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Speaker 1: This is Steve Schmidt and welcome to another edition of

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Speaker 1: the Warning Podcast. And today I am really happy to

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Speaker 1: bring you Chris Whipple. He is the investigative reporter, the

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Speaker 1: political journalist who has written the book that is in

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Speaker 1: the news detailing what happened in the twenty twenty four election.

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Speaker 1: The name of the book is Unchartered, How Trump beat Biden,

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Speaker 1: Harris and the odds in the wildest campaign in history.

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Speaker 1: There is a profound issue, in my view, that is

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Speaker 1: raised in this book. It's the second of three books

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Speaker 1: that have been talked about publicly that will be coming

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Speaker 1: out that look at the White House decision making and

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Speaker 1: Biden's condition, the implications of it, all the consequences of

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Speaker 1: the decision, the accountability for that decision, and of course

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Speaker 1: the full magnitude, dude of the crisis. Right now, we're

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Speaker 1: going to get into it with Chris Whipple. But when

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Speaker 1: you read this book, and it's urgent that you do

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Speaker 1: read this book, buy this book. You need to understand

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Speaker 1: the dynamics of power and this book will help you

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Speaker 1: do that. And when I read these books, what they

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Speaker 1: are is first drafts of history. This will be an

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Speaker 1: issue that is studied in the United States fifty years

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Speaker 1: from now, seventy five years from now, it will have

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Speaker 1: as long in endurance as did the questions around Edith

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Speaker 1: Wilson's decisions during that administration and how she handled her

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Speaker 1: incapacitated husband. Now Edith Wilson after President Wilson had a stroke,

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Speaker 1: never relented from her conviction that she did the right

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Speaker 1: thing and did what Woodrow Wilson would have wanted her

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Speaker 1: to do. Of course, if you have responsibility for maintaining

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Speaker 1: a constitutional republic, it was the wrong thing to do.

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Speaker 1: The continuity of constitutional powered succession does not flow through

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Speaker 1: the president's wife. And so, with no further ado, I

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Speaker 1: want to bring Chris Whipple into the conversation and get started.

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Speaker 1: And so Chris, I said that I look at the

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Speaker 1: book as a first draft of history. But how did

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Speaker 1: you look at it as you were writing it? And

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Speaker 1: what was your intention to try to find out, explore

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Speaker 1: and bring to the reader and do doing this because

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Speaker 1: obviously there's going to be a lot of books written

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Speaker 1: about this, and so why were you like I have

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Speaker 1: to write one about this?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, first, Steve, great to be with you, Honored to

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Speaker 2: be here. I was writing a different book under contract

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Speaker 2: for HarperCollins in the summer of twenty twenty four. It

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Speaker 2: was to be a book about presidential campaign managers from

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Speaker 2: nineteen sixty eight to the present. When suddenly, that fateful

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Speaker 2: weekend of July twenty twenty one, the bottom fell out

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Speaker 2: of the political world, and when Biden dropped out, I

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Speaker 2: said to myself, I can't do both books, but this

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Speaker 2: is the book I have to do the twenty twenty

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Speaker 2: four campaign, because it's the political story of the century,

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Speaker 2: and it reed it needed my full time attention. I

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Speaker 2: thought I was uniquely qualified to do it because not

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Speaker 2: because I'm smarter than anybody else, but because I had

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Speaker 2: sources within Biden world and Trump world, and I ultimately

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Speaker 2: got them in Harris world as well to tell the

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Speaker 2: stories I think nobody else could have done. So that's

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Speaker 2: why I felt it was compelling, but mostly for history,

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Speaker 2: because it's just this was a book that had to

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Speaker 2: be written and had to be done fast. I called

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Speaker 2: my boss at HarperCollins, Lisa Sharky, who's a force of nature,

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Speaker 2: and she immediately agreed to put her team behind it,

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Speaker 2: and off I went.

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Speaker 1: What has the reaction been to the book by the

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Speaker 1: people who are featured in the book. Ron Klain, Steve Schetty,

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Speaker 1: Mike Donaldan, do they believe they were fairly treated in

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Speaker 1: the book.

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Speaker 2: Here's the thing. I can't answer that question satisfactorily because

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Speaker 2: I've only really been in contact with Ron playing since

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Speaker 2: the book came out, and as you know, it came

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Speaker 2: out yesterday. It's been making headlines for a while because

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Speaker 2: of an excerpt I did in Vandy Fair two excerpts

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Speaker 2: and other stuff. But here's the thing, Steve, It's it's

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Speaker 2: the it's the strangest and wildest story you can imagine

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Speaker 2: behind closed doors. My view is that Karl Rove got

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Speaker 2: it wrong when he said that this was a gigantic conspiracy.

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Speaker 2: I don't think. I don't believe this was a cover

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Speaker 2: up in the Watergate sense of the word. It was

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Speaker 2: stranger and wilder and every bit as troubling as that.

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Speaker 2: What I think happened was that Biden's inner circle convinced themselves,

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Speaker 2: including Ron Klain, and we can talk about him because

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Speaker 2: you know you need you need a master psychologist to

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Speaker 2: explain what happened with him, But they managed to convince

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Speaker 2: themselves that Biden could somehow win this thing, that he

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Speaker 2: could run, that he could win, and that they could

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Speaker 2: all stay in power for another four years. Now, Klaan

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Speaker 2: is the real, as the New York Times book review

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Speaker 2: put it in my I can't quote them exactly, but

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Speaker 2: the reviewer said, you know, how do you how do

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Speaker 2: you possibly reconcile these two Ron Klains Clain told me

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Speaker 2: in devastating detail just how wobbly and out of it

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Speaker 2: Joe Biden was during the debate prep a camp. David

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Speaker 2: and nobody else has that story. Ron told it to

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Speaker 2: me in detail. The floodgates open and he and he

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Speaker 2: gave me a blow by blow description of how Biden

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Speaker 2: was out of it. He was he couldn't really explain

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Speaker 2: what he wanted to do in a second term. He

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Speaker 2: was obsessed with Emmanuel McCrone and ol Off Schultz and

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Speaker 2: kept talking about how they think I'm a great president,

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Speaker 2: so I'm must be. He half jokingly thought that Biden

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Speaker 2: thought he was president of NATO instead of the US.

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Speaker 2: He at one point the president left aspen Lodge just

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Speaker 2: got up, walked out to the pool, sank into a

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Speaker 2: lounge chair, and fell sound asleep. They managed to entice

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Speaker 2: him back later in the day. I could go on.

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Speaker 2: But here's the long, winted answer. But to get back

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Speaker 2: to your original question, how do you reconcile the ron

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Speaker 2: Klain who witnessed that disastrous debate prep prior to that

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Speaker 2: terrible debate, and the ron Klain who a few weeks

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Speaker 2: later was fighting to keep Joe Biden in the race

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Speaker 2: at almost any cost. He wanted to die on that hill.

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Speaker 2: He thought that Biden should stay on as the nominee.

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Speaker 2: And we can talk about it. It's it's hour by hour.

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Speaker 2: It's an amazing behind the scenes story. So I've talked

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Speaker 2: to Ron he has said he hasn't disputed a single

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Speaker 2: thing that I've reported, except he says I had the

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Speaker 2: framing wrong. He thinks that Joe Biden's condition had to

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Speaker 2: do with his poor preparation by the White House aides

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Speaker 2: who succeeded him. He doesn't mention, he doesn't name Jeff Science,

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Speaker 2: but he's clearly talking about Science and his team and

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Speaker 2: thought that they failed somehow to prepare Biden for the debate,

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Speaker 2: prep that he And it makes no sense to me

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Speaker 2: because again, you know is Biden wanders out and falls

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Speaker 2: asleep in a lounge chair by the pool and that's

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Speaker 2: somehow Jeff science is fault. I don't think so.

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Speaker 1: Does wrong claim have any sense of discernible shame and

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Speaker 1: chense of discernible guilt? Do any of these people in

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Speaker 1: this moment look at what is happening to this country

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Speaker 1: and appreciate that this is what will be carved on

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Speaker 1: their gravestones.

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Speaker 2: It's the you know, it's the sixty four thousand dollars question,

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Speaker 2: and I don't know the answer to it.

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Speaker 1: Steve.

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Speaker 2: You know again, I've been in contact with Ron and

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Speaker 2: since the book came out, and again he disputes what

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Speaker 2: he calls the framing of of that pre debate.

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Speaker 1: Prep As we get deeper into the conversation, I'm only

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Speaker 1: going to stop you to challenge not you, obviously, but

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Speaker 1: what I think is a nonsense concept.

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Speaker 2: I've also got a siren going by, so this is

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Speaker 2: a good time to pok.

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Speaker 1: I can't hear it. The country is besieged by incoherence,

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Speaker 1: by nonsense talk, the tariffs, the math. This is a

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Speaker 1: White House chief of staff, a person who has, through appointment,

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Speaker 1: held tremendous power, tremendous responsibility, is called on to exercise judgment.

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Speaker 1: And his answer to this is now you got the

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Speaker 1: framing wrong. Well, what does that mean? What could it

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Speaker 1: conceivably mean? Because the book makes clear an extraordinary and

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Speaker 1: vivid detail, unrefuted, that the president of the United States

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Speaker 1: is just utterly incapacitated. And you know that because Ron

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Speaker 1: Klain tells you that, and then Ron Klain does everything

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Speaker 1: he can conceivably do to maintain the incapacitated president in

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Speaker 1: a political campaign that all of the campaign experts, starting

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Speaker 1: with David Pluff, appreciate. They've been behind from day one,

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Speaker 1: that they can't win, and they're telling the country A.

