Richard Arnold: U.S Correspondent on Trump's reaction to Syria, White House on alert from Islamic State resurgence, Trump will pardon those jailed for Jan. 6

President Biden says the White House is on alert from Islamic State resurgence.

U.S correspondent Richard Arnold joins the show and says Trump is taking a ‘hands off approach’ regarding Syria.

In an interview with NBC, Trump reveals he will likely pardon those jailed for the January 6 Capitol attack in Washington D.C.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Richard Arnold, US correspondent, Morning Richard, Good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Other.

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Do you get the feeling that Trump is busy needling
Pusian over Syria needling Putin?

Speaker 2 (00:11):
I don't know. I think he's trying to take a
hands off approach. At the moment he said that Syria
is not America's problem, it's not our fight. It's what
he has posted on one of his social media pieces today.
But these dramatic events are playing out with all kinds
of potential repercussions. And then just hours thessad's brutal twenty
four regime has left the country in chaos, with a

(00:35):
great deal of uncertainty as to what is next. Of course,
it ends a dictatorship marked by war crimes, including air
strikes on civilians and the use of chemical weapons. More
than one hundred and thirty thousand people who arrested by
a SAD and co and a UN investigation described the
detentions as a process of extermination. Circumstances changed, though, with
Russia focused on its war in Ukraine and Hassad s

(00:56):
Raleian back Lebanese militia has Billa losing some key leader
ship figures through recent clashes with Israel as we know.
So President Biden is meeting today with his national security
team to look at the implications, while Trump, as I said, say,
is saying his first instinct is hands off. However, there
are some nine hundred US troops in Syria working with

(01:17):
Kurdish allies that try to prevent any resurgence of the
Islamic State Group. Former SINGCOME Commander General Frank Mackenzie says
of this situation.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
Our troops east of the Euphrates River, prepared with our
SDF partners, are there to keep a lid on ISIS
and prevent violent extremist organizations from gathering strength and being
able to attack the home land of the United States.
ISIS aspires to attack US. As we know, ISIS launch
a successful attack against Russia just a few months ago.
That's why those troops are there. So any decision to

(01:47):
bring them out would need to weigh that going forward.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
So what will Trump do? All this ties in, of course,
with the Trump team now being drawn together, and especially
his choice for the top intelligence job, Telsey Gabbard as
Director of National Intelligence. He back in twenty seventeen, Gabbard
made an unannounced trip to Syria to meet with Assad
and echoed Russian talking points at the time by saying
he was no threat to the US. So how does
that selection now stand. Republican Mike Turner, the head of

(02:13):
the Intelligence Committee in the House, says he has big
concerns about Gabbard.

Speaker 4 (02:18):
His His take obviously different a great deal in a
number of areas with both her judgment and her background
and experience, and I think the Senators are going to
put her through process niah.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
So this might add some fuel to the whole situation. Clearly,
Turner is no fan of Gabbard, whom some have suggested
might be kind of Russian inside. A meantime, the fall
of Asad might provide the chance to discover the fate
of some who are missing. That includes only named Austin Tice,
a missing American journalists who disappeared in twenty twelve. He
was freelancing for The Washington Post and other outlets at

(02:50):
the time. His family still believes he is alive. Over
the years, Assad denied any knowledge of Austin Tyss as noted,
though he's been missing for a long long time. As
to what next in Syria unclear, says retired General Mackenzie
I'm not sure.

Speaker 3 (03:04):
It's ultimately going to be good news for the people
of Syria. You know, we could have an Islamic state
arise there, which will have profound negative implications across the regent.
That is possible. There are other possibilities.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
As well, So next few hours will show us.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
I guess, and listen to this interview that he's just
given this as Trump has given to NBC where he
says he's not going to try and remove the FED chair.
Is that really a surprise. It feels like that was
something that everybody else got excited about.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
Well, he had certainly raised the prospect, and they've been
at odds. So this is one of those campaign cut
and thrusts that you see along the way. Now Trump
is saying.

Speaker 5 (03:37):
I don't think so. I don't see it, but I don't.
I think I told him too he would, But if
I asked him too, he probably wouldn't be.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
In fact, Power has said he does not think that
the president has the legal authority to remove him. Power
is originally chosen by Trump in twenty seventeen sound on
him when Power refused to speed up the Trump call
for lower interest rates as the FED worth gearing to
battle inflation. In the past, Trump has called Palin enemy
and fed officials boneheads. So nothing new and Trump's hexicon right.

(04:07):
He says also he wants to work with Democrats on
finding a solution for the so called dreamers. So we're
talking about immigration here. These are people brought into this
country legally by their parents when they were just small children.
This idea of working with the Dems is something we
haven't heard much of in recent times. While Trump also
has repeated his assertion that he will move to free
the January the sixth prisoners, those convicted of crimes for

(04:30):
their actions on the day of the attack on the
US Capitol, he says, of the situation that they have
been in, I'm.

Speaker 5 (04:37):
Going to be acting very quickly. They've been in there
for years, and they're in a filthy, disgusting place that
shouldn't even be allowed to be open.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
He says also he has no plans to direct any
special or investigator towards the current president Biden, but he
remains somewhat vague about any enemy's list.

Speaker 5 (04:56):
I'm not doing that unless they find something that I
think is reasonable. But that's not going to be my decision.
That's going to be Pambondi's decision and to a different extent,
Cash Pattel. Assuming they're both there, and I think they're
both going to get approved.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
So Trump the master of deniability. As always.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
Hey, thanks very much, Richard appreciated. It's Richard Donold, US correspondent.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
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