Rep. Pat Ryan on Expected Impeachment Proceedings Against Pete Hegseth

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Now, Congressmember Thomas Massey of Kentucky has described as a famously anti-Trump GOP lawmaker. He told CNN he plans to trigger a vote to impeach Heggseth when Congress returns next week. Multiple GOP sources say that they expect that vote to pass. Curious what that will look like. Congressmember Massey says there is one contingency in which I won't introduce the articles of impeachment. Heggseth resigns. I want to show you Democratic Congressmember Jason Crowe. Here's his veteran. Here's what he had to say about Pete Heggseth and the type of oversight and accountability that's now going to be coming to the defense department with Democrats taking control of the House. Let's play. I'm going after Pete Heggseth. Not only is he incompetent and corrupt, but he is undermining international security and the safety of our troops. Everything from threatening to do live executions, be a live stream to disparaging women and folks of color and undermining our national security at every turn. I'm going to be relentless night and day to get him out of the Pentagon and to restore the culture of respect and diversity within our military. Should be noted that the Pentagon under Pete Heggseth is currently covering up a report regarding the slaughter of children at Menab Elementary School in Iran and Lamar, a sports hall where the children are playing volleyball. That's being covered up before the elections. Now that the elections over, it's probably still going to be covered up because that's what Heggseth and Trump does. It's important that we understand what the heck happened where our taxpayer dollars are going. It should also be noted that Heggseth has fired dozens and dozens of our top generals and Adam rolls. We've been covering that here on the Midas Touch Network. I mean, literally dozens of two-star, three-star, four-star. I mean, our top talent. Some of the most beloved members of our military, like Army Chief of Staff, General Randy George and Randy George and his wife are like, I can't even stress enough how good a lot of these people are within the Army. General Christopher Donna, U.S. Army Commander of Europe and Africa. I mean, so many other. Obviously, we need an investigation into what is going on there. Also, some of the latest reporting from Fox and others is that the Trump regime is potentially thinking about escalating this catastrophic war that Heggseth and others are still pushing for that right now, even as we know that a lot of our military bases in the region have been destroyed or a logistical center and Bahrain has been destroyed over there. And that's why we had to move to Diego Garcia from the logistical standpoint. I want to talk about all of this, but I want to bring a Democratic Congress member Pat Ryan, Army veteran, served two combat tours in Iraq, West Point grad. Great to see a Congress member, Pat Ryan. I mean, you're also on the key committees here, House Armed Services Committee, the subcommittee on Cyber Information Technology, subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations, and of course, giving your background. We have a lot to discuss, but I just want to start off with Pete Heggseth, impeachment. What do you know about it? What can you tell us? What's your position and the position of others who you speak with in the Democratic caucus? He's got to go immediately. He needs to be impeached. I think he will be impeached. Let's remember 24 hours ago, we had a historic resounding message sent from the American people that they're sick and tired of the whole Trump administration, but particularly this war. And we've talked about this before. I think morally it was wrong, but politically, the Republicans didn't understand that the American people are wise and see how much of a fiasco this has become, how foolhardy it was from the beginning, and that Heggseth fingerprints are all over it. To be clear, though, as you said, Trump was the final decision-maker here, Vance, who's already trying to distance himself now from this war, absolutely can and should not be able to distance himself. I believe Pete Heggseth has the blood on his hands of 22 Americans who were killed, hundreds wounded, many of them with lifelong debilitating injuries and traumatic brain injuries, PTSD, and he's taken zero accountability for that. When we get back in session next week, there will be this privilege resolution every representative will have to stand and be counted. And will you do the right thing on behalf of our troops, 50,000 of them still in harm's way? All of us paying the price at the pump with home heating well, with fertilizer for our farmers. And I believe that the impeachment resolution will pass the House. From what you're hearing is the climate changing a bit. I mean, Trump has cost a lot of Maggie Republicans their jobs. And we've seen when they've left their positions or in a lame duck status, they often behave differently than they did when they were part of the cult or whatever the strange relationship, whatever you want to call it. Are you hearing things that there's a different type of momentum building here? Well, I think it was actually already going to pass. Massey brought this up before the October recess pre-election. And Speaker Johnson cancelled votes a day early to not have to vote on hexes impeachment. That was before the whipping that was just put upon the Republicans. And so I think, yeah, you're going to see a lot of folks who had zero courage throughout