1 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: On this episode of News World. In a breaking news 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:12,600 Speaker 1: story from Just the News entitled House formerly subpoena Zac Blue, 3 00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:17,319 Speaker 1: as Feds confirm suspicious activity tied to Democrat fundraising. The 4 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:23,160 Speaker 1: story reveals that lawmakers are concerned that foreign adversaries like China, Iran, 5 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 1: Venezuela and Russia are rooting illicit foreign money to Democrat candidates. 6 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:33,160 Speaker 1: Here to discuss the story, I'm really pleased to welcome 7 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:36,239 Speaker 1: my guest, one of the great investigative reporters of our 8 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:40,199 Speaker 1: time and somebody who has really helped shape history by 9 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:44,280 Speaker 1: the quality of his investigations, John Solomon, editor in chief 10 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 1: of Just the News. John, Welcome, and thank you for 11 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:00,720 Speaker 1: joining me on news World. 12 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 2: Great to be with you, miss speaker. 13 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:06,720 Speaker 1: Before we get into this very very important topic which 14 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:10,080 Speaker 1: you've really helped break, Tom, just woman for our audience 15 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:12,360 Speaker 1: about Just the News and what you're doing, the what 16 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:14,880 Speaker 1: you're trying to accomplish and how they can get there. 17 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:17,759 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a simple place to go to justinnews dot com. 18 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 2: We don't do any op eds. We just do news. 19 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:22,399 Speaker 2: And I've been in the legacy media for most of 20 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:24,840 Speaker 2: my life, the Associated Press and Washington Post, the Hilm 21 00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:26,800 Speaker 2: for most of the Washington Times for a little bit, 22 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:29,880 Speaker 2: and in twenty I decided I wanted to do something 23 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:33,119 Speaker 2: on my own because I saw a drift towards trying 24 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 2: to make news stories look like news, but they really 25 00:01:35,319 --> 00:01:38,360 Speaker 2: were disguised opinion, that they were giving opinions and trying 26 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:41,960 Speaker 2: to lead people to their own truths, the reporter's truths, 27 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:44,640 Speaker 2: rather than the actual facts. And so I decided, I 28 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 2: think Americans want to be trusted with the facts, and 29 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:49,080 Speaker 2: I'll give them the facts and they'll let them make 30 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:50,920 Speaker 2: up their own mind. I have no goal of making 31 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 2: up their mind for them. And so not only when 32 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 2: we started the site, we not only did hard news 33 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 2: all day. Everything that's in our reporter's notebooks going a 34 00:01:57,840 --> 00:01:59,440 Speaker 2: thing called the dig In tools that you can see 35 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:02,200 Speaker 2: our videos and our documents and our audio and our 36 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:04,240 Speaker 2: links and our research that we use so if you 37 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 2: don't want to check our word for it, you can 38 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:08,440 Speaker 2: go dig in yourself. About twenty percent of readers on 39 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 2: every story go into that section and go do their 40 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:13,760 Speaker 2: own research. And I call it back to the future project. 41 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:16,120 Speaker 2: We're doing old fashioned journalism, but we take advantage of 42 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:18,720 Speaker 2: the future tools of the Internet, which allows everybody to 43 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:19,280 Speaker 2: dig deeper. 44 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:23,600 Speaker 1: You broke what I think maybe the last really big 45 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:27,640 Speaker 1: story about the selection campaign. But to set the stage, 46 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:29,400 Speaker 1: can you talk just a little bit about what is 47 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:31,600 Speaker 1: act blue and what is it when. 48 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 2: Read about a decade or a little bit a little 49 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:37,400 Speaker 2: more than two decades ago now the FEC allowed for 50 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:40,360 Speaker 2: online fundraising to begin. It started slow, and today it 51 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 2: is one of the largest forms of donations by its 52 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:46,760 Speaker 2: own account. Act blue is a fundraising platform that has 53 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:50,799 Speaker 2: raised sixteen billion with a v billion dollars since two 54 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:53,320 Speaker 2: thousand and four, and a lot of that money has 55 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:56,639 Speaker 2: been raised just in the last three elections. Anyone can 56 00:02:56,680 --> 00:02:58,520 Speaker 2: go on, they can put their name in there, they 57 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 2: can sign up and get an account. Once yea an account. 58 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 2: You can choose who you want to donate to, and 59 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:06,240 Speaker 2: you make small micro donations a buck, two bucks, three bucks, 60 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:08,799 Speaker 2: four dollars, and you have them recurring. You can say 61 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:10,920 Speaker 2: every two weeks, I want to give three dollars to 62 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:13,359 Speaker 2: Kamala Harris. If I'm at act blue, and if you 63 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:15,600 Speaker 2: go to win Red, you can do three dollars to 64 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 2: Donald Trump, or to Mike Johnson, or to your favorite candidate, 65 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,760 Speaker 2: Eric Hofdy, in Wisconsin, and so as the fundraising game 66 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:25,920 Speaker 2: has changed, more and more donations are moving online because 67 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:27,560 Speaker 2: it's easier and quicker. You don't need to wait for 68 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:31,360 Speaker 2: a check. And two, it creates sort of impulse opportunity. 