Hunter Biden's Shock Capitol Hill Trip, and if President Biden Can Get Primaried, with Dean Phillips, Dave Aronberg, and Mike Davis | Ep. 699
Episode Stats
Length
1 hour and 37 minutes
Words per minute
188.44255
Harmful content
Misogyny
33
sentences flagged
Toxicity
47
sentences flagged
Hate speech
19
sentences flagged
Summary
Hunter Biden shows up unannounced on Capitol Hill, crashing a House committee hearing about holding Donald Trump in contempt of Congress. Then, all hell breaks loose in Georgia on a story about Fannie Willis and her alleged affair with the special prosecutor she brought in to investigate Trump.
Transcript
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Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, live on Sirius XM Channel 111 every weekday at New East.
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Hey everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show.
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Oh my goodness, do we have a lot of information to get to you today.
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The man who was challenging Joe Biden in the Democratic primary, Representative Dean Phillips, is here.
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I'm looking forward to talking to him about why he's doing this and what he thinks is wrong with President Joe Biden.
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Why is he going after him? Why doesn't he think Joe Biden should be the nominee and the next president?
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First, though, it's a mind-blowing legal news day involving former President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden.
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When we originally booked our first segment, the plan was to focus on Trump's immunity hearing at the D.C. Court of Appeals yesterday.
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But then all hell broke loose in Georgia on that story that we brought to you.
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No one was covering this yesterday. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution broke it.
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We picked it up. Now it's everywhere. You're welcome.
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And there's a lot more to talk about on that case.
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A lot more on whether Fannie Willis, the D.A. in Georgia going after Trump and 18 others,
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and her alleged improper affair with the special prosecutor she brought in,
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who then took her on several alleged romantic vacations in which she benefited by enjoying the sights and sounds of Napa,
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among other beautiful places, on his dime potentially, could sink the entire Trump election interference case.
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There are legal experts now predicting the whole case will go away.
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I'm skeptical of that, but I think Fannie Willis is going away.
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On top of it all, as we're preparing all that for you, a short time ago, Hunter Biden shows up unannounced on Capitol Hill,
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crashing a House committee hearing about holding him in contempt of Congress.
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This is a massive middle finger to everybody involved in this.
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The first son and his attorneys sauntering in, sitting down.
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They waived their opportunity to appear at the subpoenaed deposition they wanted to take of him.
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And now when they decide whether he should be held in contempt, he saunters in like the prince.
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I'll sit here and I'll listen and let's see what you'll do about it.
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South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace called him out and probably got called out herself.
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First of all, my first question is who bribed Hunter Biden to be here today?
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Second question, you are the epitome of white privilege coming into the oversight committee,
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spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed.
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If the gentle lady wants to hear from Hunter Biden, we can hear from him right now, Mr. Chairman.
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Never heard anybody yell balls at a congressional hearing doctor.
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And just when you thought it could not get any more wild, Georgia Republican Marjorie
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Taylor Greene started talking and Hunter got up and just walked on out.
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You see, when you're a Biden, you get to decide when you're going to show up in front of Congress
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Even though Trump is being prosecuted right now by Jack Smith for defying a subpoena.
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And even when they hold the impeachment or the hearing figuring out whether you should
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be prosecuted for blowing off your subpoena, you can just wander in and wander out at leisure.
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By the way, we believe, though, are not entirely certain that the person who said, oh, too bad
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Um, OK, after all that, CBS News then posts this video, a reporter asking why Hunter was
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Okay, that was Abby Lowell, Hunter's attorney, saying that he would make a statement.
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But as Abby Lowell tried to speak, they were interrupted by questions like this.
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How kind of crack do you normally smoke, Mr. Biden?
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What kind of crack do you normally smoke, Mr. Biden?
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Oh, at least one reporter did try to do her job and ask Hunter while she had him.
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I think this was a Fox News reporter about his father's involvement, Hillary Vaughn,
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Don't waste time with stupid ass questions about what kind of crack did you smoke?
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Mr. Biden, why did you put your dad on speakerphone with your business partners if he had no involvement
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But why did you need to talk to him during business meetings if he had nothing to do
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It's not that he's generally taking phone calls from his dad.
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It's why did it need to happen during your business meetings over and over?
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OK, joining me now to discuss so, so much our legal all stars, Mike Davis, founder and
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president of the Article Three Project, and Dave Ehrenberg, state attorney for Palm Beach
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Wow, we're drinking from a fire hose of news today.
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We were just going to do the Trump immunity hearing yesterday and look at all the things
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I'm most interested in this Fannie Willis case, and we'll get to her second.
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Hunter Biden saunters in there, Mike, like truly the crown prince.
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Like, I will just decide what I show up to on Capitol Hill.
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And it won't be the one that I'm subpoenaed for.
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It will just be this aftermath where you're deciding whether I should be held in contempt.
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And honestly, like Nancy Mace is kind of onto something with the privilege situation.
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It's just I've got to imagine there's some cringing going on over the White House on what
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forgive me, but arrogant prick he looks like in doing this.
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Yeah, I mean, I ran like 70 congressional hearings and markups when I was on the Senate Judiciary
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Committee as the chief counsel for nominations, then Chairman Chuck Grassley.
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This is clearly obstruction of a congressional proceeding, which is a felony.
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This is clearly conspiracy to obstruct a congressional proceeding, which is a felony.
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Remember that Trump advisers Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro have been tried by the Biden
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Justice Department and convicted and are awaiting going to prison for defying a congressional
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I don't know how you describe what Hunter did as anything other than contempt and obstruction
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You're laughing because those charges that Mike just referenced are, of course, the ones
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that Trump has been charged with at the federal level.
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But let's speak to that, speak to whether he did violating laws and all this, but also
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just the I mean, come on, this is not a good look.
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Well, it's good to be with you, Megan and my friend Mike.
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Now, the reason I was laughing is because I can understand the argument for contempt.
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But when you say obstruction, all that other stuff, we have a right to attend a hearing.
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And if they wanted to hear from him, he would have testified.
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But to get to the contempt point, I as a prosecutor, when you receive a subpoena, you don't get
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So as a prosecutor, yes, he could be held in contempt, but he's not going to be because
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it's up to DOJ and DOJ did not press charges against Mark Meadows for refusing to comply
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So they're not going to do it here, especially when the guy is ready to testify.
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But he wants to testify in his own terms in public.
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So I get why people are upset about it, but don't expect a prosecution.
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But wait, let me just jump in on that, because Trump also wanted to comply with the subpoena
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for documents at Mar-a-Lago, but wanted to do it on his terms.
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You know, and I said that to the man's face when I sat with him in September.
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And I would say the same to Hunter Biden if he were sitting across from me now.
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You don't get to determine the terms on which you comply with the subpoena.
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Most normal people are afraid when they get a subpoena, because there is a lot of power
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So it's, you know, on your first point, Dave, there's no question he violated the law
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He doesn't get to say, no, it has to be in front of the public, as opposed to behind
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closed doors, where they get a real opportunity to cross-examine him as in a real deposition
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versus the theater we watch when it's in front of Congress with the five-minute Dem, five-minute
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Look, Megan, if you want to do a strict application of the law, then Hunter Biden violated the
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subpoena and could be prosecuted for it, just like Dan Scamino, Mark Meadows, and Jim
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But since DOJ hasn't prosecuted those, they can't just go ahead and prosecute Hunter Biden
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So before I give it back to Mike, then, before I give it back to Mike, Dave, so what's the
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difference between Dan Scamino and Mark Meadows versus Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon on the
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other side, who have been prosecuted for contempt of Congress for not complying?
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Well, I think the difference is, is that whether you're Jim Jordan with speech, speech or debate
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clause, congressional immunity, or you're a presidential advisor with executive privilege,
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it's not the same as a private citizen like Hunter Biden, right?
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I'll give everybody a chance to say what they want to say.
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But let me just stick with Dave for one second, because Dave, you're saying DOJ didn't go
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after this other trio, Meadows, Scavino, whoever the third was, I can't remember.
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And yet, okay, and yet they did go after Bannon and Navarro, as Mike accurately points out,
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So before I give it back to Mike, this one's for you, Dave, what's the distinction between
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You know, they do it all based on the individual's facts and circumstances.
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So I don't know why they didn't prosecute Scavino, Meadows.
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I guess Jordan wasn't prosecuted for the reasons why Mike said, because he's a member of Congress.
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But I think what DOJ will do here is to say, hey, Hunter Biden did show up.
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He said only in front, I won't do a closed door deposition.
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But because prosecutors at DOJ have proven that they will only prosecute these cases
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on slam dunk cases like they had against Bannon and Navarro and not against Scavino and Meadows,
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they're not going to prosecute this one, even though I admit, as a prosecutor, you don't
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I don't, okay, as I recall, the Meadows thing, I don't remember the Bannon circumstance,
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but I know for a fact, Meadows was trying to cooperate with Congress.
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He didn't give them everything they wanted, but he was cooperating, just not to the extent
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That, to me, seems like a distinguishable case from Hunter Biden, Mike, who just gave me
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an Italian gesture and said, if you don't do it my way, I don't show up.
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Yeah, I mean, remember that Mark Meadows was the White House chief of staff, the top aide
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to the president of the United States, and you had Congress seeking testimony about his
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conversations with the president of the United States, which is at the heart of executive
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So you have clear constitutional issues with the separation of powers.
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We've had executive privilege going back 250 years to George Washington, where presidents
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can get candid advice from their advisors without being hauled in before Congress to testify
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about what they said to the president, because that has a chilling effect, and the president
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Was he talking to his father about his art sales?
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Was he talking to his father about his hookers and blow?
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Was he talking to his father about his corrupt Chinese and Russian and Ukrainian foreign dealings?
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What was Hunter's advice he was giving to his father why he can't testify before Congress?
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Yeah, I think you made my point when you said that Meadows did cooperate in the way he wanted
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Like, he gave Congress some things, but didn't give Congress exactly what it wanted.
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Well, Hunter Biden is showing up and saying, I will comply, I will testify, but it has to be
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in the open because I don't trust you guys to report what happens behind closed doors.
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But that is why I don't think DOJ is going to prosecute him, because it's similar to the
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I think it has more to do with the fact that his last name is Biden.
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I think this DOJ has been extremely reluctant to go after Hunter for several years now because
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his last name is Biden, as alleged and then later confirmed by those whistleblowers and
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That's why he had, to use Nancy Mace's term, the balls, to walk in there and middle finger
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I won't give you testimony unless you do it the way I want you to do it, where we all
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How many of those stupid congressional hearings have we heard where they get nothing done because
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You know nobody can ever get anything done that way unless they actually try to coordinate,
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which everybody's too dumb to do in Congress.
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So it's just the whole thing is just a middle finger and he knew he could get away with it.
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So if they do vote to hold him in contempt, Mike, then what?
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I mean, like, does the Congress get to say you're in contempt and then refer it to the
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And then it's up to our pal Merrick Garland to determine?
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If there's a contempt, you refer to the Justice Department and then the Justice Department
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It's a very good question for Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland.
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How do you prosecute top presidential advisors, Peter Navarro, the former trade rep, to the
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trade director, to President Trump, and then Steve Bannon, one of his top outside advisors,
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who clearly enjoy executive privilege with their conversations with the president of the
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United States, but you don't prosecute the president's son who refuses to testify about
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the Biden's foreign corruption and their bribery and foreign corruption schemes.
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This is about whether the president of the United States is currently compromised by tens of
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millions of dollars in foreign bribes and other corruption from China, from Russia, from
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It seems like every trouble spot around the world, Biden and his sleazebag family were on
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And that's what Congress is trying to get to the bottom of, because it's not about hunters,
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It's about whether the president is compromised.
