Rebel News Podcast - May 09, 2018


Off The Cuff Declassified - John Cardillo - May 9⧸2018


Episode Stats


Length

48 minutes

Words per minute

172.86292

Word count

8,450

Sentence count

734

Harmful content

Misogyny

12

sentences flagged

Hate speech

46

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Trump withdraws the United States from the Iran deal and announces new sanctions against Iran. Former CIA Station Chief Scott Ulan-Ulan joins me to discuss that and more. Plus, more allegations are being leveled against President Trump s personal attorney Michael Cohen. And 4 states decided primaries last night ahead of the 2018 midterms.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Today on Off the Cuff Declassified, President Donald Trump pulled us out of that disastrous Iran deal.
00:00:06.300 It's no more for the United States.
00:00:08.420 Former CIA station chief Scott Ulinger joins me to discuss that and incoming CIA director Gina Haspel.
00:00:15.960 More allegations being leveled against President Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen.
00:00:20.960 Is there any there there or is it just more fake news?
00:00:24.300 And four states decided primaries last night ahead of the 2018 midterms.
00:00:30.400 I'll tell you what that means for either a blue or a red wave in November.
00:00:41.460 President Trump removed the United States yesterday from the disastrous Iran deal.
00:00:46.460 And it was one of the most outstanding statements I've ever heard from a sitting United States president.
00:00:54.300 The speech was short.
00:00:56.120 It was only about 20 minutes all in.
00:00:58.440 It was succinct.
00:00:59.620 It was direct.
00:01:01.200 It was powerful.
00:01:02.920 And it sent many nuanced messages.
00:01:05.500 And we're going to talk all about those right now.
00:01:07.760 The speech was very clear cut.
00:01:09.680 Iran was cheating on the deal.
00:01:11.380 They're enriching nuclear materials for weaponization.
00:01:14.580 We can't have it.
00:01:15.820 The deal was embarrassing.
00:01:17.820 Obama sent the money.
00:01:18.880 John Kerry was violating the Logan Act out there trying to sell that deal.
00:01:24.880 We're going to be talking about John Kerry, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton's reactions in a second.
00:01:30.320 They're in a minute or two.
00:01:31.740 They're embarrassing.
00:01:34.200 But Trump was very, very forceful.
00:01:37.060 Now, one of the other things that came from this is that the Iranian regime, Rouhani and Khamenei, basically after the deal said they're going to start enriching uranium and ramping up their weapons production.
00:01:54.940 They're threatening the world.
00:01:56.920 They proved our point, didn't they?
00:01:58.940 Because it was only the U.S. that withdrew from the deal.
00:02:02.200 The U.K., France, Germany, Russia, China.
00:02:05.040 They're all still in the deal.
00:02:05.960 So what Iran is saying to all of them are, you don't matter. 0.82
00:02:09.720 We were playing you guys like fools.
00:02:11.620 Hell, we were playing the U.S. like fools, too, until this new guy came in, saw through our BS, and called us on it.
00:02:19.160 So now that he's called us on it, now that he and Netanyahu have called us on it, what do we have to lose?
00:02:24.700 We're not going to listen to you, idiots.
00:02:26.020 We're going to enrich our uranium.
00:02:27.220 If you don't like it too bad, do something about it.
00:02:29.220 And Russia's patting them on the back and saying, wait, we want it all along. 0.65
00:02:33.960 Good move.
00:02:34.580 Because you know what?
00:02:36.320 The U.S. was being played.
00:02:38.800 We were being played.
00:02:40.340 Kerry and Obama were patsies.
00:02:42.560 That's not the word I want to use.
00:02:43.540 The word I want to use begins with B and ends with itches.
00:02:46.560 That's how Iran treated Kerry and Obama.
00:02:49.140 The Mullahs and Iran saw them as weak and ineffective and soft, and they walked all over them. 0.99
00:02:58.700 Trump called the deal defective at its core.
00:03:02.640 Now, Iran's leader ominously warned his country might start enriching uranium more than before, like I had mentioned a little bit ago.
00:03:13.060 I mean, what kind of message does that send about the respect Iran has for the European nations?
00:03:18.160 He has none.
00:03:18.780 The European Union is pretty much no more.
00:03:22.220 They're yesterday's news.
00:03:23.280 They're obsolete.
00:03:24.480 They have no power.
00:03:26.000 They're just worried about preserving their oil interests with Iran.
00:03:29.700 They don't want Iran to raise the price of oil on them.
00:03:31.840 So they're doing whatever Iran says. 0.90
00:03:34.680 Now, Iran knows that the U.S., they have no leverage with the U.S.
00:03:37.380 We're going to be the largest net exporter of producer and exporter of crude by 2023, and we're already ramping up natural gas.
00:03:45.440 And it's a ludicrous assertion.
00:03:47.780 Anybody who believed, anybody in the Obama administration who believed that Iran was playing around with nuclear materials for scientific research and medical applications is a moron.
00:03:58.100 Iran is flush with oil and natural gas.
00:04:00.840 They don't need nuclear power.
00:04:02.020 Why would they spend all that money developing nuclear power when they're sitting on massive reserves of fossil fuels that can power their country for the next infinite amount of years?
00:04:12.740 No.
00:04:13.120 And you don't bury centrifuges.
00:04:15.380 Now, this move by Trump is also going to penalize.
00:04:21.020 So Trump, after removing us from the deal, said that he was immediately imposing some of the harshest sanctions.
00:04:27.120 He's also penalizing any countries that do business with Iran, and I believe that that was aimed at Germany.
00:04:35.700 We know that Germany sold Iran the binary components for the chemical weapons used in Syria.
00:04:40.540 I think that was a loud and clear message to Germany.
00:04:42.660 American company Boeing, Secretary of Treasury Steve Mnuchin, said Boeing is going to have the deal that was approved revoked to sell aircraft to Iran.
00:04:52.340 We are clamping down Airbus as well.
00:04:54.620 We pulled Airbus's right to sell Iran aircraft.
00:04:57.940 Now, these are sanctions that will hurt Iran.
00:05:00.780 Iran is going to saber rattle. 0.99
00:05:01.980 But, of course, the minute they did, Obama and Kerry folded like cheap suits packed in wet cardboard.
00:05:08.740 I mean, these two guys have zero spine.
00:05:11.620 You can't even call them men.
00:05:13.380 Terrible.
00:05:14.280 Now, the administration is going to impose sanctions on Iran immediately, but it's going to allow businesses to wind down their operations.
00:05:21.040 It's going to give them time.
00:05:21.800 And Trump left the options open-ended, right, at the end of the speech.
00:05:28.060 Well, near the end, because we're going to get into what he did at the very end of the speech, which is very, very important.
00:05:32.680 During the speech, he was absolute.
00:05:35.580 Terrible deal.
00:05:36.660 Defective at its core.
00:05:38.020 Iran was developing terrible weapons.
00:05:40.080 They were going to use them.
00:05:41.000 They were going to give them the countries or share the technology with countries like Yemen and Syria, which is why countries like Jordan and Saudi Arabia are on our side in this whole thing.
