The Megyn Kelly Show - August 13, 2025


Did Comey Leak to NYT, Leftists Want More DC Crime, and Fixing CA, with John Solomon, Steve Hilton, Rich Lowry, and Charles Cooke


Episode Stats

Length

2 hours and 9 minutes

Words per Minute

183.05759

Word Count

23,681

Sentence Count

442

Misogynist Sentences

47

Hate Speech Sentences

47


Summary

A new piece from John Solomon of the New York Times points the finger at former FBI Director James Comey. It details how he may have leaked classified information to the media through a Columbia University professor friend of his to make his case for why he should be fired.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Now streaming on Paramount Plus.
00:00:02.840 Someone is trying to frame us.
00:00:05.280 Until our names are cleared.
00:00:07.700 We're fugitives from interval.
00:00:09.480 Like Bonnie and Clyde with better snacks.
00:00:12.880 Espionage?
00:00:13.560 You still as good a shot as you used to be?
00:00:16.580 Better.
00:00:17.400 Is there love language?
00:00:18.860 We like to walk that fine line between techno thriller
00:00:21.360 and romantic comedy.
00:00:24.180 We make up our own rules.
00:00:25.940 NCIS Tony and Ziva.
00:00:27.400 Now streaming on Paramount Plus.
00:00:30.660 Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show.
00:00:32.540 Live on Sirius XM Channel 111 every weekday at noon east.
00:00:42.320 Hey everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly.
00:00:44.060 Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show.
00:00:45.500 We've got new reporting today on the intelligence leaks
00:00:47.960 aimed at undermining President Trump before and during
00:00:50.780 his first term in office and the complete lack of care,
00:00:54.640 or so it would seem, by the intelligence community.
00:00:57.180 Yesterday we began the show with Just the News' John Solomon.
00:01:02.000 Today we're going to do the same as he's got yet another big piece
00:01:06.060 on his website this morning.
00:01:08.360 This one involves newly declassified intelligence
00:01:11.320 from FBI Director Cash Patel
00:01:13.860 that squarely points the finger at former FBI Director James Comey.
00:01:18.640 Both men in the same job, one fully transparent,
00:01:23.160 one quite the opposite.
00:01:25.440 I mean, Comey wanted a message out there, that's for sure.
00:01:29.160 He did want to communicate with the press.
00:01:31.280 He just wanted to do it behind the scenes
00:01:33.040 and with classified information
00:01:34.800 and through intermediaries so his fingerprints weren't on it,
00:01:37.920 as opposed to Cash Patel,
00:01:39.040 who just calls up random reporters and says,
00:01:41.380 here, take this,
00:01:42.080 or has a press conference saying,
00:01:43.600 here, look at everything.
00:01:46.040 This latest piece is about how James Comey,
00:01:48.940 while the FBI Director,
00:01:50.480 used a friend at Columbia University
00:01:53.000 to help craft his image
00:01:55.460 as he pushed out false, misleading,
00:02:00.020 and classified information.
00:02:02.820 It appears the intermediary says he can't be sure.
00:02:06.420 He doesn't think he passed on classified information,
00:02:10.180 but it certainly appears he did,
00:02:12.480 to the New York Times,
00:02:14.180 and in particular to the reporter over there,
00:02:16.040 Michael Schmidt,
00:02:16.720 who went on to win Pulitzer Prizes
00:02:19.040 for his Russiagate reporting.
00:02:22.020 And while some of this was known before,
00:02:23.660 we are now filling in some major details
00:02:25.720 on exactly how this shit went down.
00:02:29.340 Joining me here to break it down,
00:02:31.280 what's new, what's old,
00:02:32.260 and where it could lead,
00:02:33.020 is John Solomon of Just the News.
00:02:34.680 John's the founder of Just the News.
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00:03:51.120 John, great to see you again.
00:03:53.300 So you mentioned that you thought
00:03:54.620 this was gonna hit last night.
00:03:56.200 It did hit last night and explain to us
00:03:59.200 what exactly you are reporting that's new.
00:04:02.320 Because I think we knew prior to last night
00:04:04.300 that Comey was leaking
00:04:06.000 through a Columbia University professor friend of his
00:04:09.440 to the New York Times.
00:04:11.400 Yeah, we've known for about four years now,
00:04:13.280 five years, that he used Richmond to leak some memos
00:04:17.340 after he was fired by President Trump
00:04:19.160 that related what Comey's side
00:04:21.120 of these alleged conversations with the president.
00:04:24.240 None of those were deemed,
00:04:25.400 at least the things that Richmond provided the media,
00:04:28.620 were deemed to have classified information in them.
00:04:31.040 What we now learn is that the FBI looked,
00:04:33.980 and we learned that from the Inspector General
00:04:35.400 of the Justice Department,
00:04:36.280 so Administrative Expensure General Investigation,
00:04:40.360 which, by the way, severely criticized Comey
00:04:43.440 for not following the rules and requirements
00:04:46.020 of being FBI director,
00:04:47.220 not even following his non-disclosure agreement
00:04:49.280 and the way he leaked information.
00:04:50.800 What we didn't know until the last 24 hours
00:04:54.560 when Kash Patel transmitted these documents to Congress
00:04:57.580 and Justice News got a set of them,
00:04:59.340 is that the FBI looked at Richmond
00:05:02.540 and at least two other top lieutenants
00:05:05.840 of James Comey for leaking possible classified information.
00:05:10.600 And for the first time,
00:05:12.460 we get a very detailed response
00:05:14.420 of how Mr. Richmond,
00:05:16.820 a Columbia University law professor
00:05:18.380 who was put on the taxpayer's payroll
00:05:20.620 so he could burnish James Comey's image,
00:05:23.200 what he said his motive was,
00:05:25.000 what he was doing with the New York Times,
00:05:27.180 and how he addressed the leak,
00:05:29.660 the question of whether he leaked confidential information.
00:05:32.560 Let me just have you there.
00:05:34.500 I want to start this discussion
00:05:35.680 the same place we started it yesterday,
00:05:37.620 which is the FBI cares very, very deeply
00:05:39.440 about the leak of classified information.
00:05:42.140 We know that because they indicted a president for doing it.
00:05:44.780 They indicted a former president
00:05:45.780 who has the ability to declassify information
00:05:47.860 with really the wave of his hand,
00:05:49.780 the stroke of a pen, in Donald Trump.
00:05:52.600 So they went after him
00:05:53.640 for having classified information at Mar-a-Lago.
00:05:55.500 They accused him of waving it around in a document,
00:05:57.660 allegedly showing it off.
00:05:58.600 That's bad, that's bad.
00:05:59.600 We have to have the rule of law, they told us.
00:06:01.400 So he got indicted down in Palm Beach County, Florida,
00:06:05.200 by Jack Smith in a federal prosecution
00:06:07.200 after an FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago
00:06:09.900 looking for said classified documents
00:06:12.040 because it's very, very wrong
00:06:13.540 to have classified information
00:06:14.720 or to leak classified information that you shouldn't.
00:06:17.860 And yet the FBI, the same organization,
00:06:20.980 when confronted with the reality
00:06:23.040 that its director, James Comey,
00:06:26.980 was running classified information
00:06:29.180 through his Columbia University pal
00:06:31.620 to the New York Times,
00:06:32.980 didn't seem to give two figs, John.
00:06:37.680 Well, I want to be fair to the FBI.
00:06:39.980 The FBI agents themselves
00:06:41.380 seemed to give quite a few figs.
00:06:42.860 They were working hard to solve this.
00:06:44.620 What they couldn't do
00:06:45.620 was get the Justice Department
00:06:46.980 under Donald Trump
00:06:48.580 or under Joe Biden to bring any charges.
00:06:51.400 But they did a pretty good job
00:06:53.180 of figuring out who they thought the leakers were.
00:06:55.820 And I think one of the great moments,
00:06:58.600 and that's why they land on Richmond, right?
00:07:00.320 Let's walk through one of the episodes
00:07:02.160 that the memo lays up.
00:07:04.260 Richmond, Comey's still FBI director at this point.
00:07:08.100 Richmond meets with Comey.
00:07:09.860 Richmond's on the taxpayer's payroll.
00:07:12.100 This is interesting.
00:07:12.760 He's an outside lawyer.
00:07:14.520 He's brought in as a special government employee,
00:07:16.460 which means you and I are paying his salary.
00:07:17.900 And his goal is to work around the press office
00:07:21.260 that we all already pay for, for the FBI
00:07:24.000 and who's trained in how to handle these issues.
00:07:25.000 And Comey gets him a top secret security clearance
00:07:27.140 so that he can access all the information
00:07:29.260 that Comey wants to leak.
00:07:30.960 That's right.
00:07:31.440 He basically has the same level
00:07:32.800 of security clearance as Comey.
00:07:34.040 High level, up to SCI.
00:07:35.760 That's especially compartmental intelligence.
00:07:38.960 So he's being treated like a guy.
00:07:40.740 He's an insider of the FBI.
00:07:42.560 He's not.
00:07:43.260 He's working around the press office
00:07:44.800 that you and I also pay for.
00:07:46.120 And his goal isn't specifically
00:07:48.880 to do the work of the FBI.
00:07:50.340 He says his goal was to burnish James Comey's
00:07:54.720 tattered or hammered,
00:07:56.240 I think he uses the word hammered image,
00:07:58.400 and to set future narratives,
00:08:00.920 i.e. Russia collusion,
00:08:02.800 i.e. Donald Trump is a Russian stooge
00:08:05.320 who should be indicted
00:08:06.600 and that he tried to obstruct his friend, James Comey.
00:08:10.600 So we now know that's what he told the FBI
00:08:12.960 under penalty of being charged with lying to the FBI
00:08:15.480 if you don't tell the truth.
00:08:16.820 And then he's in a meeting.
00:08:18.600 He gets access to very sensitive,
00:08:21.200 highly classified information.
00:08:23.660 And then a short while later,
00:08:26.400 he has a conversation with Mike Schmidt,
00:08:28.320 who then eventually writes a story
00:08:30.060 based on that classified information.
00:08:32.920 And this gentleman, Mr. Richmond, says,
00:08:35.420 oh, yeah, we talked about it.
00:08:36.840 He seemed to already know about it.
00:08:38.800 I don't think I confirmed it.
00:08:40.940 And I'm sure with a discount,
00:08:43.140 I'm sure, quote, comma, with a discount, comma,
00:08:46.140 I didn't give him the information.
00:08:47.700 Now, who needs a discount on truth
00:08:49.840 when you're denying whether you leak something?
00:08:51.940 This is like one of the great non-denial answers
00:08:54.240 in American history,
00:08:55.020 sort of like when Bill Clinton said
00:08:56.740 in his grand jury testimony,
00:08:58.320 I don't think I lied on Monica Lewinsky
00:09:00.400 because it really depends
00:09:01.220 on what the meaning of the word is.
00:09:02.880 It was once considered to be
00:09:04.460 one of the greatest dodges
00:09:06.160 in a grand jury testimony.
00:09:07.640 Here he's talking to the FBI
00:09:08.840 and he qualifies his denial by saying,
00:09:11.660 I'm sure with a discount,
00:09:13.660 meaning you better give me some,
00:09:15.060 a cut on this, I didn't leak.
00:09:18.020 That's the dead end that the FBI found itself.
00:09:20.840 And they believed
00:09:21.520 and went to the Justice Department
00:09:22.840 and the Justice Department said,
00:09:24.500 and now we're not going to prosecute him.
00:09:25.900 Just like they said,
00:09:26.840 nah, we're not going to look at Adam Schiff.
00:09:28.960 And this was,
00:09:29.660 which Justice Department
00:09:31.140 and which Attorney General?
00:09:33.260 There are, they occur,
00:09:35.500 they make multiple inquiries
00:09:37.320 in the U.S. Attorney's Office
00:09:38.580 in Washington, 17, 18, 19, and 20.
00:09:41.940 I think the case memo
00:09:42.760 eventually closes in late 19 or 20.
00:09:45.360 At that time, I think Bill Barr
00:09:46.880 would most likely have been
00:09:47.980 Attorney General
00:09:48.940 or coming on as Attorney General.
00:09:51.020 So this is a Trump declination,
00:09:52.940 though obviously at the career level.
00:09:54.480 I doubt it got to the top levels
00:09:56.300 of the political appointees.
00:09:58.040 And why would the DOJ decline
00:10:00.920 to go after him, Comey,
00:10:04.980 and let's go back
00:10:05.960 to what we discussed yesterday,
00:10:08.000 the high-level congressional staffer
00:10:10.280 who said Adam Schiff said
00:10:11.840 he was going to leak classified information
00:10:13.940 and that he could get away with it
00:10:15.560 because he was going to say
00:10:16.280 the speech and debate clause
00:10:17.580 was going to protect him.
00:10:18.600 So why, why would
00:10:21.120 under the Trump administration,
00:10:23.780 these DOJ officials
00:10:24.960 have repeatedly said
00:10:26.560 we're not interested?
00:10:28.580 Yeah, the answer is
00:10:29.920 they didn't feel like
00:10:30.800 they could prove
00:10:31.440 with 100% certainty
00:10:32.700 given the denial
00:10:33.680 or the non-denial
00:10:34.880 or the qualified denial
00:10:36.440 that Mr. Richmond said
00:10:37.440 that he was the leader.
00:10:39.100 Yeah, the denial
00:10:40.040 with the discount.
00:10:40.820 One will remember
00:10:41.800 for a long time, I think.
00:10:43.980 And in every,
00:10:44.940 and by the way,
00:10:45.620 it turns out,
00:10:46.420 and yes, in this morning's story,
00:10:47.500 there are literally six
00:10:48.840 codename classified
00:10:50.800 leak investigations.
00:10:51.840 The FBI opened
00:10:52.700 six criminal investigations.
00:10:56.120 They all had fun codenames
00:10:57.220 like Arctic Frost
00:10:58.460 or Christmas something.
00:10:59.800 They had all these weird names,
00:11:01.020 but in all of them,
00:11:02.700 the same result occurred.
00:11:04.060 The Justice Department
00:11:04.880 declined prosecution
00:11:05.840 and people will say,
00:11:07.100 okay,
00:11:07.680 and then they go after Donald Trump,
00:11:09.600 but then when they find
00:11:10.660 Joe Biden's classified documents,
00:11:12.320 they don't prosecute him.
00:11:13.940 What you see in this history
00:11:17.100 when you take everything
00:11:18.480 from Richmond
00:11:19.960 and some other lieutenants
00:11:21.620 of the FBI,
00:11:22.100 I want to get to that
00:11:22.740 in a second,
00:11:23.180 something Pam Bondi's
00:11:24.260 Justice Department did
00:11:25.420 that probably has to be reversed.
00:11:27.400 You see that
00:11:28.540 if it's a Democrat,
00:11:30.920 Hillary Clinton,
00:11:31.900 our classified emails
00:11:32.980 on the server,
00:11:34.040 or if it's a friend
00:11:35.040 of Democrats,
00:11:36.340 James Comey,
00:11:37.580 you're not going
00:11:38.160 to get indicted.
00:11:39.000 They'll make up
00:11:39.580 some explanation
00:11:41.700 for why they've decided
00:11:42.780 it's too hard
00:11:43.400 to prosecute you.
00:11:44.240 But if you're Donald Trump,
00:11:46.000 and even though you might
00:11:46.780 have the declassifying power,
00:11:48.040 we're going to raid your home
00:11:49.160 with a show of force.
00:11:50.900 We're going to go
00:11:51.480 through your drawers
00:11:52.200 and then we're going
00:11:52.960 to indict you.
00:11:54.780 And I think
00:11:55.300 when you look
00:11:56.340 at that track record,
00:11:57.940 it is an undeniable
00:11:59.040 track record
00:12:00.680 that people are treated
00:12:01.760 different in almost
00:12:02.920 the identical circumstances
00:12:04.240 and it's very troubling.
00:12:06.440 They don't want
00:12:07.200 to go after anybody
00:12:07.960 with power.
00:12:08.800 And you can see
00:12:09.360 why maybe even people
00:12:10.800 at the top of Trump's DOJ,
00:12:12.560 potentially at the 1.0
00:12:15.020 we're talking about,
00:12:16.160 and or FBI,
00:12:17.820 didn't have the appetite
00:12:18.680 to go after
00:12:19.360 the former FBI director,
00:12:21.300 a person who's,
00:12:22.160 you know,
00:12:22.840 in an equally powerful position
00:12:24.660 to the one
00:12:25.020 that they hold now
00:12:25.820 or the identical position
00:12:27.120 to the one
00:12:27.440 that they were holding then.
00:12:29.240 Unlike,
00:12:29.840 but those rules
00:12:30.480 don't apply
00:12:30.980 for Donald Trump, right?
00:12:31.960 And you're hearing it
00:12:32.780 right now
00:12:33.160 as people are saying,
00:12:33.900 how dare they discuss
00:12:35.300 Barack Obama
00:12:36.900 facing criminal indictment?
00:12:39.160 How dare they talk
00:12:40.140 about indicting
00:12:40.920 a former president?
00:12:41.740 The cluelessness, John,
00:12:43.580 given that they're the ones
00:12:44.540 who set all these new standards
00:12:45.940 that we are going
00:12:46.880 to do all that.
00:12:48.280 Well, listen,
00:12:48.700 the cluelessness,
00:12:49.600 the greatest aider
00:12:50.700 and the betters
00:12:51.400 of the last 10 years
00:12:52.360 of misery
00:12:52.820 that this country
00:12:53.560 has been put through
00:12:54.360 through false scandals
00:12:55.400 and false stories
00:12:56.240 and false narratives
00:12:57.180 and weaponization
00:12:58.300 is the co-conspirators
00:13:00.160 that these actors
00:13:01.700 had in the media.
00:13:02.820 When you look
00:13:03.540 at what
00:13:04.880 Mr. Richmond,
00:13:08.180 Daniel Richmond,
00:13:08.700 is talking about
00:13:09.320 when he's dealing
00:13:09.880 with Michael Schmidt
00:13:10.560 in the New York Times,
00:13:11.320 he admits he had a motive.
00:13:13.160 My motive wasn't
00:13:13.920 to give a complete story
00:13:15.340 to the New York Times.
00:13:16.780 It was to make sure
00:13:17.460 that James Comey
00:13:18.500 looked better
00:13:19.000 than he had looked
00:13:19.640 and to set narratives
00:13:21.220 that were going to be out there.
00:13:22.180 We now know those narratives
00:13:23.200 were false stories.
00:13:23.220 Yeah, because why does he need
00:13:23.900 access to classified information
00:13:25.660 if all he needs to do
00:13:26.440 is make James Comey
00:13:27.480 look like a good man?
00:13:28.920 It's a great question, right?
00:13:29.940 These are really important questions
00:13:31.500 that didn't get fully addressed.
00:13:32.900 I mean,
00:13:33.320 the inspector general says,
00:13:34.460 hey,
00:13:34.740 it was really a bad thing.
00:13:35.960 James Comey's a bad guy,
00:13:36.980 did a lot of bad things.
00:13:37.740 OK,
00:13:38.420 but there's no penalty.
00:13:39.320 We got fired,
00:13:40.000 I guess.
00:13:40.500 He lost his job.
00:13:42.260 But at the end of the day,
00:13:44.280 is that enough consequence
00:13:45.400 to create deterrence
00:13:46.460 so that this system
00:13:47.260 doesn't go on?
00:13:48.120 And I think we're
00:13:49.300 at that moment of reckoning.
00:13:50.580 And I think Pam Bondi
00:13:51.620 is going to be
00:13:53.560 the question
00:13:54.900 we all have in our minds.
00:13:56.200 Will this matter?
00:13:57.080 Will these disclosures matter
00:13:58.200 compared to all the other ones
00:13:59.360 we've gotten out
00:13:59.920 in the last 10 years?
00:14:00.660 It's going to come down
00:14:01.880 to two very important people
00:14:03.560 in the administration.
00:14:05.180 The Attorney General Pam Bondi.
00:14:06.840 Can she break the track record
00:14:08.240 of failure of prior AGs
00:14:09.820 to create punishments
00:14:10.600 to people who engage this?
00:14:12.260 Barr, Sessions,
00:14:14.140 Rosenstein, and Garland.
00:14:16.600 And then can Tulsi Gabbard,
00:14:18.420 as the chief
00:14:19.000 of the intelligence community,
00:14:20.600 restructure, rewire
00:14:22.060 an intelligence community
00:14:23.540 that has gone from being
00:14:24.600 neutral defenders
00:14:27.380 against terrorism
00:14:28.360 and counterintelligence threats
00:14:29.640 to political hacks
00:14:31.020 trying to carry out
00:14:31.940 political dirty tricks
00:14:32.920 on the American people.
00:14:34.560 The future of this country
00:14:36.040 on those two questions
00:14:37.240 are probably going to be
00:14:37.900 decided by those two
00:14:40.640 very important
00:14:41.220 cabinet secretaries.
00:14:42.320 And I don't know
00:14:42.760 which way it's going to go.
00:14:43.560 We're going to have to watch.
00:14:45.280 Okay, before we get back
00:14:46.340 to Bondi,
00:14:46.900 let's just spend another minute
00:14:47.820 on the Comey reveal
00:14:49.420 and his use of this guy,