69 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:34,280 Speaker 2: If someone is motivating a second, if you're act blue, 70 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:36,080 Speaker 2: you might be able to row them in and they 71 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:38,160 Speaker 2: might give three dollars for the next two years, and 72 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 2: that becomes a significant amount of money. Another reason that 73 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:45,280 Speaker 2: candidates and parties like these new digital online fundraising platforms 74 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:48,080 Speaker 2: is that it eliminates a form of disclosure that we've 75 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:51,040 Speaker 2: had at the Federal Election Commission. If you give under 76 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 2: two hundred dollars in a contribution, it doesn't have to 77 00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:57,280 Speaker 2: be reported by name to the Federal Election Commission. So 78 00:03:57,760 --> 00:03:59,800 Speaker 2: there are lots of money flowing in and there's not 79 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:01,840 Speaker 2: a lot of disclosure of who these people are and 80 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:04,760 Speaker 2: what they're giving. And so in the last couple of years, 81 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 2: ActBlue has become almost the largest source of money for Democrats, 82 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 2: and there's been suspicion that maybe there's some cheating going on, 83 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:14,600 Speaker 2: that the amounts of money rolling in and the type 84 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:17,520 Speaker 2: of people who are listed as the donors didn't seem 85 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:19,800 Speaker 2: to match their economic profile. If you have someone that 86 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:22,520 Speaker 2: makes thirty thousand dollars a year and they're donating sixty 87 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:25,360 Speaker 2: thousand dollars a year in the micro donations, it raises 88 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:27,080 Speaker 2: a red flag. And so about a year and a 89 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:31,839 Speaker 2: half ago, Congress and three or four Attorneys General began 90 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:35,839 Speaker 2: investigating ActBlue because two things had occurred. One, James O'Keefe, 91 00:04:35,839 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 2: the undercover investigative journalist, caught someone associated with ActBlue saying, 92 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:42,440 Speaker 2: we're laundering money in the names of fake people. These 93 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 2: donors don't even know that their names are being used. 94 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:48,440 Speaker 2: It's not their money, it's someone else's money. That raised suspicion. 95 00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:51,880 Speaker 2: And over time Congress got involved as well, particularly Chairman 96 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:54,560 Speaker 2: Brian's Style from Wisconsin to the chairman of the House 97 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:58,239 Speaker 2: Administration Committee, which is the Election Integrity committee in the House, 98 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 2: and James Comber the House Oversight Committee, and they have 99 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 2: begun to do computer analysis and they found this great disconnect. 100 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:07,840 Speaker 2: There are people who don't have the economic means who 101 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:10,039 Speaker 2: are giving tens of thousands of dollars and they think 102 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:13,599 Speaker 2: that there's a money laundering operation going around. And that's 103 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:16,560 Speaker 2: where we are today. We're in the nineteen States and 104 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:20,039 Speaker 2: two major congressional committees and one US Senator Ron Johnson 105 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:23,120 Speaker 2: all investigating Act Blue based on these allegations. 106 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:27,600 Speaker 1: We actually have a clear case with Mark Block, who's 107 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:30,960 Speaker 1: the former chief of staff to Hermann Kin, who was 108 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:35,360 Speaker 1: a Republican twenty twelve presidential candidate. And Block apparently went 109 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:38,360 Speaker 1: back to some of his old emails and suddenly realized 110 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:42,800 Speaker 1: that he'd made three hundred and eighty five donations to 111 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:47,080 Speaker 1: left wing causes win as a hardcore Republican, he'd actually 112 00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:51,120 Speaker 1: made zero with these three hundred and eighty five fake donations. 113 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:53,359 Speaker 1: They included the Harris Victory Fund. 114 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:57,880 Speaker 2: Yes, thirty times he allegedly made donations to Kamala Harris, 115 00:05:57,880 --> 00:05:58,680 Speaker 2: which he hadn't. 116 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's not become a real case, So I understand 117 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:02,120 Speaker 1: it correctly. 118 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 2: It is. It's filed under Wisconsin's organized crime civil statutes, 119 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:09,719 Speaker 2: so it's a racketeering lawsuit, and it says that my 120 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:12,320 Speaker 2: identity has been stolen. I Mark Block has had my 121 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:15,200 Speaker 2: identity stolen. I still have control of my email. I 122 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:17,680 Speaker 2: didn't give anyone access to my email, but someone's using 123 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:20,760 Speaker 2: that email address to make addresses in my identity. He 124 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:24,040 Speaker 2: is the first real dispositive proof of what James O'Keefe 125 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:26,680 Speaker 2: captured on the tapes, which is someone in Act Blue 126 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:28,560 Speaker 2: said this was going on, and here's a guy who 127 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:31,920 Speaker 2: actually found it in his tapes. Now, since that occurred, 128 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:34,640 Speaker 2: and since these stories have bound up, a house, speaker 129 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:37,679 Speaker 2: Mike Johnson went out and found a website where people 130 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:39,400 Speaker 2: could go and put in their name and find out. 131 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:42,240 Speaker 2: And I just interviewed Speaker Johnson just a few minutes ago. 132 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:44,080 Speaker 2: He's going to come out around three o'clock today, and 133 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:47,279 Speaker 2: he said, Hey, there are thousands of people now that 134 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:50,240 Speaker 2: have found their identity in Act Blue who believed that 135 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:53,720 Speaker 2: they didn't give these donations. So they're crowdsourcing the potential 136 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:56,080 Speaker 2: fraud here and learning more and more about it. That's 137 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:59,479 Speaker 2: one piece of evidence that's growing every day. A second 138 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:02,000 Speaker 2: piece of evad and it sets growing every day, is 139 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:05,760 Speaker 2: the computer analysis that Chairman Style did where they now 140 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:08,760 Speaker 2: have found tens of thousands of donors who look to 141 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:11,000 Speaker 2: be giving more money than they have the financial means 142 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:13,920 Speaker 2: to give. That is a classic thing that banks and 143 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:18,280 Speaker 2: financial institutions and money laundering investigators do. So that's the 144 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 2: second piece of evidence. And then the bombshell evidence that 145 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:25,560 Speaker 2: was revealed yesterday is at the Treasury Department. The Biden 146 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:29,640 Speaker 2: Harris Treasury Department has now told Congress there are hundreds 147 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:32,400 Speaker 2: of what are known as suspicious activity reports. This is 148 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 2: the third body of evidence financial institutions. When they find 149 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:39,800 Speaker 2: evidence that looks like money laundering. Money's hopping to one, two, 150 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:42,360 Speaker 2: three spots and then it ends up somewhere else at 151 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:44,480 Speaker 2: the end location it doesn't look like where it started. 