Verdict with Ted Cruz - April 03, 2023


Trump Indictment - What Are Trump's Options Legally, To Fight Back!


Episode Stats


Length

50 minutes

Words per minute

176.98294

Word count

9,022

Sentence count

603

Harmful content

Misogyny

15

sentences flagged

Toxicity

29

sentences flagged

Hate speech

22

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Donald Trump has been charged with 34 counts in a grand jury indictment in New York City, including conspiracy to commit a crime, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and conspiracy to wire money to pay for his lawyer fees. On the heels of the indictment, Donald Trump is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, where he is expected to be arraigned.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.580 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.380 Senator, nice to see you.
00:00:07.000 This is going to be a really interesting show
00:00:09.520 because you put out a tweet asking people
00:00:11.880 for questions that they may have
00:00:13.500 about what is going to happen with Donald Trump.
00:00:16.740 We're going to go through a lot of those questions
00:00:19.060 for the show, but let's start with kind of laying
00:00:22.760 what this week's going to look like.
00:00:24.680 What is going to happen this week with Donald Trump
00:00:27.800 and this arraignment were being told tentatively
00:00:30.340 it would be on Tuesday.
00:00:31.780 Obviously that could change, but we're being told
00:00:34.040 that's what they're working with the Secret Service right now.
00:00:36.860 Right, so what we know is the New York grand jury
00:00:39.480 has returned an indictment
00:00:40.860 and that it has 34 counts to the indictment.
00:00:43.840 As we sit here today, we don't know the specific counts.
00:00:46.620 That's still under seal.
00:00:47.680 I assume that's going to be made public at some point,
00:00:50.260 but we haven't seen what specifically the 34 counts are.
00:00:54.440 We also know from public news reporting
00:00:57.000 that Trump is expected to be arraigned
00:00:59.160 on Tuesday at 2.15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
00:01:03.520 So assuming that's correct,
00:01:04.920 we will see concurrent with the arraignment,
00:01:09.540 we will see Trump come in,
00:01:10.940 we will see him surrender himself
00:01:13.100 to the authorities in New York.
00:01:16.320 From the public reporting,
00:01:18.020 they're saying there's not going to be a perp walk,
00:01:20.400 that Trump is not going to be in handcuffs.
00:01:22.520 We've also seen public reporting
00:01:23.960 that Secret Service has informed New York
00:01:26.360 they will not allow them to handcuff Donald Trump.
00:01:29.680 So he will come in, presumably of his own volition,
00:01:32.540 without handcuffs.
00:01:33.840 When he comes in, he'll be booked,
00:01:36.280 he'll be fingerprinted,
00:01:37.340 there will be a mugshot.
00:01:40.020 Interestingly enough, based on some of the reporting,
00:01:43.140 the New York authorities are suggesting
00:01:45.360 the mugshot may not be available to the public,
00:01:47.980 whereas Trump is saying he wants the mugshot
00:01:51.060 to be available to the public.
00:01:53.060 We know that Trump's presidential campaign
00:01:56.360 has raised millions of dollars
00:01:57.980 within the first 24 hours of the indictment.
00:02:01.220 I think the Trump campaign thinks
00:02:02.840 that that mugshot is probably worth millions more dollars
00:02:05.620 in campaign fundraising.
00:02:07.400 We've talked about how this indictment
00:02:09.780 is likely to boomerang and backlash
00:02:13.040 and that it already is.
00:02:14.620 But all of that will play out on Tuesday.
00:02:18.140 We will, I believe, see the mugshot.
00:02:21.120 And as I predicted on this podcast already,
00:02:23.880 I think you'll see Trump
00:02:25.300 in a beautiful dark blue suit,
00:02:28.840 a crisp white shirt,
00:02:30.260 and a red shiny Donald J. Trump tie
00:02:32.940 smiling ear to ear in the mugshot.
00:02:35.800 How abnormal is it to not release a mugshot of somebody?
00:02:38.880 Because the fact that they're playing this much politics,
00:02:41.940 and I think this does go to politics.
00:02:43.220 If you're not going to go over procedure,
00:02:45.340 then you're playing politics.
00:02:46.700 You want to arrest the guy,
00:02:48.780 but you don't want people to see the mugshot.
00:02:51.000 That screams dripping of political motivations.
00:02:54.760 It'll be released.
00:02:56.120 That will be the end outcome.
00:02:58.660 He will come in.
00:03:00.060 He will plead not guilty.
00:03:01.860 He will be released,
00:03:03.060 presumably on some form of bail.
00:03:06.160 Given that New York,
00:03:07.580 they believe in cashless bail.
00:03:09.840 They'll release murderers. 0.86
00:03:11.340 I don't know.
00:03:11.940 Maybe they'll say,
00:03:12.560 no, we won't release Donald Trump.
00:03:13.720 No, they will release him,
00:03:15.640 and then they'll move forward towards the trial.
00:03:17.500 So how does the bail process work,
00:03:19.080 and how much time from when he gets out of that car,
00:03:22.300 walks in there with his attorneys,
00:03:24.060 secret service will be around,
00:03:25.200 they say, the entire time.
00:03:26.500 There was reporting that everybody in that court day,
00:03:29.680 basically Tuesday's going to be shut down around that time.
00:03:32.180 It'll be empty.
00:03:32.880 It'll be just for this situation with Donald Trump.
00:03:35.760 So how do you post bail?
00:03:37.260 How fast does that happen?
00:03:38.500 Does that come from a bank account before he even gets there?
00:03:40.520 How does that work?
00:03:41.140 Look, they're not going to drag it out.
00:03:43.360 It's not going to be long and extended,
00:03:45.260 in part because the New York City officials,
00:03:47.980 they're concerned about protests.
00:03:49.260 They're concerned about violence.
00:03:50.480 They're setting up barricades.
00:03:52.200 So they're not going to want it.
00:03:53.860 In an ordinary case,
00:03:54.940 someone could be there for hours and hours and hours.
00:03:57.600 I mean, it's not typically a smooth, efficient process.
00:04:02.140 In this case, I expect it will be relatively quick
00:04:04.800 that he will go in, he will take the mugshot,
00:04:07.000 they'll take his fingerprints,
00:04:07.920 and he'll go and appear before a judge.
00:04:10.580 And bail will be set.
00:04:12.020 Typically, they'll turn to the prosecution
00:04:13.320 and ask what's the prosecution seeking.
00:04:15.300 And the prosecution will suggest a bail amount.
00:04:18.860 It wouldn't surprise me if they release him
00:04:21.280 on his own recognizance.
00:04:23.040 It's not like they're...
00:04:24.200 Worried about, yeah.
00:04:25.940 It's not like he is a flight risk.
00:04:29.640 So, and it will be the judge ultimately
00:04:32.100 who decides what the standard is for bail
00:04:34.500 within the parameters of New York law.
00:04:36.260 Will he be in a courtroom with a judge
00:04:38.940 or will this be done by video?
00:04:40.640 We saw a lot of that in COVID
00:04:41.920 where there was technology used, right?
00:04:43.980 Where you would go before a judge,
00:04:45.420 basically, you know, through a video camera.
00:04:47.300 When he walks in there,
00:04:48.300 will they take him into an actual courtroom
00:04:50.300 or how does that work?
00:04:51.220 Well, let me be clear.
00:04:52.020 I've never practiced law in a New York state courtroom
00:04:55.420 or certainly a New York criminal courtroom.
00:04:57.580 So I don't have first experience
00:04:59.300 with how Manhattan handles it.
00:05:00.760 But I would absolutely expect
00:05:02.660 that we will see this in a courtroom
00:05:04.140 in front of a live judge
00:05:05.380 with a real court reporter and bailiff and the rest.
00:05:08.700 All right.
00:05:09.020 So let's ask,
00:05:10.340 and this is my first question I want to ask you.
00:05:13.800 And crazy things have happened
00:05:15.140 in and around Donald Trump.
00:05:17.160 What if Donald Trump decides,
00:05:19.680 I don't want to go to New York.
00:05:21.420 I don't want to deal with this.
00:05:22.860 I don't want to show up for this.
00:05:25.100 What would happen then?
00:05:26.420 So that's actually an interesting legal question
00:05:29.040 and it implicates a lot of different legal factors.
00:05:33.820 The Constitution speaks to it.
00:05:36.160 So the Constitution,
00:05:37.420 there is a clause in the Constitution
00:05:38.800 called the Extradition Clause.
00:05:41.020 The Extradition Clause provides,
00:05:42.740 quote,
00:05:43.600 a person charged in any state
00:05:45.060 with treason, felony or other crime
00:05:46.980 who shall flee from justice
00:05:48.920 and be found in another state
00:05:50.940 shall on demand of the executive authority
00:05:53.800 of the state from which he fled
00:05:55.040 be delivered up to be removed to the state
00:05:58.200 having jurisdiction of the crime.
00:06:00.440 Now, if you look at the Constitutional Convention,
00:06:03.160 which is where the Constitution was drafted,
00:06:05.960 and if you looked at the notes,
00:06:08.020 for example, on August 28th, 1787,
00:06:11.520 James Madison notes that
00:06:13.680 during the constitutional editing process
00:06:15.940 of Article 4,
00:06:17.380 which is where the Extradition Clause is found,
00:06:20.340 that the words high misdemeanor
