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The MeidasTouch Podcast

Trump Called Out by US Troops over War Cover-Up

25 Jun 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What injuries are US troops facing in the Iran war?

0.031 - 23.76 Ben Meiselas

Donald Trump is blocking catastrophically injured soldiers from the war in Iran from getting the medical attention that they need here in the United States as part of a broader cover-up of the serious injuries that have taken place in this war in Iran. The Trump regime has been saying that 90% of the injured service members

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23.74 - 39.403 Ben Meiselas

which total they claim around 500, have very minor injuries, are not seriously injured, and are able to return to combat if necessary. This has been proven to be a lie. First off, I think we all know

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39.383 - 65.813 Ben Meiselas

that the trump regime is likely understating the amount of service member injured by multiples remember back in 2020 when iran retaliated against donald trump's assassination of general soleimani remember the trump regime first claimed that there was 11 people that were injured in iran's retaliatory strikes but they were non-serious just some headaches remember it turned out that it was 10 times that amount

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65.793 - 86.559 Ben Meiselas

It was over 100 soldiers at a base in Iraq who all suffered very serious traumatic brain injuries. So if you take the current number that the Trump regime is claiming of non-seriously injured soldiers from the current catastrophic war in Iran, which they claim to be 400 to 500, I would just multiply that by 10.

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86.6 - 101.763 Ben Meiselas

And I think that's probably a low estimate of the true amount of people who were actually injured. But CBS did this story where they spoke with some of these catastrophically wounded soldiers who were being deprived of medical attention.

102.184 - 115.628 Ben Meiselas

And this includes some of those soldiers who were at the base in Kuwait, the trailer that was not being protected by the Trump regime, which was hit by an Iranian drone, where six service members died that we know about.

115.608 - 138.621 Ben Meiselas

and these catastrophically injured service members who had shrapnel wounds who barely survived and clearly have traumatic brain injuries they say and their wives say that they're not even being allowed to have tbi traumatic brain injury tests because the Trump regime is classifying them as non-seriously injured.

138.922 - 159.756 Ben Meiselas

They can't get access to medical service, and they're basically being told that they need to return to being back on duty. I mean, it is absolutely outrageous. I want to share with you the CBS exclusive, but then I want to remind you of what the Trump regime has previously done in covering up these types of injuries before, including

159.736 - 176.395 Ben Meiselas

during the first trump administration so here's the scoop wounded soldiers and families accused the army of downplaying war injuries and it said how pete hegseth the defense secretary claimed that there were only 400 injured american service members

Chapter 2: How is the Trump administration downplaying troop injuries?

176.375 - 206.382 Ben Meiselas

in the catastrophic war in iran but that they were non-serious injuries they were minor injuries but now a lot of those soldiers and their spouses are going public because they're not getting the medical attention that they need for example chief warrant officer rodney behrman's body was riddled with shrapnel after the iranian drone hit the workstation which is basically a trailer that was left unprotected by the trump regime

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206.362 - 236.244 Ben Meiselas

The Iranian drone hit it on March 1st, killed six people, six service members, and the injuries to Berman included a massive concussion, hearing loss, vision loss, serious damage to his lungs. as a former litigator having handled car accident cases. This is a quintessential example of what would be a traumatic brain injury, which is permanent and disabling.

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236.725 - 263.607 Ben Meiselas

But the Army classified Behrman's condition as not seriously injured. And now he's not able to get certain surgeries and procedures. and evaluations. He wasn't transported to the right places for treatment, which probably was medical malpractice and compounded his injuries and the permanent status of his injuries. His wife says it's completely unacceptable.

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264.208 - 285.956 Ben Meiselas

And CBS and other news outlets are reporting that there are dozens and dozens of other people who are saying the same thing has happened. Another story they highlight is Sergeant First Class Corey Hicks. I'll pull up a photo of Corey Hicks and his wife right there, 37 years old, severe shrapnel wounds from the drone blast.

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286.997 - 312.93 Ben Meiselas

He suffered serious injuries, but according to the Trump regime's medical reports, this was just a minor jaw injury. He needs to be returned to duty immediately. These are non-serious injuries. And Hick says, they're not even letting me get tested for a traumatic brain injury. They've done no neuro exams. Let me repeat that.

312.91 - 341.871 Ben Meiselas

Hicks is saying no neuro exams and now the army spokespeople are slamming these service members and calling them liars and saying the army pushed back and said that these people are not seriously injured, that the care and wellbeing of our soldiers are our highest priority and any assertion by these service members that they're not getting the best care, the Trump regime says is an utter, utter lie.

341.851 - 364.642 Ben Meiselas

And then the spouses of the service members basically said, we're around them. Like we know that they have traumatic brain injury and they're not able to function. But the Trump regime says, nope, not seriously injured. You don't get to get the treatment here at Walter Reed or at our facilities. We won't even do neuro tests on you. So let me just remind you though right now.