152 00:07:44,760 --> 00:07:47,840 Speaker 2: That's called money laundering. They now have told Congress there 153 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:51,040 Speaker 2: are hundreds of these reports related to Act Blue, and 154 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:53,679 Speaker 2: that is a real sign that the United States government 155 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:58,440 Speaker 2: has some concern that there's some odd behavior and potential 156 00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:02,520 Speaker 2: illegal behavior going on. ALUSARS has a very hot threshold 157 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:04,720 Speaker 2: when you file it, it means you have a real 158 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:07,400 Speaker 2: suspicion that there's money laundering. Almost all the time when 159 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:11,280 Speaker 2: sars are filed, there's usually some wrongdoing that they uncovered. 160 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:14,000 Speaker 2: They were key to the Hunter Biden Biden family grift. 161 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:17,240 Speaker 2: When Congress got ahold of those, the mainstream media could 162 00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:19,480 Speaker 2: no longer deny that Hunter Biden was getting all this 163 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:23,320 Speaker 2: money from foreign entities. And I think here, as you 164 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:27,520 Speaker 2: articulated so well in the opening congressman style and Senator 165 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:30,480 Speaker 2: Johnson and Congressman Comerce say they have reason to believe 166 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:33,600 Speaker 2: from their interactions with the Treasury Department in the banking 167 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:39,640 Speaker 2: community that Iran, China, Russia, and Venezuela may be taking 168 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:43,239 Speaker 2: money in foreign countries which can't be donated to candidates, 169 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:46,560 Speaker 2: buying gift cards and then using those gift cards to 170 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:48,800 Speaker 2: make donations in the name of people who don't know 171 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:52,840 Speaker 2: their names, or even being used in America to make 172 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:56,160 Speaker 2: the Democrats have a larger financial advantage in the selection. 173 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:59,440 Speaker 2: It's fundraising, cheating, and it appears to be driven by 174 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:03,200 Speaker 2: foreign soveres, and the Treasury Department now, according to their 175 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:07,160 Speaker 2: admissions to Congress, has some visibility and awareness that this 176 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:07,880 Speaker 2: has been going on. 177 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:12,160 Speaker 1: Based on your hard work, this has really been evolving 178 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:16,000 Speaker 1: that Back in December twenty twenty three, Texas Attorney General 179 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:20,000 Speaker 1: Paxton opened an investigation in that blue and then in 180 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:23,560 Speaker 1: August of this year of Virginia's Attorney General Miaras also 181 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:26,240 Speaker 1: demanded answers. And now aren't there like a whole number 182 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:27,800 Speaker 1: of state attorney generals. 183 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:32,480 Speaker 2: Involved, nineteen states. So what happened was Texas and Virginia 184 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:36,000 Speaker 2: and Missouri began looking at this issue parallel to Congress 185 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:38,160 Speaker 2: on their own, but driven by the same concerns that 186 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:42,200 Speaker 2: Congress had. And then in early September, Chairman style the 187 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:44,520 Speaker 2: House Administration can be Chairman sent a letter to five 188 00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:47,800 Speaker 2: states thing, listen, here is a data dump of donors 189 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:50,360 Speaker 2: that have given lots of donations, in some cases thousands 190 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:53,360 Speaker 2: of donations from a single donor, totally tens of thousands 191 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:56,079 Speaker 2: of dollars. This doesn't look right. These people don't look 192 00:09:56,120 --> 00:09:58,720 Speaker 2: to have economic means to be making These are in 193 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:03,040 Speaker 2: poor areas, they're on single fixed retirement money. We think 194 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:05,280 Speaker 2: you should look at it. Those five states started working 195 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:08,600 Speaker 2: together and they started to find evidence of wrongdoing in 196 00:10:08,679 --> 00:10:12,680 Speaker 2: other states, and now there are nineteen states. Almost half 197 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:16,360 Speaker 2: the country has states attorney generals who are investigating behavior 198 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:18,240 Speaker 2: on Act Blue. Now it doesn't mean Act Blue itself 199 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:21,760 Speaker 2: is complicit. It could just be being abused. But to 200 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:25,280 Speaker 2: have that level of state investigations along with two congressional 201 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:28,720 Speaker 2: committees and one senator, there's something very serious underway here. 202 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:48,880 Speaker 1: You know, everybody was amazed that come got to like 203 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:53,840 Speaker 1: a billion dollars so quickly, But isn't there a concern? 204 00:10:54,520 --> 00:10:57,560 Speaker 1: If I remember the numbers correctly, like four hundred million 205 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:01,200 Speaker 1: of that came through gifts in which they don't put 206 00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:03,600 Speaker 1: in the security code for their credit card. 207 00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:06,400 Speaker 2: There's a little bit of fuzzy math on that. Right now, 208 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:09,880 Speaker 2: you are correct that ActBlue has now admitted to Congress 209 00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:12,040 Speaker 2: and it has not been requiring on all of its 210 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:15,760 Speaker 2: credit card transactions. It's credit card donations that you use 211 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:17,880 Speaker 2: that CVV number on the back of your credit card. 212 00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:19,840 Speaker 2: That's that three number digit card that every time you 213 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:22,360 Speaker 2: go to a Walmart and Amazon online you put it 214 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:24,160 Speaker 2: in to make sure that you can prove to Walmart 215 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:26,120 Speaker 2: you really are the person that's buying this. That's your 216 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:29,240 Speaker 2: credit card, you have control of it. For some reason, 217 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:31,880 Speaker 2: and I think it's the big suspicion that Congress has 218 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:37,160 Speaker 2: Actblu was not using that basic identity theft protection device 219 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:39,520 