WEBVTT - Peter Schweizer - March 17th, Hour 3 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:04.040 Welcome back to the Sean Hannity Show. I'm Greg Jarrett 0:00:04.040 --> 0:00:07.840 filling in for Sean. I'm a Fox News legal analyst. 0:00:07.880 --> 0:00:12.399 You can follow me on Twitter at greg Jarrett. Hope 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:16.160 you read my legal columns and listen to my podcast 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:20.680 The Brief on my website, the Greg Jarrett dot Com. 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:23.880 You can also learn about my new book, The Trial 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:28.600 of the Century. It's now available for pre order online. 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:33.520 That famous trial helped form the legal bedrock on which 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:38.520 our civil liberties depend today. Was a battleover science, faith, 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:43.880 free speech, academic freedom, and the power of ideas that 0:00:43.960 --> 0:00:48.879 nobody should be told how to think. Legendary defense attorney 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:53.800 Clarence Darrow's stunning takedown of William Jennings Brian was the 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:59.120 most amazing courtroom confrontation in Anglo Saxon history, wrote The 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:04.000 New York Times, the surprising outcome of the trial foreshadowed 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:07.119 today's bitter culture wars. So I hope you'll read the book, 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:11.880 The Trial of the Century, available now online. For those 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:14.920 of you who have read my many columns about the 0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:21.760 Biden family corruption, it's encouraging that Congress is now finally 0:01:22.000 --> 0:01:28.120 finally investigating the volumes of evidence that appear to implicate 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:34.560 President Joe Biden in his son's lucrative influence pedaling schemes, 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:40.240 selling access and promises of potential influence to countries like China, Russia, 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:45.679 Ukraine and other foreign nations. Despite a laptop with reams 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:51.200 of incriminating evidence, no charges have ever been filed in 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:55.920 a federal investigation that is now in its fifth year. 0:01:56.560 --> 0:02:00.880 Five years no charges, and that of course invites the 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:07.520 inevitable question, is Joe Biden's Department of Justice protecting the President? Well, 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:11.280 it sure looks like it. The FBI, after all, has 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:15.240 had the laptop in its possession since December of twenty 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:20.000 and nineteen. Whistle blowers that the bureau say top officials 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:24.680 at the agency buried that's smoking gun evidence. And we 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:28.720 know from the Twitter files that the FBI pressured, if 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:33.480 not directed, the social media giant to censor and suppress 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:38.640 the laptop story. For more, let's turn out of Peter Schweitzer, 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:42.320 one of the best investigative journalists in the nation. He 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:47.440 is the best selling author of several books, including Red Handed, 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:53.640 the most recent Profiles in Corruption, Secret Empires, and Clinting Cash. 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:58.360 My all time favorite is pocketar website and podcast is 0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:02.399 the drill Down. Peter great having you back with us. 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:07.560 There is a terrific column and podcast on your website 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:14.079 to drill Down. It's entitled did the Clintons inspire the Bidens? 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:18.600 What's the answer to that question? I think they did. 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:21.560 The answer is yes. You know, Greg, you and I 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:25.239 both know, having followed corruption and cronyism in Washington, DC 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:29.400 for a long time, everybody in Washington loves a business 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:32.880 model that can allow them to get rich through public service. 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:35.680 There are very few exceptions to that rule. And I 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:38.800 think in this particular case, what the Clintons did was 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:42.880 they globalized corruption. You know, we think about globalization with 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:46.520 the economy, labor or all that kind of stuff. Corruption 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:48.680 got globalized too. And it was really the Clinton's the 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:52.000 first ones who said, you know, we're gonna cash in. 