WEBVTT - BULLETIN: TRUMP DENIALS OF WSJ EPSTEIN BOMBSHELL COLLAPSE - 7.17.25

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<v Speaker 1>Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. This

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<v Speaker 1>is a Countdown special bulletin. I'm Keith Olderman. Inside the

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<v Speaker 1>outline of the Naked Woman was a typewritten note styled

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<v Speaker 1>as an imaginary conversation between Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, written

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<v Speaker 1>in the third person. According to the Wall Street Journal

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<v Speaker 1>bombshell story on Thursday night, quoting again voice over, there

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<v Speaker 1>must be more to life than having everything, the note began, Donald, Yes,

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<v Speaker 1>there is, but I won't tell you what it is, Jeffrey,

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<v Speaker 1>nor will I since I also know what it is. Donald.

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<v Speaker 1>We have certain things in common, Jeffrey. Jeffrey, Yes, we do,

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<v Speaker 1>come to think of it, Donald, Enigma's age. Have you

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<v Speaker 1>noticed that, Jeffrey. As a matter of fact, it was

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<v Speaker 1>clear to me the last time I saw you, Trump,

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<v Speaker 1>a pal is a wonderful thing. Happy birthday, and may

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<v Speaker 1>every day be another wonderful secret. This story is the

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<v Speaker 1>story of the Trump Epstein connection and that phrase wonderful secret?

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<v Speaker 1>What in the hell is Trump talking about? The Wall

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<v Speaker 1>Street Journal put this story out at about sunset on

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<v Speaker 1>Thursday night. It was immediately denied in the strangest way

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<v Speaker 1>of all of the denials of all of the Trump stories,

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<v Speaker 1>of all of the Trump sex stories in the last

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<v Speaker 1>decade or more, since long before he became a would

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<v Speaker 1>be dictator. At the risk of reading the entire Wall

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<v Speaker 1>Street Journal paywalled story, there are parts that I would

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<v Speaker 1>like to quote for batim. The headline, for instance, Jeffrey

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<v Speaker 1>Epstein's friends sent him body letters for a fiftieth birthday album.

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<v Speaker 1>One was from Donald Trump. The subhead the leatherbound book

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<v Speaker 1>was compiled by Gallaine Maxwell. The president says the letter

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<v Speaker 1>is a fake thing. What may live out of this

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<v Speaker 1>story is not the letter, which is not by any

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<v Speaker 1>means conclusive of about anything at all other than a

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<v Speaker 1>relationship between Epstein and Trump. And we all know about that.

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<v Speaker 1>And Trump's efforts to separate himself from Epstein have been

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<v Speaker 1>pro forma at best and pathetic at worst. What may

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<v Speaker 1>linger are the denials Trump seems to be journalistically doing

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<v Speaker 1>the equivalent of perjury here again and again, needless, stupid,

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<v Speaker 1>easily disproved perjury in a journalistic sense. There is no

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<v Speaker 1>such thing as lying to a newspaper being some kind

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<v Speaker 1>of legal offense. The story begins thusly. It was Epstein's

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<v Speaker 1>fiftieth birthday, and Maxwell was preparing a special gift to

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<v Speaker 1>mark the occasion. She turned to Epstein's family and friends,

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<v Speaker 1>One of them was Trump. Maxwell collected letters from Trump

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<v Speaker 1>and dozens of Epstein's other associates for a two thousand

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<v Speaker 1>and three birthday album. According to documents reviewed by The

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<v Speaker 1>Wall Street Journal, So put this back in its timing,

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<v Speaker 1>this would have been twelve years before Trump ran for president.

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<v Speaker 1>This is not ancient history. This is not something that

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<v Speaker 1>predates his political aspirations, which we know began certainly no

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<v Speaker 1>later than twenty eleven and had been festering inside that

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<v Speaker 1>semi brain of his since the twentieth century. The letter

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<v Speaker 1>bearing Trump's name, which was reviewed by the journal, is

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<v Speaker 1>body like others in the album. It contains several lines

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<v Speaker 1>of typewritten text, framed by the outline of a naked woman,

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<v Speaker 1>which appears to be hand drawn with a heavy marker.

