1 00:00:04,795 --> 00:00:26,595 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. Why 2 00:00:26,675 --> 00:00:31,955 Speaker 1: isn't Trump bombing Russian terrorists scum who have been targeting 3 00:00:32,035 --> 00:00:38,715 Speaker 1: and viciously killing innocent Christians in Ukraine? Now that our 4 00:00:38,755 --> 00:00:43,875 Speaker 1: white supremacist, theocratic bandit government has gone into the crusades business, 5 00:00:44,155 --> 00:00:48,075 Speaker 1: Now that, per Trump, we've been bombing Nigeria to kill 6 00:00:48,315 --> 00:00:52,555 Speaker 1: Isis terrorists scum quote who have been targeting and viciously 7 00:00:52,715 --> 00:00:57,515 Speaker 1: killing primarily innocent Christians. This question for MAGA and the 8 00:00:57,555 --> 00:01:01,755 Speaker 1: Republicans who continue to enable this dictatorship. Like Marco, things 9 00:01:01,795 --> 00:01:05,435 Speaker 1: go better with Coke Rubio if that's the new standard, 10 00:01:05,875 --> 00:01:10,275 Speaker 1: We're bombing Isis terrorists scum who have been targeting and 11 00:01:10,435 --> 00:01:17,115 Speaker 1: viciously killing innocent Christians in Nigeria. After your latest pointless 12 00:01:17,115 --> 00:01:20,515 Speaker 1: photo op meeting with Zelensky in Florida yesterday, Trump, why 13 00:01:20,555 --> 00:01:26,275 Speaker 1: aren't you also bombing Russian terrorist scum who have been 14 00:01:26,315 --> 00:01:35,235 Speaker 1: targeting and viciously killing primarily innocent Christians in Ukraine? How 15 00:01:35,275 --> 00:01:39,155 Speaker 1: committed are you to this protect the Christians? Bullshit? 16 00:01:39,515 --> 00:01:39,875 Speaker 2: Trump? 17 00:01:42,275 --> 00:01:45,475 Speaker 1: Don't get me wrong. I do not buy into any 18 00:01:45,595 --> 00:01:50,035 Speaker 1: of the organized religious corporations. Many do good things, sometimes 19 00:01:50,035 --> 00:01:53,515 Speaker 1: many sincere people work with and for them and believe 20 00:01:53,635 --> 00:01:56,555 Speaker 1: in them. But if it's spirituality you're looking forward, just 21 00:01:56,635 --> 00:01:59,755 Speaker 1: talk to your creator or your universe, or whoever you 22 00:01:59,835 --> 00:02:02,195 Speaker 1: feel you need to talk to, and do it directly. 23 00:02:02,515 --> 00:02:06,635 Speaker 1: Cut out the middleman, avoid the brand names. But this 24 00:02:06,675 --> 00:02:11,675 Speaker 1: isn't about beliefs. Believe what you want, What the hell 25 00:02:11,715 --> 00:02:16,555 Speaker 1: do I care? This is about the newest Trumpian excuse. 26 00:02:17,515 --> 00:02:23,555 Speaker 1: We are now killing those who are killing Christians. If 27 00:02:23,635 --> 00:02:28,795 Speaker 1: that is the standard, Trump has obligated himself to start 28 00:02:29,155 --> 00:02:35,795 Speaker 1: bombing Russians today, Get going, boy, because the percentage of 29 00:02:35,915 --> 00:02:41,915 Speaker 1: Christians in Ukraine is eighty five percent. Eighty five that's 30 00:02:41,995 --> 00:02:46,555 Speaker 1: more than in Ireland. That's way more than here. We 31 00:02:46,635 --> 00:02:49,795 Speaker 1: may be as low as sixty five percent. And religion 32 00:02:49,915 --> 00:02:52,595 Speaker 1: in Russia is a function of the state. It is 33 00:02:52,635 --> 00:02:57,035 Speaker 1: controlled by Putin. The Russian Orthodox Church is Russia's privileged 34 00:02:57,115 --> 00:03:00,675 Speaker 1: religion and it holds virtual veto power over which other 35 00:03:00,755 --> 00:03:04,955 Speaker 1: religions can have any influence. It's almost a monopoly. So 36 00:03:05,355 --> 00:03:11,395 Speaker 1: in Russia, Sorry Catholics, sorry many Protestant faiths. I mean, 37 00:03:11,555 --> 00:03:15,955 Speaker 1: I know after yesterday's latest pointless meeting with poor Zelenski 38 00:03:16,075 --> 00:03:18,515 Speaker 1: in Florida and you have to give him credit. He's 39 00:03:18,555 --> 00:03:21,795 Speaker 1: playing along with this man he knows is an insane idiot. 40 00:03:22,595 --> 00:03:25,475 Speaker 1: This latest meeting that started seventy two minutes after Trump 41 00:03:25,515 --> 00:03:28,555 Speaker 1: got off the phone with Putin, and presumably Putin read 42 00:03:28,595 --> 00:03:32,955 Speaker 1: Trump his latest instructions, starting with the words keep stalling. 43 00:03:33,035 --> 00:03:39,875 Speaker 1: Donald after that negotiation to nowhere round eleveny billion. This 44 00:03:39,995 --> 00:03:43,955 Speaker 1: new standard in Nigeria and in South Africa. That's not 45 00:03:44,075 --> 00:03:47,315 Speaker 1: going to be the new standard in Ukraine because Trump 46 00:03:47,475 --> 00:03:51,635 Speaker 1: has no standards. He only has financial interests and being 47 00:03:51,715 --> 00:03:57,875 Speaker 1: blackmailed interests. Trump is the asshole who campaigned on resolving 48 00:03:57,955 --> 00:04:01,435 Speaker 1: Russia's invasion of Ukraine in twenty four hours, a twenty 49 00:04:01,435 --> 00:04:04,635 Speaker 1: four hour deadline, and yesterday, as he stood next to Zelenski, 50 00:04:04,755 --> 00:04:10,275 Speaker 1: he was asked about more deadlines, and Trump basically answered deadlines. 51 00:04:10,755 --> 00:04:21,675 Speaker 1: What are deadlines? My deadline is getting ward. Since he 52 00:04:21,835 --> 00:04:27,275 Speaker 1: re seized power, Trump has been remarkably consistent. He is stalling. 