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It sounds like a, like a song from the Wizard of Oz.
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All right, let's, let's move on from those dirty antics to the dirty antics down in Atlanta,
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So just for the listeners and the viewers who did not watch the show yesterday and the
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segment we did on this is totally blown up online.
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So you can go check it out on youtube.com right now slash Megan Kelly if you want to
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But I'll just give you the quick overview so people know.
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Fannie Willis is the DA going after Trump in Georgia.
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This is a case he does need to worry about because she doesn't like him.
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The jury pool in Atlanta is not going to like him.
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And it's a state case that Trump cannot undo even if he or another Republican wins the
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presidency. He can't pull the DOJ off the case because that's federal and she's local.
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She's from a state and he can't pardon himself or get a Republican to pardon him for a state
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conviction. So he does need to worry about Fannie Willis a lot, much more so than the other
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state case, which is Alvin Bragg in Manhattan.
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That's kind of a bullshit case that even if he gets convicted on it, he's probably not going to
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Enter the latest defense motion on behalf of one of the other 18 or 19 defendants down there.
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Not Trump's lawyer, but it's all to his benefit anyway.
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She represent another guy, represents another guy down there, this, this lawyer.
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She finds out somehow that Fannie's allegedly having an affair with a special prosecutor she
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brought in. This is the lawyer who, who found out.
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And, um, I'm going to guess that the special prosecutor's wife possibly tipped her off because
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And these two appear to have been getting along, Fannie and her special prosecutor, um, before
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the official, uh, a selection was made and possibly before his divorce was underway.
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Okay. So however she found out, she found out one of the defense lawyers for one of the defendants
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finds out that Fannie may be having an affair with the special prosecutor she brought in and whom
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she's paid $650,000 of the taxpayers money to, which is double what any prosecutor down there is
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making. These DAs don't make a lot of dough. The justices on the Supreme Court in Delaware make less
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than $200,000 a year. This guy, her alleged affair partner has pulled in $650,000 in a year.
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And Fannie seems to be having a good time with him. According to the motion that was just filed
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on behalf of one of the other defendants, these two went to Napa together. They went to Florida,
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Dave, they were down by you. They, um, or Jamaica. I don't, they're like the list is long. He's been
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whining and dining her. And this is while he's cashing all these checks that she has made possible.
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Now the defense lawyer is moving to have her recused from the case, to have him recused from
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the case, to have the entire DA's office recused from the case because Fannie seems to be enjoying,
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or at least is creating the appearance of impropriety, uh, that she's enjoying the financial
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fruits of an appointment she made and bringing this guy in. He's getting all this money and she's
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taking trips with it is the allegation. She hasn't spoken to it yet. They're refusing to comment.
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Um, she, they say they'll respond only through briefs because there's a legal brief now asking
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that everybody get booted. And the woman filing the motion says she's seen the now under seal
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divorce proceeding files between the special prosecutor and his soon to be ex-wife. And as
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soon as she saw them, they put them under seal. So this woman hasn't been able to attach them as an
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exhibit yet, but she's seen them. The lawyer has, and is telling us, trust me, they've been having an
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affair and we're all going to see these documents very soon. So that brings us to the news today,
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Mike. And by the way, credit to the Atlanta journal constitution for reporting all of this. That's
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where we learned about it. The news today, uh, still from AJC is Fannie Willis is going to get deposed
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in, um, this divorce proceeding. The special prosecutor Wade, um, there's been a subpoena in
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his divorce case to, uh, Fannie. And it was served on Monday hours before that filing in the Georgia
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Rico case. And now this lawyer, Ashley Merchant, who represents one of the Trump defendants
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is pointing out that not only is this guy Wade allegedly having an affair with Fannie,
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but he's totally unqualified to be bringing this prosecution in the first place, which just puts
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the, puts the final stink on the whole thing, Mike, right? If he doesn't have the qualifications
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to be trying the case to begin with, then she brings him in her alleged affair partner,
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showers him with all this dough. The two are off to Napa. My God, I need a clothes pin. It stinks so bad.
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My nostrils need to be closed. I mean, this is right out of a beep episode. What Fannie Willis is
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doing down there in Georgia. She brought in allegedly, uh, her boyfriend who has zero experience
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with felony cases. She brought her boyfriend in to run a very complex, unprecedented, highly political,
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highly partisan Rico case against a former president of the United States that who happens to be the
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leading presidential candidate, including, and then also with 18 co-defendants, uh, including
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president Trump's top aides, lawyers, supporters, supporters, this co-defendant, Michael Roman submitted,
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submitted this 127 page motion to dismiss the, uh, the indictment based upon this. Uh, there's also
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other problems besides Fannie Willis getting kickbacks from her boyfriend, allegedly in the form of these
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lavish trips. You also have this prosecutor. If you read his bills, it's, he bills like eight hours at a
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time every day with very vague descriptions. But one day he built a full 24 hours. He built every second
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of a day and he put the vague description prepared cases for pretrial, right? So you worked 24 hours
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in a row, uh, very early on in this case. Uh, another prosecutor, Nathan Wade. Yeah. Nathan Wade.
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Another thing that's very problematic. Here's the bill, by the way, for the, for the, for the viewing
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audience on YouTube, you can see he, he does have a 24 hour invoice. Go ahead, Mike. Yeah. And he also,
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this is how stupid this guy is. This guy also billed for two meetings he had with the white house staff,
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one with the white house council for, uh, for, for like eight hours. And then another eight hour
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meeting at the white house before Fannie Willis brought this indictment against president Trump.
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So that makes it very clear that the Biden president Biden and his white house are lying when they said
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that they didn't have any communications with any of these Democrat prosecutors like Alvin Bragg and
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Fannie Willis before they brought these unprecedented charges against president Trump, this election
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interference, because Nathan Wade billed for those meetings. And the fact that he billed for those
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meetings, his meetings, his two meetings prior to Fannie Willis's indictment with the white house staff
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proves that they talked about Trump's indictment. Cause why else would Nathan Wade have billed for those
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meetings if they didn't talk about what he was working on? That's a very good question, Dave. Those
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two dates and we've seen now his bill, um, may 23rd, 2022, November 18, 2022 before Trump was indicted by
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Fannie Willis. And it says travel to Athens conference with white house council eight hours
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on the may one, November interview with DC slash white house eight hours. Mike raises a good question.
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Why, why would he be talking to the white house and conferring with white house council immediately
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prior to Trump's indictment? If there wasn't coordination with the white house on Trump's
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indictment? Well, Megan, let's look at the dates. The investigation in Fulton County started on January
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2nd, uh, 2021. That's excuse me. That's when the call occurred. That's what prompted the investigation.
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The investigation actually started on February 11th, 2021. And, uh, so this was taking place,
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this investigation a year plus prior to this, this meeting. If, uh, there was a meeting, who knows
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this was Nathan Wade's, uh, way to bill for it. He says meeting with white house council, but this
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investigation was going on for many months. And then the grand jury was meeting as of, um,
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January of 2022. So you're talking about many months that the investigation was happening and
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the grand jury was meeting. So what, when you say that by an administration was pulling the strings,
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this thing was already happening in the grand jury. And why did they even need to care about
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funny Willis at that point? When the first meeting took place, Jack Smith had already been appointed.
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And so this investigation at the federal level was already occurring. And let me tell you something
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as a state prosecutor, we state prosecutors don't want to get in the way of feds and the feds hate
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when we duplicate their efforts. The feds do not want us to do what they do because it gets in the
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way of immunity and other issues. So to think that the Biden administration is saying, yeah, go ahead
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and prosecute when they're already investigating, there's already a grand jury in place and they've
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already got their own federal case ready to be teed up. I think strains credulity. I don't think
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this meeting means anything. Go ahead, Mike. Well, the Department of Justice has very strict
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guidelines on who within the Justice Department can meet with whom in the White House when you're
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dealing with criminal investigations, right? So if a White House staffer can't meet with the Justice
00:26:54.840
Department about a criminal investigation, how the hell can that White House staffer meet with a state
00:27:01.160
attorney general about a criminal investigation? Oh, that criminal investigation just happens to be
00:27:07.960
about their boss's chief political enemy. This is a scandal that this Nathan Wade, on behalf of Fannie
00:27:16.960
Willis, billed for time when he met with the White House twice before Fannie Willis indicted President
00:27:24.220
Trump. This shows that there was clear collusion between the Biden White House, not just the Biden
00:27:30.680
Justice Department, the Biden White House, and this Democrat prosecutor. That's how his own bill
00:27:38.600
says, conferring with White House counsel, interview with DC slash White House. It doesn't seem very
00:27:45.720
ambiguous and we deserve some answers on it, but I want to go back to you, Dave, on what Fannie Willis is
00:27:53.580
accused of here. In what world would it be appropriate for a DA to be having an affair with somebody to bring
00:28:02.740
that person in as special prosecutor to pay him $650,000 and then to go travel the globe with him
00:28:17.100
Megan, I'm not going to defend the optics of this. Look, it looks bad, clearly. But keep in mind that
00:28:24.060
Fannie Willis—oh, and by the way, I used to call her Fannie Willis, too, and then I got an email from
00:28:27.500
one of her friends saying, it's Fannie, not Fannie. So, for what it's worth.
00:28:31.140
All right. Well, so she—sorry, Nathan Wade has been a mentor of hers for years. They were both
00:28:39.720
judges, and he was a mentor of hers when they were—when he was a judge. So, this has been going
00:28:45.540
on for a while, not necessarily any affair. We don't know for sure if there's an affair, but even
00:28:48.840
assume there is, then— What's she doing in his divorce proceeding files if they're not having an
0.98
00:28:53.960
affair? I'm going to even assume that there's—even though there was no proof, if there is an affair,
00:28:59.460
let's discuss it that way. So, if they are having an affair, what's the prejudice? What's the
00:29:03.700
problem to the defendant? How are the defendant's constitutional rights being deprived? That's why—
00:29:09.340
I'll tell you. I'll tell you. I'll tell you. And first of all, we don't have to prove actual
00:29:13.500
harm to the defendant. We can just prove appearance of impropriety, and she's misstepped. As you all
00:29:18.140
know, we've all taken the bar exam and passed it. So, appearance of impropriety is enough. But actual
00:29:24.020
impropriety, actual prejudice could potentially be argued here because she has a financial incentive to keep
1.00
00:29:28.800
the case going. The more her lover, alleged, gets, the more he has to spend on their next trip to Napa.
00:29:40.300
She's also being paid for this same thing. She gets paid to be—
1.00
00:29:45.200
She gets paid a salary no matter what. He doesn't. He doesn't get $650,000 if this case goes away.
00:29:51.440
Well, the thing is, is the evidence there or not? I mean, whether he is prosecuting the case or someone
00:29:56.340
else, the evidence is the evidence. And that's why the judge isn't going to dismiss the case.
00:29:59.300
I got you on your heels. I never get Dave on his heels. He's too smart for me usually,
00:30:03.320
but I got you this time. You're on your heels because you know this is deeply wrong.
00:30:08.000
Mike, there's no way she's getting out of this. If what this lawyer alleges is true, she's toast.