seven prior war powers votes, by the way. Zero courage and zero spine may be finally find a shred of it or maybe it's a personal vengeance. So whatever it is, I do think there will be a good number of Republicans. Certainly Democrats will be united. And then the question is, what's next? Does hexeth get the message? Does Trump get the message? Does, you know, can we actually get it over and passed through the Senate? I think we're an uncharted territory, though, given the message sent the other night. And I also think it's important to remember in 2006, after a similar walloping of George W. Bush in those midterms, a few days later, he fired Rumsfeld. And so I think that is an interesting comparison point here. And this loss was even bigger than the George W. Bush loss. Let's talk about some of the different grounds for impeachment you talk about. We were talking about the military bases that Hexeth is kind of actively covering up the damage that's been caused to those bases. He's not letting senators even see like what they look like. I also believe that he's undercounting the injured. I mean, you can see where some of these ballistic missiles and drones hit. And in the past, Trump and Hexeth have claimed headaches or traumatic brain injuries are just headaches when they're not. I mean, it's a TBI. It's a very serious injury. And just, I mean, you've been in combat. I mean, seeing where the Iranian ballistics landed relative to those containerized barracks, if they hit near those areas, I mean, those service members are going to have TBIs. And I saw where they hit. I see the satellite footage that's being shared. So I believe my own view, I don't want to, like I try not, I try to be as diligent with the facts. I believe the number of TBIs could actually be in the thousands that are being covered up that there's that they're hiding. And the bases, I believe, the damage is far more extensive than the amount that they're saying. What what are you able to share about that? I just want to see what I'm reporting. What what you're seeing. Yeah, we have been pushing for almost a year now into this war to get full transparency certainly to the public, but at a minimum to the House Armed Services Committee, which is required by the Constitution required by law, and they have just covered up every way they possibly can. They they try to cover up the death count. I mean, they were claiming, Hexeth was claiming. It was only 18 killed. We forced it out into the public. And then they finally updated it to 22. I I'm certain they're covering up the wounded. I'm certain they're covering up the level of base damage. But you know, I saw friends serving and in contacts and a lot of us veterans that serve do. So we're getting the ground truth. And the ground truth is that we have just done the reprival damage to not only our moral standing, but our munitions stockpile is depleted. Pretty much every base in the Middle East is now uninhabitable. And we still have a huge number of troops on carriers and on ground, 50,000 total folks still in the theater, and they just aren't being honest with us. And so it really does harken back to the worst of the Vietnam era. And all of that is going to come out. I mean, we are going, this is gonna be oversight at a level that has not been seen in the modern era because it's such a corrupt and opaque. And again, it requires us to ramp up our game. And I said it the other day, I'll say it again, Pete Hankseth, you better buckle up, lawyer up, we are coming at you full bore. - Talk about what that oversight looks like. In addition to just the impeachment vote, I mean, there have been, for example, all of these four star, three star, two star, one star, generals, admirals, top talent who have been purged, not just purged, which is humiliated. I mean, you're talking about our top talent, forced out in ways that you wouldn't wish upon like your worst enemy. And these are some of the top people in our military. I guess one, how bad is that? Talk to us in terms of the morale within the military, but to talk to us about how you would do oversight there. I mean, can we expect some of these generals and admirals to be called? I mean, what does that look like? - Yeah, well, on the first part, imagine in the height of the Super Bowl, pulling your quarterback, your running back, your coach, your defensive coordinator, your offensive coordinator. I mean, that we're at war and they're purging highly proven multi decades combat leaders. And when I talk to folks all across the military, they are truly just without words at this point, and furious. And Hegs F is just seen as what he is, which is a clown, who's totally focused on culture award BS, rather than actual preparation for and fighting of successful war. So the damage there is gonna be very long-lasting. We have a lot of work to do to improve it. When it comes to the oversight component of that, yes, I certainly hope we can get some of those folks to come forward. I mean, I think there's nothing more patriotic, especially right now, than speaking truth and shedding light on what has happened. The level of cover-up and failure, I think it would be a huge service to our country's safety. We also, I've been in regular touch with the families of several of the soldiers and Airmen killed in this war so far, and their level of absolute righteous fury about the loss of their loved ones, the failure to get good information, the failure for anyone at a senior level to take accountability. For the literal death of their loved ones, they are, I think, very much ready to come