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<v Speaker 1>A pair of small arcs denotes the women's women's breasts,

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<v Speaker 1>and the future president's signature is a squiggly donald below

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<v Speaker 1>her waist, mimicking pubic hair. One thing above all else

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<v Speaker 1>about the forty fifth and forty seventh president of the

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<v Speaker 1>United States is all class. The denial from Trump is

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<v Speaker 1>the most interesting part of the story. Quote to the journal,

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<v Speaker 1>this is not me. This is a fake thing. It's

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<v Speaker 1>a fake Wall Street Journal story. I never wrote a

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<v Speaker 1>picture in my life. I never wrote a picture in

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<v Speaker 1>my life. I don't draw pictures of women. It's not

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<v Speaker 1>my language, it's not my words. I'm gonna sue the

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<v Speaker 1>Wall Street Journal, just like I sued everyone else. This,

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<v Speaker 1>of course, quoted in the Wall Street Journal. I never

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<v Speaker 1>wrote a picture in my life. Stand by forgive my language,

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<v Speaker 1>writes jd Vance, who is Renfield to the Dracula in

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<v Speaker 1>this equation? But this story is completed, utter bullshit. The

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<v Speaker 1>WSJ should be a shamed for publishing it. Where is

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<v Speaker 1>this letter? Would you be shocked to learn they never

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<v Speaker 1>showed it to us before publishing it. Does anybody honestly

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<v Speaker 1>believe this sounds like Donald Trump? Well it doesn't have

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<v Speaker 1>to sound like Donald Trump. Somebody else would have composed

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<v Speaker 1>it for him, and he would have paid them less

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<v Speaker 1>than he promised. To my goodness, he actually could in

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<v Speaker 1>two thousand and three write things that made sense, that

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<v Speaker 1>seemed to be in English, that did not seem to

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<v Speaker 1>be coming from a brain damaged individual. I received a

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<v Speaker 1>letter from him in twenty fourteen that was a suck

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<v Speaker 1>up letter, a fan letter, a disingenuous fan letter, and

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<v Speaker 1>what I'm sure he'd like to destroy. I'll get to

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<v Speaker 1>that in a moment. But this phrase I never wrote

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<v Speaker 1>a picture in my life was disproven within an hour

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<v Speaker 1>of the Wall Street Journal printing the denial. Within an hour,

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<v Speaker 1>no fewer than online copies of at least two dozen

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<v Speaker 1>Donald Trump drawings that had been publicly sold doodles, pictures

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<v Speaker 1>often sold at charity events, almost invariably of skylines, all

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<v Speaker 1>carrying his crazy signature, all resembling his crazy, ironically enough

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<v Speaker 1>heartbeat kind of signature, at least two dozen, one that

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<v Speaker 1>sold for two hundred dollars in Iowa, if I remembering

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<v Speaker 1>it correctly. And then this story about a doodle by

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<v Speaker 1>Donald Trump of the Manhattan Skyline has sold an auction

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<v Speaker 1>for a grand total of twenty nine and eighty four dollars,

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<v Speaker 1>placed on the market early this week by the Los

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<v Speaker 1>Angeles based Nate D. Sanders Auctions. The drawing is typical Trump,

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<v Speaker 1>featuring the Trump Tower right at its center and the

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<v Speaker 1>president's nightmarish signature scrawled below it in gold marker the

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<v Speaker 1>dates to obviously the first term. It's an otherwise nondescript

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<v Speaker 1>and childlike portrayal of New York City with unadorned bill

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<v Speaker 1>bildings lined up in a row like tetris blocks topped

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<v Speaker 1>with triangle roofs. I think they're actually being kind of

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<v Speaker 1>unkind to him. There is a certain well, there's a

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<v Speaker 1>certain charm to this thing. But more importantly, I think

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<v Speaker 1>it's impossible to look at the drawing that Trump did

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<v Speaker 1>and not see what this really is. There are at

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<v Speaker 1>least four buildings that look like erect penises, and all

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<v Speaker 1>the other drawings are the same thing. I don't know

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<v Speaker 1>that anyone has yet produced a Trump took a picture

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<v Speaker 1>of a naked woman with his signature as her hair.

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<v Speaker 1>But we have this denial from Laura Lumer also already disproved.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm calling bullshit on this Trump birthday letter to Epstein.

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<v Speaker 1>It's totally fake. Everyone who actually knows President Trump knows

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<v Speaker 1>he doesn't type letters. He writes notes in big black sharpie.

