Bill Kristol

You had on the Sunday interview on Substack yesterday Tom Malinowski, former congressman from New Jersey. And you also were talking about the Cutter Plain bribe. And Malinowski kind of had a little bit of a different take on it. So why don't you kind of give us a little recap of what you guys discussed on that?

You had on the Sunday interview on Substack yesterday Tom Malinowski, former congressman from New Jersey. And you also were talking about the Cutter Plain bribe. And Malinowski kind of had a little bit of a different take on it. So why don't you kind of give us a little recap of what you guys discussed on that?

You had on the Sunday interview on Substack yesterday Tom Malinowski, former congressman from New Jersey. And you also were talking about the Cutter Plain bribe. And Malinowski kind of had a little bit of a different take on it. So why don't you kind of give us a little recap of what you guys discussed on that?

So Tom, who was both assistant secretary of state under President Obama and Clinton at SC and then congressman, so he knows his way around Washington very well and knows the way around foreign capitals very well and has fought a lot with the dictatorial Middle Eastern states. I think he was expelled from Bahrain once for meeting with some dissidents.

So Tom, who was both assistant secretary of state under President Obama and Clinton at SC and then congressman, so he knows his way around Washington very well and knows the way around foreign capitals very well and has fought a lot with the dictatorial Middle Eastern states. I think he was expelled from Bahrain once for meeting with some dissidents.

So Tom, who was both assistant secretary of state under President Obama and Clinton at SC and then congressman, so he knows his way around Washington very well and knows the way around foreign capitals very well and has fought a lot with the dictatorial Middle Eastern states. I think he was expelled from Bahrain once for meeting with some dissidents.

So he's on the human rights, pro-democracy side of things. He had two things to report though, which I think are interesting that he thinks are true and pretty confident it seems like are true. One that the Qataris didn't just decide, hey, we got this plane, let's just give it to Trump and try to buy some goodwill. It was more of a shakedown than a bribe. Trump, presumably through Steve Witkoff,

So he's on the human rights, pro-democracy side of things. He had two things to report though, which I think are interesting that he thinks are true and pretty confident it seems like are true. One that the Qataris didn't just decide, hey, we got this plane, let's just give it to Trump and try to buy some goodwill. It was more of a shakedown than a bribe. Trump, presumably through Steve Witkoff,

So he's on the human rights, pro-democracy side of things. He had two things to report though, which I think are interesting that he thinks are true and pretty confident it seems like are true. One that the Qataris didn't just decide, hey, we got this plane, let's just give it to Trump and try to buy some goodwill. It was more of a shakedown than a bribe. Trump, presumably through Steve Witkoff,

saw the plane he knew about the plane he heard about it he knew he saw it in february actually yeah it was that it was parked in west palm beach yeah he's had a beef about air force one for a long time and he sort of basically asked for it and qatar is in a very weak position actually they are one of the strong petro states i would say and so they need u.s support and goodwill and so they got shaken down and they shook or whatever the right way to say that is and

saw the plane he knew about the plane he heard about it he knew he saw it in february actually yeah it was that it was parked in west palm beach yeah he's had a beef about air force one for a long time and he sort of basically asked for it and qatar is in a very weak position actually they are one of the strong petro states i would say and so they need u.s support and goodwill and so they got shaken down and they shook or whatever the right way to say that is and

saw the plane he knew about the plane he heard about it he knew he saw it in february actually yeah it was that it was parked in west palm beach yeah he's had a beef about air force one for a long time and he sort of basically asked for it and qatar is in a very weak position actually they are one of the strong petro states i would say and so they need u.s support and goodwill and so they got shaken down and they shook or whatever the right way to say that is and

and they provided the plane. So the fact that it's more of a, if that's true, that it's more of a shakedown, not just a bribe, is even worse.

and they provided the plane. So the fact that it's more of a, if that's true, that it's more of a shakedown, not just a bribe, is even worse.

and they provided the plane. So the fact that it's more of a, if that's true, that it's more of a shakedown, not just a bribe, is even worse.

Now, I will say the founders, to their credit, understood that you can't really tell often, so they just banned in the Constitution gifts and emoluments from foreign nations unless Congress approves them, because they understood that in a way, you don't know, it doesn't matter that much, I guess, who goes first. Maybe the more interesting thing from a policy point of view that Tom pointed out is

Now, I will say the founders, to their credit, understood that you can't really tell often, so they just banned in the Constitution gifts and emoluments from foreign nations unless Congress approves them, because they understood that in a way, you don't know, it doesn't matter that much, I guess, who goes first. Maybe the more interesting thing from a policy point of view that Tom pointed out is

Now, I will say the founders, to their credit, understood that you can't really tell often, so they just banned in the Constitution gifts and emoluments from foreign nations unless Congress approves them, because they understood that in a way, you don't know, it doesn't matter that much, I guess, who goes first. Maybe the more interesting thing from a policy point of view that Tom pointed out is

The Emirates, the UAE, who got also massive amounts of U.S. investment and promised massive amounts of money for us, for U.S. companies and U.S. businesses. But the deal there was that Trump waived restrictions that had been put on in the Biden administration and had bipartisan support in Congress on sending AI chips to

The Emirates, the UAE, who got also massive amounts of U.S. investment and promised massive amounts of money for us, for U.S. companies and U.S. businesses. But the deal there was that Trump waived restrictions that had been put on in the Biden administration and had bipartisan support in Congress on sending AI chips to