dangerous direction. We're headed in a direction in which folks feel really desperately insecure, don't necessarily recognize their communities, their country, the way that they've come, grew up seeing it, or the promises of enjoying an American dream. And we need to change that direction. And frankly, we need to fix a broken system where the ultra wealthy, where the large corporations profit and extract every drop of blood out of a population that believes in a system that's fair and free and accessible to all.

Aaron (8:39)

I got to ask you, I don't know if you saw there was a recent reporting from the Wall Street Journal about a whistleblower report against Tulsi Gabbard that's so highly classified and such a danger to national security, it's under lock and key. And then yesterday, Senator Ron Wyden sent a letter to the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, simply with one line saying, I'm essentially worried about some type of CIA activities. Is this normal? I mean, is this how this operates?

Alexander Vindman (9:04)

Yeah, the system is broken. The system doesn't have. Is not operating the way our founding fathers designed. There's an executive branch that's supposed to implement the laws that Congress writes. It is not unbridled power exercised in whatever direction the chief executive or cabinet officials choose. I mean, this is a rock from the top. But it's also DHS sending signals to ICE to be able to abuse the population. It's also the intelligence community not following, not limiting the scope of their activities to what the law prescribes. You know, we have Tulsi Gabbard involved in the Fulton County Electoral Commission investigation, which is absurd, into, you know, to substantiate Trump's claims of a stolen election. None of this is working the way it's supposed to. We should have elected officials in the House, in the Senate, that are doing their jobs, protecting and looking out for their populations. That is not the case. We have instead a complicit elected class that's happy to work with power, collaborate with power, collaborate with wealth, in order to, you know, in order to put the squeeze on the American people to, you know, further enrich, to further consolidate power. This is deeply, deeply disturbing. I. When I swore my oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, enemies, both enemies, foreign and domestic, many decades, more than two decades ago, it was with this idea of, you know, we have. We're Protecting something unique, beautiful. And I think we need folks that are stepping up, veterans that are stepping up in different races. That's why I'm stepping up to look out for the American people, to be a fighter for Floridians. That's my intent, to make sure that we have somebody looking out for people, just trying to have a chance at the American dream.

Aaron (11:09)

Now, we spoke about the first impeachment inquiry. Do you believe that the conduct we've seen over the past year has risen to impeachment levels again? Like, if you were in the Senate, would you potentially support an impeachment resolution against the president based on actions over the past year?

Alexander Vindman (11:25)

Look, I, I understand that the job I'm going for is very different than anything I've done before. The job of a senator is to evaluate the impeached that are. That the House brings before them and make a judicious claim, make a judgment on, you know, the merits. I think that there are many disturbing things that we're seeing that the House is likely to investigate. When there is a, you know, when there is a House that's prepared to check the abuses of the Trump administration, when I'm a senator, those as they come to me, I'll evaluate them on, on the merits and make a judgment call. Not driven by politics, not driven by special interests, but based on the merits and act in a consistent way with how I behaved the entirety of my career. Bottom line is that I think people could rely on me to do the right thing in the right way, the way I've, I've proven I can do in the past. And I hope that Floridians and the American public, public understand that I'll be a fighter in their corner.

Aaron (12:33)

Now, before I let you go, I do got to ask you, I'm from Florida. I think Florida is a long shot for a lot of reasons. Ron DeSantis is obviously governor. You have two Republican senators. Haven't had a Democratic senator since Bill Nelson. Why do you think Florida is flippable this cycle?

Alexander Vindman (12:47)

So I wouldn't do this if I thought I was just going to be a bullet magnet and, you know, take the, the, the heat from the Trump administration. My family's been through that before. We've, we've experienced being forced out of government, being, you know, attacked by Trump and Trump Inc. This is very different. What we're seeing this time around is a population that is feeling deeply insecure about the direction that the state's headed, a population that is very focused on just kind of making it by and living the promised life in Florida, one in which people come here because of affordability, sunny days, you know, kind of a nice life, whether that's to work, if you're still working, or retirement. What I'm feeling just, just jumping into this race is a groundswell of support from Floridians and from across the country for a different direction, kind of a new hope infiltrating Florida politics that we can do this. And in fact, I'm seeing concrete evidence that's what drove me to do this, that we have a path here. We have a path to reach out to communities that are disengaged with regards to politics. We have a path that we're promised some, you know, by snake oil salesmen, some easier days ahead with regards to inflation and, and economics. And that's not been, that's not being delivered. Instead, we have chaos at home and abroad. And I think the Florians are looking for something different. This is a very, very different cycle. And I'm very optimistic about being able to deliver this, this race and frankly, some checks and balances, which is fundamentally what, what Floridians are looking for. And, and, you know, this is something that my wife is tired of hearing me say, but we're going to end the chaos, we're going to crush corruption and we're going to cut costs, and that's what Floridians are looking for and that's what they're going to be voting for in November. So I'm very optimistic about our, our prospects.

Aaron (14:49)

Well, thanks so much for joining me this morning, Alex.

Alexander Vindman (14:51)

Thanks. Thanks for having me.

Aaron (14:53)

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.