Speaker 2: on credit cards. Almost everyone else who uses a credit 220 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 2: card online, when you're on an online vendor, you put 221 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:43,600 Speaker 2: it in. It's a paint. You got to always look 222 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:46,000 Speaker 2: it up and put it in. Actblu wasn't doing that, 223 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:48,800 Speaker 2: And for Congress that is a point of great concern 224 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:52,000 Speaker 2: that maybe ActBlue wanted some or wanted to create an 225 00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:55,120 Speaker 2: environment where people could cheat again. We don't know yet 226 00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:57,800 Speaker 2: whether that's the case, but they did admit to both 227 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:01,320 Speaker 2: the Texas Attorney General and to Congress that they have 228 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:04,160 Speaker 2: not been using the CVV. Now they've told Texas they're 229 00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:06,720 Speaker 2: going to start using it. We'll see if that actually occurs, 230 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:09,160 Speaker 2: but by that point the twenty twenty four election will 231 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:11,439 Speaker 2: be over and whatever cheating occurred, if there is any, 232 00:12:11,760 --> 00:12:14,400 Speaker 2: we'll have already been done, in part because that CVV 233 00:12:14,559 --> 00:12:18,040 Speaker 2: wasn't using. When you use the CVV, you are able 234 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:20,320 Speaker 2: to tell as a financial institution that the person that 235 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:23,480 Speaker 2: is placing the credit card in there is the owner 236 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:26,160 Speaker 2: of that credit card, or they're using a name but 237 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:28,880 Speaker 2: it's actually someone else. So maybe someone in China is 238 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:31,120 Speaker 2: using it, but they've put it in John Solomon's name. 239 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:34,920 Speaker 2: That CVV allows that financial institution very quickly say this 240 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:38,080 Speaker 2: is a mismatch transaction, this could be fraudulent. And that's 241 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:40,560 Speaker 2: how banks monitor and stop fraud in real time and 242 00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:44,520 Speaker 2: also report fraud to the government for things like human trafficking, 243 00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:49,160 Speaker 2: drug cartel transactions, and other illicit activity that occurs online, 244 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:50,360 Speaker 2: often with credit cards. 245 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:55,199 Speaker 1: Now, when read the Republican version, do they require. 246 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:57,959 Speaker 2: They do I've checked both sites and both up here 247 00:12:58,000 --> 00:12:59,680 Speaker 2: in the last month to be using them. I didn't 248 00:12:59,679 --> 00:13:02,160 Speaker 2: go back earlier because we weren't looking at wind red 249 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:05,120 Speaker 2: until recently. But they both seem to use it now. 250 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:07,600 Speaker 2: And the question is why for a very long period 251 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:10,800 Speaker 2: of time, while all these other things were popping up, 252 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:12,760 Speaker 2: people saying my name is being used and I didn't 253 00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:15,640 Speaker 2: give that donation, or lots of donations are showing up 254 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:17,200 Speaker 2: in the names of people that don't appear to have 255 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:20,280 Speaker 2: the economic means to give it. Why did ActBlue not 256 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:23,440 Speaker 2: have that three digit capability in there, which is something 257 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:27,920 Speaker 2: almost everyone uses. And that resulted yesterday last night, for 258 00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:31,360 Speaker 2: the first time, Congress issued subpoenas to Act Blue, compelling 259 00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:34,480 Speaker 2: them to turne over evidence of why they didn't use 260 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:37,880 Speaker 2: this CVV, why and when they may have changed that practice, 261 00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:40,480 Speaker 2: Whether they've gotten complaints from people who said that's those 262 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:42,920 Speaker 2: aren't my donations, what have they done with those complaints. 263 00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:45,880 Speaker 2: So this is a sweeping subpoena. It's a very big 264 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:49,640 Speaker 2: escalation in this sprawling investigation that gets bigger and more 265 00:13:49,640 --> 00:13:50,520 Speaker 2: serious every day. 266 00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:52,640 Speaker 1: I mean, you made a point to Simpson, which is 267 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:56,320 Speaker 1: it could be that Act Blue is simply a vehicle 268 00:13:57,240 --> 00:14:00,440 Speaker 1: and did nothing particularly wrong except failed to set up 269 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:04,520 Speaker 1: the right safeguards, and who is guilty. I was looking 270 00:14:04,559 --> 00:14:08,199 Speaker 1: at some of the large numbers of very small donations. 271 00:14:08,679 --> 00:14:11,520 Speaker 1: Now I wonder if they actually have donor bots. They're 272 00:14:11,559 --> 00:14:16,280 Speaker 1: out there just automatically hunting for available credit cards and 273 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:19,360 Speaker 1: just sending them ounds so small you don't initially notice it. 274 00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:22,480 Speaker 2: That's right, Yep, that could be the case. Now Mark 275 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:26,040 Speaker 2: Block raises a different possibility, which is they're assuming the 276 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:29,280 Speaker 2: identities of real Americans, but they're just using gift cards 277 00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:32,480 Speaker 2: that someone buys at have Wallmart or Walgreens and putting 278 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:34,720 Speaker 2: them in and making it harder to attract to you. 279 00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:37,240 Speaker 2: We don't know which one it is right now. When 280 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:39,240 Speaker 2: you read the letters from Congress, and when I interviewed 281 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:42,200 Speaker 2: Congressman Style, and when I interviewed Senator Johnson, and when 282 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:45,600 Speaker 2: I interviewed Speaker Mike Johnson this morning, they all said 283 00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:48,160 Speaker 2: that the operating theory Congress has is that a foreign 284 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:51,440 Speaker 2: power is going out and buying these gift cards and 285 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:54,360 Speaker 2: then creating a farm of people who charge these gift 286 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:57,240 Speaker 2: cards in the names of Americans that looks like legitimate donations, 287 00:14:57,480 --> 00:14:59,720 Speaker 2: but it doesn't appear to me now will that proof 288 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:03,400 Speaker 2: co I think the suspicious activity reports will become one 289 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:05,200 Speaker 2: of the key pieces of evidence to let us know 290 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:08,040 Speaker 2: whether this theory is a real theory or whether there's 291 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:10,880 Speaker 2: some other explanation for it. But it's gotten very serious, 292 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:14,720 Speaker 2: and I think right now the money trail is