00:06:23.040 were struck out
00:06:24.020 and instead the words other crime
00:06:26.080 were inserted,
00:06:27.600 which comprehended, quote,
00:06:30.220 all proper cases.
00:06:31.760 In other words,
00:06:32.400 they didn't want
00:06:33.560 the state where a person was to be found
00:06:36.920 making a determination
00:06:37.880 as to the nature of the crime
00:06:40.700 in the state seeking extradition.
00:06:42.900 Now, that's in the Constitution.
00:06:45.480 There's a federal statute
00:06:46.440 called the Federal Extradition Act,
00:06:48.840 and that's 18 U.S.C. section 3182.
00:06:52.460 It follows very closely
00:06:54.700 to the Constitution's extradition clause.
00:06:56.960 It says,
00:06:57.860 whenever an executive authority
00:06:59.060 of any state or territory
00:07:00.180 demands any person
00:07:01.360 as a fugitive from justice,
00:07:03.220 and it goes on to say,
00:07:05.100 the executive authority
00:07:05.960 of the state
00:07:06.560 to which the person has fled
00:07:08.000 shall cause him
00:07:09.800 to be arrested and secured
00:07:11.120 and notify the executive authority
00:07:13.560 making such a demand
00:07:14.640 or the agency of such authority
00:07:16.140 appointed to receive the fugitive
00:07:17.940 and shall cause the fugitive
00:07:19.940 to be delivered.
00:07:21.200 And so,
00:07:22.200 under the terms
00:07:22.980 of the federal statute,
00:07:24.000 it's a mandatory obligation.
00:07:26.020 There's also a law
00:07:27.660 called the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act,
00:07:30.740 which is a uniform criminal law
00:07:32.680 that 48 states have adopted,
00:07:35.280 including Florida.
00:07:36.120 So there's a Florida state law
00:07:37.340 that puts the obligation
00:07:39.800 on the governor,
00:07:42.220 quote,
00:07:42.640 to have arrested and delivered
00:07:43.980 up to the executive
00:07:44.900 of any other state
00:07:45.740 of the United States,
00:07:46.640 any person charged
00:07:47.700 in that state
00:07:48.800 with treason, felony,
00:07:49.860 or another crime.
00:07:51.360 Now,
00:07:52.360 it's more than a little interesting
00:07:54.160 given that the executive
00:07:55.400 of the state
00:07:55.940 where Donald Trump is found
00:07:57.160 is Ron DeSantis.
00:07:58.740 Ron DeSantis.
00:07:59.140 And he said,
00:08:00.120 and it made it very clear
00:08:01.520 in his statement,
00:08:02.620 he would not work
00:08:03.660 with New York City.
00:08:04.580 Yeah.
00:08:05.140 So Ron DeSantis tweeted out
00:08:06.980 the following,
00:08:07.600 quote,
00:08:08.460 the weaponization
00:08:09.180 of the legal system
00:08:10.040 to advance a political agenda
00:08:11.680 turns the rule of law
00:08:13.040 on its head.
00:08:13.580 It is un-American. 0.86
00:08:15.760 The Soros-backed
00:08:16.720 Manhattan district attorney
00:08:17.820 has consistently bent the law
00:08:19.400 to downgrade felonies
00:08:21.060 and to excuse criminal misconduct.
00:08:23.880 Yet now he is stretching the law
00:08:25.880 to target a political opponent.
00:08:28.280 Florida will not assist
00:08:29.960 in an extradition request
00:08:31.420 given the questionable circumstances
00:08:33.700 at issue
00:08:34.300 with this Soros-backed
00:08:36.080 Manhattan prosecutor
00:08:37.240 and his political agenda.
00:08:38.320 So DeSantis
00:08:39.820 is suggesting
00:08:41.480 that he would fight
00:08:42.560 extradition of Donald Trump.
00:08:45.180 Now, at the end of the day,
00:08:47.300 if Trump refused to show up
00:08:50.180 and DeSantis fought,
00:08:54.080 I think it is likely
00:08:55.840 that you would end up
00:08:57.780 seeing Trump extradited.
00:09:00.020 New York would likely seek
00:09:01.880 a mandamus
00:09:02.680 in federal district court
00:09:03.760 in Florida
00:09:04.240 to order that Trump
00:09:06.040 be extradited.
00:09:07.000 Presumably Florida
00:09:07.700 would fight that.
00:09:09.280 But I think given
00:09:10.660 the Constitution,
00:09:12.500 given the federal statute,
00:09:13.560 given the Florida statute,
00:09:15.460 it is likely
00:09:16.380 that the courts
00:09:17.300 would say that,
00:09:19.080 well, for example,
00:09:20.120 here's what the Supreme Court said
00:09:21.540 in a case
00:09:22.960 that was called
00:09:23.680 New Mexico v. Reed.
00:09:25.600 The Supreme Court said,
00:09:26.520 what actually happened
00:09:28.920 in the demanding state,
00:09:30.520 the law of the demanding state,
00:09:32.900 and what may be expected
00:09:34.500 to happen
00:09:34.960 in the demanding state,
00:09:36.160 that's New York,
00:09:37.720 when the fugitive returns
00:09:39.280 are not issues
00:09:40.640 that must be tried,
00:09:43.200 or rather,
00:09:44.280 are issues
00:09:45.000 that must be tried
00:09:46.200 in the courts
00:09:46.820 of that state
00:09:48.080 and not in those
00:09:50.000 of the asylum state.
00:09:52.060 So I think,
00:09:52.740 given the state of the law,
00:09:54.360 if Trump tried to fight,
00:09:56.860 if DeSantis fought
00:09:57.740 alongside him,
00:09:58.980 they could delay extradition.
00:10:01.020 Yeah.
00:10:01.440 But I think
00:10:01.980 at the end of the day,
00:10:03.680 it is likely
00:10:04.420 you would see
00:10:04.940 extradition happen.
00:10:06.020 Now,
00:10:06.900 assuming Trump
00:10:07.760 does what he said,
00:10:08.680 which is that
00:10:09.040 he's going to surrender,
00:10:09.780 and I think that's probably
00:10:10.660 the right decision
00:10:11.980 to go and fight it
00:10:12.840 and beat it in court,
00:10:14.680 we won't find it out.
00:10:16.820 But if Trump
00:10:17.840 were to refuse to show up,
00:10:19.660 it would create
00:10:20.720 a brand new legal challenge
00:10:22.720 that would be fascinating
00:10:24.180 and difficult.
00:10:25.380 Something like that,
00:10:26.420 if it did happen
00:10:27.560 and played out that way,
00:10:28.700 is that something
00:10:29.060 that could possibly
00:10:29.700 go all the way
00:10:30.140 to the Supreme Court
00:10:30.760 to get a ruling?
00:10:31.620 It could.
00:10:34.000 Sure, sure.
00:10:35.000 It could,
00:10:35.720 and given the nature
00:10:36.500 of a presidential campaign,
00:10:38.720 it's entirely possible
00:10:40.060 that it would.
00:10:43.680 As I said,
00:10:44.740 I think it's likely
00:10:45.600 not to be teed up
00:10:46.580 because Trump has said
00:10:47.400 he's going to turn himself in.
00:10:50.320 And at the end of the day,
00:10:51.780 I'm not sure
00:10:52.440 it's in Trump's interest
00:10:53.520 or DeSantis' interest
00:10:54.840 to drag this out
00:10:56.340 for six months
00:10:57.280 and then lose
00:10:58.060 and be forced
00:10:58.540 to do the same thing.
00:10:59.580 That,
00:10:59.640 at the end of the day,
00:11:01.700 that calculus,
00:11:02.720 it's going to be Trump
00:11:03.260 that makes the decision.
00:11:04.220 If he doesn't show up,
00:11:05.420 that'll tee this up.
00:11:06.720 But given the state of the law,
00:11:09.380 I assume Trump's lawyers
00:11:10.700 are advising him,
00:11:12.220 you're not likely to win
00:11:14.460 the argument
00:11:16.320 that I get to be a fugitive
00:11:17.600 from justice
00:11:18.260 because I don't like
00:11:19.200 the indictment.
00:11:19.880 You're on much stronger grounds
00:11:21.340 going and fighting
00:11:22.460 the indictment
00:11:23.140 and saying
00:11:23.680 this is a political witch hunt
00:11:26.580 rather than being,
00:11:29.340 in fact,
00:11:29.880 a fugitive from justice.
00:11:31.200 I think that,
00:11:32.240 both legally
00:11:32.940 and politically,
00:11:33.840 is a bad look,
00:11:34.700 which is why
00:11:35.120 I don't expect Trump
00:11:36.000 to do that.
00:11:36.640 It's very interesting
00:11:37.400 to think about it.
00:11:38.200 And when it deals
00:11:38.940 with Donald Trump,
00:11:39.860 you never know
00:11:40.480 exactly what's going to happen.
00:11:41.940 You never know.
00:11:42.600 And I will say,
00:11:43.420 sometimes history
00:11:44.240 has a sense of humor.
00:11:45.780 You know,
00:11:46.080 I'm reminded back
00:11:47.100 in 2000.
00:11:48.880 And as you know,
00:11:51.000 I was a baby lawyer,
00:11:52.260 was part of the
00:11:52.840 George W. Bush campaign,
00:11:54.420 met Heidi on the campaign,
00:11:55.740 and I was part
00:11:57.240 of the legal team
00:11:58.020 in Tallahassee
00:11:58.820 in Bush versus Gore.
00:12:00.500 And the entire presidency
00:12:02.140 came down to those
00:12:03.300 legal proceedings,
00:12:04.180 ultimately 537 votes
00:12:06.020 for George W. Bush
00:12:07.340 over Al Gore.
00:12:09.280 One of the bizarre aspects
00:12:10.860 of it is
00:12:11.600 the governor of the state
00:12:13.320 that the entire presidency
00:12:15.140 hinged upon
00:12:16.100 was Jeb Bush,
00:12:17.780 the brother
00:12:18.240 of one of the two governors.
00:12:19.780 I remember laughing,
00:12:20.580 saying,
00:12:21.040 you know,
00:12:21.340 if you wrote this
00:12:21.960 as a novel,
00:12:23.480 no one would publish it.
00:12:24.700 They'd say,
00:12:24.980 oh, come on, 1.00
00:12:25.480 this is stupid. 1.00
00:12:26.260 If you submitted 1.00
00:12:26.840 a screenplay,
00:12:27.860 they'd laugh at you.
00:12:28.880 No,
00:12:29.440 you don't get to make
00:12:31.000 the governor
00:12:31.960 of the key state
00:12:32.920 the brother
00:12:33.380 of one of the candidates.
00:12:34.460 It's kind of similar here.
00:12:35.460 No,
00:12:35.940 you don't get to make
00:12:37.020 the governor of the state
00:12:38.220 that would decide
