WEBVTT - Amanda Milius - Make Movies Great Again 0:00:11.697 --> 0:00:14.937 You're listening to the Buck Sexton Show podcast, make sure 0:00:14.977 --> 0:00:17.977 you subscribe to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app or 0:00:18.017 --> 0:00:21.137 wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everybody, welcome to the 0:00:21.137 --> 0:00:24.457 Buck section Show. This episode, we have Amanda Milius with us. 0:00:24.617 --> 0:00:27.817 She is a filmmaker. The Plot against the President one 0:00:27.817 --> 0:00:29.657 of her films which got a lot of acclaim A 0:00:29.697 --> 0:00:31.777 lot of you, I'm sure have seen it. She also 0:00:31.977 --> 0:00:36.137 was an appointee at the State Department under the Trump administration, 0:00:36.817 --> 0:00:39.457 so she has stared at the deep state. She knows 0:00:39.617 --> 0:00:43.657 what it is like. Amanda, is there a swampier agency? 0:00:43.737 --> 0:00:46.577 I know everyone the FBI is trying hard these days, 0:00:47.017 --> 0:00:49.137 but I know from the CIA side of the house, 0:00:49.497 --> 0:00:53.297 the State Department a nest of commis and. 0:00:53.377 --> 0:00:57.057 Useless ones too. I mean, at least at CIA. I 0:00:57.057 --> 0:00:59.217 mean I could eat my words on this, because I 0:00:59.217 --> 0:01:02.017 fight with the concept of CIA all the time. But 0:01:03.257 --> 0:01:07.697 State Department is just it's like a playground for people 0:01:07.697 --> 0:01:09.737 that don't they don't need to be there. You could 0:01:09.777 --> 0:01:14.737 cut that place by the twentieth and run it out 0:01:14.737 --> 0:01:16.537 of a van in the parking lot, and you do 0:01:16.617 --> 0:01:19.417 better than what they've got. I think it's like seventy 0:01:19.537 --> 0:01:22.897 thousand people or something. I mean, it's absolutely insane, and like, 0:01:23.097 --> 0:01:25.817 you know, the I actually went there because I was 0:01:25.857 --> 0:01:29.017 so dumb to think we still did diplomacy, and then 0:01:29.057 --> 0:01:30.817 I got there and I was like, oh no, it's 0:01:30.897 --> 0:01:33.897 just programs for people that want to work in the government. 0:01:33.977 --> 0:01:36.617 Yeah, what does the State Department really just for everybody 0:01:36.657 --> 0:01:39.337 out there? I mean I could say, as as a 0:01:39.377 --> 0:01:42.257 little context for a State Department CI side of the house, 0:01:42.297 --> 0:01:44.897 I was there for but five five years in change, 0:01:45.457 --> 0:01:49.057 and ten percent of that building does cool stuff. Ninety 0:01:49.057 --> 0:01:53.417 percent of the CIA just sort of shows up analyst side, 0:01:53.457 --> 0:01:56.297 operator side, you know, you name it, like case officer side. 0:01:56.737 --> 0:01:58.777 Very few people do a vast majority of the work. 0:01:58.937 --> 0:02:01.257 So you could go full Twitter on this thing under 0:02:01.257 --> 0:02:04.177 Elon and cut it from you know, eight thousand employees 0:02:04.217 --> 0:02:07.337 down to a fraction. What really goes on at State 0:02:07.457 --> 0:02:09.337 in general same. 0:02:09.497 --> 0:02:11.897 I mean, you could you could cut every single embassy 0:02:11.937 --> 0:02:16.257 down and the entire main state down, because it's it's 0:02:16.617 --> 0:02:18.617 the Yeah, it's the exact same thing. It's like ninety 0:02:18.657 --> 0:02:21.577 percent dead weight of because once they create a program, 0:02:21.657 --> 0:02:24.057 I'm sure you're really familiar with this, Once they create 0:02:24.137 --> 0:02:27.217 a program, and if that program at least your guys's 0:02:27.257 --> 0:02:30.057 programs were kind of like you know, at least they're 0:02:30.097 --> 0:02:31.257 kind of I mean, I assume. 