00:05:49.200 Yemen and Saudi Arabia have had a volatile relationship.
00:05:52.020 Jordan has been a good ally for us in the war on terror.
00:05:55.920 They don't need the trouble.
00:05:57.800 They don't need the trouble.
00:05:58.820 Now, we know Iran's ultimate goal is the Shia Crescent and the eradication of Israel. 1.00
00:06:03.800 Iran also is very close with Hezbollah and Hamas.
00:06:06.880 Interestingly, they're not very close with the other terror factions in Syria, but they are with Hezbollah and Hamas.
00:06:11.780 Hezbollah, of course, is now picking up seats in the Lebanese parliament.
00:06:18.000 And Hezbollah has always, well, for the recent past, has controlled Lebanon with proxies and de facto.
00:06:27.300 Well, now Hezbollah picking up seats in their legislature gives them actual public control of Lebanon, which sits right on the coast with Israel, which gives Iran a very large land bridge over to Israel to destroy Israel, gives it the warm water access and the met it desires. 0.88
00:06:46.340 It gives Russia that warm water access.
00:06:48.680 It's a disastrous situation, letting Iran grow as a nuclear power. 1.00
00:06:53.960 There's no upside.
00:06:55.280 But Obama and Kerry, they knew this, but they had more sinister motives.
00:06:59.500 The U.S. isn't dependent on Iranian oil.
00:07:01.500 So we get why China and Germany and the U.K. and France were playing ball here.
00:07:07.180 The U.S. had no reason to play ball.
00:07:09.180 It was just Obama and Kerry's desire to be loved by third world thugs and really their policy of appeasement. 0.57
00:07:15.520 They were so terrified, so afraid of their own shadows.
00:07:18.680 They balked every time somebody barked, but they gave in.
00:07:23.500 It was embarrassing for the United States.
00:07:26.180 Trump was criticized in the deal.
00:07:29.040 Mitch McConnell said the deal was flawed from the beginning.
00:07:32.360 But Nancy Pelosi, of course, said it's a rash decision that isolates America, not Iran.
00:07:38.020 Well, she's wrong.
00:07:38.620 No, it isolates Iran.
00:07:40.060 We're America.
00:07:41.260 The world looks to us.
00:07:42.680 We're not Iran. 0.90
00:07:43.360 Democrats see us as equal, and we're not equal.
00:07:47.420 And that's the fundamental problem with progressives, with the Democratic Party.
00:07:50.620 They think we're equal to Iran.
00:07:53.300 We're not.
00:07:54.480 We never will be, nor do we want to be.
00:07:56.600 Now, let's talk about the end of Trump's speech.
00:07:58.620 Then we'll get into the really irritating statements from Obama and Kerry.
00:08:01.880 The end of Trump's speech was full of things that I thought were some of the most diplomatically
00:08:08.180 and strategically brilliant moves I've ever seen a president make.
00:08:11.260 Most importantly, well, equally as importantly of what came next, he spoke directly to the
00:08:17.720 Iranian people.
00:08:19.080 This was really critical because the left was salivating for him not to do that.
00:08:23.520 So at the end, they could say, see, Donald Trump doesn't understand international diplomacy.
00:08:27.420 He's just a bull in a China shop.
00:08:30.020 He embarrassed us.
00:08:31.120 He lumped the mullahs in with the Iranian people, except he didn't.
00:08:34.620 Trump is a guy in his early 70s, and he remembers that life was pretty good under the Shah. 0.94
00:08:38.680 I was a little kid when the Islamic Revolution happened in 1979.
00:08:43.040 And I remember news being, you know, like four or five, six years old, the news on how Iran
00:08:50.600 was a friend of the U.S., and then this Islamic Revolution came, and they held our hostages 0.98
00:08:54.200 for a year, and Jimmy Carter was played like a fool by the Ayatollah Khomeini, and then
00:08:59.220 Ronald Reagan was elected, and the hostages were released, and Iran fell into this abyss
00:09:04.380 of Muslim, theocratic, oppressive rule. 0.99
00:09:07.920 Well, people my age, people in their 40s like me, people in their late 30s even who were
00:09:12.380 really little kids, remember what life was like under the Shah.
00:09:16.160 Their parents remember vividly how good it was.
00:09:19.140 The Iranian people, with the exception of very few, are by and large secular, oppressed
00:09:23.560 by a violent Muslim regime who used the revolutionary guards as their modern-day Gestapo to suppress 0.91
00:09:31.700 revolution, to suppress freedom.
00:09:34.460 So people in Iran are not the mullahs.
00:09:36.860 They're not the Muslim, theocratic ruling class. 0.95
00:09:39.380 And Trump knows that, and he addressed them.
00:09:41.260 And that drove the left insane because he took the air out of one of their opposition
00:09:46.240 points towards Trump.
00:09:48.780 As importantly, Trump mentioned North Korea at the very end of the speech and told us
00:09:54.260 that while he was speaking, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in the air to North Korea
00:09:59.060 to meet with Kim, who finalized the details of Trump's meeting with the North Korean and
00:10:03.560 South Korean leaders.
00:10:04.320 And they said they've got a place, a time, a date, a whole bit.
00:10:09.620 They didn't tell us where.
00:10:10.380 It's classified for security reasons.
00:10:12.240 But it was very important that he mentioned North Korea because he was talking to North
00:10:15.640 Korea.
00:10:16.280 He was saying to North Korea, look what just happened to Iran.
00:10:19.580 I'm imposing the toughest sanctions they've ever seen.
00:10:21.780 This will happen to you if you even think about stepping a millimeter out of line.
00:10:27.760 And make no mistake, Iran was watching.
00:10:30.920 North Korea was watching.
00:10:32.380 And lastly, when Trump left the room, camera followed him.
00:10:36.420 It always does.
00:10:37.040 And it hung for a second or two as he was walking back into the White House from that press
00:10:42.080 area and you saw Vice President Mike Pence and National Security Advisor John Bolton standing
00:10:48.680 in the doorway waiting for the president with their hands.
00:10:51.520 That sent a message to the world that we're a unified team.
00:10:55.620 All this press, all this fake news about discord in the White House is nonsense.
00:11:00.780 We're a unified team.
00:11:02.660 Bolton, Pence, and I are unified on our foreign policy.
00:11:06.160 This is not Barack Obama, John Kerry, Susan Rice, Ben Rhodes, Hillary Clinton.
00:11:12.280 This is not the weak F team.
00:11:14.360 This is the A++ team where a unified front, the world is on notice, a strong America is
00:11:22.180 back.
00:11:22.560 And then right after that, a friend of mine, the new ambassador to Germany, Rick Grinnell,
00:11:26.340 very proud of Rick.
00:11:27.120 He's going to be an outstanding ambassador.
00:11:28.760 He put Germany on notice about an hour afterward.
00:11:32.440 He's in lockstep with the administration and with Mike Pompeo as an ambassador.
00:11:36.160 He reports to Mike Pompeo and Rick also talks directly with the president.
00:11:39.480 They're very friendly.
00:11:40.980 He put them on notice of Germany.
00:11:42.540 You better stop doing business with Iran. 1.00
00:11:44.580 This is such a departure from the weakness of the Obama administration, such a departure.
00:11:51.420 So let's look at weak Obama's statement.
00:11:54.320 Obama issued this very long statement, but I'll read this some in substance.