53 00:04:28,835 --> 00:04:31,275 Speaker 1: He talks about two weeks to this and fifty days 54 00:04:31,435 --> 00:04:34,875 Speaker 1: to that, and warning Russia about this and helping Ukraine 55 00:04:34,875 --> 00:04:37,755 Speaker 1: with that, and each individual announcement seems like some sort 56 00:04:37,795 --> 00:04:42,675 Speaker 1: of bizarre one eighty switch. The media certainly treats it 57 00:04:42,755 --> 00:04:46,075 Speaker 1: like that, when in fact, if you just step back 58 00:04:46,235 --> 00:04:48,395 Speaker 1: only a couple of feet and take this as a whole, 59 00:04:48,675 --> 00:04:52,355 Speaker 1: it's just one long running out of the clock on 60 00:04:52,475 --> 00:04:58,515 Speaker 1: Putin's behalf. Just throw something else against the wall. We 61 00:04:58,675 --> 00:05:02,395 Speaker 1: know Trump's good at that. Usually it's a burger with ketchup. 62 00:05:04,955 --> 00:05:07,675 Speaker 1: But this idea that America now exists to save those 63 00:05:07,755 --> 00:05:11,995 Speaker 1: Christians the world out there, It's like lions at the colisseum. 64 00:05:12,675 --> 00:05:15,995 Speaker 1: If this is handled right, this could interrupt the endless 65 00:05:15,995 --> 00:05:18,995 Speaker 1: cycle of Trump announcing another new policy and the rest 66 00:05:18,995 --> 00:05:20,955 Speaker 1: of the world thinking, oh, this will be resolved soon. 67 00:05:21,915 --> 00:05:26,075 Speaker 1: Because if this onward Christian soldiers thing is the deciding factor, now, 68 00:05:26,355 --> 00:05:30,715 Speaker 1: save the South African bars, save the Nigerian Christians, even 69 00:05:30,755 --> 00:05:33,435 Speaker 1: though the Nigerian government says nearly everybody under attack there 70 00:05:33,435 --> 00:05:39,275 Speaker 1: is Muslim. If this is Trump's great cause, Trump kind 71 00:05:39,315 --> 00:05:43,235 Speaker 1: of has to arrest any Russian diplomats or negotiators or 72 00:05:43,635 --> 00:05:48,755 Speaker 1: envoys at the next quote piece unquote stall conference, or 73 00:05:48,755 --> 00:05:50,635 Speaker 1: if they're on a boat, he has to bomb them, 74 00:05:51,675 --> 00:05:53,955 Speaker 1: and he has to cut Putin off, and he has 75 00:05:53,995 --> 00:05:59,515 Speaker 1: to load up them bombing runs. We have anti Christian 76 00:05:59,635 --> 00:06:04,115 Speaker 1: terrorists come to kill in Russia and faithful, suffering, martyred 77 00:06:04,195 --> 00:06:12,155 Speaker 1: Christians in Ukraine. Isn't that the same thing? Spoiler alert, 78 00:06:12,315 --> 00:06:14,955 Speaker 1: It's not the same thing. Trump's not going to do that, 79 00:06:15,315 --> 00:06:17,955 Speaker 1: not unless he's backed into one hell of a corner. 80 00:06:18,955 --> 00:06:23,395 Speaker 1: Christianity to Donald Trump is exactly the same thing as Judaism, 81 00:06:23,835 --> 00:06:28,595 Speaker 1: which is exactly the same thing as fundamentalists and Pentecostals 82 00:06:29,155 --> 00:06:34,315 Speaker 1: and Druids. It's a voting block, it's a bunch of people. 83 00:06:34,315 --> 00:06:37,715 Speaker 1: He can save time by scamming all at once rather 84 00:06:37,795 --> 00:06:43,355 Speaker 1: than individually. What's interesting is that the morning after Trump 85 00:06:43,475 --> 00:06:46,755 Speaker 1: celebrated the holiday by killing people who were killing Christians 86 00:06:46,835 --> 00:06:51,115 Speaker 1: on Christmas because he's a Nobel Peace Prize winner and everything, 87 00:06:51,195 --> 00:06:55,955 Speaker 1: but you know the peace part. The morning after, President 88 00:06:56,035 --> 00:06:59,435 Speaker 1: Zelenski of eighty five percent Christian Ukraine posted a video 89 00:06:59,475 --> 00:07:03,875 Speaker 1: which noted, quote, Russians are godless people who have nothing 90 00:07:03,915 --> 00:07:09,915 Speaker 1: in common with Christchristianity unquote. Maybe Zelensky sees there is 91 00:07:09,955 --> 00:07:12,555 Speaker 1: a route to get to Trump and force him to 92 00:07:12,595 --> 00:07:19,435 Speaker 1: act on behalf of his latest fanboys. Of course, what 93 00:07:19,835 --> 00:07:22,395 Speaker 1: Zelenski said Russians are godless people who have nothing in 94 00:07:22,435 --> 00:07:24,995 Speaker 1: common with Christianity. That used to be the official line 95 00:07:25,035 --> 00:07:31,035 Speaker 1: of the Republican Party. Russia's suppression of Christianity and its 96 00:07:31,075 --> 00:07:34,875 Speaker 1: persecution of the faithful used to be a primary campaign 97 00:07:34,955 --> 00:07:39,595 Speaker 1: tool in this country. Russia's official atheism used to be 98 00:07:39,595 --> 00:07:44,355 Speaker 1: something the Republicans used against the Democrats. Because this bullshit 99 00:07:44,435 --> 00:07:47,675 Speaker 1: didn't start with Trump. He just dumbed it down to 100 00:07:47,755 --> 00:07:50,955 Speaker 1: make it more effective with the Rubes and the Marks 101 00:07:51,715 --> 00:07:55,955 Speaker 1: as late as the breakup of the Soviet Union. Those 102 00:07:56,275 --> 00:08:02,035 Speaker 1: people were the godless Russians. So maybe there is something 103 00:08:02,075 --> 00:08:05,075 Speaker 1: here which supporters of Ukraine and