Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed

once. It sounds a little strange, but I

was explaining to the president uh

President Putin was very generous in his

feeling toward Ukraine succeeding,

including supplying energy, electricity,

and other things at very low prices. So,

a lot of lot of good things came out of

that call today.

>> It's Ken Harbaugh with the Midas Touch

Network. Ukrainian President Womir

Zalinski just met with Donald Trump in

Florida to discuss a potential peace

plan. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin

continues to bombard Ukrainian cities.

Over the past few days, Ukraine has

endured one of the worst aerial attacks

of the war. Thousands of missiles,

drones, and bombs raining down on

civilian targets. I've been in Ukraine

during air raids like this. I've seen

the aftermath. I've shared some of that

reporting right here. And I'm telling

you, it is no accident that Vladimir

Putin is ordering these strikes to

coincide with the meeting between Trump

and Zalinski. Putin has no interest in

peace. As today's guest knows all too

well, Bridget Brink was appointed as

ambassador to Ukraine by President Joe

Biden and served during the early days

of Russia's invasion. She stayed on

after the 24 election, but resigned in

protest when it became clear that

President Trump was intent on abandoning

Ukraine. She is now running for the US

House of Representatives in Michigan.

Here's me and Ambassador Bridget Brink.

Ambassador Brink, welcome back to the

show. You've got a heck of a race on

your hands in Michigan's 7th, and I I

want to talk about the race, but I'm I'm

hoping you can reassure me about

something in the in the quality of the

American voter. We we're hearing

everywhere we go that kitchen table

issues, the economy are are the only

thing you're supposed to be talking

about right now. That's that's the

guidance from the Democratic Party. But

then I hear from my friends in Ukraine,

right? And I'm talking to the former US

ambassador to Ukraine and I I still want

to talk about that. I still want to talk

about threats to democracy. I still want

to talk about the fundamentals of what

make us Americans, the defense of the

little guy, the defense of democracy

on the same level as the economic

issues. What are you hearing out there

across Michigan 7th when you're in town

halls when when you're in diners talking

to Michigan voters? Do they just talk

about the the economic issues or do they

have enough space in their brains to

talk about the other stuff? Well, Ken,

first of all, thanks so much for having

me on. It's great to be back. Uh, I have

to tell you that you're right. The

affordability issues are the number one

issues that people talk about in my

district. It's, you know, cost of

groceries, health insurance, especially

housing. But people also are really

concerned about the state of our

democracy. They're really concerned

about what kind of country we are and

what we're doing. They're really

concerned about corruption at the

highest levels of our government and

whether or not we are the country uh

that's based on values, democracy,

freedom, rule of law. So that is also

something that I hear a lot about in my

district. And also at every town hall

that I do and every coffee that I have,

there's always somebody who asks about

Ukraine. And so I do think that the

reason that is is because we are a

country that believes in freedom and we

are a country that believes in our

values. No matter where you are on the

political spectrum, this is important.

So I think affordability, yes, it's the

number one issue, but it really is a

bigger question too about our values and

who we are as a country. You've been an

anti-corruption campaigner for a very

long time, and I would love for you to

explain to us what that actually what

corruption actually means, the forms it

takes. It's not just about Bitcoin scams

and skimming off the the federal budget.

It touches the nonfinancial aspects as

well. It it touches the corrupting of

our democracy, the corrupting of public

records. I think the Epstein files is a

pretty clear case of corruption that

doesn't have the the financial element

as an obvious aspect. It's just the use

of the state and levers of the state to

protect the the powerful. At the end of

the day, that's what corruption really

is.

>> I you're exactly right. I mean, as a

person who's been a public servant for

my whole adult life, I spent 28 years uh

serving uh five different presidents,

but really uh serving the American

people. And when you do that, you think

about how you exercise power and there

are clear strict limits on on how that's

done. And in this administration, all of

those limits have been taken off. And

those rules that that I had come up with

and certainly anybody else who's served

our country has come up with are gone.

And this is creating a culture that I've

never seen before in our country. I've

only seen in these countries where I

actually worked on issues of supporting

democracy, supporting the institution,

supporting uh freedom of the press,

basic elements that make for a strong

democracy. This is what's being

challenged right now in this

administration. And I think we should

all be really concerned about what that

means. And I think there's just a recent

example. It was in the media, Wall

Street Journal, and it has to do also

with Ukraine. But there was a long

article that talked about what was the

actual impetus for the 28point plan,

which was the plan that came out around

Thanksgiving. And the impetus was this

was first of all Putin's wish list, but

the impetus was really uh how to make

money. And if that is the basis for our

foreign policy, we are going to lose and

are losing power and influence around

the world. We need to base our foreign

and our domestic policy on our values.