00:12:39.280 what to do on extradition
00:12:40.620 the leading Republican rival
00:12:42.520 of the guy
00:12:43.020 presumably being extradited.
00:12:44.420 You can't make it up.
00:12:45.220 You can't make it up.
00:12:46.600 It's amazing.
00:12:47.280 I want to get to
00:12:47.840 some of these questions
00:12:48.480 on Twitter.
00:12:49.020 A lot of really good questions
00:12:50.480 were responded
00:12:51.760 when we said,
00:12:52.280 hey,
00:12:52.500 we'll answer these questions.
00:12:53.900 Before we get to that,
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00:14:02.000 VERDICT
00:14:02.280 for the best deals
00:14:03.440 of the day.
00:14:04.360 Senator,
00:14:04.640 I want to get
00:14:05.100 some of these questions
00:14:05.820 because they're really good
00:14:06.780 and this is the first one
00:14:08.680 and I think it's a great one.
00:14:10.700 It says,
00:14:11.180 does Trump have any recourse
00:14:13.240 if after his walk of shame
00:14:15.860 slash mugshot
00:14:16.940 the case fizzles out?
00:14:19.080 It's a great question
00:14:20.120 because like
00:14:20.640 it seems so biased
00:14:21.900 it seems so political
00:14:23.000 it seems so unfair.
00:14:24.220 Does he have any recourse
00:14:25.640 if this thing
00:14:26.080 doesn't work out for Bragg?
00:14:27.560 So his recourses
00:14:28.960 are very limited
00:14:29.660 and they're primarily political.
00:14:32.840 Legally,
00:14:33.560 his principal resource
00:14:34.780 would be under a law
00:14:36.200 called 42 U.S.C.
00:14:37.900 Section 1983.
00:14:39.620 So Section 1983
00:14:40.860 enables,
00:14:42.040 it says,
00:14:42.560 every person
00:14:42.940 who under cover,
00:14:44.540 under color
00:14:45.080 of any statute,
00:14:45.820 ordinance,
00:14:46.220 regulation,
00:14:46.760 customer usage,
00:14:47.820 in other words,
00:14:48.220 under color of state law,
00:14:50.100 causes the deprivation
00:14:52.880 of any rights,
00:14:53.820 privileges,
00:14:54.160 or immunities
00:14:54.700 secured by the Constitution
00:14:56.000 or laws
00:14:56.620 shall be liable
00:14:58.420 to the party injured
00:14:59.260 in an action at law.
00:15:02.300 What Section 1983
00:15:03.820 enables you to do
00:15:05.260 is that if a state
00:15:06.960 or local official
00:15:08.400 violates your
00:15:10.020 constitutional rights,
00:15:11.180 you can sue
00:15:12.120 that state
00:15:13.160 or local official
00:15:13.940 for violating
00:15:14.600 your constitutional rights.
00:15:15.700 Section 1983
00:15:16.440 is the primary vehicle
00:15:18.780 of most civil rights lawsuits.
00:15:21.320 Section 1983
00:15:22.320 is actually part
00:15:23.360 of what was called
00:15:23.940 the Ku Klux Klan's laws.
00:15:25.540 Yeah.
00:15:25.980 Which were passed
00:15:26.980 in the wake
00:15:27.740 of the Civil War
00:15:28.760 and in the wake
00:15:30.820 of the 14th Amendment,
00:15:32.040 Section 1983
00:15:32.840 was one of the
00:15:33.740 enforcement mechanisms
00:15:34.840 of the 14th Amendment.
00:15:36.740 After the Civil War,
00:15:38.340 there were three
00:15:39.020 landmark amendments
00:15:39.920 that were adopted.
00:15:40.780 The 13th Amendment, 0.52
00:15:41.740 which ended slavery. 0.83
00:15:42.780 The 14th Amendment, 0.63
00:15:44.200 which ensures
00:15:45.040 due process of law
00:15:46.280 and equal protection
00:15:47.240 of law
00:15:47.800 and was there
00:15:48.680 designed to protect
00:15:49.880 the rights
00:15:51.120 principally
00:15:52.260 of the slaves
00:15:53.220 who had just been freed,
00:15:54.560 but also of everyone else.
00:15:55.940 It applied across the board
00:15:57.400 and the 15th Amendment
00:15:58.580 guaranteed the right to vote
00:16:00.500 couldn't be denied
00:16:01.580 based on race.
00:16:02.380 And so the three
00:16:03.220 were adopted together
00:16:04.740 following the Civil War.
00:16:06.200 Trump could bring
00:16:06.980 a 1983 lawsuit.
00:16:08.340 There'd be a number
00:16:08.960 of challenges.
00:16:10.540 Number one,
00:16:11.400 if he tried to sue
00:16:12.640 Alvin Bragg personally,
00:16:14.800 he'd be extremely
00:16:15.740 unlikely to succeed.
00:16:17.460 The courts interpret...
00:16:18.840 Seems unfair,
00:16:19.780 by the way.
00:16:20.900 I understand.
00:16:21.900 But the courts interpret
00:16:23.400 prosecutorial immunity
00:16:25.160 very, very broadly.
00:16:26.440 It's been referred to
00:16:27.500 in numerous instances
00:16:28.960 as absolute.
00:16:30.660 And, you know,
00:16:31.540 you can say it seems unfair,
00:16:33.340 but I will give you
00:16:34.040 the flip side of that.
00:16:35.120 Sure.
00:16:35.760 Which is every day
00:16:36.860 people are prosecuted
00:16:37.880 all across the country.
00:16:39.420 And if you could sue the DA
00:16:40.760 for every prosecution
00:16:41.900 they brought,
00:16:43.000 every murderer,
00:16:43.800 every drug dealer,
00:16:44.900 you would face
00:16:45.740 an unlimited number
00:16:46.800 of lawsuits.
00:16:47.840 And you've got to
00:16:48.740 think about it.
00:16:49.420 Ben Ferguson,
00:16:50.700 would you serve as DA
00:16:52.040 if every murderer
00:16:53.640 you prosecuted
00:16:55.220 could sue Ben Ferguson
00:16:56.460 personally
00:16:57.040 and take your house 0.96
00:16:58.180 and take your car.
00:16:59.340 You've got a fancy new car
00:17:00.440 parked outside.
00:17:01.660 You don't want a murderer
00:17:02.660 driving away with you.
00:17:03.720 Yeah, yeah.
00:17:04.180 No, I knew you were going
00:17:05.920 to take that shot.
00:17:07.040 Well played.
00:17:07.940 No, but it's true.
00:17:09.040 You would not take that job.
00:17:10.220 You would say,
00:17:10.740 I can't afford this.
00:17:11.720 I can't afford the legal.
00:17:13.120 I can't afford the time it takes.
00:17:14.820 So that does make sense.
00:17:16.100 So there's a reason
00:17:17.240 prosecutors and judges
00:17:18.700 both have been given
00:17:19.920 absolute immunity
00:17:21.380 with very, very few exceptions
00:17:22.880 because of that proposition.
00:17:24.460 Um, what you can do though
00:17:27.640 is you can sue the office.
00:17:29.580 So you could sue
00:17:30.580 the district attorney
00:17:31.480 in the official capacity,
00:17:33.060 not your personal capacity,
00:17:34.380 which means a judgment
00:17:35.360 would not be paid
00:17:36.880 out of district attorney
00:17:37.740 Ben Ferguson's
00:17:38.520 personal bank account,
00:17:39.600 but rather out of the
00:17:41.160 the district attorney
00:17:43.120 for Manhattan.
00:17:44.480 The challenges of suing
00:17:46.360 the office though
00:17:47.140 are quite significant.
00:17:48.080 And I actually litigated a case
00:17:50.360 where we were dealing
00:17:51.460 with exactly this.
00:17:52.540 It's a case called
00:17:53.200 Connick versus Thompson.
00:17:54.860 And it dealt with
00:17:55.840 an individual named
00:17:56.620 John Thompson
00:17:57.320 who was prosecuted
00:17:58.920 for murder in New Orleans.
00:18:01.160 And he was convicted
00:18:02.200 of capital murder
00:18:02.960 and he was sent to death row.
00:18:04.540 And it was a wrongful conviction.
00:18:06.540 Uh, John Thompson
00:18:07.280 was innocent of the murder.
00:18:09.180 And the district attorney's
00:18:10.720 office in New Orleans,
00:18:11.780 they had blood evidence
00:18:12.820 that could have exonerated him.
00:18:14.740 And they never gave
00:18:15.980 that blood evidence
00:18:16.840 to John Thompson.
00:18:18.360 Um, there's a Supreme Court
00:18:19.740 decision called Brady,
00:18:20.940 which, which requires
00:18:21.880 that prosecutors
00:18:22.740 have to give the defendants
00:18:24.860 any exculpatory evidence,
00:18:26.400 any evidence they have
00:18:27.460 that could prove
00:18:28.260 they're innocent.
00:18:29.000 They have to hand it over.
00:18:30.480 And the DA's office
00:18:31.480 didn't want to do it,
00:18:32.540 didn't do it.
00:18:33.300 And so they convicted him.
00:18:34.360 They sent John Thompson
00:18:35.240 to death row.
00:18:36.260 And ultimately, his lawyers
00:18:38.480 actually through like
00:18:39.560 pricking his fingers,
00:18:40.740 they took a DNA test,
00:18:42.000 they got access
00:18:42.620 to the blood evidence,
00:18:43.920 and they proved
00:18:44.540 he was innocent.
00:18:45.820 And so John Thompson
00:18:46.820 was released from death row,
00:18:49.660 but he'd spent 14 years
00:18:51.320 on death row
00:18:52.800 for a crime he didn't commit.
00:18:54.940 Well, after he was released,
00:18:56.480 I wasn't part
00:18:57.160 of the criminal trial.
00:18:58.060 I got involved
00:18:58.640 after he was released.
00:19:00.180 He filed a lawsuit
00:19:01.120 against the district attorney
00:19:02.620 in New Orleans.
00:19:04.600 And he won.
00:19:05.160 He won $14 million.
00:19:07.120 A million dollars
00:19:08.200 for every year
00:19:08.860 of the 14 years
00:19:09.780 he was wrongfully incarcerated.
00:19:11.900 That case went up
00:19:13.020 to the Supreme Court,
00:19:14.040 and I was in private practice
00:19:15.160 at the time.
00:19:15.760 I was at a firm called
00:19:16.620 Morgan Lewis,
00:19:17.640 one of the biggest law firms
00:19:18.540 in the country.
00:19:19.280 And I was leading
00:19:20.040 their Supreme Court practice
00:19:21.380 and their national appellate practice.
00:19:23.800 And two of my law partners
00:19:25.160 had been representing
00:19:25.960 John Thompson for years,
00:19:28.140 pro bono,
00:19:28.660 doing it for free.
00:19:29.400 And so they brought me in