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:55.440 Not so much by going to you know, Wall Street 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:57.760 or big Tech, although we'll do some of that. We're 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:01.280 going to cash in by going overseas to these corrupt 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:05.600 political cultures places like Russia and China, and we're going 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:10.240 to peddle our wares there and sell access there. That's 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:13.200 what the Clintons did, and I believe that the Bidens 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:16.600 were inspired by that. In fact, you see in the 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:19.880 Laptop when Hunter Biden is talking about setting up the 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:24.600 Biden Center at the University of Delaware, he actually compares 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:27.680 it to the Clinton Global Initiatives, saying, we can do 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:31.200 with this what the Clintons did with the CGI. Yeah, 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:34.800 and in fact you go through it in great detail 0:04:36.040 --> 0:04:39.760 in as I mentioned my favorite book, Clinton Cash, how 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:45.599 they the Clintons used their foundation, their Global Initiative really 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:49.760 is a personal piggy bank, and in particular the tens 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:55.760 of millions of dollars from Russia that flowed into their foundation. Yeah, 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:59.800 really quite breathtaking, you know. Tell us a bit more 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:03.400 about that, Yeah, I mean, you know, look, Hillary Clinton 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:07.200 was Secretary of State the first term of the Obama administration, 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:12.000 and that provided a real opportunity for the Clinton family 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:14.440 to cash in. I mean, they were doing pretty well 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:17.799 after Bill left the presidency and Hillary was in the Senate. 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:21.640 But once she became Secretary of State, all these foreign 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:25.080 entities wanted to curry favor with chief diplomat, and the 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:30.000 perfect avenue was the so called charity, the Clinton Foundation. 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:33.880 So they would make these charitable donations to the Clinton Foundation. 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:37.880 The Clinton Foundation, of course, subsidized the lifestyle of the Clintons. 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:41.479 It became sort of a dumping ground for their political operatives, 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:45.200 and Russia was one of the main players, and it 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:50.360 centered around really sensitive important issues like uranium. You and 0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:53.640 I discussed this on the air when this story first broke. 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:58.320 Uranium won this uranium company that had roughly half of 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:01.440 the Uranian assets in the United States. They also had 0:06:02.120 --> 0:06:06.640 some very very deep and rich uranium mines in Kazakhstan. 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:13.159 Bill Clinton essentially got the Kazakh government to sell those 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:15.760 uranium minds to a friend of his, a guy named 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:20.560 Frank Justra, who then donated one hundred million dollars to 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:23.800 the Clinton Foundation. And then Justra turned around and sold 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:26.839 those minds and the minds in the United States to 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:30.880 the Russian state owned uranium producer. So they were essentially 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:34.880 doing the bidding of the Russian government itself. It's it's 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:38.760 funny to meet Greg when you look at the demonization 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:41.560 of Vladimir Putin today and by the way, in my mind, 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:44.400 he has always deserved it. But you know, back in 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:48.960 ten years ago, the Clintons were very much doing the 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:53.120 bidding of Vladimir Putin. It wasn't just the money from 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:55.640 uranium one. They also took in a lot of Russian 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:59.880 money because of something called Skokovo, which was a Hillary 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:04.080 Clinton initiative as Secretary of State to create a silicon 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:07.440 valley in Russia. You know what could go wrong, And 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:10.240 they cashed in there as well, and that enhanced the 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:16.400 Russian military. So Russia was for the Clinton's sort of 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:21.200 the the the golden calf, as it were for the Bidens. 