00:14:51.820 Daniel Richmond.
00:14:52.520 Now, first of all,
00:14:53.140 can we just,
00:14:54.220 the level of vanity
00:14:56.500 that this man has,
00:14:58.920 really, I mean,
00:14:59.640 for many years
00:15:00.420 was unknown.
00:15:01.260 When Comey first came
00:15:02.480 on the scene,
00:15:03.220 like early Donald Trump
00:15:04.780 before, you know,
00:15:05.540 like let's say
00:15:06.600 late in the last administration,
00:15:08.600 Comey was very well respected.
00:15:10.300 He seemed like,
00:15:11.120 you know,
00:15:11.420 regular Joe Friday,
00:15:12.620 like, you know,
00:15:13.020 your classic FBI man.
00:15:15.180 I think I actually
00:15:16.300 once compared him
00:15:17.100 to Chief Justice John Roberts,
00:15:18.520 who I've joked many times
00:15:19.460 was born in his little cradle
00:15:20.780 with his black robe on.
00:15:22.220 You know,
00:15:22.400 it just seems like somebody
00:15:23.260 who was born for this role
00:15:24.340 from birth.
00:15:24.940 Yeah, for the role.
00:15:25.660 You're right.
00:15:26.020 Central Cassidy.
00:15:26.840 Yeah, I agree.
00:15:27.520 Yeah, seemed totally squeaky clean.
00:15:29.640 Kind of like a Roberts.
00:15:31.620 Boy, were we wrong.
00:15:33.040 I asked my team
00:15:33.940 to pull this shot
00:15:34.920 of Comey.
00:15:36.960 And the reveal on him
00:15:38.400 has been slow,
00:15:39.100 but very, very telling.
00:15:40.620 Before he sat down
00:15:41.880 with George Stephanopoulos
00:15:42.820 a couple years ago
00:15:43.480 for his big interview with,
00:15:44.580 it was before he dropped his book.
00:15:46.520 And he posted a picture
00:15:47.780 of himself
00:15:48.220 under the Klieg lights
00:15:49.220 with the ABC News cameras,
00:15:51.100 like set up.
00:15:52.560 And look,
00:15:53.260 he's like so excited.
00:15:54.540 Who posts this?
00:15:55.780 I actually can't read the caption,
00:15:57.360 but it was him anticipating
00:15:58.460 and teasing
00:15:58.960 and how he was so excited
00:16:00.140 to sit down with Stephanopoulos.
00:16:02.260 So this man
00:16:03.040 who posted that
00:16:04.840 is reflected perfectly
00:16:06.280 in the documents
00:16:07.940 you posted last night
00:16:09.040 with this Daniel Richman,
00:16:10.360 the image burnisher.
00:16:13.080 Yeah.
00:16:13.420 Listen,
00:16:13.900 there's an earlier episode
00:16:15.180 where I kind of
00:16:16.180 ran into Comey.
00:16:17.380 I was an AP reporter
00:16:18.420 back in 03 and 04,
00:16:19.700 and there's a moment
00:16:20.440 where they need
00:16:21.780 to renew the Patriot Act.
00:16:23.420 And John Ashcroft,
00:16:25.100 the then attorney general,
00:16:26.360 is about to go in
00:16:27.140 for a medical procedure.
00:16:28.820 And they're trying
00:16:29.680 to get him
00:16:30.140 while he's basically
00:16:30.820 under the anesthetic
00:16:32.020 to sign off
00:16:32.960 of the Patriot Act.
00:16:34.040 And Comey kind of
00:16:35.440 portrays himself
00:16:36.540 as a white horse hero
00:16:37.800 there in some of the leaks
00:16:38.900 that occurred
00:16:39.360 around that time.
00:16:40.680 And I think
00:16:41.920 that that was the first clue
00:16:43.220 that this guy
00:16:43.840 was more than just
00:16:45.320 your classic law enforcement man.
00:16:46.960 Mostly,
00:16:47.440 my dad was a cop
00:16:48.620 for 46 years.
00:16:49.480 He just didn't talk
00:16:50.180 to the media
00:16:50.620 and he didn't care
00:16:51.680 what people thought
00:16:52.380 about him.
00:16:52.780 He cared about
00:16:53.280 what people thought
00:16:54.220 of the work
00:16:54.740 they did every day.
00:16:55.840 Did we do it right?
00:16:57.100 That's what most people
00:16:58.040 who come cops do.
00:16:59.760 In James Comey's case,
00:17:01.100 I think how people
00:17:02.740 looked at him
00:17:03.300 was just as important
00:17:04.240 about whether he did
00:17:04.940 the job right.
00:17:05.860 That's why he gallops out
00:17:07.200 with absolutely
00:17:08.280 no legal authority
00:17:09.700 and decides
00:17:11.020 on July 5, 2016,
00:17:13.240 he's going to wave
00:17:13.800 a magic wand
00:17:14.500 that's not his to wave
00:17:15.760 and say,
00:17:16.380 I've decided
00:17:17.060 because I'm better
00:17:17.980 than Loretta Lynch.
00:17:18.800 I'm clearing
00:17:20.240 Hillary Clinton
00:17:20.920 of wrongdoing
00:17:21.800 in the email case
00:17:22.560 and at the moment
00:17:23.200 he's done that.
00:17:24.280 What makes that
00:17:24.720 even more extraordinary
00:17:25.620 is the stuff
00:17:26.120 we just learned
00:17:26.800 from the classified annex
00:17:28.420 that Chuck Grassley
00:17:29.220 and President Trump
00:17:29.960 got released.
00:17:31.400 We know the FBI
00:17:32.360 just got a batch
00:17:33.380 of new documents,
00:17:34.600 five thumb drives
00:17:35.880 of some of the missing emails
00:17:37.420 and they decided
00:17:38.680 not to look at it
00:17:39.620 even though that is
00:17:40.400 perhaps one of the biggest
00:17:41.940 leads in the case.
00:17:43.140 They don't look at it.
00:17:44.020 James Comey
00:17:45.220 just goes out
00:17:45.860 and says,
00:17:46.660 I'm going to be
00:17:47.520 God prosecutor,
00:17:48.940 judge,
00:17:49.320 and FBI director
00:17:50.320 and I'm clearing her
00:17:51.580 even in the face
00:17:52.760 of new evidence
00:17:53.360 that needed
00:17:53.740 to be investigated.
00:17:54.580 I think that's
00:17:55.120 the James Comey
00:17:55.780 that history was seen.
00:17:56.480 Do we know,
00:17:57.920 actually,
00:17:58.200 because what,
00:17:59.660 you know,
00:17:59.820 I haven't been
00:18:00.120 anywhere near
00:18:00.860 as close to this story
00:18:01.520 as you have
00:18:01.920 over the past few years
00:18:02.640 but what jumped out
00:18:03.700 at me
00:18:03.860 with the Tulsi reveals
00:18:04.880 was in the documents
00:18:08.140 there was a correspondence
00:18:09.480 showing that Loretta Lynch
00:18:12.080 had been told
00:18:14.260 by the FBI,
00:18:15.420 hey,
00:18:17.120 it's,
00:18:17.780 the Russians have
00:18:18.880 emails
00:18:19.640 and documentation
00:18:20.960 showing
00:18:21.800 that you
00:18:23.380 assured
00:18:24.520 the Hillary Clinton team
00:18:26.140 that the investigation
00:18:27.940 we,
00:18:28.540 the FBI,
00:18:29.080 are pursuing
00:18:29.560 under her emails
00:18:30.720 won't go,
00:18:32.020 quote,
00:18:32.100 too far.
00:18:33.160 So you need to be aware
00:18:34.480 that it's out there
00:18:36.220 that you have reassured
00:18:38.580 the Hillary team
00:18:39.500 that you've given us
00:18:41.180 that directive.
00:18:42.080 And on the heels of that,
00:18:43.720 Comey runs to the cameras
00:18:44.780 and says,
00:18:45.240 we're not going to
00:18:45.780 indict Hillary.
00:18:46.720 And my only thought
00:18:47.440 in watching it was,
00:18:48.140 is that,
00:18:48.740 and reading this last week
00:18:49.760 was,
00:18:50.340 was that his attempt
00:18:51.940 to be like,
00:18:52.580 I'm not influenced,
00:18:53.760 you see?
00:18:55.000 Like,
00:18:55.260 I,
00:18:55.880 Loretta Lynch
00:18:56.580 didn't tell me,
00:18:57.480 she didn't tell me
00:18:58.200 to drop this.
00:18:59.280 I just dropped it.
00:19:00.600 Like,
00:19:00.800 he had to get ahead of it
00:19:01.900 before she got too crooked
00:19:03.940 and actually gave him
00:19:04.760 the explicit order.
00:19:05.580 I really don't know.
00:19:06.360 But why did he do that?
00:19:08.760 You know,
00:19:09.140 I've heard a lot of people
00:19:09.940 say that's a God complex
00:19:11.160 because no FBI director,
00:19:13.060 no,
00:19:13.440 every FBI director knows
00:19:14.600 they don't have the authority
00:19:15.940 to make prosecuting decisions.
00:19:17.600 It wasn't his decision to make.
00:19:19.960 No,
00:19:20.140 they're the investigators.
00:19:21.500 The,
00:19:21.560 the,
00:19:21.900 the DOJ,
00:19:22.680 the lawyers,
00:19:23.360 are the ones who try the case.
00:19:24.800 Yeah.
00:19:25.460 Yeah.
00:19:25.660 There's a separation
00:19:26.400 between the FBI.
00:19:27.240 FBI investigates,
00:19:28.740 justice decides charging decisions
00:19:30.700 and he didn't let
00:19:31.540 the Justice Department do it.
00:19:32.620 And whether his motive
00:19:33.660 was good or not,
00:19:34.560 and I think later
00:19:35.560 we'll determine
00:19:36.220 he had a lot of other motives
00:19:37.660 that don't look good.
00:19:38.540 So let's,
00:19:39.060 we'll see where that goes.
00:19:40.800 It wasn't his call to make.
00:19:42.700 And I think
00:19:43.480 what you're going to learn
00:19:44.280 in the next 24,
00:19:45.140 48 hours,
00:19:45.900 Megan,
00:19:46.120 something I've been working on
00:19:47.060 for a long time,
00:19:47.660 I finally think
00:19:48.920 we'll be getting these documents
00:19:50.060 in the next few hours.
00:19:51.340 You're going to see
00:19:52.880 on James Comey's watch
00:19:54.300 a direct political interference,
00:19:56.660 both from Comey's team
00:19:58.140 and from the Obama
00:19:59.580 Justice Department
00:20:00.400 shutting down
00:20:01.960 three,
00:20:03.280 two or three
00:20:03.960 criminal cases
00:20:05.100 looking at Hillary Clinton,
00:20:06.220 not on the emails,
00:20:07.200 which is what we've all
00:20:07.860 been focused on
00:20:08.540 for the last decade,
00:20:09.420 but on possible bribery
00:20:11.040 and political corruption
00:20:12.100 related to the
00:20:13.020 Clinton Foundation.
00:20:14.480 And you're going to know
00:20:15.120 the names of the people.
00:20:16.940 Say it ain't so.
00:20:17.900 Chelsea Clinton
00:20:18.740 assures me on X
00:20:20.060 that it is an above-board
00:20:21.340 organization, John,
00:20:23.000 and my suspicions of it
00:20:24.420 are totally unfounded.
00:20:26.480 I'm sure that
00:20:27.280 I've heard that same
00:20:28.240 thing from them.
00:20:29.160 Listen,
00:20:29.560 she took over
00:20:30.080 at a later time,
00:20:30.860 so maybe she gets to
00:20:31.920 claim that going forward
00:20:33.440 after she took over
00:20:34.500 things were clean,
00:20:35.240 but the FBI
00:20:36.080 had two or three
00:20:37.720 separate investigations
00:20:39.080 going on.
00:20:39.640 We'll get that
00:20:40.120 ironed out
00:20:40.940 in the next hour or two,
00:20:41.940 but each time
00:20:44.000 you see a political hand,
00:20:46.300 sometimes from
00:20:46.940 the Justice Department,
00:20:48.060 the one he's allegedly
00:20:49.020 trying to protect
00:20:49.760 his bureau from,
00:20:50.420 and sometimes
00:20:51.140 from his own team,
00:20:52.400 his own leadership team,
00:20:53.720 telling agents,
00:20:54.600 I know you got
00:20:55.100 a predicated case,
00:20:56.620 shut it down.
00:20:58.380 I think we're going
00:20:59.060 to find out
00:20:59.540 whether this guy
00:21:00.420 really always operated
00:21:01.640 by these moral standards
00:21:02.860 or not based on
00:21:03.600 what we learn
00:21:04.060 in this next batch
00:21:04.880 of documents.
00:21:06.100 But, you know,
00:21:06.820 I think history
00:21:07.300 is going to look at Comey
00:21:08.240 as one of the darker
00:21:09.700 errors in the history
00:21:10.900 of the FBI.
00:21:11.620 And by the way,
00:21:11.960 the FBI has some dark errors.
00:21:13.140 There's some periods
00:21:13.680 during the J. Edgar Hoover
00:21:14.980 era that aren't great.
00:21:16.580 But I think the Comey era
00:21:18.040 is going to be looked at
00:21:19.020 as a dark time
00:21:20.580 in the history
00:21:21.080 of federal law enforcement.
00:21:22.860 Wow.
00:21:23.420 I mean, no wonder
00:21:24.220 he was so worried
00:21:25.020 about burnishing
00:21:25.720 his good guy image,
00:21:28.040 right?
00:21:28.240 It's always the ones
00:21:29.360 who are terrible
00:21:30.520 who give that any thought.
00:21:32.240 It's like,
00:21:33.240 then you have
00:21:34.000 Donald Trump out there
00:21:34.960 who's like,
00:21:35.440 he doesn't care
00:21:35.940 what you hear about him.
00:21:36.820 He doesn't care
00:21:37.400 what the papers print
00:21:38.740 about him.
00:21:39.160 Like, he may gripe
00:21:40.020 about it,
00:21:40.400 but he's certainly
00:21:40.840 not out there
00:21:41.380 trying to, like,
00:21:42.460 secretly burnish his image.
00:21:43.960 He doesn't care.
00:21:44.600 He'll speak to the camera
00:21:45.480 directly and let you
00:21:46.200 decide who he is.
00:21:47.860 Wait, on the Comey leak
00:21:51.040 and using Daniel Richman
00:21:53.440 and all this,
00:21:54.800 let's talk for a minute
00:21:56.040 about to whom
00:21:57.840 we believe they were leaking.
00:21:59.860 And that's Michael Schmidt
00:22:01.740 of the New York Times,
00:22:03.200 the guy who won
00:22:04.380 Pulitzer Prizes
00:22:05.640 for his Russiagate reporting.
00:22:08.340 And some other reporting, too.
00:22:09.620 In fairness to him,
00:22:10.220 it wasn't all Russia.
00:22:10.980 He won a second.
00:22:11.460 Yeah, I think he won
00:22:12.000 two Pulitzers in one year,
00:22:13.140 something for something else.
00:22:14.600 But, yeah,
00:22:15.700 he's one of the members
00:22:16.980 of that team
00:22:17.580 that President Trump
00:22:18.440 is suing over
00:22:19.040 that Pulitzer right now.
00:22:20.400 So just today,
00:22:22.640 the New York Times'
00:22:23.780 daily podcast,
00:22:24.780 The Daily,
00:22:25.960 took on
00:22:26.720 the Russiagate,
00:22:28.600 or as Molly Hemingway
00:22:29.640 is calling it,
00:22:30.620 Obamagate
00:22:31.320 stories
00:22:32.860 that have broken
00:22:33.780 since Tulsi
00:22:34.520 started making
00:22:35.100 these releases.
00:22:36.260 She's right.
00:22:37.000 She's totally right.
00:22:38.440 She is.
00:22:39.420 So they finally got around
00:22:40.660 to covering it
00:22:41.200 on the New York Times.
00:22:42.340 Like,
00:22:42.780 is this a story
00:22:43.740 or isn't it?
00:22:44.880 I mean,
00:22:45.180 I'll give you one guess
00:22:46.040 what they concluded.
00:22:47.660 But guess,
00:22:49.020 guess who they bring on
00:22:51.040 to tell us all
00:22:52.440 there's no there there.
00:22:54.280 No one did anything wrong.
00:22:55.780 This is all made up.
00:22:57.720 And we don't need
00:22:58.780 to be looking
00:22:59.300 into this really
00:23:00.280 any further.
00:23:01.900 Michael Schmidt.
00:23:02.600 It's all over
00:23:06.740 your documents,
00:23:08.340 your reporting,
00:23:09.120 Molly's reporting.
00:23:10.040 Michael Schmidt
00:23:10.560 was used
00:23:12.080 by the administration
00:23:13.480 as their stenographer,
00:23:15.140 the Obama administration,
00:23:16.240 as their stenographer
00:23:17.080 to get these stories
00:23:18.120 out there.
00:23:20.380 This guy,
00:23:21.720 Daniel Richman,
00:23:22.760 was talking to Schmidt
00:23:24.060 for Comey,
00:23:25.980 and yet,
00:23:26.860 I didn't hear a word
00:23:27.920 about any of that
00:23:28.720 when Michael Schmidt
00:23:29.400 was on today's
00:23:30.480 New York Times podcast.
00:23:31.340 Here's how he sounded
00:23:33.080 instead, John Solemn.
00:23:34.580 Listen to this.
00:23:36.200 In the aftermath
00:23:37.440 of Trump winning
00:23:38.320 the 2016 election,
00:23:40.120 it was widely understood
00:23:41.740 that Russia
00:23:43.040 had meddled
00:23:44.140 in the campaign.
00:23:46.000 And they find
00:23:47.500 that Putin tried
00:23:49.400 to hurt Hillary Clinton
00:23:51.220 and help Donald Trump.
00:23:53.920 But for Trump,
00:23:55.980 this document,
00:23:57.360 this assessment,
00:23:58.620 was the original sin.
00:24:00.300 because what it did
00:24:02.780 was cast doubt
00:24:05.060 on his victory.
00:24:07.120 What Gabbard
00:24:08.400 is starting to do
00:24:10.060 is declassified documents
00:24:12.860 that she claims
00:24:14.520 irrefutably prove
00:24:16.460 that not only
00:24:17.980 is the assessment
00:24:18.960 a bunch of nonsense,
00:24:20.780 but it's at the heart
00:24:22.480 of a criminal conspiracy.
00:24:24.020 So she releases
00:24:26.440 a classified report
00:24:28.120 that Putin
00:24:29.720 was not trying
00:24:31.460 to help Trump
00:24:33.120 and hurt
00:24:34.160 Hillary Clinton.
00:24:37.160 There's nothing
00:24:38.260 in that report
00:24:39.320 like an email
00:24:40.960 from Obama
00:24:41.880 to his intelligence
00:24:42.960 community saying,
00:24:44.220 I don't care
00:24:45.560 what the evidence shows,
00:24:46.740 we need to get
00:24:47.660 Donald Trump.
00:24:49.180 She is making this out
00:24:50.940 like the smoking gun
00:24:52.020 when it comes
00:24:54.260 to Russia,
00:24:55.520 Trump will always
00:24:56.420 be the victim
00:24:57.120 and he will always
00:24:58.400 be the hero.
00:25:00.780 With his supporters,
00:25:02.420 he says.
00:25:03.120 And he dismisses
00:25:04.300 that House
00:25:05.240 intelligence report
00:25:06.220 that she just
00:25:07.060 declassified,
00:25:07.840 the one that was found
00:25:08.500 in the safe
00:25:09.480 at the CIA's headquarters,
00:25:11.720 as,
00:25:12.800 that was all Republicans.
00:25:14.780 You can't put
00:25:15.280 any stock in that.
00:25:16.560 That's right.
00:25:17.060 And this is all BS.
00:25:18.680 None of these allegations
00:25:19.680 has been sustained.
00:25:22.320 Michael Schmidt's comments
00:25:24.060 don't reflect
00:25:24.860 the New York Times
00:25:25.720 the way they would
00:25:26.400 have reported a story
00:25:27.400 in the 1980s
00:25:28.320 or 1990s
00:25:29.140 when I was coming up
00:25:30.040 as a reporter.
00:25:30.720 And I want to tell you
00:25:31.400 a story because
00:25:32.100 it's out there
00:25:33.800 in the form of
00:25:34.620 the Columbia Journalism Review
00:25:35.820 and another great reporter
00:25:37.320 who worked at
00:25:38.120 the New York Times
00:25:38.700 for three decades,
00:25:39.600 won multiple Pulitzers,
00:25:41.180 as I recall,
00:25:41.800 Jeff Gerth.
00:25:42.240 He did a re-evaluation
00:25:44.320 of how the New York Times
00:25:45.560 and Washington Post
00:25:46.340 got snookered on Russia.
00:25:48.120 And it was done
00:25:48.660 in the Columbia Journalism Review,
00:25:50.480 which is painful
00:25:51.060 because the Columbia Journalism Review
00:25:52.520 sits right alongside
00:25:53.360 of the Columbia
00:25:54.140 Pulitzer Prize Committee
00:25:55.440 where it is there.
00:25:56.560 But he laid bare
00:25:57.580 some of the most
00:25:58.420 extraordinary moments
00:25:59.780 in the failures
00:26:01.700 of reporting
00:26:02.400 in the New York Times.
00:26:03.160 Yeah, they got a Pulitzer,
00:26:04.120 but did they really
00:26:05.140 cover a scandal?
00:26:06.060 Did they really do
00:26:06.700 the public a favor?
00:26:07.900 There's a very important episode
00:26:09.260 and I have personal
00:26:10.560 experience with it,
00:26:11.400 so I want to hone in on it
00:26:13.300 because it's how I see myself
00:26:15.320 different from Mike Schmidt.
00:26:16.240 A lot of people said
00:26:17.820 to me early on,
00:26:18.420 John, why didn't you
00:26:19.260 do a lot of reporting
00:26:20.320 in October, November,
00:26:21.440 December, January,
00:26:22.920 and February of 17?
00:26:24.160 You only click in in March
00:26:25.520 and start raising questions
00:26:26.700 about this.
00:26:27.200 And the short answer is
00:26:28.120 I did do some reporting.
00:26:30.000 I had gotten some intelligence
00:26:31.700 pushed to me
00:26:32.660 by people close
00:26:33.500 to the Clintons.
00:26:34.780 And I went to
00:26:36.980 the New York Times,
00:26:38.060 I'm sorry,
00:26:38.700 I went to the FBI's
00:26:39.840 press office,
00:26:40.880 not Daniel Richmond,
00:26:41.840 but the career people
00:26:42.960 who are trained
00:26:43.660 to tell the media
00:26:44.280 what they're allowed
00:26:44.860 to tell the media
00:26:46.180 about FBI matters.
00:26:47.820 And they told me flat out,
00:26:50.500 John, yeah,
00:26:51.540 we're looking at this,
00:26:52.500 but right now
00:26:53.340 there's no there there.
00:26:54.260 Ironically,
00:26:54.820 that's the same line
00:26:55.880 that Pete Strzok
00:26:56.540 would later use
00:26:57.220 in his text message,
00:26:57.880 no big there there.
00:26:59.360 And listen,
00:27:00.120 we looked at some
00:27:00.740 of this stuff,
00:27:01.280 we think the Alpha Bank
00:27:02.240 things are pings,
00:27:03.580 and we think that
00:27:05.460 the other stuff
00:27:06.280 might just have
00:27:07.000 some political election
00:27:08.720 stuff tied to it.
00:27:09.560 So I stood down.
00:27:10.840 Just to be clear,
00:27:11.940 this is somebody
00:27:12.880 trying to get you
00:27:13.560 to report that
00:27:14.280 Trump is a Russian asset
00:27:15.660 or there's some
00:27:16.200 sort of collusion
00:27:16.860 and Russia and Trump
00:27:18.600 are colluding
00:27:19.320 to win the election.
