Ratcliffe's Moscow Mule - August 26, 2026

**Cenk Uygur** (0:00)
You're listening to The Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome, thank you.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:11)
This guy, Hassan Piker.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:23)
There's some problems here, sorry, big time.

**SPEAKER_5** (1:26)
I'm so upset.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:27)
Oh my God.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:28)
Begah!

**Cenk Uygur** (2:12)
All righty, welcome to The Young Turks, the online news show. Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian with you guys. We're ready to have an excellent show. I know Ana is. I could tell from that sweater we all like. And from that set from the Lego video that I saw one day.
And so we got a big, big show.
We found out how Israel's gaming AI, we're gonna explain that to you a little bit later, so they could manipulate the so-called facts that you get. How many times has Fox News pushed for war? Some startling numbers on that. The Magna Civil War continues, but then we got a civil war on our own side. And so lots of Democrats attacking fellow Democrats who are criticizing Israel, of course. They were never Democrats, they were never on the left. They're always helping Republicans. They're the same people, they're all frauds. We'll tell you about that. Dana Bash gets caught, that's interesting.
And then we've got interesting news out of Russia and our secret trip there. So, tons to get to. So, you know what, call me crazy. Let's get started.

**Aisha Wahab** (3:22)
Why the CIA director made a mysterious trip to Moscow. John Ratcliffe meeting with Russian officials early this morning. Trump downplayed the significance of the visit, here he is.

**SPEAKER_6** (3:34)
He's there, very sort of semi-routine. I hate to disappoint people. We would like to see the war with Ukraine end.

**Cenk Uygur** (3:44)
No, definitely not routine. That's why it's startling that it happened. So America gives an explanation, Russia has already denied it. I have my own secret explanation.

**SPEAKER_4** (3:57)
That'll be fun for everyone.

**Cenk Uygur** (3:58)
But first of all, you gotta find out the whole story, isn't it? So that's why we go to Ana.

**Ana Kasparian** (4:01)
Yes, yes. I'm so curious what your theory is. I do not know exactly why our CIA director visited Moscow. But I will tell you what both sides are saying about this meeting, beginning with the Wall Street Journal's so-called exclusive on this reporting and the whole event. Now, remember, this is, I think, a peak example, perfect example of how the media, especially legacy media, works. Someone within our government or a group of people within our government anonymously leaked something to the reporters, and then they just regurgitated in their reporting. And that's what happened here. So it's titled CIA Chief Surprise Moscow Trip Was to Warn Russia Not to Attack NATO, even though NATO member countries have been talking about attacking Russia incessantly. And I'll get to that in just a minute. But nonetheless, the argument is that our CIA director, John Ratcliffe, visits Moscow specifically to warn Russia in person against striking NATO. So you would be under the impression that Russia is making some moves, right? There's some indication that Russia poses an imminent threat to our NATO allies. They're thinking about striking soon. But get a load of this, okay? Bear with me as I go through the reporting here. So citing anonymous sources who were briefed on the visit, they claim that Ratcliffe was there to deliver a warning to Russia not to attack NATO countries. Again, that sounds like it must have been an imminent threat to NATO countries. But the same piece, the exact same piece notes this. New US intelligence assessments reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal that Russian President Vladimir Putin could try to test the resolve of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization with a limited assault on an allied country in the next few years.
What?
I don't believe for a second that John Ratcliffe went there to warn against attacking our NATO allies. US officials are concerned that Putin could launch an assault ranging from a cyber attack to a small scale land incursion, likely on a Baltic nation.
So you're telling me that there is allegedly intelligence indicating that Russia might do a small scale operation or strike against a ally of ours a few years from now. And that's why our CIA director needed to travel to Moscow to meet with officials there. He didn't meet with Putin, according to the reporting. Putin was briefed on the meeting afterward. But Cenk, I'm dying to know what your theory on this is. What is this about?

**Cenk Uygur** (6:50)