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<v Speaker 1>Trust me, I would know he doesn't use email and

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<v Speaker 1>he doesn't type write. Lumer, who is a genius prince

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<v Speaker 1>type write as two words. He writes messages in big

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<v Speaker 1>black sharpie. This is not true. I have and I

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<v Speaker 1>have retained it, despite what are clearly subconscious efforts on

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<v Speaker 1>my part to destroy the damn thing by putting it

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<v Speaker 1>in file cabinets full of garbage. I still have from

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<v Speaker 1>twenty fourteen the fan letter he wrote me about my

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<v Speaker 1>ESPN two show, particularly a commentary I did about Ted Turner.

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<v Speaker 1>It is typed. It doesn't have to be typed by him,

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<v Speaker 1>It's typed by somebody else. He, however, dictated it. It

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<v Speaker 1>is his language, and it has a few notations and

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<v Speaker 1>marks on it with a big black sharpie, and of

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<v Speaker 1>course he's crazy ass signature. We've also seen him draw

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<v Speaker 1>on things like, you know, hurricane maps. It is fascinating

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<v Speaker 1>that his typing and his drawing and his writing habits

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<v Speaker 1>are denied here, and not the implications of sexual perversion,

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<v Speaker 1>nor the cover up of the Epstein crimes by Trump,

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<v Speaker 1>nor the connection between Trump and Epstein. That is not

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<v Speaker 1>what his defenders or even what Trump are denying. They

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<v Speaker 1>are denying that he draws pictures, And suddenly two dozen

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<v Speaker 1>pictures appear already online. Jay d Vance says, why haven't

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<v Speaker 1>they shown us the picture? Where is this picture? What

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<v Speaker 1>if the picture now turns up, and of course the

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<v Speaker 1>ridiculous idea that Trump would have to personally type a

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<v Speaker 1>typewritten note himself or it doesn't count somewhere. That's what

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<v Speaker 1>happens when you get a millennial, and not a particularly

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<v Speaker 1>bright one, trying to figure out what a typewritten letter

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<v Speaker 1>is and who has to use the typewriter when they

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<v Speaker 1>type it. Also, the only negative here that I see

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<v Speaker 1>in the short term is it gives those wavering in

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<v Speaker 1>their support of Trump over Epstein, particularly those he called,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, weaklings and idiots and former supporters. It gives

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<v Speaker 1>them something to rally a against and kind of walk

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<v Speaker 1>back towards his side, even if it is the Murdoch

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<v Speaker 1>Wall Street Journal against which they are rallying. It may

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<v Speaker 1>work to his advantage in this respect, but in a

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<v Speaker 1>larger sense it underscores this. This story will stay alive

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<v Speaker 1>into a third work week, and very few Trump scandals

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<v Speaker 1>have lasted that long. We will now be in the

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<v Speaker 1>mode in which the remaining news organizations in this country

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<v Speaker 1>begin to look for something else. Also, this story, as

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<v Speaker 1>mild as it is comparatively, drove Trump nuts and raged.

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<v Speaker 1>Trump attempted to kill the story from Status by the

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<v Speaker 1>reporter Oliver Darcy, formerly of CNN. Trump is said to

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<v Speaker 1>have personally called Emma Tucker, the journal's editor in chief,

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<v Speaker 1>to voice his objections. The specifics of the call remain unclear,

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<v Speaker 1>but it's hard to imagine Trump voiced anything but outrage.

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<v Speaker 1>There's a slightly different version of that in Breaker by

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<v Speaker 1>Lachlan Cartwright. There had been it's in recent days from

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<v Speaker 1>the White House to have the story killed, including a

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<v Speaker 1>phone call to Journal editor Emma Tucker from White House

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<v Speaker 1>Press Secretary Caroline Levitt, where Trump was on the line.

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<v Speaker 1>Breaker has learned, Oh no, how could you handle a

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<v Speaker 1>call from Caroline Levitt? The Division three softball center fielder.

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<v Speaker 1>But one thing I can't get past happy birthday? And

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<v Speaker 1>may every day be another wonderful secret? What in God's

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<v Speaker 1>name could that mean? And do any of us want

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<v Speaker 1>to know another wonderful secret? It fits all of the

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<v Speaker 1>cliches and all of the assumptions about Epstein, and particularly

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<v Speaker 1>about whatever Trump's relationship to Epstein really was. That's the

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<v Speaker 1>main thing. It's a vibe, as the kids say, and

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<v Speaker 1>the denials have already been disproved. The lead story on

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<v Speaker 1>the Murdoch owned Fox News Channel shows Tonight, Hunter Biden

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<v Speaker 1>something something Laura Ingram insisting Trump shouldn't fall into the

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<v Speaker 1>special prosecutor trap about Epstein. If it weren't for special

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<v Speaker 1>prosecutors like Ken Starr, Laura would never have a TV career.

