00:00Secretary, thank you for being here. We need more ships. We're going to give you money to
00:05build more ships. You need to get those ships built. You need to build as many of them as
00:11you can in Louisiana, but let's get them built. General, is Russia our friend?
00:21Sir, they're not.
00:24Between Ukraine and Russia, who do we want to win that war?
00:30Well, we'd prefer there not be a war, but obviously...
00:33Well, but there is. Who do we want to win?
00:35Obviously, we want Ukraine to stand independently and not be consumed by Russia.
00:39Okay. Now, when Putin went into Ukraine, he thought he was going to roll in and take it over in
00:46two
00:46days like thunder on a summer night, didn't he? I believe he did.
00:51But the Ukrainian people have fought back, haven't they?
00:55Yes, sir. They have fought back.
00:56And they now have some of the most sophisticated drone technology in the history of the world,
01:04don't they?
01:04Sir, they do. They're doing very well with drones.
01:06And they're giving, with the limited resources they have, they're giving Russia a curb stomping,
01:13aren't they?
01:14I would say they are.
01:15In fact, they have knocked out, with their limited resources, 40% of Russia's export
01:21ability of their oil.
01:24Since January, using their drones and limited cruise missiles, they have hit oil and gas facilities
01:34within Russia over 100 times.
01:37Not on the border, within Russia.
01:40Right?
01:41Yes, sir.
01:42And Putin was so scared, he almost had to cancel their military parade, didn't he?
01:50Well, I'm not sure of that, sir, but I will take your word for that, sir.
01:54Okay.
01:54All right.
01:55Well, how much money—now, let me just lead you.
02:01The world has $300 billion of frozen Russian assets in escrow, don't we?
02:11I don't know, sir.
02:12I do.
02:13It's $300 billion.
02:14And two-thirds of that, about $200, $225 billion, is sitting in Europe, isn't it?
02:22Again, sir, I'm not sure of that.
02:24Well, I am.
02:25And I'm surprised, no disrespect that you don't know.
02:29Well, and Europe has asked our permission to take that $200 to $225 billion.
02:38Well, let me strike that.
02:40That $225 billion, humor me, that's sitting there frozen.
02:45Not a single penny is American taxpayer money, is it?
02:48I don't believe it is.
02:49No.
02:50It all belongs to Russia, doesn't it?
02:52I believe that is correct.
02:54And the EU has asked our permission to take that money and give it to Ukraine so they can
03:01knock Russia in the next week and let's get this war over.
03:05That's a good idea, don't you think?
03:07Well, I think anything that can be done to stop that war is a good idea, sir.
03:10Would you support giving that $225 billion, no taxpayer money in America, to Ukraine?
03:18Well, again, sir, that's outside my purview as a service chief.
03:21Okay.
03:22Admiral, let me ask you a question.
03:29Would it be fair to say, based on his public and notorious comments, both before, during,
03:40and after the summit between President Xi and President Trump,
03:50that President Xi, how can I put this?
03:55He's nervous as a pregnant nun about what we're going to do on Taiwan, isn't he?
04:02Sir, I do think he is concerned about our capability against any invasion of Taiwan.
04:07I mean, talk about telegraphing your insecurities.
04:12I mean, he talked about it right out of the chute.
04:14He's practically sending us a television ad saying, I'm very worried about Taiwan.
04:22Now, we don't want a war with China, do we?
04:25Absolutely not.
04:26No.
04:27We want stability, though, with China, don't we?
04:29Yes, sir.
04:30And China doesn't recognize, President Xi doesn't recognize charity, does he?
04:36I can't speak to that, but I would say probably not.
04:39Well, he appreciates strength, doesn't he?
04:42I would say so, yes, sir.
04:43If you're in a bar fight with President Xi and you start quoting Socrates like we did under President Biden,
04:51you're going to get your rear end whipped, aren't you?
04:54That's probably not a good course of action.
04:56Yes.
04:57Okay.
04:58So why don't we go ahead?
04:59Don't you think it would be a good idea for us to gain leverage to make weapons sales to Taiwan
05:06right now?
05:07Sir, again, those things are very complex and a full calculus of all the levers of power that are being
05:13negotiated and worked.
05:14But I'm sorry, what more do we have to know, Adam?
05:19President Xi has telegraphed his anxiety, his insecurity, now that he knows that America has learned how to fight.
05:27We want leverage.
05:29We want stability, not a hot war.
05:31We want leverage.
05:32What's his insecurity?
05:34Taiwan.
05:34Why don't we just go ahead and sell the weapons to Taiwan that Taiwan wants?
05:40The president can call President Xi and say, hey, President Xi, don't take it personally.
05:45Don't get excited.
05:47Don't get your bowels in an uproar.
05:48But I'm selling these weapons.
05:51Why wouldn't we do that?
05:53We definitely want Taiwan to be as strong as they can be, sir.
05:56They'd be stronger with those weapons, though, wouldn't they?
05:59Yes, sir.
06:00Don't you think we ought to sell them?
06:02Sir, I'm not going to get in front of the administration's overall calculus on that.
06:05That's just not a – I'm not going to make a statement on that as a service chief.
06:09Okay.
06:09But the capabilities that we're talking about would make them more effective.
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