00:19:30.640 to assist on the Supreme Court case.
00:19:32.920 And I spent a lot of time
00:19:34.260 working with my partners
00:19:35.920 on the Supreme Court case.
00:19:37.100 We went to the court.
00:19:37.900 I was at the argument
00:19:38.760 seating at council chamber.
00:19:41.000 My partner argued the case.
00:19:44.080 Unfortunately, we lost 5-4.
00:19:46.200 Wow.
00:19:46.820 And 5-4,
00:19:47.820 the Supreme Court
00:19:48.480 threw out the judgment
00:19:50.760 because they said
00:19:52.100 there was not a pattern
00:19:54.000 in practice
00:19:54.600 that was so pervasive
00:19:56.120 in the office
00:19:57.860 of refusing to hand over
00:19:59.680 Brady materials
00:20:00.600 that they were not
00:20:01.580 going to hold
00:20:02.040 the office liable.
00:20:03.780 All of which is to say
00:20:05.240 Trump could presumably sue.
00:20:07.680 But the chances
00:20:08.580 of succeeding
00:20:09.520 in a civil lawsuit
00:20:10.620 afterwards
00:20:11.240 are very slim.
00:20:13.300 There would be serious
00:20:14.540 legal impediments
00:20:15.820 to winning.
00:20:16.640 Interesting.
00:20:17.240 Especially if you are
00:20:18.300 on death row
00:20:18.980 for 14 years,
00:20:19.680 you can't win that one.
00:20:20.720 Yeah.
00:20:20.900 This is obviously
00:20:21.760 seems a much lower level
00:20:22.940 of chance of success.
00:20:24.300 Let's go to another question.
00:20:25.660 And again,
00:20:26.260 everybody's in these
00:20:27.000 and you guys
00:20:27.400 were amazing with this.
00:20:28.300 Another one is,
00:20:29.620 are the charges
00:20:30.420 that Trump was indicted
00:20:31.360 for politically based
00:20:32.840 or based on actual evidence?
00:20:35.700 Does the indictment
00:20:36.600 warrant further investigation?
00:20:39.240 And what legal options
00:20:41.040 does Trump have
00:20:41.900 for responding
00:20:42.700 to the indictment?
00:20:44.360 Well, look,
00:20:45.560 the indictment,
00:20:46.520 I believe,
00:20:47.080 is wholly political.
00:20:48.640 I think it is baseless.
00:20:51.820 We don't know
00:20:53.420 the exact terms,
00:20:56.040 but what we do know
00:20:57.180 is we know
00:21:00.080 what we think
00:21:02.180 the case is based on.
00:21:03.720 Right.
00:21:04.080 And we think the case
00:21:05.080 is based on
00:21:05.780 a specific New York law.
00:21:07.380 It's New York Penal Law
00:21:08.620 175.05.
00:21:10.980 Now, that's a law
00:21:11.960 that makes it
00:21:12.480 a misdemeanor
00:21:13.260 to essentially create
00:21:15.000 a false business record.
00:21:16.260 It defines it
00:21:16.820 a little more legalese,
00:21:17.900 but it's creating
00:21:18.400 a false business record.
00:21:20.020 Now,
00:21:20.900 there's an obvious
00:21:21.600 problem with this,
00:21:22.500 which is a misdemeanor.
00:21:23.620 The misdemeanor
00:21:24.320 under New York law
00:21:25.140 has a two-year
00:21:26.920 statute of limitations.
00:21:28.620 The conduct here
00:21:30.000 occurred in 2016,
00:21:31.160 and the conduct,
00:21:32.440 as we understand it,
00:21:33.440 that this is all based on,
00:21:35.420 is an alleged payment
00:21:36.880 of $130,000
00:21:38.160 made by Michael Cohen,
00:21:39.900 then Donald Trump's
00:21:40.800 personal attorney,
00:21:42.140 to Stormy Daniels,
00:21:43.280 the porn star
00:21:43.960 who alleges
00:21:44.560 she had an affair
00:21:45.400 with Donald Trump
00:21:46.900 and that the money
00:21:47.800 was hush money
00:21:48.520 for her to keep quiet.
00:21:49.520 And this is
00:21:49.940 in the middle
00:21:50.800 of the presidential campaign.
00:21:52.120 Trump is running
00:21:52.700 against Hillary. 1.00
00:21:53.440 It obviously
00:21:54.660 would have been
00:21:55.240 not good politically
00:21:56.420 for a scandal
00:21:57.700 to break right
00:21:58.320 in the middle of this
00:21:59.060 of an affair 0.90
00:21:59.540 with a porn star.
00:22:02.600 It's not illegal
00:22:03.460 under New York law
00:22:04.300 to have an affair 0.70
00:22:04.960 with a porn star.
00:22:05.940 It's not even illegal
00:22:06.920 under New York law
00:22:07.780 to pay hush money
00:22:08.520 to a porn star.
00:22:09.220 All of that, 0.98
00:22:10.740 you can decide
00:22:11.300 what you like
00:22:11.880 about the underlying
00:22:12.680 alleged conduct,
00:22:13.740 but it's not illegal
00:22:14.600 in New York.
00:22:15.980 What is allegedly illegal
00:22:18.000 is that when Michael Cohen
00:22:20.040 delivered $130,000
00:22:21.540 to Stormy Daniels,
00:22:23.140 it was recorded
00:22:24.160 on the records
00:22:24.900 for Trump
00:22:25.540 as legal fees
00:22:26.960 when it was not
00:22:28.560 in fact legal fees.
00:22:29.600 It was hush money
00:22:30.180 payments to the porn star.
00:22:32.060 Now,
00:22:32.880 I said this was
00:22:34.160 a misdemeanor,
00:22:34.800 so how is Alvin Bragg
00:22:36.280 bringing it?
00:22:36.820 It's beyond two years.
00:22:38.920 Well,
00:22:39.220 there's a second statute.
00:22:40.360 It's New York Penal Law
00:22:41.360 175.10
00:22:42.840 that makes it
00:22:44.400 a felony
00:22:44.880 with a longer
00:22:45.520 statute of limitations
00:22:46.740 if the false
00:22:48.600 business record
00:22:49.480 was created
00:22:51.440 in order to aid
00:22:52.820 in the commission
00:22:53.420 of another crime.
00:22:54.660 So to get it
00:22:55.560 from misdemeanor
00:22:56.400 to felony,
00:22:56.980 to get the statute
00:22:57.640 of limitations
00:22:58.200 longer,
00:22:59.240 Alvin Bragg
00:22:59.820 has to somehow
00:23:00.520 bootstrap
00:23:01.240 that this allegedly
00:23:02.620 false business record
00:23:03.740 was done
00:23:04.800 to facilitate
00:23:05.420 another crime.
00:23:06.380 We don't know
00:23:07.560 what other crime
00:23:08.560 he's going to claim.
00:23:11.120 Presumably,
00:23:12.200 the most likely
00:23:13.100 other crime
00:23:13.800 is some sort
00:23:14.380 of federal campaign
00:23:15.320 finance violation
00:23:16.400 that it was
00:23:17.880 hiding what
00:23:19.080 the money
00:23:19.660 was being spent for.
00:23:20.700 We don't know
00:23:21.180 exactly.
00:23:22.460 We do know
00:23:23.340 that the Department
00:23:24.680 of Justice
00:23:25.220 of the Southern
00:23:25.960 District of New York
00:23:26.840 investigated
00:23:28.200 a federal campaign
00:23:29.080 finance violation
00:23:29.900 on this
00:23:30.520 and decided
00:23:30.940 not to prosecute.
00:23:32.080 We also know
00:23:33.160 that the Federal
00:23:33.700 Elections Commissions
00:23:34.680 investigated
00:23:35.540 the conduct
00:23:36.140 underlying this
00:23:36.840 to see if there
00:23:37.360 was a violation
00:23:38.020 and decided
00:23:39.020 not to prosecute.
00:23:40.040 So at this point,
00:23:41.920 Alvin Bragg
00:23:42.720 is presumably
00:23:43.540 taking a federal
00:23:45.140 crime that no
00:23:45.860 federal official
00:23:46.500 thinks is sufficient
00:23:47.420 to prosecute
00:23:48.260 and using that
00:23:50.360 to try to bootstrap
00:23:52.120 a state crime
00:23:52.980 into a felony
00:23:53.820 to go after
00:23:54.440 Donald Trump.
00:23:55.360 I think the entire 1.00
00:23:56.540 thing is crap. 0.99
00:23:59.800 And one of the 0.99
00:24:00.820 most important points
00:24:01.840 and it's one I've
00:24:02.460 made a couple of
00:24:03.360 times on this
00:24:03.860 podcast,
00:24:04.940 if this is a crime,
00:24:07.260 if this is a felony
00:24:08.820 that someone should
00:24:09.580 go to jail for, 0.81
00:24:11.480 then Hillary Clinton
00:24:12.640 committed the exact
00:24:13.760 same crime.
00:24:15.140 Because at the
00:24:15.920 exact same time,
00:24:17.100 Hillary Clinton's
00:24:17.760 campaign paid
00:24:18.460 over a million
00:24:19.100 dollars.
00:24:19.560 You're not exaggerating
00:24:20.160 to say exact same
00:24:20.760 time.
00:24:21.200 2016 presidential
00:24:22.560 campaign,
00:24:23.440 her campaign was 0.99
00:24:24.700 making the Steele
00:24:25.560 dossier,
00:24:26.380 the Democrat
00:24:27.080 National Committee
00:24:27.680 was helping pay
00:24:28.440 for this,
00:24:29.080 she was paying
00:24:29.940 for this out
00:24:30.500 of their campaign,
00:24:32.840 she had lawyers 0.96
00:24:33.900 involved that were
00:24:34.640 doing this and
00:24:35.260 trying to sell
00:24:35.920 this.
00:24:36.600 Literally,
00:24:37.400 it's the exact
00:24:38.000 same time frame.
00:24:39.080 So,
00:24:39.760 her campaign 1.00
00:24:40.400 spent over
00:24:41.220 one million
00:24:42.040 dollars to
00:24:42.720 create the
00:24:43.140 Steele dossier.
00:24:43.940 The Steele dossier,
00:24:44.820 you remember,
00:24:45.220 is this scurrilous
00:24:46.120 and scandalous
00:24:46.900 dossier assembled
00:24:48.520 in Europe that
00:24:49.460 alleged all these
00:24:50.820 things that Trump
00:24:51.560 had done,
00:24:52.180 including the
00:24:52.660 famous pee tape,
00:24:54.540 all of which
00:24:55.080 was fiction,
00:24:56.040 all of which
00:24:56.560 was false,
00:24:57.500 it was made
00:24:58.200 up.
00:24:58.560 Brought to you,
00:24:59.060 paid for by the
00:24:59.680 Democratic Party
00:25:00.400 and Hillary Clinton 0.90
00:25:01.300 for president.
00:25:01.920 It was,
00:25:03.300 and the Hillary
00:25:04.620 Clinton campaign
00:25:05.500 recorded that
00:25:06.280 over a million
00:25:06.800 dollars as legal
00:25:08.220 fees.
00:25:09.500 So,
00:25:10.360 if recording
00:25:11.460 something as
00:25:12.200 legal fees
00:25:12.880 that is not
00:25:13.500 legal fees