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:23.440 They looked at the other part of the world. They 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:26.400 looked at Asia and particularly China as the place to 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:29.480 cash in the most. Yeah. So you know, if I 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:34.600 remember correctly, about one hundred million dollars in Russian money 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:39.920 flows into the Clinton Foundation and their Global Initiative. Well, 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:43.000 at the same time, you know, Hillary and Bill are 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:48.040 greasing the sale of America's uranian to Russia, their their 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:51.480 ownership of it. I mean, good lord, it's to me, 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:55.200 it's the definition of corruption. Let me come back to 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:59.760 something you said a moment ago. The Bidens followed the 0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:03.160 business model of the Clintons. In fact, i'll quote from 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:07.680 your book Red Handed quote the Biden's father and son 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:13.680 together apparently followed a business model offering access to the 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:18.840 highest levels of powering Washington in exchange for big money 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:23.679 international deals end of quote. And Peter. This is while 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:29.200 the elder Biden was Vice President of the United States, right, Yeah, 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:32.439 And that's the key ingredient here, Greg. As you know, 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:36.720 you know with the Clintons, Bill Clinton's speaking fees doubled 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:40.079 or tripled overnight when his wife became Secretary of State 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:43.800 in two thousand and nine. It's not because became more eloquent. 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:48.480 It's because foreign entities wanted to pay them to get access. 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:53.720 It's the same thing with the Biden's Hunter Biden sets 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:57.880 up an international finance firm called Rosemont in June of 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:01.080 two thousand and nine. This is, you know what, five 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:03.880 months after his father has sworn as Vice President of 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:07.360 the United States. He had never done international business before. 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:10.200 He couldn't have gotten a meeting because his father was 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:13.240 simply a senator. But now that his father was vice 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:17.400 president of the United States and Barack Obama gave Joe 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:22.520 Biden the villet for policy towards China, policy towards Ukraine. 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:27.640 Now suddenly these foreign entities wanted access, they wanted favor, 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:31.280 they wanted favorable treatment. So what did they do. They 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:34.280 went to the son who had set up this international 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:37.720 financial business and said, we're happy to do deals with you. 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:40.839 So Hunter Biden, who I don't think could have gotten 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:44.640 really any meetings in China within a year of setting 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:48.200 up his business, he's going to China and he's meeting 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:51.960 with the equivalent of China's head of the Federal Reserve, 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:58.880 the Treasury Secretary JP Morgan Goldman Sachs Ubs. He's meeting 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:02.640 with eleven of the hop finance executives in China. Why 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:06.640 because he's got some great, you know, investment scheme, because 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:09.720 he's got some great expertise. No, because his father is 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:13.080 now in charge of policy towards China. And that's how 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:17.679 it works. And look, the Clintons and the Bidens absolutely 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:20.960 know this. They know how the game is played. And 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:23.839 one of the reasons that they run the money through 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:27.040 a family member. In the case of the Clintons, when 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:29.800 Hillary was Secretary of State, it went through her husband Bill. 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:32.640 In the case of the Bidens, it's run through the 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:36.360 son or the brother, James Biden. The reason they do 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:39.920 that is it gives them some form of plausible deniability. 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:42.200 But when you look at actually what's going on. It's 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:45.840 very clear what's going on, and it's not fooling really anybody. Yeah, 0:10:45.880 --> 0:10:52.000 it's it's corrupt influence, pedaling promises of access as well 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:59.360 as potential influential decision making it would favor, for example, China. 