National Security Leaders for America - Melissa Bryant, John Tien, Jeff Bleich, Thomas Countryman

than may may I begin by um saying thank you so much for being here um this is uh one of the most important conversations I may have uh during this whole campaign uh our our listeners will soon hear why could you could we just begin first and foremost with each of you introducing yourselves why don't we go that way and um and then tell us uh you know everything and anything you'd like are are are the people we connect with know go thank you very much my name is Tom Countryman I served 36 years as a Foreign Service Officer in the Department of State half under Republican half under Democratic administrations served Faithfully both of them the last several years at with responsibility for US policy on nuclear arms control and nonproliferation I'm was nonpartisan then I'm very partisan now not only because Trump poses a threat to our democracy he poses a threat to the survival of humanity this is why the president has sole authority to launch nuclear weapons to start a nuclear war and to entrust that authority to a thin skinned Insomniac narcissist is asking for disaster can't be clearer than that thank you I'm Melissa Bryan I am a former senior advisor and Deputy assistant secretary to secretary MCD at the Department of Veterans Affairs I'm also a third generation War veteran I'm an Iraq war veteran my father was a Vietnam veteran my grandfather was killed in action in World War II we're a gold star family we were not suckers and losers he was not a sucker and loser I'm also a Former Intelligence officer I was in the Army uh intelligence and I worked in a pentagon for several years under a defense intelligence agency the idea of the information that Donald Trump would have in his hands and what he would do with it scares me to death he cannot enter the Oval Office again thank you my name is Jeff BL um I am a uh uh like Tom I've served with Democrats and Republicans alike served under them uh I'm a former United States ambassador to Australia I worked in the um intelligence Community with the Director of National Intelligence uh I represent the United States around the world as chair of the fbite board and have held other national security positions um I think what's what's largely driving me and keeping me awake at night is our allies and partners around the world um great strength of the United States the relationships that we've formed um in terms of sharing information and also developing interoperability with like-minded countries all over the world and it has given America the strength uh that it has uh and has been the source of our our ability to ensure security and prosperity and I'll tell you our partners and our allies are scared to death about Donald Trump being president of the United States again they recognized in him a lack of strategic Clarity an erratic decisionmaking um a narcissism and a selfishness that is unheard of in um American history in the in the Oval Office uh and they are already thinking what will they do and if our partners um and our alliances break down um that makes all of us much less safe go ahead hello my name is uh John Tian I was in the Biden Harrison Administration for two years from 2021 to 2023 as the US Senate confirmed bipartisan Republicans and Democrats deputy secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security I know you were on homeland with Claire Dane so maybe we can talk about some of your insights there sir as well I'm also a 24-year active duty uh retire Eve as a United States Army Colonel with three combat tours uh in Iraq and I think what you see here represented amongst all of us is there's some uh military there's State Department there's dni uh State Department again senior officials policy makers were a group of like-minded individuals called National Security leaders for America I'll say that again for emphasis National Security leaders for America about 800 or so retired generals admirals ambassadors cabinet members like me and Deputy secretaries uh and really civil servants as well and and by the way I was also a civil servant as a US army colonel uh and major in the Clinton Administration with the US trade rep uh in the George W Bush Administration bipartisan on Iraq and the Obama Administration on Afghanistan and Pakistan and of course his Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security and the Bas har Harris Administration my my one you look we all have our reasons for sitting here and we were were in violent agreement on many of these things and the Ambassador just talked about our alliances you know globally in Ford deployed my big concern especially and again you were on homeland you know this I know you got some briefings on on how dangerous the world can be and America can be as the deputy Secretary of Homeland Security I saw what Donald Trump Unleashed on the United States of America not just on January 6th but during his entire Administration he woke up in the dog whistles in he gave uh an opening and a li a way to liberate the darkest corners and and not the better angels of our American souls to essentially come out and say not only do we have a representative here you know it's not somebody on Newsmax or Nick quent on the you know proud boys or something like that it's literally the president of the United States and as Tom just spoke about really the most powerful person in the world he could be powerful in terms of nuclear weapons and equally so equally dangerous in terms of unleashing hate back into our country as Camala Harris and uh and uh Tim Walt said we're not going back can you elaborate a little more on some of the specifics of how he you know woke up some of these Horrors well essentially what he's he's done is given free reign to anybody who wants to come out and say uh we're going to divide this country and again the probys that's tame compared to and again I think you know this on some of the unclassified briefings that you had around there there was something called the dark web right and on the dark web this is where they organize and and know and honestly they've they've been able to move off the dark web because they really don't feel like especially in a trump Administration that there was going to be any ramifications or any consequences that the things that they were saying and doing and to to be fair January 6 was probably uh the most violent uh and most horrifying and disturbing manifestation of allowing that hate to to prosper and it's going to get worse and and and by the way you know one thing we're not talking enough about look there's so unfortunately so much to talk about sir but one of the things we're probably not talking enough about is the fact that he said he's going to Pardon all 1500 people who were involved in January 6 and have been rightfully uh you know prosecuted to