00:30:15.460
Yeah. I mean, I would say, number one, if I'm ever in hot water, I'm hiring Dave because he's a very
00:30:20.200
good defense attorney, as we just saw there. He's good. I mean, he's very good. I mean,
00:30:25.120
he gets up there and says it with a straight face, which is hilarious. And number two,
00:30:29.140
I would say that if these allegations are true, not only will Fannie Willis get disqualified
0.81
00:30:34.840
from this case, she faces disbarment and criminal prosecution, both in Georgia and by the Department
00:30:44.180
of Justice, presumably not by the Biden Justice Department. But when Trump's back in office,
00:30:49.300
she faces serious criminal liability for what she's done here, including violation of public oath,
00:30:56.100
bribery, improper influence of government official, criminal conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud
00:31:01.600
government, maybe even racketeering. She likes that racketeering charge, false statements and
1.00
00:31:07.100
concealment. There are so many potential Georgia charges alone for which you could go after Fannie
00:31:14.820
Willis on this. And I would say that the Georgia governor, Brian Kemp, and the Georgia attorney
00:31:21.240
general, Chris Carr, they need to do their statutory duty here and open an investigation on old Fannie
00:31:30.140
Here's the thing. She's she's paying him double what others in that office are making. And as far
00:31:39.340
as we can tell, the guy's never even prosecuted a felony case before. It stinks.
0.74
00:31:46.700
But again, how does it prejudice an defendant when she went to a grand jury and a grand jury
00:31:53.060
of citizens from the community voted to indict? And now the case is being prosecuted. You have a judge
00:31:59.260
who is a Federalist Society member, Judge McAfee, who has refused to dismiss any of these charges and
00:32:05.360
has refused to bounce the special prosecutor off the case because he didn't follow the right forms
00:32:10.640
or he didn't take the right oath. That was a much there. That was an earlier technical objection
00:32:15.360
that people Trump's team was raising to the way in which he got appointed with the special
00:32:20.520
prosecutor. I don't know whether that's legit or not. I don't care. This is this is something in a
00:32:25.400
league of its own. That is why, Dave, you've got this is from AJC, noting the number of legal
00:32:31.160
experts who have deep concerns about this state bar of Georgia's code of ethics.
00:32:37.340
If saying, OK, let's say it would be a clear violation of the state bar of Georgia's code
00:32:42.880
of ethics, according to Andrew Fleischman, criminal defense attorney in Atlanta.
00:32:46.400
Quote, if you're giving money to somebody who appears to be unqualified and they are giving
00:32:49.780
you some of that money back in the form of summer vacations, then you are financially
00:32:54.200
benefiting from your prosecution. The Fulton County Code of Ethics says officials should
00:32:59.540
aspire to avoid, quote, even the appearance of a conflict of interest. It's literally on the bar
00:33:06.460
exam. All of us. Stephen Gillers, who here has read Stephen Gillers book? Raise your hand. We all had
00:33:12.940
to do it. Gillers is the he's the legal ethics guru. We all had to read before we took the bar.
00:33:18.160
You guys are around my age. You had to do it, too. He's he's an AJC yesterday saying this is
00:33:23.940
deeply concerning. It very much looks like if this is true, she's crossed some serious ethical lines.
00:33:29.080
It's done, Dave. It's done. But my point is the case continues when you say that this
00:33:36.320
somehow jeopardizes the case. OK, that's a different question. That's it. OK, wait,
00:33:41.720
I want to get to that. I want to get that. So but there is no point if what this criminal
00:33:46.520
defense attorney is alleging who's who's defending. She's defending Mike Roman. Her name is Ashley
00:33:51.580
Merchant. She's the defense lawyer. If what she's alleging is true, Fannie Willis. Goodbye. You're
00:33:56.480
you're done and your office is done. That's my prediction. Mike agrees with me. Dave disagrees
00:34:01.660
with me. And the special prosecutor, Nathan Wade, goes away, too. They're all going away. They can
00:34:06.480
spend as much time as they want in Napa if they can afford it without the state's money and the six
00:34:11.120
hundred and fifty thousand dollars times two because the case is going to be ongoing. Somebody
00:34:14.800
else is getting the case at a minimum. So now that brings us to the question of who and do they
00:34:21.700
think this is as good a case as Fannie Willis thinks it is? Or is there a possibility that the
00:34:29.960
case just goes away altogether? Because that's also being suggested by a few legal experts that it's not
00:34:35.780
going to get reassigned under these circumstances. It's going to be thrown out. So, Mike, do you I know
00:34:41.080
you would like to see it get thrown out, Mike, but do you think there's any realistic chance it does
00:34:45.000
get thrown out? Yeah, I mean, as a result of this. Yes, because there's so much prosecutorial
00:34:50.800
misconduct here and you can get cases dismissed with prejudice based upon prosecutorial
00:34:56.460
misconduct. But let's say even they dismiss this case without prejudice for a new prosecutor to bring
00:35:02.380
the charges here. What I keep saying this for months and months and months now, what exactly did
00:35:09.260
Trump do? That was illegal on January 6th. It is not illegal to object to a presidential election.
00:35:16.480
It is not illegal. That's that's allowed by the Electoral Count Act of 1887. It is not illegal to
00:35:22.280
twist arms politically. That's allowed by the First Amendment. It's not illegal to be a jerk in politics.
00:35:27.980
Otherwise, every politician in D.C., besides my former boss, Chuck Grassley, would be in prison. It is not
0.98
00:35:34.520
illegal to have contingent electors in place if you win your challenge on January 6th. They say fake
00:35:41.740
electors like Rudy Giuliani had the real electors tied up in Trump's trunk and then they sent in fake
00:35:48.460
electors and duped everyone. It's not illegal what happened on January 6th. You have this bozo district
1.00
00:35:55.280
attorney, Fannie Willis, and her supposed alleged boyfriend bringing this bogus racketeering theory
0.83
00:36:03.460
to take out their political enemies. Right. And this the fact that this came out, that Fannie Willis
00:36:10.320
is taking kickbacks from her boyfriend, allegedly, just shows what a clown both of them are.
0.99
00:36:15.740
All right. So, Dave, you you don't think I mean, if do you agree that if the judge thinks Fannie
0.93
00:36:22.060
Willis has crossed an ethical line, she goes, Nathan Wade goes and her whole office goes.
00:36:28.080
I think it is a possibility that the case, depending on what comes out, could get assigned. I think
00:36:34.780
there's zero chance the case goes away. I'm sorry. You're saying it would get reassigned to a different
00:36:41.400
DA. Like outside of Fannie Willis office. OK, it's a possibility. I think I still don't believe that
00:36:47.940
based on what we know now that it will get removed from her because you as a prosecutor, you can bring
00:36:53.680
on who you want. And in this case, if they had a relationship, if they took trips together, look, it
00:36:59.560
looks bad, but I don't believe across the line where she would be removed from the case. And if we find out more
00:37:04.980
and she is eventually removed from the case, it still doesn't affect the evidence of the case, which will go
00:37:10.380
forward. And the trial on a case like this, Dave, where they cannot afford to have anything smell,
00:37:18.640
they can't have anything close to a conflict of interest or the appearance of impropriety.
00:37:23.120
They're already under a microscope. What judge would allow her and him to stay on this case? This
00:37:30.220
guy, Fleischman, this Georgia attorney also said the following. And this is a good point. He said a
00:37:35.240
couple of things. Number one, in this exact case, Bolton County moved to present the false electors.
00:37:40.380
The people who are who have been accused from sharing a lawyer saying it would be a conflict of interest
00:37:44.980
to have a shared lawyer. OK, then he said the Supreme Court of Georgia reversed a conviction
00:37:50.380
against one guy in a different case, finding the D.A. had a conflict of interest in the case. Conflict of
00:37:56.720
interest can get the D.A. booted. Her conflict of interest is she's supposed to be fighting for justice,
1.00
00:38:01.640
not for a conviction. And instead, she's got a financial incentive to keep it rolling so she can go back to
00:38:06.620
Napa. The wine's delicious. Then secondly, he pointed, third, he pointed out, we're so worried
00:38:11.980
about a D.A.'s, about her being above any any sort of question about her ethics that we make only
00:38:20.340
taking rightful compensation part of her oath. The D.A., when sworn in, takes the following oath.
00:38:26.560
Swear that I will faithfully and partially and without fear, favor or affection, discharge my
00:38:30.440
duties as D.A. and will only take law, my lawful compensation. So help me, God. That's going to be
00:38:37.360
the argument that this was, in essence, a second form of compensation that she brought in a guy who
00:38:43.900
was not qualified to be her co-counsel and that the two of them have been seeing the world together
00:38:50.840
based on the taxpayer dime, which appears, frankly, to have been inflated by this guy and his 24-hour
00:38:58.640
billing cycle. Well, remember, Megan, he didn't just come on the case after the indictment. He was
00:39:05.280
the one who went before the grand jury. And the grand jurors afterwards thought he did a good job,
00:39:10.000
like he got high marks for what he did. He is someone who is- Okay. Have they tried felonies
00:39:14.600
before? I don't think they know what the standard is. Whether they do or they don't, it's still the
00:39:20.060
grand jury process. And that insulates it from a lot of the accusations that are here. This is not
00:39:24.400
a political witch hunt when you have a grand jury that indicted Trump and all the others.
00:39:29.180
Oh, my God. I know you don't believe that. I am hiring Dave if I can get in trouble. I am.
00:39:34.000
That's it. Mike, you're fired. I don't blame you. He's much better than I am. He's doing his best.
00:39:39.880
I can't say it with a straight face. No, he's doing his best. God love you. It's done.
00:39:45.000
Benny Willis, goodbye. I'm not going to learn how to pronounce your name because you're not going to be on
00:39:49.260
the case much longer. Go ahead. Yes. Say one more thing. One more thing. In the AJC article that you
00:39:53.880
quote, they have a split of opinions. So there are some Georgia lawyers who think she should be
1.00
00:39:58.880
balanced and others who say, no, this is not any violation. So there is a mix of opinions.
00:40:03.680
They found one guy who said, I'd be surprised if the allegations would sink the case. I mean,
00:40:12.160
go back and look at Stephen Gillers. Stephen Gillers is no conservative right-wing hack.
00:40:17.120
This guy, he calls him like he sees him. He literally wrote the book and he was all over
00:40:23.160
this in the first article that broke this case yesterday. All right. We haven't gotten to Trump's
00:40:27.940
immunity argument, which is the purpose of Mike and Dave getting a book today originally.
00:40:31.620
And that too is very interesting because that's an effort to get rid of the January 6th federal
00:40:36.200
prosecution against Trump entirely. I said yesterday it didn't go well for Trump's lawyer. And I stand by
00:40:42.140
that. However, one of the arguments does provide him with a serious glimmer of hope. And we'll pick
00:40:49.440
that up right after a quick break. So Trump and Jack Smith, his prosecutor went before the DC Circuit
00:41:00.240
Court of Appeals yesterday via their lawyers trying to argue on Trump's side, this whole January 6th
00:41:05.840
federal prosecution should be thrown out against Trump, claiming he has immunity for the acts in
00:41:12.420
question because he was a sitting president when he took them. My opinion, and having listened to most
00:41:19.760
of it, it did not go well for Trump. These three judges, two are Biden. Are they Biden appointees? Yeah,
00:41:26.080
they're both two are Biden appointees. And one's a George H.W. Bush appointee. None of them seemed
00:41:32.020
inclined to rule for Trump. But the glimmer of hope I was referencing before the break for Trump,
00:41:39.400
and tell me if you guys agree, is they did seem stuck on whether the standard for how to decide
00:41:46.240
this case needs further clarification, like what acts are at issue? And were they within his official
00:41:52.580
duties or were they more discretionary? And maybe we need to kick it back down to the trial court to have
00:41:59.100
a whole hearing that would illuminate us. And long and short of it is, Mike, that would delay the
00:42:05.200
case beyond the election. And that's really what Trump would like. He thinks he's going to win if
00:42:10.660
he wins. He, we're using you as his attorney general, can end this whole thing. So that's,
00:42:17.800
in essence, a kind of win for him if that's what they do. And they did seem kind of tempted to do
00:42:21.820
that. What did you think? Well, I think that what the DC Circuit should do, and I don't know if
00:42:26.920
they're going to do this, but I think at a bare minimum that they need, they need to hold that
00:42:31.080
presidents of the United States, just like members of Congress under the speech or debate clause
00:42:35.720
of the Constitution, just like federal judges under judicial immunity, are immune from both civil
00:42:41.760
and criminal prosecution for their official acts, right? And so judges can't be prosecuted
00:42:48.140
criminally for their official acts. Members of Congress can't be prosecuted criminally for their
00:42:53.420
official acts. That has not been decided for the president of the United States because a president
00:42:57.700
has never been charged until President Biden's special counsel, Jack Smith, brought this indictment
00:43:04.100
of a former president, two indictments of a former president, and then two Democrat DAs,
00:43:09.660
Fannie Willis, who we just talked about, and Alvin Bragg in New York, also indicted President Trump.