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:06.040 You know, US banks flagged a staggering a hundred and 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:11.320 fifty suspicious activity reports stars is, they're known with a 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:15.400 financial crimes unit at the Department of Treasury reflecting tens 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:23.760 of millions of dollars paid in suspected illegal transactions. Right, So, 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:27.599 Joe Biden suddenly becomes president United States and the Treasury 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:31.680 Department under Biden will not do what they've always done, 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:36.080 which is turn over those reports to Congress. Instead, they 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:40.120 have refused so far to turn them over. What do 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:43.520 you make of that? Yeah, it's remarkable, Greg. You know, 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:48.760 what they're claiming is it would violate the banking secrecy laws. 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:51.120 But of course there are numerous times in the past 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:54.080 when Congress has requested for access to these sorts of 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:57.480 financial records and has gotten them from our federal government. 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:01.880 In this particular case, it's a cover up, pure and simple, 0:12:02.640 --> 0:12:05.720 And this is the sort of thing that leads to 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:09.760 further and further legitimate concern and suspicion, I think even 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:13.440 by supporters of Joe Biden. I saw a poll that 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:15.599 was done I think by Trafalgar just a couple of 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:19.920 days ago, showing that at least one third of Democrats 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:23.840 believe that Joe Biden has a massive conflict of interest 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:26.760 when it comes to China because of his family's business dealings. 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:31.800 These are Democrats that probably are not listening to news 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:35.480 outlets such as Yours or Fox where they're actually being 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:40.280 exposed to the detailed information we're discussing. So it's very 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:42.960 very clear to me that this is a cover up, 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:46.120 and I think that it's going to be interesting to 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:50.200 see where Democrats who don't want Joe Biden running for 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:52.559 reelection because they think he's too old or they don't 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:54.840 think he can win, where they are going to line 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:57.160 up because we are setting up, i think, for a 0:12:57.280 --> 0:13:00.960 battle royale for access to this information. There's all kinds 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:03.880 of things they can do to make sure that you know, 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:09.280 nothing personally secretive that would violate the banking rules would 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:12.160 be not disclosed. You can release the form, you can 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:14.880 redact all sorts of things. They simply don't want the 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:19.400 American people to know who and how much money the 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:22.920 Biden family has received from China. I've got about a 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:26.440 minute left, so let me ask you the ultimate question. 0:13:27.320 --> 0:13:30.240 Is it a legitimate concern that Americans should be worried 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:33.720 about that Joe Biden is compromised when it comes to China, 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:41.960 that he has essentially jeopardized America's national security. Just look 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:44.280 at the discussions we have in Washington all the time 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:48.280 about campaign contributions by big tech, or big oil, or 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:51.400 by Wall Street. Those are legitimate debates. In this case, 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:54.000 we're not talking about tens of millions of dollars going 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:57.040 into campaigns. We're talking about tens of millions of dollars 0:13:57.080 --> 0:14:00.400 going into the pockets of the first family of the 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:04.280 United States. So by any measure, any measure, it is 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:08.360 absolutely a legitimate concern and one that I believe is 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:12.120 the central issue that we're facing as a republic today. Well, 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:15.360 I hope the Judiciary Committee as well as the Oversight 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:17.880 Committee in the House get to the bottom of it. 