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Speaker 1: He's fine, b they're winning. C. Biden is the only

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Speaker 1: candidate who can beat Trump, though d He's losing to

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Speaker 1: Trump and he's incapacitated. And ron Claim comes back and

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Speaker 1: he says, no, you have the narrative wrong. What does

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Speaker 1: that mean? Yeah, no, I don't.

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Speaker 2: I don't know what it means either, except let me

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Speaker 2: just let me just say one thing in fairness to

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Speaker 2: their belief that this guy could actually run again, and

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Speaker 2: that is, there are some inconvenient facts here from the

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Speaker 2: point of view of people who say this was a

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Speaker 2: gigantic conspiracy and everybody knew that Biden was incapacitated, and

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Speaker 2: I knew.

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Speaker 1: But here's the thing. Listen, Listen. I knew in twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty two because I consume news and I watched television.

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Speaker 1: I said it would be a national catastrophe if he

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Speaker 1: ran again. I knew, and you were right, and I

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Speaker 1: what and and the Congress knew. Democratic Congress Nan Dean

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Speaker 1: Phillips talks about that on a podcast. Joe Biden had

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Speaker 1: gone into a conference launch and he was utterly incoherent.

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Speaker 1: So one of the great lies in this is that

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Speaker 1: nobody knew. The most astonishing aspect of these three books

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Speaker 1: is the next one. Jake Tapper is going to write

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Speaker 1: a book, and Jake Tapper's asking questions about the Biden

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Speaker 1: cover up. It is madness. Well, no, I agree with you,

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Speaker 1: type of madness that you're seeing play out with Trump

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Speaker 1: and the tariffs precisely.

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Speaker 2: But here's the thing, Steve, here's the stunning thing that

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Speaker 2: is absolutely inexplicable to me, but absolutely fascinating, and that

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Speaker 2: is I am convinced that these guys, the inner circle,

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Speaker 2: and I'm talking about Mike donald On, Steve Shetty, Bruce Reid,

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Speaker 2: the people, the real inner circle, they were closer than science,

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Speaker 2: the chief of staff to the President. They watched that

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Speaker 2: debate on June twenty seventh, and they convinced themselves that

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Speaker 2: this was just a quote unquote bad night. They truly

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Speaker 2: believed that. And I'll give you an example. Anita don

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Speaker 2: one of his closest advisers, was watching a so called

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Speaker 2: dial group, a focused group of people turning dials up

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Speaker 2: and down, registering their reaction. And after Biden had his

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Speaker 2: meltdown and said we finally saved Medicare, when any reasonable

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Speaker 2: objective observer would have said, he's he can't go on,

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Speaker 2: he's he's had a stroke or something, something is terribly wrong,

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Speaker 2: they convinced themselves that Biden had actually won that debate.

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Speaker 2: And here's this is now. Anita Don said, look after

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Speaker 2: that moment, which was the worst moment arguably, Trump said

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Speaker 2: a lot of outrageous things, as he always does, and

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Speaker 2: dials were, dials were being dialed downward, and she said,

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Speaker 2: you know, I think we picked up some votes. I

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Speaker 2: kid you not, that is what she thought, and that

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Speaker 2: wasn't spent. I think she believed it. I know that.

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Speaker 2: Just to finish I know that Mike Donalon again, he well,

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Speaker 2: let me before I get to Donald. Several months later,

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Speaker 2: I'm at the White House. I interviewed Rashetti and Reid

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Speaker 2: and they were still in this force field of denial.

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Speaker 2: They were convinced that the party had lost its mind,

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Speaker 2: that it had walked away from a guy who won

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Speaker 2: eighty one million votes in twenty twenty and that he

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Speaker 2: would have won this time around. Donaldon went to the

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Speaker 2: Kennedy School and told the assembled audience that the same

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Speaker 2: thing that and Donalon was convinced. So that's the depth

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Speaker 2: of delusion and denial here.

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Speaker 1: That was my next question. He was as he was

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Speaker 1: convinced or he's delusional both, perhaps delions both.

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Speaker 2: Perhaps you look anybody, anybody who's ever had to take

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Speaker 2: the car keys away from an octagenarian father. Grandfather knew

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Speaker 2: that Joe Biden had no business running for reelection in

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty four at the age of eighty two, showing

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Speaker 2: the effects of aging that everybody could see, but they

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Speaker 2: they believed what they wanted to believe instead of their

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Speaker 2: lying eyes. In effect, that's to me what is so

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Speaker 2: unbelievably strange and fascinating about the book. And of course

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Speaker 2: I get into the detail.

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Speaker 1: So we apply a standard I apply a standard does

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Speaker 1: not give the benefit of the doubt to the MAGA folks,

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Speaker 1: to Donald Trump's cabinet. When you look at Pete Hegsath

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Speaker 1: and Tulci Gabbert and Mike Wall's on the signal chat

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Speaker 1: conducting military operations, I try and think, is there any

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Speaker 1: conceivable analogy that equals it with regard to recklessness? And

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Speaker 1: there is you just described. And so you also opened

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Speaker 1: another door to the competency of these people that Aneda done.

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Speaker 1: And I think this is so important to focus on

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Speaker 1: the incompetence and competence and how crazy politics in the

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Speaker 1: United States is. Okay, you have a woman who watched

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Speaker 1: that debate happened, and I want everyone who's watching this

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Speaker 1: to appreciate this. You watched the debate. I knew what

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Speaker 1: was going on in that debate. Some I would say,

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Speaker 1: at a at a maximum thirty seconds in right and

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Speaker 1: I and I have a social media post within two

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Speaker 1: minutes that makes clear. So she watches that said no, no, no,

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Speaker 1: we won because people had a dial in their hands.

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Speaker 1: And you have an entire generation of Democratic candidates who

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Speaker 1: literally cannot speak an English sentence in front of an

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Speaker 1: American voter until they have someone like I need it done,

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Speaker 1: tell them what to say because of what the dial said,

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Speaker 1: and what the dial said was Joe Biden won.

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Speaker 2: That was crazy. And look, I'm not saying that this

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Speaker 2: in any way excuses what Biden's inner circle did. I

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Speaker 2: think history is going to judge them harshly. I think

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Speaker 2: that this was a debacle of epic proportions.

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Speaker 1: It left the betrayal of the country. It was. It

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Speaker 1: was a betrayal of the country of the highest magne kid.

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Speaker 2: It was an abdication of leadership for sure, all the

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Speaker 2: way around. And look, and not just of Biden's inner circle,

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Speaker 2: but of Democrats who failed to step up and challenge Biden,

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Speaker 2: as you know, as Bill Dailey put it to me,

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Speaker 2: you know, none of them had any freaking balls. Nobody

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Speaker 2: would step up, and nobody of consequence would step up

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Speaker 2: and challenge.

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Speaker 1: So let's step back and we'll come back to the

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Speaker 1: White House players. But I want to talk about the

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Speaker 1: concept of cover up and I want to react specifically

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Speaker 1: to something you said here. Okay, So yeah, I saw

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Speaker 1: you say on Tara tar palm Aery's podcast about this

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Speaker 1: that I wanted that I was interested and I wanted

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Speaker 1: to talk through with you. And what you said was

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Speaker 1: that it was not a cover up in the Watergate style. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: And as soon as you said that, I saw, I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna ask you a question, and you're coming on. And

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Speaker 1: obviously it's not a Watergates style cover up, but for

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Speaker 1: no other reason. The water state, the Watergate style cover

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Speaker 1: up began in nineteen seventy two, but you would acknowledge

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Speaker 1: that cover ups did not begin with Watergate. Sure, yeah, okay,

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Speaker 1: so I was yes or no? Does this meet your

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Speaker 1: definition of a cover up?

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Speaker 2: My answer would be it's stranger and more inex applicable

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Speaker 2: than a cover up. It is a case of the

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Speaker 2: most powerful, all the presidents, men and women, lost in

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Speaker 2: a fog of denial and delusion. And to me, that's

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Speaker 2: equally dangerous, if not more so. And here's here's here's

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Speaker 2: what they knew. And they knew this going way back,

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Speaker 2: and you could certainly define this as a cover up.

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Speaker 2: What they knew going back to twenty twenty was that

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Speaker 2: Joe Biden couldn't campaign effectively at all. They hit him

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Speaker 2: in the basement, as we all know, to use that cliche.

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Speaker 2: And there's a scene in the book that I described

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Speaker 2: that's really compelling When a former a Democratic operative from

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Speaker 2: the twenty twenty campaign comes to interview for a job

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Speaker 2: on the twenty twenty four campaign. She's in the oval

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Speaker 2: office with the president and his aides, and the conversation

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Speaker 2: takes an unexpectedly to turn when they say to her,

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Speaker 2: one of the aides, you know what, in twenty twenty,

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Speaker 2: we had COVID, We had the excuse to keep him

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Speaker 2: in the basement.

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Speaker 1: What do we do now?

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Speaker 2: So there was no doubt about it that there was

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Speaker 2: a cover up of Biden on the campaign trail. For sure.

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Speaker 2: It wasn't the first time that, you know, somebody tried

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Speaker 2: to hide a presidential candidate. And I mean, Jerry Ford

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Speaker 2: was such a lousy candidate that the Great, the Great

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Speaker 2: Steve's Spencer, sorry, the Great Stuve Spencer said to him

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Speaker 2: when he wanted to go barnstorming and campaigning, And Ford

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Speaker 2: said why not? Spencer said, because you're a lousy fucking candidate.

