WATCH: Sen. Johnson calls for commission to probe 'who runs the deep state'

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]I, I feel your pain and frustration in terms of trying to do oversight investigation and issuing subpoenas that are not responded to, so not in full, uh, barely responded to generally what what responses we get are generally non-responsive response is just a bunch of bureaucratic gobbygooks so uh again, I appreciate your efforts, though, um, Mr. Erdman, I appreciate you coming forward. Uh, one thing I know is former chairman of the full committee now is the chairman of the firm Subcommittee Investigations is we do not protect whistleblowers.

[00:00:34]We have laws dating back over 100 years, and the government is the worst offender in terms of retaliating against whistleblowers, even though there's all kinds of these legal protections. So I, I appreciate you doing this. Um, I, I'll also note because I nothing shocks me anymore with our colleagues from the other side of the aisle, but I'm, I'm shocked that not one of them showed up here. I think one showed up to register as a tenants and then gone. Um, I agree with you It is well past time for us to have a church committee. We're not going to get bipartisan support for church community. There's there's no curiosity on the other side about what's happening inside the deep state. And that's really my question. Who is running the deep state?

[00:01:22]I've got example after example in agency after agency.

[00:01:27]very legitimate oversight requests. I subpoenaed documents. You don't get squat. Now I asked for your testimony last night, and I realized and I really appreciate the fact that the committee staff and Chairman Paul is very very concerned about retaliation against you. Apparently they didn't clear your testimony here with the CIA. Is that true? So you're you're appearing as a as a true whistleblower, publicly right off the bat. I'll do and I'm sure Senator Paul and the staff, we'll do everything we can to prevent retaliation. What, what is your game plan after this? You're, you're done with the, the uh in DNI and the dig organization. What do you plan on going back to CIA? I returned to CIA on uh was it April I'm back at CIA. I just took a couple of weeks vacation after the, it was a long year and I was tired, so I took some time off. So were you welcomed back?

[00:02:24]I just, I just arrived and I'm, I've got a desk and I'm they're they're talking to me about what comes next. I mean, do you have any concerns about me keeping this because originally we said you can't keep this after the hearing, but it sounds like now I can keep it. I mean, do you have a cause I, I again, I don't want to harm you in terms of what you've written here. I've had a chance to go through it yet. You can keep it, OK.

[00:02:45]Should we distribute this publicly? Please hold on that. For the time being, I will. Um you know, John Radcliffe was very helpful when he was in that. position, you know, DNI, um. Now he's director of the CIA.

[00:03:06]What is preventing the CIA from totally cooperating with the DNI.

[00:03:11]I don't know. Um, what would you you've been in the CIA. Who's running this show Here's what I'll say. We had a requests. We have a formal process that we sent those requests over and I detailed in the transcribed interview the dates and what those requests were for. Um, there was it appeared to be bureaucratic slow rolling until the government shutdown. That is the that is the technique they use. I mean, they look at every administration or every director of CIA and if they don't agree with him, this too shall pass, right? They just wait them out. I mean, that's happening right now in both of our investigations.

[00:03:48]So again, I, I'm calling for a church-like commission. We'll call it the the Paul Johnson Commission, OK? We need to figure out who runs the deep state. But