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:22.400 Peter Schweitzer one of the best investigative journalists, best selling 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:26.640 author of several books, his most recent Red Handed. Check 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:30.600 out his website and podcast. The drill down, Peter, thanks 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:34.040 for being with us. Thanks Greg for having me. We're 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:36.920 gonna take a quick break. I'm Greg Jarrett filling in 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:39.840 for Sean on the Sean Hannity Show. We'll be right 0:14:39.880 --> 0:14:43.360 back and Welcome back to the Sean Hannity Show. I'm 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:46.080 Greg Jarrett filling in for Sean. You can follow me 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:49.640 on Twitter at greg Jarrett. Read my legal columns, listen 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:53.720 to my podcast The Brief on my website, the Greg 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:57.200 Jarrett dot Com. You can also learn about my new book, 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:02.280 The Trial of the Century of available for pre order online. 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:07.000 I wrote it with Don Yeager, terrific writer who dug 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:11.440 deep into the history of the case. Don was kind 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:13.440 enough to join us in the first hour. He's going 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:16.640 to rejoin us in just a moment, so be sure 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:20.360 is stay tuned for that our further discussion on The 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:24.960 Trial of the Century. You can get it preorder it online. 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:28.640 This is the Sean Hannity Show. I'm Greg Jarrett filling 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:31.160 in for Sean. We'll be right back. Welcome back to 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:34.360 the Sean Hannity Show. I'm Greg Jarrett filling in for Sean. 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:38.440 You can follow me on Twitter at Greg Jarrett. You 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:42.239 can read my legal columns and other articles on my website, 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:46.920 the Greg Jarrett dot Com. Listen to my podcast The Brief. 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:50.040 In a couple hours ago, I was talking to my 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:53.720 co author of my new book, Trial of the Century, 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:57.640 which you can pre order right now online at all 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:02.920 usual online website. It's Amazon, Barnes and Noble. It's about 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:06.840 the Scope's Monkey trial, the Trial of the Century in 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:12.600 my judgment, because it's set the bedrock principles for free speech, 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:17.240 academic freedom, intellectual enlightenment, and the power of ideas. These 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:23.160 are cherished principles upon which our civil liberties depend. Today. 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:26.480 We cherish these principles and the work of the greatest 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:32.120 trial lawyer who ever lived, Clarence Darrow. We owe great 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:36.800 gratitude and credit, certainly my hero in my lifetime and 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:39.760 joining me once again to talk about it as my coauthor, 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:44.080 Don Jeger, New York Times bestselling author, a longtime associate 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:47.680 editor at Sports Illustrated, a popular public speaker, and done. 0:16:48.040 --> 0:16:51.600 Thanks for sticking around for another half hour to talk 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:56.120 about the Trial of the Century. You know, one of 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:58.800 the things that people get to read about in the 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:05.160 book is the incredible tense courtroom scenes which I mentioned earlier, 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:10.480 The New York Times described as the greatest courtroom confrontation 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:13.959 in Anglo Saxon history. But you can also see the 0:17:13.960 --> 0:17:18.959 photographs of it because they were maintained. This is, you know, 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:22.040 almost a hundred years ago in the archives in Tennessee 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:25.439 at Brian College, which is in Dayton, Tennessee, and you know, 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:29.480 just across from the courthouse somewhat. You can see it 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:33.120 from the top floor of the courthouse. And I put 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:37.040 together forty photographs of the trial game permission, and you know, 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:39.280 I go in there and I spent I don't know, 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:41.840 ten or twelve hours. You have to wear white cotton 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:46.520 gloves to handle these old, fragile photographs. And I used 0:17:46.760 --> 0:17:51.719 this huge high resolution scanner to copy and download the 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:55.320 incredible photographs. And let's talk about what they show, because 0:17:55.400 --> 0:18:00.680 don you know, it was a circus like atmosphere at 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:05.439 that trial outside the courthouse enterout the town, complete with 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:10.399 a trained chimpanzee named Joe Mendy, which was sort of 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:15.960 a nod to the mistaken impression that man evolved from 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:19.119 eight So talk about the circus at the trial of 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:21.800 the century, you know, Greg, One of the things that 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:24.280 really stood out as as we had a chance to 0:18:24.359 --> 0:18:29.600 experience the town and to to walk through that courthouse. 