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Speaker 2: And Ford took a drag on his pipe and said, oh,

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Speaker 2: all right then.

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Speaker 1: But so it was the.

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Speaker 2: First time, but there was a there was They knew,

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Speaker 2: without a doubt, they knew that they had to minimize

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Speaker 2: his time on the Camp Pain Trail and his interactions

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Speaker 2: with others.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so after twenty twenty, Joe Biden called me true story.

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Speaker 1: I saw a DC number and I called it back

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Speaker 1: and man answered the phone, and I just said, who's

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Speaker 1: this and he says it's Joe. I said, Joe. Hib

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Speaker 1: It goes. Joe Biden was as I mister President elect.

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Speaker 1: He goes, I just want to thank you. I would

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Speaker 1: not have won this election without the Lincoln Project. And

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Speaker 1: that's true, he would not have. Lincoln Project raises one

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Speaker 1: hundred million dollars, has a billion dollars of impact, is

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Speaker 1: denounced by the left and the Democratic Washington Consultants is ineffective.

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Speaker 1: Is the only opposition group in that year right that

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Speaker 1: lays a glove on him, crushes him, destabilizes the campaign.

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Speaker 1: In twenty twenty four, I haven't been involved in the

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Speaker 1: group for four years. This group is now a grift,

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Speaker 1: raises fifty five million dollars in four years. It pockets

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Speaker 1: ninety percent of it. Eleven percent is spent on political activity.

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Speaker 1: That's a big business. Yeah, Okay, so there is an

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Speaker 1: industry that surrounds the inner circle that protects him. So

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Speaker 1: what you are describing is an inner circle of people

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Speaker 1: who are deluded in a fog. And I think it

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Speaker 1: is easy to say from there, these are well intentioned people,

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Speaker 1: and they did a bad thing in the end, but

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Speaker 1: it was out of love for this guy. Because there's

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Speaker 1: that moment that comes for us where you have to

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Speaker 1: take dad's keys away from the car, and that's not

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Speaker 1: what this is. This is the most powerful man in

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Speaker 1: the world. This is the President of the United States.

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Speaker 1: Every one of these people in the White House raised

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Speaker 1: their hand. They took an oath not to Joe Biden,

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Speaker 1: the Constitution of the United States, and they had an

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Speaker 1: obligation to the American people. And so I don't think

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Speaker 1: it's as benign as what you said because I experienced it. Okay,

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Speaker 1: I experienced what happened when you went out. So what

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Speaker 1: I want to say is they were belligerent, they were aggressive,

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Speaker 1: they shouted down, they punished, they retaliated, and in my case,

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Speaker 1: progressive groups filed complaints with the FEC. Weaponizing government against

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Speaker 1: the political opponent. Sounds familiar. So when I look at

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Speaker 1: the core, we have all these people and we'll come

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Speaker 1: back there. But then there's the circle around it, right

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Speaker 1: there's the bulwarks Tim Miller. So, Tim Miller, prominent guy,

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Speaker 1: former RNC Press secretary, Jeb Bush press secretary. This is

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Speaker 1: the guy who's never been involved in a winning campaign. Right,

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Speaker 1: is a political gadfly. He's in the business of never

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Speaker 1: Trump defines political courage. You can find him online jumping

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Speaker 1: out of a bush at that nut from Arizona, Carrie

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Speaker 1: Lake Grady stalks term. He's on the line at the

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Speaker 1: White House Christmas Party receiving line. And for any of

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Speaker 1: you who have not ever been around a president, it's

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Speaker 1: just protocols. The head of escape Tim Miller. Literally he

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Speaker 1: chocks everybody on this line. He jumps up out of

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Speaker 1: the line and he hugs Joe Biden. Biden, of course

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Speaker 1: is out of it, but he says to Bid, I'll

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Speaker 1: do anything to keep you in this job. Yeah, debate happens,

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Speaker 1: of course. Tim Miller is one of the first people

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Speaker 1: he's got to get out. But when Dean Phillips went out,

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Speaker 1: Tim Miller is a perfect example. Right, he's the hit man.

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Speaker 1: I'm a grifter, I'm a this, I'm a that, I'm

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Speaker 1: a well like Dean Phillips, I'm a war criminal. Because

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Speaker 1: how Darren, whether it's Tim Waltz, the idea though that

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Speaker 1: it was four people in it, and they saw bullshit.

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Speaker 1: It was an entire political party. And so the fundamental

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Speaker 1: question that every candidate is going to have to answer

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty eight is this one. Why did Biden lose? Now,

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Speaker 1: in the spirit of name that tune you asked, I

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Speaker 1: Tim Walts that question right or one of them? Nobody

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Speaker 1: can answer that that question coherently because of the cost

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Speaker 1: and the price of being yoked and tied to this

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Speaker 1: monstrous cover up that led to Trump. Because the answer

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Speaker 1: to the question of how Trump won, I want to

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Speaker 1: give you an answer as a political consult. Okay, my

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Speaker 1: previous side, old Trump was elected president of the United States,

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Speaker 1: the most prolific liar in American history, because on fundamental

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Speaker 1: questions of honesty, on the border, on the economy, and

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Speaker 1: on Biden's fundamental fitness, the dishonest candidate in the race,

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Speaker 1: the liar in the race was Joe Biden, and the

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Speaker 1: honest candidate in the race on those issues was Donald Trump.

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Speaker 1: And in the end, the cheapest words in American politics

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Speaker 1: turned out to be I'm a Biden.

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Speaker 2: Trust me, Well, I might argue with you about about

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Speaker 2: Trump and the border, for example, because you know his

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Speaker 2: only interest in the border was using it as a

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Speaker 2: as a political Cudgelty.

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Speaker 1: Did did the Biden administration tell the American people the

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Speaker 1: border was secure? The border is not secure.

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Speaker 2: Now listen, I'm not arguing that they did a good

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Speaker 2: job on the border by enemies, but the other thing, Steve,

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Speaker 2: just to circle back to your other point, I would

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Speaker 2: not necessarily argue with any of the points you've made,

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Speaker 2: except to say that I've never suggested, nor am i

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Speaker 2: today suggesting that there was anything benign about what these

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Speaker 2: guys and women in the Inner Circle did. It was,

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Speaker 2: it was, It's resulted in a tragedy, and and and

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Speaker 2: that's really what my book is about. It's it's about

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Speaker 2: what happened behind closed doors that is stranger than you

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Speaker 2: could possibly imagine. Because at the end of the day,

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Speaker 2: whether whatever their motive might be, and it and that

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Speaker 2: may be you know, above my pay grade and may

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Speaker 2: require your motive, was power, a psychologist, power they.

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Speaker 1: Want they their motive was power. Every one of those

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Speaker 1: keep knew that they would never ever again in their

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Speaker 1: lives be walking up the stairs behind the President on

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Speaker 1: Air Force one and flying on Marine one and being

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Speaker 1: in the White House and architecting history.

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Speaker 2: And I can't rule that out of the motive they wanted.

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Speaker 1: They wanted another hit on that pipe as much as

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Speaker 1: Hunter Biden wanted another hit on his crack pipe at

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Speaker 1: the lowest points of his exdiction. That's why now.

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Speaker 2: But Steve, that oversimplifies the story that I tell in

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Speaker 2: my book because in my view that while while their

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Speaker 2: motives may well have been what you'd described, I am

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Speaker 2: convinced that they were convinced that Biden could win this thing,

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Speaker 2: and to this day they are convinced of that. It's

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Speaker 2: maybe deluded, but Exhibit A is the fact that they

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Speaker 2: sent him out onto that stage on June twenty seventh

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Speaker 2: to go toe to toe with Donald Trump after a

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Speaker 2: disastrous debate prep in which they knew, should have known

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Speaker 2: that he wasn't up to it. They sent him out

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Speaker 2: there anyway. They thought he could win it. That's what's

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Speaker 2: so but wild about this story.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk about Jill Biden and Hunter Biden in her

433
00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:35,800
Speaker 1: role in this. So sure, I have Chuck Todd on

434
00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:40,680
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago, and Chuck Todd said something

435
00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:48,120
Speaker 1: It was brutal. It was trip. I've thought it, and

436
00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:54,360
Speaker 1: I have very few unexpressed thoughts in terms of I

437
00:32:54,440 --> 00:32:58,040
Speaker 1: just don't have the guts to say that something that's trip.

438
00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:05,280
Speaker 1: And he said this was a guy with two adult

439
00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:09,880
Speaker 1: drug addicted kids after the death of his eldest son

440
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:18,920
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen. The family isn't chaos. It's like, this

441
00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:25,760
Speaker 1: is the time for me to run for president. So

442
00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:31,120
Speaker 1: she wants the power too. What's her wrong?

443
00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:37,760
Speaker 2: Well, look, her role is that she was always there

444
00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:42,680
Speaker 2: to support Joe and whatever Joe wanted to do. We

445
00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:47,719
Speaker 2: can't know exactly what happened behind closed doors, and particularly,

446
00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:51,680
Speaker 2: you know, can you imagine being Joe Biden's wife during

447
00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:54,280
Speaker 2: that debate on June twenty seventh.

448
00:33:54,720 --> 00:33:58,160
Speaker 1: Well, and why was Joe Biden's wife or husband or whatever.

449
00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:01,360
Speaker 1: My spouse wouldn't have been running for president. So what

450
00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:07,680
Speaker 1: I want to understand is her psychological disorder or what's

451
00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:10,839
Speaker 1: making her tick, because it's not an act of love.