00:27:20.860 And the FBI
00:27:21.480 originally is telling you
00:27:22.660 there's no there there,
00:27:24.060 John.
00:27:24.900 October 31st, 2016,
00:27:27.620 the FBI tells
00:27:29.180 the New York Times
00:27:29.820 the exact same story.
00:27:31.260 They write a story
00:27:32.020 basically saying
00:27:32.740 this stuff isn't true.
00:27:34.080 And then somehow
00:27:35.020 it magically becomes true
00:27:36.980 over the next six months
00:27:37.880 in the New York Times.
00:27:38.600 And I ask myself,
00:27:40.300 you know,
00:27:40.640 it is possible
00:27:41.800 that the career people
00:27:43.020 I talked to
00:27:43.560 in the FBI
00:27:44.160 lied to me,
00:27:45.380 but I don't think so.
00:27:47.080 And the reason
00:27:47.900 I don't think so
00:27:48.680 is every time
00:27:49.260 I would call back
00:27:50.440 and check with them
00:27:51.580 in January,
00:27:52.920 in February, March,
00:27:53.740 because I'm starting
00:27:54.280 to see the hyperventilation
00:27:55.600 of the Washington Post
00:27:56.500 and the New York Times,
00:27:57.660 the career people
00:27:58.740 inside the FBI,
00:27:59.740 the people trained
00:28:00.540 to know what the FBI
00:28:01.680 is doing
00:28:02.020 and to try to give
00:28:02.660 the most accurate
00:28:03.540 answer they can
00:28:04.760 to the media
00:28:05.160 without violating the law.
00:28:06.320 I keep saying,
00:28:06.640 John,
00:28:07.240 our answer stands
00:28:08.260 to you from October.
00:28:09.580 It's not true.
00:28:10.360 Alpha Bank's not true.
00:28:11.840 We don't think
00:28:12.340 the Steele dossier
00:28:13.620 is uncorroborated.
00:28:15.340 We looked at it.
00:28:16.160 It's uncorroborated.
00:28:16.820 It's unfortunate
00:28:17.460 that BuzzFeed
00:28:18.180 put it out there.
00:28:19.280 So I have to ask myself,
00:28:21.580 was Michael Schmidt
00:28:23.120 and the New York Times
00:28:24.100 talking to the same people
00:28:25.300 I was?
00:28:25.840 Because history showed
00:28:27.020 those people were right
00:28:28.680 and the New York Times
00:28:30.120 and its breathless coverage
00:28:31.360 are wrong.
00:28:31.860 And there's one story
00:28:33.240 that bothers me.
00:28:34.540 The most early seminal moment
00:28:36.560 in my career
00:28:37.240 as an AP reporter
00:28:38.200 was at the very beginning
00:28:39.960 of the internet era
00:28:41.060 when the Wall Street Journal
00:28:42.760 in the middle
00:28:43.360 of the Hillary,
00:28:44.860 of the Bill Clinton,
00:28:45.760 Monica Lewinsky scandal
00:28:46.840 broke a story off cycle.
00:28:48.760 They weren't going
00:28:49.420 on print edition.
00:28:50.220 They did something
00:28:50.780 on the internet.
00:28:51.480 It might have been
00:28:51.860 the first time.
00:28:52.920 We're talking like 1997, 98.
00:28:55.140 Really early.
00:28:56.300 We weren't used
00:28:56.860 to the internet then
00:28:57.660 and most newspapers
00:28:58.440 had a 24 cycle
00:29:00.360 or you just did it
00:29:01.040 once a day.
00:29:01.900 So they break a story
00:29:03.020 in the middle of the day
00:29:04.300 saying that a steward
00:29:05.740 told the grand jury,
00:29:07.740 Ken Starr's Whitewater
00:29:08.820 prosecutor grand jury,
00:29:10.360 that President Bill Clinton
00:29:11.940 was found in a compromising
00:29:13.220 position with Monica Lewinsky
00:29:14.660 in the White House theater,
00:29:18.380 I believe it was,
00:29:18.880 a bowling alley or theater.
00:29:20.400 And, you know,
00:29:21.100 I'm at the AP.
00:29:22.080 My job is you better
00:29:22.880 get that fast
00:29:23.620 and match at Solomon.
00:29:24.580 So everyone tells me
00:29:25.980 it's wrong.
00:29:26.460 It's wrong.
00:29:26.900 It's wrong.
00:29:27.200 To my credit,
00:29:28.340 my boss is a great newsleader
00:29:31.140 named Sandy Johnson.
00:29:31.980 She stood by her reporters
00:29:33.600 and didn't make us report it.
00:29:35.600 And we eventually wrote a story
00:29:36.380 saying it's been knocked down.
00:29:37.560 It's not true.
00:29:38.580 The Wall Street Journal
00:29:39.600 withdrew that story.
00:29:41.400 On its front page,
00:29:42.940 they retracted a story
00:29:43.980 that they'd put out wrong
00:29:44.920 on the internet.
00:29:46.120 The New York Times
00:29:46.960 in February 17
00:29:48.240 writes a story basically
00:29:49.520 to the effect of
00:29:50.680 that the U.S. intelligence
00:29:51.800 has proof
00:29:52.480 that Donald Trump's campaign
00:29:54.200 was talking to
00:29:55.400 U.S. Russian intelligence campaign
00:29:57.300 about hijacking
00:29:58.680 the 2016 election.
00:30:01.020 That story has,
00:30:02.820 is and never will be true.
00:30:05.040 It has never been retracted.
00:30:06.500 In fact,
00:30:07.200 James Comey
00:30:07.960 even said the story
00:30:09.580 wasn't true
00:30:10.140 in some testimony
00:30:10.980 after he left as director.
00:30:12.900 The New York Times
00:30:13.800 has never retracted
00:30:15.540 that story.
00:30:16.020 Yeah,
00:30:16.140 they've written stories
00:30:16.860 having people criticizing it,
00:30:18.680 but history has shown
00:30:19.820 that story is wrong.
00:30:20.380 It should be retracted.
00:30:21.900 Those are the differences
00:30:22.880 between the way
00:30:23.660 you and I practice journalism
00:30:25.000 and the way
00:30:25.820 they continue
00:30:26.700 to practice journalism today.
00:30:27.980 The other reporter
00:30:30.260 whose name has come up
00:30:31.440 time and time again
00:30:32.320 is this Ellen Nakashima
00:30:34.780 who is with
00:30:37.040 the Washington Post
00:30:37.900 and she appears
00:30:38.620 to have been
00:30:39.040 on the receiving end
00:30:40.180 of these same leaks
00:30:41.560 or related leaks.
00:30:42.800 She was all over the news
00:30:44.380 during the relevant time frame
00:30:45.600 pushing her BS reporting.
00:30:48.500 Here's just a sample of that.
00:30:51.160 The topic of the Kremlin's
00:30:55.300 influence operations
00:30:56.120 has a particular resonance
00:30:57.580 for me because
00:30:58.520 in June of 2016
00:31:01.080 I broke the story
00:31:02.900 of the Russian hack
00:31:04.040 of the Democratic
00:31:04.700 National Committee
00:31:05.600 and I distinctly remember
00:31:07.520 at the time
00:31:08.280 that this was a big
00:31:11.200 front page story
00:31:12.380 sort of Watergate
00:31:14.020 you know,
00:31:14.960 the Watergate break
00:31:16.080 in all over again
00:31:16.840 but in the information age.
00:31:18.720 It's not just the Russians
00:31:20.000 that exploited all of this.
00:31:21.980 We have internal
00:31:22.820 domestic actors
00:31:23.840 that put out
00:31:25.220 divisive messages
00:31:26.360 from the left
00:31:27.280 from the right
00:31:27.980 and Russia
00:31:29.320 amplified those messages.
00:31:31.380 When I talk to
00:31:33.120 people inside
00:31:35.160 the government
00:31:36.300 sources
00:31:38.320 it's not
00:31:40.120 it's not even
00:31:41.840 per se
00:31:42.520 to have someone
00:31:43.200 oh,
00:31:43.680 please leak me
00:31:44.360 something classified.
00:31:45.880 No.
00:31:46.680 It's more this
00:31:48.100 it's the value
00:31:49.500 I get
00:31:50.120 as a national security reporter
00:31:51.680 is in the relationship
00:31:53.740 built up over time
00:31:54.900 one of trust
00:31:55.860 in which I find
00:31:57.240 I have developed
00:31:58.120 you know,
00:31:58.620 a relationship
00:31:59.080 with someone
00:31:59.540 I consider
00:32:00.100 to be
00:32:01.420 authoritative
00:32:03.640 and knowledgeable
00:32:05.540 and well-meaning
00:32:06.140 and who
00:32:06.620 if they have trust
00:32:07.740 in me
00:32:08.140 can explain
00:32:09.280 some things
00:32:10.480 in terms of
00:32:11.000 context,
00:32:11.980 history,
00:32:12.620 significance
00:32:13.080 not so much
00:32:14.140 an actual
00:32:14.620 you know,
00:32:15.320 operation
00:32:16.020 or something
00:32:17.160 really highly classified
00:32:18.180 but rather
00:32:18.760 the history
00:32:20.120 behind things.
00:32:22.400 So what about her,
00:32:23.700 John?
00:32:24.120 Do we believe
00:32:24.920 she was also
00:32:26.020 on the receiving end
00:32:26.900 of the Jim Comey leaks
00:32:28.340 or possibly
00:32:29.640 the Adam Schiff
00:32:30.920 leaks
00:32:31.600 or where?
00:32:34.360 In disclosure,
00:32:35.640 I worked with Ellen
00:32:36.300 when I was at
00:32:36.820 the Washington Post.
00:32:37.640 I didn't find her
00:32:38.420 anything but a
00:32:38.980 professional reporter
00:32:39.900 in the newsroom.
00:32:41.800 The documents
00:32:42.820 I saw yesterday
00:32:43.720 show that
00:32:44.460 she published
00:32:45.700 classified information
00:32:47.060 and they couldn't
00:32:47.740 determine
00:32:48.180 who the
00:32:49.240 provider
00:32:50.400 of that
00:32:50.740 information
00:32:51.300 was.
00:32:51.940 Now,
00:32:52.700 I want to
00:32:53.440 point something
00:32:53.940 out in the
00:32:54.560 documents I
00:32:55.140 published this
00:32:55.660 morning which
00:32:56.080 are the ones
00:32:56.520 that went
00:32:57.000 to the
00:32:57.220 Capitol Hill
00:32:57.760 and you
00:33:00.000 will see
00:33:00.500 that there's
00:33:01.480 large blacked
00:33:02.500 out sections
00:33:03.040 of some
00:33:03.720 of these
00:33:04.120 memos.
00:33:05.080 Large blacked
00:33:05.680 out sections.
00:33:06.140 In fact,
00:33:06.420 the most
00:33:06.720 tantalizing
00:33:07.340 one is
00:33:07.880 something to
00:33:08.640 the effect
00:33:09.120 of
00:33:09.440 Mr.
00:33:11.100 Richmond
00:33:11.380 told us
00:33:12.040 James Comey
00:33:13.260 told them
00:33:14.620 not to leak
00:33:15.140 but
00:33:15.620 and then it's
00:33:16.820 all blacked
00:33:17.260 out.
00:33:17.520 The but.
00:33:17.840 And you're
00:33:18.400 like,
00:33:18.620 what is
00:33:19.220 there?
00:33:20.000 I think
00:33:20.400 I know
00:33:20.740 what might
00:33:21.120 be there.
00:33:22.060 And unfortunately,
00:33:23.400 the Trump
00:33:23.820 Justice Department,
00:33:24.680 Trump 2.0
00:33:25.420 Justice Department
00:33:26.120 made some
00:33:26.740 redactions to
00:33:27.380 these documents.
00:33:28.400 They may have
00:33:28.960 a legitimate
00:33:29.360 reason.
00:33:29.960 We're trying
00:33:30.300 to press
00:33:31.640 through and
00:33:32.120 negotiate and
00:33:32.640 see if there's
00:33:32.980 some way for
00:33:33.420 the American
00:33:33.820 public to
00:33:34.880 see this.
00:33:35.520 But I
00:33:35.820 believe in
00:33:36.440 some of
00:33:36.760 these blacked
00:33:37.340 out areas,
00:33:38.280 there are
00:33:38.780 two more
00:33:39.640 lieutenants
00:33:40.740 of James Comey,
00:33:42.160 not named
00:33:42.840 Daniel Richmond,
00:33:43.740 who may also
00:33:44.760 have acknowledged
00:33:45.460 their role
00:33:46.240 in the leaking
00:33:46.900 campaigns.
00:33:47.520 And I think
00:33:47.820 we should wait
00:33:48.360 and see if we
00:33:48.880 can get that
00:33:49.400 information released
00:33:50.680 by Pam Bondi
00:33:51.580 of the Justice
00:33:52.020 Department.
00:33:52.460 If it can be
00:33:53.180 lawfully released,
00:33:54.020 I think it will
00:33:55.200 create a more
00:33:55.980 360-degree stereo
00:33:57.700 look at how
00:33:59.060 Comey operated
00:34:00.060 and how some of
00:34:00.740 these leaks
00:34:01.280 operated over time.
00:34:03.240 Again, just
00:34:04.320 because a reporter
00:34:05.180 got a classified
00:34:05.900 leak doesn't
00:34:06.500 mean they're a
00:34:07.180 bad person.
00:34:08.120 I once got one
00:34:08.980 of the most
00:34:09.280 classified stories
00:34:10.200 in the history
00:34:11.200 of this country.
00:34:12.040 No, getting the
00:34:12.460 leak doesn't.
00:34:13.600 Getting the
00:34:14.200 leak doesn't.
00:34:15.040 Getting the
00:34:15.520 story wrong and
00:34:16.680 never correcting
00:34:17.380 it does.
00:34:18.260 That's right.
00:34:19.380 That's exactly
00:34:20.020 the thing here.
00:34:20.680 And I haven't
00:34:21.240 done an evaluation
00:34:22.180 of Ellen Nakashima's
00:34:23.660 reporting yet.
00:34:24.340 I certainly am
00:34:24.860 going to now based
00:34:26.120 on these new
00:34:26.660 documents because
00:34:27.280 she's a new
00:34:27.800 sort of figure
00:34:28.300 in this.
00:34:28.840 I will point out
00:34:29.660 something about
00:34:30.220 the Washington
00:34:30.740 Post.
00:34:31.180 And for a
00:34:33.160 period of time
00:34:33.720 when my old
00:34:34.360 Associated Press
00:34:35.040 colleague Sally
00:34:35.740 Busby was there,
00:34:36.900 I think they
00:34:37.420 tried to clean
00:34:38.080 up some of
00:34:39.040 their Russian
00:34:39.440 reporting.
00:34:40.080 They did about
00:34:40.580 12 or 13
00:34:41.480 appendages and
00:34:42.720 corrections to
00:34:43.360 stories.
00:34:43.860 And Sally,
00:34:44.620 I worked with
00:34:45.040 at the AP,
00:34:45.680 she was trained
00:34:46.280 I think like
00:34:46.820 you and I
00:34:47.260 were, which
00:34:47.640 is we stick
00:34:48.420 to the facts
00:34:48.940 and when we
00:34:49.340 get it wrong,
00:34:49.900 we admit it.
00:34:50.580 There's nothing
00:34:51.020 wrong.
00:34:51.720 The only thing
00:34:52.220 wrong is not
00:34:52.840 admitting you
00:34:53.220 were wrong
00:34:53.480 when you are.
00:34:54.460 And so there
00:34:55.100 was a period
00:34:55.560 where the
00:34:55.840 Washington Post
00:34:56.380 cleaned up
00:34:56.820 some of its
00:34:57.280 reporting.
00:34:57.840 But about
00:34:58.580 four months
00:34:59.120 ago, I
00:34:59.840 obtained a
00:35:00.640 document under
00:35:01.500 FOIA, I
00:35:02.960 got it, and
00:35:03.940 it is the
00:35:04.620 confidential
00:35:05.160 interview of
00:35:06.700 the NSA
00:35:07.520 director Mike
00:35:08.420 Rogers saying
00:35:09.200 that one of
00:35:10.020 the Washington
00:35:10.440 Post Pulitzer
00:35:11.240 winning stories
00:35:12.100 that claimed
00:35:13.160 that Donald
00:35:13.600 Trump said
00:35:14.120 something to
00:35:14.640 Mike Rogers
00:35:15.360 during their
00:35:16.320 meeting that
00:35:16.780 was incriminating,
00:35:18.040 Mike Rogers
00:35:18.620 said was
00:35:19.240 quote, wrong.
00:35:20.100 The story
00:35:20.620 is wrong.
00:35:22.320 And he
00:35:22.680 debunks it in
00:35:23.600 detail in an
00:35:24.400 FBI interview,
00:35:25.760 which means he
00:35:26.420 probably wasn't
00:35:27.260 the source of
00:35:27.780 the Washington
00:35:28.140 Post story
00:35:28.620 because he
00:35:28.900 was pretty
00:35:29.240 critical of
00:35:29.820 it.
00:35:30.960 I went to
00:35:31.740 the Washington
00:35:32.180 Post, Sally
00:35:34.000 Busby's no
00:35:34.600 longer there, and
00:35:35.420 I got crickets
00:35:36.060 when I asked
00:35:36.540 them, are you
00:35:36.920 going to
00:35:37.180 correct this
00:35:37.600 story?
00:35:38.060 I check back
00:35:38.940 every few
00:35:39.420 weeks, I
00:35:39.820 haven't seen
00:35:40.280 a correction.
00:35:41.300 That is a
00:35:42.000 problem just
00:35:42.460 like the
00:35:42.780 New York
00:35:43.020 Times story
00:35:43.560 from February
00:35:44.180 of 2017 is
00:35:45.200 a problem.
00:35:46.200 And I
00:35:46.340 don't know if
00:35:47.520 that's an
00:35:47.800 Ellen story, I
00:35:48.320 have to look,
00:35:48.660 I don't think
00:35:49.000 it was, but
00:35:49.600 your point is
00:35:50.940 right.
00:35:51.180 When you
00:35:51.440 don't correct
00:35:51.900 when you're
00:35:52.200 wrong, you've
00:35:52.820 really deserved
00:35:53.360 the public.
00:35:54.620 Ellen's
00:35:55.020 stories are
00:35:55.780 about, for
00:35:56.440 example, the
00:35:58.020 Russians hacking,
00:35:59.960 the Democratic
00:36:01.020 National
00:36:01.440 Committee, which
00:36:02.120 now it
00:36:03.300 appears is
00:36:03.980 wrong.
00:36:05.060 It does not
00:36:05.860 appear that they
00:36:06.600 were necessarily
00:36:07.300 behind that
00:36:07.980 leak, or at
00:36:08.400 least now we
00:36:08.800 have information
00:36:09.380 that it wasn't
00:36:10.300 that leak.
00:36:10.960 I really want
00:36:12.600 to address it
00:36:13.040 because it
00:36:13.280 does get, even
00:36:13.920 in the
00:36:14.220 conservative
00:36:14.580 media, it
00:36:15.100 gets gobbled
00:36:15.600 up a little
00:36:16.000 bit.
00:36:16.820 Everybody I've
00:36:17.620 talked to,
00:36:18.360 critics and
00:36:20.000 believers in
00:36:21.520 the Intelligence
00:36:22.020 Committee, believe
00:36:22.780 that John
00:36:23.260 Podesta's
00:36:23.860 emails, which
00:36:25.020 were not the
00:36:25.460 DNC emails,
00:36:26.400 were hacked,
00:36:27.680 and there's
00:36:28.260 pretty good
00:36:28.720 reason for
00:36:29.160 that.
00:36:29.380 And the
00:36:29.540 FBI had
00:36:30.240 prima facie
00:36:31.520 access to
00:36:32.240 the evidence.
00:36:32.720 They could
00:36:32.960 actually see
00:36:33.520 what happened
00:36:34.000 with John
00:36:34.540 Podesta's
00:36:35.040 email.
00:36:35.340 So the
00:36:36.000 Russians were
00:36:36.540 involved in
00:36:37.100 that.
00:36:37.300 That's an
00:36:37.620 influence
00:36:37.960 operation.
00:36:38.440 By the
00:36:38.720 way, not
00:36:39.640 uncommon.
00:36:40.500 The Russians
00:36:40.800 are famous
00:36:41.320 for this,
00:36:41.740 so are the
00:36:41.960 Qataris.
00:36:42.380 Many
00:36:42.580 countries do
00:36:43.380 this.
00:36:44.340 The DNC
00:36:45.320 hack is much
00:36:46.100 more problematic
00:36:46.680 for several
00:36:47.340 reasons.
00:36:47.840 On James
00:36:48.380 Comey's
00:36:48.800 watch, the
00:36:49.720 FBI never
00:36:50.560 demanded to
00:36:51.240 get the
00:36:51.560 service from
00:36:52.020 the Democratic
00:36:52.500 National
00:36:52.880 Community.
00:36:53.360 Instead, they
00:36:54.540 used its
00:36:55.120 former
00:36:55.580 cybersecurity
00:36:56.660 chief and
00:36:57.560 his company
00:36:58.200 to evaluate
00:36:59.280 the service
00:36:59.860 for the
00:37:00.300 FBI and
00:37:01.020 give them
00:37:01.700 an analysis.
00:37:02.820 And then
00:37:02.960 that analysis
00:37:03.560 was put out
00:37:04.240 to the
00:37:04.520 American
00:37:04.780 public
00:37:05.160 saying,
00:37:05.960 based on
00:37:07.000 what
00:37:07.180 crowd strike
00:37:07.880 this
00:37:08.220 vendor hired
00:37:09.120 by the
00:37:09.460 DNC gave
00:37:10.080 us, we
00:37:10.740 believe there
00:37:11.400 was a
00:37:12.360 hack of
00:37:12.760 the DNC
00:37:13.220 servers.
00:37:14.200 About three
00:37:15.120 years ago,
00:37:15.660 four years
00:37:16.000 ago, as
00:37:16.480 Bill Barr
00:37:17.320 was leaving,
00:37:18.260 we were
00:37:18.600 able to
00:37:19.140 get the
00:37:19.680 actual
00:37:20.140 interviews
00:37:20.860 that
00:37:21.880 crowd strikes
00:37:22.780 people did
00:37:23.520 with the
00:37:23.800 FBI.
00:37:24.340 And in
00:37:24.760 that
00:37:25.040 interview,
00:37:25.940 they said
00:37:26.480 something very
00:37:27.220 profound that
00:37:27.860 has never
00:37:28.260 been disputed
00:37:28.960 since, which
00:37:29.940 is the
00:37:30.240 Russians gained
00:37:30.880 access to
00:37:31.500 the DNC
00:37:31.900 servers.
00:37:32.320 They did
00:37:32.680 some
00:37:32.920 probing.
00:37:33.780 They did
00:37:34.060 some
00:37:34.260 escalations of
00:37:35.140 credentials.
00:37:35.680 I hacked
00:37:36.560 my way in.
00:37:37.380 I could
00:37:38.360 get myself
00:37:38.920 to
00:37:39.160 administrator
00:37:39.840 level.
00:37:40.480 But what
00:37:40.800 CrowdStrike
00:37:41.680 said that I
00:37:42.200 think is so
00:37:42.760 important for
00:37:43.220 all of us
00:37:43.520 to understand,
00:37:43.780 that is a
00:37:44.200 form of
00:37:44.500 hacking.
00:37:44.760 If you get
00:37:45.460 to credential
00:37:45.960 level, you've
00:37:46.480 hacked yourself
00:37:46.960 in.
00:37:47.780 But what
00:37:48.160 CrowdStrike
00:37:48.800 said is they
00:37:49.300 could never
00:37:49.980 prove there
00:37:51.280 was no
00:37:51.660 evidence of
00:37:52.340 exfiltration,
00:37:53.340 meaning that
00:37:53.880 the Russians,
00:37:54.880 after they got
00:37:55.500 their permissions
00:37:56.080 on the servers,
00:37:56.900 they didn't
00:37:57.260 pull the data
00:37:58.000 off and get
00:37:58.960 the emails and
00:37:59.760 leak them out.
00:38:00.640 Now, that is a
00:38:01.420 very important
00:38:02.120 qualification.
00:38:03.200 There was some
00:38:03.960 hacking.
00:38:04.260 They got
00:38:04.740 into the
00:38:05.140 system, but
00:38:06.100 CrowdStrike is
00:38:06.800 very specific
00:38:07.660 that we
00:38:08.100 couldn't prove
00:38:08.900 exfiltration
00:38:10.120 occurred.
00:38:11.000 Now, compare
00:38:11.520 that to what
00:38:12.680 the Washington
00:38:13.100 Post and
00:38:13.580 New York
00:38:13.820 Times and
00:38:14.240 others reported,