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:33.600 Was that you know, at the time, the court room 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:38.480 where that case was tried was actually the largest courtroom 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:41.680 in all of Tennessee. It was UH and and yet 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:47.480 it was filled to its to its complete capacity, standing 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:52.800 room only. People from around the country, journalist from around 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:57.840 the world came to be part of this event. It was, 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:03.800 you know, ironically the city of Dayton arranged this trial. 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:07.880 They they they actually sought out the teacher John Scopes 0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:11.560 to see if they could find someone who might have 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:16.600 violated the recently passed law there in Tennessee, because they 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:22.159 wanted the opportunity to to showcase their community. And it 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:25.480 turned into it was as for many many years, it 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:28.919 was quite an embarrassment of black eye for for for 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:32.280 the for the community. But but yes, I mean one 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:35.119 of the things that that stood out to me was 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:40.199 that it was the first trial ever UH broadcast live 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:45.359 on radio. Every every minute of the trial, including all 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:48.960 of the UH, the the actions of the judge and 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:53.119 and the and the UH the individual lawyers were broadcast 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:58.199 on WGN. UH first trial broadcasts from from beginning to 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:02.240 end on America An American Radio Network. So in many 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:06.439 ways it was the court TV version of what you 0:20:06.520 --> 0:20:09.960 might have experienced in some of your work. So yes, 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:14.440 constantly it was. It was It was seen all over 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:17.879 as something that everyone in the country was paying attention to, 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:20.879 front page of every newspaper. You know, I covered the O. J. 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:24.600 Simpson trial, which everybody compared to a circus. Frankly, it 0:20:24.720 --> 0:20:28.960 paled in comparison to what unfolded in nineteen twenty five 0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:33.280 in Dayton, Tennessee. But similar to court TV, in which cameras, 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:35.639 you know, we're in the courtroom for the Simpson trial. 0:20:36.280 --> 0:20:39.640 There were cameras in nineteen twenty five in the courtroom 0:20:39.640 --> 0:20:42.960 in Dayton, Tennessee, for the trial of the Century the 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:48.080 name of our book. And they would fly these newsreel 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:51.800 footage every day to Chicago. There was always a plane 0:20:51.800 --> 0:20:54.720 that was waiting on the outskirts of town in Dayton, Tennessee, 0:20:54.800 --> 0:21:00.560 at a small airstrip, and they would fly newsreel to Chicago, 0:21:00.560 --> 0:21:03.119 where it would then be distributed across the nation in 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:06.760 movie theaters, which was how people would get their their 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:10.320 news through these newsreel news shorts as they were known, 0:21:10.560 --> 0:21:15.600 and they could watch some of what was unfolding inside 0:21:16.080 --> 0:21:20.679 the courtroom. There's still some newsreel footage available. I found 0:21:20.720 --> 0:21:24.720 it on YouTube. You know, it's not pretty stuff, but 0:21:25.320 --> 0:21:30.600 you know, by today's standards, but it still exists. This 0:21:30.680 --> 0:21:35.480 trial really impacted almost everybody who was involved in it, 0:21:35.760 --> 0:21:41.320 In particular the defendant John Scopes. Now Scopes was arrested 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:45.479 and charged with a crime of teaching evolution under this 0:21:45.600 --> 0:21:49.240 new statute that Tennessee had passed. But other states were 0:21:49.280 --> 0:21:52.359 doing the same thing. They were also banning books that 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:59.080 gave instruction textbooks on evolution in other states. Scopes life 0:21:59.240 --> 0:22:03.040 was in so many ways, wasn't it done ruined by 0:22:03.320 --> 0:22:07.639 by this case? But without question, one of a chunk 0:22:07.760 --> 0:22:11.679 of our book is dedicated to UH to kind of 0:22:11.720 --> 0:22:15.000 the retelling of what happened to John Scope's afterward. I mean, 0:22:15.040 --> 0:22:21.000 he he disappeared in many ways. He um, he became 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:26.320 an alcoholic, he lost relationship with his own family and children, 0:22:27.400 --> 0:22:30.959 moved you know, to UH to Central America. He there 0:22:31.000 --> 0:22:34.600 were there were so many places where where his life 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:38.320 went in in a direction he was not anticipating, because 0:22:38.800 --> 0:22:41.680 so many people were bothered by the idea that he 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:46.359 was um, that that he had put himself in this place. 