0:02:31.017 --> 0:02:33.977 That some of them more interesting, legitimate interesting, but like. 0:02:33.977 --> 0:02:36.737 Ours, you know, state department programs would be like you know, 0:02:38.017 --> 0:02:44.257 women's bead making empowerment, like economy building in Botswana, and 0:02:44.297 --> 0:02:47.697 like that would be a program filled with fifty people 0:02:48.057 --> 0:02:51.457 and it will exist forever. You'll never kill it no 0:02:51.537 --> 0:02:54.337 matter what, Like Botswana could become like the most like 0:02:55.417 --> 0:02:58.417 perfectly well run country in the world that needs no 0:02:58.497 --> 0:03:01.937 bad making classes or whatever, or how to sell artisanal 0:03:02.177 --> 0:03:04.217 pots or I don't know what these people do, but 0:03:04.297 --> 0:03:07.977 like it could be they don't ever change. And I mean, 0:03:08.177 --> 0:03:10.377 especially when you looked at this stuff and read that 0:03:10.417 --> 0:03:12.217 were actually important, like when you look at what was 0:03:12.257 --> 0:03:15.377 going on in Afghanistan and we used to make the 0:03:15.537 --> 0:03:19.777 joke or the good appointees and the good the good 0:03:19.817 --> 0:03:26.257 guys would have this framed joke because it was real. Though, 0:03:26.457 --> 0:03:32.977 of lesbian puppet shows for countering violent extremism, now that 0:03:33.137 --> 0:03:35.897 to me is a state department program that's the perfect 0:03:35.937 --> 0:03:41.777 like LGBT puppet shows to encourage countering violent extremism that 0:03:41.897 --> 0:03:43.617 was perfect. That's State Department. 0:03:43.697 --> 0:03:46.377 I do remember when they went from the g WATT, 0:03:46.817 --> 0:03:48.737 which had a nice ring to it, the Global War 0:03:48.777 --> 0:03:51.217 on Terror a little vague, fine, but kind of people. 0:03:51.297 --> 0:03:54.897 Everyone knew what we're talking about. Two yeah, programs to 0:03:55.017 --> 0:04:00.497 counter overseas extremism or something. It would be. It was so. 0:04:01.657 --> 0:04:04.577 Violent extremism and anything could fall under it. That's why 0:04:04.617 --> 0:04:06.697 I'm saying, like you could put if you just put 0:04:06.737 --> 0:04:09.537 CVE at the end of your program idea, it would 0:04:09.537 --> 0:04:10.017 get funded. 0:04:11.297 --> 0:04:14.497 So here's the thing, because I sit here, we've seen 0:04:15.377 --> 0:04:19.537 recently obviously that the indictment of Donald Trump by the DOJ, 0:04:20.137 --> 0:04:24.097 the total sweetheart deal for a hunter. Sweetart deal doesn't 0:04:24.097 --> 0:04:26.257 even cover it. I mean it is. It's a cover up, right. 0:04:26.377 --> 0:04:30.337 There's there's low level charge and then there's actually low 0:04:30.417 --> 0:04:34.417 level charge that ignores the real charges that are already 0:04:34.537 --> 0:04:37.897 provable because those charges would also lead to you know, 0:04:37.977 --> 0:04:40.737 the president of the United States. So it's it's full on, 0:04:40.857 --> 0:04:44.177 full on cover up mode. But everyone keeps saying, you know, 0:04:44.337 --> 0:04:46.577 we're gonna we're gonna drain the swamp, and then they 0:04:46.657 --> 0:04:49.617 ask me, how do we do that. I'm gonna put 0:04:49.657 --> 0:04:52.617 that to you because I'm actually curious how anyone who thinks, 0:04:52.617 --> 0:04:54.537 because you know, you were there on the Trump administration, 0:04:54.737 --> 0:04:56.817 how does the swamp get drained? Can it be drained? 0:04:56.857 --> 0:04:57.657 I'm not convinced. 