00:00I'm going to move on. Director Gabbert, you tweeted yesterday that President Trump concluded
00:05there was an imminent threat and made a decision to attack Iran after carefully
00:10reviewing all of the information before him. I think the country deserves to know what the
00:16information was. I'm going to ask a series of questions and just want a yes or no. We don't
00:22need any explanation just yes or no starting with were you asked I'm not
00:30asking if you did brief this were you asked to brief on whether Iran would
00:35close the Strait of Hormuz? I'm not going to comment on what the president did or
00:42didn't ask me on any topic. I'm not even I'm not asking if you briefed it I'm
00:46just asking if there was a request. I understand. By the White House. Director Ratcliffe.
00:52Were you asked to brief on whether Iran would close the Strait of Hormuz? The
00:59the briefings to the to the president of the White House typically don't come at
01:03the request of the White House. So typically when we get intelligence that
01:07we want the president to be aware of the intelligence community brings that to
01:10to the president. Did you produce the analysis for the Straits of Hormuz? There
01:15has been and continues to be analysis with respect to that. Were you asked to
01:19brief on how our adversaries and allies would respond to the war in Iran? I
01:28imagine I'll get the same answer. So it's just to point out here it's
01:34challenging to forget about actually what was in the brief for a second. We're
01:38having a hard time finding out not only if you briefed the president on
01:42something but even if the White House asked if they could be briefed on
01:48something or if analysis was produced. So I just want to point out here this is
01:54about six days. Can I comment on that? I go back to the point. It's the same
01:59approach that we took to the to the prior operations which to your credit
02:03senator you you have praised the intelligence and military communities in
02:09operation midnight hammer and operation absolute resolve. It's the same approach
02:14and the same professionals in terms of how they approached this particular
02:17operation. We're trying to figure out if the president knew what the downside was
02:23of the Strait of Hormuz being closed and I'm having a hard time finding out
02:28whether the White House asked or whether there was a brief whether the
02:31president knew did he know this was going to happen or did he just disregard it and I
02:37just want to point out something that was released about six days ago. This is a
02:41fundraising email from the president from the president of the United States and
02:48in this email here where there's multiple links to donate money it says as a
02:55national security briefing member you'll receive my private national
03:01security briefings. Director Gabbard or Director Radcliffe do you think the
03:09public should be able to supporters of the president should be able to pay and
03:14receive his private national security briefings. I assume these are briefings
03:18director Radcliffe that you provide to the president that is now going to be
03:23provided to somebody who makes a. Regardless of what that I don't know that
03:27document is but regardless of what it says it didn't happen. Oh no this is new.
03:33But what I'm telling you is that the Hatch Act would prevent me from an apolitical
03:38role from engaging in that. I'm not aware that anything like that happened. Yeah
03:42this says unfiltered updates. So Director Gabbard do you have any comment on
03:48whether unfiltered updates of private national security briefings should be
03:53made to individuals that donate to the president. I'm not I'm not familiar with
03:58that document and. It's it's been made very public six days ago. We'll get you a
04:06copy here because I agree with you director director Radcliffe that the
04:10Hatch Act should prohibit this type of conduct. Thank you. I'm gonna move on
04:15Director Gabbard you tweeted yesterday that President Trump concluded there was an
04:21imminent threat and made a decision to attack Iran after carefully reviewing all
04:26of the information before him. I think the country deserves to know what the
04:31information was. I'm gonna ask a series of questions and just want a yes or no.