0:22:46.480 --> 0:22:51.000 He was clearly a bad person. And what it, what 0:22:51.119 --> 0:22:54.280 it did, and even some of those who tried to 0:22:54.359 --> 0:22:57.160 chronicle it, he wouldn't allow others to talk about it. 0:22:57.640 --> 0:23:02.280 Um he was he was, as you said, crushed by 0:23:02.280 --> 0:23:05.119 by the moment. I mean, it was really a sad 0:23:05.160 --> 0:23:07.320 epitaph to a law and this was a guy who 0:23:07.440 --> 0:23:11.320 was very bright and he I think he wanted to 0:23:11.359 --> 0:23:14.720 be a lawyer. But you know, he almost enrolled I 0:23:14.720 --> 0:23:17.240 think it was a university in Kentucky law school, and 0:23:17.600 --> 0:23:23.280 that he realized that his fame or infamy was haunting him, 0:23:23.480 --> 0:23:26.239 and you know, that's a great word, realized that he 0:23:26.280 --> 0:23:29.239 could never be a lawyer, especially in the shadow of 0:23:29.280 --> 0:23:32.480 his famous trava a journey Clarence Darrell. What a great 0:23:32.520 --> 0:23:36.600 what a great description of it. Haunt was would be 0:23:36.640 --> 0:23:39.000 the word that you would have to look for if 0:23:39.040 --> 0:23:41.480 you're trying to understand what happened to him next and 0:23:42.160 --> 0:23:45.119 over the remaining the course of his life. Late in 0:23:45.160 --> 0:23:50.840 his life, he tried to to regain some of that fame. 0:23:50.920 --> 0:23:53.840 Actually signed up and was part of game shows and 0:23:53.880 --> 0:23:58.040 a couple of other things where he tried to use 0:23:58.320 --> 0:24:02.359 what little fame was left to help him recover some 0:24:02.440 --> 0:24:05.800 of his lost finances. But yeah, I mean it was 0:24:06.320 --> 0:24:10.040 the promising career of a young teacher. Um was never 0:24:10.080 --> 0:24:13.720 the same. Let's talk about the journalist who had more 0:24:13.760 --> 0:24:18.880 influence on this trial across America than anybody in his day. 0:24:19.040 --> 0:24:23.000 He was the most famous journalist in America, Hl Mencin, 0:24:23.200 --> 0:24:29.960 who was this gifted writer and a very intelligent, thoughtful person, 0:24:30.320 --> 0:24:36.760 but with a very acerbic pen or typewriter. And you know, 0:24:36.840 --> 0:24:42.600 he took direct aim at William Jennings Bryan, whom he mocked, 0:24:43.040 --> 0:24:49.000 ridiculed and demeaned, and everybody across America read Mencon's column 0:24:49.720 --> 0:24:53.159 during the trial. Yeah, one of the one of the 0:24:53.160 --> 0:24:55.719 great ironies though that it stood out to both of 0:24:55.800 --> 0:24:58.800 us as we were kind of digging into this, because yes, 0:24:58.920 --> 0:25:02.560 Mancin became quite fair amos over time and even more 0:25:02.560 --> 0:25:06.600 famous during that trial. But while he was there covering it, 0:25:07.160 --> 0:25:11.200 he had made a decision when he realized that the 0:25:11.720 --> 0:25:15.280 that that Clarence Darrow was not going to get to 0:25:15.320 --> 0:25:18.960 put on his expert witnesses, he made the decision to 0:25:19.080 --> 0:25:23.240 go back to Baltimore, to leave Dayton because he he thought, wow, 0:25:23.280 --> 0:25:26.840 this is this is over and so he actually missed 0:25:27.040 --> 0:25:31.560 and was not there for the peace of the trial 0:25:32.000 --> 0:25:35.000 when William Jennings Bryan actually took the stand. He wasn't 0:25:35.040 --> 0:25:38.680 there for the very for maybe the most significant piece 0:25:38.800 --> 0:25:43.159 of the entire event. Um, you know, you know today 0:25:43.200 --> 0:25:46.439 you get fired for going home early and missing the 0:25:46.480 --> 0:25:50.440 most pivotal part of the of the Trial of the Century. Again, 0:25:50.480 --> 0:25:53.760 my guest is John don Yeger. Is is my co 0:25:53.920 --> 0:25:57.200 author of The Trial of the Century. You can order 0:25:57.240 --> 0:26:00.320 it online. Pre order it now. It's an important book, 0:26:00.400 --> 0:26:03.639 I think, And you know, in the book, I talked 0:26:03.680 --> 0:26:07.960 so much about how I admired and respected Clarence Darrow 0:26:08.160 --> 0:26:12.960 his principles. He was known as the Attorney for the damned, 0:26:14.320 --> 0:26:17.159 but he was also flawed. We opened one of the 0:26:17.240 --> 0:26:20.920 chapters where Darrow shows up at the door of his 0:26:21.440 --> 0:26:25.680 one time girlfriend. He is drunk, he is got a gun, 0:26:26.320 --> 0:26:28.960 he lays it on the table and announces he's going 0:26:29.000 --> 0:26:31.520 to kill himself. We've only got about a minute or 0:26:31.600 --> 0:26:35.320 so left. But he was not a perfect person. But 0:26:35.400 --> 0:26:41.120 I identified with that because I'm not. Nobody is. We're 0:26:41.160 --> 0:26:48.640 all afflicted with human frailty, and Darrow was certainly among us. Yeah, 0:26:48.680 --> 0:26:50.879 you know, Greg, I don't want to spoil it, but 0:26:51.000 --> 0:26:53.119 I will tell you that maybe my favorite part of 0:26:53.119 --> 0:26:56.760 the entire book is where at the end you take 0:26:58.119 --> 0:27:03.360 you take the reins of the of the writing machine 0:27:03.400 --> 0:27:06.560 that we had to talk about why you saw this 0:27:06.600 --> 0:27:10.800 as such an important, such an important cultural event, and 0:27:11.200 --> 0:27:14.320