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<v Speaker 1>She had followed her mother and she'd be waitressing into

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<v Speaker 1>her seventies. Let me rephrase that that's an honorable career.

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<v Speaker 1>Her mother had not like what Laura is doing now.

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<v Speaker 1>There was, apparently late in Laura Ingram's program, a reference

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<v Speaker 1>to something about the Wall Street Journal story coming up

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<v Speaker 1>after the break, And when the break happened and ended

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<v Speaker 1>and we went back to Laura, she said nothing about it.

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<v Speaker 1>All we saw is that attempt to make her face

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<v Speaker 1>smile after all that work. Also of note as to

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<v Speaker 1>Trump's health cover up, you will have noticed Trump's terrifyingly

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<v Speaker 1>swollen ankles you would go to the hospital, and his

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<v Speaker 1>obvious use of makeup over an area of his hand

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<v Speaker 1>that clearly shows there's been an IV attached there perhaps

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<v Speaker 1>or electrode patches put there, or that his hands have

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<v Speaker 1>had profound bruises in the area, and makeup used to

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<v Speaker 1>cover those bruises. The area seems to be about the

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<v Speaker 1>size of a silver dollar. The White House says he

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<v Speaker 1>has now been tested. There is no deep vein thrombosis,

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<v Speaker 1>no heart problems, but he has had swelling in his legs.

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<v Speaker 1>That's what they checked him out for. And they say

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<v Speaker 1>he has been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency or venous insufficiency,

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<v Speaker 1>which occurs when leg veins fail to pump blood to

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<v Speaker 1>the heart, causing the blood to pool in the lower limbs,

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<v Speaker 1>which can then become swollen. They say this is minor,

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<v Speaker 1>and we have long since learned never to trust the

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<v Speaker 1>White House Press Office about anything, but especially his health.

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<v Speaker 1>They are this close to sodom husseining him. They are

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<v Speaker 1>this close to announcing that, like Sodom Hussein used to

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<v Speaker 1>claim to the people of Iraq, he's had a magic

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<v Speaker 1>stone implanted in his chest and is therefore immortal and

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<v Speaker 1>cannot be shot or killed. But this insufficiency in the

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<v Speaker 1>veins may be legit because they have never before cited

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<v Speaker 1>an actual disease Trump has, especially one which may have

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<v Speaker 1>implications for travel, for flying. And the ankles have looked

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<v Speaker 1>like he was wearing winter boots. This is a real

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<v Speaker 1>problem and it may be a real and treatable problem.

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<v Speaker 1>But that leads to the second half of the story,

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<v Speaker 1>which is even on thinner ice than the first half.

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<v Speaker 1>Is it's the stuff about his hands. Those aren't bruises

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<v Speaker 1>or leftovers from patches or ivs or electrodes. Oh no,

0:14:47.715 --> 0:14:51.395
<v Speaker 1>says the White House. They are from shaking too many

0:14:51.595 --> 0:14:57.555
<v Speaker 1>hands while taking aspirin to treat the chronic venous insufficiency,

0:14:57.635 --> 0:15:01.115
<v Speaker 1>which is I believe this is a medical term. Bullshit.

0:15:01.955 --> 0:15:04.195
<v Speaker 1>They are claiming it is not serious, that it's the

0:15:04.235 --> 0:15:07.875
<v Speaker 1>result of the disease, which isn't serious, even though it

0:15:07.955 --> 0:15:11.235
<v Speaker 1>blew up his ankles. And sure, everybody has swelling in

0:15:11.275 --> 0:15:14.355
<v Speaker 1>their legs and they only need aspirin to cure it.

0:15:14.395 --> 0:15:17.435
<v Speaker 1>But if you take the aspirin, the thing causing the

0:15:17.515 --> 0:15:21.155
<v Speaker 1>swelling in your legs will then cause bruising on your hand,

0:15:21.715 --> 0:15:26.635
<v Speaker 1>bad enough to require makeup on your hand. This does

0:15:26.715 --> 0:15:30.355
<v Speaker 1>not add up. Trump, simply put, is in worse physical

0:15:30.395 --> 0:15:33.595
<v Speaker 1>shape now than Joe Biden got within a million miles

0:15:33.635 --> 0:15:37.435
<v Speaker 1>of but he can still instinctively talk fast and loudly.