00:43:14.920
So now we have four indictments against a former president. The court is going to have to establish
00:43:20.740
that a president of the United States is criminally immune from prosecution because it just would not
00:43:26.220
make sense that you could be civilly immune, but you're not criminally immune. Do you think a
00:43:30.780
president of the United States should have to worry that his successor is going to prosecute him
00:43:36.480
for something he did within his official acts? Like, can the Trump 47 Justice Department
00:43:41.940
prosecute President Obama for the drone strike that killed two American citizens, including
00:43:47.580
a 16-year-old? Can the Trump 47 Justice Department charge Obama with capital murder? I mean, that would
00:43:54.100
be crazy, but that's the path we're heading down if the courts do not establish at a bare minimum
00:44:00.320
that presidents of the United States are immune from criminal prosecution, just like judges.
00:44:05.520
Let me get Dave to just weigh in on that much. Do you agree with that much, Dave?
00:44:08.880
I don't, because what Trump did was beyond his official acts as president.
00:44:16.200
No, that's okay. That's okay, but that's different. Do you agree that for the official acts? I mean,
00:44:20.720
like, he's right. Trump's already threatening to go after Joe Biden if Trump wins for the Afghanistan
00:44:25.940
withdrawal. And, like, Mike's raising a decent point that, like, we can't have presidents worrying
00:44:30.900
about doing things like drone strikes and getting prosecuted. Well, they do have immunity for civil
00:44:38.620
cases. Now, as far as criminal, I think there should be some level of immunity if you make a decision,
00:44:44.860
for example, like a drone strike on a foreign country. Right. But it has to be clear that it's
00:44:48.660
in your official capacity, like your official. I realize in this case, it's not as clear, but if it is
00:44:54.440
clear, shouldn't they be immune from this nonsense? If it's clear, right. The question is, is that
00:44:59.720
Trump's people are saying, you get the outer limits? And I would say, you don't get the outer
00:45:03.740
limits, because the outer limits is ill-defined, and you can just create a huge exception to the
00:45:08.940
rule there. So I'd only agree up to a very limited point. Okay. All right. So that was one of the
00:45:15.720
things they were trying to figure out. And Trump says, I did it all in my official capacity. There
00:45:21.300
need to be fair elections in the United States. And, you know, I had already lost the election. I wasn't
00:45:26.480
still campaigning. So everything I did was in my official capacity. Dave, I'll give that one to
00:45:31.680
you first. Right. Well, the constitution is clear. The states handled the elections. The president has
00:45:36.920
no role in that. And it is telling that even though he says, I wanted to ensure that there was no fraud,
00:45:42.940
he didn't call North Carolina. He won North Carolina by 75,000 votes. He lost Michigan by 155,000
00:45:50.220
votes. He called Michigan. He only called the states where he lost to try to overturn the election.
00:45:54.380
So what he was doing was as a candidate, not as a president who really cared about election fraud.
00:45:59.960
What do you make of it, Mike? Well, I mean, here's the deal. Dave agrees with us. Once you
00:46:05.960
establish that presidents are immune criminally, any president, not just Trump, any president is
00:46:11.540
immune from their official acts, then this case should get remanded back to this D.C. Obama judge,
00:46:18.640
Tanya Shudkin, where she holds a mini trial with Biden special counsel, Jack Smith.
00:46:23.940
And the Trump lawyers, and they have a mini trial on these immunity issues, and they figure out
00:46:28.200
what they think are official acts that are immune and what they think are private acts that are not
00:46:33.820
immune under presidential immunity. And under the case law, under civil immunity, it's the official
00:46:39.220
acts in the outer perimeter of his official acts, because they want to make very clear that presidents
00:46:44.160
are protected and they want to err on the side of protecting the president, right?
00:46:48.260
Okay. So how about that, Dave? Should it be remanded for a hearing on what's official and what's not?
00:46:57.060
No, I think based on the hearing yesterday, the argument from Trump's lawyers that you could
00:47:01.920
call out SEAL Team 6 and assassinate your political opponent was so overbored that, no,
00:47:08.480
I think this is an easy one. In this case, there is not absolute presidential immunity for the outer
00:47:12.540
acts. That is clear. I think that's a limited question that they had. They should reject it.
00:47:17.100
I think the Supreme Court's going to defer to them and let the trial commence in Washington, D.C.
00:47:22.060
Do you think so, Mike? I mean, do you agree with me that these three judges are not going to rule
00:47:25.540
in Trump's favor? The best he can hope for now is delay by kicking it back for a hearing, etc.
00:47:31.620
I actually hope that they don't rule in Trump's favor, because that means this case is going to
00:47:35.740
get delayed beyond the election, because the Supreme Court will have to take this case if the D.C.
00:47:40.760
Circuit does not hold at a bare minimum that a president of the United States is immune from
00:47:46.780
criminal prosecution for his official acts. If they do not hold that, the Supreme Court is going
00:47:51.980
to have to take this case. They're not going to rush to take this case. They're going to put it
00:47:56.320
on a pretty regular briefing and oral argument schedule, because there's no rush. They wait at
00:48:01.840
Jack Smith. The Biden Justice Department waited 30 months to bring these charges.
00:48:05.760
20 seconds left, Dave. Will the Supreme Court take the case if D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rules
00:48:13.620
against Trump? I think probably not. I think they're going to defer, deny cert, deny review,
00:48:19.360
and kick it back to the D.C. Circuit. That's my prediction. That would be nice and clean for the
00:48:24.240
Supreme Court. Trump will not be happy, be the worst outcome for him. My God, great debate,
00:48:28.920
you guys. You're the best. Thanks for being here. Up next, Dean Phillips, who's challenging Biden.
00:48:35.760
Well, my next guest is U.S. Congressman Dean Phillips of Minnesota. You may know him better
00:48:41.700
as the man who is challenging President Biden for the Democratic Party's nomination for president.
00:48:47.940
He believes the president is, quote, in decline and too weak of a candidate to be running again.
00:48:54.200
He faces an uphill battle as the DNC and Democratic heavyweights are all working against him. They don't
00:49:00.540
want any challengers to President Biden. But anyone willing to challenge the status quo is someone
00:49:05.660
we would like to talk to. So Congressman Phillips, welcome to the show. Thanks for being here.
00:49:13.780
So your story, your backstory is pretty interesting. As I understand it, you were raised in a successful
00:49:19.140
family and then you kind of took over the family business for a while and parlayed that. It was
00:49:25.080
like, I think, the liquor business or some sort of beverage business. And then you're the guy behind
00:49:30.840
the gelato, Talanti. How do you pronounce it? I never know when I buy it in the store.
00:49:35.300
Talanti, talent, talent with an I. It's very easy to remember. Talent with an I.
00:49:40.200
That's your company. That's sort of what you were doing before you ran for Congress.
00:49:44.200
Yeah, with two partners. But I'll tell you, but Megan, my story actually starts really
00:49:47.660
differently than what you refer to, which is I lost my dad in Vietnam. He was a U.S. soldier,
00:49:51.580
a captain in the Army, and used an ROTC scholarship to pursue education, was sent to Vietnam in 1968,
00:49:58.440
right before I was born, and was killed in July of 69 in a helicopter crash, literally just three
00:50:03.560
days after the U.S. landed on the moon. And I lost my dad. I was six months old. My mom was 24 and
00:50:10.700
widowed, and we had nowhere to go. So we stayed with my great-grandparents for my first three years.
00:50:16.460
And then I got really lucky, Megan. I was adopted by a father who married my mom,
00:50:20.980
brought me into an amazing family of businesses and philanthropy, a lot of advice. Dear Abby and
00:50:27.020
Ann Landers were my grandmother and my aunt. And I got lucky. And in a way, what I'm doing now
00:50:33.460
is to pay it back. It shouldn't just take a stroke of good luck or the zip code in which you're born
00:50:39.800
to determine your outcome. And I think it's a responsibility of people like me who've been
00:50:44.360
successful because of good fortune and hard work to pay it forward.
00:50:48.360
All right. So I was going to back into the loss of your dad, because that's sad. I didn't want to
00:50:52.940
start with that. But I understand that you went back to the site where his helicopter went down
00:50:59.060
on a congressional delegation trip. Can you tell us about that?
00:51:03.600
Yeah. I first did it. I did a trip with a bunch of buddies, actually. It wasn't,
00:51:06.720
this was not a congressional trip. It was on my own with some friends. I did a bicycle trip in Vietnam
00:51:11.680
and then took that occasion, my first time in Vietnam, to actually go visit the site where my
00:51:17.220
dad was killed, where he took his last breath. It was a helicopter crash into a mountain called
00:51:21.760
Dragon Mountain in Pleiku, Vietnam. The helicopter was really a cross-section of America. It was two
00:51:27.060
Jewish guys, two black guys, an Italian guy, and then a Mexican national, David Valdez, who aspired to
00:51:34.740
be an American. And he joined the United States Army, went to Vietnam, and became a naturalized U.S.
00:51:40.020
citizen just weeks before he was killed in that crash. And my dear friend, the actor Woody Harrelson,
00:51:45.680
joined me to go to the crash site. And making it was one of the most powerful, meaningful,
00:51:51.660
heart-touching moments of my entire life to be literally at the very site where he took his
00:51:57.240
last breath. And in some ways, I took my first. It was a very inspiring experience.
00:52:01.920
And I'll tell you, the best part of the story, I haven't even told the best part of the story.
00:52:05.280
When I got back to the United States, the Today Show did a really nice spot about my visit.
00:52:10.020
And it opened the door to what I wanted my whole life, which was to meet the only survivor of the
00:52:16.080
crash, the co-pilot, a man named Tom Devereaux, who had never been able to track down in 30 years.
00:52:21.820
I sent one email. I thought it would be the final time I'd give it a shot. And sure enough, when I got
00:52:27.240
back home, his wife answered and invited me to his 80th birthday party in Colorado Springs, which I
00:52:32.860
attended this summer. And I got to hug the very man who survived that crash. I think it was a beautiful
00:52:38.680
experience for him and a really meaningful one for me. And just another story of reconciliation that
00:52:43.160
I wish our country would work on a lot more right now.
00:52:47.300
Well, God bless you. And God bless your dad and your family for their sacrifice. I'm sure you
00:52:53.140
understand the plight of military families in a very unique and personal way as a result. And
00:52:58.300
that piece of your story is a good thing. I mean, it's a good thing to have guys like you serving who
00:53:02.760
get the sacrifice of not just those who serve, but the families around them.