00:25:14.360 in the context
00:25:15.780 of a presidential
00:25:16.560 campaign is
00:25:18.120 criminal in
00:25:18.840 Manhattan,
00:25:19.720 then Hillary 0.99
00:25:20.380 Clinton,
00:25:20.800 a resident of
00:25:21.460 New York,
00:25:21.940 committed the
00:25:22.420 same crime
00:25:23.000 at the exact
00:25:23.640 same time,
00:25:25.200 2016,
00:25:26.340 in the exact
00:25:27.040 same place,
00:25:27.780 Manhattan,
00:25:28.380 New York.
00:25:29.740 There is no
00:25:30.840 coherent way,
00:25:31.760 all right,
00:25:31.940 if Alvin Bragg
00:25:32.640 wants to indict
00:25:33.520 Hillary Clinton
00:25:34.600 and Donald Trump
00:25:35.280 side by side,
00:25:37.220 then they can
00:25:37.780 lose both cases,
00:25:39.800 but that at
00:25:40.260 least is
00:25:40.620 marginally
00:25:41.500 consistent.
00:25:42.940 If he only
00:25:43.500 indicts Donald
00:25:44.220 Trump,
00:25:45.320 everyone gets
00:25:46.060 the joke.
00:25:46.980 He hates
00:25:47.380 Trump,
00:25:47.940 he's a left-wing
00:25:48.600 Democrat,
00:25:49.680 and by any
00:25:50.380 means necessary
00:25:51.100 is his
00:25:51.440 approach.
00:25:52.920 Canadian
00:25:53.300 women are 1.00
00:25:53.820 looking for
00:25:54.300 more,
00:25:54.920 more of
00:25:55.240 themselves,
00:25:56.000 their
00:25:56.140 businesses,
00:25:56.940 their elected
00:25:57.360 leaders,
00:25:57.900 and the world
00:25:58.460 around them.
00:25:59.100 And that's
00:25:59.480 why we're
00:25:59.760 thrilled to
00:26:00.280 introduce the
00:26:01.100 Honest Talk
00:26:01.760 podcast.
00:26:02.840 I'm Jennifer
00:26:03.380 Stewart.
00:26:04.040 And I'm
00:26:04.340 Catherine Clark.
00:26:05.260 And in this
00:26:05.740 podcast,
00:26:06.220 we interview
00:26:06.880 Canada's
00:26:07.380 most inspiring
00:26:08.240 women, 1.00
00:26:08.860 entrepreneurs,
00:26:09.720 artists,
00:26:10.380 athletes,
00:26:10.980 politicians,
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00:26:12.560 all at different
00:26:13.260 stages of their
00:26:14.140 journey.
00:26:14.760 So if you're
00:26:15.520 looking to
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00:26:17.000 you'll join us.
00:26:18.000 Listen to the
00:26:18.420 Honest Talk
00:26:18.840 podcast on
00:26:19.580 iHeartRadio or
00:26:20.580 wherever you
00:26:21.140 listen to your
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00:26:22.060 I want to tell
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00:27:27.900 Senator, I want
00:27:28.280 to get to
00:27:28.540 another question
00:27:29.140 real quick that
00:27:29.760 came in.
00:27:30.720 What are the
00:27:31.200 chances of
00:27:32.980 dismissal, and
00:27:33.860 if found
00:27:34.300 innocent, can 0.82
00:27:35.040 the DA face
00:27:36.320 being disbarred?
00:27:38.580 So I think the
00:27:39.460 chances of
00:27:39.980 dismissal are 0.97
00:27:40.600 high.
00:27:41.060 It will depend
00:27:41.740 on what trial
00:27:42.700 court they get.
00:27:43.980 There are some
00:27:44.600 partisan Democrat
00:27:45.440 trial judges in
00:27:46.740 New York, so it
00:27:48.560 is possible they
00:27:49.380 get a highly
00:27:50.140 partisan trial
00:27:50.920 judge who
00:27:51.780 refuses to
00:27:52.460 dismiss the
00:27:52.960 claims.
00:27:53.320 If they have a
00:27:54.140 trial judge who
00:27:54.860 follows the
00:27:55.320 law, I think
00:27:56.200 this ought to
00:27:56.600 be dismissed
00:27:57.180 at trial court.
00:27:58.940 If not, it
00:28:00.240 should be thrown
00:28:01.220 out on appeal.
00:28:02.020 But if it's not
00:28:02.740 dismissed at the
00:28:03.400 trial court, there
00:28:04.060 will almost
00:28:04.460 assuredly be a
00:28:05.700 motion to dismiss
00:28:06.540 the indictment, a
00:28:07.460 fight early on
00:28:08.500 in the trial court.
00:28:10.140 If it's not
00:28:11.000 dismissed in the
00:28:11.700 trial court, I
00:28:12.400 expect an appeal.
00:28:13.960 And any appellate
00:28:15.660 court following the
00:28:16.500 law, I think, will
00:28:17.340 throw this out.
00:28:17.960 I think this will
00:28:18.740 ultimately be
00:28:19.620 rejected.
00:28:20.840 How long does
00:28:21.600 this last, then?
00:28:22.660 I mean, we've got
00:28:23.600 a presidential
00:28:23.940 campaign here.
00:28:24.780 Look, it depends,
00:28:25.720 but, you know,
00:28:28.420 prosecutions can
00:28:29.400 drag on for
00:28:30.100 months and years.
00:28:32.200 It depends how
00:28:33.260 quickly the New
00:28:33.800 York courts
00:28:34.260 operate.
00:28:34.840 But it is easy
00:28:35.800 to see this
00:28:36.540 lasting for many
00:28:37.780 months, and it
00:28:38.420 could conceivably
00:28:39.160 last beyond
00:28:39.860 Election Day
00:28:40.440 2024.
00:28:41.400 Which brings me
00:28:42.200 to a question I
00:28:42.900 have to ask as a
00:28:43.620 follow-up.
00:28:44.300 Donald Trump,
00:28:45.340 let's say, gets
00:28:45.920 elected.
00:28:46.280 He becomes
00:28:47.960 President of the
00:28:48.420 United States
00:28:48.660 of America again
00:28:49.800 for another four
00:28:50.460 years.
00:28:51.420 January 20th, he's
00:28:52.540 sworn in.
00:28:53.020 January 21st, he
00:28:55.040 is convicted.
00:28:57.140 What happens
00:28:58.060 then?
00:28:59.940 Look, if he's
00:29:01.480 convicted, and
00:29:02.300 let's assume for a
00:29:03.280 second he's
00:29:03.740 convicted and
00:29:04.280 sentenced to
00:29:04.700 jail, I don't
00:29:06.920 think that's
00:29:07.320 going to happen.
00:29:07.820 Let's be clear.
00:29:08.440 This is a
00:29:08.820 hypothetical that I
00:29:09.660 think is false,
00:29:10.520 but there is
00:29:11.260 nothing in the
00:29:11.780 Constitution to
00:29:12.500 prevent a
00:29:13.120 president from
00:29:13.940 serving while in
00:29:15.540 jail.
00:29:16.280 So, for
00:29:17.300 anyone who
00:29:17.780 thinks...
00:29:18.600 Is that
00:29:18.860 because they
00:29:19.220 never could
00:29:19.640 have imagined
00:29:20.140 the scenario
00:29:20.700 that we're
00:29:21.120 living in right
00:29:21.660 now?
00:29:21.940 Yes, yes.
00:29:22.700 Look, I think
00:29:23.240 that's a
00:29:23.560 significant part
00:29:24.240 of it, that
00:29:24.600 they didn't
00:29:25.180 envision the
00:29:26.400 legal system
00:29:27.060 being weaponized.
00:29:28.060 I mean, as
00:29:28.360 you know, I
00:29:28.720 wrote an entire
00:29:29.320 book just a few
00:29:30.020 months ago on
00:29:31.160 this topic,
00:29:31.900 Justice
00:29:32.200 Corrupted, How
00:29:32.960 the Left
00:29:33.320 Has Weaponized
00:29:34.000 the Legal
00:29:34.320 System.
00:29:35.060 If you haven't
00:29:35.440 bought the
00:29:35.800 book, go buy
00:29:36.360 the book, because
00:29:37.060 it talks about
00:29:37.800 Alvin Bragg, it
00:29:38.560 talks about
00:29:39.020 DOJ, it
00:29:39.940 talks about
00:29:40.420 the FBI, it
00:29:41.120 lays out this
00:29:41.760 problem.
00:29:42.060 And the
00:29:42.220 reason I
00:29:42.540 wrote the
00:29:42.860 book, I
00:29:43.580 saw what
00:29:44.720 Obama had
00:29:45.920 done, what
00:29:46.580 the deep
00:29:47.000 state had
00:29:47.500 done against
00:29:48.040 Trump, I
00:29:48.500 saw what
00:29:49.020 Joe Biden
00:29:49.520 and Merrick
00:29:49.900 Garland were
00:29:50.420 doing, I
00:29:50.780 saw what
00:29:51.120 Alvin Bragg
00:29:51.620 had done.
00:29:52.520 This has
00:29:53.040 been coming
00:29:53.500 a long time.
00:29:54.240 The framers
00:29:54.740 never envisioned
00:29:56.080 the justice
00:29:57.280 system being
00:29:57.940 used by that.
00:29:58.920 But in
00:29:59.720 terms of, so
00:30:00.520 there's some
00:30:00.900 people who are
00:30:01.380 saying, well,
00:30:01.720 gosh, does
00:30:02.740 the indictment
00:30:03.380 mean Trump
00:30:03.900 can't run?
00:30:05.240 Let me tell
00:30:05.820 you, Article
00:30:06.640 2 of the
00:30:07.140 Constitution
00:30:07.680 specifies the
00:30:08.740 grounds to
00:30:10.240 serve as
00:30:10.580 president, there
00:30:11.100 are three.
00:30:12.360 What the
00:30:12.620 Constitution says
00:30:13.400 is no person
00:30:14.120 except a
00:30:14.640 natural-born
00:30:15.260 citizen, which
00:30:16.480 Trump is,
00:30:17.380 shall be
00:30:17.780 eligible to
00:30:18.520 the office of
00:30:19.180 the president,
00:30:19.820 neither shall
00:30:20.420 any person be
00:30:21.500 eligible to
00:30:21.980 that office who
00:30:22.720 shall not have
00:30:23.460 attained the
00:30:24.080 age of 35
00:30:24.820 years, Trump
00:30:25.480 is over 35,
00:30:26.960 and been 14
00:30:28.040 years a resident
00:30:28.920 within the
00:30:29.780 United States.
00:30:30.440 Those are the
00:30:30.860 three criteria under
00:30:32.180 the Constitution.
00:30:32.920 You've got to be a
00:30:33.300 natural-born
00:30:33.720 citizen,
00:30:34.440 at least 35
00:30:35.580 years old, and
00:30:36.360 have been 14
00:30:37.000 years a resident
00:30:37.640 in the United
00:30:37.980 States.
00:30:38.680 Trump meets all
00:30:39.320 three of those.
00:30:39.980 So he is
00:30:40.740 eligible to run
00:30:41.420 for president.
00:30:42.000 He's eligible to
00:30:42.580 serve as
00:30:42.960 president.
00:30:43.760 Now, there
00:30:44.660 is potentially
00:30:45.620 one other
00:30:46.200 ground that
00:30:47.560 could make
00:30:48.040 someone ineligible
00:30:48.820 to serve for
00:30:49.380 president, and
00:30:49.920 that is under
00:30:50.300 the 14th
00:30:50.920 Amendment, under
00:30:52.580 Section 3 of
00:30:53.460 the 14th
00:30:54.020 Amendment, it
00:30:55.280 provides no