more cynic those of 104 00:08:05,115 --> 00:08:07,875 Speaker 1: us who recognize that all Putin and Trump are doing 105 00:08:07,915 --> 00:08:11,075 Speaker 1: with these perpetually moving goalposts about a peace plan or 106 00:08:11,115 --> 00:08:14,995 Speaker 1: negotiations or summits is too stall to give Putin more 107 00:08:15,035 --> 00:08:18,475 Speaker 1: time to resupply his troops, and those of us who 108 00:08:18,515 --> 00:08:21,195 Speaker 1: recognize that if Putin wins in Ukraine, he will attack 109 00:08:21,315 --> 00:08:24,195 Speaker 1: again even further west in Europe, and those of us 110 00:08:24,235 --> 00:08:26,675 Speaker 1: who recognize it when first Trump and then this buffoon 111 00:08:26,795 --> 00:08:30,235 Speaker 1: Rubio say it's not our war. There's an ocean between us. 112 00:08:30,915 --> 00:08:35,115 Speaker 1: The usefulness of an ocean as defense was disproved on 113 00:08:35,155 --> 00:08:38,955 Speaker 1: December seventh, nineteen forty one, but apparently both Trump and 114 00:08:39,075 --> 00:08:43,395 Speaker 1: Rubio are too stupid or too impaired to realize that 115 00:08:43,475 --> 00:08:49,395 Speaker 1: you can now fly across any ocean. Those of us 116 00:08:49,435 --> 00:08:53,275 Speaker 1: who understand all of that, those of us who understand 117 00:08:53,315 --> 00:08:58,475 Speaker 1: that America's future depends on Russia losing everything in Ukraine 118 00:08:58,835 --> 00:09:03,915 Speaker 1: and then Putin losing control of Russia, maybe we finally 119 00:09:03,995 --> 00:09:08,595 Speaker 1: have something with which to split MAGA the way the 120 00:09:08,635 --> 00:09:13,755 Speaker 1: Epstein files How many in that box? A million? Holy crap, 121 00:09:14,595 --> 00:09:18,195 Speaker 1: in the same way the Epstein Files and anti Semitism 122 00:09:18,675 --> 00:09:26,915 Speaker 1: have now split MAGA. So strategically, supporters of Ukraine need 123 00:09:26,995 --> 00:09:32,635 Speaker 1: to start lying. Stop portraying the Ukrainians as victims of 124 00:09:32,955 --> 00:09:39,835 Speaker 1: Putin's aggression. Maga likes aggression, I mean Maga aar sadists. 125 00:09:41,115 --> 00:09:48,355 Speaker 1: Start portraying the Ukrainians as victims of terrorists scum who 126 00:09:48,355 --> 00:09:54,635 Speaker 1: have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily innocent Christians because 127 00:09:54,675 --> 00:10:23,995 Speaker 1: the terrorists scum is putin wait. Trump pardons for sale, millions, 128 00:10:24,115 --> 00:10:29,475 Speaker 1: changing hands, finders, fees, pardon brokers, con men like Trevor 129 00:10:29,475 --> 00:10:32,315 Speaker 1: Milton not only not rotting in prison, but also not 130 00:10:32,475 --> 00:10:34,875 Speaker 1: being forced to pay restitution of up to six hundred 131 00:10:34,915 --> 00:10:38,595 Speaker 1: and eighty million to those he defrauded. It's hard to 132 00:10:38,595 --> 00:10:41,955 Speaker 1: be shocked by anything, hard to find anything both corrupt 133 00:10:42,115 --> 00:10:46,035 Speaker 1: and new about Trump. And then here comes the Trump 134 00:10:46,275 --> 00:10:55,235 Speaker 1: pardon industrial complex. So new and so wait a minute, 135 00:10:55,435 --> 00:11:01,275 Speaker 1: I knew this sounded familiar. Of course, Trump presidential pardons 136 00:11:01,475 --> 00:11:06,315 Speaker 1: were allegedly available for purchase at popular prices, and there's 137 00:11:06,355 --> 00:11:09,635 Speaker 1: nothing new about it. They were reportedly available as of 138 00:11:09,715 --> 00:11:15,435 Speaker 1: February sixteenth, twenty nineteen, supposedly at two million dollars each, 139 00:11:15,835 --> 00:11:21,315 Speaker 1: half to Trump, half to Rudy Giuliani. I reported this 140 00:11:21,755 --> 00:11:27,555 Speaker 1: on this podcast on May sixteenth, twenty twenty three, because 141 00:11:27,595 --> 00:11:30,275 Speaker 1: those pardons at those prices is what a woman who 142 00:11:30,395 --> 00:11:36,275 Speaker 1: sued Juliani for sexual abuse, says Giuliani told her in 143 00:11:36,435 --> 00:11:40,195 Speaker 1: just a nine day span in twenty nineteen. She claims 144 00:11:40,235 --> 00:11:44,555 Speaker 1: she's had countless recordings of their encounters. Name was Noel Dunfi. 145 00:11:45,115 --> 00:11:47,315 Speaker 1: And I don't know if she recorded any of this stuff, 146 00:11:47,315 --> 00:11:48,875 Speaker 1: and I don't know if she's telling the truth. And 147 00:11:48,915 --> 00:11:50,675 Speaker 1: I have even less of an idea of whether or 148 00:11:50,675 --> 00:11:54,035 Speaker 1: not he was telling the truth, the alleged victim, Noel Dunfi. 149 00:11:54,435 --> 00:11:56,195 Speaker 1: And not for a moment do I want to seem 150 00:11:56,355 --> 00:12:00,355 Speaker 1: insensitive to her and the two year ordeals she documented 151 00:12:00,635 --> 00:12:04,395 Speaker 1: in her nauseating and lurid suit against him. I mean 152 00:12:04,795 --> 00:12:08,195 Speaker 1: reads like the script from a Fellini film, something between 153 00:12:08,275 --> 00:12:12,795 Speaker 1: Casanova and Satyricon. It is, in fact so disturbing and 154 00:12:12,955 --> 00:12:16,235 Speaker 1: so lurid that it is not until the one hundred 155 00:12:16,235 --> 00:12:20,195 Speaker 1: and twenty fourth numbered paragraph in her seventy page filing 156 00:12:20,435 --> 00:12:23,075 Speaker 1: that her attorney gets to the other little detail, the 157 00:12:23,155 --> 00:12:26,275 Speaker 1: other little fore taste of evil things to come. Quote. 