0:15:37.835 --> 0:15:41.035
<v Speaker 1>So Jake Tapper isn't writing a goddamned book about it.

0:15:41.515 --> 0:15:45.595
<v Speaker 1>His clarity, though, is clearly descending about half a point

0:15:45.675 --> 0:15:48.595
<v Speaker 1>a week. That quote to the Wall Street Journal is

0:15:48.995 --> 0:15:52.915
<v Speaker 1>nonsensical or nearly such. I never wrote a picture in

0:15:52.955 --> 0:15:57.595
<v Speaker 1>my life. Oh good. I never wrote a picture in

0:15:57.595 --> 0:16:01.275
<v Speaker 1>my life either. Holy crap. And it didn't even turn

0:16:01.315 --> 0:16:04.315
<v Speaker 1>out to be true. There's one other note to mention

0:16:04.395 --> 0:16:07.915
<v Speaker 1>in this bulletin. CBS has tonight canceled the Late Show

0:16:07.915 --> 0:16:11.355
<v Speaker 1>with Stephen Colbert. It will linger on in ever less

0:16:11.355 --> 0:16:14.875
<v Speaker 1>supported lame duckness until May of next year, which is

0:16:14.995 --> 0:16:18.235
<v Speaker 1>utterly bizarre. But I have to assume they are refusing

0:16:18.275 --> 0:16:21.515
<v Speaker 1>to just give him any money to go away. Right now.

0:16:22.115 --> 0:16:25.635
<v Speaker 1>They are citing economics CBS is, and I believe that

0:16:25.715 --> 0:16:29.315
<v Speaker 1>there is some legitimacy to that. Nothing in television is paying,

0:16:29.355 --> 0:16:32.075
<v Speaker 1>certainly nothing as expensive as a late night talk show.

0:16:32.395 --> 0:16:34.955
<v Speaker 1>But of course that was also what they cited when

0:16:34.995 --> 0:16:38.475
<v Speaker 1>they denuded the CBS Evening News, and what they presumably

0:16:38.515 --> 0:16:41.155
<v Speaker 1>will cite when they cut the nuts off sixty minutes.

0:16:42.355 --> 0:16:44.635
<v Speaker 1>I'm going to do my reaction to this out of order.

0:16:44.875 --> 0:16:47.835
<v Speaker 1>I'm going to do the unpopular part first. I have

0:16:47.915 --> 0:16:51.355
<v Speaker 1>alluded to this before my experience with Stephen Colbert, which

0:16:51.435 --> 0:16:56.395
<v Speaker 1>dates back I believe to his fourth show on Comedy

0:16:56.475 --> 0:17:01.315
<v Speaker 1>Central in two thousand and seven eight when I did

0:17:01.315 --> 0:17:05.155
<v Speaker 1>a favor to Jonathan Alter, one of our regular guests

0:17:05.155 --> 0:17:08.355
<v Speaker 1>on Countdown, whose wife was the guest booker on a

0:17:08.435 --> 0:17:12.955
<v Speaker 1>show nobody wanted to go on with called the Colbert Rapport.

0:17:13.835 --> 0:17:16.995
<v Speaker 1>My experience with Stephen Colbert over all that time is

0:17:17.075 --> 0:17:21.115
<v Speaker 1>one hundred percent negative. I'm doing him a favor. When

0:17:21.115 --> 0:17:24.675
<v Speaker 1>he goes to CBS once again, missus, Alter asks me

0:17:24.875 --> 0:17:27.915
<v Speaker 1>to come on and be a guest for the demo show,

0:17:27.995 --> 0:17:30.555
<v Speaker 1>like the second time they tried to do a Stephen

0:17:30.635 --> 0:17:33.555
<v Speaker 1>Colbert late night CBS show in front of an audience,

0:17:33.595 --> 0:17:35.835
<v Speaker 1>and I come on and give up my time, which

0:17:35.875 --> 0:17:39.075
<v Speaker 1>isn't that valuable, But I shaved and I come on