00:38:15.240 and it's a
00:38:15.720 little muddled,
00:38:16.320 and I think
00:38:16.720 that that's one
00:38:17.260 of the stories
00:38:17.600 we've got to
00:38:18.020 get fixed in
00:38:18.580 the next few
00:38:19.000 months.
00:38:19.260 Well, she
00:38:20.420 also did the
00:38:21.180 reporting on
00:38:21.700 Carter Page,
00:38:22.920 and what it
00:38:24.020 appears to me,
00:38:25.000 John, is that
00:38:25.560 she and Schmidt
00:38:26.800 and a lot of
00:38:27.520 these others,
00:38:28.900 okay, it's fine.
00:38:30.000 I agree with you.
00:38:30.860 It's not wrong to
00:38:31.380 get a classified
00:38:31.900 leak.
00:38:32.420 I mean, that's
00:38:32.800 on the person
00:38:33.760 who's breaching
00:38:35.460 the classified
00:38:36.520 protections.
00:38:40.020 Ellen has no
00:38:41.220 oath that she's
00:38:42.120 taken to protect
00:38:42.720 that information,
00:38:43.440 and as a reporter,
00:38:44.040 you can report
00:38:45.300 and reveal stolen
00:38:46.560 documents so long
00:38:47.420 as you didn't
00:38:47.820 orchestrate the
00:38:48.440 theft.
00:38:49.260 So in any
00:38:49.920 event, but
00:38:50.860 especially when
00:38:52.840 it comes to
00:38:53.260 leaks from
00:38:53.600 three-letter
00:38:53.940 agencies, you
00:38:54.680 must make
00:38:55.660 sure you're
00:38:56.160 not being
00:38:56.700 used.
00:38:58.420 I mean, every
00:38:59.900 reporter knows
00:39:00.740 when one of
00:39:01.600 those people
00:39:02.340 reaches out to
00:39:03.140 you, all
00:39:04.060 hackles should
00:39:04.660 be up.
00:39:05.280 The likelihood
00:39:06.000 of you getting
00:39:06.640 used is very,
00:39:08.040 very high,
00:39:09.040 which I've said
00:39:09.620 this before,
00:39:09.980 but that's why
00:39:10.400 generally news
00:39:11.100 organizations will
00:39:11.800 put someone who
00:39:12.920 is a cynical
00:39:13.580 mofo in that
00:39:14.660 position, like at
00:39:15.840 Fox, Catherine
00:39:16.580 Herridge, who
00:39:17.540 likes no one,
00:39:18.520 which is
00:39:19.160 good.
00:39:19.460 That's good.
00:39:19.980 That's exactly
00:39:20.440 who you should
00:39:20.820 have in that
00:39:21.280 role, who
00:39:22.160 cannot be
00:39:22.640 charmed or
00:39:23.200 wooed into
00:39:23.720 writing what
00:39:24.260 you want her
00:39:24.700 to write.
00:39:25.240 That's right.
00:39:25.560 And instead,
00:39:26.800 what it appears
00:39:27.400 to have been is
00:39:28.300 people like
00:39:28.880 Ellen, people
00:39:29.360 like Michael
00:39:29.780 Schmidt heard
00:39:30.380 all the things
00:39:31.100 they already
00:39:31.560 believed about
00:39:32.240 Donald Trump
00:39:32.900 from a source
00:39:33.840 they trusted
00:39:34.700 like a Schiff
00:39:35.480 or a Comey
00:39:36.260 or a Brennan
00:39:37.000 and with
00:39:38.460 glee ran
00:39:39.740 to their
00:39:40.420 keyboards.
00:39:42.040 Yeah, Megan,
00:39:43.000 you just did,
00:39:43.680 that was like the
00:39:44.340 perfect description
00:39:45.180 of what our
00:39:45.700 obligations are
00:39:46.500 and what we
00:39:46.860 often fail to
00:39:47.940 do in our
00:39:48.320 industry.
00:39:48.760 There's a
00:39:49.040 moment in my
00:39:49.600 career where
00:39:49.920 I went through
00:39:50.320 this, probably
00:39:51.200 one of the
00:39:51.600 biggest scoops I
00:39:52.200 ever had in my
00:39:52.900 career was at
00:39:53.360 the Associated
00:39:53.940 Press when I
00:39:54.500 got the
00:39:54.860 interrogation
00:39:55.500 reports of
00:39:56.120 Khalid Sheikh
00:39:56.560 Mohammed, the
00:39:57.160 mastermind of
00:39:57.800 9-11, and we
00:39:59.100 learned from
00:39:59.540 those interrogation
00:40:00.300 reports that he
00:40:00.920 actually planned
00:40:01.960 to do 10
00:40:02.640 planes on two
00:40:03.380 coasts and then
00:40:04.320 bin Laden
00:40:04.720 scaled it down.
00:40:05.460 It was a
00:40:06.240 worldwide exclusive
00:40:07.120 but we had that
00:40:08.540 document for
00:40:09.260 seven or eight
00:40:09.880 days from our
00:40:10.940 sources and we
00:40:12.180 did lots of
00:40:13.440 reports because
00:40:14.120 you didn't know
00:40:14.920 if someone was
00:40:15.540 trying to make
00:40:16.120 somebody look
00:40:16.800 good or this
00:40:17.720 was only one
00:40:18.420 of 30
00:40:18.880 interrogations and
00:40:19.720 we did a lot
00:40:20.340 of work before
00:40:21.440 we pulled the
00:40:22.100 trigger on writing
00:40:22.880 that story and
00:40:24.100 that's important
00:40:24.780 because we all
00:40:25.660 know that people
00:40:26.500 have motives when
00:40:28.240 they give us
00:40:29.860 something and we
00:40:31.100 have to take
00:40:31.940 those motives into
00:40:32.700 account and rule
00:40:33.520 out that we
00:40:34.020 haven't been
00:40:34.480 misled before
00:40:35.140 we pulled the
00:40:35.660 trigger and
00:40:36.560 too often in
00:40:37.360 the internet
00:40:37.780 era that idea
00:40:39.060 that I was
00:40:39.860 trained on and
00:40:40.460 that you were
00:40:40.860 probably trained
00:40:41.400 on has been
00:40:42.740 lost in the
00:40:43.380 internet era
00:40:44.000 where the moment
00:40:44.660 I can get a
00:40:45.360 click now if I
00:40:46.060 go out with
00:40:46.580 this is the
00:40:47.680 only reward you
00:40:48.560 get and I
00:40:49.180 think that being
00:40:50.160 right or wrong
00:40:50.780 has been less
00:40:51.400 important than
00:40:51.900 getting that
00:40:52.340 click and I
00:40:52.860 think it's so
00:40:53.480 important that
00:40:54.100 journalism take
00:40:55.100 a deep breath at
00:40:55.780 some point and
00:40:56.280 wind ourselves
00:40:56.860 back to let's
00:40:57.980 find out the
00:40:58.520 motives let's
00:40:59.000 make sure we
00:40:59.460 haven't been
00:40:59.860 misled before we
00:41:01.140 report something.
00:41:02.760 John before I
00:41:03.160 let you go
00:41:03.420 have you been
00:41:03.820 following the
00:41:04.600 difference of
00:41:05.180 opinion on
00:41:05.820 these reveals
00:41:06.560 that have been
00:41:07.060 coming out
00:41:07.540 between say on
00:41:09.240 the one camp
00:41:09.860 you Matt
00:41:10.820 Taibbi Molly
00:41:12.180 Hemingway and
00:41:12.760 others Aaron
00:41:13.700 Monte Glenn
00:41:14.360 Greenwald and
00:41:15.300 on the other
00:41:15.940 many in the
00:41:16.980 so-called
00:41:17.260 mainstream yes of
00:41:18.400 course I don't
00:41:18.880 really listen to
00:41:19.520 but I do listen
00:41:20.180 to Andy
00:41:20.900 McCarthy over at
00:41:21.960 National Review
00:41:22.540 and respect his
00:41:24.280 opinion and he
00:41:25.180 did write a whole
00:41:25.880 book about
00:41:26.520 Russiagate but
00:41:28.000 he still is just
00:41:29.200 not well he
00:41:29.680 hasn't written about
00:41:30.260 it in a while
00:41:30.620 because he's been
00:41:31.020 on vacation but
00:41:31.680 he did not
00:41:33.020 think there was
00:41:33.580 any there there
00:41:34.580 on the initial
00:41:35.340 reveals here and
00:41:36.320 he really thought
00:41:37.100 this was a
00:41:38.520 nothing burger
00:41:39.020 like what Tulsi
00:41:39.880 was revealing so
00:41:40.760 have you been
00:41:41.140 following that
00:41:41.580 difference and do
00:41:42.140 you have a
00:41:42.740 thought on it?
00:41:44.660 Yeah listen I
00:41:45.540 try not to
00:41:46.240 evaluate whether
00:41:46.940 something's nothing
00:41:47.560 I try to just
00:41:48.400 give people facts
00:41:49.240 so they can make
00:41:49.840 up their own
00:41:50.340 mind my goal
00:41:51.020 now he obviously
00:41:51.580 writes op-ed so
00:41:52.380 his goal is to
00:41:53.100 help people come
00:41:53.700 to conclusions
00:41:54.260 I've tried
00:41:55.400 throughout my
00:41:55.920 career to just
00:41:56.420 give people data
00:41:57.180 points and let
00:41:57.760 them make up
00:41:58.280 their own mind
00:41:58.900 I do think
00:42:00.180 that you know
00:42:01.280 what you do
00:42:01.960 see and what
00:42:02.500 we've learned
00:42:03.100 is that inside
00:42:04.440 the intelligence
00:42:05.120 community the
00:42:05.980 roles of the
00:42:06.480 intelligence
00:42:06.820 community were
00:42:07.440 broken to come
00:42:08.120 up with a
00:42:08.780 story that
00:42:09.800 Putin helped
00:42:10.420 Trump even
00:42:10.920 though the
00:42:11.260 evidence said
00:42:12.180 otherwise the
00:42:13.300 most damning
00:42:14.020 evidence from
00:42:14.980 all the
00:42:15.380 intelligence
00:42:15.840 experts I
00:42:16.420 talked to
00:42:16.720 and I derive
00:42:17.140 my knowledge
00:42:17.660 from people
00:42:18.360 who are
00:42:18.660 professionals
00:42:19.080 I'm not an
00:42:19.840 intel
00:42:20.100 professional
00:42:20.560 is that the
00:42:22.320 intelligence
00:42:23.300 community's
00:42:23.960 belief that
00:42:24.500 Putin didn't
00:42:24.980 try to help
00:42:25.560 Trump was based
00:42:26.660 on the most
00:42:27.440 significant moment
00:42:28.580 in October
00:42:29.340 of 2016
00:42:30.200 which is
00:42:30.760 Russia ended
00:42:32.340 its active
00:42:33.040 measures and
00:42:33.580 did not try to
00:42:34.560 interfere in the
00:42:35.160 election in October
00:42:35.860 16 why is that
00:42:36.660 important everybody
00:42:37.900 knows including
00:42:38.880 Russian intelligence
00:42:39.660 most Americans
00:42:40.380 make up their
00:42:40.940 mind in the last
00:42:41.560 few weeks of
00:42:42.080 the election
00:42:42.480 Russia had all
00:42:44.080 sorts of dirt
00:42:44.820 they could have
00:42:45.360 dropped on Hillary
00:42:46.040 Clinton to
00:42:46.520 possibly take
00:42:47.340 him out and
00:42:48.220 they didn't do
00:42:49.140 that that is
00:42:50.140 what we call a
00:42:50.940 passive decision
00:42:51.680 meaning intelligence
00:42:52.620 community saw
00:42:53.460 them having the
00:42:54.420 capability to do
00:42:55.420 something to damage
00:42:56.180 a candidate and
00:42:57.900 deciding not to
00:42:59.220 do it that's a
00:43:00.320 very powerful piece
00:43:01.860 of evidence in
00:43:02.500 the intelligence
00:43:02.980 committee assessment
00:43:03.800 and it's why
00:43:04.720 Congress on
00:43:05.340 November 29th
00:43:06.300 16 is brief that
00:43:07.740 there is no there
00:43:09.120 was no preferred
00:43:10.660 candidate that's a
00:43:11.920 pretty good reason
00:43:12.500 to believe that you
00:43:14.020 have to look at
00:43:14.720 what happens after
00:43:15.440 November 29th to
00:43:16.500 realize how badly
00:43:17.420 the community was
00:43:18.540 hijacked maybe
00:43:19.820 you know Andy's
00:43:21.540 looking at it from
00:43:22.120 a prosecutor could I
00:43:23.060 prosecute someone from
00:43:24.120 what happened here
00:43:24.680 no but from an
00:43:26.340 integrity standpoint
00:43:27.200 in our country on
00:43:28.520 how we're going to
00:43:29.080 protect ourselves
00:43:29.880 about the future of
00:43:31.140 this country from
00:43:31.740 counterintelligence
00:43:32.580 threats from
00:43:33.020 counterterrorism
00:43:33.660 threats the ability
00:43:35.080 to take good
00:43:36.500 intelligence and
00:43:37.360 turn it into a bad
00:43:38.260 conclusion affects all
00:43:39.800 of our safety and I
00:43:40.640 think from that
00:43:41.240 perspective there is
00:43:42.580 a reason why we
00:43:43.280 should be reporting
00:43:43.960 on this whether
00:43:44.760 someone gets
00:43:45.320 prosecuted or not
00:43:46.260 I don't know I've
00:43:46.900 been hearing about
00:43:47.480 prosecutions for 10
00:43:48.440 years haven't seen a
00:43:49.700 whole lot of them so
00:43:50.600 I'm pretty jaded in
00:43:51.940 expectation but I do
00:43:53.940 think these things
00:43:54.600 matter for you and
00:43:55.460 on my safety when
00:43:56.960 those two intelligence
00:43:57.840 officers came to my
00:43:58.880 driveway in March of
00:43:59.780 17 which set me on
00:44:01.240 my path to unravel
00:44:02.320 this story the first
00:44:03.800 thing they said to me
00:44:04.640 when I asked them why
00:44:05.480 are you coming forward
00:44:06.240 to me why me and what
00:44:07.420 are you what are you
00:44:08.000 trying to me to do
00:44:08.580 and he's like you gave
00:44:09.880 us these tools after
00:44:10.820 9-11 to protect you
00:44:12.140 from terrorists and
00:44:13.400 from counterintelligence
00:44:14.400 threats and if we lose
00:44:15.500 them because we've
00:44:16.740 abused them the way we
00:44:17.740 do you will not be as
00:44:19.320 safe at night as you
00:44:20.300 are have been the last
00:44:21.420 10 years that's what
00:44:22.680 drove those two
00:44:23.320 whistleblowers to come
00:44:24.160 to my driveway at 11
00:44:25.160 o'clock at night in the
00:44:26.480 spring of 2017 I think
00:44:28.400 the professionals know
00:44:29.460 that the abuse of these
00:44:30.440 tools risk them being
00:44:32.580 taken from them or being
00:44:33.940 corrupted and we're all
00:44:35.320 less safe and that's a
00:44:36.260 matter of public interest
00:44:37.060 that goes beyond
00:44:37.780 prosecution
00:44:38.400 john as i listen to you talk
00:44:40.820 all i can think is um we
00:44:42.120 need a full episode of john
00:44:43.920 solomon and your background
00:44:45.120 and your stories because i
00:44:46.360 even just in that brief
00:44:47.300 recitation i learned facts
00:44:48.460 about you i didn't know
00:44:49.140 what a fascinating guy you
00:44:50.600 are it's i i love to do
00:44:52.640 that like just you and
00:44:53.880 we'll we'll talk for a
00:44:54.740 couple all right listen i
00:44:55.600 listen i don't listen to
00:44:56.360 many podcasts i listen to
00:44:58.220 you often you are do such a
00:44:59.540 great job and you inform the
00:45:01.100 public with such integrity so
00:45:02.420 anytime i'm there
00:45:03.560 oh thank you thank you so
00:45:05.580 much all right to be
00:45:06.280 continued uh we'll we'll
00:45:07.640 stay on it we'll continue
00:45:08.460 refreshing just the news
00:45:09.760 coming up next our friends
00:45:11.060 from national review speaking
00:45:12.180 of national review rich
00:45:13.100 lowry's here along with
00:45:14.120 charles c w cook let's be
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00:46:23.160 joining me now rich lowry and
00:46:28.640 charles c w cook of national
00:46:30.360 review you can find all of their
00:46:31.940 work by becoming an nr plus
00:46:34.500 subscriber today we will get
00:46:37.360 andy mccarthy on to talk about
00:46:38.520 his views on russiagate once
00:46:40.020 he's back and well rested and
00:46:42.320 ready to talk again he's been
00:46:43.600 on vacation at exactly the wrong
00:46:45.080 time rich lowry um but in any
00:46:47.740 event let me ask you this because
00:46:49.060 i want to pick up on the media
00:46:50.200 angle that we were discussing with
00:46:51.540 john solomon interesting fact the
00:46:54.020 end the new york times michael
00:46:55.380 schmidt who we just discussed who
00:46:57.340 won a pulitzer for his russiagate
00:46:58.980 uh reporting uh and now of course
00:47:02.700 is downplaying all the latest
00:47:04.600 revelations by tulsi gabbard is
00:47:06.980 married to the woman whose soundbite
00:47:11.460 i am about to run for you and you'll
00:47:13.920 be shocked shocked to hear that she
00:47:16.560 also doesn't seem to think there's
00:47:18.620 much to the latest russiagate
00:47:20.800 allegations play stop five some more
00:47:24.940 news breaking this hour to tell you
00:47:26.520 about attorney general pam bondy has
00:47:28.760 ordered a grand jury investigation
00:47:30.680 into the so-called russiagate
00:47:33.220 conspiracy allegations made by the
00:47:35.460 director of national intelligence
00:47:37.120 tulsi gabbard these are unsubstantiated
00:47:39.740 and largely debunked allegations by the
00:47:42.360 trump administration that former
00:47:44.300 president barack obama and his aides
00:47:46.420 in the intelligence community ordered a
00:47:48.600 probe into the 2016 trump campaign's
00:47:51.040 connections to russia to ruin his
00:47:53.200 chances of becoming president we'll
00:47:55.020 stay on top of that story thank you
00:47:56.900 for letting us into your homes we are
00:47:58.860 always so grateful
00:48:00.380 that's msnbc's nicole wallace who
00:48:03.400 constantly sounds as though she's just
00:48:06.540 getting over a three-week battle with
00:48:08.180 the flu and she's been forced to do the
00:48:10.060 broadcast from her near deathbed she
00:48:12.340 constantly she sounds so sick and that
00:48:15.340 is unsubstantiated but i will tell you
00:48:17.840 this rich lowry you run a news
00:48:19.100 organization if i ran msnbc there is no
00:48:22.180 way i would let the wife of the
00:48:24.620 journalist who received the classified
00:48:26.780 leaks at issue report in any way shape
00:48:30.880 or form on this controversy what say you
00:48:33.400 i was just gonna say this is one of the
00:48:35.320 big problems with the media right the
00:48:36.540 media a lot of it democratic operatives
00:48:39.080 and certain people in the so-called deep
00:48:41.760 state are the same they're married to one
00:48:43.660 another they're dating one another they go
00:48:45.240 the same cocktail parties they are the
00:48:47.420 same blob and this is just an indication
00:48:50.320 of that and also it's highly irritating to
00:48:53.380 have her say this this is much ado about
00:48:55.980 nothing when she was besides rachel maddow
00:48:59.720 was perhaps the the person with the
00:49:01.760 biggest media platform plying all this
00:49:05.100 nonsense for years about the walls closing
00:49:08.060 in and was going to be established or had
00:49:09.700 already been established that trump had
00:49:11.240 colluded with russia with zero remorse
00:49:14.280 afterwards never any uh one moment of
00:49:17.800 modesty oh i got caught up my partisan
00:49:20.140 passions i should have i should have been
00:49:22.000 a little more careful none of that now
00:49:23.800 she's still lecturing to us about the
00:49:25.960 matter it's a good point charlie i mean
00:49:28.480 who who if nicole wallace weren't allowed
00:49:30.540 to report on these allegations what unstained
00:49:33.280 reporter could they find at ms to replace
00:49:35.840 her
00:49:36.120 yeah i call it the rachel maddow extended
00:49:39.820 universe because there is this whole world
00:49:43.540 of essentially untrue ideas that is believed
00:49:49.620 by msnbc viewers i think the straw that
00:49:56.940 they're clutching onto is that tosy gabard
00:50:00.780 has made some implications that aren't true
00:50:03.900 for example that barack obama is going to end
00:50:06.220 up being criminally punished for his role in
00:50:10.660 this but to take that hyperbole and then to
00:50:15.300 conclude that all of the unraveling of
00:50:18.800 russiagate is illegitimate is ridiculous
00:50:21.480 we lived through this for a couple of years
00:50:24.320 the aim was at first to prevent trump from
00:50:27.440 becoming president and then it was to waste
00:50:30.960 his presidency you'll remember if you look back
00:50:34.300 it was fairly common including on msnbc at the
00:50:37.300 time to hear people say that he should not
00:50:40.480 allow to be used to use his presidential powers
00:50:43.460 well while he was under investigation and so on
00:50:47.300 so i think what they're doing is they're taking
00:50:49.240 um the hyperbole around the edges of this and
00:50:52.660 they're trying to discredit the rest of it which
00:50:54.460 simply will not and should not work
00:50:56.260 i'll tell you what she has a literally a vested
00:50:59.420 interest in upholding this reporting thanks to
00:51:03.940 the things she has said but also the things that
00:51:06.300 her husband has written that were award-winning
00:51:09.800 and there is really no question that she should
00:51:12.960 not be allowed to sit in that chair and opine on
00:51:15.260 whether these are legitimate or not legitimate
00:51:17.080 allegations that directly involve her husband now
00:51:20.820 and the veracity of his reporting and his reputation
00:51:23.480 the national guard troops that president trump dispatched to
00:51:26.360 washington dc arrived yesterday they showed up in droves
00:51:30.480 and uh i guess you know to say that the democrats are
00:51:36.360 not grateful would be an understatement the mayor has
00:51:40.580 waffled between kind of being grateful and saying
00:51:43.460 you know you can say crimes down try telling that to the
00:51:46.340 victims family members and getting pushed by her fellow
00:51:50.620 leftists into saying but he's authoritarian and you know
00:51:53.860 of course we hate him but the troops they're not such a