158 00:12:26,315 --> 00:12:29,155 Speaker 1: Giuliani told Miss Dunfee about a plan that had been 159 00:12:29,155 --> 00:12:32,555 Speaker 1: prepared for if Trump lost the twenty twenty election. Specifically, 160 00:12:32,595 --> 00:12:35,755 Speaker 1: Giuliani told Miss Dunfie that Trump's team would claim that 161 00:12:35,795 --> 00:12:38,875 Speaker 1: there was quote voter fraud and that Trump had actually 162 00:12:38,955 --> 00:12:42,075 Speaker 1: won the election. This plan was discussed at several business 163 00:12:42,115 --> 00:12:47,035 Speaker 1: meetings with Giuliani and Lev Parnis. But back to the bribes, 164 00:12:47,555 --> 00:12:51,435 Speaker 1: back to the pardons. It was eight paragraphs and nine 165 00:12:51,555 --> 00:12:56,035 Speaker 1: days after that that Dunfee's attorney claims Giuliani quote also 166 00:12:56,155 --> 00:12:59,515 Speaker 1: asked Miss Dunfee if she knew anyone in need of 167 00:12:59,595 --> 00:13:03,435 Speaker 1: a pardon, telling her that he was selling pardons for 168 00:13:03,555 --> 00:13:06,915 Speaker 1: two million dollars, which he and President Trump would split. 169 00:13:07,355 --> 00:13:10,875 Speaker 1: He told miss Dunfie that she could refer individuals seeking 170 00:13:10,955 --> 00:13:14,635 Speaker 1: pardons to him, him being Juliani, so long as they 171 00:13:14,635 --> 00:13:18,995 Speaker 1: did not go through quote the normal channels unquote of 172 00:13:19,035 --> 00:13:22,555 Speaker 1: the office of the Pardon Attorney, because correspondence going to 173 00:13:22,595 --> 00:13:25,875 Speaker 1: that office would be subject to disclosure under the Freedom 174 00:13:25,915 --> 00:13:31,635 Speaker 1: of Information Act. For Miss Dunfee, this was understandably, utterly, 175 00:13:31,755 --> 00:13:35,795 Speaker 1: justifiably a case about how she claims, I think from 176 00:13:35,875 --> 00:13:38,635 Speaker 1: reading it, the better word is how she demonstrates how 177 00:13:38,715 --> 00:13:43,075 Speaker 1: Juliani manipulated her into sex, bullied her, abused her, committed 178 00:13:43,115 --> 00:13:49,995 Speaker 1: battery on her. As she alleges, her suit was remarkably detailed, dates, places, names, 179 00:13:49,995 --> 00:13:53,315 Speaker 1: hate filled Giuliani rants about Blacks, about Jews, about other groups, 180 00:13:53,515 --> 00:13:56,595 Speaker 1: all of it reeking with the kind of versimilitude that 181 00:13:56,675 --> 00:13:59,315 Speaker 1: anybody who has been around Rudy Giuliani for more than 182 00:13:59,395 --> 00:14:03,155 Speaker 1: thirty minutes out of the last thirty years would say, Yeah, 183 00:14:03,195 --> 00:14:07,955 Speaker 1: that's Rudy. Like everything else touching Rudy Giuliani, a walking 184 00:14:07,995 --> 00:14:11,755 Speaker 1: pile of corruption, wearing mascara to cover the bald spots. 185 00:14:12,275 --> 00:14:17,035 Speaker 1: This lawsuit got shoved off the front pages by something 186 00:14:17,115 --> 00:14:21,435 Speaker 1: worse that happened like the next day. The most recent 187 00:14:21,555 --> 00:14:24,515 Speaker 1: update I can get on this suit is from May 188 00:14:24,675 --> 00:14:27,675 Speaker 1: of this year, in which Giuliani had filed to get 189 00:14:27,715 --> 00:14:33,715 Speaker 1: the Dunfee lawsuit dismissed. After that nothing Sadly, what Shakespeare 190 00:14:33,715 --> 00:14:36,795 Speaker 1: wrote of as the law's delay, and he wrote it 191 00:14:36,835 --> 00:14:39,955 Speaker 1: four hundred plus years ago, has never improved in the 192 00:14:40,035 --> 00:14:45,035 Speaker 1: slightest ask Jack Smith, I will leave most of the 193 00:14:45,115 --> 00:14:49,115 Speaker 1: conduct Miss Dunfee's attorneys describe in the gutter with rudy 194 00:14:49,315 --> 00:14:52,675 Speaker 1: where they belong, except for paragraph one h nine, which 195 00:14:52,755 --> 00:14:54,755 Speaker 1: is as familiar to those of us who had the 196 00:14:54,795 --> 00:14:58,395 Speaker 1: misfortune to meet this sleezbag Guliani as any of the 197 00:14:58,435 --> 00:15:02,355 Speaker 1: abuses alleged, or the women manipulated, or the debts left unpaid. 198 00:15:03,395 --> 00:15:05,875 Speaker 1: His driving emotion for the length of his public life 199 00:15:05,915 --> 00:15:10,795 Speaker 1: has been envy, mixed with usually futile fantasies of revenge 200 00:15:11,595 --> 00:15:15,795 Speaker 1: paragraph one o nine quote. Throughout the employment and attorney 201 00:15:15,835 --> 00:15:20,635 Speaker 1: client relationship, Giuliani forced Miss Dunfie to perform oral sex 202 00:15:20,755 --> 00:15:24,115 Speaker 1: on him. He often demanded oral sex while he took 203 00:15:24,195 --> 00:15:29,075 Speaker 1: phone calls on speakerphone from high profile friends and clients, 204 00:15:29,555 --> 00:15:33,595 Speaker 1: including then President Trump. Giuliani told Miss Dunfie that he 205 00:15:33,715 --> 00:15:37,355 Speaker 1: enjoyed engaging in this conduct while on the telephone because 206 00:15:37,395 --> 00:15:42,835 Speaker 1: it