00:53:07.720
Exactly. Because they serve too. I don't think we appreciate that, Megan, how difficult it is for
00:53:12.620
families when their moms or dads go overseas for deployments for months. You know what that's like
00:53:17.340
when you're a kid and your mom or dad's away for months at a time? Or you can, by the way,
00:53:21.240
the number of military families that are on SNAP or food stamps and need rental support, it's really
00:53:27.020
appalling that we can always find the money to send young men and women to war. And then they come
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00:53:31.780
home and we fail to provide the services and support that they deserve, that they've earned.
00:53:36.500
And it doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or Republican, we should really enhance our esteem
00:53:41.460
for not just veterans, but their families. Amen to that. Okay, let's move on to some substantive
00:53:47.760
issues because I want to ask you about some news of the day and then we'll get into your candidacy
00:53:51.800
and what you're doing, right? Like why you're doing this. We just left off after an hour talking
00:53:57.400
about Fannie Willis down in Georgia and the case that she's been bringing and these new
00:54:03.020
allegations against her, which have many, I say, objective lawyers, lawyers who I tend to see
00:54:09.500
bashing Trump. Even they are saying if this is true, that she's had an affair with a special
00:54:14.300
prosecutor, that they've been taking trips together after he's been getting rich on the
00:54:18.600
taxpayer's dime. She's got a serious appearance of impropriety that could result in her disqualification
1.00
00:54:24.660
and should. What do you make of it? So you make, and this is just another symptom of a really
00:54:30.340
contagious and dangerous disease, perhaps even more dangerous than COVID, which is diseases of
00:54:36.120
corruption, of unethical behavior, and frankly, a disregard for the very public offices that we
00:54:42.380
take an oath to the constitution in which to serve. And I don't care if you're a Democrat or Republican,
00:54:47.780
there are wrongdoers on both sides of the aisle. And I'm just really disgusted as I know you are too,
00:54:53.800
that it appears to most Americans who've lost total faith in government. Why? And for reasons
00:54:59.200
why, I understand. But when you see members of a party only defending their own, never, ever,
00:55:05.800
never calling out the truth, saying the quiet part out loud about those who might be affiliated in the
00:55:10.500
same party, that is a dereliction of duty. And I guess I've gotten myself in trouble for being honest,
00:55:17.000
for calling it like I see it. You know, I condemned Donald Trump after January 6th. I was trapped in
00:55:22.480
the House chamber that day. I was subject to that insurrection like this whole country.
00:55:27.640
You know, that's, but why would I then not call BS when I see it on my side of the aisle?
00:55:33.500
And I think that disease of silence, of staying in line, of fear, is a contagious disease on both
00:55:39.940
sides. And I'm telling you, whether it's Senator Menendez in the Senate, whether it's this allegation
00:55:45.280
in Georgia, whether it's Hunter Biden, you know, gross activity, unethical behavior, and corruption
00:55:51.980
is what it is. And it doesn't matter your political stripes. We should call it out. We should be
00:55:57.100
consistent. And we should demand that people in the highest positions of power in the United States
00:56:02.060
of America are honest about the truth. And the erosion of that, Megan, is dangerous. And that's why I'm
00:56:08.360
trying my darndest right now to call attention to what I consider to be the obvious. And that is,
00:56:13.580
we have a culture of corruption that has to be addressed.
00:56:16.840
It's so refreshing to hear you say it. You know, we used to live in a society where
00:56:20.440
there were Dems like you, and there were Republicans too, who felt this way and could
00:56:24.780
meet across the aisle and talk about, agree on just the most egregious behavior. And it's,
00:56:32.100
Well, not totally. I hate to interrupt you, but let me tell you, I will make this claim.
00:56:36.860
Angertainment, which I consider to be the evening cable news, would love to have us believe,
00:56:41.320
you know, they would love to have us believe that we are more divided than we really are.
00:56:45.200
Of course, because it generates billions of dollars in revenue and attracts eyeballs.
00:56:49.500
But I can tell you from personal experience, Megan, that I love my Republican brothers and
00:56:54.140
sisters. The principled handful with whom I've worked out for the last five years,
00:56:59.200
with whom I've been in the trenches, with whom I've created human relationships and trustful ones,
00:57:03.920
they're really good people. They're also beholden to this disgusting system that forces a change in
00:57:09.320
behavior, even among the most principled people on earth. And I'm telling you, I've gotten more
00:57:14.640
beautiful texts from my Republican colleagues over the last number of weeks, including one yesterday
00:57:19.280
from someone who would shock you because they're kind and they're generous. And it's not about Biden.
00:57:24.780
It's not about politics. It's just saying, hope you're hanging in there, man. I appreciate your
00:57:27.960
courage. You know, I hope you're doing well. And by the way, after October 7th, I got more notes from
00:57:33.800
my Republican colleagues just saying, Hey, you're on my mind. You know, I'm sure this is tough for you and
00:57:38.520
your community. And I tell you, those go a long way. So I don't want your viewers to think
00:57:43.260
that all is lost. In fact, that's why I'm running for president, Megan, is to demonstrate to the
00:57:48.120
country that not only can we work together, we damn well have to. And I celebrate that. And that's
00:57:54.640
why I would have a bipartisan cabinet and the best and brightest, a team of rivals, because I really love
00:58:00.040
learning from my conservative colleagues, of whom there are many of great capacity intellectually.
00:58:05.600
A couple of questions on that. Does anyone stand out? Any nice names to offer up?
00:58:11.020
Oh, sure. I can tell you, Dusty Johnson, an extraordinarily principled conservative with whom
00:58:15.300
I have a great relationship and have worked very diligently on the Problem Solvers Caucus.
00:58:20.080
Brian Stile, I think a wonderful young conservative with great intellect and great capacity to lead.
00:58:26.520
One of my best friends in Congress was Anthony Gonzalez, of course, who was the
00:58:30.040
young Republican from Ohio, who has now since left Congress. You know, William Timmons, who led the
00:58:35.460
Modernization Committee on which I served. I see great potential in. I can keep going on down the list
00:58:40.560
of really good people that I've worked with directly. By the way, I just wish more people
00:58:45.680
would make their decisions about other human beings after they've worked with them, gotten to know them
00:58:50.420
a little bit. If we did that, we might change our opinion on a lot of people. And I sure have
00:58:55.160
myself. And by the way, Chip Roy, Chip and I worked on the first bill that I had signed into law was
00:59:01.200
during COVID, the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act. Chip and I, you would never
00:59:05.940
imagine the number two bipartisan member of Congress, which is me. Chip is probably 430 or so, but we're
00:59:12.260
buddies. Right. It's pretty conservative. Yeah. But that's not that's why we like each other. And we've
00:59:19.240
worked together on that bill. Donald Trump signed it into law. And the only reason we saved probably
00:59:24.440
thousands of businesses and hundreds of thousands of jobs is because he and I took the time to build
00:59:30.280
a relationship. And by the way, Tim Burchett, I think the most funny, human, wonderful person in
00:59:36.660
Congress could be none other than Tim Burchett of Tennessee. He brings levity when we need it.
00:59:43.420
He is my brother and a man I have great affection for. And again, we don't see it the same way. We vote
00:59:48.340
quite differently, but we sure respect each other. And I'm just on a mission to let people in America
00:59:53.140
know, because you'd never hear it on television, that there are a lot of us that actually have
00:59:57.200
really good relationships. And our generation is trying to rise right now so that we can end
01:00:01.820
this nonsense, period. See, this this conversation is reminding me of the one I had with another
01:00:07.240
Democrat who ultimately left Congress. And that's Tulsi Gabbard, who went also, you know, very pro
01:00:13.660
military. She's a member of it and went to Congress with a well-meaning intent. And she was more of a
01:00:18.700
centrist like you are and just was so disillusioned by what the party did to her, too. Right. She was
01:00:25.380
not on board the Hillary train and really felt like they turned on her and you are not exactly
01:00:30.380
on board. You're supportive of Joe Biden. You just don't think he should be reelected for we'll get to
01:00:34.440
the reasons. And she's just so disillusioned now. You know, they kind of ran it right out of Congress.
01:00:40.980
She's like, why would I want to be here? And it just seems to me like that body will either just
01:00:46.160
pound the soul right out of you to where you submit. You become hard, hardly partisan and go
01:00:51.580
along and do what they want or you leave. Yeah, you got it. It's it's I've never seen in my entire
01:00:58.440
life. I've been affiliated with a lot of companies, institutions, organizations. I got to tell you,
01:01:03.320
Megan, if you tried to design the most dysfunctional, ridiculous institution from scratch,
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01:01:09.920
imaginable, you would design the current U.S. Congress. Our founders would be so disgusted because,
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01:01:15.780
by the way, they didn't they didn't set the rules. They anticipated future generations of Americans
01:01:21.040
who would put their country first and set aside political nonsense. And the truth is Democrats
01:01:26.600
and Republicans for generations have set rules in Congress designed to do two things, eliminate
01:01:32.800
competition and protect the power structure. And by the way, who do we typically elevate to positions
01:01:38.180
of power in Congress? The people who raise the most money. How do you raise the most money? Oh,
01:01:43.560
by the way, anybody in politics can become famous quickly. You just got to be a jerk.
1.00
01:01:47.440
And those of us who actually try to do our jobs with dignity and respect and decency and competency
1.00
01:01:52.700
are watching our colleagues play by this new system of rules, which rewards idiots. They become very
1.00
01:02:00.400
successful politically. They raise a ton of money. And we all watch that. And yes, it is soul sucking.
01:02:06.540
And I still have every intention to do what I can to make that culture work because I know it can.
01:02:11.580
It just takes leadership. And that's why I'm running for president, Megan, because from the
01:02:15.020
White House, you sound like the grandson of Dear Abby and Ann Landers. I mean, it sounds like you
01:02:20.240
have a good head on your shoulders. But I have to ask you, out of all the advice, my gosh, we all
01:02:26.060
look to our nanas for advice. Was there anything that stood out? Is there like a couple gems that you
01:02:30.740
want to share? I'll tell you, this is actually a story I don't tell regularly, but it was actually my
01:02:36.260
grandmother, Dear Abby, who anointed me a Democrat. And I'll tell you a quick story.
01:02:40.140
My first political experience ever, I show up to school, I think I was seventh grade, 1980.
01:02:46.000
And who speaks at our assembly that day? But John Anderson, Congressman John Anderson,
01:02:50.520
the Republican from Illinois, who decided to run. And I never imagined I would draw this arc,
01:02:55.260
but it's very connected. He ran for president as an independent. And he came to our school
01:03:00.240
and he told us that day, and I remember it vividly. He talked about the need for independence
01:03:04.780
and politics, which I didn't understand at the time. And he talked about money and politics,
01:03:09.160
which I didn't understand at the time either. But I was really excited. I got to dinner that
01:03:13.220
night with my family, including my grandma, who sat next to me. She asked about my day. And I said,
01:03:17.680
it was amazing. The next president of the United States came to our school. And she laughed. I
01:03:22.560
remember and said, look, if he's speaking to a bunch of seventh graders in the summer before an
01:03:26.280
election, he's probably not going to win. So that was a note to self. And then she said,
01:03:31.240
but hey, before you continue, are you a Democrat or Republican? And I said, grandma, I'm 11 years
01:03:36.120
old. I don't even know what those are. And she said, you're a Democrat. She anointed me a Democrat
01:03:40.640
in 1980 at Murray's Steakhouse in downtown Minneapolis. I'll never forget it.