0:04:58.417 --> 0:05:02.257 I'm we got to. Yeah, a couple of things. A 0:05:02.777 --> 0:05:05.537 I learned a lot since I left, one of which 0:05:05.617 --> 0:05:08.977 is that I prefer to call it the administrative state 0:05:09.097 --> 0:05:11.417 because and we get you know, I know, it's fun 0:05:11.457 --> 0:05:13.097 to call it the deep state and the swamp and 0:05:13.097 --> 0:05:16.817 stuff like that, but it allows us to rely kind 0:05:16.817 --> 0:05:20.457 of lazily on this idea of the they as though 0:05:20.497 --> 0:05:23.937 this were something that was like run by a few 0:05:24.017 --> 0:05:27.017 competent people, which I don't really think it is. I 0:05:27.057 --> 0:05:31.657 think it's a ghost ship that runs itself. And that's 0:05:32.017 --> 0:05:38.057 fifty years of administrative changes and administrative law that turned 0:05:38.177 --> 0:05:45.657 what was a constitutional republic into a bureaucrat run ghost ship, 0:05:45.777 --> 0:05:47.777 which is what our country is at this point. So 0:05:47.897 --> 0:05:51.897 it's basically, you know, whoever knows where the levers of 0:05:51.937 --> 0:05:55.537 the ghost ship are, like the Bidens and the Democrats. 0:05:55.617 --> 0:05:58.897 You know, there's there's an order and the Democrats are 0:05:58.897 --> 0:06:02.177 above us, but the bureaucrats are still above them. Like 0:06:02.897 --> 0:06:05.297 that would be what would be deep state about it. 0:06:05.897 --> 0:06:08.177 I mean, I think we saw that in the Afghanistan 0:06:08.217 --> 0:06:10.177 pull out. That was the only time I ever SEU 0:06:10.497 --> 0:06:13.537 because you know, I consider CNN or or most of 0:06:13.577 --> 0:06:17.417 these stations to be the Comm's department of the Intel agencies. 0:06:18.297 --> 0:06:21.657 So when you see you know, Anderson Cooper for a 0:06:21.697 --> 0:06:25.937 whole week playing in color TV on everybody's TV screens, 0:06:25.977 --> 0:06:30.217 the disaster that was the Afghanistan pull out, that is 0:06:30.257 --> 0:06:32.617 not in the white that current White House's interest. So 0:06:32.657 --> 0:06:34.497 that was the there's a there's a few times I've 0:06:34.537 --> 0:06:38.977 noticed the admin State going away from even the Democrats 0:06:39.137 --> 0:06:41.297 and kind of swatting them when they get out of line. 0:06:41.857 --> 0:06:44.377 And so I think it's like a hierarchy more more 0:06:44.417 --> 0:06:46.417 than anything, and we're at the bottom, like the Trump 0:06:46.457 --> 0:06:50.217 administration was at the absolute bottom, because I mean, these 0:06:50.257 --> 0:06:53.697 people wouldn't even uh. I've made this point before too, 0:06:53.697 --> 0:06:56.417 which is that the real problem with like, for example, 0:06:56.457 --> 0:06:59.177 the Russia Gate thing, which is my sort of wheelhouse, 0:06:59.737 --> 0:07:02.817 is it wasn't just everyday Americans that we're hearing this. 0:07:03.657 --> 0:07:06.977 All the bureaucrats of Washington, DC went home and watched 0:07:07.017 --> 0:07:09.337 CNN and were like, oh, I don't have to listen 0:07:09.377 --> 0:07:11.817 to these trump because they're probably getting their orders from 0:07:11.817 --> 0:07:15.217 Putin or something. So you couldn't get anything done because 0:07:15.257 --> 0:07:18.657 you were either like either they would just outright just 0:07:18.817 --> 0:07:22.057 you know, oss manual you to not do. You know, 0:07:22.097 --> 0:07:23.937 the stuff we used to deliver to the Soviet Union, 0:07:24.017 --> 0:07:25.937 like how to not how to not do something in 0:07:25.977 --> 0:07:31.017 an organization. I mean, they got that down and or 0:07:31.177 --> 0:07:33.137 they or they just would be like no, they'd be 0:07:33.177 --> 0:07:35.937 suspicious because they they'd honestly think that you were like 0:07:35.977 --> 0:07:40.457 an agent of Putin. So to put it, how do 0:07:40.497 --> 0:07:42.097 you how do you get rid of that? I mean, 0:07:42.097 --> 0:07:45.577 you have to have full willingness to when we finally 0:07:46.097 --> 0:07:48.697 came up at the last year with Schedule F, which 0:07:48.737 --> 0:07:53.497 was a way to redesign government employees to avoid the 0:07:53.857 --> 0:07:58.857 which should be absolutely illegal unionization of them if they 