made him quote feeder like Bill Clinton unquote just 207 00:15:42,995 --> 00:15:49,715 Speaker 1: the sleaziest almost human alive Rudy Giuliani and in the 208 00:15:49,755 --> 00:15:52,475 Speaker 1: final note from the Dunfee lawsuit, fueled by what she 209 00:15:52,555 --> 00:15:57,755 Speaker 1: portrays as almost NonStop consumption by Giuliani of alcohol and viagra, 210 00:15:58,635 --> 00:16:02,875 Speaker 1: I have this question, red pill or blue pill Rudy 211 00:16:04,675 --> 00:16:08,235 Speaker 1: differences to Rudy Giuliani's perversions in a story about the 212 00:16:08,275 --> 00:16:11,915 Speaker 1: Trump bribery and pardon machine is just to add some 213 00:16:12,075 --> 00:16:16,155 Speaker 1: color to the process and some context. This did not 214 00:16:16,555 --> 00:16:20,475 Speaker 1: start last month, although from news coverage you would think 215 00:16:20,475 --> 00:16:24,315 Speaker 1: it had. I will note also that since every Republican 216 00:16:24,355 --> 00:16:28,555 Speaker 1: accusation is a confession, the idea of invalid pardons by 217 00:16:28,675 --> 00:16:32,395 Speaker 1: Joe Biden would suggest Trump knows that if anything could 218 00:16:32,435 --> 00:16:38,435 Speaker 1: ever defeat the seemingly constitutionally built impregnable wall around presidential pardons, 219 00:16:38,715 --> 00:16:43,475 Speaker 1: it would be proven bribery. Because even if this most 220 00:16:43,475 --> 00:16:48,355 Speaker 1: directive crimes could not cancel out a pardon, the bribe 221 00:16:48,355 --> 00:16:51,395 Speaker 1: that led to the pardon would itself be a new crime, 222 00:16:51,875 --> 00:16:55,155 Speaker 1: a new crime by the pardon recipient and the pardon 223 00:16:55,235 --> 00:17:00,235 Speaker 1: broker and the bribe recipient slash pardon giver in the 224 00:17:00,275 --> 00:17:04,315 Speaker 1: current scenario, that would figure to be Trump himself. I 225 00:17:04,435 --> 00:17:08,915 Speaker 1: know that you know that, I know that. I know that, 226 00:17:09,715 --> 00:17:13,475 Speaker 1: and I'm hoping that the potential Democratic attorneys general and 227 00:17:13,635 --> 00:17:18,115 Speaker 1: US attorneys of twenty twenty nine know that. However, I 228 00:17:18,195 --> 00:17:24,555 Speaker 1: do find myself still wondering if the bribe brokers know that, Rudy. 229 00:17:33,115 --> 00:17:37,955 Speaker 1: Since this podcast launched the first of August twenty twenty two, 230 00:17:38,195 --> 00:17:42,275 Speaker 1: I have kept only one light of hope, perpetually lit. 231 00:17:43,355 --> 00:17:46,475 Speaker 1: It is the only durable truth that works one hundred 232 00:17:46,475 --> 00:17:51,635 Speaker 1: percent in favor of the forces of decency, democracy, truth, justice, 233 00:17:51,635 --> 00:17:55,315 Speaker 1: and the American way. It is the fact that Trump 234 00:17:55,795 --> 00:17:59,075 Speaker 1: and his family and his enablers and his henchmen, and 235 00:17:59,115 --> 00:18:03,195 Speaker 1: his Juliani's and his Renfields, and his media and his 236 00:18:03,355 --> 00:18:09,915 Speaker 1: MAGA are ninety nine point nine percent morons. There are 237 00:18:09,955 --> 00:18:13,315 Speaker 1: a few bright and therefore truly dangerous guys and gals 238 00:18:13,515 --> 00:18:19,195 Speaker 1: out there, like russ Vote and maybe Scalia, and every 239 00:18:19,355 --> 00:18:22,395 Speaker 1: once in a while it seems like Steven Miller is 240 00:18:22,395 --> 00:18:24,875 Speaker 1: one of them. But I don't know. I think this 241 00:18:24,915 --> 00:18:30,755 Speaker 1: guy has self destruct button written all over him. Also, usually, 242 00:18:30,875 --> 00:18:34,355 Speaker 1: even in the ones that seem smart, or at least 243 00:18:34,395 --> 00:18:39,755 Speaker 1: seem non moronic. Some push meets some shove somewhere, and 244 00:18:39,795 --> 00:18:45,475 Speaker 1: it turns out they're only intermittently not stupid, right, Susie Wiles. 245 00:18:47,075 --> 00:18:51,715 Speaker 1: So here are your latest magas stupidity updates. The Trump 246 00:18:51,795 --> 00:18:55,355 Speaker 1: Kennedy Center, the one he renamed and made it sound 247 00:18:55,395 --> 00:18:59,155 Speaker 1: like it's the Trump Memorial Center. For our purposes, let's 248 00:18:59,195 --> 00:19:03,355 Speaker 1: call it the Trump Memorial Kennedy Center. Turns out Trump 249 00:19:03,395 --> 00:19:12,275 Speaker 1: forgot something he forgot to buy. The website domains Trump 250 00:19:12,395 --> 00:19:19,115 Speaker 1: Kennedycenter dot org go, Trump Kennedycenter dot com go. They 251 00:19:19,115 --> 00:19:22,675 Speaker 1: belong to Toby Morton. Who is Toby Morton? He is 252 00:19:23,035 --> 00:19:29,555 Speaker 1: a comedy writer whose credits include South Park. Well, it 253 00:19:29,675 --> 00:19:33,475 Speaker 1: is probably not Trump's job to register those domains. It's 254 00:19:33,515 --> 00:19:36,795 Speaker 1: probably the job of the president of the Center. That 255 00:19:36,875 --> 00:19:40,115 Speaker 1: would be the most haplessly arrogant of all the Trump whorees. 