forward. Some of them have already spoken publicly. I'm sure you saw one of the husband of one of our fallen question, Vance, in a town hall, and it was a pathetic showing by Vance, who claimed that he wasn't aware of these deaths of American troops in war. I mean, it's just stunning. We also, I think, are going to see a lot more people come forward once they understand that this is a right and noble thing to do. Then there was, at the early days of this war, those strikes in the elementary school, at the sports hall, Tomahawk missiles. I mean, it's pretty clear what happened. I mean, you can see the Tomahawk striking right around that school, the Minab school killing 168 little girls there. And then you had in Lamar, the sports hall. I think there was a volleyball practice going on. And we used these tungsten kind of pellet that sprayed, it was like experimental and it sprayed on the kids and killed them all. And then there was an active cover-up of that. And they've been basically putting it in the Donald Trump two-week loop, right? And they'll get it in two weeks, they'll get it in two weeks, we'll get it for you then, we'll get it for you then. And they want to cover this up. At the United Nations, they've referred this as a war crime, which is what I believe it is. I mean, there's a lot of war crimes being committed here by this Trump regime. But what do you know about it? What can you share? And it seems like they're still actively covering these heinous war crimes up. - 100%. And this is how you, of course, degrade our moral standing, which he's done on so many levels. It also dramatically affects recruitment, it affects morale of those serving. No one wants that, no one joins to do these things. No one, of course, would join to do harm to an innocent civilian, especially a young girl and anywhere around the world. And so the accumulation of not only these, I do believe that Manabu is a war crime, but also the cover-up and the moral injury that comes with that. And my colleague Sarah Jacobs, who's on the Armed Services Committee with me from California, she has been especially focused on the Manab situation, the cover-up, she has been battling publicly, unprivatly, and we've been backing her up, of course, with the Pentagon to get this report out. We know they've completed these assessments, and they just will not release them to Congress, which, again, is a blatant violation of the law. And then we need to get this out to the public and there needs to be full accountability. And it all to me comes back to Pete Hegseth, and just another in the long list of Massey had prior eight articles of impeachment. And certainly what happened at Manab, the extrajudicial killings, the murders of innocent civilians in Central and South America, who we haven't talked about that started a year ago, the kidnapping of a foreign leader as bad as the Maduro was. I don't think that's the way we want anybody operating in the world that we live in. So it is a very long list. And we are just, as Jason said in that video, I just don't think they understand, especially for those of us that serve. We are coming at them just full, full bore. And we have the receipts. We already are in communication with a lot of folks and I think we'll provide incredibly compelling and disturbing information. Talk about those war crimes that are being committed off the coast of Venezuela that are being committed throughout South America. I mean, we know about a lot of the military strikes on these fishing boats, which the Trump regime is claiming are narco traffickers, which even if they were, you're still entitled to do process. But the criteria doesn't even involve whether there's narcotics on the fishing boats. And there's been really no evidence that there actually is a lot of narcotics on these fishing boats based on what we know in meanwhile, the Trump regime is installing people who aid and abet the highest level narco drug traffickers. And they're partening the top level narco traffickers to me as part of this global Trump authoritarian network that exists, which a lot of people need to pay attention to what's going on with the Javier Malay's and the Bolsonaro's and everything. But we're also, we have troops on the ground doing the bidding of these global authoritarian puppets of Trump in South America right now, where there are troops that are like in war, in war zones, which they're claiming they're going after narco terrorists that they use. But we know that Trump and these kind of puppet stooges, authoritarian dictates just use that also as a way to go after their enemies. And so there's a whole war like going on in South America, in Central America. Yeah, which is, you know, there's so much happening. It's just not getting the attention that it deserves. And this has been going on almost a year now. And back to that original incident, which many of us in Congress were finally able to see the video of those two individuals clinging to that boat. It was one of the most heinous and clearly illegal murders that, I mean, just watching these two folks clinging, trying to just stay afloat. And then they're eviscerated before your eyes. And we still, even then, couldn't get anybody to say to own that and just say that that is what this is. And now it's in the hundreds of folks that have been killed. So clearly, it's morally and legally wrong. It's also really not proven effective. And so we're also expending a huge amount of resources. And once again, I think those participating in these actions, I doubt they feel good going home at night about these kinds of