going 293 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:16,840 Speaker 2: to become a little more crystallized. I don't think Congress 294 00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:19,280 Speaker 2: will get these reports until l after election Daycause're only 295 00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:21,720 Speaker 2: four days away, five days away. But I think in 296 00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:25,120 Speaker 2: that post election period this has the ability to become 297 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:28,480 Speaker 2: very similar to a story I broke almost thirty years ago, 298 00:15:28,560 --> 00:15:31,440 Speaker 2: twenty eight years ago. I was sitting at the Associated 299 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:35,040 Speaker 2: Press in October of nineteen ninety six and discovered looking 300 00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:37,560 Speaker 2: through some donations because I was a campaign finance reporter 301 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:39,480 Speaker 2: at AP at the time, and there were all these 302 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:41,640 Speaker 2: donations from a single location and I looked it up 303 00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:44,240 Speaker 2: and it turned out to be a Buddhist monastery, and 304 00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:47,120 Speaker 2: I'm like, well, when did Buddhist monks start becoming Democratic donors? 305 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:49,280 Speaker 2: And that led me on a long journey to Hawaii 306 00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:53,000 Speaker 2: to Oklahoma. But it eventually led to an investigation you're 307 00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:55,360 Speaker 2: very familiar with because you were a speaker when it occurred, 308 00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:58,760 Speaker 2: the China Gate fundraising, where Democrats in an earlier generation 309 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:02,920 Speaker 2: benefited from fundraising cheating funded by Chinese interests. 310 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:07,160 Speaker 1: It was frankly amazing because it built upon an earlier 311 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:10,800 Speaker 1: investigation we did into Clinton in the ninety six campaign. 312 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:12,520 Speaker 1: But let me stick with Gore for a second, because 313 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:16,520 Speaker 1: all this kind of disappears from popular memory. So Gore 314 00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:21,640 Speaker 1: goes in Hacienda Heights, California, to the Sea Lii Buddhist Temple, 315 00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:25,880 Speaker 1: which has a whole number of nuns and monks who 316 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:31,640 Speaker 1: are committed to poverty. Those poverty stricken monks and nuns 317 00:16:32,040 --> 00:16:36,640 Speaker 1: made fifty five thousand dollars in contributions. Turns out that 318 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:40,880 Speaker 1: apparently the temple then gave the monks and nuns the 319 00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:44,440 Speaker 1: money which they gave, which is illegal in itself, and 320 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:47,960 Speaker 1: we don't quite know where the temple got the money. 321 00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:51,840 Speaker 1: But three of the contributors were foreign nationals, which is illegal. 322 00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:54,840 Speaker 1: And the Senate came back later and said two of 323 00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:58,600 Speaker 1: them have ties directly to the Chinese Communist Intelligence Service. 324 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:01,760 Speaker 1: And then go Carre said he didn't realize that this 325 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:02,960 Speaker 1: was a fundraising event. 326 00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:07,280 Speaker 2: Yes, he didn't use that. 327 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:09,760 Speaker 1: You walk out with one hundred and sixty six thousand 328 00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:12,160 Speaker 1: dollars and you don't know what's a fundraising event. 329 00:17:12,320 --> 00:17:14,920 Speaker 2: That was a pretty disingenuous answer. I think most Americans 330 00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:18,160 Speaker 2: came to that conclusion. You have a wonderful memory. It's right. 331 00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:21,320 Speaker 2: There were these bundlers back in those days. And to 332 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:23,920 Speaker 2: do straw donations back in those days, you had to 333 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:25,760 Speaker 2: give the money to someone and then they had to 334 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:28,359 Speaker 2: write a check in their name, and so that created 335 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:31,960 Speaker 2: up a trail that the FBI and investigators could unravel. 336 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:35,440 Speaker 2: The digital era, this fundraising error, the Act Blue era 337 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:37,600 Speaker 2: as I call it in America, makes it a lot 338 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:41,080 Speaker 2: easier because credit card transactions can easily be faked. You 339 00:17:41,119 --> 00:17:44,000 Speaker 2: don't have to have the checkbook, access to a fake 340 00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:46,280 Speaker 2: donor a straw donor to do this. You can just 341 00:17:46,560 --> 00:17:49,480 Speaker 2: find their identity maybe somewhere along the way. They hacked 342 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:52,399 Speaker 2: someone's email, or they hacked Act Blue. So these foreign 343 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:56,000 Speaker 2: intelligence operas are again a focal point of Congress. Have 344 00:17:56,080 --> 00:17:58,560 Speaker 2: they proved it yet? No? Do they suspect it? Yes? 345 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:01,160 Speaker 2: Based on the stars, based on what they've learned from 346 00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:04,360 Speaker 2: financial institutions that have been cooperating with Congress. The last 347 00:18:04,359 --> 00:18:06,960 Speaker 2: few weeks, based on the fact that the CVV number 348 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:09,560 Speaker 2: wasn't used. I think they're thinking that this is a 349 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:13,040 Speaker 2: modernized version of the Buddhist temple and the Buddhist monastery, 350 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:16,400 Speaker 2: but done in a more easy way, because with identity 351 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:18,679 Speaker 2: theft and credit cards, you can do this on a 352 00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:21,920 Speaker 2: much larger scale, much quicker, like you said, a farm 353 00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:23,800 Speaker 2: moments than you could in the old days, where you 354 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:25,840 Speaker 2: had to make sure that the person was sending a 355 00:18:25,880 --> 00:18:26,920 Speaker 2: check from their own account. 356 00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:30,120 Speaker 1: I really worry about the degree to which, frankly, both 357 00:18:30,119 --> 00:18:33,639 Speaker 1: with American billionaires, but even more with foreign governments and 358 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:37,679 Speaker 1: foreign movements, we're going to have to profoundly rethink our 359 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:40,680 Speaker 1: campaign finance laws. And I'm curious, as somebody who's lived 360 00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:43,280 Speaker 1: this for most of your professional career, what do you 361 00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:46,359 Speaker 1: think needs to be done to get to sort of 362 00:18:46,359 --> 00:18:48,719 Speaker 1: an honest financing of our campaigns. 