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EXCLUSIVE(S) — Why won't Sen. Jon Ossoff & others comment on UFO whistleblower David Grusch?
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EXCLUSIVE(S) — Why won't Sen. Jon Ossoff & others comment on UFO whistleblower David Grusch?

Ep. 36 — Sens. Jon Ossoff (7-13-2023), Jerry Moran (7-20-2023) and James Lankford (7-11-2023) are part of a trend of silence on all things UFOs
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Dirksen Senate Office Building, US Capitol grounds. Photo: Matt Laslo

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) joins Ask a Pol’s growing list of federal lawmakers who refuse to even comment on UFO whistleblower David Grusch, even as they’re aware of — and potentially a part of — the investigation into his claims.

“I'm on the Intelligence Committee. I'm aware of the matter. I don't have a comment for you at this time,” Ossoff told us some two weeks before Grusch testified in the House.

NEW EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Jon Ossoff on David Grusch

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Why’s Ossoff mum even as Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner and Vice-Chair Marco Rubio have openly discussed non-classified portions of their investigation with us?

We get a window into the Intelligence Committee in our briefest of brief one-on-one with Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS), the 16th of our 21 exclusives with each member of the secretive committee.

Moran is quick to tell us he hasn’t looked into Grusch.

“I have not,” Moran says. “Nope.”

NEW EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Jerry Moran on David Grusch

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“And it hasn’t really come up in Intel?”

“Well, that I couldn’t tell you,” Moran replies.

While the senator’s eyes made it seem as if he was joking, others have used the secretive nature of the committee and their classified work as a shield, of sorts.

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Besides Ossoff, earlier this week we heard a similar non-refrain from Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) and last month the chair of the House select China committee, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), told Ask a Pol “I'm not allowed to comment.”

That’s Republicans and Democrats. Senate and House. But it’s still only a select few of the select few lawmakers with top secret security clearances who have rendered themselves all but mute (and thus moot).

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EXCLUSIVE — Sen. Lankford on David Grusch: “Can't go into much on it”

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August 6, 2023
EXCLUSIVE — Sen. Lankford on David Grusch: “Can't go into much on it”

Listen now (7 min) | Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) knows more about UFO whistleblower David Grusch than he’ll discuss publicly. Ask a Pol caught up with Lankford — a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee — on Tuesday, July 11 as he was leaving a rare all-Senat…

One thing we notice all these zip-lipped lawmakers have in common is they’re young, by congressional standards. So maybe they’re all just extremely cautious. Afterall, leaking classified info is a serious crime.

But their colleagues are openly discussing Grusch with the press corps. Hell, Grusch himself just testified publicly in front of the House Oversight Committee!

Grusch had to delicately navigate through the minefield of classified info he knows. That’s what lawmakers of all stripes regularly do, like when many leave a classified briefing on, say, UFOs and then run straight to the congressional press corps’ cameras.

That leaves us a tad suspicious of this new no-comment caucus.

Sure, maybe they’re all just young, rookie lawmakers afraid to slip up on the national stage.

But that theory’s hard to square with Ossoff’s resume alone. I mean, in his 2021 runoff, the rookie legislator helped break hella fundraising records as he raised and spent some $150 million to win (or buy?) the Senate seat he occupies.

We’re curious if a campaign consultant’s got his tongue, even as he and the others are finding comfort in the cloak of secrecy the Intelligence Committee wraps any of its members in whenever they duck behind the veil.

Matt Laslo is a veteran congressional correspondent and founder of Ask a Pol — asking your lawmakers, your questions at your US Capitol. Find him on most social media @MattLaslo

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We’re @Ask_a_Pol or @askpols on Insta.

Mayhem (left) is a VICE News niece and Saroo rescued me earlier this summer!

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Discussion about this episode

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Curious Explorer's avatar

Why won't they comment? Because they know stuff and they are not allowed to talk about it. The people that play dumb also know stuff.

Anyone on the Intel Committee, minus Feinstein, plus Schumer and McConnell has direct knowledge of:

a. Everything Grusch has testified to publicly;

b. Every detail asked about at the July 26 hearing but was deferred to closed session;

c. Probably other things we can't even guess at.

It's possible this is also the case WRT the Armed Services Committee.

They will have had that knowledge since July 2022, over a year ago.

Since that time:

1. members of the Intel Committee proposed and passed in December 2022 the 2023 NDAA/IAA, which reorganized the UAPTF into AARO (and attempted to remove it from under the OUSD(I&S)), established the actual UFO whistleblower process that specifically called out UAP crash recoveries and reverse engineering (yes, it was set up after Grusch not before), and requested a historical report on a number of UAP topics, including "any efforts to obfuscate, manipulate public opinion, hide, or otherwise provide incorrect unclassified or classified information about unidentified anomalous phenomena or related activities."

2. Members of the Intel Committee and Armed Services Committee have proposed legislation that was included in the the 2024 NDAA/IAA that demanded that all US persons in possession of crashed UAP report them to the Federal Government within 60 days and make them available for inspection to AARO within 6 months. In addition, it prohibits the spending on any UAP programs involved in reverse engineering programs unless Congress knows about them.

3. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer proposed legislation that was included in the 2024 NDAA/IAA requiring a declassification process for UAP records and discusses NHI extensively (as you've previous interviewed Sen. Rounds regarding). As you also know, the legislative findings in this legislation are simply mind-boggling.

4. There are lots of other provisions that flew under the radar on the Senate 2024 NDAA/IAA (https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/2670/text?s=6&r=1&q=%7B%22search%22:%5B%22national+defense+authorization+act%22%5D%7D). Like:

a. A reform of the whistleblower process (including the ability of whistleblowers to sue for leaks). This is a highly technical and detailed changing numerous things about the process. The amendment that is likely informed from recent experience;

b. Not 1, but 2 new laws reforming the entire classification system, making it easier to declassify things and more difficult to keep things classified for a long time (the "Classification Reform Act of 2023" and the "Sensible Classification Act of 2023"). These provisions are sweeping in their nature and go far beyond the Schumer amendment. No press coverage has occurred whatsoever;

c. Provisions regarding "Anomalous Health Incidents";

d. A requirement that the DoD received an unqualified opinion on its financial statements by October 1, 2027. Sounds like they are worried about "shady accounting." I wonder where they heard that?;

So in conclusion, notwithstanding the fact they are all saying they have never heard of Grusch, they have clearly spent a lot of time thinking about him over the last year.

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