00:51:57.340 terrible idea uh in any event they've arrived and judge
00:52:00.680 janine pirro who's the u.s attorney now for
00:52:02.960 the district of dc uh was asked yesterday about
00:52:08.260 the troops and the allegedly falling crime rate and here's
00:52:12.180 how that went what this makes clear to me is that there is a
00:52:16.600 whole community that is suffering because of the violent crime in
00:52:21.320 this district all members of the minority community i am here today to
00:52:25.440 tell you that on behalf of all of these victims all of these families that
00:52:31.480 they're going to be accountable that we are going to make a difference and i
00:52:35.800 guarantee you that every one of these individuals was shot and killed by
00:52:41.280 someone who felt that they were never going to be caught and i want to send a
00:52:45.920 message that we are going to catch you
00:52:47.880 you said it's guns on the street that's causing this problem are you concerned
00:52:50.680 that the doj's funding cuts to gun violence prevention programs undermine the
00:52:54.760 efforts we are putting all kinds of resources onto the street
00:52:59.160 it's never enough this change this changed it's never enough you tell these
00:53:12.760 families crime has dropped you tell the mother of the intern who was shot going
00:53:19.240 out for mcdonald's near the washington convention center all crime is down you
00:53:24.680 tell the kid who was just beat the hell and back with a severe concussion and a
00:53:28.760 broken nose crime is down no that falls on deaf ears and my ears are deaf to that
00:53:34.640 and that's why i fight the fight thank you boom then she dropped the mic not not
00:53:41.780 literally but she should have rich well done by janine piero and there really are
00:53:46.520 some horrific stories i suppose you could find them in any large metropolitan
00:53:49.860 area but dc in particular has got some awful ones like that one about the intern i
00:53:54.800 think it was 19 years old they're doing an internship in washington it's like a
00:53:58.280 kid's dream going out to get a mcdonald's and gets killed that we could spend all
00:54:03.480 day going through these she had the pictures of a lot of those young victims
00:54:06.260 in particular up on those boards right up in the face of those reporters saying
00:54:10.360 how dare you it's never enough don't tell me don't tell the family members of
00:54:14.560 these dead people crimes down so we don't need more law enforcement
00:54:17.960 yeah i'll say a couple things one i have no use for mario bowser and and she has
00:54:23.740 vacillated a little bit here but i think basically though from where she's coming
00:54:27.640 from a fairly constructive attitude right she's saying yeah crime's down we
00:54:32.000 don't need this but if we're getting more federal assets let's use them to
00:54:35.640 reduce crime and if that had been the message by democratic mayors all around the
00:54:39.600 country about ice you know saying oh i don't like these tactics i don't think it's
00:54:42.980 really necessary maybe you're going too far but yes thank you for coming and
00:54:46.360 going getting the criminals off our streets i think that debate would be in
00:54:49.920 a much better place and i don't think the national guard
00:54:52.620 troops make much of a difference they basically guard federal buildings maybe
00:54:55.880 they free up some police resources to do other stuff but
00:54:58.660 certainly the sheer presence if you're a young woman jogging on the streets of dc
00:55:02.540 you're going to enjoy seeing those guys you're going to feel a little safer
00:55:05.200 seeing those guys and men and women in camouflage
00:55:07.980 standing there but i think the key thing is the driver of most of the gun violence
00:55:12.480 very small group of guys who've already been
00:55:16.260 involved in the engaged in the criminal justice system
00:55:19.140 have long rap sheets have probably been in prison already and are
00:55:22.700 largely known to authorities can you working with the local
00:55:26.600 police with additional dea and and fbi resources really in this 30-day period
00:55:32.400 try to move the needle in arresting more of those guys and making them worry
00:55:36.340 about consequences that's huge and then the carjackings which are so awful
00:55:40.620 you know they're 14 year olds carrying these things out so you need as janine
00:55:44.220 was saying you need them to to believe they're going to be
00:55:46.840 consequences that involves i think changing the laws congress has a role
00:55:50.100 here the dc city council probably can't be
00:55:52.880 done in 30 days but you can move the needle and i hope there's an incentive
00:55:56.200 created here for dc to say no we don't need this federal intervention
00:56:00.280 we're doing fine because we're going to get tough and and these you know in ways x y and z
00:56:05.800 that would be a very constructive outcome the cops have been super grateful for it charlie
00:56:10.140 the cops union came out and said thank god we we need help we actually cannot handle this
00:56:15.020 on our own which went unreported by the new york times's daily podcast yesterday when they took
00:56:19.540 their deep dive into local reaction they forgot to mention that the police are really grateful
00:56:23.980 for it and say it's necessary um but here's just another example of what was on the two boards
00:56:29.020 she was showing pictures of victims she said look at these 45 victims all 19 and under
00:56:33.960 all killed by gunfire in the last 18 months in dc and you tell me crime is down two of the victims
00:56:40.120 charlie were three years old one little girl's name was honestly cheetle uh it happened last month
00:56:47.120 via the local nbc police arrested a man who they say fired shots that killed a three-year-old girl as
00:56:52.900 she sat in a car with her family after fourth of july fireworks they believe the shooter intentionally
00:56:59.200 targeted the family's car she was taken to a hospital and died days later um and then just
00:57:06.460 today i retweeted someone named maddie karen not to be confused with maddie kern um who says as
00:57:13.680 follows i was called into court she's a dc resident to give a statement about a man who had exposed
00:57:18.960 himself to me on the metro he had over 200 charges to date court was delayed four hours for him to quote
00:57:25.900 calm down after calling the judge the c word once he had she dismissed the new charges and let him go
00:57:33.120 that is what so many crime victims have faced if the police do arrest the perpetrator and charge with
00:57:41.620 the right charge as opposed to a downplayed charge which is what is allegedly happening within the dc
00:57:47.440 police they're downplaying the charges to so that they can make it look like crime is down
00:57:51.280 but if they get charged adequately and then get into the court system you run into a judge like this
00:57:57.080 who's really not particularly impressed maybe unless you've actually murdered a three-year-old
00:58:02.600 and even then questionable yeah i haven't heard a good argument against this move yet it may be true
00:58:11.520 that crime is down perhaps a lot of that's the artifact of reporting but it may be true
00:58:15.660 it's irrelevant though because crime is still very high if you look through the reports it is at an
00:58:22.280 unacceptable level i am not a fan of the idea that we can make paradise on earth sometimes when you hear
00:58:30.600 the phrase for example if it saves one life i think well no we live in a free country you cannot completely
00:58:37.320 eradicate bad things happening that's not what we're discussing here we're discussing a city that is a mess
00:58:42.860 a city in which people are assaulted and killed and victimized all the time and the fact that it may or may not
00:58:49.600 be relatively down from its absolute high a few years ago is immaterial the question is is it acceptable
00:58:55.520 and the answer is that it's not and that it's not is largely a choice we're not talking here about a hurricane
00:59:03.380 or a tornado or an earthquake we're talking here about government policies that don't work you mentioned one of them
00:59:10.000 which is letting people off another is treating crime as if it's some sort of charming foible of the city
00:59:17.600 you sometimes hear this in discussions of new york oh do you remember back when uh is as if it was some
00:59:25.340 sort of you know fun thing you would do in the 1970s between seeing led zeppelin and going to watch
00:59:31.160 star wars you get a knife in the back but a charming knife uh that's nonsense people hate crime and there's
00:59:38.120 no reason they should be subject to it and the arguments made in its favor are ridiculous the other bad
00:59:45.380 argument is that crime is worse elsewhere first off that's irrelevant too but you hear this well it's worse in
00:59:52.640 new orleans or it's worse in st louis maybe those are cities and states though and under our system the burden is
01:00:01.280 much higher for the federal government to get involved but washington dc is a federal district
01:00:06.820 the district clause in the constitution gives plenary power to the federal government to take care of it
01:00:12.980 if it wants to it can delegate some of that power out to a city council or a mayor or whatever apparatus
01:00:20.320 it desires but it doesn't have to and if it is the case as it clearly is here that the delegated
01:00:27.680 authority is just not doing a very good job then it's entirely reasonable for the federal government
01:00:33.380 which runs the federal district which incidentally is the capital of the united states there is an
01:00:38.220 interest here in making sure that it's not a hellhole it's embarrassing that dc is the way that it is
01:00:42.640 to step in and there's nothing that trump has done thus far that has violated the law and there's
01:00:48.560 nothing he's done thus far that would require congress to act although congress probably should take
01:00:52.880 control back so i don't see any good arguments here that don't amount to either it's not so bad
01:00:59.100 it is or crime isn't too much of a problem anyway it is or this is racist it's not or this is an
01:01:07.060 overreach from the federal government which is ridiculous given that we're talking about washington
01:01:10.680 dc which is run by the federal government all good points you've got morons like eric swalwell
01:01:18.020 well that's really my only point you do have yeah but in this particular instance he decided to try to
01:01:28.560 make a thing out of a recent crime event where a man according to uh nbc for washington they posted
01:01:37.900 a man is dead after a shooting in dc's logan circle neighborhood officers looking for a suspect
01:01:43.500 this moron swalwell tweets it out trump owns it so now every crime that happens in dc
01:01:51.960 is trump's fault because he's tried to supplement the law enforcement i mean i do we maybe we'll give
01:01:59.320 it 30 seconds who which of you would like to take it i can see both of you actually
01:02:02.500 i mean what does that even mean megan like if if somebody takes over custody of a child whose
01:02:12.120 parents are unfit to look after them and then the child falls over and scrapes her knee you wouldn't
01:02:20.220 say ah well there you go that just proves that the custody change i mean obviously that's not what's at
01:02:27.360 stake here and if even maybe 10 years you had the same people running things and there was no
01:02:33.780 improvement sure point that out but that is just that's that's actually i needed 30 seconds but just
01:02:38.720 give me a moment that that actually is why i say that there are some people who are functionally
01:02:43.120 in favor of crime because either they have some ideological opposition to fighting crime that they
01:02:49.220 believe is rooted um in history and is usually completely incomprehensible or they are so polarized
01:02:55.640 against those who don't like crime that they end up effectively siding with crime and we've seen a lot
01:03:00.740 of that over the last week a lot of the coverage here has just been trump wants to do it therefore
01:03:05.820 it's bad trump wants to fight crime therefore crime must have something going for it and and it
01:03:11.580 doesn't it doesn't have something going for i think the average person watching this thinks it's lunacy
01:03:16.160 that's so well said all right wait that i've got a couple of examples of that teed up for you guys
01:03:21.620 here's simone sanders who undoubtedly is earning millions over at msnbc where she co-hosts one of the
01:03:28.740 primetime hours i think it's the one vacated by joy reid and uh she appeared on morning joe with
01:03:35.000 scarborough and had the following exchange sought 10. you don't think more police make streets safer
01:03:41.300 uh no joe i'm a black woman in america i do not always think that more police make streets safer
01:03:46.900 i when you walk down the streets of georgetown you don't see a police officer on every corner but you
01:03:51.520 don't feel unsafe so what is it about talking about places like southeast dc right ward 8 if you will
01:03:57.460 um that people say well we need more officers to make us safe i think we have to rethink what safety
01:04:03.500 means in america rich rethink what safety means what does anyone not know what safety is right
01:04:12.740 it's being able to walk down the street without looking over your shoulder or let your kid go out
01:04:17.440 and play without worrying about him or her being harassed or shot i mean it's very basic and if you
01:04:22.700 showed that clip to uh the average resident of a dangerous neighborhood in southeast dc they would
01:04:28.760 think she's crazy right that's only that's a luxury belief right there and that that famous phrase she
01:04:35.140 can say that because she safely goes from green room to green room and from democratic fundraiser
01:04:40.240 democrat fundraiser or whatever else it is and doesn't have to worry about crime and you know this
01:04:46.340 this um the counter argument that look we shouldn't do this because violent crime's down 25 percent in
01:04:51.640 dc whatever it is talk to anyone who lives in dc and ask them how they feel actually i give joe scarborough
01:04:57.180 credit he's been reading these anonymous missives from democrats he knows who are saying why didn't
01:05:02.780 this happen sooner i don't feel safe in the city we talked on the editor's podcast with our reporter
01:05:07.580 audrey fallberg is down there in dc says routinely harassed and menaced on the metro and that everyone
01:05:13.000 knows someone who's been mugged or gotten hurt that is totally unacceptable abc anchor just the other
01:05:19.780 day right said that she she was mugged outside the abc's studio yeah not a uh not a what shouldn't be a
01:05:26.640 dangerous part of town kind of near jupont circle right uh right across the street from a luxury
01:05:30.920 hotel i forget the name it might be the mayflower i i forget but should you you go there and you're
01:05:35.560 like is this really dangerous but it is if you're there the wrong wrong a place at the wrong time with
01:05:40.480 the willard i think she's a crazy person your willard yeah so um everyone knows even if the the numbers
01:05:46.840 have gone down it's still not a place where you you feel safe and uh simone it doesn't matter what
01:05:54.080 simone sanders says everyone knows that it's a little bit trying to spinning crimes a little bit
01:05:58.420 trying to like spin spin the economy doesn't matter what you say people know what their pocketbook is
01:06:03.320 and people know what safety is so could we just is a joke charlie she she this woman 100 rides to
01:06:09.180 to and from work in a lincoln town car driven by a driver when she gets to msnbc there is security
01:06:16.360 there waiting for her she gets escorted into the building i know a thing or two about working in
01:06:21.320 cable news for her to be like i feel totally safe except when i see a cop because i'm a black woman
01:06:26.380 in america is a lie keep going well so we don't even have to assume can we just take a second to
01:06:35.860 focus in on her argument the actual logical chain that she offered up there was policing doesn't
01:06:43.360 improve things in areas with crime because in areas without crime there aren't many police
01:06:50.860 what kind of argument is that that's like saying that food doesn't help people who are hungry
01:06:58.380 because people who already have lots of food don't need any more like yes obviously there aren't police
01:07:06.020 all over georgetown it's a relatively wealthy safe area what the hell does that have to do with people
01:07:13.120 who don't live in georgetown i mean that is she said that you said she makes millions of dollars a
01:07:17.640 year why she said that on television what what kind of argument is that that's what i'm talking about
01:07:23.680 the fetishization of crime the defense of crime and she says as a black woman in america what does
01:07:29.300 that mean like does she have any real arguments but that she is pro-crime not not in the sense that
01:07:36.380 people use that in the sort of archie bunker way but she would rather have more crime than fix it
01:07:43.340 for whatever ideological reasons that she has has come up with this she's willing to go on television
01:07:48.260 and say well it's fine for me in georgetown come on it's she's not she's not the only one um i don't
01:07:54.760 know if you're aware of anand giri dardis he's a professor at nyu yeah and he goes he goes on msnbc
01:08:04.900 all the time and he's got the following concerns sat nine i think it's really important to be clear
01:08:12.080 about what is going on here and a relatively small crime problem is being used for specific
01:08:20.980 authoritarian purposes that we know and understand so let's be clear about dc does have a really one
01:08:26.840 really big crime problem which was the january 6th insurrection incited by the current president
01:08:33.100 united states and his first act and coming back was pardoning all the people who tried to overturn
01:08:39.760 constitutional republic order in washington dc when i go to dc i'm not afraid of losing my wallet so much
01:08:48.360 as i'm afraid of losing my vote i'm not afraid of losing my wallet so much as i'm afraid that my
01:08:53.520 children's freedom to breathe will be stolen in a world where climate change policy is non-existent
01:08:59.820 rich you're in dc a lot is that is that what you feel that your your children's right to breathe
01:09:07.160 is being stolen said second by second and that's what you worry about when you walk down the streets
01:09:12.180 of dc at midnight again it's very easy to say up up until the time you get mugged right and i didn't i
01:09:18.360 didn't like january 6th i think there people committed none of us officers don't like sweeping
01:09:23.640 pardons but that doesn't mean that that people should be unsafe in in dc and and what constitutes a
01:09:28.860 small crime problem and a big crime crime problem to him again this is something where i give marielle
01:09:34.420 bowser credit she said oh the numbers are going down maybe she's right maybe she's wrong but she
01:09:38.340 said it doesn't matter to you if you're the victim of crime right and fourth highest homicide rate in
01:09:43.840 the nation yeah higher if or stayed higher than any other state and you see it in public places right
01:09:50.420 we talked again on the editors yesterday about union station just feels like a blasted out
01:09:55.800 barren zone because homeless people took it over so you couldn't have one place to sit
01:10:00.700 because a homeless person would build a mini encampment there right and and they and the
01:10:04.920 authorities gave in to the homeless so i think this is another thing that could happen actually in 30 days
01:10:09.180 the homeless encampments are getting cleared up and they're going going to homeless people now
01:10:13.720 that's where you're wrong my friend that is where you are wrong you you that's your luxury belief that
01:10:18.820 the homeless are going away thanks to law enforcement because here's what's actually happening the
01:10:23.080 resistance is fighting back to keep the homeless in union station and i'm not even making this up
