Video Infoblog with Transcript: Reporters COMPLETELY DESTROYS John KIRBY to his FACE in LIVE BROADCAST, Leaves him TREMBLING

 

 

Transcript

0:00

um Admiral can I get just two timeline

0:03

clarifications um what is first what is

0:06

the John Kirby definition of a bit in

0:09

terms of how long the US can continue to

0:13

provide support to Ukraine under the

0:16

current funding levels is it 3 weeks

0:19

four weeks is it a few months like how

0:21

how long is a bit good question I think

0:26

given what we have

0:27

left and given the pace at which we've

0:31

been providing support um uh you're

0:35

talking perhaps

0:38

um uh a couple of months or so roughly

0:42

now it depends Michael I the reason I

0:44

I'm being squishy on this is because it

0:46

depends on what's going on on the

0:47

battlefield and how big the packages are

0:50

and what capabilities Ukraine needs and

0:52

the as the war has evolved so have the

0:54

packages and so I need a little bit of

0:57

breathing room on what a bit means but

0:59

but you know coming weeks and a couple

1:01

of months or so is roughly about right

1:04

the other thing that's important to me I

1:06

don't mean to talk too much here but

1:08

it's not just the authority

1:11

that presidential draw down Authority is

1:13

not a check it's not a checking account

1:15

it it's it's it's it's how much

1:17

Authority they have to to to go to the

1:20

inventory to the shelves and pull stuff

1:22

off and depending each package cost

1:24

different because the capabilities and

1:25

the tools you're pulling off the Shelf

1:27

cost the Pentagon a different amount of

1:28

money

1:31

okay um but what also has to be factored

1:34

into your question about what is a bit

1:36

is the replenishment Authority for the

1:38

Pentagon to restock those shells and

1:40

right now the authority they have to

1:42

replenish is less by a significant

1:46

number of what they have authority to

1:48

provide and so in addition to the needs

1:50

of the battlefield and the pace at which

1:53

draw down is going you also have to

1:54

factor in when we talk about how long is

1:56

a bit in how much Authority the Pentagon

1:58

has left to replenish

2:00

sh that's a lie the other timeline

2:03

question you know the president you and

2:06

you all have have repeatedly said and it

2:08

sounds like he said again at the meeting

2:10

today that the US is in this for as long

2:13

as it takes right so as the president

2:16

goes back to voters to face re-election

2:19

as a president who has in the past

2:21

criticized the length of some of the

2:23

wars that we've been engaged in in

2:25

Afghanistan and Iraq does is there any

2:28

responsibility for the president

2:29

president to be specific about with the

2:33

voters about how long he is he thinks

2:36

the United States should be willing to

2:39

be involved in this should he be willing

2:41

to say 2 years 5 years 10 years 20 years

2:45

like how long you know is does does he

2:50

commit the United States to to being in

2:52

this system in this situation of of what

2:56

is costing tens and tens of billions of

2:58

dollars on a regular basis

3:01

nice for as long as it takes means for

3:04

as long as it takes and the president

3:05

has been very very honest about that um

3:08

every other leader on the call also um

3:12

in their own way emphasized the their

3:15

commitment again for as long as it takes

3:17

now look I mean everybody we'd all like

3:20

this war to end tomorrow it could if Mr

3:22

Putin would do the right thing certainly

3:23

the ukrainians want it to end nobody

3:25

wants to see this go on any longer but

3:27

it is their War I I I understand that we

3:30

are the leading contributor of support

3:32

but the ukrainians are the ones fighting

3:33

this war we don't have American troops

3:34

on the ground so what it's a not a fair

3:38

comparison to make with Iraq or

3:40

Afghanistan where you had American boots

3:41

on the ground this is Ukraine's war

3:43

they're fighting it we are helping them

3:45

fight it we're giving them the foreign

3:46

assistance that we ourselves have

3:48

benefited from in our own history uh and

3:50

again we're going to work as hard as we

3:52

can with might and Main to to make it

3:55

possible for Ukraine to end this war as

3:57

soon as they can but it has to be done

4:00

in terms that president zalinski is

4:01

comfortable with the Ukrainian people

4:02

can accept and that ends up with a whole

4:05

free prosperous Ukraine with

4:06

International recognized borders is

4:09

Forever War a fair term to apply to this

4:11

I don't think

4:13

so all right I'm go ahead Brian thank

4:17

you very much hi Kirby thanks a lot for

4:19

doing this yeah my my question is about

4:21

the direct budgetary assistance the US

4:23

is Supply to Ukraine president zalinski

4:26