00:11:57.580 He wrote, quote, in a democracy, there will always be changes in policies and priorities
00:12:01.500 from one administration to the next.
00:12:03.000 But the consistent flouting of agreements that our country is a party to risks eroding America's
00:12:08.720 credibility and puts us at odds with the world's major powers.
00:12:12.400 No, it doesn't.
00:12:13.800 Barack's just upset that the United States is strong again.
00:12:17.000 He and his Alinskyite buddies wanted to fundamentally weaken us. 1.00
00:12:20.620 He wrote also, the reality is clear.
00:12:23.720 JCPOA is working.
00:12:25.380 No, he's working.
00:12:27.040 It would be working if he wasn't trying to relate to everyday Americans.
00:12:30.020 Now, this is moronic.
00:12:31.960 So he keeps going on and on and on, and he talks about how one of my favorites in here
00:12:38.180 is that he says that Israel is less safe because of this.
00:12:44.760 Meanwhile, Netanyahu is, I'm not going to read his whole statement.
00:12:48.920 I forget if it was Obama or Kerry.
00:12:50.060 One of them said that Israel is now less safe because of this.
00:12:52.340 But nobody asked Israel because Netanyahu called President Trump's decision an historic move.
00:12:59.900 The embassy is opening in Jerusalem.
00:13:01.280 The U.S. embassy is opening in Jerusalem early next week, and they're naming a little
00:13:04.780 park after Donald Trump.
00:13:06.280 So Israel seems to be on board with this. 0.88
00:13:08.780 They feel much safer with what Donald Trump did.
00:13:11.500 But Obama and Kerry are, of course, saying that Israel is less safe.
00:13:16.360 Let's read John Kerry, loser John Kerry's statement.
00:13:18.600 Quote, today, today's announcement weakens our security, breaks America's word, isolates
00:13:23.580 us from European allies, puts Israel at greater risk.
00:13:26.460 Yeah, so it was Kerry that mentioned Israel, not Obama.
00:13:29.100 Puts Israel at greater risk, empowers Iran's hardliners, and reduces our global leverage 0.73
00:13:33.620 to address Tehran's misbehavior while damaging the ability of future administrations to make 0.78
00:13:38.900 international agreements.
00:13:40.300 No rhetoric is required.
00:13:41.860 The facts speak for themselves.
00:13:43.580 Instead of building on unprecedented nonproliferation verification measures, it's a nice way
00:13:48.560 of saying, ruthless, ruthless measures.
00:13:53.100 You couldn't do anything.
00:13:54.140 It let Iran enrich uranium, and you could only inspect the places they would let you inspect.
00:13:58.460 This decision risks throwing them away and dragging the world back to the brink we faced
00:14:02.460 a few years ago.
00:14:03.180 No, we were always at the brink.
00:14:04.400 You moron.
00:14:05.480 You guys, you and Obama decided to put your heads in the sand and make believe Iran was
00:14:08.880 nice.
00:14:09.780 The extent of the damage will depend on what Europe can do to hold the nuclear agreement together.
00:14:14.780 Well, apparently not much, because Iran said they're going to start enriching uranium
00:14:18.280 even more, because they don't respect Europe, and it will depend on Iran's reaction.
00:14:23.480 America should never have to outsource those stakes to any other country.
00:14:26.880 This is not in America's interest.
00:14:28.440 We should all hope the world can preserve the nuclear agreement.
00:14:31.740 There was no nuclear agreement, John Kerry.
00:14:34.040 The only agreement was Iran got to enrich nuclear materials for weaponization while you look the 0.83
00:14:39.520 other way.
00:14:40.720 Do you think people are stupid?
00:14:42.140 Now, Hillary Clinton, I've got to find her tweets, because she was out there ranting and 1.00
00:14:48.360 raving as well.
00:14:49.120 Let's read what Granny Dementia had to say.
00:14:53.040 He wrote,
00:14:53.360 As Secretary of State, I helped negotiate the crippling international sanctions that brought
00:14:57.420 Iran to the table.
00:14:58.620 It would be much harder a second time now that our credibility is shot.
00:15:01.880 You're not going to get a second chance, Hillary.
00:15:03.520 You're never going to be president.
00:15:05.320 Get over it.
00:15:06.780 It will also be harder to deal with other threats like ballistic missiles and terrorism.
00:15:11.460 Now we have no leverage and Iran is free to do what it wants. 0.95
00:15:14.240 Read what President Obama wrote about it here.
00:15:16.360 Again, not true.
00:15:17.620 A strong U.S. is going to keep Iran in check, not like you idiots. 0.99
00:15:25.400 Look, this has nothing to do with international agreements.
00:15:27.680 If anything, all the left is saying, no, nobody's ever going to trust us again.
00:15:30.980 No.
00:15:32.140 Now the world knows we're never going to enter into an agreement from a position of weakness
00:15:36.140 again.
00:15:37.360 Now, when you enter into an agreement with the United States, you better be damn well sure
00:15:42.600 you can hold up your end of the bargain.
00:15:43.900 And if you don't, you're going to wind up like Iran and North Korea. 0.97
00:15:56.780 A lot going on in the world with regards to our intelligence agencies, this massive intelligence
00:16:05.920 coup by Israel in which we cooperated.
00:16:08.240 We've got the Iran deal. 0.58
00:16:09.980 We're exiting the Iran deal.
00:16:11.360 And Gina Haspel will be facing tough questions from the Senate on her confirmation as an ex-CIA
00:16:17.940 director.
00:16:18.360 I want to bring in somebody who knows far more about this than most others.
00:16:22.120 My good friend, former CIA station chief, Scott Eulinger.
00:16:25.680 Full disclosure, Scott is a candidate for Congress in Pennsylvania's ninth congressional district's
00:16:30.120 GOP primary.
00:16:31.320 I am supporting and endorsing Scott, but he's here today, not as a candidate, but really as
00:16:37.040 a subject matter expert.
00:16:37.900 Scott, thanks for being here.
00:16:39.560 All right, let's start with, very briefly, the Israeli intelligence operation.
00:16:43.920 The left is saying, oh, we already knew all this stuff and we shouldn't have pulled out
00:16:46.860 of the Iran deal.
00:16:47.920 I don't know.
00:16:48.640 105,000 files, Scott.
00:16:50.760 55,000 hard pages.
00:16:53.060 182,34 computer disks.
00:16:55.160 55,000 additional files.
00:16:57.040 Blueprints, schematics, photos, videos.
00:16:59.640 Seemed by pretty new information to me.
00:17:01.960 That's right.
00:17:02.480 It is.
00:17:02.840 This was quite the intelligence coup on the part of Israel. 0.59
00:17:07.100 Really, Iran is humiliated by this intelligence failure. 0.88
00:17:11.120 And this is the kind of thing with so much domestic opposition to the regime.
00:17:15.000 This is another reason to show that the regime is incompetent and can't even manage national
00:17:19.280 security.
00:17:20.380 The whole Arab world is laughing at this coup on the part of Israel.
00:17:24.600 You know, a little bit of course.
00:17:26.400 Right.
00:17:27.120 The interesting thing.
00:17:29.020 You operated in and around Iran.
00:17:32.340 This has to be, the embarrassment has to be exacerbated by the fact that it's Israeli. 1.00
00:17:36.960 I mean, there would be embarrassment in the U.S. or Jordan or France, but it being Israel 1.00
00:17:40.880 has to raise this by infinite magnitudes in terms of Iranian embarrassment. 0.82
00:17:45.060 We have to remember that's right.
