EXCLUSIVE — Sen. Jim Risch: “I don’t read UFO stories”

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Ep. 41 — Sen. Jim Risch laughs off UFO whistleblower David Grusch (7-19-2023)

Matt Laslo

Aug 16, 2023

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Sen. Risch walks through the basement of the Capitol with then-Sen. Lamar Alexander, June 27, 2019. *Photo: Matt Laslo*

Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) — a member of the Intelligence Committee and the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee — has no plan to look into UFO whistleblower David Grusch.

“Got the wrong guy. I don’t read UFO stories,” Risch laughed when asked about Grusch at the end of July.

That puts Risch in line with more than half of his colleagues on the US Senate Intelligence Committee who, over the summer, exclusively told Ask a Pol they weren’t investigating Grusch — even after the inspector general vetted his allegations before forwarding them on to Congress.

A list of responses from each member of the US Senate Intelligence Committee when *Ask a Pol* asked about David Grusch this summer. Audio of each exclusive is posted at *Ask a Pol.*

Risch is the second most senior Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which puts him in line to replace Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), the committee’s current vice-chair, when he retires or is term limited out.

Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s interview with Sen. Jim Risch, slightly edited for clarity.

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Listening to lawmakers with Laslo, UAPs

I cover Congress different. I listen. Learning daily. Even while throwing stones at all the glass houses. This will be a stream of my noteworthy interviews. They're conducted at the US Capitol, if not otherwise noted. Matt Laslo is a veteran congressional reporter, Johns Hopkins University lecturer, fmr. Vice News Tonight/HBO correspondent, etc.