things. And so it just has this corrosive effect on morale. And we're starting to see that in recruiting numbers both quantitatively and qualitatively. It's talked us about that recruiting part because Trump and Higgs have lie about everything. But if you listen to them, you would think what they would say is we've never been more popular. Everybody wants to join. But then you hear these stories of very low morale when you actually speak to people. So what's the real situation? By the way, the same thing when they say drugs are down 90%. It's actually the opposite. It's actually they're up. And the narco traffickers are just finding ways around it. here. attaching the drugs to the bottom of the ships, and they're just, you know, they're using drones, they're finding a lot of ways to evade it, then just the boats, there's a lot of other technology that's developed, but any event. What are you hearing about the issue of recruitment and morale because obviously Trump and Higgs alive and everything? - Yeah, and you don't need to take my word for it. I mean, there were literally eight sailors that tried to take their own life by jumping overboard on the Lincoln. That's just one horrific, egregious example of what happens when you send young patriotic Americans thinking they're gonna go do good in the world or try to bring peace or stability to a place, and they end up staying out there almost a year, getting sent to a war where there's clearly no plan, no buy-in from the American people. No supplies, ultimately. I mean, they were literally living in squalor in cramped quarters, and that's what it comes to. And then we've also started hearing now from a bunch of the families. They've just been in contact with several of the families from Bahrain that were overnight because this war was so hastily called into action. They ripped these families from their homes in the middle of war, sent 'em wherever they could go. Now they're cutting off, the Trump administration's cutting off the funding to allow them to stay in the temporary location that they are, but not saying they can't go back to the homes they were in in Bahrain. So just all across the board. It's just for a party that claims for the military and for the troops, sending them to stupid wars, not taking care of the families while they're there, not having a plan to win the war. And by the way, they're massively trying to cut VA funding as more and more veterans are wounded and need care. They're trying to cut, for example, tonightus, which is one of the most common injuries from these overhead drones after striking troops. And so it's just on every level, it's an absolute betrayal. - And then you've got the Sencom social media account that every day when I look at this thing, it like literally physically hurts me. When I see what they're posting, and then I see Admiral Brad Cooper, which by all accounts before, from what I've heard, in the past, the guy rose through the ranks of leadership, he was a fairly normal guy. And I know it's difficult for some people to criticize a guy who's running Sencom. And my view of it was always, well, these Sencoms gonna tell the truth. But I watch this guy's videos of himself and they look like some wacko maggot tray, it looks like some Baghdad Russian propagandist, though. We control the straight up moves. Look, I'm flying over. I'm like, no one believes this. You're the head of Sencom. What's your perspective on what you see there? - Yeah, it pains me to say it, but I've lost tremendous respect for Admiral Cooper. And I think he's auditioning to try to be the next chairman of the joint chiefs, and so he's just playing the field tea to trump game. And that's disgraceful. I think that's what is happening here. And we've seen this now, when General George was pushed out, that he talked about earlier, who I've known a long time and is a true, true patriot, beloved by all who he served with. It was because they feared that at a critical moment, he would be loyal to the constitution, rather than to trump. And then you saw in the Navy some bombshell reporting that Admiral Franketti was pushed out by the new chief of naval operations, who was back channeling through his brother to Hegs F, that don't worry, I'm your guy. And all of a sudden, we look, as you said earlier, a lot like these autocratic authoritarian regimes that we absolutely never want to look like in the way that we operate our military, is that are loyal to an individual rather than loyal to the values in trying 250 years ago in our constitution. - Look, we should never have been involved in this catastrophic war in the first place, in my view. But let's just assume that somebody says we should have done it. Like, you know, the Neocons who want the war, who've never fought the wars like you fought. Like, but when you see the implementation of what they've actually done, I don't understand how they look at that. If this is their vision to go up, that's when I'm thinking from just a sheer military tactical standpoint. I mean, you're a military intelligence officer. There's no intelligence in the plan. We've got two aircraft carriers, a thousand kilometers plus in the Arabian Sea that kind of sit there, trump brags that were pirates, and that we're basically using our proud freaking Navy as like an oil escort operation, where oil was getting out of the strait of war moose. Iran's able to strike five to 10% of the vessels, which increases the risk premium, so that it costs $1.5 million a day for a very large crude carrier to get out, which already adds $33 a barrel to the cost, even if it