Who?
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) — Senate Intel & Armed Services Committees
LISTEN: Laslo & Rounds
Ask a Pol asks:
Rep. Eric Burlison tells Ask a Pol UAP he’s looking to revive your UAP Disclosure Act with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. With President Donald Trump now promising unparalleled UFO disclosure, do you think the UAPDA has a better chance of making it into the annual, must-pass NDAA — National Defense Authorization Act — this year?
Key Rounds:
“We’re still working NDAA stuff now,” Sen. Mike Rounds exclusively tells Ask a Pol UAP. “I would like to see some language in it to move this thing along a little bit.”
Curious if you guys now have an ally with the Trump White House?
“I hope we do,” Rounds says.
HELP!!! We’re hurtin since dropping subs to $5 a month.
Consider chipping in to support our independent journalism — Venmo, PayPal, Cash App — or just buy our crew a brew!
Caught our ear:
“The issue last time was the House and their concerns,” Rounds tells us. “We’ll have to work with the House to allay the concerns they may have.
“And I have the same concerns that they have. And that is, I don’t want to release anything that’s vital for our national security. I want to have it done correctly, but vetted so that we don’t give out any information that would otherwise endanger any of our classified programs.”
What should we ask Congress next?
Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol‘s exclusive interview with Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), slightly edited for clarity.
TRANSCRIPT: Sen. Mike Rounds
SCENE: Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo catches Sen. Mike Rounds walking through the US Capitol’s basement alone, so he proceeds to join the Senator as he rides one of the Senate’s underground trams from the Capitol to the Senate Office Buildings across the street.
Matt Laslo: “Look at this young man.”
Sen. Mike Rounds: “Hey, how you doing?”
ML: “Livin’ the dream.”
Rounds laughs.
ML: “Was talking to one of your colleagues in the House — Mr. [Eric] Burlison — and he said, he’s looking to maybe revive your measure with [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer, the UAP Disclosure Act.”
ICYMI — Ask a Pol UAP SCOOP…
MR: “Ahuh.”
ML: “Have you talked with Schumer about it at all?”
MR: “I have not.”
SUBSCRIBER-ONLY CONTENT*
ML: “No?”
MR: “We just…”
ML: “Yeah?”
MR: “…with everything else going around here now, it’s been busy.”
ML: “So NDAA talks haven’t really sparked yet?”
MR: “Yeah. And we’re still working NDAA stuff now.”
ML: “Yeah?”
MR: “On the individual stuff.”
ML: “Yeah?”
MR: “This is one, I mean, I would like to see some language in it to move this thing along a little bit.”
ML: “Yeah? I’m curious if you guys now have an ally with the White House.”
MR: “I hope we do.”
ML: “But no word?”
Rounds shakes head no.
MR: “The issue last time was the House and their concerns.”
ML: “Yeah?”
MR: “In order to get things done, I think we’ll have to work with the House to allay the concerns they may have. And I have the same concerns that, maybe, they have, and that is, I don’t want to release anything that’s vital for our national security. I want to have it done correctly, but vetted so that we don’t give out any information that would otherwise endanger any of our classified programs.”
ML: “Yeah. Have the conversations changed in the last couple of years, like is it…?”
MR: “No, I don’t think so.”
Laslo chuckles.
ML: “Is that disheartening?”
MR: “No, it’s just, just there are so many other things going on. I think folks are focused on other issues. I mean, we’ve got a war. We’ve got...”
ML: “Yeah?”
MR: “The challenge is right now, just with part of government being shut down, those types of things. And it’s been, we’ve had this multiple times since October. So, it’s frustrating. But I think that’s where people have been focused.”
ML: “Why go on recess if DHS is shut down?”
MR: “I don’t know that we can. The challenge we’ve got is right now, from what we can see, our Democratic colleagues continue to demand things they know we can’t do. I thought we had a pretty good deal going last night. I thought there was a good opportunity for them to come around on it. But some of the demands they’re making now simply don’t work.”
ML: “You feel like they’re moving the goal posts?”
MR: “I don’t know if they’re moving the goal posts or…”
Rounds gets lost on thought.
MR: “I always hate to say a goal post is moving, but I’m not sure they had laid out a goal post in the first place. Their demands have been rather nebulous.”
ML: “Yeah?”
MR: “And it’s probably gotten worse, rather than better. And that doesn’t reflect what a number of the individual members have talked to us about.”
ML: “Yeah?”
MR: “We’ve got a couple more days before the planned break, and hopefully jet fumes will help move things along.”
Rounds exits tram.
ML: “I know. I’ll be watching.”
Laslo exits tram following Rounds.
ML: “But it just seems like with all these four hour long lines in Houston, I’m like, the dams gotta break.”
MR: “Holding these guys hostage when we’ve offered to them to do changes and so forth. And they don’t want to fund ICE, okay, that’s fines, you don’t have to fund ICE, we’ve already funded them.”
ML: “Yeah?”
ML: “I think it’s cause they’re terrified of their progressive base.”
Rounds enters Senators Only elevator.
MR: “Yeah. You hit it on the head.”
ML: “Have a good one, sir.”
Ask a Pol AI Disclosure:
Ask a Pol’s playing around with as many new AI tools as we can, so this small, unfunded startup can compete in today’s new media landscape. (generative) AI isn’t tomorrow’s tech — it’s yesterday’s…