01:03:46.760
I had to tell you, I had a similar experience. My Nana said to me, I said, are we Republicans or
01:03:52.060
Democrats? And she said, Republicans are for rich people. We're Democrats. That was her impression,
01:03:58.920
right? She was born in 1915. And all the Republicans she knew had money. She thought
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01:04:03.040
tax cuts were bad, right? She wanted more taxes because she thought she might benefit from them
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01:04:07.020
and so on. Of course, the world has been turned on its head now. But I can understand the imprint
01:04:12.080
of the Nana on one's future. I'll tell you one other story that's really important about her. And
01:04:16.860
this was how she operated. By the way, she only became Dear Abby and my aunt and Landers because of
1.00
01:04:21.620
Senator Joe McCarthy in Wisconsin, 1950. My grandma, my aunt were housewives in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
01:04:28.120
And his antics during the Red Scare literally got them out of the house into activism. It brought
01:04:35.080
one of them to Chicago, Ann Landers, who became Ann Landers in Chicago. My grandma ended up going to
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01:04:40.060
San Francisco. But had it not been for Senator McCarthy's communist scare, the world never would
01:04:46.040
have known Dear Abby and Ann Landers. And my grandma said one thing all the time. If you don't know the
01:04:50.500
answer, find someone who does. And I'll tell you, when she passed away and I was the recipient of her
01:04:57.020
old Rolodex, and I'm talking about like the old Rolodex, Megan, I'm telling you, thousands of names
01:05:02.740
by category. And when I tell you the most extraordinary, prestigious, well-educated names
01:05:09.000
in everything you could possibly imagine, when someone wrote her a letter with a problem,
01:05:13.680
she didn't know the answer, but she knew somebody that did. And that was her lesson to me.
01:05:17.980
Don't pretend you know, find someone that does. And that's exactly what good leadership entails.
01:05:22.460
Well, it's very cool. And, you know, I feel for you having jumped from what seems like a lovely
01:05:27.540
business, the ice cream, into something that's incredibly toxic. I always say I work in such a
01:05:32.820
toxic stew and I'm only on the outskirts. You know, I'm a reporter covering politics. I'm not
01:05:38.980
actually in politics, and I'm sure it's been very eye-opening. Let me get to a couple of these
01:05:43.520
issues. You mentioned Hunter Biden. What did you make of him coming onto the House floor today after
01:05:49.360
having flouted the subpoena? Just like, hey, here I am, the prince. I can do what I want.
01:05:54.580
Megan, I'm just, you know, frankly, I recall the days where, you know, presidents were presidents.
01:06:01.280
The first lady typically, you know, made appearances on occasion. But the family was
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01:06:05.280
usually secondary or off-limits if they were children. But they didn't really engage
01:06:09.760
in the leadership platform, if you will. And look, I'm appalled. You know, I wasn't thrilled with
01:06:16.520
how the Trump family was engaged. I'm not thrilled with how the president's brother and son, clearly,
01:06:22.480
who are both unethical people, are engaged. I've seen no evidence, by the way. I just want to make
01:06:27.060
it clear. And if I had, I would let you know right away. I've not seen any evidence that Hunter's
01:06:31.640
indiscretions lead to the president himself. But the man is clearly unethical. He clearly was an
01:06:38.300
addict and is recovering, and I do give him credit for that. But this is just sickening. You know,
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01:06:42.700
Americans right now, by the way, Megan, they don't give a hoot about Hunter Biden, ultimately. They
01:06:47.160
don't give a crap about all the BS going on in the Congress right now. They are suffering so badly
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01:06:52.920
the cost of health care, housing, education, food, and fuel. And they look at what happens in our
01:06:58.820
United States Congress, and they must think to themselves every day, like, what in the world
01:07:03.380
is going on? Nobody's listening to me. No one cares. Nobody hears me. But you know what? Donald Trump
01:07:10.640
heard him. And that's exactly why Joe Biden is losing, and he will lose in the next election,
01:07:15.160
because all the coverage is about Hunter Biden or this or that. And the idea at the end of the day
01:07:20.260
is that people are not being heard. We have a crisis at the southern border. We have wars around the
01:07:24.220
world. People can't afford their lives. And this is what people consider important. Hunter Biden should
01:07:30.540
go away, should go away. And I think what he's doing today is foolish. There is some evidence against
1.00
01:07:37.740
Joe Biden. I don't want to make this all about the corruption case. We've done a lot of deep dives
01:07:40.940
on it. But let's let's table the evidence that he was involved. 10% for the big guy emails to that
01:07:47.600
effect. Is it appropriate for a sitting vice president to allow his son to sit on the board
01:07:53.100
of a Ukrainian energy company when he, the vice president, is in charge of Ukrainian policy?
01:07:57.860
No, no. In fact, I'm still shocked. Now, look at anybody who's a parent. We all know the more you
01:08:05.080
tell your kids you can't do something. You know, they're more likely to do it. It doesn't matter
01:08:08.880
their age. That's when they're eight. I know. I'm just saying generally, Megan. And no, I just
01:08:13.000
answered that. Have you ever had anyone answer the question so directly? The answer is no. He
01:08:17.140
shouldn't have. I cannot believe that the sitting vice president would have condoned it or even
01:08:25.100
allowed it. It is so egregious. It is so wrong. And it is such an example of why Americans have no
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01:08:30.580
faith in their government. They can't seem to find a politician who actually cares and is actually
01:08:36.500
ethical and is actually transparent. And that's why I understand.
01:08:39.900
And who won't sell out. Who won't sell out. Right. It's just like. And of course,
01:08:45.240
all these politicians were supposed to sort of get into office and then get out. Right. Not be
01:08:49.280
lifetime politicians. That's what Joe Biden is. So many. It's not he's it's on both sides. And now
01:08:54.680
we've got these 80 year old lawmakers and now we have to, you know, octogenarians are near running
01:09:00.480
for president. So that brings me to you. How old are you? I'm 54. OK, I should. I don't want to
01:09:09.480
mislead people. I'm going to be 55 on January 20th. So there you go. OK, very, very young for the
01:09:15.300
record. I like it. So you're running for president and you I know you've said you've been asked about
01:09:19.760
the fact that you say you totally agree with Joe Biden's policies. You're 100 percent behind
01:09:23.260
his policies, but not his candidacy. So why is there a need for Dean Phillips?
01:09:31.900
Oh, let me start with policy. You know, I have voted for his policies. Does that mean I'm 100 percent
01:09:36.940
behind his entire platform? Not at all. In fact, I think I'm one of the only Democrats
01:09:41.080
pointing out the other truth, which is we have a crisis at the southern border that is embarrassing,
01:09:47.040
undescribable and frankly, unforgivable. And that is a responsibility of a number of administrations
01:09:54.380
from the past, Democrats and Republicans. But it's true. And I'm a Democrat telling you that
0.50
01:09:58.660
we have got to secure our border and also our northern border. Megan, we are not far away from
01:10:04.380
where we have migration waves of millions of people who are fleeing war or famine or lack of water.
01:10:11.000
And, you know, the fact that we don't put a high, the highest priority of the American president
01:10:16.560
should be secure borders. And it's a big problem. I favor the legalization of cannabis. That's a big
01:10:22.040
difference. I'm an investor in peace and I do that through strength. But I do believe that it is the
01:10:28.200
failures of Joe Biden in the past that we have the crisis in the Middle East and also Ukraine.
01:10:32.500
And these are truths. I voted for the agenda, which, by the way, were investments in America.
01:10:38.680
My proposition, Megan, is to invest in Americans. And that means housing, health care, education,
01:10:44.920
and to ensure the prices for food and fuel are something that every middle class family in America
01:10:50.280
can afford. So that's the policy difference. As for the pragmatism, Joe Biden is going to lose to
01:10:57.120
Donald Trump. Now, I have affection and appreciation for principled conservatives. In fact,
01:11:02.500
I want those ideas embedded in my own policy perspectives. I do have animus towards Donald
01:11:09.020
Trump, not Trumpers, but Donald Trump. And Joe Biden is going to lose to him. And if it's Nikki
01:11:13.760
Haley, if you're a Democrat, Nikki Haley is ahead by 17 points over Joe Biden in the last Wall Street
01:11:20.120
Journal poll. So there is a Democratic delusion and frankly, frankly, a hypocrisy of democracy based on
01:11:27.020
what the DNC is doing in Florida and North Carolina, here in New Hampshire, where I am right now.
01:11:31.160
And I'm on a mission to say the quiet part out loud, speak truth to power, and give Americans the
01:11:39.060
chance to completely turn the page to a totally different chapter if we want to. And that's my
01:11:45.760
proposition. It is not some bold claim that we could never achieve. It's not demeaning everybody
01:11:52.200
who comes in my path. It's trying to return to a time where competency, integrity, decency, and
01:11:58.700
experience all play together. And we work together and fight for each other instead of against each
01:12:05.040
other. And that is my proposition. That's how I wake up every day. You make a point of distinguishing
01:12:09.880
between Trump, who you don't like, and Trumpers, people who support him, MAGA. That's very different
01:12:15.480
from our sitting president, who, you know, the dark Brandon speech, ultra MAGA. He's been trying
01:12:20.980
to demonize Trump supporters pretty much at every turn. And what we hear is that that's his plan for
01:12:26.600
the next year. Like just demonize Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, and his supporters. We don't
01:12:31.280
want to empower these people. Why do you disagree with that? Well, first of all, and by the way,
01:12:36.480
this is a symptom of the disease you just mentioned, which is people who've been serving in Washington
01:12:41.280
for decades. Joe Biden has never had a job outside of the public sector. He's been in Washington,
01:12:48.340
I think, since 1972, since I was three years old. How would he even ever know how to create a compelling
01:12:55.480
strategy that I've done my whole life in the private sector? I've never built a business, Megan,
01:13:00.220
by demeaning my customers or telling them they suck or they're dumb or they don't matter. It's just
1.00
01:13:06.240
the opposite. The whole reason I won my first race in Congress in 2018 and flipped a district
01:13:11.260
that had been Republican since 1958 is I used invitation, not confrontation. I have great
01:13:17.700
affection for all Americans. And I'm equally angry. I'm angry at Washington. I'm angry about the two-party
01:13:24.280
system. I'm angry we don't have term limits. And I'm really angry that amazing, hardworking Americans
01:13:30.320
who bust their tails to make ends meet for their family and invest in their country are totally
01:13:36.060
ignored in huge swaths of this country. They matter. I hear you. I invite you. And I want
01:13:42.500
to work together to make life better for the people who really have been forgotten about and why Democrats
01:13:48.480
ignore that. Not only ignore, but condemn, condemn these people. I'm appalled. And that's why I think
01:13:55.140
we need competition. And that's why I'm providing it. And I'm just hopeful that people who are frustrated
01:14:00.080
like I am. We do need competition. We'll see whether the Democrats allow it. They're very good
01:14:03.820
at stifling. Very good at stifling. Just ask Bernie Sanders. They're working hard right now. Believe me
01:14:07.520
on me. They're working really hard. Oh, I realize. I mean, I've been watching. They, I mean, they're very
01:14:12.840
good at what they do. I have to give them some credit on that. They're better at that than winning
01:14:16.660
elections. I'll tell you that. Yeah. Well, we'll see. The border. You've spoken about your feelings
01:14:23.240
shared by, I think by most of our audience today, there's news you've probably seen out of Brooklyn
01:14:28.740
at this James Madison high school where now, uh, they are moving. They moved 2000 immigrants,
0.94
01:14:35.520
illegal immigrants into a high school. They're kicked the students out from school said, okay,
0.96
01:14:41.300
here they are arriving. You can do remote learning instead. And now we found out today,
01:14:46.340
it's not even remote learning. It's just remote homework assignments. The children have to request
01:14:51.700
a zoom with a teacher. If they would like to have actual instruction in their taxpayer funded
01:14:57.620
school, because the people who came to the country illegally are now in their homerooms and their
1.00
01:15:04.420
classrooms. What do you make of this? It's a massive failure, a massive failure in leadership
01:15:10.900
period. And let me say this to Megan. I know you probably feel the same way. Those poor kids
01:15:16.100
whose parents bring them across the border, you know, for the same reasons that my four mothers and
01:15:20.680
forefathers and probably yours came to America, which is to flee persecution and find a better
01:15:26.120
life. I mean, I'm sure that's what most of these poor kids and their families want, but I'll tell
01:15:31.720
you, um, the leadership failure is just extraordinary. And that's why when I'm president, Megan, I can fix
01:15:37.440
this. We can have border security. We can have a buffer zone on both sides of the border barriers,
01:15:42.680
better technologies, completely redesigned ports of entry for both commerce and people. But if we
01:15:48.720
really want to fix the problem, Megan, it's way too late once they come to the border. It's our asylum
01:15:54.040
system. It's our policy that is actually responsible for the problem itself. And I'm sure you know this.