0:07:59.057 --> 0:08:02.097 deal with policy at all, which is the Schedule F EO. 0:08:02.537 --> 0:08:05.217 And again that's an executive order. It's not legislation, it's 0:08:05.217 --> 0:08:07.817 not it's not something that couldn't be As with all 0:08:07.857 --> 0:08:11.257 executive orders, they're written in sand like we have to 0:08:11.297 --> 0:08:13.697 do more. It really comes down to having like an 0:08:13.737 --> 0:08:17.297 Actualcongress that's willing to take the country back to the 0:08:17.297 --> 0:08:19.777 way it was supposed to be run. But the first 0:08:19.817 --> 0:08:22.577 step would be to do something like that, an executive 0:08:22.697 --> 0:08:25.857 order that makes it possible to fire government employees because 0:08:25.857 --> 0:08:28.537 as of right now, you can move them around, you 0:08:28.577 --> 0:08:31.657 can reshuffle the deck, but it doesn't matter. They're still 0:08:31.697 --> 0:08:34.057 there and they're still just wasting. 0:08:34.177 --> 0:08:37.457 I was told I was told by an honest and 0:08:37.497 --> 0:08:39.937 in the case of federal government that increasingly just means 0:08:39.937 --> 0:08:43.017 funny when I think back to it, conservative, but an 0:08:43.097 --> 0:08:46.537 honest manager within the federal bureaucracy. At one point he said, 0:08:46.977 --> 0:08:51.577 he said, buck, if you showed up and refused to 0:08:51.657 --> 0:08:56.097 do anything, but you didn't break any laws, and you 0:08:56.137 --> 0:08:58.217 were here when you were supposed to be here, which 0:08:58.257 --> 0:09:00.657 goes into up breaking laws because of time and attendance fraud. Right, 0:09:00.657 --> 0:09:02.577 But He's like, if you sit in your chair when 0:09:02.577 --> 0:09:05.577 you were supposed to be here, refuse to do any work, 0:09:05.897 --> 0:09:08.097 it would take me almost two years to get you fired. 0:09:08.817 --> 0:09:11.577 I've said, I saw something worse. 0:09:11.337 --> 0:09:14.217 Than that, which is so now you've got the telework thing. 0:09:14.297 --> 0:09:17.857 So when I first heard the word telework was when 0:09:17.857 --> 0:09:20.137 I first got to State and I was like trying 0:09:20.177 --> 0:09:22.777 to run my team, which was a content team and 0:09:22.977 --> 0:09:26.817 you know, the world moves in twenty four hour increments, right, 0:09:26.897 --> 0:09:29.217 it doesn't go from nine to five. So I was like, well, 0:09:29.257 --> 0:09:31.097 where's the night team? And they were like, we don't 0:09:31.137 --> 0:09:32.857 have a night team. And I was like, so you 0:09:32.977 --> 0:09:37.017 just put out like messaging during America like East Coast 0:09:37.137 --> 0:09:39.817 nine to five, Like that doesn't make that's not even 0:09:40.177 --> 0:09:42.857 we're talking to the global audience. That doesn't make any sense. 0:09:43.297 --> 0:09:45.417 Like I'm not that smart and that doesn't even make 0:09:45.457 --> 0:09:49.377 any sense to me. And and then and then I 0:09:49.417 --> 0:09:50.977 was like, all right, we'll find where's the where's the 0:09:50.977 --> 0:09:53.817 graphics guy? And they were like, oh, he's teleworking today 0:09:53.817 --> 0:09:56.577 And I was like tell what and they were like, teleworking. 0:09:56.617 --> 0:09:58.897 We have a really great telework program in this bureau. 0:09:59.017 --> 0:10:01.097 And I was like, do you know what my boss 0:10:01.137 --> 0:10:04.457 would have done to me if I said one of 0:10:04.457 --> 0:10:07.017 the independent production companies I used to work at that 0:10:07.097 --> 0:10:09.217 I was going to telework that day. I would be 0:10:09.297 --> 0:10:13.577 like telefive. I mean it's there. There's in the film industry. 