256 00:19:40,515 --> 00:19:44,435 Speaker 1: Rick Grinnell, who has already washed out of the following 257 00:19:44,515 --> 00:19:48,635 Speaker 1: posts in the Trump dictatorships. Acting Director of National Intelligence, 258 00:19:48,875 --> 00:19:54,155 Speaker 1: Ambassador to Germany, Envoy to Serbia and Kosovo, Big Lie Salesman, 259 00:19:54,475 --> 00:20:00,275 Speaker 1: California Wildfire Liaison special Envoid of Venezuela, special Envoy to 260 00:20:00,355 --> 00:20:04,515 Speaker 1: free the infamous Tate Monsters in Romania, rebuild the nord 261 00:20:04,755 --> 00:20:09,875 Speaker 1: Stream Coordinator, Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions, and most recently, 262 00:20:10,395 --> 00:20:13,875 Speaker 1: interim president of the Trump Memorial Kennedy Center for the 263 00:20:13,915 --> 00:20:19,475 Speaker 1: Performing Arts, and Rick forgot to register Trump Kennedy Center domains. 264 00:20:20,355 --> 00:20:23,915 Speaker 1: That is so many jobs Grennell has failed at that. 265 00:20:24,035 --> 00:20:28,155 Speaker 1: It's more jobs than I've had. It's like twice as 266 00:20:28,155 --> 00:20:34,835 Speaker 1: many jobs as I've had. Now, he says, the center 267 00:20:34,915 --> 00:20:38,835 Speaker 1: will sue a jazz musician who refused to perform on 268 00:20:39,035 --> 00:20:45,395 Speaker 1: Christmas Eve, Chuck Red. Chuck Redd plays the drums and 269 00:20:45,515 --> 00:20:48,995 Speaker 1: the vibraphone, and he said he wouldn't if Trump's name 270 00:20:49,115 --> 00:20:53,315 Speaker 1: was on the building. So Rick Grennell says he's suing 271 00:20:53,355 --> 00:20:56,875 Speaker 1: mister Red for a million dollars because refusing to play 272 00:20:56,875 --> 00:21:01,675 Speaker 1: for the furre is quote classic intolerance and very costly 273 00:21:01,715 --> 00:21:06,715 Speaker 1: to a nonprofit arts institution. Yeah, really costly. When Trump 274 00:21:06,755 --> 00:21:08,475 Speaker 1: says he wants to rip out all the seats at 275 00:21:08,475 --> 00:21:11,235 Speaker 1: the Trump Memorial Kennedy Center and replace them with new 276 00:21:11,275 --> 00:21:16,075 Speaker 1: ones that have marble armrests, because everybody wants to bang 277 00:21:16,155 --> 00:21:19,995 Speaker 1: their elbows on marble, and of course marble is so cheap. 278 00:21:20,995 --> 00:21:25,275 Speaker 1: You guys must be right there at the bankruptcy line. Huh. 279 00:21:25,315 --> 00:21:29,435 Speaker 1: But the real Grennell's stupidity here is that quote classic intolerance. 280 00:21:30,275 --> 00:21:35,555 Speaker 1: Classic intolerance, you say, because the guy won't play at 281 00:21:35,595 --> 00:21:42,315 Speaker 1: the behest of the dictatorship. Last September, Grennell invited a 282 00:21:42,315 --> 00:21:45,235 Speaker 1: group of log Cabin Republicans. That's the group of gay 283 00:21:45,315 --> 00:21:49,075 Speaker 1: conservatives who have convinced themselves that Trump's hatemongers would never 284 00:21:49,155 --> 00:21:52,675 Speaker 1: put them in camps. Grennell invited a group of log 285 00:21:52,915 --> 00:21:58,515 Speaker 1: Cabin Republicans to interrupt the performance of anti Trump, anti 286 00:21:58,555 --> 00:22:02,795 Speaker 1: Grennell guitarist Yasmin Williams at the Trump Memorial Kennedy Center. 287 00:22:03,955 --> 00:22:07,675 Speaker 1: So bub, take your lawsuit and your complaints about classic 288 00:22:07,715 --> 00:22:12,555 Speaker 1: intolerance and shove them. Also, you are suing a jazz 289 00:22:12,675 --> 00:22:17,875 Speaker 1: musician for a million dollars. There's a jazz musician who 290 00:22:17,955 --> 00:22:23,595 Speaker 1: has a million dollars. My great sustaining hope that the 291 00:22:23,595 --> 00:22:25,995 Speaker 1: Trumpsts will soon collapse under the weight of their own 292 00:22:26,035 --> 00:22:28,715 Speaker 1: stupidity was also reinforced the other day by of all people, 293 00:22:28,715 --> 00:22:33,355 Speaker 1: Brian Krassenstein. I don't have much use for the Crasenstein brothers. 294 00:22:33,355 --> 00:22:36,515 Speaker 1: They are clout farmers. They're not that bright. They probably 295 00:22:36,555 --> 00:22:39,355 Speaker 1: do not hurt the resistance materially, but they certainly don't 296 00:22:39,355 --> 00:22:43,395 Speaker 1: help it. But Brian has accomplished one of the greatest 297 00:22:43,475 --> 00:22:50,275 Speaker 1: trollings of the Trump era. Quote he wrote, quote Trump 298 00:22:50,475 --> 00:22:54,355 Speaker 1: is a dead man walking. Crassenstein posted that on Twitter 299 00:22:54,595 --> 00:22:58,115 Speaker 1: x again, quoting America should quote put him to sleep 300 00:22:58,235 --> 00:23:03,235 Speaker 1: unquote now it is the humanitarian thing to do unquote. 301 00:23:04,155 --> 00:23:08,835 Speaker 1: Oh the glass half empty. IQ boys of Magastan did 302 00:23:08,875 --> 00:23:12,795 Speaker 1: not like that one bit. There was a universal rage. 303 00:23:13,875 --> 00:23:19,235 Speaker 1: Is this the threat? Asked Gunter Eagelman TM real named 304 00:23:19,315 --> 00:23:22,955 Speaker 1: David Freeman defrocked cop with granny glasses. 