gets out, but Iran's striking it. Iran seems to be utilizing a clear strategy, multifaceted, mosaic, a lot of layers to it. I know who their leaders are because I'm studying it now 'cause art regime here lies to us. And then you just have trumps and all their leaders are dead. Nobody knows who they're dealing with. And meanwhile, not only are they outmaneuvering us, like crazy on the military side, they're like literally in front of our eyes, building a new security architecture in the region with Russia and China, and you see the meetings of Wang Yi and Lavrov going back and forth. You see the mecca packed and how it's all relating. And then this Trump regime serves it up here like, yeah, you know, we've won the war, and I'm like, what is this? Like what the, this is dumb. This is like the dumbest thing I've ever even seen. Of course, we shouldn't have been it, but I struggle with it. You could see, I struggle with this every day and I try to understand it that way. Talked to us about that 'cause there's no strategy. - I feel like this is a therapy session. I feel this, because you know something better than me, so I could talk to somebody. - Clearly, I mean, you know it incredibly well. Like, those of us that have dedicated our careers to thinking about these issues, it is like, my blood pressure is permanently elevated to see the level of ineptitude and then lies and cover ups around it. And so you're right, again, it very much pains me to say, 'cause I have no love for the Iranian regime certainly, but they have a clear strategic aim. They are linking the appropriate means to do it. They understand the importance of information warfare and that ultimately our center of gravity of the American people is the will of the public. And obviously the midterm sent a very clear message that the public never wanted this war, certainly doesn't want it anymore. And just vehemently rejects everything that goes along with it. And so we are now in, like the word fiasco continues to come to my mind because it's a quick sand situation. And I don't think we're ever gonna get back to how we were in the straight. Meanwhile, to your point, I mean the Chinese, our pop and champagne bottles on a daily basis, as we hurt our own ability to deter them and deal with them, as we pull carrier strike groups from the Pacific, which there's now not a carrier strike group there for several months, which is just absolutely irresponsible and incredibly dangerous. And so again, the damage that we're gonna have to try to put these pieces back together and build something better, it's really tough, but I'm a glass half full person. I think it gives us hopefully some opportunity to try to build something out of the sort of the ashes here. If we can make it through another two years. And that's why us pounding on this now in the majority in a massive historic majority in both the House and the Senate, it really does give us real leverage the power of the purse. I introduced a bill called the No Funds for a Ron War Act. It's just very straightforward. It says not a single dollar can be spent on this war or in the region around it. I think we might be in a position where I can finally get some Republicans on that, I hope. And that that's certainly gonna be something that will pass once we take charge of January. - Very last question. Tanker with Russian diesel heading to the United States. Obviously it's a violation of the law here. The Supreme Court gave Trump absolute immunity, but the corporations that buy it don't have immunity. The intermediaries here don't have immunity. And so they don't know what to do. I hear the Trump regime is pressuring them. Take the diesel, take the diesel. Now Democrats control the House and have subpoena power. What's the message there if you're thinking about taking on Russian diesel or Russian sanctioned products in your and American company? - Yeah, and you alluded to this earlier too in terms of how we'll think about oversight. We're gonna go straight at Trump and straight at the cabinet and certainly straight at Hexf. But anybody who's been part of enabling this, certainly anybody who's committed criminal actions. But anybody who really has just been part of this sort of pathetically silent spineless, we're just gonna go along so that our profits can be maximized while the American people are hurt while the world gets lit on fire. We will absolutely be bringing in. And if subpoenas are needed, I'm very confident that we'll be part of what we do. Companies that are in on any of the violation of sanctions laws as you talked about. These defense companies that all the sudden Trump's family and sons are on the board. Or have massive shares in if if you know that the level of corruption that while American soldiers are dying We're all paying 450 plus at the pump that Trump's kids and family and cronies are these defense stocks have nearly doubled Of the big defense primes and the oil companies of course Exxon mobile's doubled over the last year They will absolutely be brought forward. I appreciate your time. I appreciate it the moment you ran for office and It is a bit of a therapy session for me and probably the millions of people who are watching this because we're craving Intelligent conversations from people who have lived it and know what they're talking about and and you Define the leadership that I think is really needed now. It's why I really wanted to have this conversation. So congressman Ryan appreciate you Thanks, Brian. Same same to you. Everybody hit subscribe. 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