00:17:46.600 You know, they always have, the Muslim world always has a very odd view of Israelis. 0.99
00:17:51.280 They loathe them, but at the same time, they fear them.
00:17:53.580 They look upon Israelis as being superhuman and incredibly smart.
00:17:58.120 So, you know, and people able to do things that no other people are able to pull off.
00:18:02.380 And so this is, you know, I guess another example of that.
00:18:05.120 But the other thing is that, you know, the international community is saying, oh, this
00:18:08.400 is information we knew before.
00:18:10.120 And a lot of that, some of that is partially true.
00:18:12.540 But the point is, is that this brings, this forces the liberal community to admit that,
00:18:18.280 you know, we know the Iranians were lying, but we pretended not to see it. 0.99
00:18:22.600 So they've known all along that the Iranians are a bunch of serial liars. 1.00
00:18:27.860 And this, the fact that this information is now in their face forces them to basically
00:18:32.000 confront the fact that they probably didn't know the Iranians were lying, but now they're 0.78
00:18:36.480 compelled.
00:18:37.280 Now it's obvious that they went into the deal knowing this.
00:18:40.540 Right.
00:18:41.200 Now let's move over to the Iran deal.
00:18:43.860 President Trump's press conference yesterday, a statement really, because it only took about
00:18:47.480 three questions, was I thought, and look, I'm a Trump supporter.
00:18:51.400 I'm a partisan.
00:18:52.060 You were a Trump delegate.
00:18:53.400 But objectively analyzing this, I thought it was one of the most presidential statements
00:18:58.400 I've heard in a very long time.
00:18:59.640 It was clear, decisive, succinct, lasted about 20 minutes.
00:19:03.600 He said all the things we expected him to say.
00:19:05.620 The deal was defective at its core.
00:19:07.440 It was a terrible deal.
00:19:08.460 Iran was cheating, they were lying, he's in play, he's immediately placing the sanctions 0.94
00:19:14.040 back on Iran, they're going to be some of the most restrictive.
00:19:16.620 But I want to talk about the nuance.
00:19:18.100 Now you were with the CIA, you understand diplomatic nuance.
00:19:21.300 I thought there were three things that happened that were very interesting to me.
00:19:24.520 One is that he drew the distinction between the Iranian people who were under the Shah
00:19:30.160 and spoke directly to them.
00:19:31.680 Two was that at the end, he mentioned North Korea and that Secretary of State Pompeo was
00:19:35.860 in the air there.
00:19:36.400 So I felt like that speech was really for North Korea as much as for Iran.
00:19:41.960 And third, when he left the room, the camera briefly hung when he walked back into the
00:19:46.040 White House on the shot of Mike Pence, Vice President Mike Pence and National Security
00:19:49.560 Advisor John Bolton.
00:19:50.940 To me, that was purposeful.
00:19:52.320 And Trump was telling the world, forget the fake news, we're a unified team.
00:19:56.300 There's a new sheriff and new deputies in town.
00:19:58.680 What was your takeaway?
00:19:59.200 You're exactly right about the unified front.
00:20:02.620 And it is very important what he said.
00:20:04.940 And it was really laudable.
00:20:07.260 He talked about, you know, he praised like Persian culture and he did make a distinction
00:20:11.760 between the leadership and the people because that is the real vulnerability here.
00:20:16.120 You know, what we've seen in the past couple of years, street demonstrations this year in
00:20:20.460 particular, that the regime is really embattled right now.
00:20:23.860 And this is going to further put them on the defensive.
00:20:25.980 The recent Israeli humiliation, some strikes in Syria that killed Iranians, were showing
00:20:33.460 that the Western world is pushing back and the people are increasingly dissatisfied.
00:20:37.420 So he's empowering them by saying, basically, almost the underwritten, what he didn't say,
00:20:43.420 but it's apparent, is that if there were, for instance, street demonstrations to break
00:20:47.300 out, the United States would not be afraid to support them.
00:20:50.780 So this is a very Reagan-esque kind of thing where we did the same thing with the Soviet 0.89
00:20:54.480 Union.
00:20:54.840 You know, Reagan always tried to empower the Russian people against their oppressors.
00:20:59.260 And so it's the same kind of thing here.
00:21:00.620 So that's a really, that's really positive news.
00:21:03.060 But what I want to see, the next step I want to see is I want to see him meet with leading
00:21:07.040 Iranian dissidents, which would positively infuriate the theocracy in Iran. 0.54
00:21:14.160 Oh, it certainly would.
00:21:15.140 And such a great point about Reagan, right?
00:21:16.580 Because I always say it wasn't mutually assured destruction.
00:21:20.460 It wasn't ICBMs pointed at each other that brought the Berlin Wall down.
00:21:24.200 And ultimately, ultimately, it was McDonald's in Moscow and Levi's jeans being smuggled in.
00:21:28.700 It was capitalism.
00:21:29.980 And the Russian people's desire to have these Western goods that brought that wall down.
00:21:33.760 And but I think Reagan stimulated that, right, by riling the people up and letting them know,
00:21:37.820 hey, if you do rebel, we're there for you.
00:21:40.020 And I think that's what I mean.
00:21:40.720 And he also, right.
00:21:41.600 And he also called them what they were.
00:21:43.240 He called them an evil empire, which actually gave heart to dissidents worldwide that, wow,
00:21:48.240 here's an American president who's actually willing to speak the truth because too many times it was buried in diplomatic language.
00:21:54.260 But he said, look, they're an evil empire and that's that.
00:21:57.160 So, you know, Trump is moving in that direction and putting a lot of pressure on the mullahs in Iran.
00:22:01.860 Now, you make a great point about him meeting with Iranian dissidents because the Iran is very unique insofar as those who fled the Shah and came to the U.S.
00:22:10.380 Not all of them, but but a vast majority, pretty wealthy, highly educated, successful people.
00:22:16.600 That's right.
00:22:17.100 These are not people that I mean, these are people that run very, very large corporations, their physicians, their attorneys, their professionals in finance.
00:22:26.000 They're qualified to step in and prop up a very effective government and a very effective economy.
00:22:32.940 You know, I mean, you could say, I guess, in a lot of ways, similar to the Cuban community in Florida and very much they are.
00:22:40.580 And and they're ready to do it.
00:22:42.220 You know, the Iranian Iranian distant groups are very important.
00:22:44.940 And I know for one thing we talk about when you talk about intelligence, I know one of the Iranian nuclear facilities, let's say six or seven or eight years ago, that the U.S.
00:22:55.700 intelligence had no clue about was revealed by Iranian dissident groups.
00:23:00.500 Iranian dissident groups did their own intelligence work and publicized for the first time worldwide that Iran had a facility located in one area that that Western intelligence had no clue about.
00:23:10.900 So, you know, they're they're a very valuable group and, you know, and they're really to be lauded and supported.
00:23:16.400 And like I said, what do you think the likelihood is?