452
00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:13,359
Speaker 1: It was an act of cruelty, and it was an

453
00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:19,640
Speaker 1: act of despicable betrayal again towards the country which she

454
00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:22,319
Speaker 1: had the high honor to serve as first Lady. Is

455
00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:23,040
Speaker 1: she wanted more.

456
00:34:23,239 --> 00:34:25,360
Speaker 2: Well, whatever her motive may have been, she was certainly

457
00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:27,919
Speaker 2: all in with Joe power. She was all in with Joe.

458
00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:30,840
Speaker 2: And look, I mean, I write about the fact that

459
00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:34,880
Speaker 2: right after that debate, minutes later, back at the Atlanta Hotel,

460
00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:38,120
Speaker 2: she's gushing about what a great job he did and

461
00:34:38,200 --> 00:34:39,640
Speaker 2: how he answered all the questions.

462
00:34:40,120 --> 00:34:43,880
Speaker 1: She's doing that because she has to compensate. Is the

463
00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:48,279
Speaker 1: spouse because she believes it because someone told her to

464
00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:51,640
Speaker 1: say it, Like, what's happening there? Is she taking command?

465
00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:56,360
Speaker 1: Is she saying that you have all betrayed him, that

466
00:34:56,800 --> 00:35:00,839
Speaker 1: it's the prep that was the problem, not his sentience.

467
00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:02,200
Speaker 1: What's happened?

468
00:35:02,239 --> 00:35:04,520
Speaker 2: I think we can know for sure what she was thinking.

469
00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:07,000
Speaker 2: All we can know for sure is that she was

470
00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:10,359
Speaker 2: all in. She was all in. And you know, we

471
00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:13,400
Speaker 2: can't know if behind closed doors she said, Joe, listen,

472
00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:15,880
Speaker 2: I'm worried. You need to see a doctor. You need

473
00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:19,000
Speaker 2: to have an exam. We don't know, but every indication

474
00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:21,200
Speaker 2: we have was that she was all in for Joe

475
00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:23,759
Speaker 2: to just keep going. And that's you have.

476
00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:27,960
Speaker 1: A thorough neurological exam. In twenty twenty four, twenty twenty three.

477
00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:31,080
Speaker 2: I do not know the answer to that question. And

478
00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:35,560
Speaker 2: if somebody produces they failed neurological exam or or you know,

479
00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:40,160
Speaker 2: some deep sixed Parkinson's diagnosis that I'm not aware of,

480
00:35:40,719 --> 00:35:46,080
Speaker 2: I'll salute and say, yeah, that was a classic cover up.

481
00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:49,120
Speaker 2: But I think it was so much more complex and

482
00:35:49,239 --> 00:35:53,480
Speaker 2: fascinating to me again and inexplicable. You know, you need

483
00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:57,640
Speaker 2: a degree in psychology or to know much more about

484
00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:00,400
Speaker 2: the human mind to explain what happened here.

485
00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:06,320
Speaker 1: Let's let's go back now to the inner circle, because

486
00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:14,080
Speaker 1: again it's a vast apparatus surrounding this the party. Everyone

487
00:36:14,239 --> 00:36:17,200
Speaker 1: is in on it. You talk about the debate, I

488
00:36:17,200 --> 00:36:23,680
Speaker 1: want to ask you specifically about Valerie Biden's reaction in

489
00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:32,960
Speaker 1: the in the aftermath of it. But when the Biden

490
00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:42,520
Speaker 1: team is now in this period before Kamala Harris gets

491
00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:49,720
Speaker 1: into the race, and we start with from the thirty

492
00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:56,680
Speaker 1: seconds into the debate, most people I professionally recognize this

493
00:36:56,800 --> 00:37:03,120
Speaker 1: as a disaster. I needed done. She has the dials,

494
00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:09,160
Speaker 1: so the dials told her this is good. Joe Biden

495
00:37:09,200 --> 00:37:11,720
Speaker 1: has come out of this, and she's like, this is great.

496
00:37:13,640 --> 00:37:20,600
Speaker 1: When does it start to that there was a fire

497
00:37:20,719 --> 00:37:25,719
Speaker 1: in the house, right and people respond to that not good.

498
00:37:26,480 --> 00:37:32,439
Speaker 1: Is the kitchen Okay, the kitchen's gone, It's all gone. Right,

499
00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:35,400
Speaker 1: When does it start to when does reality sink in?

500
00:37:36,160 --> 00:37:39,040
Speaker 2: Well, almost immediately, I think reality starts to sink in.

501
00:37:39,520 --> 00:37:41,919
Speaker 2: They're still in denial about it, the Internet circle, they're

502
00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:47,160
Speaker 2: still fighting back, and Done was aggressively going after anybody

503
00:37:47,160 --> 00:37:49,560
Speaker 2: who suggested that it was more than just a bad night.

504
00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:53,480
Speaker 1: What does that mean when you say he's going after

505
00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:55,520
Speaker 1: people aggressively, how does that manifest it?

506
00:37:55,640 --> 00:38:00,759
Speaker 2: Well, just just publicly denouncing the suggestion and in no

507
00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:05,400
Speaker 2: uncertain terms. You know, even Geno Mallley Dylan, the usually

508
00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:10,560
Speaker 2: clear eyed chair of the of the campaign for Biden,

509
00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:15,480
Speaker 2: evidently convinced herself that well, not that many people saw

510
00:38:15,480 --> 00:38:19,600
Speaker 2: the debate anyway, fifty people watched it, right, So it's

511
00:38:20,239 --> 00:38:23,040
Speaker 2: just it's just amazing. But what happened was, and I

512
00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:26,319
Speaker 2: described this in the book, really day by day, hour

513
00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:29,000
Speaker 2: by hour, starting.

514
00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:31,759
Speaker 1: With Valerie, I asked you a bunch there, so we

515
00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:36,200
Speaker 1: got Jill Biden's over here, Anita don is saying the

516
00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:40,520
Speaker 1: dials have said, and Valerie Biden has a different reaction.

517
00:38:40,160 --> 00:38:43,320
Speaker 2: At twelve thirty am. And I report this in the book.

518
00:38:44,600 --> 00:38:47,520
Speaker 2: The evening the night of the debate, one of Joe

519
00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:51,400
Speaker 2: Biden's best friends looks at his phone. It's buzzing, he

520
00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:56,600
Speaker 2: answers it. It's Valerie Biden Owens, the president's sister, and

521
00:38:56,680 --> 00:39:01,719
Speaker 2: she is distraught and weeping and shouting, And the first

522
00:39:01,800 --> 00:39:05,400
Speaker 2: thing she says to Joe Biden's close friend is what

523
00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:10,240
Speaker 2: did they do to my brother at Camp David. From

524
00:39:10,239 --> 00:39:15,000
Speaker 2: that point she was mostly incoherent and ultimately hung up

525
00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:17,239
Speaker 2: the phone. The next morning she called back. She was

526
00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:22,520
Speaker 2: lucid and pissed off, and again was complaining to Biden's friend.

527
00:39:22,600 --> 00:39:28,680
Speaker 2: How could they possibly have arrived at the CNN just

528
00:39:28,840 --> 00:39:32,799
Speaker 2: minutes before the debate? How could he have had such

529
00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:36,400
Speaker 2: lousy makeup? How did they make him look like Dorian Gray?

530
00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:40,480
Speaker 2: She went on and on and on and laying this

531
00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:44,720
Speaker 2: all at the feet of the debate prep team. Although

532
00:39:44,719 --> 00:39:48,080
Speaker 2: she didn't mention Ron Klain by name, Ron was running

533
00:39:48,080 --> 00:39:53,200
Speaker 2: in look I mean again, Readers can judge for themselves.

534
00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:58,920
Speaker 2: What was that all about? Was it a sister's denial?

535
00:39:59,719 --> 00:40:04,319
Speaker 2: Just is reflexive twining to pin it on anybody but

536
00:40:04,480 --> 00:40:05,560
Speaker 2: her beloved brother?

537
00:40:06,600 --> 00:40:07,120
Speaker 1: What was it?

538
00:40:07,920 --> 00:40:11,080
Speaker 2: I don't know, He hasn't otherwise.

539
00:40:11,160 --> 00:40:16,000
Speaker 1: So we have Jill Biden. He did great and needed

540
00:40:16,120 --> 00:40:19,960
Speaker 1: done the dial hose he won Valerie Owens at someone

541
00:40:20,200 --> 00:40:27,319
Speaker 1: else's fault. Hunter Biden is at the strategy table in

542
00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:31,279
Speaker 1: the White House as a core decision maker with his father. Really,

543
00:40:31,320 --> 00:40:34,000
Speaker 1: I guess in the way that George W. Bush was

544
00:40:35,239 --> 00:40:41,560
Speaker 1: with his father in nineteen eighty eight.

545
00:40:41,800 --> 00:40:44,120
Speaker 2: Well, Hunter was there during that period in the White House.

546
00:40:44,480 --> 00:40:47,319
Speaker 2: To what extent he was making any decisions, I don't

547
00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:48,080
Speaker 2: who knows.

548
00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:51,720
Speaker 1: Was he in the senior most councils of decision making.

549
00:40:52,520 --> 00:40:55,880
Speaker 2: He was there for a period of time. And Hunter,

550
00:40:55,960 --> 00:40:59,480
Speaker 2: as you know, would show up at White House events

551
00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:04,400
Speaker 2: and you know, almost the way Elon musk Waltz is

552
00:41:04,440 --> 00:41:10,400
Speaker 2: into the Oval Office today. He was just there and

553
00:41:10,520 --> 00:41:15,560
Speaker 2: Joe Biden and listen Biden. Biden really leaned on him

554
00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:17,040
Speaker 2: for advice. I think that's true.