01:10:29.020 we have videotape here and a soundbite of a liberal woman who is taking that problem on herself she does
01:10:34.880 not want the homeless removed from union station she does not want your damn benches back rich lowry you
01:10:39.540 can stand um and here is her plan to stop those guard troops from doing it in sod 11 it's august 11th i am
01:10:48.960 outside union station in dc where folks on the ground are telling me that they are about to start
01:10:54.900 rounding up unhoused people tonight uh the folks here at the encampment in front of union station
01:11:00.420 are handing out these whistles to give to unhoused folks that way they have a way to call for help if
01:11:05.880 they are kidnapped by federal law enforcement so if you're in the area and able to swing by
01:11:10.500 right in front of union station they have tons of these bring them back to folks in your community
01:11:15.280 so they have a way to call for help because this is how a fascist authoritarian regime starts
01:11:21.740 the homeless people are going to blow into the whistles and love whistles well people love
01:11:31.480 whistles for some reason who is going to come who is going to respond and where are they going to
01:11:37.520 take them so that they don't have to leave go ahead charlie i know i'm a little obsessed with these
01:11:42.480 arguments that people are making but we've just had three arguments in a row two from the msnbc guest
01:11:47.840 one from her that inspire the follow-up question and then what yes right right so look i am a big
01:11:56.000 critic of january 6th you've heard me say it a million times i don't need to re-rehearse it for you
01:12:00.700 including right after january 6th on this show but january 6th was bad right so if january 6th was bad
01:12:08.420 what would more crime be i mean what is the argument there that because trump did january 6th
01:12:17.320 we can't also not have other crimes and then the unspoken argument from the same guy and then from
01:12:24.380 her about authoritarianism what does that look like like what is the next step so we clear out homeless
01:12:32.360 people from public places where they're not supposed to be and then what america becomes a
01:12:39.120 dictatorship i don't understand what is supposed to happen next here it's never said it's just
01:12:45.980 it's just implied it's floated out there as if we all understand but that's not authoritarianism
01:12:52.540 there's no authoritarianism inherent in cleaning up a city or stopping people being criminals
01:12:58.580 if anything the greater threat of chaos and anarchy and the destruction of freedom and order
01:13:05.660 liberty comes from crime so i never quite know what it is that these people want or think is about to
01:13:12.980 happen and they never explain it okay but the other the other question raised by her whistle plan and for
01:13:19.280 the listening audience it's a bunch of plastic whistles in neon colors um is what happens forget like
01:13:27.060 she's arguing leave the homeless alone what happens if they if she does the whistle plan and the
01:13:32.540 homeless do what they're supposed to do and they blow into her little neon pink whistle then then what
01:13:38.780 who's coming that 19 year old girl with the blonde braid if she's gonna stop the national guard and then
01:13:46.380 what is she gonna take them back home for dinner what she's gonna take these homeless people back to her
01:13:51.000 house because it doesn't seem to be a big appetite in dc to you know have these people move in to the
01:13:56.200 domestic housing so what's her plan then like she's gonna fight the national guard so that they can
01:14:00.260 have the corner of union station that they've staked out ah it's a win you sit there that's your
01:14:06.180 corner so that they can defecate all over the floor of union station which is what your reporter was
01:14:11.040 talking about stepping in the other day rich like what is the plan exactly how is it a win to get the
01:14:16.540 homeless like like rose on the door at the end of titanic to blow their little whistles come back
01:14:22.360 come back or go away go away it drives me crazy because they think they're being compassionate
01:14:29.300 to homeless people by letting people who are seriously mentally ill and not getting treatment
01:14:34.500 or have substance abuse problems or some of them just kind of perversely like the lifestyle
01:14:38.660 sleep on grapes at night right and and someone crapping in union stations terrible for one union
01:14:45.000 station it's not great for that person either and given the amount of money that dc spends on
01:14:50.340 homelessness if there's not enough shelter for these people that's a scandal on its own so they
01:14:55.160 should be rousted out of public places the ones are mentally ill or have substance abuse problems you
01:15:00.540 try to get them help but they shouldn't be sleeping outdoors they shouldn't be out of their minds harassing
01:15:07.720 people or attacking them it's bad for everyone and they just can't get their heads around this
01:15:14.020 and and they they think they're they're doing the right thing they think giving a schizophrenic a
01:15:19.100 whistle so they can sleep in a dirty you know blanket in the corner of union station is a good
01:15:23.780 thing it's it's uh it it's infuriating it's amazing all right so i want to ask about something else now
01:15:30.520 so caroline levitt the press secretary at the white house tweeted out earlier today for the third straight
01:15:35.460 month there were zero illegal aliens released into the country under president trump the border is the
01:15:42.000 most secure it's ever been in american history i think that's objectively true uh at least in modern
01:15:46.980 american history and um he's continuing to try to get the illegals who are in the country out of the
01:15:55.120 country bit by bit and they're making some progress on that although clearly not as much as we would
01:16:00.540 like um nonetheless the leftist narrative is that it is a day and night struggle for those who are here
01:16:09.280 illegally to get through their days as they cower in fear of tom homan i don't know whether that's true
01:16:15.900 or not i doubt it but even if it is i don't care you're here illegally the people the immigrants who
01:16:21.040 are here legally have nothing to worry about and the ones who are here illegally need to go home and
01:16:25.580 there was data released just this week showing that the number of people living in the country who
01:16:30.860 are illegal who are here illegally has gone by down by 2.2 million since january and the belief is that
01:16:38.320 they are self-deporting because they are worried about tom homan so that is something i think to be
01:16:42.700 celebrated we're still up i think it's 8 million over where we were back in 2019 under under or 20
01:16:50.500 whatever under the joe biden years so we're still net up almost like 8 million okay my point is simply
01:16:55.840 you would think most people would say all right well that's you know it's a good thing enter john
01:17:01.040 oliver and monica lewinski monica lewinski decided to weigh in on the illegal immigrants and what they
01:17:09.820 must be going through and how she can relate take a listen to satwell i have to remind myself now with
01:17:17.320 all these stories going on i mean it's it's so hard it brings something out of it right kids there
01:17:23.260 that anxiety that i thought i've moved past that day that i got my yeah citizenship i thought it would
01:17:28.560 be gone then i didn't feel that uh the relief didn't feel enough i've had a sense of understanding
01:17:37.060 a tiny tiny bit that i empathize with the immigrants who are going through the crisis right now right
01:17:44.900 ice fuckers um yeah yeah and just of feeling hunted like a feeling unsafe of like something could happen
01:17:55.640 at any moment now for me the the hunting was the consequences of that were nowhere near with
01:18:01.400 their suffering but if you mean you know but i've had that of yeah you know be whether it's being
01:18:06.180 recognized or a paparazzi or there's there's something a feeling of unsafety wherever you are
01:18:11.580 and and probably a lot of women feel that in general i'm not sure i'm making sense right now but
01:18:15.900 no i think you're making total sense i think that idea of attention being weaponized
01:18:20.100 it feels like there's a lot of crossover there god okay ice fuckers she says okay so there's only
01:18:26.140 one person involved in this story on that set or in the topic that's known as a fucker and it's not
01:18:31.800 ice it is you madam that's how you got famous and you've never stopped trying to parlay some sort of
01:18:39.120 a career out of that moment she hasn't moved past it if god forbid this ever happened to me if i were a
01:18:44.520 19 year old girl i made a very stupid mistake and had an affair with the president of the united states
01:18:48.680 who was married and the odds of it was coming out were pretty much guaranteed i would take my
01:18:53.920 humiliation i would express public regret for a terrible decision i'd made and then i would go
01:18:58.160 become a lawyer or an interior designer or a writer and i would never talk about it again because it
01:19:04.820 would be the biggest shame of my life it's like when doug and i and the family went to um i can't
01:19:10.340 remember whether we were i think we were in sweden and we were in this museum and it was the construct of
01:19:14.900 this huge ship which they were very very proud of 100 years ago and they set the set it afloat
01:19:20.520 and it it sank and they had reconstructed it and put it in this museum and they were making the
01:19:25.500 comment that japanese tourists would go through and be like you made a monument to your greatest
01:19:29.880 failure like in our culture we get ashamed about our failures and we try to move past them and never
01:19:35.860 talk of them again this monica lewinski needs to be more like the japanese instead she's tried to
01:19:41.440 create an entire adult existence out of her blowjobs to the sitting president of the mary of the united
01:19:47.980 states bill clinton who is married so now she would like to parlay that experience into expertise on what
01:19:54.040 it's like to be an illegal immigrant who feels hunted because she's had the paparazzi following her
01:20:01.560 around and if memory serves she's from a very well-to-do family she's got a nice you know set of
01:20:08.560 parents and and income she's been writing for vanity fair nine times out of ten it's about her
01:20:14.120 experience or some related thing so now it's crossed over to she's calling ice a bunch of fuckers
01:20:20.200 she empathizes with the immigrants feeling hunted because she's a woman because you know you're
01:20:26.020 hunted as a woman in america and she's had photographers who want to take her picture charles
01:20:31.000 and by the way that's not even to say anything about john oliver who's more in your circumstance
01:20:36.000 charles who came legally and then legally became a united states citizen
01:20:41.140 yeah i mean that was all nonsense i am a legal immigrant and naturalized citizen i came from the
01:20:49.880 same place as john oliver i think i like america a lot more than john oliver but we went through the
01:20:54.740 same process i have never felt for a second as if i'm about to be deported because i'm a legal
01:21:01.720 immigrant and naturalized citizen no anxiety like he says he had no i don't but i also don't feel that
01:21:10.740 it is a problem if people who are here illegally feel that they might be discovered and deported
01:21:15.420 because that is the law we have a system in place so one thing i did feel before i was a citizen
01:21:22.820 was that i didn't want to break any laws not deliberately but inadvertently because i really
01:21:28.140 didn't want to be deported which i could have i actually i went boy with the whole story but i
01:21:32.860 called up the irs because they sent me too much of a refund and i sent them back 450 and the lady on
01:21:38.200 the phone said to me you're the only person in my 30-year career at the irs who has ever called up and
01:21:43.580 offered money to us and the reason for it was i thought oh no if i if i get this wrong and they
01:21:49.120 discover it they'll never let me become a citizen but i think that feeling of wanting to do the right
01:21:54.440 thing is good it's not bad it's not a problem it's not the occasion for expletives more broadly you said
01:22:01.760 at the beginning that the border is probably more secure than it's ever been in american history that's
01:22:05.700 probably true and that is a choice you can't perfect this area but the difference is night and day
01:22:12.440 because the last president joe biden did not want to enforce the border and the current president
01:22:17.700 donald trump does and i was put in mind of this over the weekend i was away on a trip and i drove
01:22:23.100 back to florida and the freeway was closed because of an accident so i had to take this sort of back
01:22:28.140 road and i came through into florida from georgia in this tiny town there can't have been more than
01:22:33.940 180 people who lived in this town and the sign said welcome to florida and then 100 feet after it
01:22:40.880 the sign said in florida we use e-verify that is a choice that wasn't on the freeway that was on the
01:22:48.460 entrance to florida from georgia in this tiny town that's a choice florida has decided that they're
01:22:53.860 going to try to make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to stay in the country and when you do
01:22:59.520 that you don't get rid of all of them but you get rid of a lot of them and you enforce your laws
01:23:03.640 and the fact that this is being compared on you know to the gestapo that that monica lewinski says
01:23:11.300 that she she feels that uh these people are being hunted that john oliver says that he doesn't feel
01:23:17.440 secure in his own citizenship is complete lunacy in the eyes of 70 80 90 percent of the public which
01:23:24.400 has been radicalized on this question of deportations because the government has refused to do the basic
01:23:30.300 things that it can do so i think that was an insane clip but i almost feels like that was a
01:23:36.120 missive from another world you know 10 months ago before things changed the the part of it that rings
01:23:43.740 true to me rich is him saying like and her saying like they feel anxious over what these illegals must
01:23:50.660 be going through because this is what leftists do right they they try to take on other people's
01:23:56.400 problems and pretend that they're happening to them remember that video of selena gomez like
01:24:01.080 my people like this multi multi probably hundred millionaire like like would you stop right like
01:24:08.980 this is what they do they see a problem out there and they try to get you to feel sorry for them
01:24:13.200 because they're so upset this is happening yeah that and and they also they just love the idea they
01:24:18.760 love the thrill of being threatened by fascism or supposed incipient fascism right so that the national
01:24:25.080 guard in dc is a classic example of this what did the national guard do in la you know they showed up
01:24:29.600 they stood in front of the the federal building and then when things come calm down they they mostly
01:24:33.860 left right they'll do the same thing in dc it affects no one they're not arresting dissidents or
01:24:39.020 seeing what you say or believe about donald trump and harass you on the basis none of that they're
01:24:42.840 standing in front of federal buildings right but they love the idea they love the word they love the
01:24:47.620 anxiety it makes them feel important makes them feel alive and this is another example of this
01:24:52.300 they're not going after john oliver monica lawinsky's experience had nothing to do with this and i will
01:24:58.420 say these these numbers about the number of illegals that seem to be leaving are really heartening and
01:25:04.220 surprising me on the upside you know i was a little critical they need to do more you know you just can't
01:25:09.580 pick off the criminal aliens yes you should try to do that you need to go broader but if you do have
01:25:13.960 this and you know it's it feels harsh to say but if you do have a certain level of anxiety
01:25:18.300 among the legal immigrants in this country maybe my job's not secure maybe i could get deported
01:25:23.400 maybe it's easier to go home that's the golden ticket to really moving the needle and this trend
01:25:29.200 continues i mean we're going to see the first large-scale negative uh movement of people you
01:25:35.120 know out of the united states instead of into the united states since i don't know eisenhower i mean it'll
01:25:39.500 be a historic accomplishment on top of what he's doing at the border i was i was critical of christy
01:25:45.320 gnome and her photo op at that el salvadoran prison but i mean the deterrent effect may be
01:25:52.700 legit and real and tom homan making himself available to any news outlet that asks and being
01:25:58.740 unapologetic about his efforts also helpful like all the people see these things and they they have
01:26:04.580 an effect all right last topic because we're on the subject of these you know these privileged
01:26:10.220 beliefs right these luxury beliefs rich um as you put it which is a term that brings me to and this
01:26:16.840 is like this this hits on a particular sweet spot for me but it brings me to actress christine baranski
01:26:23.220 who i happen to love she's very funny there i fell in love with her when sybil shepherd had her own
01:26:29.920 eponymous show called sybil and um she was quoted in like in this show where uh
01:26:37.460 she had to give advice to an unborn baby and everybody who was giving advice to the baby said
01:26:44.200 things like be a good person be nice to others do unto others etc and they get to her and she was
01:26:49.300 already playing this sort of snooty character and christine baranski looks at the unborn baby and she
01:26:54.580 says when you're sitting on the airplane in first class and the coach passengers get on try not to make eye
01:27:02.620 contact okay so i think she is hilarious it was a character thing but anyway she's very funny
01:27:10.600 so she's in a new uh hb or in an hbo show called the gilded age and she was doing a promo interview for
01:27:18.700 it and she this is a risk for anybody in hollywood given how powerful jeff bezos is okay she took a risk
01:27:26.380 when she when the topic of everyone's favorite astronaut gail king and her fellow blue origin
01:27:33.420 astronauts came up listen to this in sat 19 one of the reasons i'd love this show to continue is
01:27:41.860 because i think there is a such an exploration to be done in terms of the corruption that goes on the
01:27:48.640 buying of government influence which is happening now excuse me and the you know grotesque
01:27:56.360 displays of wealth sending women into a spaceship for what so they can you know do their makeup
01:28:03.580 don't get to me started i'm going
01:28:09.600 please do get her started i it had the same effect on her ridge as it had on all of us and i i would
01:28:20.900 submit to you that it's one of the reasons why gail king is reportedly not going to get her contract
01:28:24.300 reviewed at cbs the thing was an unmitigated disaster on many levels for many people
01:28:29.240 yeah totally a luxury trip right this what how's this advancing space travel exploration science
01:28:38.600 anything it's just a joy ride for a favorite group of people who can pretend that you know
01:28:44.500 this was a groundbreaking and historic event right what elon musk is doing in space is is really going
01:28:50.420 to make a difference and it may be something that's talked about a hundred years from now
01:28:54.600 this is just buttering up celebrities yeah and it just to me it taps into something people are feeling
01:29:02.480 in the country charles you know some people feel it and they're going to vote for zora mondani some
01:29:07.020 people feel it and they applaud the murder of a health care executive so there are lunatics
01:29:11.820 who are reacting to this so-called income inequality and these you know out of touch gazillionaires
01:29:17.840 in very negative ways but do they have to add fuel to the fire does jeff bezos have to send his vapid