01:16:00.460
We force people who wish to declare asylum to cross our border and they have to wait. They have to spend
1.00
01:16:06.840
$10,000 roughly per person. They give it to a Mexican cartel, which by the way, then uses it to
01:16:12.620
hurt our country. And then they come across the border. They're processed by border patrol.
01:16:17.820
They're dumped in the streets of El Paso or somewhere else with not a penny in their pocket,
01:16:22.120
the inability to work and nowhere to go other than told to show up at a court case, maybe three or four
01:16:27.520
years from now. So what can we do? It is so simple. We've changed the law to force the declaration of
01:16:34.060
asylum cases in your country of origin. So if you're coming from, say, El Salvador and you feel
01:16:39.080
unsafe, you go to the consulate or the embassy, you make an application for asylum. We can build
01:16:44.440
inexpensive dormitories next to our consulates or something to keep people safe temporarily.
01:16:49.560
We adjudicate their cases there. They hold on to their $10,000. And if they qualify, we bring them
01:16:56.440
to America. They can work and they have $10,000 to start their lives here instead of having to rely on
01:17:03.200
the public sector. So why wouldn't we do that? Why wouldn't we make a simple change? And the
01:17:08.500
reason is simple. Well, you tell me. We talk about it all the time. Why? What is it about the open
01:17:14.180
border that is appeasing or pleasing to Democrats, including Joe Biden? There has to be an answer
01:17:19.860
because otherwise we wouldn't have such a sieve. Because politicians are focused on winning the next
01:17:26.080
election. Executives and those that come from the private sector like me, we want to solve problems
01:17:31.420
and then and then turn it over to somebody else. And every single person I've encountered in
01:17:36.760
Washington, D.C., Megan, they want to stick around as long as possible. I've torpedoed my career in
01:17:42.780
Congress by design, by design. I knew I was going to root for Biden, right? Yeah, by challenging the
01:17:49.220
president. I knew my party would completely disenfranchise me. I knew that would be hard to
01:17:53.400
come back. And my goodness, everything I expected has happened. I wish we had more people in Washington
01:17:58.620
that would knowingly torpedo their career to get something done. That's what I want my legacy.
01:18:04.100
Can you expand on that? Like what what blowback have you received?
01:18:07.620
Oh, well, you know, well, I will tell you that the tactics are mostly behind the scenes.
01:18:13.540
The the inability to attract any media interest is actually a function of the strategy,
01:18:20.220
telling donors, telling media hosts, telling networks that they better be careful if they
01:18:25.560
platform me or support me because they're watching. And of course, you know, better than
01:18:29.600
anybody, you know, the lifeblood of Fox or MSNBC is access to the administration, information and
01:18:35.560
people. And if you do something to risk that flow, you are literally risking billions of dollars of
01:18:41.100
revenue. So, you know, that the other is the White House has given a warning to the CNNs and
01:18:45.520
MSNBCs of the world, like and maybe the mainstream, you know, the broadcast channels,
01:18:49.640
like don't put them on. Otherwise, no access. I have. I let me just say this until I see hard
01:18:55.860
evidence of anything. I will not say with absolute certainty. But do I have anecdotal evidence? Lots
01:19:00.580
of it. Yes. But that's who I am, by the way. Unless I see or hear firsthand. I'm not going to
01:19:05.460
tell you I know. I don't know. But does it do I think? Absolutely. And do I have some pretty good
01:19:09.920
evidence? Yes. That's how the game works. State parties. Let me tell you another way. The Democratic
01:19:14.900
National Committee clearly communicated with the Florida Democratic Party to remove all
01:19:20.380
candidates from the ballot other than Joe Biden, announcing essentially that the four million
01:19:24.580
Democrats in Florida do not need to have a primary because Joe Biden already won. Same thing in North
01:19:31.100
Carolina. Only one name submitted by the Democratic Party to be on the ballot, Joe Biden. And by the way,
01:19:36.060
I'm not a fly by night candidate. You know, I'm a third term sitting member of Congress. I was a member
01:19:40.760
of House Democratic leadership elected by my peers. I'm the I'm the ranking member of the Middle East
01:19:45.900
Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs. You know, I'm not a fly by night candidate. And they are intentionally
01:19:51.480
suppressing voters, intentionally suppressing candidates and intentionally suppressing debate.
01:19:58.180
So the hypocrisy of democracy is alive and well, and I'm going to call attention to it. And that's why
01:20:02.960
they're very, very upset with me. And I know how a lot of my friends on the other side of the aisle who
01:20:08.600
had the audacity to speak their principles, how they felt when the MAGA machine turned against
01:20:14.640
them. It is discomforting. And that's really my call to action, Megan, is to the exhausted majority
01:20:19.920
of thoughtful center right and center left Americans. If you really want to do something
01:20:25.500
about this, support someone like Nikki Haley or me. You know, why not? Why not turn the page?
01:20:32.300
Like Trump said, what have you got to lose? All right, stand by. Hold that thought. Much more to
01:20:36.180
discuss. We'll get into a couple of the platform reasons. And I'll give this is a tease. Congressman
01:20:41.020
Phillips, we'll get into why not. Right. I've got a lot of center writers and some center lefters
01:20:45.800
listening to this show. So we'll talk about a couple of the issues and see how that goes. Stand by.
01:20:51.720
I'm Megan Kelly, host of the Megan Kelly show on Sirius XM. It's your home for open, honest and
01:20:58.160
provocative conversations with the most interesting and important political, legal and cultural figures
01:21:03.100
today. You can catch the Megan Kelly show on Triumph, a Sirius XM channel featuring lots of
01:21:08.160
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01:21:49.640
Okay, so quick question on Mr. Biden. Too old or mentally infirm?
01:22:00.860
Well, Americans are making it very clear. They feel he's too old. By the way, Donald Trump's only a few
01:22:05.520
years younger, I think four years younger. So there's clearly some disconnect. But Americans
01:22:10.320
have opined. I think 75 percent of the country has said that they believe he's too old. It's more about
01:22:15.980
stage of life than anything. I think people see the decline in his ability to communicate and his
01:22:21.140
physical infirmity on occasion. I do not see any evidence of any cognitive issue to be forthright.
01:22:27.500
I want to make that really clear. But once Americans have made up their mind about who they want
01:22:32.220
representing our country in the future, you've got to listen to the numbers. Now, politicians lie all the
01:22:37.160
time, but the numbers don't. And the numbers are very clear. They do believe he's too old. And both,
01:22:43.260
by the way, I think most Americans want to turn the page from both Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
01:22:48.040
That's really the case. Seven and seven percent believe he's too old. And I think it's over 65%
01:22:52.980
of Democrats share that same opinion. How about Kamala Harris? If President Biden were to step down,
0.76
01:23:00.520
would she need to go too? Because I know you pointed this out and then got chastised for it. But
01:23:05.420
you know as well as I do that the American populace, including the Democrats,
01:23:08.820
are not huge fans of Kamala Harris. I see the numbers and that's what I was referring to.
01:23:14.540
And here's my very basic point for Democrats. Look at what the GOP is doing right now. There is a
01:23:20.500
very spirited competition, despite having Donald Trump, the former president, in the race.
01:23:26.840
Democrats should be behaving exactly the same way. If it's Vice President Harris, if it's Gavin Newsom,
01:23:32.460
Gretchen Whitmer, me, whoever wants to, the whole point is to practice democracy.
0.59
01:23:37.480
So I'm not going to opine on whether it's Newsom or Harris or me or somebody else. That's the whole
01:23:42.020
point of democracy, is let each of us make our case. If your numbers are low because people don't
01:23:46.780
know you, well, then you get a chance to make them go up. And the best part about not being well-known
01:23:51.320
like me is that two-thirds of the country doesn't hate me. And that's actually a real benefit.
01:23:56.540
You know what it's like in this day and age. It's hard.
01:23:59.460
No, it's very hard to be not hated. Do you think she'd be a good president, Kamala Harris?
01:24:04.020
I don't. My experience with the vice president has always been reasonable, decent, and she seems
01:24:11.300
effective to me. But that's not, that's my perspective. And at the end of the day, I would
01:24:16.160
like to see anybody compete in a Democratic primary that wishes to. And of course, I support one person
01:24:24.840
right now to replace Joe Biden, and that is me. I'm prepared. My experience is, I think, perfect for
01:24:30.680
this job. And at the time to meet the moment, my style of leadership is exactly what the country
01:24:35.820
needs. So I'm not going to opine on who it is. And I know, look, I know that's what attracts eyeballs
01:24:40.180
and you want me to say something about her or Gavin Newsom.
01:24:42.340
No, I'm just curious. I think I know the answer. I just don't, I don't think you want to say it.
01:24:45.820
I know very, the time I've spent with her has been quite pleasant. And I think she's a good person.
01:24:50.660
But that's irrelevant to whether she'd be a good president. That's irrelevant. You know, I mean.
01:24:53.500
But let me make this point. I think it's really important. We're all making decisions about people
01:24:58.540
based on Twitter, conversations from a friend, something you see on TV, and nobody is showing up
01:25:04.340
to actually look someone in the eye, hear them make their case, ask questions of them. And all I
01:25:10.760
would say, Megan, and I would just invite everybody listening, the next time you're going to condemn a
01:25:16.300
politician, do it after you've had a chance to maybe just go to one event, get a sense of who they
01:25:21.280
really are? Because the media right now is really misportraying your case. We've had her and Biden
01:25:28.760
and Trump to know who they are and whether we like them or not. But yeah, in your case, I know you had
01:25:34.100
New Hampshire is your big place where Biden's not on the ballot because he thumbed the middle finger
01:25:39.220
at them because he didn't want them to be first in the nation. He wanted South Carolina to be.
01:25:43.240
So you, your big play is to do well in North Carolina, where Biden has to be a write-in vote if
01:25:49.280
people want to vote. New Hampshire. And, you know, you say people aren't showing up. I saw the thing.
01:25:56.380
It was sad. People didn't come to your, nobody came to your event the other day. I think they should
01:25:59.960
go to your event. They should hear you. They should listen to you. But how does that bode for your
01:26:03.700
chances when you're having events there and nobody shows? Well, so first of all, let me, it's actually
01:26:08.580
kind of funny because that moment, yeah, there's the picture right there. So. And you made a joke to your
01:26:13.640
credit. You tweeted it, like you made a joke about it, which I thought was very classy of you.
01:26:18.100
Look, I mean, if people could see, first of all, I would love for every American to come along with
01:26:22.640
me on the campaign trail for one day. This, I love America. This is so fun. It is wonderful to meet
01:26:28.640
people, the daily experiences you have here. Some are heartbreaking. Some would make perfect episodes
01:26:34.040
of Veep. And the truth is sometimes you have events where you're shocked by how many people come.