555
00:41:17,680 --> 00:41:21,200
Speaker 1: So again, right, I I've written extensively about this, right,

556
00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:25,480
Speaker 1: and I I've lambasted the Republicans for the cruelty. I say,

557
00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:28,960
Speaker 1: it was obvious to me that politics has gone so

558
00:41:29,120 --> 00:41:31,440
Speaker 1: off the rails that you you had a you had

559
00:41:31,440 --> 00:41:34,880
Speaker 1: an orchestrated effort that was aimed at breaking Hunter Biden

560
00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:38,719
Speaker 1: and trying to induce a suicide. And and I, you know,

561
00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:41,960
Speaker 1: I pray for Hunter Biden, right I I I you know,

562
00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:47,040
Speaker 1: he's somebody in recovery, and and I hope Hunter Biden

563
00:41:48,680 --> 00:41:55,080
Speaker 1: makes it. But Hunter Biden had no business sitting in

564
00:41:55,080 --> 00:41:58,200
Speaker 1: the West wing of the White House being involved in

565
00:41:58,239 --> 00:42:05,719
Speaker 1: any discussion right with anybody with security clearances. He took

566
00:42:05,760 --> 00:42:12,080
Speaker 1: a constitutional oath about whether this should go on, right,

567
00:42:12,120 --> 00:42:15,520
Speaker 1: it's immoral for him to be in there, right for

568
00:42:15,719 --> 00:42:19,279
Speaker 1: a lot of different reasons. But if he's going to

569
00:42:19,360 --> 00:42:22,799
Speaker 1: participate in that conversation, that's a conversation that takes place

570
00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:26,239
Speaker 1: upstairs in the residents right at the table. That's a

571
00:42:26,239 --> 00:42:32,240
Speaker 1: family decision, right. But nobody says, hey, Hunter Biden shouldn't

572
00:42:32,239 --> 00:42:36,520
Speaker 1: be here with this small group of insiders. And the

573
00:42:36,560 --> 00:42:39,640
Speaker 1: one thing that unites all of them from Hunter is

574
00:42:39,680 --> 00:42:42,680
Speaker 1: that is that Joe Biden's got to be president for

575
00:42:42,760 --> 00:42:48,560
Speaker 1: four more years. And so finally what happens that is

576
00:42:48,600 --> 00:42:52,560
Speaker 1: the determinative thing. Just take us through into that to

577
00:42:52,640 --> 00:42:59,440
Speaker 1: that final end where Harris is going to uh is

578
00:43:00,160 --> 00:43:05,880
Speaker 1: going to get the call, How does she find out

579
00:43:07,640 --> 00:43:10,160
Speaker 1: when is the first time the two of them them

580
00:43:10,239 --> 00:43:14,200
Speaker 1: talk and then I want to I want to talk

581
00:43:14,239 --> 00:43:16,920
Speaker 1: about something that I want to talk about two other

582
00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:23,000
Speaker 1: things on the back of that in the hour, I

583
00:43:23,000 --> 00:43:26,439
Speaker 1: want to talk about the media role in this, which

584
00:43:26,480 --> 00:43:30,759
Speaker 1: is profound. But you get the end of the campaign,

585
00:43:31,040 --> 00:43:36,279
Speaker 1: there's this event that takes place in Arlington where the

586
00:43:37,880 --> 00:43:41,000
Speaker 1: Harris is and Doug Kamala Harris and Doug Ema offer

587
00:43:41,080 --> 00:43:43,520
Speaker 1: there and Jill Biden comes in and she very clearly

588
00:43:43,640 --> 00:43:49,920
Speaker 1: snubs Kamala Harris at this event, right, ice ice cold interaction,

589
00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:54,680
Speaker 1: completely unprofessional, obvious, right, you know, as you're as you're

590
00:43:54,719 --> 00:43:57,360
Speaker 1: watching this, and no one really covered it and talked

591
00:43:57,360 --> 00:43:59,440
Speaker 1: about it, right, but I mean you could see the

592
00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:04,000
Speaker 1: bad blue blood right pouring through through the television. So

593
00:44:03,680 --> 00:44:07,839
Speaker 1: so with that in mind, right, knowing that there's very

594
00:44:07,880 --> 00:44:11,960
Speaker 1: hard feelings, right, just like very precisely like in the

595
00:44:12,040 --> 00:44:15,000
Speaker 1: in the chain of events. And I wrote today on

596
00:44:15,080 --> 00:44:16,880
Speaker 1: my thing it's you know, this is the one hundred

597
00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:20,319
Speaker 1: and sixty fifth anniversary of the surrender of Robert Lee

598
00:44:20,480 --> 00:44:25,719
Speaker 1: to Grant, and I published an excerpt from from Grant's autobiography,

599
00:44:25,840 --> 00:44:28,800
Speaker 1: really the details right of all the you know, I

600
00:44:29,239 --> 00:44:31,640
Speaker 1: come up to Wilma McLean's house and this is what

601
00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:35,200
Speaker 1: went down. Right, So in that sense, right, you know,

602
00:44:35,280 --> 00:44:38,560
Speaker 1: it just even to us maybe even like a little mundane, right, like,

603
00:44:39,040 --> 00:44:43,000
Speaker 1: just take me to an hour before, to approximate moment

604
00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:45,799
Speaker 1: before he's getting out, How it goes down, how she

605
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:48,280
Speaker 1: finds out, and why the bad blood.

606
00:44:48,520 --> 00:44:50,759
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, this is the really the heart

607
00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:53,480
Speaker 2: heart of the story, the heart of the book. Although

608
00:44:53,480 --> 00:44:56,200
Speaker 2: I have planning on the campaign itself and on Harris

609
00:44:56,280 --> 00:44:59,640
Speaker 2: and Trump, but those final hours in the before that

610
00:45:00,200 --> 00:45:03,719
Speaker 2: fateful weekend of July twenty twenty one, that Sunday the

611
00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:06,400
Speaker 2: twenty first being the day he stepped away, it was

612
00:45:06,480 --> 00:45:11,160
Speaker 2: just unbelievable. Behind closed doors on the subject of Hunter,

613
00:45:11,280 --> 00:45:16,040
Speaker 2: let me just mention briefly that no, it was not

614
00:45:17,000 --> 00:45:23,239
Speaker 2: it was certainly not a career enhance her to challenge

615
00:45:24,560 --> 00:45:29,440
Speaker 2: Hunter in any way around Joe Biden. That's how Anita

616
00:45:29,440 --> 00:45:32,880
Speaker 2: had done. Ultimately fell out with Joe Biden in the

617
00:45:32,920 --> 00:45:36,920
Speaker 2: final days before he stepped away. It was because her husband,

618
00:45:36,960 --> 00:45:41,960
Speaker 2: Bob Bauer, the president's attorney, had dared to suggest that

619
00:45:42,080 --> 00:45:46,640
Speaker 2: Hunter should lower his profile and because it was causing

620
00:45:46,680 --> 00:45:51,520
Speaker 2: the president political problems. Well, that was not well received

621
00:45:51,600 --> 00:45:54,600
Speaker 2: by Joe Biden. And so Anita done and Bob Bauer

622
00:45:54,640 --> 00:45:59,920
Speaker 2: really fell out, fell from grace, but in the inner circle,

623
00:46:00,200 --> 00:46:03,719
Speaker 2: absolutely fascinating. And one of the stories I tell in

624
00:46:03,760 --> 00:46:08,160
Speaker 2: great detail is how Biden's original chief of staff, Ron Klain,

625
00:46:08,239 --> 00:46:12,399
Speaker 2: to circle back to him, really was in a kind

626
00:46:12,440 --> 00:46:15,480
Speaker 2: of showdown with his current chief Jeff Zience. At the

627
00:46:15,560 --> 00:46:20,320
Speaker 2: very end, Klain went to Science. Clain was convinced, despite

628
00:46:20,360 --> 00:46:24,120
Speaker 2: having presided over that DISASTERUS debate prep, he was still

629
00:46:24,160 --> 00:46:26,560
Speaker 2: convinced that Biden should be at the top of the ticket,

630
00:46:26,640 --> 00:46:29,400
Speaker 2: that what they needed to do was rally the progressives

631
00:46:29,400 --> 00:46:31,520
Speaker 2: and have a hundred of them walk out on the

632
00:46:31,560 --> 00:46:34,480
Speaker 2: White House lawn with Joe Biden and he would somehow

633
00:46:35,520 --> 00:46:39,520
Speaker 2: rescue his nomination. And he's calling Jeff Science and saying, Jeff,

634
00:46:40,120 --> 00:46:43,920
Speaker 2: you got to rally the progressives. What's going on? You know,

635
00:46:43,960 --> 00:46:46,480
Speaker 2: why isn't he Why isn't he meeting with the progressives

636
00:46:46,560 --> 00:46:49,000
Speaker 2: right now? And Zien said, look, you know, we're working

637
00:46:49,040 --> 00:46:53,480
Speaker 2: on it, And Clain just really lowered the boom on

638
00:46:53,600 --> 00:46:58,399
Speaker 2: him and said, the presidency's at stake here anyway. That

639
00:46:58,400 --> 00:47:02,719
Speaker 2: that whole dynamic between the two them was fascinating. So

640
00:47:02,800 --> 00:47:07,600
Speaker 2: those final days are pretty amazing. On the twentieth, twentieth

641
00:47:07,640 --> 00:47:12,880
Speaker 2: twenty first that weekend, that's Sunday, Biden had gone radio silent.