00:23:18.620 I mean, obviously, we know Israel had to have someone on the inside, somebody who realized in Iran that the Mueller's were insane and they were driving the world toward nuclear war because you couldn't get that kind of access unless someone was helping you.
00:23:30.180 Correct.
00:23:30.900 Oh, yeah.
00:23:31.200 Of course.
00:23:31.400 There's no question about it.
00:23:32.380 And, you know, having having recruited Iranians myself, you know, it's it's it's fascinating, but it's not as hard.
00:23:40.780 The problem is getting in front of the person.
00:23:42.940 But once you start talking to them or if you're able to meet them securely, you know, everyone knows everyone basically hates their regime unless you're going to talk to some hardliner from the IRGC or something.
00:23:52.040 So, you know, it's a matter of what are they willing to do to support what they believe?
00:23:56.440 You know, so most of them just are fed up with the corruption and the corruption and of the of the Iranian regime. 0.80
00:24:04.200 And they're tired of how it infringes on their lifestyle, how they can't travel, how they're an international pariah.
00:24:09.740 So it's it's somewhat easy to motivate these people.
00:24:12.680 Hey, look, you know, you're in a position to help us.
00:24:14.780 You need to help your country, help your country against the mullahs and give us this information.
00:24:18.680 So, you know, the Iranians are sure these Israelis have numerous, you know, inroads into the Iranian dissident community.
00:24:26.480 Yeah, which would be would have been impossible.
00:24:29.020 That now by IRGC, of course, mean the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, right?
00:24:32.480 Right, exactly.
00:24:33.380 And effectively the SS of the regime. 0.68
00:24:36.120 Yeah, like the SS, Gestapo and special operations all rolled into one.
00:24:40.460 That's right.
00:24:40.980 Right.
00:24:41.300 With the sprinkling of the old brutal KGB.
00:24:44.640 That's right.
00:24:45.180 Let's move on to Gina Haspel. 1.00
00:24:46.840 Now, did you ever interface with her while you were at CIA?
00:24:50.000 But you worked there.
00:24:51.080 Your careers overlapped.
00:24:53.800 Positive, negative.
00:24:54.820 What have you heard about her from the rank and file if you didn't work with her yourself?
00:24:57.320 Certainly.
00:24:57.740 I didn't work with her, but I've certainly heard positive things.
00:25:00.460 Now, yesterday, I believe there was a statement put out by 75 former CIA officers endorsing her.
00:25:06.980 And I certainly believe that that's appropriate.
00:25:08.680 You know, she this is this is one of those footballs that the Democrats love to try to try to play in terms of their talk.
00:25:16.680 They use it as a way of attacking the, quote, torture policy.
00:25:19.960 But, in fact, we have to all remember that the CIA is not a policy organ.
00:25:24.540 It does what it is told.
00:25:26.140 They're an instrument of policy.
00:25:27.360 They're not a policymaker.
00:25:28.480 I'm trying to explain that to people.
00:25:30.160 But it was the what they're really criticizing her for, Scott.
00:25:32.740 Correct me if I'm wrong.
00:25:33.480 Is that she presided over a black site in Southeast Asia while, was it Anwar al-Awlaki or was that who they were saying was at the site?
00:25:43.940 I think, yes.
00:25:44.860 Right.
00:25:45.180 Yeah, I believe so.
00:25:45.800 He was waterboard.
00:25:46.660 Now, first of all, I couldn't care less if we drown this guy.
00:25:49.340 I mean, he's a terrible, terrible guy.
00:25:50.700 But then it turned out, well, that was all fake news.
00:25:52.960 She was stationed at that particular black site. 0.57
00:25:55.100 Bothers me that the fact that that black site exists was even leaked to the press.
00:25:58.940 Forgetting that for a moment.
00:26:00.020 Right.
00:26:00.220 She was stationed there, but at a time when Al-Awlaki wasn't even there.
00:26:04.380 Right.
00:26:04.900 That's typical of the hit piece media.
00:26:07.080 Right.
00:26:07.240 That's typical of the drive-by media to do things like that.
00:26:10.660 And, you know, she, like I said, has an excellent reputation and she is an operations officer. 0.81
00:26:16.560 She would be the first operations officer running the CIA since the days of William Colby in the 70s.
00:26:23.120 Because after that, we basically have just presidential appointees like former President Bush and intelligence.
00:26:30.760 Papa Pompeo, the congressman.
00:26:31.680 Right.
00:26:31.720 And intelligence managers.
00:26:33.480 But not people who've worked in the field as an operations type.
00:26:37.000 So that's I think that that's something that the agency needs at this point because of because thanks to all the politicization we're seeing.
00:26:44.860 We saw under the Democrats, you know, the agency like the FBI is having, you know, is feeling its oats a little bit with a loss of reputation.
00:26:51.440 Yeah.
00:26:52.060 Thanks to, you know, thanks to, you know, disgraceful people like former CIA director Brennan.
00:26:57.100 So let's get somebody from the field in there as a way of like enhancing morale and somebody who really, you know, has walked the walk.
00:27:03.080 So, you know, it's funny when you said that she was an operations officer, I immediately FBI just popped into my head.
00:27:08.860 I literally saw the letters FBI because that's been a complaint.
00:27:12.380 The rank and file agents I know, people like Bobby Chacon, I have him on the show pretty much as much as I have you.
00:27:16.820 And one of the criticisms is always that the FBI brings in these DOJ lawyers who've never worked a day on the street.
00:27:24.800 They weren't even analysts at the FBI.
00:27:26.440 They typically come out of DOJ.
00:27:28.360 They were prosecutors or civil division attorneys.
00:27:31.940 Now they're running the world's premier law enforcement organization.
00:27:35.100 It's got to be there's a fundamental disconnect.
00:27:37.580 And I would imagine that with CIA as well.
00:27:39.120 You know, look, I want an operations officer at the helm.
00:27:42.500 The operations people are the ones putting their lives on the line.
00:27:45.040 The analysts do great work and they protect America, but they're not in the line of firing.
00:27:49.840 They're not operating behind enemy lines.
00:27:51.560 Right.
00:27:51.740 We need an operations person to understand how these things happen and what the stakes are.
00:27:56.480 Correct.
00:27:57.260 There's no question about it.
00:27:58.740 And, you know, they understand better than new.
00:28:00.740 You know, she may have a language or two under her belt. 1.00
00:28:03.080 And she just understands the nuances of dealing with foreign officials, with foreigners having handled sources through her career.
00:28:09.360 So so I applaud it.
00:28:11.000 And and hopefully the Democrats will not be too obstructive with this confirmation process.
00:28:17.600 Now, how do you think she was able to survive and actually get a positive endorsement from Brennan?
00:28:23.200 Was she just smart at playing those office politics? 0.99
00:28:26.900 Right.
00:28:27.500 I think that that may be maybe the case.
00:28:30.060 And the fact that she she's a woman, I think, may have also, you know, even though she's a good officer, would maybe partially shield her from maybe some of the more.
00:28:40.160 And I'm sure she's also less partisan and she tries to, you know, steer a middle course so that that also helped her politically, you know, which is fine, because that's exactly what you want. 0.91