And what that means is that we use

government to deliver for the American

people, not to deliver for our personal

interests or those of our friends and

others around us. And this is a deep

concern for for me and I think for all

of us. And I see that this a big concern

for the American public as well. I'm

glad you did not refer to that 28-point

plan as a as a peace plan. Uh I was at

the Halifax Security Conference when it

came out with a bunch of Ukrainians who

referred to it as a surrender plan. Uh

and they were pretty confident at first

glance that this had been written by the

Russians and badly translated into

English just based on the syntax and

some of the the language in it. And that

turns out to be almost certainly almost

certainly true. Can you talk about

your values as ambassador to Ukraine and

the decision that your values compelled

you to make when Donald Trump became

president?

>> Well, I think it what we've seen is this

all kind of play itself out in the last

uh six or seven months. So that this

so-called plan, this Putin wish list

that came out really exemplifies

um appeasement and appeasement didn't

work in 1938 and it's not going to work

now. And there's this false idea that

giving Putin everything he wants is

going to help end this war. And

actually, I saw the seeds of that back

when I was uh in the first couple months

of the Trump administration and trying

to advise and and also figure out what I

wanted to do in order to what I thought

serve American interests and uh promote

our values. And I could see this

appeasement happening even then. And we

saw it, you know, back in February with

the Oval Office meeting with uh uh

President Trump and President Zilinski

and how that went. And so my resignation

and the reason I h felt I had to leave

is that I I could not be executing a

policy where we were putting pressure on

the victim and we were appeasing the

aggressor. There is one clear aggressor

here and it's Vladimir Putin and Russia

and we need to treat this conflict in

the way that it is that that it is. And

that means that we the way to stop this

war is to turn up the pressure on Russia

and to stop Russia together with our

allies and our partners. That's the way

this war can end. And it will not end if

what we do is just give Putin and give

Russia everything that he wants. And

that's why I had to resign. That's why I

had to speak out. It was much more than

me to me than just a policy issue. It

was about um America being on the right

side of history. And I felt as someone

who had spent my entire adult life

serving our country that I could not be

on the wrong side. And that's exactly

what has happened. And that's exactly

what we have to push back against.

Hey everyone, it's Ken. Quick break for

a shameless pitch for my Substack and

Patreon pages. To all of you who have

subscribed, thank you. Your support is

what makes this show possible. Anytime

you see in-person reporting, whether

it's trips to Ukraine to show you what

is really happening on the ground or my

recent conversations with Congressman

Jason Crowe and Senator Tammy Duckworth,

where we got on there commitments to

back hearings into ISIS abuses of power,

people need to know that we're taking

names.

>> All of this only happens with your

support. Every dollar that comes in

through Substack and Patreon goes back

into this show. And with the holidays

coming up, you can give gift

subscriptions as well. The links are

below. Thanks for everything. Your

support means the world to me. Back to

the show. You tweeted this out and I I

think it hits the nail on the head.

Putin only understands strength and

pressure works. When I am in a room with

Ukrainians and American and European

officials, the thing that frustrates me

most is when the Americans and the

Europeans start to lecture the

Ukrainians on how to deal with Putin.

And if I've learned anything from my my

time in Ukraine is that nobody knows

better how to deal with bullies than

Ukrainians. And unless we start learning

from them, we're going to keep getting

humiliated again and again and again. As

America has been humiliated every time

our president has tried to negotiate,

and I'm putting that in air quotes, with

Putin, he's not negotiating. He's just

buying time.

>> 100%. Putin has no interest in peace. He

is going he is a master negotiator. And

the only way for us to end this war in a

durable way is to stand up to him as

he's a bully and to stand up to him with

our partners and allies. And that is the

only way to stop this war. And we must

know we must realize that. And I

actually think if you look at the latest

Vanity Fair article that came out a

couple days ago that our president might

even understand that, which actually is

even more uh worrisome because means

we're we're negotiating in bad faith. I

think Putin has no interest to end this

war. I think all of the data, all the

evidence indicates that. I think that is

what any expert believes. And so what we

need to do is work together with our

with our friends, with our allies, with

our partners in order to amp up the

pressure on Russia and Putin to stop the

war and to keep it stopped.

