Rep. Himes on Democrats Going on Offense

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We're seeing Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee fighting back an incredible explosive hearing yesterday where Democratic members were not taking the B.S. peddled by the Trump regime officials who were testifying.
Let me show you what went down. The ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, Congress member Himes, said the following to Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence.
Let's play it. You on March 15th as DNI retweeted a post from Ian Miles Chong,

who is listed on RT, that's russia today's website as quote a political and cultural commentator who has contributed content to rt since at least 2022 director gabbard do you think that it's responsible for you as head of the intelligence community and the principal's presidential intelligence advisor to retweet posts from individuals affiliated with Russian state media? That retweet came from my personal account, and I would have to go back to look at the substance of the tweet. Can I, just so that we don't have a lack of confusion amongst our allies and enemies and us.
Can I act perhaps that you not think that you should be saying one thing on your personal account and you say officially? I maintain my First Amendment rights to be able to express my own personal views on different issues. Thank you.
I yield back. What the director of national intelligence saying that she has that she wants to use her First Amendment rights to repost Russian propaganda.
Great questioning there by Congressman Himes. Then you had Democrat Democratic Congress member Castro.
Here, say the following. Let's play it.
Thank you, chairman. Tulsi, you and I came into the Congress together in 2013.
And cash, you and I, I was serving on the Intelligence Committee

when you worked on the Intelligence Committee.

And John, you and I are both from Texas,

and we both served together

on the Intelligence Committee.

Y'all, the idea that this information,

if it was presented to our committee,

would not be classified,

y'all know is a lie.

That's ridiculous.

I've seen things much less sensitive be presented to us with high classification. And to say that it isn't is a lie to the country.
Then Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthy, let's play it. A terrorist is at his known location, so should be on time.
Also, strike drones launch MQ-9s. MQ-9s is a weapon system, correct? They are.
Okay. I think applying the executive order as well as the DOD manual to this fact pattern, we clearly have weapon systems that have been identified.
That is classified information. Now, the reason why it's important that this information not be disclosed is that we don't want the adversaries to know what's about to happen.
Right, sir? Well, I would draw a small distinction there. You referenced and asked if that platform, those two platforms are weapon systems.
They are, but those terms are used all across the globe in a lot of contexts. So it's really about how they're used in the context of this particular document.
I just want to clarify that the use of those. I understand.
In this situation, those are operational details. They are operational details.
But again, as you've quoted the DOD instruction, it's about operations. So as you further go down into what are the operational details, I think as we had a discussion yesterday, the important aspect, I think all of us are very familiar.
This is classified information. This is classified information.
It's a weapon system as well as sequence of strikes, as well as details about the operations. Let's bring in Congress member Jim Himes, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee.
I guess, first off, it is classified information, correct? As the ranking member, this was classified information that was leaked. Well, it absolutely should have been classified information, right? I mean, there's no doubt about that.
Whether it was actually classified, I suppose it's something that they would like to argue about. By the way, if it wasn't classified, that's a whole other scandal because the timing and nature of an attack on a foreign country, you know, not a hard one, as Raja so ably pointed out.
Where are we at with this right now? I mean, you led for the Democrats as the ranking member, the Democrats in the House Intelligence. Where are we at? Where do we go from here? What's going on? Yeah, I think, you know, there's a couple of pieces that have to be satisfied here.
Number one, we need to get a complete inventory of whatever was on this crazy signal chat,

right?

That is not provided to us by Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic, right?

So step one, you got to produce the entire signal chain, everything that was on it.

Secondly, there needs to be an investigation over precisely how it happened for two reasons.

Number one, it can never happen again.

We're getting all twisted up in the underwear here over, you know, is it classified or not classified or, you know, is it a violation of the representation? This can never happen again. We're getting all twisted up in the underwear here over, you know, is it classified or not classified? Or, you know, is it a violation of the representation? This can never happen again.
If and I know my Republican friends want to convince you that, well, they didn't precisely name the target. Guess what? If the Houthis knew that we were coming on any given day, that could have resulted in dead pilots or it could have resulted in them sinking a naval ship.
Right. So anyway, we need to know exactly what happened.
We need the investigation to cough up how it happened. And then, of course, we need a commitment that it never happens again and that we learn from it.
And whatever accountability this unaccountable administration thinks is wise to to impose on the people who are involved. But, Congressman, this couldn't possibly just be the only one.
Like the way they named the chat, Houthis, small group, the way everyone seemed to conduct what was taking place as business as usual, at least it tells me that this is what they're doing all the time, every day with other plans, other attacks. We don't know that yet for a fact, but it seemed as a lawyer, it seemed pattern and practice like.
So what's being done to determine if this is rampant, if this is how they do it all of the time? And do you think this is how they've been conducting business all of the time like this on signal chats with very sensitive information. Okay, broadly, let's start with a slightly even broader question, which is, is this an administration that is operating with prudent guidelines, following rules, doing things with competence? No, this is the administration that apart from setting up a signal chat, decided to fire the people who maintain and look after our nuclear weapons.
Oops. Well, that was a mistake.
I mean, there is absolutely no reason to believe that this signal chat about, you know, a pending attack is anything other than indicative of the way they do business. And so you raise exactly the right questions.
But for Jeffrey Goldberg, we would never know about this in all likelihood. Right.
So you raise a critical question, which is where else are they screwing this kind of stuff up? Right. Is there a Facebook page that Elon Musk set up where there's a whole bunch of social security numbers or, you know, medical records? The oversight task is enormous.
And then let me say this too. I know what was happening here.
You just have to read Pete Hegseth's typed in text about F-18s launching accompanied by MQ-9s, weather good, CENTCOM says go. This is Pete Hegseth playing soldier, right? It's just the testosterone upwelling he gets when he gets to type MQ-9s en route is his life right now.
He know, he's a guy who is, you know, not even