00:28:49.680 Right.
00:28:50.100 We want somebody who doesn't.
00:28:52.140 Right.
00:28:52.480 You don't want somebody who's too far to one side or the other, you know, and so that's a good thing.
00:28:57.280 And so the same thing that may have insulated her from some criticism is something else that maybe would make her a more effective leader at the agency.
00:29:05.380 So you operated extensively against Russian assets, recruited Russians for the United States.
00:29:10.160 What do you think Russia's next move is with Iran now that we've pulled out of the deal?
00:29:13.960 Do they pat him on the back, wink and nod and tell him to go develop weapons or does this concern Russia?
00:29:18.660 I mean, that's the I think that I think that Russia will proceed cautiously.
00:29:24.600 Russia will try to, in this case, support Europe in trying to get Trump back to the table or, you know, Trump left the door open a little bit.
00:29:32.180 He did leave it open a little bit.
00:29:33.280 He said, if Iran is willing to come back and be more logical and responsible, he's willing to talk to him.
00:29:37.920 So the Russians will try to play that up with the French and other countries who want to see basically their business deals like Airbus and things like that go through with the Iranians.
00:29:47.560 So they will support the Europeans in this regard.
00:29:51.100 In the end, though, they're going to have to accept defeat if Trump decides not to totally break the deal, which I think is appropriate.
00:29:59.120 So, yeah, we'll just have to see.
00:30:00.520 I mean, it's going to take it's going to take at least six months.
00:30:03.280 The sanctions will take hold, but it's going to take several months for that to happen.
00:30:07.560 You know, there are a new ambassador in Germany commented on that.
00:30:10.340 Yeah, you know, Rick Grinnell, he's a friend of mine.
00:30:12.900 And Rick and I believe did you meet Rick last time we were in D.C.?
00:30:17.120 No, actually, I didn't.
00:30:18.180 That's right. He had come in. We were all in a restaurant together.
00:30:20.300 Right.
00:30:20.960 And Rick had left right before you came in or you had actually left to drive back to Pennsylvania before he came in.
00:30:26.980 And that's a meeting that could happen.
00:30:29.480 You guys have a lot to talk about.
00:30:30.440 But Rick was was on top of Ambassador Grinnell.
00:30:34.440 I mean, within an hour, he was basically putting German companies on notice that, hey, wind down your business operations.
00:30:41.360 We're not.
00:30:41.700 That's right.
00:30:42.460 That's right. Exactly.
00:30:43.500 It was appropriate.
00:30:44.160 Of course, he was criticized for that.
00:30:46.280 But but it was that was that was a good warning to give, you know, because that's the way it is with the harder sanctions.
00:30:51.720 It's going to be a choice of dealing with the United States or dealing with Iran. 0.92
00:30:54.960 And that's the way we've got to use our economic power as another way to leverage our diplomatic power. 0.62
00:31:01.060 And so, you know, totally appropriate statement and totally appropriate actions.
00:31:03.960 You know, that's this is welcome to the real world of power politics.
00:31:07.380 You know, we abandoned that under Obama with our leading from behind ideas.
00:31:11.240 But now we're playing, you know, the grown up grownups are back in power and we're doing the way it's supposed to be played.
00:31:15.380 So now last question, Scott, running out of time, the didn't send a message to the world that the UK, Germany, France, even Russia and China pretty much got played by Iran, that Iran had no intention of honoring this deal.
00:31:29.000 Because right after we pulled out, Iran said, we're going to ramp up our uranium enrichment.
00:31:33.280 We're going to weaponize now even harder, even faster, even more aggressively.
00:31:37.340 I mean, what is that saying to the world about the clout that the European nations, China and Russia hold with Iran?
00:31:42.960 Isn't that Iran spitting in their faces? 1.00
00:31:45.380 It is, but they will but they will absorb that blow basically in hopes of helping revive their, you know, increasingly kind of flatline economies with increased business to Iran.
00:31:56.800 So they're going to they're going to choke that down and just pretend it wasn't said so they can move forward with the business deals, which generally speaking has been the Europeans attitude for several years now.
00:32:06.680 They just that's all they see right now with kind of flat economic growth without like basically the regulatory policies and the economic growth policies of President Trump.
00:32:15.900 Without those, they depend on increasing, you know, market share in places like Iran, which were cut off from world trade for the most part by the sanctions.
00:32:23.240 So they're going to just eat it and just try to move forward with and try to and try to, you know, keep maintain this deal or convince Trump otherwise, you know, you know, I wish you had more of a backbone.
00:32:34.580 Scott, it's always a pleasure. Thanks very much. Tell them about tell the audience about your race really quickly.
00:32:39.000 Full disclosure, I'm endorsing Scott. I'm helping Scott. We need guys like Scott in Congress.
00:32:43.680 Where can they find out more about your race? And if they live in Pennsylvania's 9th District, vote for you. 0.88
00:32:48.740 If they live in Pennsylvania, volunteer, help out your campaign.
00:32:52.360 Right. Well, people can certainly check out my Facebook page, Scott Eulinger for Congress, and they can also check out my online, my page, which is at Scott4PA.com.
00:33:03.580 Scott, F-O-R-P-A.com. I'm on Twitter also at Scott4PA.
00:33:08.260 And so, yeah, get involved. We're doing really well. Just a couple more days till the May 15th primary.
00:33:13.640 And I'm very optimistic. The word's gotten out about my Rhino opponent. 1.00
00:33:17.340 People understand, you know, he's a false kind of a guy and that I'm the real Make America Great Again candidate.
00:33:24.660 Sebastian Borka will be traveling to the area.
00:33:26.800 I'm seeing a lot of activity on social media about this.
00:33:29.020 All right, Scott, good luck in the race. We'll see you soon. Thanks very much.
00:33:31.440 Thank you.
00:33:38.260 Thank you.
00:34:08.260 For eight white letters on a blue background, bold font, Daniel's lawyer, Cohen got $500,000 from Russian oligarch Victor Vexelberg.
00:34:15.520 Wow, makes it seem like he's in bed with the Russians, right? Just under it. 0.70
00:34:20.340 Michael Avenatti provided no documentation for his claims, which he posted on Twitter.
00:34:25.380 So Stormy Daniel's attorney is just saying something. Here's what he said.
00:34:28.820 He wrote, and this was yesterday at about 5 p.m., he wrote,
00:34:33.360 Michael Avenatti, Stannie Dormel, Stannie Dormel, Stannie Dormy Daniel's lawyer,
00:34:38.300 wrote, after significant investigation, we have discovered that Mr. Trump's attorney, Mr. Cohen,
00:34:43.120 received approximately $500,000 in the months after the election from a company controlled by a Russian oligarch with close ties to Mr. Putin.
00:34:52.040 These monies may have reimbursed $130,000 payment.
00:34:58.820 Avenatti said that they can, that his investigation uncovered that $4.4 million flowed through a First Republic bank account linked to Essential Consultants,
