"You're F#cking Crazy" - Trump Netanyahu LEAK Exposes Power Struggle

**Patrick Bet-David** (0:00)
So Axios brings out the story. At this point, you've seen it. So Rob, if you want to go down, so I can read the whole thing, you're effing crazy. Trump fumes at Netanyahu in call on Lebanon. Go a little bit lower, Rob, so I can read the whole thing. So President John Lashad is over Israel escalation, Lebanon in an exploitive Latin call on Monday. Two US officials and a third source briefed on the call told Axios, why it matters early on Monday, Iran threatened to abandon negotiations with the US over Israel, saying actions in Lebanon. On the call, Trump called Netanyahu crazy and accused him of ingratitude, according to two of the sources. He also put the brakes on Israel's plan to strike Beirut. Behind the scenes, one US official told Bibi that the following threw on his threat to bomb Lebanese capital would further isolate Israel from around the world. Two of the sources said Trump claimed he'd help keep Netanyahu out of jail. He said, if it wasn't for me, you'd be in jail right there. You're effing crazy. You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. I'm saving your ass.
Everybody hates you. Everybody hates Israel because of this. Do you think this call happened?

**Mehdi Hasan** (1:00)
The call definitely happened. But both sides are spinning it in their own ways. And they're spinning it with the classic people. So just background on this. This is an Axios piece. The author of this piece is Barack Ravid, who is an award-winning journalist, one on coverage co-authored by Mark Caputo, a former colleague of mine at NBC News. But Barack Ravid is famous, or should I say now infamous in media circles, for being the guy who the White House always goes to, to leak stuff about conversations with Israel.

**Patrick Bet-David** (1:25)
Is this the guy that leaked it that Bibi got up, that Biden got upset after?

**Mehdi Hasan** (1:28)
Yes, same.

**Patrick Bet-David** (1:29)
This is the same guy. So he did both.

**Mehdi Hasan** (1:30)
He's bipartisan. Whether you're Joe Biden.

**Patrick Bet-David** (1:32)
Who is the fair guy?

**Mehdi Hasan** (1:32)
Well, it's not about being fair. The point is that whoever's in the White House, they know that this is the guy who does the stories about split between Israel and America. So we've had about a dozen, two dozen of these stories over the last three years.

**Patrick Bet-David** (1:44)
Is this the guy you trust?

**Mehdi Hasan** (1:45)
Unfortunately, no, now. It's not that I don't trust him. I'm not saying he's making stuff up, but I am saying he's clearly become a useful vessel for information from the White House that they want to get out. They know, if you're Joe Biden or you're Donald Trump, you know that if you want to get out, that you're pissed at Netanyahu. Barak Gavid is the guy you go to. Now on the other side, you have Amit Segal, who is one of Israel's most famous journalists, very close to Benjamin Netanyahu. Channel 12, I think, is his network. This guy is now reporting today, the day we're talking, that actually the Israeli side is saying, no, no, Trump never swore at Netanyahu, never mentioned jail or prison, and they disagreed about how to handle Hezbollah in Lebanon. So the question then becomes for those of us who were not in the room, who do you believe?
Syria liar Donald Trump or Syria liar Benjamin Netanyahu? Journalists who act as vessels for leaders on both sides? It's very hard. This is why people have a real issue with mainstream media right now, because what do you do in a situation like this where both sides are spinning furiously? And I can believe either version. I can believe that Trump told him, you're fucking crazy, we wouldn't put that past Donald Trump. I can also believe that they lied to make Trump sound stronger than he is, and Netanyahu's telling the truth. I don't know.

**Patrick Bet-David** (2:49)
Okay, so how do they typically get the credibility? Because anybody can say this was said. So can you go back to the article when it says two sources were there? What is the, you're in this world, is there a system or a standard to be able to, because this is a big deal here.

**Mehdi Hasan** (3:04)
Yeah, yeah, it's a big deal.
I mean, look, all the traditional rules of political journalism went out the window when Donald Trump came along, right? So my colleague Swin Supe Sang reports on the White House for Zateo. He has very good context, and he tells me some of the crazy stories he gets from behind the scenes in terms of people trying to screw each other over, right? In the Trump administration, there's a very unique dynamic, and he's referred to it as a reservoir dogs dynamic, it's been referred to, where everyone's got a gun to each other's head at the same time, right? So they're all trying to screw each other over. So that's another issue is, are two of the sources people who are allied with each other? Are they from different wings of the White House? You know, Pat, with this Iran war, there are different elements in this administration. Some people want the war done, finished. Some people want it to keep going. So there's different pressures on Trump.