closely qualified to the position he has. And so when he gets to get on a signal chat

with his buddies and say, we're a ghost and comp says all in F18s, it just makes him feel really,

really good. Sadly, of course, it puts our people at risk.
Now, your Republican colleagues,

who I think once upon a time would like labels like national security hawk and this and that, their response has either been, this is normal, this is cool, oopsies, mistakes happen, or yeah, I'm concerned about it.

It's a mistake.

I think the strongest statement we got was somewhere between oopsie and it's a mistake, maybe on the Senate slightly stronger. So what could you do, though, as the ranking member? That means you're the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, but you still don't control the committee.
You don't have subpoena power. They get to control the course What can you do in that reality? Yeah, it's a great question.

And it's a question. You don't have subpoena power.
They get to control the course of what can you do in that reality?

Yeah, it's a great question. And it's a question that when you're in the minority, like I am, like the Democratic Party is, is always has a somewhat unsatisfying answer.
You know, in the Senate, the Democratic senators have a few more tools at their disposal. on the House side where the House majority rules

and where the Speaker of the House is a wholly owned subsidiary of Donald J. Trump

and where the Speaker of the House is a wholly owned subsidiary of Donald J. Trump and where with maybe one or two exceptions, I'm thinking Don Bacon and a few others, people are absolutely terrified by the political end that they will encounter if they get in the way of this president.
There's just not a lot of things that you could do to even wake up the Republicans who, if this had been done under the Biden administration, they'd have war paint on and be burning the buildings down. In fact, I pointed this out yesterday in closed session, which is, okay, folks, let's stop the pearl clutching and the arguments about whether F-18 is a precise war plan.
You know that if Barack Obama's administration or Joe Biden's administration had done that, we would have to deploy the National Guard to calm you guys down. I want to get your take on Elise Stefanik.
It's being announced that her nomination is being pulled for the ambassador to the United Nations. This follows, I think Republicans are getting worried about the electoral map that they're seeing.
They saw what happened in a Pennsylvania state race that never went Democrat since 1889 and a Democrat won in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I think they're seeing kind of what's happening in Florida right now in these specials.
People are saying that's behind it. But Elise Stefanik, she morphed from moderate to ultra MAGA, ultra MAGA.
And now Hegseth gets to be Secretary of Defense and Stefanik does not get to be ambassador to the United Nations. Some might call it karma.
Some might use other words. What's your response to all of this? Yeah, well, it certainly is interesting politically, you know, and I don't know.
We'll see in this race in Florida that apparently is in a Republican plus 30 district. And I guess the Democrat is five points behind.
We'll see what's happening out there. I don't think they really think that that very red district is at risk.
But I do think inside this building, I do think that there are a whole lot of Republicans who have realized that the time has run out on the idea that you can cut $880 billion out of Medicaid through waste, fraud, and abuse. A lot of people got very sober wake-ups this week when they realized, oh my God, I got to go back to my constituents and tell them that we're about to destroy Medicaid.
So I think they start to see the unanimity fraying here. You know, from Elise's standpoint, I know Elise really well.
We served on the Intelligence Committee together. It's almost, you said karma, it's almost Shakespearean, right? I mean, Elise was a classic Bob Dole Republican when she got here, you know, did what she needed to do to become a MAGA darling.
And now just as high office is right there, you know, the Shakespearean gods have pulled that out, pulled the rug out from under her. So it's a karma, Shakespearean, whatever you want to call it.
Congressman, as we start hearing more about the framework of the budget, as we start hearing about what they're doing as we reach the debt ceiling, we'd love for you to come back and talk about that. But any other thoughts, where things start to head on that front this week, next week, as some of those details start to emerge? Sure.
I mean, look, for the people who are sane enough not to immerse themselves in this stuff, what's about to happen, and this is part of what's happening with Elise Stefanik, is that the Speaker has told his most ferocious budget hawks that we're going to absolutely obliterate the budget. He got their votes, and then he told the moderates, don't worry, we're not going to obliterate the budget.
We're going to keep Medicaid safe. He's told people completely irreconcilable things, and those chickens are coming home to roost right now.
And so I think we're in for a pretty wild and woolly next couple of weeks as Republicans realize that the, you know, the canyon that they've that they've backed themselves into. Well, we hope to have you back soon to walk us through that canyon, take us through the trail and hopefully get us out of MAGA land back into

the world of normalcy, Congress member. Thanks for joining us.

Thank you so much. Take care.

Congressman Jim Himes, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee.

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