0:10:13.657 --> 0:10:15.297 Like I actually got a lot of gained a lot 0:10:15.297 --> 0:10:17.657 of respect for it because I was like, they're hardcore, 0:10:17.817 --> 0:10:20.057 Like there is no not showing up, there are no 0:10:20.177 --> 0:10:23.617 sick days. There's no, there's no like, you're every minute 0:10:23.737 --> 0:10:26.217 is a million dollars, so you're not you're not wasting 0:10:26.257 --> 0:10:29.577 any time. But no, it's not only could they they 0:10:29.697 --> 0:10:32.817 not get fired. I think someone could walk up and 0:10:32.977 --> 0:10:35.297 punch their own boss in the face and it would 0:10:35.337 --> 0:10:38.417 take five years to fire them. When I found out that. 0:10:39.097 --> 0:10:41.377 When I came down, we merged the bureaus. At one 0:10:41.417 --> 0:10:44.097 point I went down to the broadcast unit, which was 0:10:44.217 --> 0:10:46.857 in a different area than my bureau, and I was like, 0:10:46.897 --> 0:10:49.217 all right, cool, we got a broadcast unit. Let's let 0:10:49.217 --> 0:10:50.897 me meet all the editors. I was like, I bet 0:10:50.897 --> 0:10:54.177 I'll like these guys because they were older, and you know, 0:10:54.217 --> 0:10:56.737 I used to work in traditional broadcast when I worked 0:10:56.857 --> 0:10:58.977 for Network TV. And I was like, all right, let 0:10:59.017 --> 0:11:00.577 me talk to these guys. And they were like, oh, well, 0:11:00.577 --> 0:11:03.457 only two of them come in the office of like twelve, 0:11:03.897 --> 0:11:05.417 and I was like, well, where are the other ones? 0:11:05.457 --> 0:11:07.777 And they were like, they can't come into the building, 0:11:08.097 --> 0:11:11.137 but they're still getting paid because they're in litigation with 0:11:11.257 --> 0:11:13.857 the department because they all got caught watching porn on 0:11:13.897 --> 0:11:16.377 government computers down here, and it's like in the basement, 0:11:16.897 --> 0:11:20.537 so the whole and this this thing. This broadcast unit 0:11:20.657 --> 0:11:26.697 handled the broadcast for like I think most American agencies satellite, 0:11:27.057 --> 0:11:29.817 and there were two guys running in and we couldn't 0:11:29.897 --> 0:11:32.777 hire any other you know, young contractors to come in 0:11:32.817 --> 0:11:35.057 and just like fill the gaps until we finally fix 0:11:35.137 --> 0:11:39.577 that because it's like again ghost ship. It's like you 0:11:39.737 --> 0:11:42.577 try to move the machine and it takes like a 0:11:42.697 --> 0:11:46.537 year to do anything, and it's so it's super frustrating. 0:11:46.577 --> 0:11:48.457 So that's that's one of the things I've kind of 0:11:48.457 --> 0:11:51.497 mouthed off on Twitter about. You know, like a lot 0:11:51.537 --> 0:11:53.337 of people are like, we're just going to drain the 0:11:53.377 --> 0:11:56.417 swamp because we're just going to do it, and it's like, yeah, 0:11:56.457 --> 0:11:59.857 we get a lot of people that were really really willing. 0:12:00.057 --> 0:12:02.817 It wasn't about It wasn't a question of will, It 0:12:02.857 --> 0:12:06.817 wasn't a question of intelligence. You're up against fifty years 0:12:07.017 --> 0:12:12.297 of pretty much unconc institutional law that's just been passed 0:12:12.377 --> 0:12:15.697 under our nose, and we live in a bureaucracy run 0:12:15.777 --> 0:12:16.457 country now. 0:12:16.817 --> 0:12:18.857 Yeah, it is the fourth branch of government. I think 0:12:18.857 --> 0:12:21.457 there's no question about that. I want to ask you 0:12:21.457 --> 0:12:24.457 more about the Plot against the President, which was your documentary. 0:12:24.497 --> 0:12:29.777 What brought you to it and how current events you 0:12:29.857 --> 0:12:32.537 feel like perhaps are reflected of it in some of 0:12:32.577 --> 0:12:35.457 the messaging and some of what you had in the documentary. 