recently fired senior leaders in Ukraine

4:27

over corruption concerns is the US

4:29

confident that that that direct

4:32

budgetary assistance has been used

4:34

properly in Ukraine spicy meat Yeah Boy

4:38

as you know that budgetary assistance is

4:40

directed through the World Bank um and

4:43

uh we're confident in that process um

4:45

look uh we

4:47

uh we obviously share president

4:50

zelinsky's concerns over these

4:52

corruption allegations and uh it's

4:54

apparent that he takes it seriously

4:57

that's important um we'll obviously let

4:59

him work his way through that uh but in

5:01

terms of the budgetary assistance like I

5:03

said goes through the World Bank we're

5:04

comfortable with that process any signs

5:06

we have not seen any signs that our

5:07

budgetary assistance have fallen prey to

5:10

any kind of corruption in Ukraine and I

5:11

would go so far as to say the same on

5:13

the security assistance side as well the

5:15

the weapons and the systems that we we

5:17

are obviously working in lock step with

5:18

the ukrainians on accountability

5:19

measures on that and see no indication

5:21

that anything we've sent over um has

5:24

ended up in the wrong hands or has been

5:25

using or being used inappropriately

5:31

boring we're gonna jump

5:33

around thank you very

5:36

much for a long time US military

5:39

officials had resisted this move to send

5:41

abr's tank saying that they're difficult

5:43

to operate difficult to um train people

5:47

on and that was essentially what we

5:49

heard from President Biden today what

5:53

changed good question you are a good

5:56

question so a couple of things we have

5:59

you're right we've been completely open

6:01

and transparent about uh the

6:03

sophistication level of the Abrams tank

6:05

it's the as the president said the most

6:07

capable powerful tank in the world um

6:10

and a lot goes into making it the most

6:12

capable tank uh so um we've been very

6:15

honest about that there's uh there's

6:17

training that's needed there's

6:18

sophisticated maintenance requirements

6:20

there's a supply chain I mean it uses a

6:21

gas turbine engine basically a jet

6:23

engine 1500 horsepower um so there's a

6:26

lot that goes into operating these tanks

6:28

uh on the field that said we've never

6:31

ruled tanks out we have been um from the

6:36

beginning of this war now 11 months ago

6:38

been evolving the capabilities what

6:40

we're providing with

6:42

Ukraine oh hell

6:46

no with the conditions on the ground and

6:48

so when you're at to get to your

6:50

specific questions what's changed what's

6:52

changed Kristen are the conditions on

6:53

the ground uh and the kinds of fighting

6:57

that the Russians are doing right now

6:58

and the kinds of fight ing more

7:00

importantly that we believe the

7:01

ukrainians are going to be need to be

7:03

capable of in weeks and months ahead

7:05

well into

7:06

2023 well into this year um and that's

7:10

why we're doing the combined arms

7:12

training outside of Ukraine for

7:14

Battalion siiz units combined arms

7:16

maneuver that's a fancy title but

7:18

basically means being able to integrate

7:20

your ground capabilities whether that's

7:22

armor artillery even even some degree

7:25

small air defense systems that's a lie

7:29

integrating command and control

7:30

Logistics integrating all that um to

7:33

fight on the ground particularly with

7:34

open terrain that's why armored vehicles

7:37

were so high on the list for the

7:38

ukrainians and tanks are armored

7:40

vehicles so this very much just follows

7:42

right along with the kinds of

7:44

discussions we've been having with the

7:45

ukrainians for months about making sure

7:48

that they can fight on the terrain that

7:50

they're in and that they can prepare for

7:52

operations going forward this year and

7:54

just to follow up I was part of the

7:56

calculation because obviously there had

7:57

been this robust back and forth between

7:59

the US and Germany it's part of this

8:01

about giving cover to Germany and other

8:03

European allies to allow them to send in

8:06

tanks spicy meat yeah boy I wouldn't use

8:10

the word cover what what this decision

8:12

does do is show that how unified we are

8:15

with our allies and partners and doing

8:17

all of this in a coordinated way so

8:19

today you saw that Chancellor Schultz

8:22

announced that they're going to provide

8:24

immediately a company of leopard tanks a

8:26

companies about 14 and there's two

8:28

companies to a Ukraine Ian Battalion and

8:31

he's going to be working with allies and

8:33

partners to get additional uh companies

8:35

of Tanks leopard tanks into Ukraine it's

8:37

about coordination it's about the the

8:39

unity here and the resolve that that we

8:41

all have together to help support

8:43

Ukraine