305 00:23:24,435 --> 00:23:26,475 Speaker 2: Ragya hell, would you puff thumping like this? 306 00:23:26,755 --> 00:23:31,315 Speaker 1: Are you ill? Replied Kyle Weepy Kyle Rittenhouse possible new 307 00:23:31,355 --> 00:23:38,595 Speaker 1: OZEMPIC spokesperson. Others demanded. Crasenstein's arrest or retweeted what he posted, 308 00:23:38,635 --> 00:23:43,075 Speaker 1: addressed to Cash Patel care the grand old Opry. I 309 00:23:43,075 --> 00:23:47,235 Speaker 1: guess there were responses all across the MAGA spectrum, from 310 00:23:47,275 --> 00:23:51,555 Speaker 1: your crazies to your crazy Russian bots. Wall Street Apes 311 00:23:51,755 --> 00:23:57,475 Speaker 1: was furious, Zeke Arkham, Buzz Patterson, Dom lucre Real, Spitfire, 312 00:23:57,915 --> 00:24:02,315 Speaker 1: Benny Johnson, all of them enraged because Crassenstein had posted 313 00:24:02,315 --> 00:24:05,435 Speaker 1: a clear incitement to violence or clear threat to Trump, 314 00:24:05,635 --> 00:24:09,315 Speaker 1: or a clear call for assassination, or or by writing 315 00:24:09,395 --> 00:24:12,395 Speaker 1: quote Trump is a dead man walking, America should quote 316 00:24:12,395 --> 00:24:15,235 Speaker 1: put him to sleep unquote. Now it is the humanitarian 317 00:24:15,275 --> 00:24:21,315 Speaker 1: thing to do unquote ahem. Not one of these morons 318 00:24:21,635 --> 00:24:24,875 Speaker 1: seemed to have noticed that Krassenstein was, in fact quoting 319 00:24:24,955 --> 00:24:29,195 Speaker 1: someone else, word for word, someone who had written that 320 00:24:29,275 --> 00:24:33,875 Speaker 1: Stephen Colbert is quote a dead man walking CBS should 321 00:24:33,955 --> 00:24:36,795 Speaker 1: quote put him to sleep unquote. Now it is the 322 00:24:36,875 --> 00:24:42,275 Speaker 1: humanitarian thing to do. Who wrote that? Well, of course, 323 00:24:42,715 --> 00:24:47,275 Speaker 1: like you didn't know, it was Trump, and Krasenstein simply 324 00:24:47,875 --> 00:24:52,875 Speaker 1: quoted him word for word, and the Trump crowd, hanging 325 00:24:52,995 --> 00:24:57,515 Speaker 1: on his every word, missed those words of Trump and 326 00:24:57,635 --> 00:25:01,955 Speaker 1: crashed right through the windshield when even somebody like Crassenstein 327 00:25:02,635 --> 00:25:09,995 Speaker 1: simply hit the brakes. And two final Trump stupidity notes. 328 00:25:10,675 --> 00:25:18,195 Speaker 1: Erica Kirk appeared on Fox News yesterday. Again Honestly, if 329 00:25:18,195 --> 00:25:20,315 Speaker 1: she had her own show, she would not be on 330 00:25:20,355 --> 00:25:24,035 Speaker 1: this often, and she was not wearing the sequined, floral 331 00:25:24,115 --> 00:25:27,155 Speaker 1: length morning dress she wore at a recent conservative conference. 332 00:25:27,275 --> 00:25:29,795 Speaker 1: Because of course, she's grieving her late husband, just like 333 00:25:29,875 --> 00:25:33,795 Speaker 1: you would by going on Fox news every day except 334 00:25:33,995 --> 00:25:35,715 Speaker 1: the day that she went and did a town hall 335 00:25:35,955 --> 00:25:39,635 Speaker 1: with that idiot Barry Weiss at CBS Big Sistar. He's 336 00:25:39,675 --> 00:25:44,355 Speaker 1: watching you and wearing a series of sequin dresses while 337 00:25:44,395 --> 00:25:47,715 Speaker 1: she tries to become a household name literally over her 338 00:25:47,795 --> 00:25:53,675 Speaker 1: late husband's dead body. But remember she and her family 339 00:25:54,355 --> 00:25:56,195 Speaker 1: request privacy. 340 00:25:55,755 --> 00:25:56,515 Speaker 2: At this time. 341 00:25:58,835 --> 00:26:01,875 Speaker 1: And then there's Stephen Miller and his wife. It only 342 00:26:01,955 --> 00:26:04,675 Speaker 1: crossed my desk the other day that the originated of 343 00:26:04,875 --> 00:26:08,875 Speaker 1: the rather stomach turning description of the hairless Goebbels as 344 00:26:08,995 --> 00:26:16,675 Speaker 1: a quote sexual matador was not the almost panoramically stupid 345 00:26:16,715 --> 00:26:20,355 Speaker 1: Jesse Waters of Fox. That was not his phrase. Instead, 346 00:26:20,435 --> 00:26:25,475 Speaker 1: the phrase sexual matador came from Miller's own wife, Katie, 347 00:26:25,755 --> 00:26:28,795 Speaker 1: And once again nobody's explaining what that's supposed to mean. 348 00:26:30,155 --> 00:26:37,075 Speaker 1: Sexual matador Like Stephen Miller wears a form fitting gold 349 00:26:37,195 --> 00:26:41,595 Speaker 1: outfit like some sort of nightmarish bell hop, and he 350 00:26:41,635 --> 00:26:44,595 Speaker 1: goes out in public in Mexico and Spain and engages 351 00:26:44,635 --> 00:26:49,115 Speaker 1: with another mammal who weighs around two thousand pounds, and 352 00:26:49,195 --> 00:26:53,075 Speaker 1: Steven Miller encourages them to charge at him. That kind 353 00:26:53,075 --> 00:27:00,315 Speaker 1: of sexual matador. Anyway, Katie Miller started the reference. But 354 00:27:00,395 --> 00:27:02,555 Speaker 1: the part I also don't get here is that evidently 355 00:27:02,595 --> 00:27:06,195 Speaker 1: Stephen Miller likes this, And the part I don't get 356 00:27:06,195 --> 00:27:10,435 Speaker 1: about that is Miller has lately dropped the pretext that 357 00:27:10,475 --> 00:27:15,795 Speaker 1: his hatred is about just undocumented immigrants, and it's pretty 358 00:27:15,795 --> 00:27:18,635 Speaker 1: clear now he's no longer even trying to pretend that 359 00:27:18,835 --> 00:27:22,435 Speaker 1: his hatred is anything more or less than hatred of 360 00:27:22,475 --> 00:27:28,755 Speaker 1: people of color, especially of Hispanic origin. So Stephen Miller 361 00:27:28,795 --> 00:27:33,675 