Erik Prince, Perjury, and the Secret Trump Tower Meeting

Deconstructed

The Intercept

News

4.8 • 4.7K Ratings

🗓️ 14 March 2019

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Erik Prince, the founder and CEO of the world’s most notorious mercenary company, Blackwater, landed in hot water during an interview with Mehdi Hasan at the Oxford Union in the U.K. Prince repeatedly claimed to have disclosed an August 2016 meeting at Trump Tower to the House Intelligence Committee—a claim not backed up by the official transcripts of his testimony before congress. On this week’s show, Mehdi Hasan speaks with Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, and to Congressman Joaquin Castro, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, about the possible fallout from Prince’s contradictory statements.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Don't you think that's something important to disclose to House Intelligence Committee while you're under oath?
0:03.4	You did?
0:04.4	You did. We just went through the testimony.
0:06.0	There's no mention of the Trump Tower meeting in August 2016. Why not?
0:10.2	I don't know if they got the transcript wrong.
0:19.4	Welcome to Deconstructed, I'm Mehdi Hassan.
0:21.8	This week, the founder and former boss of the private security firm Blackwater,
0:26.0	the controversial super mercenary and hardcore Trump supporter Eric Prince was back in the news
0:32.0	after a rather lively interview that I did with him for my Al Jazeera English TV show.
0:36.0	He could now be in a lot of trouble as my guest today, Congressman Joaquin Castro, explains.
0:42.0	Eric Prince, like at least a few other witnesses, I think, were not fully honest with the House Intelligence Committee
0:48.0	and perhaps other committees in the Congress.
0:50.0	After I saw your interview, I do have to wonder what the legal consequences could be for Eric Prince.
0:55.0	My intercept colleague Jeremy Scayle also joins me on Deconstructed to unpack Prince's ties to the Trump administration
1:01.0	and to explain to us why all of this matters so much.
1:05.0	Eric Prince is a guy who has operated forces that have committed war crimes
1:09.0	and I think it would be a step forward to get him in any way you can into the crosshairs of prosecutors.
1:15.0	So on today's show, Eric Prince, Pagerie and the secret Trump Tower meeting.
1:21.0	In a stunning back and forth between former Blackwater CEO Eric Prince and Al Jazeera host Mehdi Hassan Prince was confronted
1:31.0	about why he failed to tell Congress that he was at that meeting.
1:35.0	Apparently, Prince didn't tell the House Intelligence Committee about that meeting in Trump Tower during the campaign.
1:40.0	If Eric Prince lied to the Intelligence Committee about whether or not he was at a Trump Tower meeting discussing Iran policy, could he be in some legal jeopardy?
	...

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