01:29:27.240 fiancee to space with gail king who then insists that we call her an astronaut and tells us how inspirational
01:29:33.680 we are like those people really are part of the problem and those of us who have absolutely no problem
01:29:39.620 with billionaires and actually may think it's wonderful that we live in a country where if you
01:29:43.560 come up with a great idea and you can execute on it you can become one i think a lot of us would still
01:29:48.240 like them not to be so absurdly out of touch by going on what would be a three hundred thousand
01:29:55.720 dollar a person quote space flight and then when they come back and tell us they're an inspirational
01:30:01.960 astronaut and we say no not respond by saying well have you been no literally no one's been
01:30:09.400 it costs three hundred thousand dollars for a seat yeah i think you were more upset about this than i
01:30:16.600 am although i do agree with you that the uh calling themselves astronauts part is completely
01:30:21.780 visible i'm very pro gilded age not the hbo show although it's fine but the actual gilded age i think
01:30:28.080 we have a totally uh unreasonable historical view of it that has been corrupted by the left which has
01:30:35.300 decided that the gilded age was bad and they call the people who are in charge of it robber barons
01:30:40.460 i actually love the gilded age it was a period of great american uh entrepreneurship and industry
01:30:47.220 and explosion of art and uh everyone uh got much richer including people right at the bottom
01:30:54.500 um so if i ever write a book mc and i'm i think about history i think i'm going to write a book
01:30:59.040 defending the the gold the gilded age um so i i don't particularly care about what bezos did there
01:31:06.680 um i do find the people who went on the trip quite annoying and the way that they've treated it
01:31:11.680 afterwards i think that the disconnect is less between bezos and me obviously he has lots of money
01:31:17.500 he can do what he wants with it he wants to burn it it's fine with me uh and more with the people
01:31:22.620 who went up in that uh spaceship who don't seem to realize that they were the playthings and
01:31:29.520 beneficiaries of a billionaire that they are not astronauts that they were not doing anything
01:31:34.240 groundbreaking and that they look rather silly um that to me is the big disconnect it's not with
01:31:39.260 jeff bezos we've always had these eccentric billionaires in our country who do things that
01:31:44.080 we find extraordinary some of them are ostentatious with their wealth some are not but um whatever
01:31:49.700 i love that christine baranski had the nerve to say it i have to say like it it took guts because
01:31:56.900 you know jeff bezos is one of the main justine bateman gave a very interview a very interesting
01:32:01.940 interview the other day talking about how you know the studio system is basically down to a few
01:32:07.020 billionaires now uh like tim cook who runs apple and jeff bezos who runs amazon and that they're the
01:32:14.140 movies are all secondary that the main castle is their tech business and that the moat
01:32:19.600 around the castle to keep it protected is their movies on netflix or on apple or on amazon that
01:32:25.940 like kind of keep people interested and they fund you know different projects that will keep them
01:32:31.180 interested in an amazon or in an apple or in technology but those are all just secondary to
01:32:36.480 their main business and it's dangerous she had a good point in any event um it's dangerous to
01:32:41.780 criticize jeff bezos for someone like christine baranski who makes her living acting on stage so i give
01:32:47.720 her credit once again she's done a very strong interesting amusing thing guys thank you both so
01:32:53.840 much for being here thanks so much always fun go go now subscribe at nr plus so you can get all
01:32:59.940 their content um and you if you sign up for nr plus you really do get almost no ads i love it and i
01:33:06.060 listen national review has my favorite feature on any news site very few have it the wall street
01:33:10.900 journal has it national review has it sometimes the new york times has it on some of their articles
01:33:14.960 where it says listen to this article and you press listen and then you can do whatever you want and
01:33:19.860 national review has a very nice ai voice over there and you can listen to your news you know
01:33:25.180 piece by piece and i do it all the time i'll just do like a running tally of the nr articles in the
01:33:28.820 morning very very helpful stuff okay coming up next steve hilton our old pal steve hilton is
01:33:34.540 running for governor of california and wait until you hear where he is in the polls it's kind of
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01:34:55.000 with code mk at chef iq.com that's chef iq.com promo code mk if you are stressed about back taxes
01:35:04.220 maybe you miss that april deadline or your books are a mess don't wait the irs is cracking down
01:35:10.120 penalties add up fast five percent per month up to 25 just for not filing but there is help tax
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01:37:05.320 when kamala harris announced last month that she would not be running for governor of california
01:37:14.720 the conventional wisdom was that it was opening up an opportunity for another democrat to lead the
01:37:19.100 nation's largest state but could a republican i said it actually take the reins of the golden state
01:37:27.160 for the first time since arnold schwarzenegger left sacramento in january of 2011 steve hilton who is
01:37:34.540 running on a campaign to make california golden again is trying to make that happen and a new poll
01:37:39.880 from emerson has him currently in second place behind former democratic representative katie porter
01:37:47.720 she's at 18 he's at 12 all the others are down by like four or five my god what's happening steve
01:37:54.940 joins me now steve what is happening and katie porter's got a long list of problems so like it
01:38:00.020 i feel like you could close that gap yeah exactly well it's great to be with you megan i'm very excited
01:38:05.480 about closing the gap um yeah there's another poll actually that our campaign did to full disclosure
01:38:10.780 but actually had me leading so whichever way you look at it we have this ridiculous top two system
01:38:15.760 in california um don't get me started on that but you've got to get the two candidates there's not a
01:38:21.000 democrat primary or republican primary the top two candidates in next june's primary go forward
01:38:25.860 to the general election and all the polls so far showing that it's me and katie porter so there you go
01:38:30.640 by the way can i just say one thing megan um you've had back-to-back naturalized citizens um
01:38:36.360 today on the show and i can confirm that i also don't feel anxious i'm walking around you didn't
01:38:43.960 run around feeling anxiety about whether you're swearing in what happened or not and whether you'd
01:38:49.820 get hunted it's insane so by the way one thing um i actually i hadn't really i don't think i've spoken
01:38:57.140 about this publicly before but it just brings it to mind um when i got my citizenship 2021 so we moved
01:39:04.320 here my wife and my two sons in 2012 um took quite a while to get through it 2021 got my citizenship the
01:39:10.920 first time i went back to the uk afterwards um i guess out of habit i i had my british passport and i
01:39:18.040 used it in those electronic gates we went back to christmas time to see friends and family and it
01:39:23.280 didn't work so i thought wow it's really happened i got out my u.s passport it worked i sailed through
01:39:29.020 and i thought that was the end of it and my british citizenship had been cancelled turns out
01:39:33.980 you actually have to proactively do that and renounce there's a sort of paperwork process you
01:39:39.760 have to go through which i'm in the middle of doing right now so very soon i will be 100 proudly
01:39:46.340 american no so i tom homan might be watching this he might come get you if it's not it's not
01:39:52.040 it's been no renouncing no um exactly so i think it's very bold of you because california is a hot
01:39:59.120 mess and they don't really like republicans although they like them more than we knew in the wake of this
01:40:03.720 redistricting battle that's happening in texas and now gavin newsom's threatening to retaliate it's come
01:40:08.780 out that there's actually a significant portion of the of the state that is republican they're just not
01:40:15.740 reflected in the congressional districts because of gerrymandering because of the very thing
01:40:21.100 gavin newsom is being so hard on governor abbott in texas for he's what he says he's doing
01:40:26.920 exactly i mean this is a point i've been making for years and it's highly relevant now um everyone
01:40:33.400 talks about including gavin newsom well we have an independent uh districting process in california
01:40:38.520 it's true that in 2008 and then in 2010 the voters chose an independent system they chose to take
01:40:45.180 the power to draw the maps away from the politicians and put it in the hands of this commission but
01:40:50.240 classic california the democrat machine got hold of the process and um said you know we're gonna do
01:40:58.580 what we can to favor democrats so as you say i'm pretty much constantly for the last um 20 years or so
01:41:05.080 there's been a 40 percent or so republican vote in california 40 percent but in terms of the
01:41:10.800 congressional representation it's 17 and it's the same sort of pattern to the state legislature
01:41:16.020 that's why i've said when i'm governor we're going to restore the integrity of the system
01:41:20.060 and if gavin newsom goes ahead with his scheme to steal even more seats i announced last week that i'm
01:41:25.700 going to be filing a lawsuit to block him because he hasn't thought through all the legal obstacles
01:41:30.420 and i just don't think he can do it yeah he's they've tried to tie his hands um from doing it with
01:41:37.640 this legislation that you mentioned which was passed and he's going to have to live up to that
01:41:41.340 so his threats do sound a little empty just for the record gavin newsom can't run again because
01:41:46.400 there are term limits in california so this really is going to be an open seat which leaves a big big
01:41:51.080 opportunity for you um so he's been trying to like get his swagger going over this whole redistricting
01:41:59.040 battle and act like a tough guy um because he obviously wants to be president and that's where his eyes
01:42:05.000 are focused so he's been sending out these bizarre tweets first he just started threatening like if
01:42:11.780 you do this in in texas which by the way they they did have to do we went back and actually looked at
01:42:17.580 it more seriously that the districts in texas had resulted these few that they're targeting as a result
01:42:24.260 of racial lines being drawn unfairly to try to group blacks and hispanics together and exclude whites
01:42:31.440 and the doj said that's illegal you have to redo them so they're redoing them and we are going to
01:42:37.800 wind up with five net new seats in texas and that state will reflect its voting block appropriately as
01:42:44.560 a result of this california already has an imbalance in favor of democrats where it has almost no democratic
01:42:51.580 representatives and gavin newsom is acting like a spoiled child because he needs attention he wants to
01:42:57.500 look tough um so here but i just want to read a couple of the tweets because it's getting he's
01:43:02.120 getting like weird all right so he tweets this out and he signed it gn so this one came from him
01:43:07.100 donald taco trump as many call him that taco according to leftist stands for trump always
01:43:14.020 chickens out ask iran if that's true um missed the deadline now by the deadline he means his own
01:43:22.020 declared deadline for donald trump to back down in texas gavin newsom said you have till tuesday
01:43:28.600 to stop it and trump blew him off like the flea that he is um he missed the deadline california will
01:43:36.320 now draw new more beautiful maps they will be historic as they will end the trump presidency
01:43:43.280 dems take back the house this is in all caps with an exclamation point big press conference this week
01:43:49.180 with powerful dems and gavin newsom your favorite governor that will be devastating for maga thank
01:43:55.440 you for your attention to this matter gn an obvious attempt to sound like trump in trump's truth social
01:44:03.440 posts and totally missing the reality steve that there's only one donald trump and he cannot be
01:44:10.160 copied i know it's so embarrassing i mean it i mean you know my as my teenage sons would put it cringe
01:44:17.620 um of the highest order what what is he doing and i and this has been going on for a while now
01:44:23.160 actually they've been using that account with these ridiculous parody posts and it's not funny
01:44:27.640 i mean we'll get into it i mean especially when you think about all the problems the real problems like
01:44:31.900 it is the worst run state in america california he's got a lot to deal with right here in california
01:44:38.180 the fact that we have the highest unemployment rate in the country the highest poverty rate the highest cost
01:44:43.540 for everything that matters housing gas electricity water you name it the worst business climate in
01:44:49.880 america like everything is a disaster i mean never mind homelessness and crime and not everything else
01:44:54.800 and then he's doing this kind of thing and exactly as you say this this idea that texas started it is
01:45:02.540 ridiculous if you just look at the raw numbers and you say what would it look like if we did have fair
01:45:08.660 representation in california just on the congressional districts we would have from california an extra 12
01:45:15.420 house seats for republicans 12 for republicans they've already taken 12 now he wants another
01:45:21.920 five or six i mean it's just completely ridiculous and he's running around doing this kind of thing on
01:45:27.140 social media it is utterly pathetic i really said i'm on the road the whole time since launching my
01:45:32.340 campaign at the end of april people are so angry and fed up with the way things are going
01:45:37.260 they're fed up with the struggle the cost of everything the hassle of everything i honestly
01:45:42.360 believe we right of course you know i'm not saying it's going to be easy to win at all it's going to
01:45:47.720 be very difficult their machine is very powerful they got the unions all of that but i really think we've
01:45:53.160 got our best shot in at least 20 years people are desperate for change and you know that's the plan
01:45:58.140 i mean we've got to deal with these real problems you mentioned the homeless problem in california
01:46:03.860 i've experienced it myself i've been out to la a few times over the past couple of years
01:46:07.720 you literally have to step over the homeless encampments like the tents and like just to get
01:46:12.260 from a to b it's so ubiquitous there it's really seriously problematic um you toured a homeless
01:46:18.960 encampment near the san jose airport and this is some video you posted to uh your x account on monday
01:46:26.120 here it is south 41 just here right by the san jose international airport and then you get off the
01:46:33.960 plane and say oh the capital of silicon valley and they brag about this being the world's fourth
01:46:39.860 biggest economy and there look this is what you get this is what you get this is what you get from
01:46:50.940 democrat one party rule it's an absolute disgrace how have we allowed this to go on for so long
01:46:56.460 look at this tent after tent after tent just from garbage as far as you can see and let's go across
01:47:02.740 here yeah just look it's unbelievable just walk down here a bit this for the listening audience this
01:47:11.860 is gavin newsom's california this is democrat run california it stinks of piss and shit
01:47:17.680 unbelievable yeah so that what were those trailers and the second like were those campers
01:47:24.240 steve like parking out what was what was that in part two yeah it's a permanent encampment i mean
01:47:28.760 that the i i described it as the kind of third world slum conditions it's not the favelas in in rio
01:47:35.540 de janeiro it's it's san jose they brag about being the capital of silicon valley it is so shameful
01:47:40.580 and it's this has been there for years and years and years and it's it's right across the state
01:47:46.140 well by the way it doesn't even have to be like when i went to the um the premiere of mr bircham
01:47:51.460 which was my fun little cartoon i did with adam carolla which was at this like swanky place where
01:47:56.140 there you know it's like a very nice neighborhood same it looked the same as that and so you don't
01:48:01.180 have to go out like very far to find this 100 it's everywhere and the smell is a real that's why i
01:48:07.000 always make this point i was covering the protests in um la when you were the ice stuff going on and the
01:48:11.880 riots and all of that right there reporting on that and talking to people and making the case for
01:48:16.960 let's not get into the specific argument about what was going on but there too i mean we saw
01:48:22.900 the chaos and the crime and the lawlessness and setting cars on fire all of that but throughout it
01:48:28.000 all and days afterwards and all of everything else had been gone you were left with the stink the
01:48:33.160 in in la our second city about to host the olympics everywhere you walk in downtown los angeles
01:48:39.800 it stinks of piss and shit that's the truth and it is so shameful it's been like this for years
01:48:47.860 and they've done nothing about it and these are the people these democrats who brag who go on and on
01:48:51.980 about lecturing everyone about equity and social justice and how compassionate they are it's just
01:48:57.780 beyond belief on a lighter note though i do i have to say i'm very happy that you showed us the
01:49:03.100 whistle lady earlier because now i think maybe with the you know the californians are sitting around
01:49:08.840 thinking there's this audit a few few months ago saying 24 billion dollars of our money spent on
01:49:14.240 homelessness no one can track where it went the problem just got worse i think we know now they
01:49:19.220 bought whistles neon yes right plastic and neon very cute very cute i'm telling my 12 year old would
01:49:25.280 would love that um but not to my speaking of money disappearing we just did a story on am update
01:49:30.460 earlier this week on the california wildfires all these big stars came out to raise money and made
01:49:36.780 promises that the money would go directly go directly to the californians whose homes had
01:49:41.860 burned it didn't we're trying to track down a hundred million dollars now which appears according
01:49:47.860 to the reporting that we did uh based on some local sources to have gone to a combination of like
01:49:53.060 immigration groups random leftist causes as opposed to to rebuild homes you see these aerial shots of
01:50:02.180 what's been rebuilt in the palisades and nothing the answer is nothing absolutely nothing has been
01:50:06.980 rebuilt he and gavin newsom is worried about doing parodies of trump tweets online it's exactly right
01:50:14.400 i mean it really illustrates so many of the deep problems of california i'm there often i was in
01:50:19.720 altar dina the other week palisades i was there for the six month anniversary on the same day that
01:50:24.540 gavin newsom at a press conference was bragging about this being the fastest recovery effort in history
01:50:30.480 historic speed of recovery he was talking about i did my press conference standing in front of a pile
01:50:35.980 of rubble in the middle of pacific palisades that was kind of flowing out onto the street and onto the
01:50:42.180 road he couldn't even clear the sidewalk he promised six months ago a i mean this is classic newsom he just
01:50:48.460 runs around saying things nothing happens he promised a marshall plan to rebuild palisades it's just a joke
01:50:56.120 but the point about the missing money is very very deep actually because this is exactly the serious