00:35:09.220 Michael Cohen's firm, from October 2016 to January 2018.
00:35:14.220 Essential Consultants is the company Cohen created before the 2016 election,
00:35:17.620 and he used to wire $130,000 to Stormy Daniel's to stop her from going public with the alleged affair with Trump, blah, blah, blah.
00:35:24.960 So what? So what?
00:35:26.920 The lawyer, personal lawyer to Donald Trump, did what every other person close to somebody who won an election,
00:35:32.120 or was looking to win an election, would do, and they set up a consulting company
00:35:35.080 so that they could engage in government affairs consulting.
00:35:38.180 Everyone in the world does it.
00:35:40.340 Everyone does it.
00:35:41.380 John Podesta did it.
00:35:42.980 His brother did it.
00:35:44.800 Corey Lewandowski did it.
00:35:45.960 We do it on both sides.
00:35:47.500 I do political consulting.
00:35:50.000 I do communications work.
00:35:51.460 I'm a guy who's on air.
00:35:52.860 Candidates often call me to help with their media, their branding, their image,
00:35:55.740 to media train them for interviews.
00:35:57.820 It is a, many, many people and entities do that.
00:36:01.700 It's such a minor non-issue.
00:36:05.980 I don't even know where to begin.
00:36:06.740 So anyway, this company that supposedly put the money in,
00:36:11.040 a company called, that sent essential consultants, Cohen's company,
00:36:16.240 to half a million dollars, is called Columbus Nova.
00:36:19.780 Columbus Nova is not hiding.
00:36:22.200 Now, Avenatti alleged that Columbus Nova is controlled by the Russian billionaire oligarch,
00:36:27.640 Viktor Vekselberg, and his cousin, Andrew and Entrotter.
00:36:30.860 However, Columbus Nova didn't hide. 0.99
00:36:33.800 They issued a statement.
00:36:35.460 In a statement from the NBC news piece, an attorney for Columbus Nova said the management firm
00:36:40.300 is owned and controlled by Americans, and not Vekselberg, who's president of the Russian
00:36:45.760 conglomerate Renovo Group.
00:36:47.220 Here's the statement from the attorneys for Columbus Nova that paid Cohen's firm the $500,000.
00:36:55.940 Quote,
00:36:56.180 After the inauguration, the firm hired Michael Cohen as a business consultant regarding potential
00:37:02.280 sources of capital and potential investments in real estate and other ventures.
00:37:08.320 Commonplace.
00:37:09.180 You hire somebody close to the president, somebody who now has access to his business contact,
00:37:14.400 because he's now blinded from them.
00:37:17.320 He's got a firewall up between himself and his former business contact.
00:37:21.040 The president does.
00:37:21.620 But you were his personal attorney.
00:37:22.840 You have them.
00:37:23.660 Why wouldn't you capitalize on that?
00:37:25.860 It's not illegal.
00:37:26.920 It's not unethical.
00:37:27.700 It's not improper.
00:37:28.540 It's business.
00:37:30.300 The claim that reports today that Victor Vekselberg used Columbus Nova as a conduit for
00:37:38.180 payments to Michael Cohen are false.
00:37:39.980 The claim that Victor Vekselberg was involved or provided any funding for Columbus Nova's
00:37:45.060 engagement of Michael Cohen is patently untrue.
00:37:47.780 Neither Victor Vekselberg nor anyone else other than Columbus Nova's owners, who are Americans,
00:37:54.080 were involved in the decision to hire Cohen or provided funding for his engagement.
00:38:02.000 Now, Columbus Nova was listed as a partner company of Russian Renovo Group until November
00:38:09.420 2017.
00:38:10.280 But again, what?
00:38:12.180 So what?
00:38:13.500 It's a large company.
00:38:14.900 It's legal for American companies to do business with Russia.
00:38:18.060 You have a multibillionaire Russian and his rich cousin here in the U.S. that owns this
00:38:21.960 company.
00:38:22.700 Why wouldn't they do business together?
00:38:25.720 There's nothing dubious about this.
00:38:27.880 This is perfectly legal business.
00:38:30.700 It's just that Russian has become a buzzword now for all that's evil. 1.00
00:38:34.640 It's so stupid.
00:38:35.740 It's even dumber that NBC News runs the headline the way they do what they should have run the
00:38:41.840 headline as.
00:38:42.500 The headline should have read, American firm debunks claims that Russian oligarch paid
00:38:50.020 Michael Cohen to pay off Stormy Daniels or paid Michael Cohen for Stormy Daniels.
00:38:55.020 That's what it should have said.
00:38:57.200 Lawyers for American firm destroy claim that Russian oligarch paid off Stormy Daniels through
00:39:04.880 Michael Cohen.
00:39:05.600 That would have been an honest headline.
00:39:07.580 That would have been a non-fake news headline.
00:39:09.900 But no, NBC couldn't do that now, could they?
00:39:12.500 Now, they're making a big deal about the fact that the CEO of Columbus Nova, Andrew and
00:39:19.460 Trader, made political donations over the past two years.
00:39:22.480 He's an American.
00:39:23.900 That's what he's allowed to do.
00:39:25.800 He donated $29,600 to the Republican National Committee in June of 2017.
00:39:30.800 He had donated it to the DNC, the Democratic National Committee.
00:39:33.300 This wouldn't be a story.
00:39:34.060 In June, $35,000 to the Trump victory pact that same month, and then a quarter million
00:39:39.680 dollars to the Trump inauguration fund.
00:39:42.160 Columbus Nova has also registered many alt-right internet domains.
00:39:46.460 So the domains return an error message.
00:39:48.220 Alt-right internet domains.
00:39:50.100 I guarantee you those domains are like conservative republicans.com.
00:39:53.320 That's alt-right to NBC News.
00:39:56.120 Now, Vexelberg was questioned by Mueller and let go.
00:40:00.900 No charges against the guy.
00:40:02.600 He got off a private jet in New York.
00:40:04.700 FBI agents approached him.
00:40:06.980 They questioned him.
00:40:08.980 And this all stems from the fact that Vexelberg showed up at the same dinner in Moscow as General
00:40:13.280 Flynn back in 2015.
00:40:15.280 I mean, they are reaching.
00:40:16.440 Now, Vexelberg was one of the Russian oligarchs sanctioned by the Treasury Department, but
00:40:21.820 he has not been accused of wrongdoing in Mueller's investigation with Russian meddling.
00:40:26.420 Nothing.
00:40:27.500 Nothing.
00:40:28.260 They're simply demonizing this guy, his company, his cousin, who's an American, by the way,
00:40:33.880 and his cousin's company, demonizing them because they dealt with Michael Cohen.
00:40:39.220 Nobody else is even commenting on it.
00:40:42.300 It's nonsensical.
00:40:43.020 Now, Avenatti said, Stormy Daniels' lawyer, the stripper, probably, you know, porn star
00:40:49.060 stripper, who knows what else she did for monies, lawyer, this pillar of society, that 1.00
00:40:54.060 he also uncovered, here, four payments of just under $100,000 made by Novartis to Cohen's
00:41:00.880 essential consulting in late 2017 and early 2018.
00:41:04.520 So what?
00:41:05.160 Novartis is a pharmaceutical company.
00:41:07.820 They hired a business consultant.
00:41:11.080 So what?
00:41:11.740 I mean, why is that even news?
00:41:17.000 AT&T made four payments each of $50,000 to Essential in late 2017 and early 2018 to provide
00:41:23.720 insights in understanding the new administration.
00:41:28.480 Lobbying or legal work for AT&T and the contract ended December 2017.
00:41:32.780 So what?