00:30:56.080 person shall be
00:30:56.760 a senator,
00:30:57.240 representative in
00:30:57.820 Congress, or
00:30:58.340 electorate of
00:30:58.700 the president or
00:30:59.140 vice president, or
00:31:00.260 hold any office
00:31:01.760 under the United
00:31:02.420 States who,
00:31:03.820 having previously
00:31:04.760 taken an oath to
00:31:06.420 support the
00:31:06.940 Constitution of the
00:31:07.660 United States, shall
00:31:08.480 have engaged in
00:31:09.900 insurrection or
00:31:10.960 rebellion against the
00:31:11.980 same, or given aid and
00:31:13.120 comfort to the enemies
00:31:14.020 thereof.
00:31:14.860 So this is something in
00:31:16.220 the fever swamps of the
00:31:17.300 left, the Democratic
00:31:18.060 side, they get great joy
00:31:20.280 of, okay, Trump will be
00:31:21.880 barred from running for
00:31:23.380 or serving as president
00:31:24.360 under Section 3 of the
00:31:26.160 14th Amendment.
00:31:27.020 It is at least
00:31:27.760 conceivable there will be
00:31:29.040 lawsuits arguing Trump
00:31:31.280 is ineligible under
00:31:32.440 Section 3 of the
00:31:33.200 14th Amendment and
00:31:34.060 arguing that what
00:31:35.460 under, that what
00:31:36.280 happened on January
00:31:37.120 6th qualified as, to
00:31:39.080 use the constitutional
00:31:39.820 language, an
00:31:41.020 insurrection or
00:31:41.880 rebellion.
00:31:43.060 That's why Democrats
00:31:44.340 use the word
00:31:45.120 insurrection so much.
00:31:46.420 Over and over and
00:31:46.920 over again.
00:31:47.640 That's not going to
00:31:48.420 succeed.
00:31:48.940 I think it is highly
00:31:49.720 unlikely to succeed.
00:31:51.840 We might see a
00:31:53.400 prosecution from the
00:31:55.380 Biden Justice
00:31:56.160 Department, the
00:31:56.880 special prosecutor that's
00:31:58.060 investigating Trump,
00:31:58.940 might bring a
00:32:00.280 prosecution for
00:32:01.840 insurrection or
00:32:02.660 rebellion or giving
00:32:03.660 aid and comfort to
00:32:05.100 the enemies thereof,
00:32:06.080 but there has been no
00:32:07.100 prosecution.
00:32:08.200 So excluding that, if
00:32:09.740 he was convicted of
00:32:11.060 another crime, that does
00:32:12.240 not mean that he is
00:32:13.080 ineligible to be
00:32:14.920 president again.
00:32:15.540 The president of the
00:32:15.620 United States could 0.63
00:32:17.000 commit murder. 0.97
00:32:19.120 Joe Biden could
00:32:21.260 walk into the
00:32:25.580 office of his chief 1.00
00:32:26.500 of staff and kill 1.00
00:32:27.460 his chief of staff on 1.00
00:32:28.880 national television.
00:32:30.660 Joe Biden could be
00:32:31.500 prosecuted and
00:32:32.440 sentenced to life in
00:32:33.480 prison.
00:32:34.480 And if nothing else
00:32:35.580 happened, Joe Biden
00:32:36.420 would remain the
00:32:37.080 president of the United
00:32:37.600 States.
00:32:38.380 Wow.
00:32:38.660 Now, the natural
00:32:40.460 step that would
00:32:41.120 happen in that
00:32:41.740 hypothetical is the
00:32:42.780 House of Representatives
00:32:43.560 would impeach Joe
00:32:44.460 Biden for having
00:32:45.140 committed high crimes
00:32:45.860 and misdemeanors.
00:32:47.040 And in that
00:32:47.480 instance, presumably
00:32:48.380 the Senate would
00:32:49.060 convict him and
00:32:49.700 remove him from
00:32:50.240 office.
00:32:50.740 But that's how you
00:32:51.660 remove a president
00:32:52.300 from office is is
00:32:53.860 it's not the
00:32:54.960 mechanism.
00:32:55.600 It's not the
00:32:56.080 conviction.
00:32:56.580 It's what you do
00:32:57.620 afterwards in
00:32:58.380 Congress that would
00:32:59.480 make you ineligible
00:33:00.260 to be president. 0.76
00:33:01.460 Simply a murder
00:33:02.300 conviction, simply a
00:33:03.420 life life imprisonment
00:33:04.660 sentence would not
00:33:06.120 automatically remove
00:33:07.680 you from from the
00:33:08.880 office.
00:33:09.160 It would take the
00:33:10.900 Senate convicting in
00:33:11.860 an impeachment.
00:33:12.780 Interesting.
00:33:13.180 Let's get to another
00:33:13.760 question here.
00:33:14.500 Another one that came
00:33:15.160 through.
00:33:16.220 When are we going to
00:33:17.580 see indictments against
00:33:18.540 the Clinton slash
00:33:19.500 Biden's?
00:33:20.080 I mean, the whole
00:33:20.600 world has seen the
00:33:21.360 evidence.
00:33:22.380 What more is needed?
00:33:23.220 I think this goes back
00:33:24.360 to Hunter Biden,
00:33:25.620 James Biden, that the
00:33:27.340 Biden crime family
00:33:28.320 continues to expand.
00:33:29.980 People see the
00:33:30.680 laptop.
00:33:31.320 They see the money.
00:33:32.100 They see the
00:33:32.520 suspicious activity
00:33:33.180 reports.
00:33:33.780 And there does seem
00:33:34.860 to be two different
00:33:35.700 systems of justice in
00:33:36.780 this country.
00:33:37.460 If you're a Democrat,
00:33:38.640 you get a pass.
00:33:39.400 If you're a Republican,
00:33:40.260 we'll make up crimes 0.93
00:33:41.280 against you to shut 0.98
00:33:42.420 you up.
00:33:42.740 I mean, how we had
00:33:43.260 somebody that went to
00:33:43.960 jail the other day that
00:33:44.920 was convicted because
00:33:45.560 they made a meme of
00:33:46.300 Hillary Clinton about
00:33:47.140 Hillary Clinton.
00:33:48.100 And people see that and
00:33:50.000 they say we're not safe
00:33:52.040 in this country if you're
00:33:52.880 Republican and the
00:33:54.200 system can come after
00:33:55.180 you.
00:33:55.380 But Democrats, it's
00:33:56.740 good to go.
00:33:57.240 Do whatever you want
00:33:57.800 to do.
00:33:59.060 Look, if you look at
00:34:00.140 the conduct Hillary
00:34:01.580 Clinton committed, it
00:34:02.500 was altogether different
00:34:03.600 from this sort of
00:34:04.340 conduct.
00:34:05.380 And actually, as it
00:34:06.680 concerns false business
00:34:08.520 records, it was
00:34:09.240 identical and 10x worse.
00:34:11.600 In other words, Trump
00:34:12.440 is alleged to have done
00:34:13.680 so with 130,000.
00:34:15.340 Hillary Clinton is
00:34:16.220 admitted to have done
00:34:17.080 so with over a million
00:34:18.040 dollars.
00:34:18.520 The Bidens, we've
00:34:22.140 talked at great length
00:34:23.040 on this podcast about
00:34:24.140 the evidence of
00:34:25.200 corruption by the
00:34:26.380 Biden family.
00:34:27.700 It is significant.
00:34:29.020 I believe the Biden
00:34:29.980 DOJ wants to get
00:34:31.160 nowhere near it.
00:34:31.900 I don't believe they're
00:34:32.520 investigating it.
00:34:33.260 I don't believe they're
00:34:33.800 looking at it.
00:34:34.840 I believe Merrick
00:34:35.860 Garland's plan was to
00:34:38.200 indict Donald Trump for
00:34:40.360 improperly having
00:34:41.680 classified documents at
00:34:43.000 Mar-a-Lago.
00:34:43.640 I think they were very
00:34:44.400 excited.
00:34:44.960 I think they were, they
00:34:46.400 had started, they had
00:34:47.340 leaked.
00:34:47.700 They were going to
00:34:48.320 indict Hunter Biden for
00:34:51.040 drug and tax issues,
00:34:52.240 which don't implicate his
00:34:53.220 father or the family
00:34:53.940 corruption, just say poor
00:34:55.640 troubled soul with a
00:34:56.660 substance abuse problem.
00:34:58.280 I think Merrick Garland
00:34:59.500 wanted to do that in
00:35:00.620 order to show how
00:35:01.320 even-handed he was.
00:35:02.380 Look, I'm indicting a 1.00
00:35:03.140 Biden, I'm indicting a 1.00
00:35:03.980 Trump, see, it's right
00:35:04.920 in the middle.
00:35:06.300 Then a funny thing
00:35:07.360 happened on the way to
00:35:08.020 the forum, which is we
00:35:09.740 discovered that Joe
00:35:10.600 Biden had classified
00:35:11.620 documents stored seemingly
00:35:13.660 in every bodily orifice he
00:35:15.420 had.
00:35:15.640 Like, I don't understand
00:35:17.320 why Biden leaves classified
00:35:18.880 documents everywhere.
00:35:21.020 It started to become
00:35:22.280 almost a comedy of error as
00:35:23.580 one after the other, after
00:35:24.600 the other was discovered.
00:35:27.060 What it created was a
00:35:28.800 legal and even more
00:35:30.660 significantly a political
00:35:31.880 problem for Merrick Garland
00:35:33.600 in that now, I think
00:35:36.880 Garland understands if DOJ
00:35:38.560 indicts Donald Trump for
00:35:40.500 classified documents at
00:35:41.760 Mar-a-Lago, it is
00:35:43.920 indefensible not to indict
00:35:45.440 Joe Biden for the same
00:35:46.480 thing.
00:35:46.900 And so I think they feel
00:35:49.360 just stuck right now.
00:35:53.040 We've talked about the
00:35:55.300 special counsel who's been
00:35:56.640 appointed to investigate the
00:35:58.000 Biden classified documents.
00:35:59.880 The real question that will
00:36:01.420 indicate whether that
00:36:02.340 special counsel is
00:36:04.340 fulfilling his oath is
00:36:06.280 whether he's willing to
00:36:07.340 investigate and does in
00:36:08.540 fact investigate the
00:36:10.100 connections of corruption
00:36:11.260 back to Joe Biden himself
00:36:13.080 or whether he seals him
00:36:14.400 off and doesn't look at
00:36:15.740 the corruption.
00:36:16.960 I hope they do.
00:36:18.200 I have to say my level of
00:36:20.040 optimism that the Biden
00:36:21.120 DOJ will investigate or
00:36:23.400 prosecute the Biden family
00:36:24.920 corruption is extremely,
00:36:26.700 extremely low.
00:36:27.420 I want to get to one other
00:36:28.260 question before we get to
00:36:29.260 Mayorkas because I want to 1.00
00:36:30.080 make sure we leave time for