642
00:47:13,920 --> 00:47:17,040
Speaker 2: He wasn't calling the White House. One advisor said he

643
00:47:17,120 --> 00:47:21,520
Speaker 2: suspected something was up, but nobody knew for sure. Rochetti,

644
00:47:22,120 --> 00:47:26,319
Speaker 2: Steve Roschetti, and Mike Donolan arrived Sunday morning. Biden was

645
00:47:26,320 --> 00:47:30,080
Speaker 2: on the phone working out the details of that multi

646
00:47:30,200 --> 00:47:34,160
Speaker 2: nation prisoner swap. He finally comes out and they have

647
00:47:34,960 --> 00:47:40,600
Speaker 2: that pivotal historic talk to three of them, and Raschetti

648
00:47:40,840 --> 00:47:46,920
Speaker 2: lays it out, says that the polls that claims argues

649
00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:50,759
Speaker 2: that there is still a path for Joe Biden. It's

650
00:47:50,800 --> 00:47:55,440
Speaker 2: going to be brutal, It's going to be bloody.

651
00:47:55,600 --> 00:47:58,799
Speaker 1: Well, I mean just I mean from a competence perspective,

652
00:47:58,920 --> 00:48:04,239
Speaker 1: it's delusional. It's is he Is he delusional or is

653
00:48:04,280 --> 00:48:07,919
Speaker 1: he incompetent? Or is it both? I don't know. He's

654
00:48:07,920 --> 00:48:10,640
Speaker 1: a I don't know. I know Steve Schetty is a

655
00:48:10,680 --> 00:48:14,640
Speaker 1: Biden insider, is a Washington lobbyist, right, he was a

656
00:48:14,719 --> 00:48:20,520
Speaker 1: DC lobbyist, right, a generational hanger on, right who gets

657
00:48:20,560 --> 00:48:23,560
Speaker 1: into this job. Right, So I have no idea, right

658
00:48:23,560 --> 00:48:26,280
Speaker 1: if his political acumen on the one twe hundred scale

659
00:48:26,360 --> 00:48:28,960
Speaker 1: is point zero five. It sounds like it, right. If

660
00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:30,800
Speaker 1: that's what his conclusion was, well.

661
00:48:30,640 --> 00:48:33,560
Speaker 2: That was his conclusion, and that he could still and

662
00:48:33,920 --> 00:48:37,640
Speaker 2: moreover that he would he was still all in if

663
00:48:37,960 --> 00:48:40,640
Speaker 2: if the president wanted to run, if he wanted to

664
00:48:40,640 --> 00:48:44,959
Speaker 2: go ahead. What they all knew the fact that none

665
00:48:44,960 --> 00:48:49,720
Speaker 2: of them could sugarcoat? Was there knowledge that the party leaders,

666
00:48:49,840 --> 00:48:52,919
Speaker 2: Pelosi and the rest of them in all likelihood, come

667
00:48:53,040 --> 00:48:57,440
Speaker 2: Monday morning would have come out publicly against Joe Biden

668
00:48:57,520 --> 00:49:01,480
Speaker 2: being on the ticket, and they knew it was game over. Uh,

669
00:49:01,840 --> 00:49:06,640
Speaker 2: And yet there they were saying, boss and effect not

670
00:49:06,719 --> 00:49:08,719
Speaker 2: in so many words, but if you want to run,

671
00:49:08,880 --> 00:49:14,680
Speaker 2: we're with you. So again stunning, stunning, delusional in my

672
00:49:14,840 --> 00:49:19,160
Speaker 2: view behavior. But to this day, if you sit down

673
00:49:19,200 --> 00:49:22,319
Speaker 2: with Mike donal On and ask him if Joe, if

674
00:49:22,440 --> 00:49:25,200
Speaker 2: if Joe Biden should have should have stayed on the ticket,

675
00:49:25,280 --> 00:49:27,080
Speaker 2: he will tell you. He will look you in the

676
00:49:27,120 --> 00:49:32,320
Speaker 2: eye and say absolutely the party lost its mind walking

677
00:49:32,360 --> 00:49:34,880
Speaker 2: away from it.

678
00:49:34,920 --> 00:49:39,480
Speaker 1: Has the Democratic Party lost its mind to the degree

679
00:49:41,360 --> 00:49:45,160
Speaker 1: that it's possible that any of these people will be

680
00:49:45,200 --> 00:49:47,319
Speaker 1: around another presidential campaign? Ever?

681
00:49:47,400 --> 00:49:52,319
Speaker 2: Again, you look, you would you could answer that better

682
00:49:52,360 --> 00:49:56,640
Speaker 2: than I could, Steve, having been in that world.

683
00:49:57,239 --> 00:49:59,920
Speaker 1: It's not it's not because it's not a loss. Right,

684
00:50:00,080 --> 00:50:02,000
Speaker 1: this wasn't this wasn't about I mean, this is the

685
00:50:02,080 --> 00:50:07,520
Speaker 1: egregiousness of this. And I'm just like, I'm genuinely curious.

686
00:50:07,640 --> 00:50:12,600
Speaker 1: Right is in time in a needed in Needa done

687
00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:17,040
Speaker 1: and Bob Bauer Right? Democratic power couple? Right? Is is

688
00:50:17,080 --> 00:50:22,160
Speaker 1: she in her mind's eye? Is she a a? I

689
00:50:22,360 --> 00:50:24,200
Speaker 1: guess that the word used to be the gray beard?

690
00:50:24,239 --> 00:50:28,120
Speaker 1: Is she a Washington gray beard? A A A powerful

691
00:50:28,360 --> 00:50:29,200
Speaker 1: you know advisor.

692
00:50:29,280 --> 00:50:31,640
Speaker 2: I honestly don't know what they think.

693
00:50:31,960 --> 00:50:35,160
Speaker 1: Where do these people fit into in their view in

694
00:50:35,239 --> 00:50:38,640
Speaker 1: the Democratic Party? Right now, I'll give you a specific example.

695
00:50:38,680 --> 00:50:42,200
Speaker 1: I said this when when I said this in January,

696
00:50:43,080 --> 00:50:45,719
Speaker 1: this is very obvious to me. And and this is

697
00:50:45,960 --> 00:50:47,440
Speaker 1: I would bet a lot of money on this. Joe

698
00:50:47,480 --> 00:50:51,600
Speaker 1: Biden will not have a presidential library, not like Obama,

699
00:50:51,680 --> 00:50:55,080
Speaker 1: not like Reagan, not like Bush. Bush's right. You know,

700
00:50:55,239 --> 00:50:58,320
Speaker 1: I'm a University of Delaware graduate. David Pluff and I

701
00:50:58,400 --> 00:51:01,439
Speaker 1: were the founding fellows of the By and Center. Right

702
00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:04,120
Speaker 1: you know there that you know, whatever the vice presidential

703
00:51:04,160 --> 00:51:06,319
Speaker 1: gialt there'll be there'll be some facility that'll be at

704
00:51:06,320 --> 00:51:08,680
Speaker 1: the University of Delaware, but there's not going to be

705
00:51:08,719 --> 00:51:11,720
Speaker 1: a presidential library. Maybe none of that stuff.

706
00:51:11,920 --> 00:51:15,520
Speaker 2: Once again, I mean, I would say that, you know,

707
00:51:16,040 --> 00:51:19,960
Speaker 2: history will come down very hard on Joe Biden and

708
00:51:20,440 --> 00:51:24,480
Speaker 2: his inner circle. It's it's hard to imagine them suddenly being,

709
00:51:26,200 --> 00:51:28,600
Speaker 2: you know, at the side of another presidential candidate. But

710
00:51:28,680 --> 00:51:31,719
Speaker 2: I have no idea what there what they think their

711
00:51:31,719 --> 00:51:36,880
Speaker 2: future is. All right, I am I didn't answer your

712
00:51:36,960 --> 00:51:40,839
Speaker 2: question about how Kamala found out, but but I can

713
00:51:40,920 --> 00:51:41,560
Speaker 2: do that briefly.

714
00:51:41,640 --> 00:51:43,640
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I do. Yeah.

715
00:51:43,680 --> 00:51:47,920
Speaker 2: So you know what happened was that there's no evidence

716
00:51:48,000 --> 00:51:51,319
Speaker 2: I know of that she knew it would happen on

717
00:51:51,400 --> 00:51:54,759
Speaker 2: that day, July twenty one. But what I can tell you,

718
00:51:54,800 --> 00:51:57,719
Speaker 2: and what I report exclusively in the book, is that

719
00:51:58,520 --> 00:52:03,359
Speaker 2: prior to that weekend, she had privately secretly put out

720
00:52:03,360 --> 00:52:08,280
Speaker 2: the word the Democratic Operatives to pore over the rules

721
00:52:08,960 --> 00:52:12,920
Speaker 2: make sure figure out how she could seize the nomination

722
00:52:13,480 --> 00:52:17,040
Speaker 2: as quickly as possible in the event that Biden stepped away,

723
00:52:17,640 --> 00:52:20,280
Speaker 2: and Lorraine Voles, her chief of staff, had been looking

724
00:52:20,320 --> 00:52:24,600
Speaker 2: at what might happen. Ever since Biden had had to

725
00:52:24,680 --> 00:52:29,000
Speaker 2: have a colonoscopy and seed power for one day. A

726
00:52:29,000 --> 00:52:32,560
Speaker 2: couple of years prior, they were looking at this, and

727
00:52:33,680 --> 00:52:37,640
Speaker 2: people were getting phone calls about the rules, and there

728
00:52:37,719 --> 00:52:42,600
Speaker 2: was even pressure on some senators to drop, to come

729
00:52:42,640 --> 00:52:44,320
Speaker 2: out against Byron on Monday.