01:26:38.320
And then sometimes you have moments like yesterday. We pulled my government repair truck outside the
01:26:43.000
hotel we're at. I thought I'd serve coffee to these young people going to this college convention.
01:26:48.040
And little did I know that they were all parking in the garage and coming up a different way. So
01:26:51.780
yeah, it looked pathetic and sad and weak. But at the end of the day, what's really interesting,
0.98
01:26:56.360
Megan, is Jake Rosen, the reporter that put up that tweet. I think his post showing me lonely in the
01:27:02.280
back of my truck, staring off into the wilderness. I think that's generated like, I don't know,
01:27:06.580
3 million views or something. One hour later, he did another tweet of me playing bingo with this
01:27:12.520
extraordinary and hysterical group of old ladies here in Manchester. He did another tweet literally
01:27:17.600
one hour later, and I think it has like 4,000 views. So it's either 4 million if you make someone
01:27:22.720
look pathetic or sad or like snarky. Yeah. Only 4,000. If it's actually, it was a really beautiful
0.98
01:27:28.560
experience playing bingo with a whole room full of seniors. So my point is this. No one wants to see
01:27:32.720
that. I take your point. Okay, let's go through a few issues in the time we have left. And I don't
01:27:37.520
have a lot of time. So tick through these with me quickly, if you could. Here's the one. I mean,
01:27:41.580
I have voted Democrat in the past, unlike most of my, you know, colleagues who are more on the right
01:27:46.420
now. I have voted for Dems and Republicans. And so you're kind of luring me in with your attitude
01:27:52.680
and your bipartisanship and your just optimism and so on. However, I'm almost a single issue voter
01:27:58.960
now on the trans thing and children. And I don't know if you saw, I asked the candidates about this
01:28:03.980
at the last presidential debate on the GOP side, but it's a hard no for me on somebody who would
01:28:08.360
allow these surgical procedures to be done on children who are under 18 in terms of chopping
01:28:13.960
off body parts from kids who can't even smoke a cigarette. And I also am very much against puberty
01:28:19.900
blockers straight into cross sex hormones, because even the trans community admits this is causing
1.00
01:28:25.440
in sterility. This is causing sterility, infertility for minors. They can't possibly
01:28:31.780
consent to their own sterilization. And I think you're on the opposite side of me on this. So
01:28:36.100
persuade me why I should still consider you. Well, here's how I feel. And look, I know that most of
01:28:41.820
your listeners, if not all, and you as well, you know, care. We have hearts. We care about human
01:28:46.660
beings. We don't want to destroy lives and we want to be empathetic. I'm the father of two wonderful
01:28:51.800
daughters. My youngest daughter, Pia, is a gay woman. And I have particular empathy for people
01:28:56.760
who have been oppressed or shuttered or kept out or closeted. And I've never walked in the shoes
01:29:02.740
of a queer person, of a trans person, of someone who's facing bipolar disorder, whatever it might be.
01:29:10.300
And they've never walked in my shoes. So generally, I lead with love. And unless it affects another human
01:29:15.900
being, I tend to say I think it's something the government should stay out of. The government should
01:29:20.120
stay out of women's bodies. The government should stay out of my house and out of my bedroom, out
1.00
01:29:24.580
of my bathroom. That's how I see it. But as it relates to your question specifically, I will answer
01:29:28.740
it. You know, I don't believe that children under the age of 18 who cannot buy firearms, who cannot
01:29:36.340
buy beer, who cannot do a lot of things in the United States of America should be able to make such
01:29:42.560
consequential life-changing decisions until a certain age. And I do think maybe that is the common
01:29:49.160
ground, that you can have empathy, you can have love, you can have understanding, and you can have
01:29:54.300
support. But when it comes to making decisions that will really have significant repercussions,
01:29:59.820
I do think a certain age is totally reasonable. What's the age? What's the age? Majority? 18?
0.98
01:30:06.100
Well, I think this is, by the way, I'm glad you asked that question, because at the end of the day,
01:30:09.120
we're using these arbitrary ages that in my, I would argue, are both hypocritical in many cases and
01:30:14.740
incongruent. But we're one of the only countries in the world, by the way, that allows you to drive
01:30:19.120
before you're allowed to drink, right? Wouldn't it be a little bit more reasonable for kids in this
01:30:24.200
country to grow up not thinking alcohol is something you go get bombed on when you turn 21, whereas you
01:30:29.160
actually appreciate its effects, you understand it, you might enjoy a glass of wine with family when
01:30:33.660
you're a teenager, and then you learn how to drive afterwards, like most reasonable countries do?
01:30:38.120
I don't know if the age is 18. Let me just say this. Lower than 18? 18. Look, 18 is usually in 21
01:30:46.520
are the two ages we consider to be threshold ages in this country. You know, I'm not a doctor. I'm not
01:30:51.660
an attorney. I'm not the parent of a trans child. So I don't believe that, frankly, I should be telling
01:30:56.980
you what that age should be. What I'm telling you is that, as president, on issues of great consequence
01:31:02.200
and of great challenge, this is an example of how I would lead, bring together a table of parents,
01:31:07.840
of trans children, of trans adults, of doctors, and hear perspectives on both sides about what
01:31:14.000
makes sense and whether or not the government should get involved. Those are the fundamental
01:31:18.240
questions. All right. Before you appoint that table of people, please, let's talk. Because what's
01:31:24.360
happening right now in the medical community is they've been completely captured by activists,
01:31:29.240
including the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, even the
01:31:34.640
endocrinology association has been captured. And you're seeing more and more detransitioners come
1.00
01:31:39.380
out and sue these groups, sue the doctors. They've been so wronged. All right, let me table that one
01:31:43.840
for now. Abortion. You know, there are a lot of Democrats out there who believe in abortion on
01:31:50.280
demand, and they won't set any limits. They won't set a limit for the third trimester even. I think most
01:31:56.580
people can agree if the life of the mother is in jeopardy, that the life that's already here has to
0.86
01:32:01.340
take precedence. But should there be limitations on abortion for any trimester? Let me start with
01:32:08.340
my values. My values are that I believe in freedom and liberty, and I believe that should extend to
01:32:13.380
women's bodies. I don't think government should play a role in telling a woman how she can treat
1.00
01:32:18.640
her body, what she can do with it. And I certainly don't think men should be doing that. Those are my
01:32:22.280
values. So I believe in a woman's right to make that choice with her health care provider
01:32:26.580
and herself. I also know there's a lot of conversation about late-term abortions, and I
01:32:31.420
think you know, Megan, the data is very clear. There are very, very few of them, and if there are,
01:32:35.960
they tend to be very tragic circumstances for either the fetus or for the mother. So to your
01:32:40.640
question, I'll tell you, in New Hampshire about a month ago, I had the most extraordinary conversation
01:32:45.160
in my entire life on this subject because I had a young conservative approach me on the issue of
01:32:50.240
abortion. He said, I'm fiercely pro-life. And I said, I respect you, and I'm fiercely pro-choice,
01:32:55.340
so let's have a conversation. And I said to him, where might we find common ground? And he said,
01:33:00.820
well, what if we were to reduce the incidence of unwanted pregnancies? I said, whoa, what a great
01:33:06.420
way for Democrats and Republicans to start. And then he continued, and he said, I'm going to actually
01:33:11.200
make the conservative case for progressive principles. And he proceeded to say, imagine if
01:33:16.440
American women who are facing this decision knew that their baby would be brought up with shelter,
01:33:22.580
with food, with great education, with healthcare, and security in the neighborhood, an opportunity
01:33:28.520
to make a living and be self-sufficient for his or her life. Don't you think more women might make
1.00
01:33:34.200
the choice to have their babies? And I literally was so dumbfounded because it was the most beautiful
01:33:39.920
case to make where Democrats and Republicans should be focusing our efforts. This notion of being pro-life
01:33:45.480
But just to be clear, just to be clear, just so that people understand. So you would not,
01:33:49.120
because you're not in favor of any government bans, so you would say, in all cases, it's up to the
01:33:54.120
woman. There should not be any bans on it, third trimester included.
01:33:58.300
What I'm saying is this, and I know it's incongruent with some people's perspectives and perhaps yours.
01:34:03.420
I'm saying this very clearly. I'm very concerned about the growing role of government in people's
01:34:08.640
lives, including this one. And by the way, and I want to say, I have respect for people who see
01:34:18.620
this differently. And I would ask that you have respect for me. It is very simple to me. I just
01:34:23.920
don't think, I think on this specific subject, I don't believe that government should be playing
01:34:29.480
a role. I think physicians should be playing a role. All right, wait, I only have two minutes left.
01:34:33.400
So I want to squeeze this last one in. DEI, under a lot of fire right now, especially in the wake of
01:34:38.680
the anti-Semitism we're seeing on campuses. We think it's directly linked to these programs.
01:34:43.320
What do you think? I think it's really simple. DEI is a symptom of a disease that has never been
01:34:50.420
treated. And that disease, for everybody watching and listening right now, is slavery. Our country
01:34:55.960
never, ever repaired the relationship between the United States government and those who are enslaved
01:35:02.680
and their descendants. We have never made a distinct effort to ensure that the long tail of slavery is
01:35:10.180
rectified in the United States. And the best way to do that, and I will propose we do so, is to raise
01:35:15.600
the foundation. I want to do a lot of things, Megan, starting with a notion of what I call the American
01:35:20.600
dream account, which is a thousand dollars vested in every baby's account in the beginning of their
01:35:25.480
life. Wait a minute, but you're endorsing, you're endorsing DEI because of slavery. So you,
01:35:31.000
you're in favor. What I'm endorsing. No, no. What I'm saying is DEI is a symptom of a disease that
01:35:36.220
we've never addressed. I want to address the disease, which is to make amends and to fix the
01:35:41.480
injustices of the past by raising the foundation for the black community and for all Americans.
01:35:47.660
And I'll tell you, let me tell you what I propose. I want to start something called American dream
01:35:52.000
accounts for three and a half billion dollars a year. Every American baby would be afforded a thousand
0.73
01:35:57.200
dollar account that would be invested in the stock market in American companies. Five hundred dollars
01:36:01.720
a year can be added to it over the course of your teenage years. It will become yours if you graduate
01:36:07.200
high school or get your GED. And at six percent interest, five hundred dollars a year. That's
01:36:13.200
every baby, irrespective of race, everybody, everybody. And then secondly, if you want to afford
01:36:18.320
one year of your life to serve our country, AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, U.S. military, we'll put another
01:36:23.880
ten thousand dollars in your account. So you have thirty thousand dollars to start a life, own a
01:36:28.360
home, begin a business, use for your expenses. I got 40 seconds until the computer is going to cut
01:36:33.160
us off. But I just. Well, there you have it. That's the beginning of a problem. Are you in favor of these
01:36:36.640
DEI programs in K through 12 and college campuses? I think I think training and preparing young kids
01:36:43.620
for the world in front of them, which is a very diverse one, is really important. Do I think that
01:36:48.160
the systems that are being employed right now in the programs and some of the people are effective
01:36:52.180
in the right ones? No. And that's absolute. So I think, again, two things. You know what? Let's wrap
01:36:56.540
this up with my last perspective. Two things can be true at once. We need to prepare kids better for
01:37:01.960
their futures. And that means diversity understanding. But are the way is the way we're doing it right
01:37:06.400
now, effective and correct? No, I think it's actually really bad. I want to fix it. I want to fix it.
01:37:11.320
Thank you for being here. We got to run. I appreciate it. Dean Phillips, to be continued. All the best to you.
01:37:16.260
Thanks for listening to The Megyn Kelly Show. No BS, no agenda, and no fear.