0:17:40.075 --> 0:17:42.475
<v Speaker 1>and he asks me what I'm going to do now

0:17:42.515 --> 0:17:46.195
<v Speaker 1>that my ESPN two show has been canceled, and I said,

0:17:46.315 --> 0:17:48.715
<v Speaker 1>I don't know. There are a couple of possibilities, but

0:17:48.755 --> 0:17:52.395
<v Speaker 1>I legitimately don't know. And he responds, tell me, when

0:17:52.395 --> 0:17:54.955
<v Speaker 1>you were on Countdown and somebody gave you a bullshit

0:17:55.035 --> 0:17:58.275
<v Speaker 1>answer like that, what did you do? What I thought

0:17:58.315 --> 0:18:01.155
<v Speaker 1>of doing, since we weren't actually on TV, was getting

0:18:01.235 --> 0:18:03.555
<v Speaker 1>up and spitting in his face and walking off. I

0:18:03.635 --> 0:18:05.995
<v Speaker 1>happened to be telling him the literal truth. I didn't

0:18:06.035 --> 0:18:07.755
<v Speaker 1>know what I was going to do. There was an

0:18:07.795 --> 0:18:11.195
<v Speaker 1>offer from CNN, there was an offer from MSNBC, there

0:18:11.195 --> 0:18:13.635
<v Speaker 1>were two sports offers. I didn't know what I was

0:18:13.635 --> 0:18:16.315
<v Speaker 1>going to do. Ultimately, I didn't do any of those things.

0:18:16.635 --> 0:18:20.915
<v Speaker 1>I'm doing this guy a favor, and he's saying I'm lying. Later,

0:18:21.075 --> 0:18:23.275
<v Speaker 1>after they got the CBS show on the air, I

0:18:23.395 --> 0:18:26.875
<v Speaker 1>pre recorded for him again, it's just my time. It

0:18:26.955 --> 0:18:30.995
<v Speaker 1>wasn't some sort of I didn't cancel some sort of

0:18:31.155 --> 0:18:33.475
<v Speaker 1>vacation to go do it for him. It was within

0:18:33.635 --> 0:18:36.075
<v Speaker 1>walking distance, but they asked me to come over one

0:18:36.115 --> 0:18:40.235
<v Speaker 1>morning and record a very unfunny bit about Alex Rodriguez

0:18:40.275 --> 0:18:43.435
<v Speaker 1>of the New York Yankees. The intro that Stephen Colbert

0:18:43.555 --> 0:18:46.515
<v Speaker 1>read while I was in the studio standing not twenty

0:18:46.515 --> 0:18:49.515
<v Speaker 1>feet from him, was here's the man who's had more

0:18:49.595 --> 0:18:52.355
<v Speaker 1>jobs than you had hot dinners. Then I go home

0:18:52.395 --> 0:18:54.395
<v Speaker 1>to watch to see if the thing was any funnier

0:18:54.435 --> 0:18:57.115
<v Speaker 1>on TV than it was live, and he has re

0:18:57.115 --> 0:18:59.915
<v Speaker 1>recorded it. It's no longer the man who's had more

0:18:59.995 --> 0:19:02.435
<v Speaker 1>jobs than you've had hot dinners. It's become the man

0:19:02.475 --> 0:19:05.235
<v Speaker 1>who's been fired more times than you've had hot dinners.

0:19:05.675 --> 0:19:08.555
<v Speaker 1>That is as cheesy a thing as I have ever

0:19:08.595 --> 0:19:11.755
<v Speaker 1>heard in the entirety of my fifty years in the

0:19:11.915 --> 0:19:16.595
<v Speaker 1>entertainment and information media business. That's Stephen Colbert. And if

0:19:16.635 --> 0:19:18.915
<v Speaker 1>it wasn't his idea, it was the idea of his

0:19:19.075 --> 0:19:23.235
<v Speaker 1>executive producer at the time, Chris I will later kill

0:19:23.395 --> 0:19:28.195
<v Speaker 1>CNN licked. Stephen Colbert is not an honest broker, He

0:19:28.315 --> 0:19:31.435
<v Speaker 1>is not a sincere guy. He is not worthy of

0:19:31.475 --> 0:19:33.995
<v Speaker 1>your trust. And the more I reflect on it, the

0:19:33.995 --> 0:19:37.235
<v Speaker 1>more I think there was something to the old conservative