0:12:35.737 --> 0:12:38.657 But just quickly a word from our sponsor, Chalk, take 0:12:38.657 --> 0:12:40.097 the guesswork out of where you're going to find the 0:12:40.177 --> 0:12:42.217 energy and focus to make every day a solid one. 0:12:42.257 --> 0:12:45.617 Rely on Chalk's Male Vitality Stack as the solution. 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I mean, the main thing that's 0:13:40.017 --> 0:13:43.337 frustrating is okay, so we Lee Smith wrote the book, right, 0:13:43.457 --> 0:13:46.297 Lee Smith, the great, great journalist and author. 0:13:46.097 --> 0:13:48.177 Interviewed him many times. Really really sharp guy. 0:13:48.257 --> 0:13:50.697 Yeah, I mean, the guy is amazing. So he he 0:13:50.857 --> 0:13:53.577 was the one that was actually, you know, got the 0:13:53.617 --> 0:13:56.817 story down in such a way that it was following people, 0:13:57.057 --> 0:14:05.417 not documents. I have publicly made my opinion known about 0:14:05.417 --> 0:14:09.177 a lot of conservative content because I think a lot 0:14:09.217 --> 0:14:11.657 of conservative and you know, I really want there to 0:14:11.657 --> 0:14:13.617 be more culture war stuff. 0:14:13.977 --> 0:14:17.417 Are you suggesting, Amanda that when conservators make a movie 0:14:17.497 --> 0:14:19.817 it shouldn't look like a high school film project. 0:14:21.977 --> 0:14:23.577 I'm kind of I'm kind of saying that. 0:14:23.737 --> 0:14:25.017 Yeah. 0:14:24.577 --> 0:14:28.377 So basically I have a problem with homework on video. 0:14:28.537 --> 0:14:31.937 I don't consider that cinematic or film. And being somebody 0:14:31.937 --> 0:14:34.777 who was raised in that world and worked in it 0:14:34.857 --> 0:14:36.417 for as many years as I did, and then went 0:14:36.457 --> 0:14:39.057 to the best film school in the world, I can 0:14:39.137 --> 0:14:41.177 really see it when I see it, and I'm like, 0:14:41.417 --> 0:14:44.097 it makes me want to bar so I tend to 0:14:44.097 --> 0:14:46.977 call it out even though I want to applaud and 0:14:47.937 --> 0:14:51.577 say we should have more voices, not less right Andrew Breitbart. 0:14:52.417 --> 0:14:54.297 But there are a lot of good up and coming 0:14:54.697 --> 0:14:56.817 conservative or right wing or whatever you want to call 0:14:56.857 --> 0:15:00.257 it film directors that I am looking forward to working 0:15:00.257 --> 0:15:03.177 with that are actually really really good. And you know 0:15:03.377 --> 0:15:05.737 a lot of guys that worked with Tucker for example, 0:15:05.777 --> 0:15:10.297 a lot of people just on their own. IM not 0:15:10.577 --> 0:15:14.977 super fond of the homework assignment on video vibe. So 0:15:15.057 --> 0:15:18.537 anyway to do why I was attracted to Lee Smith's 0:15:18.617 --> 0:15:21.657 way of telling something so complex as Russia Gate, which 0:15:21.697 --> 0:15:26.377 is extremely complicated, Like you got to make explaining to 0:15:26.417 --> 0:15:30.057 a general audience what a FEISA warrant is interesting? Okay, 0:15:30.177 --> 0:15:32.777 Like that's that goes to like you know, when they 0:15:32.857 --> 0:15:36.177 had Margot Robi naked in the bathtub with the champagne 0:15:36.217 --> 0:15:40.457 explaining the stock market in the big short, that's that's 0:15:40.737 --> 0:15:42.817 that's a cinematic tool of like you have to get 0:15:42.817 --> 0:15:45.497 through some really dry exposition, like how do you do 0:15:45.537 --> 0:15:47.297 it well? With us? What we did is we had 0:15:47.297 --> 0:15:50.657 the most charismatic people explain it, and on that one 0:15:50.697 --> 0:15:53.777 in particular, we broke it down. Mike Cernovich did it. 0:15:54.817 --> 0:15:58.577 We had deep throats lawyer from Watergate, and a lot 0:15:58.577 --> 0:16:01.657 of the people who were affected by it, like you know, 0:16:01.737 --> 0:16:06.137 Don Junior and people like that. So so basically we 0:16:06.137 --> 0:16:08.897 we put this movie together based on Lee Smith's