ICYMI— Hagerty joins The Hugh Hewitt Show to Discuss His Request for the FBI to Investigate Colin Kahl
WASHINGTON— United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) joined The Hugh Hewitt Show today to discuss the letter he led with Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) calling for the FBI to investigate Dr. Colin Kahl, President Joe Biden’s nominee for Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, for potentially disclosing classified information.
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Partial Transcript Below:
Hewitt: “You and Tom Cotton, he’s on a little bit later, have gotten a bunch of other senators to join in sending a letter to Christopher Wray, which I’m looking at April 13th, asking him to conduct an investigation into Dr. Colin Kahl. He was nominated to the Under Secretary of Defense, which is the number three job at the Pentagon. Why do you want the FBI to investigate Dr. Kahl?”
Hagerty: “This is something that didn’t come up earlier in his hearings, but something that we uncovered and it has to do with his unauthorized disclosure of sensitive and classified information. If you think about the seriousness of this, the gravity of the position that he seeks to hold, it’s the number three position in the Pentagon, Hugh. When I was U.S. Ambassador to Japan, I dealt with the first in the previous administration that had that position on highly confidential situations, national security situations on a regular basis. The person that holds this job is going to have to be someone who completely understands and appreciates the important nature of sensitive information. And the type of information that it appears he’s disclosed is the kind that would have to be dealt with in the most discreet manner, covered, carried only by the most secure means of courier, and here he is putting it out on Twitter. It really seems you like there’s a different standard if you’re Hillary Clinton or Colin Kahl, than if you were say, you know, another member of the administration in a Republican administration. We need to get to the bottom of this.”
Hewitt: “Have you heard back from Director Wray?”
Hagerty: “He just received a letter this morning, so I’ve not heard back yet, but I’m certain that he will take this very seriously. This is the kind of thing that would prevent a person from getting a security clearance. And you probably saw this over the weekend, Hugh, but the our new United States Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas Greenfield’s chief of staff had to step aside because her security clearance was revoked for disclosing sensitive information and her actions pale in comparison to what Kahl is done. Kahl went up on Twitter to disseminate this information that we’re concerned about.”
Hewitt: “Are you sure it’s classified, Senator? Do you believe that what he put on Twitter genuinely is classified?”
Hagerty: “That’s why we want to have a full investigation. It certainly appears that way to me. As I mentioned, as U.S. Ambassador to Japan, I was a member of the previous administration. I regularly dealt with information of this type. And if you look at what he disclosed, I mean, the one that strikes me most personally is what he talked about with North Korea. I mean, I was U.S. Ambassador to Japan while the situation with North Korea was raging. And in December of 2017, you remember North Korea had launched two intercontinental ballistic missiles over Japan, at that point. We have 250,000 Americans in Japan, the largest contingent of U.S. military anywhere outside the United States is based there in Japan. Kim Jong Un is launching missiles over Japan, and here’s Kahl’s tweet. He says, he’s talking about a report of what’s happening in the White House as we’re considering military option, Kahl tweets out on December 20th, this report should be taken very seriously. Here’s his quote: ‘There’s a contingent at the White House that believes a limited strike is viable, and the U.S. can control escalation by threatening regime change if Kim Jong Un retaliates. Very dangerous thinking.’ That is our military posture with respect to a very hot situation. This needs to be investigated very closely. He’s putting this on Twitter.”