00:41:33.900 It happens every single day.
00:41:35.880 Major corporations pay large sums of money to people who know a prominent politician
00:41:41.820 well so they can understand how to engage them when they go into meetings.
00:41:46.860 Perfectly legal, commonplace business.
00:41:50.300 Korea Aerospace Industries made a $150,000 payment to Cohen's firm in November 2017.
00:41:55.060 Again, so what?
00:41:57.000 They wanted advice on how to lobby Trump.
00:41:59.340 Maybe they just wanted to understand protocol, what kind of guy he was and what color tie they
00:42:04.580 should wear to the meeting.
00:42:05.340 But again, so what?
00:42:06.980 Big corporations hired a lawyer who ran a consulting company who had insights into the new presidential
00:42:14.120 administration.
00:42:15.800 They hired him for those insights.
00:42:17.960 In Washington D Street, K Street is full of firms that do this every day.
00:42:22.420 It's exactly what the Podesta Group does.
00:42:25.660 Tony Podesta, John Podesta's brother's firm, you don't see one story on their far more dubious
00:42:32.740 dealings.
00:42:33.700 So in the final analysis, Michael Cohen did nothing wrong engaging these companies, nothing
00:42:39.080 at all wrong.
00:42:39.820 And this is just more fake news from NBC.
00:42:52.420 Several states had primary elections yesterday ahead of the 2018 November midterm.
00:43:00.760 Now, from what I see, things are looking pretty good for the Republican Party.
00:43:07.200 The one that everybody was watching was West Virginia, where this very strange guy, Don
00:43:10.480 Blankenship, who had a television commercial about China people and Mitch McConnell's China
00:43:14.900 family and cocaine Mitch, ditch cocaine Mitch for the kids. 0.97
00:43:19.540 It was a weird ad.
00:43:21.280 He's a weird guy.
00:43:22.380 He served time in prison.
00:43:23.480 Now, that one didn't really bother me as much.
00:43:26.200 I think it was very heavy handed.
00:43:27.660 It was during the Obama administration.
00:43:29.620 He served time, a year in jail for a misdemeanor because of a mine accident.
00:43:33.460 But people in West Virginia didn't mind that to me.
00:43:36.000 They said that mines have accidents.
00:43:38.060 It was really his videos that hurt him.
00:43:39.820 But more importantly, President Trump and Donald Trump Jr., as well as many other prominent
00:43:44.080 Republicans and media people, myself included, were telling voters not to vote for Don
00:43:49.900 Blankenship because he had no chance whatsoever, no chance whatsoever of beating Joe Manchin,
00:43:58.860 Democrat Joe Manchin, in the general election.
00:44:01.640 Now, Patrick Morrissey, West Virginia's attorney general, won the race.
00:44:06.420 And Morrissey was one of the candidates that Donald Trump suggested people vote for, the
00:44:10.980 other being a local politician named Evan Jenkins.
00:44:13.120 It was pretty much either Morrissey or Jenkins can easily beat, or will be competitive against
00:44:19.340 Joe Manchin.
00:44:19.800 I shouldn't say easily.
00:44:21.460 Not a true statement.
00:44:22.980 Joe Manchin is still pretty popular there.
00:44:24.620 His popularity has waned, but he has a base.
00:44:27.400 But either one of those was a far better option to challenge Joe Manchin, far more competitive.
00:44:32.880 And if Trump's policies continue, Manchin's in trouble.
00:44:36.540 So West Virginia, I think now we have a candidate in the attorney general.
00:44:39.720 He's already won statewide office.
00:44:41.440 This is another statewide run.
00:44:43.740 He knows how to run statewide.
00:44:45.460 He knows how to win statewide.
00:44:47.760 Good choice on the part of people in West Virginia and encouraging going into the 2018
00:44:53.440 midterm.
00:44:55.260 Indiana had two interesting races.
00:44:58.560 One of them was a congressional race for Vice President Mike Pence's former seat.
00:45:02.940 And the Republican nominee is now brother.
00:45:07.380 His brother.
00:45:07.840 His brother was a shoo-in. 1.00
00:45:12.640 His name is Greg Pence.
00:45:14.040 And he won the congressional primary.
00:45:16.520 He's a Marine veteran.
00:45:18.340 He owns two antique malls.
00:45:19.600 And he ran a now-out-of-business chain of tobacco shops.
00:45:23.500 And very well-liked.
00:45:24.860 Very popular.
00:45:26.180 And he's already favored to win the seat in the general election.
00:45:30.400 Another big win for the Trump administration to have the Vice President's brother sitting
00:45:35.420 in Congress.
00:45:36.760 Pretty big deal.
00:45:38.980 Ohio's high-profile governor's race.
00:45:42.100 The Attorney General Mike DeWine won that one for Republicans.
00:45:46.760 They'll probably hold the governor's mansion.
00:45:50.360 And I couldn't be happier.
00:45:55.940 I need more Republican governors. 0.98
00:45:58.800 And those were really the big ones.
00:46:01.740 And in Indiana, there was a Senate race.
00:46:03.840 A guy named Braun.
00:46:05.500 What was Braun's?
00:46:06.520 What is Braun's first name?
00:46:09.160 He's a very wealthy candidate.
00:46:11.800 I believe it's Mike Braun.
00:46:12.800 He won the Republican nomination for Senate in Indiana.
00:46:17.680 And he is a very wealthy businessman.
00:46:21.620 He loaned his campaign $5.4 million.
00:46:26.900 He owns a large auto parts chain.
00:46:31.200 A chain of auto parts.
00:46:33.620 An auto parts distribution business.
00:46:36.520 And so he won there.
00:46:37.560 And again, a guy that can sell fun like that is going to raise a lot of money.
00:46:41.760 He'll be running against Joe Donnelly, who's the incumbent Democratic senator.
00:46:47.060 And so this is helling to me going into the midterm.
00:46:51.380 But I like that we're picking candidates who can win.
00:46:55.160 Very glad that we rejected Blankenship.
00:46:57.200 And I think Republican voters are very aware.
00:47:01.900 Excuse me.
00:47:02.500 Very aware of the debacle that happened in Alabama with Judge Roy Moore.
00:47:06.060 They don't want to see that happen again.
00:47:07.580 And I predict that when Doug Jones has to run again, which I believe is, when is Doug Jones running again?
00:47:16.840 In 2020, right?
00:47:18.300 He has a special election for Jeff Sessions' seat.
00:47:21.620 I don't believe Doug Jones will be in the Senate.
00:47:23.440 I believe a Republican picks that seat back up.
00:47:25.960 And Alabama goes back red.
00:47:27.660 But very encouraging, good candidates in these seats going into the midterms.
00:47:32.700 Hopefully, Indiana is a pickup.
00:47:34.860 And I think that Mike Pence's brother wins handily.
00:47:38.440 And now West Virginia is very competitive.
00:47:41.120 So we might actually be pickups in the Senate, not losses.
00:47:45.840 I do not believe a blue wave is coming.
00:47:47.840 I think Republicans are going to retain the House and Senate.
00:47:51.040 The economic news is too good.
00:47:53.000 And you combine that with North Korea pulling out of the Iran deal.
00:47:56.120 And if Donald Trump strengthens the border and we even break ground, a shovel goes into
00:48:00.960 the ground on a border wall, I think it's going to be impossible to beat Republicans in
00:48:05.960 the 2018 midterms this coming November and impossible to beat Donald Trump in 2020.
00:48:23.000 Let's go.
00:48:31.040 Let's go.
00:48:33.960 Let's go.
00:48:35.480 Let's go.
00:48:36.980 Let's go.
00:48:45.880 Let's go.
00:48:49.240 Let's go.