730
00:52:44,560 --> 00:52:46,000
Speaker 1: Is that where the bad blood is from?

731
00:52:46,160 --> 00:52:48,520
Speaker 2: That's my reporting, and it may well be. It may

732
00:52:48,560 --> 00:52:52,560
Speaker 2: well be. She got the call, you know, at the

733
00:52:52,640 --> 00:52:58,920
Speaker 2: Naval Observatory. She was in the kitchen with a grand niece,

734
00:52:59,280 --> 00:53:03,759
Speaker 2: I believe, and she said when she got the call,

735
00:53:03,800 --> 00:53:06,560
Speaker 2: Biden said, listen, I'm I'm dropping out. She said, are

736
00:53:06,600 --> 00:53:07,040
Speaker 2: you sure?

737
00:53:07,600 --> 00:53:08,840
Speaker 1: Are you? Are you? You know?

738
00:53:08,920 --> 00:53:14,680
Speaker 2: She she acted, She certainly acted surprised. I don't think

739
00:53:14,719 --> 00:53:16,400
Speaker 2: that she knew it was coming at that moment.

740
00:53:17,000 --> 00:53:19,640
Speaker 1: So I want to I want to kind of as

741
00:53:19,680 --> 00:53:23,400
Speaker 1: we as we wrap this up again, Right, this is

742
00:53:23,440 --> 00:53:30,280
Speaker 1: a really important book. It's a extraordinarily important first draft

743
00:53:30,320 --> 00:53:35,799
Speaker 1: of history. I mean, fifty years from now, historians will

744
00:53:35,800 --> 00:53:40,359
Speaker 1: be writing about this, and and they will be going

745
00:53:40,440 --> 00:53:45,200
Speaker 1: in a book right as as a as a first

746
00:53:46,600 --> 00:53:49,799
Speaker 1: right as as you know, as they get into the archives. Right,

747
00:53:49,880 --> 00:53:54,760
Speaker 1: there's gonna there's gonna be one hundred books writing about this, right, whatever, whatever,

748
00:53:54,840 --> 00:53:59,560
Speaker 1: the ultimate what over? The ultimate number is I skimmed

749
00:53:59,600 --> 00:54:03,680
Speaker 1: the first one, you know, they kind of yours is

750
00:54:03,719 --> 00:54:07,919
Speaker 1: the one right that I was looking forward to. Right this,

751
00:54:07,920 --> 00:54:12,920
Speaker 1: this is what happened. I think Alex Thompson at Axios

752
00:54:13,040 --> 00:54:14,759
Speaker 1: is a very good reporter and he was one of

753
00:54:14,800 --> 00:54:23,560
Speaker 1: the very few reporters I think he's Biden look the

754
00:54:23,560 --> 00:54:28,279
Speaker 1: way president should be covered. Alex Thompson is the real deal,

755
00:54:29,160 --> 00:54:33,920
Speaker 1: and he's one of the best political reporters in the country.

756
00:54:34,719 --> 00:54:37,160
Speaker 1: And so he announced as a book and he's doing

757
00:54:37,200 --> 00:54:39,759
Speaker 1: it with Jake Tapper, and so that you look at

758
00:54:39,760 --> 00:54:43,839
Speaker 1: a duo and I don't know how they write this

759
00:54:43,880 --> 00:54:47,040
Speaker 1: book together. I'll be I'll be honest, because you got

760
00:54:47,080 --> 00:54:51,800
Speaker 1: one guy who sought the truth and helped Biden new account,

761
00:54:51,840 --> 00:54:55,279
Speaker 1: and you got another guy who I think is a

762
00:54:55,320 --> 00:54:57,600
Speaker 1: totem of how the media covered this, which is to

763
00:54:57,680 --> 00:55:00,320
Speaker 1: ignore it. So I mean, very simple. You can go

764
00:55:00,360 --> 00:55:03,600
Speaker 1: back and see what Dean Dean, how Jake Tapper covered

765
00:55:03,600 --> 00:55:07,040
Speaker 1: Dean Phillips walking out, which was an act of courage,

766
00:55:07,920 --> 00:55:10,600
Speaker 1: right to say, like we still have time, but it

767
00:55:10,640 --> 00:55:13,640
Speaker 1: was too late, and of course Dean was was completely right,

768
00:55:13,719 --> 00:55:22,799
Speaker 1: but generally astonished I mean this did anybody in Jake

769
00:55:22,840 --> 00:55:27,759
Speaker 1: Tapper's position would have a lack of self awareness. He's

770
00:55:27,800 --> 00:55:30,399
Speaker 1: written books before. I mean, you can write a book

771
00:55:30,440 --> 00:55:34,319
Speaker 1: about a thousand different things. He's going to write about

772
00:55:34,320 --> 00:55:43,120
Speaker 1: this and so this, this does not happen.

773
00:55:44,360 --> 00:55:50,719
Speaker 3: In the world of Dan Rather and of Peter Jennings

774
00:55:51,480 --> 00:55:56,680
Speaker 3: and of Tom Brocaw and of the world of a

775
00:55:56,680 --> 00:55:58,680
Speaker 3: ABC News such as it.

776
00:55:58,760 --> 00:56:02,719
Speaker 1: Was, or see ES News such as it was during

777
00:56:02,760 --> 00:56:11,600
Speaker 1: your during your careers, So right, MSNBC, CNN, how do

778
00:56:11,680 --> 00:56:16,719
Speaker 1: you evaluate their role in this? And I'm asking because

779
00:56:18,360 --> 00:56:24,440
Speaker 1: contact between the people you wrote about and now, for example,

780
00:56:24,520 --> 00:56:29,400
Speaker 1: Jake tapp Topper who's writing about what happened, was constant,

781
00:56:30,520 --> 00:56:34,600
Speaker 1: and that constant contact was on the basis, if if

782
00:56:34,640 --> 00:56:39,160
Speaker 1: you report the truth about Joe Biden, you'll be punished,

783
00:56:39,960 --> 00:56:42,680
Speaker 1: There'll be a retribution against you. There won't be a

784
00:56:42,800 --> 00:56:50,759
Speaker 1: guest will deny you access. So there's no story that

785
00:56:50,840 --> 00:56:54,120
Speaker 1: I'm aware of, right that that looked at this issue,

786
00:56:54,480 --> 00:56:59,600
Speaker 1: right and just objectively right, CNN or anything you're aware

787
00:56:59,640 --> 00:57:01,719
Speaker 1: of right that, Like, we're a Jake Tapperson, we gont

788
00:57:01,719 --> 00:57:04,400
Speaker 1: to figure out what's going on here. We got Sandre

789
00:57:04,520 --> 00:57:08,280
Speaker 1: Goodd at this network. Right, We're we're gonna go report

790
00:57:08,360 --> 00:57:11,960
Speaker 1: this story. Did did did that happen anywhere in your

791
00:57:12,040 --> 00:57:13,120
Speaker 1: mind that I missed?

792
00:57:13,360 --> 00:57:15,319
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess I would. I guess Steve, I would

793
00:57:15,400 --> 00:57:18,600
Speaker 2: say that, you know, the same way Reagan didn't want

794
00:57:18,600 --> 00:57:22,280
Speaker 2: to speak ill of any Republicans that that. I don't

795
00:57:22,320 --> 00:57:22,600
Speaker 2: want to.

796
00:57:23,560 --> 00:57:26,400
Speaker 1: I don't want I don't want to judge like lawyers. Huh.

797
00:57:26,400 --> 00:57:28,320
Speaker 2: I don't want to judge my competitors.

798
00:57:28,400 --> 00:57:30,880
Speaker 1: One of the one of the one of the things,

799
00:57:30,960 --> 00:57:32,640
Speaker 1: one of the things, one of the things I just

800
00:57:32,720 --> 00:57:38,040
Speaker 1: laughing at. I said, finally, right, an event has occurred, Right,

801
00:57:38,160 --> 00:57:43,360
Speaker 1: that will get lawyers to criticize other lawyers. Right, we

802
00:57:43,480 --> 00:57:47,120
Speaker 1: finally we've breached the thing. But we have not breached

803
00:57:47,120 --> 00:57:49,680
Speaker 1: the line yet where journalists will criticize.

804
00:57:49,800 --> 00:57:51,800
Speaker 2: Right, We're not going to go after each other. And

805
00:57:51,960 --> 00:57:54,200
Speaker 2: having said that, I guess, Look, I guess I would

806
00:57:54,240 --> 00:57:56,320
Speaker 2: say to readers, you know their book is not out

807
00:57:56,400 --> 00:57:58,680
Speaker 2: until what why wait?

808
00:57:59,520 --> 00:57:59,560
Speaker 1: What?

809
00:57:59,680 --> 00:58:01,760
Speaker 2: Pick pick up uncharted?

810
00:58:01,800 --> 00:58:06,320
Speaker 1: Pick up my book? Now? I think that Unchartered is

811
00:58:06,360 --> 00:58:09,160
Speaker 1: an essential book, and I want to I just want

812
00:58:09,200 --> 00:58:11,840
Speaker 1: to before I wrap it up, is there anything else

813
00:58:11,840 --> 00:58:14,360
Speaker 1: you want to say about it? And I'll do the

814
00:58:14,520 --> 00:58:16,920
Speaker 1: pitch and everything, and I'm gonna try to. If I

815
00:58:16,920 --> 00:58:18,920
Speaker 1: can make everyone in the country read this book, I

816
00:58:18,920 --> 00:58:20,960
Speaker 1: would wave a wand I would buy them the book

817
00:58:21,080 --> 00:58:23,840
Speaker 1: and I would make them read this book. That's how

818
00:58:23,880 --> 00:58:25,160
Speaker 1: important I think this book is.