book. 0:16:08.937 --> 0:16:14.617 Because Lee smith book is a noir spy thriller, which 0:16:14.657 --> 0:16:17.657 is what Russia Gate is. It should be like our 0:16:17.817 --> 0:16:20.257 version of All the President's Men, which was the you know, 0:16:20.377 --> 0:16:26.137 classic nineteen seventies movie about Watergate, which sort of created 0:16:26.177 --> 0:16:31.697 the lore of these like detective journalists, like the Washington 0:16:31.737 --> 0:16:34.377 Post detective journalists. And so we're sort of we sort 0:16:34.417 --> 0:16:36.257 of did the opposite of that, right, I mean, we're 0:16:36.297 --> 0:16:40.737 dealing with undoing that work, but it's the same creepy vibe. 0:16:40.777 --> 0:16:43.777 I mean, Washington, DC really is a noir city. The 0:16:43.897 --> 0:16:48.217 streets are always wet, it's dark, bad things are happening, 0:16:48.457 --> 0:16:51.457 you don't know who to trust, everyone's two faces. I mean, 0:16:51.457 --> 0:16:55.057 if you study film noir like I did in college, 0:16:55.737 --> 0:16:58.977 it's the perfect city for a noir movie. So that's 0:16:58.977 --> 0:17:02.177 what I tried to do, is bring that aesthetic to 0:17:02.697 --> 0:17:06.497 the concept of Russiagate, and it worked really well. We 0:17:06.497 --> 0:17:08.417 were really lucky. I mean, we filmed it during the 0:17:08.457 --> 0:17:11.537 beginning of the you know, COVID shut down and everything, 0:17:11.617 --> 0:17:14.257 so conveniently, all the streets were empty and everything was 0:17:14.337 --> 0:17:16.617 just like kind of at our disposal, and we had it. 0:17:16.657 --> 0:17:19.737 We had a grand all time. But yeah, and we 0:17:19.777 --> 0:17:22.937 got it out before the twenty twenty election. And the 0:17:22.937 --> 0:17:27.097 frustrating thing now is is that I'm watching this Durham 0:17:27.137 --> 0:17:32.297 stuff and the hearing yesterday. I was so entertained by 0:17:32.337 --> 0:17:36.057 Matt Gates just tearing up Durham because we've been told 0:17:36.057 --> 0:17:39.457 that Durham was going to spend four years finding new 0:17:39.497 --> 0:17:43.697 information and there's not one single thing in his report 0:17:43.817 --> 0:17:47.337 that isn't in our ninety minute movie where I'm like, 0:17:47.977 --> 0:17:50.137 I could have saved you four years. And there's this 0:17:50.177 --> 0:17:53.457 one part in the in the hearing where he's whining 0:17:53.497 --> 0:17:55.377 about how he had to spend four years away from 0:17:55.417 --> 0:17:58.977 his family to investigate all this stuff, and You're like, Okay, 0:17:59.017 --> 0:18:00.777 well I could have saved you that you could have 0:18:00.817 --> 0:18:02.897 sat down with your family and watch a plot against 0:18:02.897 --> 0:18:04.537 the president and you wouldn't have had to do anything 0:18:04.537 --> 0:18:07.017 because you didn't do any when he's talking about how 0:18:07.017 --> 0:18:11.617 he couldn't find misfued. We could find him, right. But 0:18:11.817 --> 0:18:15.737 I'm I'm me. I'm not hired by the Department of Justice. 0:18:15.817 --> 0:18:18.057 I don't have the power of the state behind me. 0:18:18.217 --> 0:18:20.937 I can't subpoena anybody. I can just call them and 0:18:21.017 --> 0:18:23.177 ask them if they'll be interviewed in my movie, and 0:18:23.377 --> 0:18:25.177 most of the bad guys are gonna say no, Like 0:18:25.537 --> 0:18:29.177 unsurprisingly James Comey was not interested in being interviewed by me. 0:18:30.377 --> 0:18:35.297 But you know, this man had the power of the 0:18:35.377 --> 0:18:38.817 DOJ behind him, right, like he had an assignment, and 0:18:39.577 --> 0:18:42.537 it's unbelievable that he got the same interviews I did. 0:18:42.577 --> 0:18:45.657 I mean cash Pttel tells the story of the sixty 0:18:45.657 --> 0:18:48.657 five people coming in, all of the heads of