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A last-minute Friday episode, because I forgot we didn't have one. Michael worked under pressure. We open with the Roberts Ridge series. The criticism online was valid: I should have asked Mitch and Brian whether they believe John Chapman earned the Medal of Honor, and I should have pushed on why the members of MAKO 30 supported the Navy Cross narrative and then would not sign statements for the Medal of Honor. That gap has to be addressed directly. I also explain where I actually land on the medal, why Pat Tillman is the example of what happens when you lie to protect a legacy, and why I am not a protector of the SEAL brand. The other side of the table is coming on in mid-October. From there, a report that an AI chatbot hallucinated nuclear components on a Chinese cargo ship and had aircraft scrambled before someone caught it. Michael and I argue about whether AI art is art. A judge blocks the White House from pulling press credentials, and I explain why censorship never works and what I would do as press secretary. Lincoln shut down hundreds of newspapers during the Civil War. The last U.S. troops leave Iraq, and we talk contractors, Title 10 versus Title 50, and why Afghanistan still stings. A pilot stabbed his co-pilot on a flight to Tel Aviv and the plane dropped 14,000 feet before passengers got into the cockpit. Today's Sponsors:  Helix: Go to  ⁠https://www.helixsleep.com/CLEAREDHOT⁠ for 27% off sitewide. AG1:  Visit ⁠https://www.drinkag1.com/clearedhot⁠ to get an AG1 Pro YETI Shaker in your AG1 Pro WelcomeKit.

Matt Brown spent his career inside the national security world without ever wearing a uniform. He came up through grad school and think tank work in DC, earned a TS/SCI clearance, and landed in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy working the counter-WMD mission. From there he moved to the State Department. In August 2023 he walked into a Senate committee, signed his real name, and became a whistleblower on UAP. His report on a program called Immaculate Constellation was later entered into the congressional record. Today he co-runs Vanguard Enterprise, a nonprofit built to support the people who came forward after him. This conversation covers what pushed him over the edge. He says he saw transcripts showing the director of the Pentagon's UAP office was not telling senators the truth. He explains how the counter-WMD mission gave him a legitimate reason to see collection on objects around nuclear assets, and what he saw on those systems, from small orbs going in and out of water to a large triangle and a boomerang that disappeared behind its own light.  We cover the reality of blowing the whistle inside the IC, the retaliation he describes, and the questions he thinks Congress should be asking now.  Today's Sponsors:  Toehold: https://www.shoptoehold.com Use code "Andy" for 15% off at checkout   Ethos:  Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://www.ethos.com/clearedhot. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Trustpilot rating as of 6/1/2025.

Patrick Montgomery served in the 75th Ranger Regiment from 2010 to 2014, deploying to Afghanistan the day after the Bin Laden raid. Six weeks into that first deployment, his brother-in-law, also a Ranger, was killed in Paktika. Patrick escorted the body home. He got out, went back to school at Mizzou, and in 2016 founded KC Cattle Company, a farm-to-table Wagyu operation that went from selling steaks out of a pickup to a national brand after Food & Wine named its hot dog the best in America. He now runs Valor Provisions, a membership marketplace connecting American farms and ranches directly to consumers, and writes children's books about historical figures. This one covers the death notification and why clarity matters more than comfort, what it does to a family when a service member does not come back, and the nephew growing up with no memory of his father. From there it turns to business. The 2019 article that dropped half a million people on a website holding 40 packs of hot dogs. The pandemic surge, the inflation crash, and the structural mistakes that cost him. Then the bigger fight: his argument that four companies control most of America's protein, that foreign ownership of our food supply is a national security problem, and that the fix comes from the bottom up. Valor Provisions: https://valorprovisions.us/ Today's Sponsor:  Black Rifle Coffee:  https://www.blackriflecoffee.com Firecracker Farm:  https://www.firecracker.farm

Brian Bloom has spent his career in front of and behind the camera as an actor, voice actor, and screenwriter. Mitch Hall served as a Navy SEAL with the Naval Special Warfare Development Group and later worked as a technical advisor and producer in film and television. For more than five years they have run the Ground Truth investigation into what happened on Roberts Ridge. In this last installment, they explain what it took to get back on top of Takur Ghar. They wrote to the Taliban, got permission, and spent a day on the summit testing sight lines and lighting. They also sat with men from the villages below who fought in the battle. From there we worked through the footage, the red-on-red question, and the documents behind the Medal of Honor upgrade. They laid out years of outreach to the Air Force and others who chose not to participate. They also addressed an upcoming feature film based on a version of events they say their findings contradict. The conversation ends on heroism, blame, and why the truth still matters after 25 years. Ground Truth Documentary: https://www.groundtruthdoc.com/ Today's Sponsors:  Ridge: One thing to pack, five ways to power! You can find Ridge's Power Bank at Best Buy or our listeners can get 10% off at https://www.Ridge.com by using code "clearedhot" at checkout. Spartan Forge: https:www.spartanforge.ai

Josh Walker spent 24 years in uniform. He started as a young team leader in 1st Ranger Battalion, left for Florida State and ROTC, then came back as a signal officer and went on to serve in 7th and 3rd Special Forces Groups, logging close to three years in Afghanistan. Chris Cunningham was working as a chef in Vermont when his brother told him not to sign anything that didn't say Ranger. He listened, and served 22 and a half years. In March 2002, both were part of the Ranger quick reaction force sent to Takur Ghar. Neither had been in a firefight. Josh's helicopter, Razor 01, was supposedly headed to a refueling point. It was shot down on the mountaintop instead. Chris's element on Razor 02 landed below and climbed for more than two hours through deep snow, under mortar fire, to reach them. They walk me through the assault on the bunkers, a Hellfire that had to prove itself before anyone trusted it, the wait for exfil, and washing a friend's blood off his rifle before the younger Rangers got back to camp. I also asked why Rangers so rarely tell these stories and about the importance of people knowing the names of those that didn't come home.  Today's Sponsors:  Mars Men: For a limited time, listeners get 50% off for life plus Free Shipping AND 3 Free Gifts at https://www.Mengotomars.com Surefire:  https://www.surefire.com/