the full extent of law as they should have been and what that's going to do forget about dogwell so he's just going to say you can do whatever you want you want to overthrow the government as long as I'm not the one uh being overthrown go ahead and do it not to mention the overt racism that he brought back I know my family as a black woman we felt incredibly threatened the minute that he was elected it felt like George Wallace had been resurrected and elected he awakened a sleeping Beast of such evil in this country that we thought that my family that marched within Civil Rights Movement had eradicated and he brought it right back when you had protesters for black lives matter peaceful protesters for black lives matter and he wants to deploy the National Guard to stop people from executing uh exercising their First Amendment right he does not care he doesn't think I'm a human being he ran away from he he had bone spurs he never went to war my entire family has served my entire family but he thinks for suckers he thinks for losers and he probably doesn't even think I'm a human being that's the kind of man that was in that office before we cannot let him back and with his unburdened ability to do whatever he would want to do given the Supreme Court and given their decisions and saying that now there's no longer presidential or there is now complete presidential immunity no accountability no accountability my God what will he do next what will he do next he's been showing us all along he's told us all along and Dr Angelo said when people tell you who they are believe them believe the first these words yeah well one whenever you're picking someone for a job um you're trying to figure out like um how have they performed in the past and so you check with people who've worked with them you know so um you look at Donald Trump and his National Security team he's had two secretaries of defense say that he was completely erratic um they would never serve with him again he shouldn't be in the obal office one of them um secretary esper said that he actually wanted to use US soldiers to stop protesters by shooting them in the legs and asking why they couldn't you had his National Security advisor say the same thing you had his se you know Secretary of State um come out of a meeting saying the guy is a right these are and that's a diplomat speaking that's that's him using silky language to describe how he felt I mean that tells you everything you need to know um because you know no one else is in the room you've got to trust the people who he picked the most senior most qualified people confirmed by the United States Senate and that's how they responded to him now now contrast that to kamla Harris KLA Harris she was selected for vice president by probably the person with the greatest pedigree on foreign policy for the last 50 years in United States Senate uh Joe Biden and when he picked the person who he would want to step in um if he couldn't serve he chose her and he had seen her performance on the um uh on the intelligence committee he knew who she was he knew her strengths and then when he made the the hard decision to step away he did not hesitate to endorse her so that tells you a lot the people who work close with her are absolutely confident in her skills the people who were close to Trump don't want him anywhere near the uh the Resolute desk again and vice president Harris was so smart also to pick Governor walls to be her vice president too and someone who I worked with uh when he was the ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs committee uh he cares about suicide prevention of veterans remember hearing about 22 a day he made sure that the clay hunt save Act was passed into law so that way we could prevent those 22 veterans who are dying by Suicide per day he wanted to ensure that expansion of the GI bill now the forever GI bill so that I can then pass that to my children and they can receive an education just as I receiv received an education my father received an education these are things that Governor walls believes in and things that Donald Trump mocks he mocks and service should never be mocked service should never be something that is denigrated I'm appalled by JD Vance denigrating the service of another veteran because we know that when only 1% of our country is raising our hand and saying s me we can't afford an all volunteer Force to say that one service is worth more than another it's not it is not but these are people who are on that ticket these are people who say that they uphold American values and they do not let me say that each of us as we began our Public Service took the same oath to preserve protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic that's a lifetime oath each of us still feel Bound by that as an obligation as reflecting upon our personal honor to uphold that oath kamla Harris has read the Constitution Donald Trump never has and his project 1625 I think it's correct to call it 1625 because it discusses the combination of a monarchy and a theocracy uh ignores the Constitution puts all power into the hands of a single individual that's what we have to stand up if we want to see the Constitution the document that makes the United States unique among all nations if we want to see that endure Republic if we can keep it you know I've I've heard you speak before Mr pinank in about the fact that you know again you are on homeland you can tell him a fan you can tell him a fan VI but only it was a great show it's important to have those sorts of show my son's probably going to cut that part out don't cut it it's great no it's great look I'm saying it I'm shining your shoes a little bit obviously but um because we want more time with you right now so if I keep complimenting you maybe we'll we'll have hours uh but no the other reason I'm compliment is for the same reason why I'm glad that uh the Heart Locker is there that American Sniper now sometimes you know Hollywood can get a little bit wrong but this is important for these issues to get out in front of the American people and often times people will point back it's like well that happened to Homeland I've heard you say on some of your other online things sir where you said you got some briefings I've said that a few times and one of the things I've heard you say before is you used to ask some of these briefers there background and like what's the thing you're most concerned about and you and CLA DNE said you would walk out of these rooms are like wow that's going to make a great TV Arc but that's really scary well here's the thing that scares me the most uh and why I think I agree with my colleagues here that a Harris Waltz ticket and a president Harris and a vice president Waltz are are the right leaders at the right time the lead our nation and certainly not uh a president Trump for a second time to fail and a