363 00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:52,280 Speaker 2: Well, one of the things is if everyone could be 364 00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:54,360 Speaker 2: held to the current laws, I think the system would 365 00:18:54,359 --> 00:18:55,920 Speaker 2: still work. You know, there'd still be a lot of 366 00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:58,120 Speaker 2: money in it, but the temptation achieap would be hard. 367 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:01,600 Speaker 2: But here is a question. Ron Johnson, I think brilliantly 368 00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:04,640 Speaker 2: laid out this anecdote that I was shocked by. All Right, 369 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:07,960 Speaker 2: the Treasury Department has hundreds of sars. Normally, a couple 370 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:11,040 Speaker 2: of SARS usually triggers an investigation. If you're a cartel 371 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:13,199 Speaker 2: investigation offense, there's stars of one or two. When you 372 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:16,639 Speaker 2: have hundreds that are associated with a single entity like this, 373 00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:19,640 Speaker 2: you have to ask yourself, well, what's the Treasury Department 374 00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:22,359 Speaker 2: been doing? What has the FBI been doing? You have 375 00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:25,639 Speaker 2: the Odie and I the Director of National Intelligence, Avel Haynes, 376 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:29,080 Speaker 2: saying Iron is involved in active measures in trying to 377 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:32,520 Speaker 2: influence this election. They've tried to assassinate President Trump. We 378 00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:35,200 Speaker 2: know that. We know they've also tried to hack President Trump. 379 00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:37,480 Speaker 2: So the third thing is would they not try to 380 00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:41,119 Speaker 2: finance his opponent. So there's a brief in just a 381 00:19:41,119 --> 00:19:44,920 Speaker 2: couple of weeks ago where Avel Haynes and Christopher Ray 382 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:46,960 Speaker 2: are there. At this point, there's already been all these 383 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:50,840 Speaker 2: letters by Congress, there's been the video by James O'Keefe. 384 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:53,760 Speaker 2: Now we know hundreds of sars that are coming into 385 00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:55,800 Speaker 2: the federal government. Who's supposed to monitor this. The reason 386 00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:58,000 Speaker 2: to have SARS is for the government to jump on 387 00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:00,560 Speaker 2: it and they asked the question, do you have any 388 00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:03,080 Speaker 2: suspicious activity related to Act Blue based on the fact 389 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:06,040 Speaker 2: we've been writing about it, and according to Senator Johnson, 390 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:08,119 Speaker 2: they drew a blank stare and like, we don't have 391 00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:10,280 Speaker 2: any idea what you're talking about, and then they shut 392 00:20:10,320 --> 00:20:12,240 Speaker 2: down the briefing. They just stopped, like we're done, we'll 393 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:14,840 Speaker 2: talk to you later. If you have a system with 394 00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:17,119 Speaker 2: lots of money into it, you have to trust the 395 00:20:17,119 --> 00:20:21,280 Speaker 2: institutions you've asked to follow it to do their jobs. 396 00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:23,440 Speaker 2: And I think one of the things that is becoming 397 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:26,320 Speaker 2: a larger concern to the members of Congress I've talked 398 00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:30,800 Speaker 2: to Congressman Style Senator Johnson, Congressman Comer, is that the 399 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:32,760 Speaker 2: FBI might have been asleep at the switch that this 400 00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:34,960 Speaker 2: is going on right in front of them. And as 401 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:37,560 Speaker 2: Senator Johnson said, what good are money laundering reports if 402 00:20:37,560 --> 00:20:39,080 Speaker 2: no one bothers to look at him and look at 403 00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:42,200 Speaker 2: the patterns. And so, if we had a more robust 404 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:46,520 Speaker 2: and I think bipartisan trusted law enforcement system like we 405 00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:48,600 Speaker 2: did in the nineties when the FBI took this seriously 406 00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:50,800 Speaker 2: and got to the bottom of it, I think we'd 407 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:53,680 Speaker 2: be okay. But I think that the problem starts right now, 408 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:58,639 Speaker 2: as we learned painfully with Hunter Biden under the Trump 409 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:02,919 Speaker 2: Justice Department, Under the Trump Treasury Department, the Hunter Biden 410 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:06,640 Speaker 2: fundraising scheme was flagged in real time by the Treasury 411 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:10,240 Speaker 2: Department by banking institutions at filed stars by the IRS 412 00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:13,560 Speaker 2: agents and the FBI agents who had the evidence at 413 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:16,200 Speaker 2: their disposal but were not allowed to go investigated. Those 414 00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:20,760 Speaker 2: two IRS whistleblowers lay out a portrait of an entire 415 00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:24,600 Speaker 2: law enforcement ecosystem that refused to look at a Democrat 416 00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:27,840 Speaker 2: for wrongdoing. And I think that here now is a 417 00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:31,080 Speaker 2: similar question posed by Congress, which is where was the 418 00:21:31,119 --> 00:21:33,840 Speaker 2: FBI and where were the Treasury Department? Because we now 419 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:36,880 Speaker 2: know all of these warning signs are available to them. 420 00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:39,520 Speaker 2: If we can see them, they've seen them, why aren't 421 00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:43,200 Speaker 2: they acting? And I think any reform of campaign finance 422 00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:46,000 Speaker 2: or corruption in America may have to take a look 423 00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:48,520 Speaker 2: at the institutions we've trusted to enforce the law, because 424 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:52,600 Speaker 2: there's a significant evidence they haven't been enforcing the law evenly. 425 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:54,679 Speaker 2: Senator Johnson said it quickly. I wish I had an 426 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:58,040 Speaker 2: FBI that took allegations against the Democratic Party as serius 427 00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:00,720 Speaker 2: as they do against the Republican Party, and I think 428 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:02,840 Speaker 2: that that may be the reforming part before you start 429 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:05,480 Speaker 2: tinkering with where the court has brought us. The Supreme 430 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:08,520 Speaker 2: Court has brought us and the citizens United Era, there's 431 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:11,399 Speaker 2: a pretty clear predisposition of the court to allow as 432 00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:14,679 Speaker 2: much free speech engagement with your money as possible. But 433 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:17,560 Speaker 2: these things are easy to detect, and we know our 434 00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:21,160 Speaker 2: enemies are trying to make America fall from within. The 435 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:23,439 Speaker 2: FBI appears to be asleep in the switch. And by 436 00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:26,200 Speaker 2: the way, originally my interest in this was not from Congress, 437 00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:28,320 Speaker 2: who had been kind of dormant for a