>> Right. I want to pivot to an issue that

is top of mind for every American making

less than a million dollars a year,

certainly my family, healthcare. And the

skyrocketing premiums that are about to

land like an anvil on every American

family who is part of the exchanges or

frankly that that's a it's a national

market. So it is going to affect

everybody and this the healthc care

issue has become deeply personal for you

very recently. Can you talk about your

experience and why this is such a

resonant theme in your campaign?

>> Yeah, well thanks. So since we last

spoke, I I was diagnosed with uh stage

one breast cancer over the summer and I

had surgery in October to have it

removed. Um, thankfully for me, I had

insurance, so I was able to do the

surgery and have it cover a majority of

the cost. But the cost of my surgery

alone was $100,000.

That is my lifesaving necessary surgery.

Uh, if I hadn't had that insurance, um,

I don't know what I would do. And one in

eight women across the country will

experience this in their lifetime. So I

actually this whole fight for health

coverage and health insurance is very

personal to me and I can tell you just I

know on this on my local race that I'm

facing now my opponent Tom Barrett just

as I was being diagnosed with cancer

voted as part of this big ugly bill to

take 25,000

uh people in my district off of health

insurance. This is what this bill will

do. And then again just yesterday he

voted against did not join the vote to

uh continue the ACA subsidies which now

are going to result in doubling or

tripling the cost of health care for

people in my district. Tens of thousands

of people. This is unthinkable. We need

to have a solution. And it is clear to

me that Tom Barrett and other

Republicans aren't providing it. And I I

know firsthand how important it is. And

I feel very deeply for myself. I'm a

mom. I want to be here for my kids and

my family. And thank God I it was

detected early. Thank God I had great

doctors. But really thankfully I had

insurance because you can't deal with

that. That was the surgery alone. It was

much more for all the tests and

everything else. So in any case, my my

view is that we have to tackle this

problem in America. We have to find a

way where people can have accessible and

affordable insurance. And right now the

politicians aren't doing that. And we

need to do that. That's a big part of

why I'm running uh for affordability,

for insurance, for protecting our our

rights and our freedoms and our values.

And I just unfortunately that I have

feel I have to do this at this moment.

But I think it's necessary for our

country. It's necessary for us at home.

It's necessary for us abroad. It's

necessary for us to have the

opportunities that that I had, we had

for our own kids, for everybody's kids.

And I'm so committed to doing whatever I

can to do that. And so that's why I'm

running. and I'm really happy to be here

fighting for what I think we need to do

as a country and as a nation.

>> Ambassador Brink, where can people learn

more about the campaign and how can they

help?

>> Thanks, Ken. Well, love we've had we've

started a great grassroots campaign.

We're so excited about where we are.

Please uh go to bridgbrink.com.

You can join us online. Uh we'd love to

have a contribution. We'd love your

support as a volunteer. Any amount

helps. This is going to be one of the

most expensive competitive races in the

dis in the country and uh it's going to

help us take back the house. So,

bridgink.com and thank you Ken. Thanks

for everything you're doing.

>> I I almost forgot. We have a a policy

here on the the show to ask every

elected and candidate for Congress about

their commitment to hold ICE and DHS and

CBP accountable formally with the kind

of investigations and uh perhaps even a

commission that will expose DHS

wrongdoing, the kind that we're seeing

every day now on our smartphones as uh

CBP literally repels into neighborhoods

and drags people from their cars at the

daycare drop off. Can you commit to us

that when, not if, when the house flips

in 2026, you will support the kinds of

investigations that will hold the lawb

breakakers accountable?

>> 100% I will support that. I thank you

for raising it. I myself was accountable

for a lot of taxpayer money in Ukraine

and I had a whole office of inspector

general there. 400 people in total that

were working on that to make sure

taxpayer money was used wisely. I

believe in that. When Trump came to

office, he fired the inspector's

general. It's a mistake. So, I'm fully

on board with accountability and if you

hold the public trust, you have to be

accountable.

>> Thanks, Ambassador. We'll put all the

links in the show notes below. Great

having you.

>> Thank you. Great to see you. Thanks,

Ken.

>> Love this video. Support independent

media and unlock exclusive content. Add

free videos and custom emojis by

becoming a paid member of our YouTube

channel today. You can also gift

memberships to others. Let's keep

growing together.