Steven Lepper: Murder Was the Case (Off the Coast of Venezuela)

Impolitic with John Heilemann

Audacy | Puck

Politics, News

4.8 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 8 December 2025

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

John welcomes retired Major General Steven Lepper, a former Deputy Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Air Force, to discuss the legal dimensions of the Trump administration’s Venezuelan boat strikes. Lepper contends that there is no basis in domestic or international law for any of the 23 boat strikes and 87 related fatalities that have taken place so far; that the now infamous second strike on September 2 is more likely to have been straight up murder than a war crime on the part of Pete Hegseth (and others in the chain of command); that the firing of the top Army, Air Force, and acting Navy JAGs early in Trump’s second term was the first sign of an concerted and ongoing effort remove the rule of law from the armed forces; and that the boat-strike scandal portends more (and worse) lawless military orders to come. See all the ways bp is investing in America at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bp.com/InvestingInAmerica⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ . To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Impolitik with John Heilman is presented by BP.
0:05.0	See all the ways that they're investing in America.
0:08.6	Meta's AI infrastructure is bringing jobs to local communities like Los Lunas, New Mexico.
0:13.9	Phil, who grew up in Los Lunas, has seen the positive impact that Meta's ongoing $600 billion
0:19.7	investment in American jobs and infrastructure
0:22.4	will bring.
0:23.4	I had to travel for work.
0:24.9	Missing moments, I can't get back.
0:27.0	Then Meta opened a data center and brought new jobs.
0:30.0	Now, I don't worry about missing out anymore.
0:33.1	Learn more about Meta's investment at meta.com slash building America.
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0:47.6	Aloha and namaste, everyone, and welcome to Impolitic with John Heilman, a Puck, an Odyssey joint, featuring lively, in-depth conversations with the people who cruise the
0:51.9	quarters of power in America sculpting and shaping the ebnaplow of our politics and culture. Since we relaunched this podcast under
1:00.7	the dual banners of Puck and Odyssey in the late spring of 2024, we have done more than 150 episodes.
1:07.8	Holy moly. This is the 165th episode, to be precise. And before that, when the show was
1:14.1	called Hell and Highwater, we did hundreds more. But never before, not once, have we ever done
1:19.3	two consecutive episodes with guests who had risen to the commanding heights of the United
1:24.3	States military back to back. But the news and events that
1:29.8	unfolded last week around allegations and evidence that the United States military led nominally
1:35.2	and I would say incompetently, dangerously by Secretary of Defense Peter B. Hegeseth.
1:42.2	And ultimately by the commander in chief, Donald J. Hegeseth, and ultimately by the commander-in-chief, Donald J. Trump,
	...

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