vice uh president Vance is and I know the Ambassador and rarely all of you guys would agree here is that he will he he's already destroyed our alliances one of the things I did uh and I know the Ambassador Tom did this as well you know being deployed out there representing the United States of America with our allies the last thing I did as the deputy secretary was do a five eyes visit uh which are our four closest allies Australia New Zealand UK and Canada and it got hosted in New Zealand uh and I went there and we were sitting around the table was about a year ago and we were all like you know what are we concerned about there's a lot of talk about Indo Pacific and a very aggressive xiin ping and China and they all said yes are we concerned about China yes and Putin yeah he's horrible Ukraine our number one fear these are these four hours Donald Trump and Donald Trump in his current existence and and then if he becomes president again because effectively he's going to hand over the world to everybody else and not and I said why do you think he's going to do that I said not because he believes in it there are some isolationists out there you go World War II right the historians Among Us would say there were a lot of smart people who are like we should be isolationist for a lot of different reasons but Donald Trump you know the reason he's doing it and Tom said it before because he's a narcissist he's self-centered and he only does what's what's good for him and it looks like you know JD Vance's Trump 2.0 in the same way and when JD Vance says I don't care what happens to Ukraine he's saying that to Putin and he's saying about Poland and about NATO but you know what else is he saying and they know they're saying it it's not even again a dog whistle he's saying the xiin Ping about Taiwan the Indo Pacific it is in our US national interest to have strong allies abroad in our US national interest it isn't because we want to be the policemen of the world it's because we are the best democracy in the in in the world and we are that shining City on the hill and this is the way the world should go Ambassador you you brought up Homeland and so I I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up my time with the best people remember when he said he'd bring in the best people to serve with him I served at the defense intelligence agency when Michael Flynn was the director and we were there and we saw The Descent as my uh former colleagues called into madness of things that were the markers of what would become the future National Security adviser of what 21 days I I can't remember measured scar I can't remember how many days he was actually there but those are the best people that he said he was going to bring in and he's already said he's going to bring them back we can't go back to that we cannot go back to people who didn't care when he was serving in uniform he was fired by President Obama for a reason and then he brought him back to be his National Security adviser and he would probably bring him back again and with this again lack of presidential uh uh you know accountability and and Immunity that the Supreme Court has granted him who knows who m we will pardon along with Michael Flynn and others these are types of leaders that he would bring in to do his bidding yeah if if I could just say a word about the intelligence Community cuz you know as Americans we we appropriately you know we see someone in in uniform and we thank them for their service um intelligence community members are in the same places that are um that that that that our uniformed officers are but they're not in uniform no one knows what they're doing um even sometimes their families don't know what they're doing they serve our nation without anyone ever thanking them without anyone ever recognizing their commitment um they are some of the best among us and one of those moments when you really just feel kicked in the gut was when um then president Trump was meeting with Vladimir Putin and he said that he would trust internet rumors over his own intelligence offices right that tells you first just just the um just imping the U the intelligence community but then on top of it um what is he basing decisions on he's basing decisions on internet rumors as opposed to professionally collected data which will inform us about what is in our best interest as a nation um you know that should frighten every American about allowing that person back into the office I tell you this has been as uh extraordinary as any terrifying Spy Camp session that we had for Homeland that we had every season to find out as we asked the question what are you most frightened of when you said at the beginning 800 members of your community of the highest ranking military and intelligence officials and Ambassador and uh in our country who've devoted their lives it's in your DNA to protect the individuals in that office and yet that man has degraded any rights for his nature to be in that office and for any of you to feel that he deserves protection and you have come out to say it just to to shout it to the rafters and I'm certain till your dying days because you know it and you care and love this country and and the children my grandson 2 and 1/2 Yee old my two my my two week old granddaughter in a few days and all of your children and all of our children everywhere that's what we're here for and uh I don't think it's easy for you to talk about a former president no in any way it's A Private Matter until a crime has been committed and a degradation of that office has Stained everything that you put your oath on to support and defend this country and its Constitution it's our duty it's our duty and thanks for giving us a platform to do our duty even better thank you I mean my God this is uh we're not just going to play this once this will we'll we'll we'll put this out there and we'll put it out over and over again and and we'd be happy to connect with any of you guys um again and for longer periods more in depth I think this is a really critical piece of this fight and over the next you know 75 days we're in this you know sometimes these connections just happen by bumping into people in the that's right and that's how it happens so just say yes and show up connect you to other creators and get this message and hear more from you out there and we can have zoom calls you know where different people that you want to say call call these guys get you know we can do it you know there yeah there's more of us there's about 790 more of us yeah so one of those we can make those screens like that you know a little less a little more fuzzy but there's a lot of ways we can communicate and I can't thank you enough thank you thank you good job thank thank my son Gideon too thank you so much thank you bless appreciate thank you and I love Homeland oh it was a great great experience