01:51:02.460 answer to where the 24 billion dollars of homeless taxpayer money has gone is exactly where the fire
01:51:08.480 aid money has gone this this unbelievably corrupt network of non-profits and charities so-called and
01:51:15.780 all these groups and activist organizations that form part of this this sister the democrat industrial
01:51:22.560 complex i call it because that's the same story for everything you this is why we pay the highest taxes
01:51:28.400 in the country but have some of the worst outcomes on everything because the money just gets funneled into
01:51:35.120 this democrat machine there's there's something that is rarely discussed which is something called vmt
01:51:40.800 vehicle miles traveled which is this thing they came up with part of their extreme climate agenda talk about luxury
01:51:48.720 beliefs the climate extremism is a classic example of that and they are they just put this fictional
01:51:54.500 amount of charge for the amount of money amount of miles that are traveled for any new road project or
01:52:01.480 housing project anything you want to build they put this allowance in for vehicle miles traveled how much
01:52:06.600 traffic is going to be generated and then they charge taxes on that guess where the taxes go it's called
01:52:12.300 mitigation for climate impacts and it goes right back to the ngos and the climate activists
01:52:18.560 and all these organizations this is what goes on in california this is what you get with 20 years
01:52:23.940 nearly of one party rule this kind of corruption there was news on that just today on california's
01:52:30.180 extreme climate measures which is just over the top but we all need to worry because it's true that as
01:52:34.420 california goes so goes the nation when it comes to that stuff they adopt these very restrictive
01:52:39.440 carbon emissions requirements and lo and behold the biden administration was adopting the same ones
01:52:44.380 now it's all being undone by trump but there was news in politico today which the headline is as
01:52:49.060 follows another one of california's trump proofing planks just broke and what they had tried to do
01:52:56.020 in the biden administration before joe biden left was to try to get truckers out there heavy duty heavy
01:53:02.260 duty truck manufacturers and their trade associations to promise that they would continue meeting the
01:53:08.360 states zero emissions sales targets and um so it was like no matter what trump does you've promised
01:53:14.920 that you're going to do it so that he's strong-armed them into doing it and uh the federal trade
01:53:19.200 commission under trump just declared those agreements unenforceable so now these groups are free to yeah
01:53:26.280 there's going to be some emissions there's going to be jobs there's going to be purchases of you know
01:53:30.640 these kinds of vehicles and they're going to be used and more efficiently and it's going to get done
01:53:34.020 in any event it's not working biden's last minute attempt to get wind through everywhere that we're
01:53:39.080 going to have a full report on that this with the trucks in california but they're so focused on you
01:53:43.620 know everything's got to be green green green green green green you know what kind of a damage people
01:53:47.980 suffered to their lungs and their health as a result of those wildfires because there wasn't
01:53:53.520 adequate planning steve they didn't have competent administrators everything look it's it's it does it's
01:54:01.440 the climate stuff is the main reason that everything is so expensive because of all these
01:54:06.260 policies it makes housing more expensive gas electricity everything highest in the country
01:54:11.000 that's why people can't afford to pay their bills you can't afford to buy a house in california the
01:54:15.800 california dream has been destroyed that dream of owning your own home and building your life that
01:54:21.000 used to represent better than anywhere else the american dream it's the climate extremism more than
01:54:26.000 anything else that is destroying that that's why i've pledged to reverse it and so i've said
01:54:31.060 also that it's not enough i think for us to i mean of course it's great that we have a federal
01:54:35.860 administration that's pushing back on all this but we can't just rely on the federal government
01:54:41.280 to save us in california we have to fight and stand up for ourselves and get this common sense
01:54:47.580 change that we need in california and that's what my plan is all about is to lower people's costs
01:54:52.540 reduce the hassle of doing anything whether that's you know running your life running your business
01:54:57.100 whatever it is it's just endless bloated nanny state bureaucracy making everything so complicated
01:55:03.300 and costly right across the board that's what we got to get rid of and that's why i think it's not
01:55:09.080 just that i can you know lay out the policies i mean people may know me from fox but before i did that
01:55:15.300 you know i i taught at stanford and i started a business here i was a policy advisor senior advisor
01:55:20.200 to the prime minister back in the day in the uk david cameron um i've done this right i've i've
01:55:26.140 been there at the heart of a government you know fighting the bureaucracy not with um the kind of
01:55:31.720 success i would have liked i wasn't the boss i wasn't in charge but i know what it's like to take on
01:55:36.840 a bureaucratic system and that's why i'm doing this because i really know that we can get this done we
01:55:42.760 just need you talked about competence and just people who know what they're doing for so long
01:55:48.520 in california we've had these machine politicians their only skill is navigating the the the party
01:55:55.500 machine and like kamala harris exactly you were talking about it just last week i really thought
01:56:01.940 of this when you were talking about kamala harris and all these people but they're all the same
01:56:05.840 newsom karen bass whatever they're sick of it they the results are so painful for people and we've
01:56:13.240 just got to get in there and shake it all up and get the other thing that really reminded me when
01:56:17.800 you're talking about you know sydney suena i know it sounds of course it's a different topic but
01:56:22.860 that reminder that returning to normalcy right that that's true in the cultural arena but in
01:56:30.800 california it's also needed in the policy arena we've got these crazy extreme ideological policies
01:56:38.080 that are just making everything ridiculously expensive and complicated the answers to these
01:56:44.160 things are not complicated it's just normal basic competent requires some courage that focuses
01:56:50.600 requires courage by the politicians and it requires boldness by the voters when you know the the actual
01:56:55.940 voting day comes along i do want to show the audience um you out there in front of the fires
01:57:00.380 well in front of the spot where the fires were and what you found um this was posted on july 7th
01:57:06.560 sat 43. hi everyone thank you for coming today i've just been listening to gavin newsom
01:57:12.040 bragging about the response of his administration to the devastating wildfires we saw here six months
01:57:21.880 ago to this day i'm quoting him now
01:57:25.200 the fastest response in terms of debris removal in modern history
01:57:33.680 six months and this is still here
01:57:39.640 gesturing behind you um for the listening audience it looked like it looked akin to 9-11
01:57:45.720 i mean the devastation behind you that hasn't even been removed never mind rebuilt
01:57:50.860 look this is the everything that we're talking about the the luxury beliefs climate policies the
01:58:02.200 incompetence the inability to really do anything these sort of promises that never get delivered
01:58:06.360 it's all because you've got these are not serious people they don't understand how to get anything done
01:58:11.680 all they just constantly assume they're not going to get a challenge from the other party
01:58:16.580 they're so arrogant all they care about is saying the right things to
01:58:20.740 you know pander to the activists and the unions who fund their campaigns and so on
01:58:25.100 and that's why we have this massive mess in california
01:58:29.280 and that's what what we got to get away from
01:58:32.320 this kind of attitude that you just say things
01:58:35.860 to pander to the internal audience of our party
01:58:39.980 instead of just focusing is it possible steve you know because my my feeling way over here on
01:58:44.980 the east coast is these californians are never going to do it there they love feeling like a
01:58:50.660 good little liberal they're never going to actually when voting day comes put a republican governor back
01:58:56.380 here back in there it's it's a long time since 2011 in schwarzenegger
01:59:00.680 but it's a lot worse it's a lot worse for people i mean just you know i'm on the road as i said the
01:59:09.100 whole time and the word that captures what i'm feeling from people you know we do hundreds of
01:59:15.100 events thousands of people and you just see it in their eyes and i feel it so strongly the word
01:59:20.960 that represents better than anything else what's going on is struggle just the struggle the pain
01:59:26.960 of just existing of trying to feed your family and pay the bills or run your restaurant you know i
01:59:34.000 ran a restaurant back in the day in england i know what it's like to start and run a small business and
01:59:40.280 the pain that people are going through and so i think it is part part of what i'm trying to do and
01:59:47.300 i'm running a very active energetic campaign and some people are saying they haven't really seen
01:59:51.420 anything like that so early but the reason that i'm doing it is because we've got to give people
01:59:57.340 hope it doesn't have to be like this that is the message like we we don't have to live like this
02:00:03.860 it's a choice well and california has gone so rad we're not even talking about the cultural issues
02:00:09.680 and california's gone so radically left on that under gavin newsom i don't care what he told charlie
02:00:15.400 kirk on his you know it's a question of fairness man when it comes to boys and girls it was a lie
02:00:20.480 he doesn't believe it just just today in the news um there's an article this week i guess i should say
02:00:26.820 that this one trans athlete which means a boy participating in girl sports um who won all
02:00:34.740 these events like the high jump and the long jump at the state championships in june um he was honored
02:00:40.860 he was honored by california lawmakers including california state senator sabrina cervantes who thought
02:00:49.160 it would be great to honor this this young man a b hernandez not the women not the girls who
02:00:54.960 competed against him who were forced to and found it you know tested their medal and actually got out
02:00:59.380 there and did it um him he's the only one who got the honors and i'll give you a feel for how their
02:01:04.160 celebration of this guy stand uh sounded and saw i think it's 16. this says certificate of achievement
02:01:11.140 presented to a b hernandez the group of valley city council is pleased to recognize a b hernandez
02:01:16.440 for winning cif state track and field championships your uh preservation and dedication are a testament to
02:01:23.400 your motivation to succeed so congratulations on this extent outstanding accomplishment and just wanted
02:01:29.840 to take a moment this evening to uh recognize a b hernandez uh for their grit their passion and their
02:01:36.940 dedication uh to the sport uh what we have two certificates of recognition on behalf of the california
02:01:43.440 state senate for your cif championship uh of course second place in the long jump and first place
02:01:49.580 in the high jump and triple jump uh i am just so proud to know that you continue uh to prevail despite
02:01:57.080 all the noise out there and you're focused uh on your goals and your dreams and your aspirations
02:02:02.440 uh we know how difficult it is to get to that level uh to be an athlete at that level and so again
02:02:09.100 oh my god your dedication and passion is an inspiration to so many oh my god so that was
02:02:15.660 cervantes the mayor was the first one there the nerve to talk about his first place and the amount
02:02:21.680 how hard it was to get there yeah for the girls for the girls steve okay so let me just i was there
02:02:30.160 i went there to the championships in june to announce what i would do to end this obscenity by the
02:02:35.880 i'm just i'm going to show you that people won't be able to see you aren't watching here's a bracelet
02:02:39.040 protect girl sports save girl sports which i've been wearing ever since that day it was given to me
02:02:43.740 by a brave campaigner that i stood there with to announce that's what i'm going to do and just to be
02:02:48.500 really clear why this is happening this all goes back to and it's what it's not even the competition
02:02:52.420 in a way it's you know it's everything i mean you've talked about this so much and been such a
02:02:56.240 powerful voice but it's the it's the locker rooms and it's the you know even field trips it's just
02:03:01.860 girls it their spaces being invaded there was a there's a story that made me so angry for a few
02:03:08.460 months before these championships in the central coast of california you may have seen it the the
02:03:13.160 teenage girl telling the story in front of a school board about how she was in the locker room with
02:03:19.380 her friends and a male walked in and as she described it started completely naked in completely intact
02:03:27.240 that was her word and she described what she saw with her friends like just right next to her
02:03:32.140 she complained about it she was punished she was punished for calling it out and then she went to
02:03:39.440 the school board to tell the story and the school board silenced her and gaveled her out and said you
02:03:44.220 can't say that so this is it all goes back to a law that was passed that ab 1266 passed in 2013
02:03:51.120 and so however outraged we are we got to know we got to realize the law is the law so i immediately
02:03:57.040 said what it's not enough just to be outraged what can i do about it as governor and i one of my team
02:04:01.960 is uh actually governor pete wilson's legal um advisor who did great work with governor wilson i said
02:04:08.800 look we've got to change this how can i do this because the legislature won't overturn that bill well
02:04:13.820 actually as the governor you have the power to challenge legislation that you think
02:04:18.340 is violates the california constitution and we think that this bill does in two particular areas
02:04:24.940 section 28 which guarantees safe schools and section 31 which bars gender discrimination what
02:04:31.800 is this if it's not discrimination against girls so my plan very clearly and i said it there at those
02:04:37.460 track and field finals will be to overturn this obscene legislation and i mean as you say that's just one of
02:04:45.040 many of these unbelievable extreme cultural things that they do there's another one that just popped
02:04:50.540 up ab495 which allows any adult stranger to take custody of somebody else's child just by signing a few
02:05:00.280 forms without any background checks it's just unbelievable that's coming up for a vote that's
02:05:05.180 on the illegal immigration front right am i wrong like if somebody's about to get deported
02:05:08.920 they basically let anybody step in and be like i'll i'll watch her i'll take i'll take the child but
02:05:13.660 it's like that's part of how we got into this mess yeah take custody because we we already are doing
02:05:19.120 that with unaccompanied minors who crossed the border not under trump but under biden giving them
02:05:23.800 to unknown people who have maybe no connection with them and it's come out in the news many of these
02:05:29.620 people turn out to be child molesters who are of course the ones who are going to line up to take
02:05:34.220 an unaccompanied child the vetting system was piss poor under biden he didn't care
02:05:39.120 and so now you're saying california's got a law that they're that they're that's basically going
02:05:44.340 to allow the same kind of thing with very little screening to happen out there for to anyone not
02:05:50.180 just anyone who's been involved in the immigration system all children all parents it's a state law
02:05:56.140 that they're i mean it hasn't been voted on yet there's a big pro pastor jack hibbs who's good
02:06:01.700 friend of mine and one of my supporters you know was rallying supporters to try and get them to vote this
02:06:06.660 down because it's it's it's just you what just when you think they can't get more extreme they
02:06:12.180 come out with something like this that anyone any adult can take custody of anybody's child it is
02:06:18.280 just unbelievable but this is part of the this is again i come back to all the time because this is
02:06:23.200 what happens with one party rule they get so arrogant they get so inward looking they get so
02:06:28.600 captured by their own ideology and they just forget about regular normal people who see this kind of
02:06:35.000 thing thing and say you you've got to be kidding me so that's why i think we're going to win next
02:06:40.360 year because then i mean look i used to do a show on fox news it was called the next revolution
02:06:45.440 i always say when next year we can have the california revolution that's what it's going to feel like
02:06:50.320 but actually it's just regular people saying please can we just end this far left insanity
02:06:55.600 well i mean the governor race the presidential race that those are still areas in which californians
02:07:01.600 can be heard california republicans can be heard you may not get the uh congressional reputation or
02:07:07.560 representation that you deserve but you can make your voice heard on a statewide level or the
02:07:12.880 national level and you should steve we'll have you on many times between now and then good luck
02:07:17.100 you know we're rooting for you oh with that can i just say one last thing i've got to say to you
02:07:22.300 do we have a minute yeah go ahead we've talked a lot about california but there's one other place
02:07:27.220 that i have to mention when i'm on with i've been saving it up because you will understand this
02:07:31.200 better than anyone and the minute i say the word you'll know where i'm going with this sussex
02:07:35.420 sussex so as we discussed i am now proud american naturalized my parents were hungarian immigrants i
02:07:44.800 grew up in england born in london when i was very young they moved down to a town called brighton
02:07:50.600 that's where i was born and raised it is on the south coast in the county of sussex east sussex so when i
02:07:56.780 see your favorite jam company founder running around calling herself the duchess of sussex
02:08:04.600 no not my it's gotta really it's gotta really irk you it irks me too and and her royal stationary even
02:08:13.800 though she's not a working royal constantly requiring people to call her you know the the
02:08:18.800 right titles do you believe that king charles or possibly more realistically in the future
02:08:24.560 king william should strip them of their royal titles this could make or break you as the governor
02:08:30.660 they i don't know i don't know what i can do about it but like what are you talking about
02:08:36.240 you trashed the royal family you you you you you ruin the great queen's last month with your
02:08:44.900 ridiculous evil assaults on her character and integrity in the family and you and you do everything
02:08:51.080 you can say we don't want this and then you're after americans say oh by the way yeah we do want
02:08:54.260 it because it helps us make money unbelievable yeah and no she is not my duchess the biggest grifters
02:09:01.240 in california and that's saying something in a state that has hollywood as one of its hubs steve a pleasure
02:09:08.300 thanks so much for coming on of course megan see you soon thank you all right and we're back tomorrow
02:09:13.420 with stew bergeer and we'll see all of you then thanks for listening to the megan kelly show no bs
02:09:19.920 no agenda and no fear