819
00:58:25,400 --> 00:58:29,440
Speaker 2: Well, thanks, Steve, I mean, and I'm flattered and honor

820
00:58:29,600 --> 00:58:34,640
Speaker 2: just to be with you. So enjoy the conversation. And no,

821
00:58:35,120 --> 00:58:37,000
Speaker 2: I think we've covered it.

822
00:58:37,080 --> 00:58:40,080
Speaker 1: I want to say, everyone who's listening, why why journalism

823
00:58:40,240 --> 00:58:44,120
Speaker 1: like this is so important and the application for it

824
00:58:44,120 --> 00:58:50,440
Speaker 1: in politics and reality. This was a terrible thing that happened, terrible,

825
00:58:50,520 --> 00:58:56,000
Speaker 1: terrible thing, and a terrible consequence has resulted with Donald

826
00:58:56,080 --> 00:58:59,240
Speaker 1: Trump as we live through these events, right, this is

827
00:58:59,400 --> 00:59:03,240
Speaker 1: this is This is cause and effect. This is the

828
00:59:03,400 --> 00:59:09,360
Speaker 1: consequence of one of the most selfish, self interested decisions

829
00:59:09,400 --> 00:59:12,000
Speaker 1: a small group of people have ever inflicted on the

830
00:59:12,120 --> 00:59:15,040
Speaker 1: United States in the two hundred and fifty years of

831
00:59:15,080 --> 00:59:21,720
Speaker 1: the country's existence. The American Revolution starts the anniversary celebrations

832
00:59:22,360 --> 00:59:27,640
Speaker 1: in ten days April to nineteen, two hundred and fiftieth

833
00:59:27,800 --> 00:59:31,160
Speaker 1: anniversary at the beginning of the American Revolution. And I

834
00:59:31,200 --> 00:59:33,280
Speaker 1: want to talk about, just for a second, why this

835
00:59:33,360 --> 00:59:38,600
Speaker 1: issue is so important because it is the key that

836
00:59:38,840 --> 00:59:44,680
Speaker 1: unlocks the door to how we get out of this disaster.

837
00:59:48,120 --> 00:59:53,520
Speaker 1: The American people have been lied to. MAGA voters were

838
00:59:53,560 --> 00:59:58,640
Speaker 1: lied to by Donald Trump, and Democratic voters were lied

839
00:59:58,680 --> 01:00:05,200
Speaker 1: to by the Bidens and this team, and the result

840
01:00:05,280 --> 01:00:09,440
Speaker 1: of those lives is catastrophe, disaster for the country. And

841
01:00:09,440 --> 01:00:16,200
Speaker 1: we share that in common. Republican voters, magical voters, Democratic voters,

842
01:00:17,360 --> 01:00:24,960
Speaker 1: MAGA voters, and progressive voters share the abuse of being

843
01:00:25,080 --> 01:00:29,760
Speaker 1: lied to by the most powerful people in the world

844
01:00:30,800 --> 01:00:36,400
Speaker 1: so they could have more power. And the consequences in

845
01:00:36,440 --> 01:00:41,360
Speaker 1: the suffering are going to be immense because of those lives,

846
01:00:42,800 --> 01:00:48,520
Speaker 1: we have to forgive each other as people and appreciate

847
01:00:48,720 --> 01:00:55,400
Speaker 1: as an American people, we have been pitted against each

848
01:00:55,440 --> 01:01:04,800
Speaker 1: other by powerful people with powerful propaganda platforms and powerful lies.

849
01:01:07,560 --> 01:01:11,640
Speaker 1: And the way through this is to appreciate as we

850
01:01:11,680 --> 01:01:16,520
Speaker 1: get into the next election that Democrats will have to

851
01:01:16,560 --> 01:01:23,840
Speaker 1: look at Republicans with grace and say you were lied to,

852
01:01:26,600 --> 01:01:29,960
Speaker 1: and Republicans will have to look at Democrats with grace

853
01:01:31,600 --> 01:01:36,000
Speaker 1: and say you were lied to. We were all lied to,

854
01:01:39,360 --> 01:01:42,040
Speaker 1: and are we going to let the lies take something

855
01:01:42,880 --> 01:01:46,240
Speaker 1: ephemeral from us? Or are we going to make an

856
01:01:46,280 --> 01:01:53,320
Speaker 1: American stand together. This is a story about power, is

857
01:01:53,360 --> 01:02:00,400
Speaker 1: a story about greed. It is a story that tells

858
01:02:00,400 --> 01:02:03,480
Speaker 1: a tale of what happens when there is no restraint,

859
01:02:05,160 --> 01:02:16,960
Speaker 1: when common sense dissipates, when delusion overwhelms obligation. This is

860
01:02:17,000 --> 01:02:22,320
Speaker 1: one of the most profound and tragic stories in the

861
01:02:22,440 --> 01:02:27,840
Speaker 1: history of the country. Personal tragedy for Joe Biden that

862
01:02:27,960 --> 01:02:31,920
Speaker 1: we chose it, for his family, and for all of

863
01:02:31,920 --> 01:02:43,840
Speaker 1: these people who have done irreparable harm to three hundred

864
01:02:43,880 --> 01:02:48,200
Speaker 1: and fifty million people who live in this country. Shameful

865
01:02:48,240 --> 01:02:52,560
Speaker 1: doesn't begin to describe it. But because of the power

866
01:02:52,600 --> 01:02:58,520
Speaker 1: of the First Amendment, because of the initiative of Chris Whipple,

867
01:03:00,000 --> 01:03:06,280
Speaker 1: because of journalism and courage, you know what happened. And

868
01:03:06,400 --> 01:03:10,800
Speaker 1: I urge all of you to not treat the most

869
01:03:10,840 --> 01:03:15,120
Speaker 1: powerful people in the world like teenagers treat Taylor Swift.

870
01:03:17,240 --> 01:03:24,120
Speaker 1: Don't be a fan, be a citizen and demand the

871
01:03:24,160 --> 01:03:28,560
Speaker 1: fulfillment of the obligations of people who seek to serve

872
01:03:29,640 --> 01:03:34,960
Speaker 1: the country. Are they serving you? Are they serving the

873
01:03:34,960 --> 01:03:41,760
Speaker 1: American Constitution? Because this project that we share is something

874
01:03:41,840 --> 01:03:45,040
Speaker 1: by design that none of us ever get to see

875
01:03:45,080 --> 01:03:51,160
Speaker 1: the end of. It goes on we stand here today

876
01:03:51,360 --> 01:03:54,560
Speaker 1: on the shoulders of a forgotten man who deserves mentioning

877
01:03:54,560 --> 01:04:02,200
Speaker 1: on April ninth, you listens, Grant, he saved the country

878
01:04:03,160 --> 01:04:08,360
Speaker 1: such sacrifice. There's only ever been seven hundred million Americans.

879
01:04:09,880 --> 01:04:14,919
Speaker 1: One million gave their lives so that generations not yet

880
01:04:14,960 --> 01:04:21,120
Speaker 1: born could live in freedom. This book is a story

881
01:04:22,880 --> 01:04:27,680
Speaker 1: of about twenty people out of the seven hundred million

882
01:04:27,720 --> 01:04:37,560
Speaker 1: Americans who've ever lived, who stand in a infinestinally small

883
01:04:38,920 --> 01:04:46,680
Speaker 1: percentile of people who have done the most damage to

884
01:04:46,800 --> 01:04:52,040
Speaker 1: the country in its long history, and history will scorn

885
01:04:52,480 --> 01:04:59,840
Speaker 1: them for it deservedly. And the names were shetty and done.

886
01:05:00,520 --> 01:05:05,960
Speaker 1: We'll linger with the names like Hexa and Lutnik and

887
01:05:06,120 --> 01:05:10,960
Speaker 1: gabbered all together. And in the final analysis they'll be

888
01:05:11,040 --> 01:05:18,160
Speaker 1: grouped with names like Lee and Davis and others who

889
01:05:18,560 --> 01:05:28,000
Speaker 1: wrecked and destroy and damnage. What was the inheritance that

890
01:05:28,080 --> 01:05:31,760
Speaker 1: they were born into? And shame on them all. And

891
01:05:31,840 --> 01:05:36,400
Speaker 1: with that I say to all of you, thanks for listening,

892
01:05:37,120 --> 01:05:40,280
Speaker 1: Thank you to Chris Whipple for coming, and I urge

893
01:05:40,320 --> 01:05:42,720
Speaker 1: all of you to read this book.

894
01:05:43,360 --> 01:05:44,960
Speaker 2: Steeve, thanks for having me.

895
01:05:45,040 --> 01:05:48,160
Speaker 1: You got it. Thanks Chris, and I'm Steve Schmidt. This

896
01:05:48,600 --> 01:05:51,240
Speaker 1: is the warning. I invite you to join this community,

897
01:05:51,400 --> 01:05:55,640
Speaker 1: where I promise to be honest, blunt and direct about

898
01:05:55,640 --> 01:05:59,320
Speaker 1: what is happening in this country. America is in crisis.

899
01:05:59,480 --> 01:06:03,360
Speaker 1: Follow and subscribe to this channel and on substackt. Thank

900
01:06:03,400 --> 01:06:03,480
Speaker 1: you