00:36:30.940 that and what he had to say
00:36:32.080 on 60 Minutes.
00:36:32.700 But the last one here is a
00:36:33.600 thread and I kind of want you
00:36:34.900 to go through it so people
00:36:35.740 understand and this is an
00:36:36.820 important one.
00:36:38.020 So this is an individual.
00:36:39.180 So we had when we put out
00:36:40.500 on Twitter said you have
00:36:41.400 questions about the Trump
00:36:42.460 indictment.
00:36:43.060 We had a lot of good
00:36:43.900 questions, a number of
00:36:45.100 which we went through in
00:36:45.840 this podcast.
00:36:46.680 We also had trolls on the
00:36:48.080 left who just kind of had
00:36:50.080 fun and that's fine. 0.72
00:36:50.960 I enjoy trolls.
00:36:52.100 I have to admit Twitter would
00:36:53.420 be more boring without the 0.92
00:36:55.180 trolls. 0.74
00:36:55.700 I enjoy jousting with lefties. 0.86
00:36:58.980 It's you know, it's usually
00:36:59.880 like shooting fish in a
00:37:00.840 barrel.
00:37:01.360 But in this instance, this
00:37:04.740 this person presumably from
00:37:06.140 the left sent out a tweet
00:37:07.640 that is copying an earlier
00:37:09.800 tweet I had sent that said
00:37:11.540 elected officials, no
00:37:12.520 matter how high their
00:37:13.220 position, should be held
00:37:14.580 accountable for criminal
00:37:15.440 conduct.
00:37:15.960 The rule of law matters.
00:37:17.000 And this individual says,
00:37:18.980 my question, is this you?
00:37:20.720 Ha ha, lefty. 0.99
00:37:21.480 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:37:21.980 I got it.
00:37:22.620 Well, this was actually part
00:37:24.320 of a thread of tweets that I
00:37:26.100 had sent about Hillary
00:37:27.000 Clinton.
00:37:27.460 So if you look at the thread,
00:37:29.120 the first email, this was on
00:37:30.700 October 28th, 2016, which is
00:37:32.860 Americans already know Hillary 0.99
00:37:34.880 Clinton's lifelong pattern of
00:37:36.260 corruption.
00:37:36.620 And I linked to a detailed
00:37:39.440 summary of that lifelong
00:37:40.840 pattern.
00:37:41.960 The second tweet was, it's
00:37:43.840 abundantly clear her handling
00:37:45.220 of classified info on a
00:37:46.500 private email server was
00:37:48.180 grossly negligent, as the FBI
00:37:50.260 admitted this summer.
00:37:51.340 You remember James Comey at
00:37:52.200 his press conference admitting
00:37:53.760 she'd violated the law and it
00:37:55.180 was grossly negligent.
00:37:56.740 And then the third tweet was,
00:37:58.820 elected officials, no matter
00:37:59.940 how high their position, should
00:38:01.280 be held accountable for
00:38:02.800 criminal conduct.
00:38:03.660 The rule of law matters.
00:38:04.740 Every bit of that is
00:38:06.260 absolutely right.
00:38:07.160 And with Hillary Clinton, you
00:38:08.340 saw a repeated pattern of
00:38:10.700 criminal behavior.
00:38:12.100 And you also saw a repeated
00:38:14.200 pattern of the destruction of
00:38:15.520 evidence, including wiping
00:38:18.080 hard drives, including using
00:38:19.940 hammers to smash cell phones to
00:38:22.460 destroy the evidence.
00:38:23.840 By the way, as a legal matter, if
00:38:25.580 you destroy evidence, you are
00:38:28.740 entitled to presume that that is
00:38:31.380 because the evidence would have
00:38:32.820 implicated you in a crime.
00:38:34.640 In this instance, the alleged
00:38:37.440 crime that Alvin Bragg is
00:38:39.040 bringing of a bookkeeping error is
00:38:41.520 number one, trivial, number two,
00:38:43.340 past the statute of limitations, and
00:38:46.420 number three, obviously pretextual.
00:38:49.720 To say the rule of law matters, look,
00:38:52.100 there's a concomitant aspect to it,
00:38:54.660 which is when you are prosecuting a
00:38:58.960 government official, particularly a
00:39:00.640 government official of the opposing
00:39:02.120 party.
00:39:03.480 There is an obligation that you have
00:39:05.680 a standard that this really
00:39:08.020 matter, that this be a real and
00:39:10.400 significant violation, that it not
00:39:12.220 be some ticky tack.
00:39:13.980 Aha, I got video of you going 56
00:39:16.160 miles an hour and a 55.
00:39:17.780 We're coming to put you away.
00:39:20.920 That principle is absolutely true.
00:39:24.120 And listen, I'm not advocating that
00:39:27.040 Biden be prosecuted for ticky tack
00:39:29.140 irrelevant issues.
00:39:30.420 I'm interested in whether he was
00:39:33.540 engaged in actual corruption with the
00:39:36.840 government of the Chinese communist
00:39:38.440 government that was enriching himself
00:39:40.820 and his family to the tune of millions
00:39:42.520 of dollars.
00:39:43.160 That's classic public corruption.
00:39:46.120 It is significant.
00:39:47.020 It is consequential.
00:39:48.260 And the corporate media and the
00:39:50.580 Democrats desperately want to avoid any
00:39:52.400 inquiry to that.
00:39:53.460 I don't expect the DOJ to get into it.
00:39:55.420 I do expect the House of Representatives
00:39:57.920 to continue to press forward with
00:40:01.320 oversight and make those facts public.
00:40:02.960 And a side note, if someone's going to
00:40:04.240 try to troll you, they should at least
00:40:05.660 read the whole Twitter thread before
00:40:06.960 they do it.
00:40:08.100 Public service announcement there.
00:40:09.580 You know, oddly enough, trolls are
00:40:11.340 rarely known for their diligence and
00:40:14.940 attention to detail.
00:40:15.880 Yeah.
00:40:16.460 I want to talk about Mayorkas real quick. 0.97
00:40:17.880 The border, it's a really important
00:40:19.300 issue.
00:40:20.100 You had a bunch of back and forth with
00:40:22.140 Mayorkas when he was testifying
00:40:23.240 recently we've talked about on the pod.
00:40:25.080 If you missed it, go back and listen
00:40:26.260 to that.
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00:41:17.540 Senator, let's talk about what's been
00:41:20.280 happening with Mayorkas to the border. 1.00
00:41:22.600 You talked to him about what was going
00:41:24.700 at the border.
00:41:25.840 It's now becoming, I think, a political
00:41:27.720 liability for the Biden administration
00:41:30.040 when you see the media asking questions
00:41:32.840 that they refuse to answer.
00:41:34.620 One of those happened on 60 Minutes,
00:41:36.260 and I want people to see what was said.
00:41:37.800 Take a look.
00:41:38.660 The chief of the Border Patrol, Raul Ortiz,
00:41:40.880 testified before Congress that some areas
00:41:43.100 of the border are in a crisis situation.
00:41:45.440 Do you agree?
00:41:46.720 I think that we face a very serious
00:41:48.860 challenge in certain parts of the border.
00:41:51.180 Do you view what's happening right now
00:41:52.960 on the border as a crisis?
00:41:54.460 I view it as a significant challenge.
00:41:56.760 Why won't you say the word crisis?
00:41:58.360 You know what?
00:41:58.840 Because I have tremendous faith in the
00:42:00.920 people of the Department of Homeland
00:42:02.720 Security, and a crisis speaks to me of a
00:42:06.640 withdrawal from our mission, and we are
00:42:10.660 only putting more force and more energy
00:42:13.280 into it.
00:42:13.780 I don't believe him.
00:42:15.100 I think you would probably agree with that.
00:42:16.460 I also think at some point you just look 1.00
00:42:17.960 like an idiot when you won't admit 1.00
00:42:19.940 what everybody's watching. 1.00
00:42:21.720 You know, we're looking at now over 6 million
00:42:24.080 illegal immigrants have crossed under his 1.00
00:42:26.000 watch under Joe Biden's presidency.
00:42:27.580 It's the worst illegal immigration in our 1.00
00:42:29.960 nation's history.
00:42:31.240 We have had also massive spikes in the number
00:42:34.300 of illegal immigrants dying on the border
00:42:37.100 under his watch.
00:42:38.960 We had the highest rate of drug overdoses
00:42:40.960 last year in our nation's history,
00:42:42.840 over 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses,
00:42:46.620 the vast majority from Chinese fentanyl
00:42:49.180 flooding across the border, and he doesn't
00:42:51.160 consider any of that a crisis.
00:42:52.780 Look, what he's doing is obvious.
00:42:55.680 It's political.
00:42:57.000 He is engaging in political spin.
00:42:58.840 Someone is giving him a talking point that
00:43:01.060 if you say the word crisis, it's bad politics.
00:43:04.080 And so he engages in absolute denial of reality.
00:43:09.360 You know, it really was striking.
00:43:10.480 60 Minutes, their cross-examination is almost
00:43:13.760 word for word.
00:43:15.100 The cross-examination I did a week earlier
00:43:17.760 in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
00:43:19.260 Here, take a look.
00:43:20.000 Yeah.
00:43:20.740 Is there a crisis at our southern border?
00:43:23.540 Senator, there is a very significant...
00:43:25.920 That's a yes or no question.
00:43:26.980 There's a very significant...
00:43:27.620 Is there a crisis?
00:43:29.700 Senator, there's a very significant challenge...
00:43:31.620 I think your microphone is not on.
00:43:34.340 There is a very significant challenge that we are facing...
00:43:37.020 Yes or no.
00:43:37.720 Is there a crisis?
00:43:39.060 I believe I've addressed that question, Senator.
00:43:40.940 So you're refusing to answer?
00:43:42.060 Senator, there is a very significant challenge...
00:43:45.000 Will you answer if there's a crisis?
00:43:46.900 Therefore, we are dedicating the resources...