0:19:37.315 --> 0:19:40.435
<v Speaker 1>theory about the Comedy Central show, that he was not

0:19:40.595 --> 0:19:44.275
<v Speaker 1>some liberal pretending to be a stupid conservative, a really

0:19:44.355 --> 0:19:47.395
<v Speaker 1>dumb bill O'Reilly who kept stepping on rakes, That he

0:19:47.595 --> 0:19:51.875
<v Speaker 1>was a conservative pretending to be a stupid conservative so

0:19:51.915 --> 0:19:56.955
<v Speaker 1>he could surreptitiously counter liberal narratives in a liberal space

0:19:57.275 --> 0:20:01.115
<v Speaker 1>and counter more importantly things like reality and facts and

0:20:01.195 --> 0:20:05.115
<v Speaker 1>democrats and worst of all, when they can anseled the

0:20:05.235 --> 0:20:09.435
<v Speaker 1>David Letterman Show. When they eased David Letterman out, Colbert

0:20:09.595 --> 0:20:12.235
<v Speaker 1>and the people working for him were brutal to the

0:20:12.355 --> 0:20:16.195
<v Speaker 1>Letterman people, going to the extent of ripping up everything

0:20:16.275 --> 0:20:19.115
<v Speaker 1>in the Ed Sullivan Theater that had any connection to

0:20:19.195 --> 0:20:22.675
<v Speaker 1>David Letterman and throwing it away the morning after the

0:20:22.795 --> 0:20:27.755
<v Speaker 1>last show. No auctions for charity, no farewell items for

0:20:27.835 --> 0:20:31.795
<v Speaker 1>the staffers, nothing, a blood letting to make sure that

0:20:31.915 --> 0:20:35.715
<v Speaker 1>everybody forgot David Letterman and thought only of Stephen Colbert.

0:20:36.195 --> 0:20:40.235
<v Speaker 1>And now Stephen Colbert is finished and everybody thinks remember

0:20:40.355 --> 0:20:44.155
<v Speaker 1>David Letterman. So to hell with him. I hope he

0:20:44.235 --> 0:20:48.315
<v Speaker 1>never works again. The platform, however, will be missed. His

0:20:48.435 --> 0:20:53.595
<v Speaker 1>stuff became reliably anti Trump, meaning anti dictatorship. Occasionally it

0:20:53.675 --> 0:20:56.755
<v Speaker 1>was funny. CBS, of course, jumped the shark with the

0:20:56.795 --> 0:21:00.315
<v Speaker 1>deal that Sherry Redstone's been making with Trump, that bribe

0:21:00.475 --> 0:21:03.435
<v Speaker 1>dressed up as a settlement of the ludicrous lawsuit over

0:21:03.475 --> 0:21:06.875
<v Speaker 1>the editing of the Kamala Harris interview. The question now

0:21:07.115 --> 0:21:10.355
<v Speaker 1>is will these a moral cash whorees who are taking

0:21:10.395 --> 0:21:15.595
<v Speaker 1>over CBS paramount also fire John Stewart, who, after a

0:21:15.675 --> 0:21:20.075
<v Speaker 1>bad both sides this start to his return on Comedy Central,

0:21:20.275 --> 0:21:22.835
<v Speaker 1>has gotten closer to his old form and was about

0:21:22.875 --> 0:21:26.275
<v Speaker 1>one hundred times more valuable in the political space than

0:21:26.315 --> 0:21:30.915
<v Speaker 1>Colbert ever was at his best. In any event, This

0:21:30.955 --> 0:21:34.715
<v Speaker 1>has been a Countdown bulletin podcast. The next regularly scheduled

0:21:34.835 --> 0:21:38.395
<v Speaker 1>full edition is Monday, dropping at midnight Eastern Sunday night.

0:21:38.915 --> 0:21:42.155
<v Speaker 1>Until then, I'm Keith Olberman. I never wrote a picture

0:21:42.155 --> 0:21:45.635
<v Speaker 1>in my life other than these two or three hundred,

0:21:46.115 --> 0:21:50.195
<v Speaker 1>and let me close by just saying, may every day

0:21:50.435 --> 0:22:00.635
<v Speaker 1>be another wonderful secret. Countdown with Keith Olderman is a

0:22:00.675 --> 0:22:05.355
<v Speaker 1>production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit

0:22:05.395 --> 0:22:10.075
<v Speaker 1>the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.