while. When 438 00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:31,280 Speaker 2: I started asking questions in June and July, it came 439 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:33,720 Speaker 2: from a federal law enforcement source who told me that 440 00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:36,080 Speaker 2: the FBI was seeing some activity, but they weren't being 441 00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:38,639 Speaker 2: allowed to look at it. And the roadmap that that 442 00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:41,639 Speaker 2: source gave me is beginning to check out. He mentioned 443 00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:44,040 Speaker 2: that there might be stars there are now. He mentioned 444 00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:46,639 Speaker 2: there was no use of the CVV. He mentioned some 445 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:49,399 Speaker 2: of the countries that now Congress has made public. So 446 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:52,520 Speaker 2: I think there are patriots inside these agencies that believe 447 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:54,840 Speaker 2: that maybe they're not being allowed to do their job 448 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:57,880 Speaker 2: on something that does spreat national security and the integrity 449 00:22:57,880 --> 00:22:58,560 Speaker 2: of our elections. 450 00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:19,560 Speaker 1: One step is being taken. Chairman Brian Style recently introduced 451 00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:23,520 Speaker 1: the Secure Handling of Internet Electronic Donations Act, and that 452 00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:28,800 Speaker 1: would require the disclosure of the card verification value as 453 00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:33,120 Speaker 1: a condition of accepting online contributions, and it would prohibit 454 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:36,360 Speaker 1: the acceptance of contributions made through gift cards or prepaid 455 00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:39,280 Speaker 1: credit cards. It strikes me that that's a building block 456 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:40,200 Speaker 1: in the right direction. 457 00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:44,040 Speaker 2: Very simple thing. It would just apply the same consumer 458 00:23:44,119 --> 00:23:46,200 Speaker 2: protection laws we have when we go on on Amazon 459 00:23:46,520 --> 00:23:49,280 Speaker 2: to politics, and they're not onerous. People do it every day. 460 00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:52,080 Speaker 2: But the Democrats have this allergy. They have an analogy 461 00:23:52,119 --> 00:23:54,840 Speaker 2: to using voter ID, They have an aalogy to using 462 00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:58,080 Speaker 2: CVV for their donors. And one has to begin to 463 00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:01,080 Speaker 2: wonder why analogy to such things that we do everywhere 464 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:02,680 Speaker 2: else in our life. When we get on the airplane, 465 00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:04,800 Speaker 2: we show our ID, when we get on Amazon, we 466 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:08,240 Speaker 2: put in our CVV number. There is a stubborn resistance 467 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:11,240 Speaker 2: to Democrats doing common sense things that would solve this problem. 468 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:13,679 Speaker 2: That make you under Are they in on something that 469 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:15,960 Speaker 2: we're about to uncover? We don't know the answer yet. 470 00:24:16,119 --> 00:24:18,160 Speaker 2: But it is the question that a lot of lawmakers, 471 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:20,720 Speaker 2: including Mike Johnson today and my interview really raised, which 472 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:23,680 Speaker 2: is why are the Democrats not wanting to do simple 473 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:24,280 Speaker 2: things like this? 474 00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:27,840 Speaker 1: Well, and at the same time you have examples of 475 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:33,840 Speaker 1: an extraordinary fight against taking illegal immigrants off the rolls. Mean, 476 00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:36,800 Speaker 1: you have the Justice Department suing Virginia. 477 00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:38,639 Speaker 2: We had to go to the Supreme Court there resolve this. 478 00:24:39,359 --> 00:24:42,040 Speaker 1: There is a whole pattern here, both of illegal money 479 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:44,960 Speaker 1: and illegal voting that seems to be at the core 480 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:48,280 Speaker 1: of the Democratic party culture. What's your sense just a 481 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:51,480 Speaker 1: few days out of the stuff you're picking up about 482 00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:54,560 Speaker 1: early voting and about the patterns you're seeing. I mean, 483 00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:57,240 Speaker 1: you're a very smart observer of the system. What's your 484 00:24:57,280 --> 00:24:58,840 Speaker 1: general sense as you look at all this. 485 00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:01,920 Speaker 2: I've been blessed to talk to both sides, both Republicans 486 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:05,159 Speaker 2: and Democrats, and sometimes you get very mixed messages like, oh, 487 00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:07,640 Speaker 2: the Republicans are talking one way and Democrats are talking 488 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:10,640 Speaker 2: another way. But there is a consistency in what both 489 00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:13,480 Speaker 2: sides are seeing in their internal polling and their internal 490 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:17,520 Speaker 2: tracking of early voting. And Democrats and Republicans have told 491 00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:21,160 Speaker 2: me that the early voting patterns are down for Democrats 492 00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:23,480 Speaker 2: from twenty twenty. They're closer to twenty twenty two, which 493 00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:27,000 Speaker 2: is an off year, a smaller voting year, and Republicans 494 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:30,840 Speaker 2: are way above any prior election in terms of early voting. 495 00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:33,359 Speaker 2: So that is the first important and then the second 496 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:36,159 Speaker 2: question is when you get that data, what sort of 497 00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:39,119 Speaker 2: people are Republicans bringing to the polls early? Is it 498 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:41,720 Speaker 2: people that we're just going to vote on the day 499 00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:43,920 Speaker 2: of election you moved them to a different column, or 500 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:48,399 Speaker 2: are you bringing a new or dormant voter to the table. 