365.723 - 392.408 Ben Meiselas

First, let's go back to 2020, the initial cover-up. Trump kills Soleimani, remember, the Iranian general. Iran retaliates. And then the Trump regime covered up in 2020 that when Iran retaliated and hit a base where there was 100 US soldiers, Hundreds of soldiers had traumatic brain injuries. The Trump regime said minor headaches.

392.829 - 400.882 Ben Meiselas

This is what Donald Trump said after the retaliatory strikes by Iran. This is from 2020. Here, play this clip.

Chapter 3: What evidence suggests a cover-up of soldier injuries?

583.703 - 604.024 General Dan Cain

I mean, it's a bunch of return to duty. So we've had a whole, the large, large majority have gone in for some medical treatment and return to duty. We've had in Kuwait, Jordan, down across the southern flank a little bit, a variety of places, most from one-way attack strikes.

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604.004 - 626.772 Pete Hegseth

But I want to clarify that. I think what we've tried to do here is clarify those numbers. Rather than saying KIA or WIA wounded, be more clear about that. Because the overwhelming majority, almost 90%, thank God, are returned to duty. Minor injuries returned to duty. So that number can look a certain way, and our job is to add some fidelity to it.

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626.752 - 631.982 Ben Meiselas

And here's Donald Trump downplaying the casualties in the war. Let's play this clip.

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632.002 - 656.042 Donald Trump

It's like an anaconda. You're slowly, you'll talk to them, but you're slowly squeezing them to death. Hey, I'd sort of like, I mean, I'd like to get a deal now, less than three or four weeks ago, because, you know, once you do this, it's, I just, you could just go a step further. But I don't know that America has the appetite to do what I would really much prefer doing.

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656.062 - 670.208 Donald Trump

You remember in Iraq, I said, don't go in. But they went in. They made a big mistake. It should have never let you know that war lasted 10 years. Tens of thousands of people, millions of people on both sides, millions of people. Nobody ever reported that.

670.424 - 677.693 Ben Meiselas

And just so you can see Sergeant Hicks for yourself, here he is with his wife and you can see the condition that he's in.

Chapter 4: Who are the soldiers impacted by the Iranian drone strike?

677.753 - 691.349 Ben Meiselas

I mean, this guy is clearly suffering from major, major catastrophic injuries, a catastrophic TBI. And the fact that he can't even get a neuro exam right now is outrageous. Here, let's play this clip of him.

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691.749 - 716.479

You know, like a buzzing noise. I got, uh, louder and louder, like really quickly. I remember turning my head to the left and I seen the nose of that drone pop through. And as soon as it did, I knew what it was. It was either a missile or a drone. So I turned to my right and that's when it blew up and just blew the whole building apart.

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718.163 - 722.876

Hicks is now recovering from severe shrapnel injuries at Walter Reed in Maryland.

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723.277 - 733.827 Ben Meiselas

Yeah, and he reported that he can't get neuro exams. They're not testing him. They're not even testing him right now. This is what Donald Trump has turned the VA into. It's absolutely outrageous.

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733.807 - 759.426 Ben Meiselas

You'll also note that when Donald Trump visited Walter Reed for his own suspicious physical, which apparently he saw 22 specialists, he refused, as you know, to meet with any of the injured troops from the catastrophic war in Iran. He refused to meet with them because he didn't want to be photographed with any of them because he's downplaying the injuries.

759.466 - 782.251 Ben Meiselas

And he doesn't want anybody, you know, he doesn't want anybody to be seen as being injured around him because he knows and probably knows that there is way more than 500 people who have been catastrophically injured. Again, my own estimate is that it's probably in the thousands of catastrophically injured. And I think that the death toll is probably more than the I've heard 13, 14.

782.932 - 809.417 Ben Meiselas

I think the death toll is significantly more than that in the U.S. I mean, but, you know, because Trump always covers this stuff up. But when you talk about the death toll in general, I mean, you're talking about 6,000 Iranians, close to 4,000 Lebanese. We're talking about innocent Iranians. mostly innocent civilians, mothers, children, civilians getting killed.

809.437 - 830.905 Ben Meiselas

And I'll just remind you that Donald Trump has previously said to Miriam Adelson, who's basically the big funder of, who's given Donald Trump hundreds of millions of dollars to move the United States embassy to Jerusalem and to you know, to pursue some of the policies that got us involved in this catastrophic and unlawful war in the first place with Netanyahu.

831.466 - 853.048 Ben Meiselas

Donald Trump said that giving the Presidential Medal of Honor is a much bigger prize than the Congressional Medal of Honor because for Donald Trump, you know, when soldiers are really injured or they die, he goes, I'd rather just be a civilian. That seems like a much better award to get. Remember he said this? So disgusting. Here, play this clip.

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