Who?
Rep. Nick Begich* (R-AK) — Member, Committee on Science, Space & Technology
*while not a UAP Caucus member, the curious freshmen lawmaker — a Republican whose uncle served as a Democratic US Senator… — made an appearance at a public UAP briefing earlier this year…
LISTEN: Laslo & Begich
Ask a Pol asked:
What do you make of President Donald Trump’s White House saying we can’t trust congressmen with classified information?*
Key Begich:
“We’ve proven that even within our own conference information is leaked almost real-time,” Rep. Nick Begich exclusively told Ask a Pol earlier this summer.
ICYMI — summertime refresher: forget push for de-clasification, Trump wants more secrets classified*
*After Trump ordered the bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities in late June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth teamed up with the FBI and went on a hunt within the Pentagon as they scrambled to find out who leaked a preliminary assessment that undercut President Donald Trump’s claim the program was “obliterated”
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Caught our ear:
In the aftermath of the military operation in Iran earlier this summer, what’d you make of White House officials ‘declaring a war on leakers,’ potentially curtailing access to classified information for all of Congress — including those like you investigating UAP?
“Hey, I do think we have a problem with the leakers. We’ve had a problem for many years with leakers from the Executive Branch,” Begich told us. “We need to make sure that when information is necessarily classified that it stays that way. And we can’t expect a porous or permeable Legislative Branch or Executive Branch because it jeopardizes national security and other issues.”
Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Rep. Nick Begich (R-AK), slightly edited for clarity.
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Source: "I don't know a thing about it,” HPSCI Ranking Member Himes on FBI UFO unit, Ask a Pol UAP; June 7, 2025.
TRANSCRIPT: Rep. Nick Begich (6-26-2025)
SCENE: Rep. Nick Begich’s making his way to the US Capitol via one of its underground tunnels when Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo proceeds to stroll with him until he crams onto a packed elevator with his congressional colleagues.
Nick Begich: “Hey, how’s it going?”
Matt Laslo: “Hey! What do you make of the White House saying we can’t trust congressmen with classified information?”
Nick Begich: “Ahh, well, I think we’ve proven that even within our own conference information is leaked almost real-time.”
ML: “Right?”*
*Hill gossip: Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News — a pop politics site that cares about Wall Street; not you, me or my momma — is notorious for… (cont’d below)
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Gossip cont’d: …taking to X to tweet out what GOP members of Congress are saying in real-time most Tuesday mornings when the full House Republican Conference usually packs into a basement conference room in the Capitol.
NB: “So I understand the concerns, and I also recognize that there’s a constitutional responsibility to inform Congress when it comes to actions that would fall under the War Powers Act.”
ML: “Yeah.”
NB: “So I think we need to make sure that we’re following the law — inform the Congress — and we expect a briefing on the actions in Iran.”
ML: “And especially, like, seeing these UAP investigations — even Secret’s Task Force doing other stuff — do you think this could kind of curtail some of those investigations if unchecked?”
NB: “Help me understand a little bit better what you’re asking.”
ML: “Well they’re saying, the White House says that they…?”
Laslo flips through his reporter’s notebook looking up exact phrase Trump White House used
ML: “…what is it…?”
Laslo flips another page.
ML: “…they’re…”
Laslo flips another page before reading directly from his notes.
ML: “Oh, they’re ‘declaring a war on leakers’ — so they want to curtail access of all of Congress.”
They both nervously laugh.
NB: “Well, I — hey, I do think we have a problem with the leakers. We’ve had a problem for many years with leakers from the Executive Branch.”
ML: “Yeah?”
Begich and Laslo post up outside of a busy elevator that’s ushering members of Congress up to the House floor to vote.
NB: “I think we need to make sure that when information is necessarily classified that it stays that way.”
ML: “Yeah?”
NB: “And we can’t expect a porous or permeable Legislative Branch or Executive Branch because it jeopardizes national security and other issues, so…”
ML: “Yeah?”
NB: “Yeah.”
ML: “Thank you, sir!”
Spencer Newman contributed to this report.
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