501 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:50,119 Speaker 2: And in the last few days, I've been able to 502 00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:53,200 Speaker 2: do a lot of checking first in polling and posters 503 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:55,840 Speaker 2: tell me that a lot of the Republican early voters 504 00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:58,320 Speaker 2: that they have picked up in their exit surveys and 505 00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:02,560 Speaker 2: in their surveys are people who haven't voted since twenty sixteen, eighteen, 506 00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:04,520 Speaker 2: or twenty, so they've been dormant for four to eight 507 00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:08,080 Speaker 2: years or even longer. The second thing is I talked 508 00:26:08,119 --> 00:26:11,200 Speaker 2: to the organizers of one of the largest early get 509 00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:14,639 Speaker 2: out the vote operations that Conservatives are running, and that 510 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:18,240 Speaker 2: is run by former congress and Lee z Elden and AFW, 511 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:22,080 Speaker 2: which is associated with America First Policy Institute. Ashley Hayak 512 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:24,640 Speaker 2: is the woman there, and together they put together one 513 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:27,240 Speaker 2: of the largest get out the vote operations that have 514 00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:31,320 Speaker 2: ever been constructed. On the Republican side. Four point seven 515 00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:35,640 Speaker 2: million Americans have had conversations with AFW or Leezelden's group 516 00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:38,800 Speaker 2: at the door in the last few months, and that 517 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:41,720 Speaker 2: has resulted in a quarter million people in just twenty 518 00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:44,000 Speaker 2: one counties, a quarter million people in just twenty one 519 00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:46,960 Speaker 2: counties who haven't voted in eight or ten more years, 520 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:50,920 Speaker 2: who've already voted early. So the signs on the Republican 521 00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:54,200 Speaker 2: sign are that these are new voters that are entering 522 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:56,439 Speaker 2: the system by getting early because they were asked to 523 00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:58,800 Speaker 2: do it. Someone actually took the time to court them 524 00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:01,199 Speaker 2: and got them out of of their we're not going 525 00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:03,600 Speaker 2: to vote mode and into let's vote early and we'll 526 00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:06,240 Speaker 2: help you get there. That would suggest that Republicans, if 527 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:09,679 Speaker 2: they have the normal day of election turnout, could have 528 00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:12,640 Speaker 2: a very good day. Democrats and the polling that I've 529 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:15,480 Speaker 2: talked to have almost the same type of voter that 530 00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:18,040 Speaker 2: they brought the last three elections. Since twenty eighteen, Democrats 531 00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:21,640 Speaker 2: have done an outstanding job getting low propensity voters out. 532 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:24,440 Speaker 2: They're doing that same group to all the early voters 533 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:27,000 Speaker 2: are Democrat voters are people who weren't going to vote 534 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:30,160 Speaker 2: on election day, but they're trailing their performance in twenty twenty. 535 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:32,800 Speaker 2: They're running closer to a twenty twenty two model, which 536 00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:35,960 Speaker 2: in a presidential election year might be viewed as underperforming. 537 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:40,360 Speaker 2: On the Democratic side, Democrats are privately and publicly acknowledging 538 00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:42,720 Speaker 2: they're a little worried about election day. They don't feel 539 00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:45,119 Speaker 2: this could go well for them in any of the races. 540 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:48,720 Speaker 2: There's money reasons polls have moved towards Republicans. Early voting 541 00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:52,119 Speaker 2: numbers are more advantageous to Republicans. Even though Democrats are 542 00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:54,919 Speaker 2: winning the early vote, it's by a much smaller margin, 543 00:27:55,359 --> 00:27:57,640 Speaker 2: And so Democrats are pretty concerned. And I would say 544 00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:02,560 Speaker 2: Republicans are cautiously optimistic, but basically talking like we're not 545 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:04,199 Speaker 2: going to take any chances. We are going to keep 546 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:06,920 Speaker 2: our foot on the gas pedal until eleven pm on 547 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:10,199 Speaker 2: November fifth, And so I think that's the dynamic. Just 548 00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:12,040 Speaker 2: from talking to people who know what's going on on 549 00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:13,040 Speaker 2: the front lines. 550 00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:14,800 Speaker 1: Well, it's going to be an amazing weekend and then, 551 00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:17,720 Speaker 1: of course a number of states are already saying they're 552 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:19,679 Speaker 1: not going to get the numbers at night. There are 553 00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:21,120 Speaker 1: three or four states they're saying. 554 00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:22,840 Speaker 2: Some states say thirteen days. 555 00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:25,960 Speaker 1: We may end up not just with an election night party, 556 00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:27,960 Speaker 1: but maybe with a week long party. 557 00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:30,040 Speaker 2: It could be Christmas shopping and still trying to figure 558 00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:30,440 Speaker 2: this out. 559 00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:33,399 Speaker 1: Yeah, John, I want to thank you for joining me. 560 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:35,240 Speaker 2: That's a great honor to be with you, sir. 561 00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:38,400 Speaker 1: Our listeners can find your reporting on ActBlue and a 562 00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:42,200 Speaker 1: ton of other things at Justthnews dot com, where you 563 00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:45,480 Speaker 1: report on a number of breaking stories. You also have 564 00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:48,320 Speaker 1: a fantastic podcast, which I've done with you before, John 565 00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:51,200 Speaker 1: Solomon Reports that can be found on the Just the 566 00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:54,640 Speaker 1: News website or wherever you listen to podcasts. So thank 567 00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:56,200 Speaker 1: you for joining me in being part of this. 568 00:28:56,720 --> 00:28:58,320 Speaker 2: It's a great honor be with you you. Thanks so 569 00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:01,400 Speaker 2: much for the time today. 570 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:04,800 Speaker 1: Thank you to my guest John Solomon. You can get 571 00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:07,560 Speaker 1: a link to his website, Just the News on our 572 00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:11,080 Speaker 1: show page at newtsworld dot com. Newsworld is produced by 573 00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:15,920 Speaker 1: Gingers three sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Guarnsey Sloan. 574 00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:20,240 Speaker 1: Our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show 575 00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:23,400 Speaker 1: was created by Steve Penley. Special thanks to the team 576 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:26,600 Speaker 1: at Gingrish three sixty. If you've been enjoying Newtsworld, I 577 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:29,440 Speaker 1: hope you'll go to Apple Podcast and both rate us 578 00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:32,400 Speaker 1: with five stars and give us a review so others 579 00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:35,280 Speaker 1: can learn what it's all about. Right now, listeners of 580 00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:39,440 Speaker 1: news World can sign up for my three freeweekly columns 581 00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:43,920 Speaker 1: at ginglestree sixty dot com slash newsletter. I'm Newt Gingrich. 582 00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:45,280 Speaker 1: This is newts World.