agencies 0:18:48.657 --> 0:18:51.337 who would have known about the Russia collusion had there 0:18:51.377 --> 0:18:54.337 been any how under oath, every single one of them, 0:18:54.417 --> 0:18:58.817 when asked, have you found any evidence of the Trump 0:18:58.897 --> 0:19:01.817 administration or campaign colluding with Russia? Every single one of 0:19:01.857 --> 0:19:05.777 them said no, you know, behind closed doors under oath 0:19:05.857 --> 0:19:10.257 until it was declassified by Rick Ernell. And the fact 0:19:10.337 --> 0:19:13.537 is we've known that we so Lee put that book 0:19:13.577 --> 0:19:16.417 out in twenty nineteen at least in manuscript form when 0:19:16.417 --> 0:19:19.537 I optioned it. We put the movie out in twenty twenty, which, 0:19:19.537 --> 0:19:21.737 by the way, that's an insane turnaround time that I'm 0:19:21.777 --> 0:19:23.937 never doing again. I'm never making a movie in less 0:19:23.937 --> 0:19:27.057 than a year again. So no one asked me. It's 0:19:27.097 --> 0:19:29.057 just it's crazy. You're not supposed to do it that way. 0:19:29.137 --> 0:19:32.497 But we did, and it went really well. You know, 0:19:32.537 --> 0:19:35.937 it's like still like, it's the number one documentary on 0:19:35.977 --> 0:19:42.857 Amazon per reviews, still doing. Really it's just it's it's 0:19:43.137 --> 0:19:47.897 broken through to people because it's not conservative. It's not 0:19:47.937 --> 0:19:51.577 just conservative red meat, right. It actually explains the story 0:19:51.617 --> 0:19:54.417 that you get engaged with. That's how you change hearts 0:19:54.417 --> 0:19:57.377 and minds. You don't just tell them facts. Don't care 0:19:57.417 --> 0:20:00.057 about your feelings. Here's the facts, and we're conservatives, so 0:20:00.097 --> 0:20:02.817 we're correct because here's the facts. Like I don't know 0:20:02.897 --> 0:20:06.337 if anyone studied propaganda, but that doesn't that doesn't work. 0:20:06.417 --> 0:20:08.777 You have to change people's hearts, like it's not it's 0:20:08.817 --> 0:20:11.337 I don't know if I'm more attuned to that because 0:20:11.337 --> 0:20:14.257 I started in the arts or I'm a chick or something. 0:20:14.297 --> 0:20:16.417 I don't know, but I don't ever start out with 0:20:17.337 --> 0:20:19.657 here's the PAISA warrant, and here's what was wrong with it. 0:20:19.657 --> 0:20:22.457 It's like, no, here's the man whose life was destroyed 0:20:22.737 --> 0:20:25.977 and his family and his kids and this and that, 0:20:26.097 --> 0:20:28.817 and this is why this matters. If this can happen 0:20:28.897 --> 0:20:30.737 to him, it can happen to you. 0:20:31.057 --> 0:20:35.257 I'll never forget the first time I met Carter Page, 0:20:35.337 --> 0:20:37.337 you know, the target of one of the FISA warrants. 0:20:37.697 --> 0:20:39.857 And he's for anyone who hasn't met you know, well 0:20:39.857 --> 0:20:44.057 not met, but remember he's you know, when he sat down, 0:20:44.097 --> 0:20:46.817 he's like, hey, it's like, you know, I hung out 0:20:46.857 --> 0:20:48.497 with your dad for a day at the Harvard Club 0:20:48.537 --> 0:20:50.737 once and I was like, wait, I'm interviewing him on set. 0:20:50.737 --> 0:20:53.057 It was like a social setting, like right before the 0:20:53.097 --> 0:20:55.737 cameras turn on, and I was like what. And then 0:20:55.777 --> 0:20:57.777 I'm like I'm like wait hold on. He's like, oh yeah, 0:20:57.777 --> 0:20:59.577 your dad's so fun, like you know, he's just really 0:20:59.697 --> 0:21:00.737 like matter of fact that kind. 0:21:00.657 --> 0:21:03.217 Of nonsout, like. 0:21:03.817 --> 0:21:07.057 Oh guy, But I remember I called my dad that. 0:21:07.177 --> 0:21:11.297 I'm like, Dad, did you He's like, I think I 0:21:11.297 --> 0:21:13.337 did hang out with the Carter I know. It's like 0:21:13.377 --> 0:21:16.217