04:37We don't need any explanation just yes or no starting with were you asked I'm not
04:44asking if you did brief this. Were you asked to brief on whether Iran would
04:50close the Strait of Hormuz. I'm not gonna comment on what the president did or
04:57didn't ask me on any topic. I'm not even I'm not asking if you briefed it. I'm
05:01just asking if there was a request. I understand. By the White House. Director
05:05Radcliffe. Were you asked to brief on whether Iran would close the Strait of
05:12Hormuz? The the briefings to the to the president of the White House typically
05:17don't come at the request of the White House. So typically when we get
05:21intelligence that we want the president to be aware of the intelligence
05:24community brings that to to the president. Did you produce the analysis for the
05:29Straits of Hormuz? There has been and continues to be analysis with respect to
05:32that. Were you asked to brief on how our adversaries and allies would respond to the
05:41war in Iran? I imagine I'll get the same answer. So it's just to point out here it's
05:48challenging to forget about actually what was in the brief for a second. We're
05:52having a hard time finding out not only if you briefed the president on
05:56something but even if the White House asked if they could be briefed on
06:03something or if analysis was produced. So I just want to point out here just
06:08about six days. Can I comment on that?
06:11Yes. I go back to the point. It's the same approach that we took to the to the
06:16prior operations which to your credit Senator you you have praised the
06:21intelligence and military communities in Operation Midnight Hammer and
06:26Operation Absolute Resolve. It's the same approach and the same professionals in
06:30terms of how they approached this particular operation. We're trying to
06:33figure out if the president knew what the downside was of the Strait of
06:39Hormuz being closed. And I'm having a hard time finding out whether the White
06:44House asked or whether there was a brief, whether the president knew. Did he know
06:49this was going to happen or did he just disregard it? And I just want to point out
06:53something that was released about six days ago. This is a fundraising email from the
07:00president from the president of the United States and in this email here where
07:05there's multiple links to donate money. It says as a national security briefing
07:11member you'll receive my private national security briefings. Director Gabbard or
07:21Director Radcliffe do you think the public should be able to supporters of the
07:26president should be able to pay and receive his private national security
07:31briefings? I assume these are briefings, Director Radcliffe, that you provide to
07:35the president that is now going to be provided to somebody who makes a donation.
07:41Regardless of what that, I don't know that document is, but regardless of what it
07:45says, it didn't happen.
07:46Well, no, this is new.
07:48But what I'm telling you is that the Hatch Act would prevent me from an apolitical
07:53role from engaging in that. I'm not aware that anything like that happened.
07:57Yeah, this says unfiltered updates. So, Director Gabbard, do you have any comment on
08:03whether unfiltered updates of private national security briefings should be made to
08:09individuals that donate to the president?
08:11I'm not familiar with that document. It's been made very public six days ago. We'll get
08:21you a copy here because I agree with you, Director Radcliffe, that the Hatch Act should prohibit
08:27this type of conduct. Thank you.
08:29Even in your printed testimony today on page six, and your last paragraph on page six, as
08:36a result of Operation Midnight Hammer, Iran's nuclear enrichment program was obliterated.
08:40There's been no efforts to try to rebuild their enrichment capability.
08:44You omitted that paragraph from your oral opening. Was that because the president said
08:53there was an imminent threat two weeks ago?
08:55No, sir. I recognized that the time was running long, and I skipped through some of the
08:59portions of my oral delivered remarks.
09:04The president chose to omit the parts that contradict the president. The president continues to
09:09say as well that, you know, he had no idea, was shocked that the Iranians had moved to
09:15take over the Strait of Hormuz. Did you provide any intelligence that would say that it would
09:21be, that it was not likely that the Iranians would try to move on the Strait?
09:27I'm not aware of those remarks, and I think those of us here at the table can point to
09:32the fact that, historically, the Iranians have always threatened to leverage their
09:37control. Why would the president say he was amazed?
09:40I'm not aware of those remarks. What about the comments the president made that
09:43thought that he was surprised, again, reports that Iran struck the adjacent Gulf states?
09:51Well, let me ask you this. Did you brief the president? Did you brief the president,
09:56did you brief the president, if he starts a war of choice, that the likely result would
10:03be that Iran would strike adjacent Gulf nations and close the Strait of Hormuz? Did you brief him
10:11on those two facts that I think have been consistently the assumptions of the intelligence
10:18community? I have not and won't divulge internal conversations. I will say that those of us within
10:24the intelligence community continue to provide the president with all of the best objective
10:29intelligence available to inform his decisions.
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10:43We'll see you next time.
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