00:43:49.040 Okay, so you're refusing to answer.
00:43:50.780 It reminds me of my kids arguing with Siri
00:43:53.060 when they're trying to get Siri to do something for them.
00:43:55.200 He refused five times.
00:43:57.040 So, five times in a row, I ask him,
00:44:00.060 is there a crisis?
00:44:00.760 Now, note, he won't say no.
00:44:03.780 Yeah.
00:44:04.280 And he won't say yes.
00:44:05.340 Yeah.
00:44:06.480 When you ask, is there a crisis?
00:44:08.180 He says, there's a significant challenge.
00:44:09.780 It was clear some little pipsqueak political staffer
00:44:13.020 gave a talking point.
00:44:14.080 When everyone asks, is there a crisis?
00:44:15.500 Say, there's a significant challenge.
00:44:17.480 I think it's a mistake not to answer questions.
00:44:21.320 He's a horrible witness.
00:44:24.300 But it says something that even the press, 60 Minutes,
00:44:27.340 I mean, to see 60 Minutes laughing,
00:44:30.460 saying, why wouldn't you admit it's a crisis?
00:44:32.480 Like, look, later in my questioning, as you know,
00:44:35.240 I got very angry with Mayorkas, 1.00
00:44:36.880 and I am very angry with Mayorkas, 1.00
00:44:38.880 because for me, this is personal.
00:44:41.000 Look, I represent 30 million Texans.
00:44:43.100 I'm down on the border.
00:44:44.080 I see the people in South Texas that are suffering.
00:44:47.560 I've seen the children who are physically assaulted. 0.65
00:44:50.640 I've seen the women who've been raped. 0.94
00:44:52.900 I've seen the human carnage.
00:44:55.440 I've seen dead bodies floating in the Rio Grande.
00:44:58.880 The wristbands that you showed at the hearing the other week.
00:45:01.100 Which he didn't know what they were.
00:45:02.280 Yeah.
00:45:02.460 I have to say, in the entire hearing,
00:45:04.820 that was the moment that stunned me the most.
00:45:07.640 When I put up the wristbands,
00:45:09.160 that wasn't meant to be a gotcha question.
00:45:11.180 I was going to ask him about how tragic it was
00:45:15.300 that the cartels are putting color-coded wristbands
00:45:20.440 on the wrists of almost every illegal immigrant 1.00
00:45:22.360 to correspond to how many thousands of dollars they owe,
00:45:25.280 that they treat them like human cattle,
00:45:26.900 they treat them like cargo,
00:45:28.760 they trap the teenage boys in working for the drug dealers
00:45:32.080 in cities across America, 0.56
00:45:33.540 they trap the teenage girls in sex slavery.
00:45:36.380 All of that is horrific,
00:45:38.480 which I intended to ask him about.
00:45:40.960 But I was stunned when he said,
00:45:42.520 I don't know what those wristbands are.
00:45:44.260 Like, you have literally not even pretended to do your job,
00:45:49.140 if that's the case,
00:45:50.080 because it means when you stand on the banks of the Rio Grande,
00:45:53.760 you see them covering the grass.
00:45:56.640 You look down and just see hundreds.
00:45:58.240 You see thousands of them.
00:45:59.720 You see little ones that are clearly on little kids
00:46:01.880 that are on four, five, six-year-old kids.
00:46:05.200 When you talk to Border Patrol agents,
00:46:06.900 what it means, if he was telling the truth,
00:46:08.660 if he wasn't lying,
00:46:09.940 I don't know if he was lying
00:46:11.040 when he said he didn't know what those were,
00:46:12.380 but if he was telling the truth,
00:46:14.340 it means he hasn't bothered in two years on the job
00:46:16.820 to sit down with his agents and say,
00:46:18.100 hey, what's happening?
00:46:19.220 And I got to say his defense in 60 minutes.
00:46:21.380 Well, I won't say it's a crisis
00:46:22.840 because it's, I believe in my agents. 1.00
00:46:27.600 What a steaming pile of crap. 0.99
00:46:30.060 I got to tell you, his agents don't believe in him. 1.00
00:46:31.860 I talk to his agents.
00:46:33.340 They'll all tell you it's a crisis.
00:46:35.160 Every one of them will tell you it's a crisis,
00:46:38.120 and it's a crisis because of him,
00:46:40.100 and it's a crisis because of Joe Biden.
00:46:42.160 Now, I'm going to make a prediction.
00:46:45.040 Within six months,
00:46:48.280 Mayorkas will be out of his job.
00:46:49.780 Really?
00:46:50.140 I don't know if he'll resign or if Biden will fire him,
00:46:54.000 but I think the Democrats have decided
00:46:57.440 to make Mayorkas the scapegoat,
00:46:59.040 even sending him out on 60 Minutes.
00:47:01.540 Well, and it looks like the media is clearly
00:47:04.200 kind of starting to become done with him,
00:47:06.200 and I want to show this last clip
00:47:07.680 because it proves that point look.
00:47:09.820 But the DHS estimates another 600,000 people
00:47:13.280 evaded agents and entered the U.S. illegally,
00:47:16.760 the highest number in over a decade.
00:47:18.900 What the American people see
00:47:21.440 is a border that looks to be chaotic,
00:47:25.000 that looks to be porous.
00:47:26.560 Well, let's, I mean,
00:47:27.880 the number of people that are arriving at our border
00:47:31.120 is at an extraordinary height.
00:47:35.200 There's no question about that.
00:47:36.960 But that is not unique
00:47:38.440 to the southern border of the United States.
00:47:41.140 There is a tremendous amount of movement
00:47:43.240 throughout the hemisphere
00:47:44.340 and, in fact, throughout the world.
00:47:46.720 The fact that even 60 Minutes would show those images
00:47:49.400 tells you that the tide is turning,
00:47:51.300 but then also the fact that he's got
00:47:53.160 such a terrible response to their question
00:47:54.920 with video evidence tells you something else.
00:47:58.040 Well, look, it's the talking point of the Democrats.
00:48:00.100 We saw this at the hearing with Mayorkas and Judiciary,
00:48:02.740 where they all said,
00:48:03.260 this is not Biden's fault.
00:48:04.800 There was illegal immigration before Biden,
00:48:06.780 and it's a problem elsewhere in the world.
00:48:08.740 That's all part of it.
00:48:09.600 It's not our fault, not our fault.
00:48:10.700 We didn't do anything wrong,
00:48:12.440 except for one very inconvenient fact.
00:48:16.240 In 2020, the last year of Trump's presidency,
00:48:19.760 we had the lowest rate of illegal immigration
00:48:22.220 in 45 years.
00:48:24.660 The instant Joe Biden became president,
00:48:29.240 the rate skyrocketed.
00:48:30.700 That week skyrocketed.
00:48:33.360 We now have the highest rate ever recorded.
00:48:36.160 We went from the lowest rate in 45 years
00:48:38.540 to the highest rate ever recorded.
00:48:39.920 We went instantaneously because of Joe Biden
00:48:43.480 and Alejandro Mayorkas' decisions.
00:48:46.380 And I told you the moment at the judiciary hearing
00:48:49.760 when I really realized, wow,
00:48:51.680 the Democrats have decided they found their scapegoat
00:48:54.160 and he's a bald Cuban in the cabinet,
00:48:57.140 which is when Mayorkas was getting pummeled by me
00:49:01.660 and he looked to Dick Durbin,
00:49:03.000 the chairman of the committee,
00:49:03.900 and said, Mr. Chairman, will you help me?
00:49:06.200 And Durbin, I've spent 11 years tangling with Durbin.
00:49:08.840 He loves to argue with me.
00:49:10.360 I actually love to argue with him.
00:49:12.660 We have been in there pounding on each other many times.
00:49:16.900 He just looked and kind of shrugged
00:49:18.680 and was like, didn't say a word.
00:49:21.120 And I was like-
00:49:21.980 That's not what you were expecting.
00:49:24.720 Durbin, all right.
00:49:25.580 If it had been Merrick Garland
00:49:27.060 who'd done the exact same thing,
00:49:28.940 Durbin would have jumped in
00:49:30.280 and started arguing with me,
00:49:31.740 which is what he always does.
00:49:33.060 You can Google and find a dozen videos
00:49:35.380 of Durbin jumping in and arguing with me
00:49:37.440 when I'm questioning a witness
00:49:38.780 and it's a Democrat witness,
00:49:40.720 a Biden cabinet member,
00:49:42.120 or an Obama cabinet member,
00:49:43.600 and they're taking on water.
00:49:45.420 It's not going well for them.
00:49:47.540 Durbin, like clockwork,
00:49:48.780 will jump in and try to protect them.
00:49:51.460 And the fact that he just kind of shrugged
00:49:54.120 and is like, nope, you're on your own, buddy.
00:49:56.560 It said to me, wow.
00:49:58.160 Okay, they've made a decision.
00:49:59.960 He's their guy.
00:50:00.820 This is a problem,
00:50:01.940 and he's the fall guy.
00:50:03.600 Within six months,
00:50:05.580 I think Mayorkas is gone.
00:50:06.880 It's going to be a big week
00:50:08.000 in political history.
00:50:09.480 It's going to be very interesting
00:50:10.420 to see what happens,
00:50:11.140 how this plays out in New York.
00:50:12.140 I can promise you this.
00:50:13.540 We will be covering it on Verdict,
00:50:15.540 so make sure you hit that subscribe button.
00:50:17.480 Hit that auto-download button.
00:50:18.900 Remember, if you're watching this,
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00:50:30.120 We will be on top of it all this week.
00:50:31.800 We even did a podcast on Thursday nights
00:50:33.920 last Friday morning,
00:50:34.680 like two in the morning this week
00:50:36.660 when all this hits,
00:50:37.800 so we will be doing this for you.
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00:50:51.360 We'll see you then.
00:50:52.020 Thanks for watching and listening, as always.
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00:50:57.880 Guaranteed human.