Speaker 1: hates Mexicans, but he wants to be a matador, a 362 00:27:33,795 --> 00:27:40,275 Speaker 1: Spanish speaking sexual matador. So what does that imply. Every 363 00:27:40,315 --> 00:27:43,555 Speaker 1: once in a while, Steven Miller shouts olay and then 364 00:27:43,635 --> 00:27:51,595 Speaker 1: gets gored in the groin. Also of interest here that 365 00:27:51,755 --> 00:27:55,715 Speaker 1: rarest of confluences where Trump, the actual worst person in 366 00:27:55,755 --> 00:27:58,995 Speaker 1: the world twenty four to seven, wins recognition is our 367 00:27:59,195 --> 00:28:02,475 Speaker 1: worst person in the world. He is suing again for damages, 368 00:28:02,795 --> 00:28:05,795 Speaker 1: but the attorneys for twenty of the defendants in this 369 00:28:05,875 --> 00:28:11,875 Speaker 1: case have finally struck gold their demand for discovery from 370 00:28:11,915 --> 00:28:15,435 Speaker 1: Trump stuff he has to produce to continue in the lawsuit. 371 00:28:16,275 --> 00:28:19,395 Speaker 1: If we damaged you financially or emotionally, we have to 372 00:28:19,435 --> 00:28:21,995 Speaker 1: know how much, So you Trump, you have to give 373 00:28:22,075 --> 00:28:27,075 Speaker 1: us the before you have to give us your financial records, 374 00:28:27,915 --> 00:28:34,715 Speaker 1: and your health records and your mental health records. Now, oops, 375 00:28:36,075 --> 00:28:41,555 Speaker 1: that's next. This is Countdown. This is Countdown with Keith 376 00:28:41,555 --> 00:29:05,235 Speaker 1: Alberman still ahead on this editiontive Countdown. What did you 377 00:29:05,275 --> 00:29:09,515 Speaker 1: get for Christmas? I got a baseball cap. I got 378 00:29:09,515 --> 00:29:13,115 Speaker 1: a baseball cap from Ted Turner. Of course I'm talking 379 00:29:13,155 --> 00:29:16,395 Speaker 1: about Christmas nineteen eighty two, but you'll remember I didn't 380 00:29:16,435 --> 00:29:18,675 Speaker 1: ask you what did you get for Christmas? This year? 381 00:29:19,995 --> 00:29:24,675 Speaker 1: The story of Ted Turner, my first TV job, how 382 00:29:24,755 --> 00:29:27,195 Speaker 1: it almost was my last TV job because I almost 383 00:29:27,195 --> 00:29:32,835 Speaker 1: had a fight with him and the CNN Sports Baseball Caps. 384 00:29:32,875 --> 00:29:36,835 Speaker 1: Next in Things I promised not to tell first Believe 385 00:29:36,835 --> 00:29:39,275 Speaker 1: it or not, there's still more new idiots to talk about. 386 00:29:39,275 --> 00:29:41,955 Speaker 1: The roundup of the mis grants, morons and Dunning Kruger 387 00:29:41,955 --> 00:29:48,315 Speaker 1: effects specimens who constitute today's other worst persons in the world. 388 00:29:49,515 --> 00:29:53,115 Speaker 1: Lebron's worse just a rando on Twitter, but in the 389 00:29:53,155 --> 00:30:00,435 Speaker 1: World Championships of Self Unawareness, the new title holder ed 390 00:30:01,595 --> 00:30:05,435 Speaker 1: edge Runner seven three seven. By the way, what makes 391 00:30:05,435 --> 00:30:09,035 Speaker 1: you go online under an alias? How cowardly are you 392 00:30:09,235 --> 00:30:11,835 Speaker 1: to not use your name online unless you're in a 393 00:30:11,875 --> 00:30:15,795 Speaker 1: witness protection program, or there's a self defense reason and 394 00:30:15,875 --> 00:30:21,555 Speaker 1: a good one, or you're a performance artist or a satirist. 395 00:30:21,915 --> 00:30:24,915 Speaker 1: I digress. Edge Runner seven three seven is none of those. 396 00:30:25,035 --> 00:30:28,315 Speaker 1: Edge Runner seven three seven is just mad at the Pope, 397 00:30:28,515 --> 00:30:31,755 Speaker 1: Pope Leo, you know, Leo, the Sports Center fan from 398 00:30:31,795 --> 00:30:36,275 Speaker 1: the nineties, because Pope Leo defended migrants without papers, you know, 399 00:30:36,475 --> 00:30:41,635 Speaker 1: like that Jesus guy. Not an uncommon position, not a 400 00:30:41,675 --> 00:30:45,595 Speaker 1: smart one, but not uncommon. But the insult that edge 401 00:30:45,635 --> 00:30:49,355 Speaker 1: Runner seven thirty seven through at Leo is, like I said, 402 00:30:49,395 --> 00:30:53,395 Speaker 1: world championship grade I quote, it would be interesting to 403 00:30:53,435 --> 00:30:57,195 Speaker 1: see how this holier than Thou man behaved if thousands 404 00:30:57,195 --> 00:31:00,995 Speaker 1: of illegals in Italy bum rushed that city and refused 405 00:31:00,995 --> 00:31:07,035 Speaker 1: to leave the square. Look, whenever you think of popes 406 00:31:07,075 --> 00:31:09,795 Speaker 1: and churches and all that stuff. I mean, I already 407 00:31:10,595 --> 00:31:14,115 Speaker 1: went into my attitude here before the break, But my goodness, 408 00:31:14,875 --> 00:31:19,795 Speaker 1: holier than thou, It's in his job description. He's supposed 409 00:31:19,835 --> 00:31:23,995 Speaker 1: to be holier than thou. You called him holier than thou. 410 00:31:25,355 --> 00:31:27,915 Speaker 1: Ed if you went up to the pope and you said, hey, 411 00:31:28,395 --> 00:31:35,835 Speaker 1: you're holier than thou, he would be entitled to answer, hey, thanks, 412 00:31:35,835 --> 00:31:41,235 Speaker 1: holier than now Holy crap, the runner up worser James Trusty. 413 00:31:41,875 --> 00:31:45,035 Speaker 1: This is how terrified Trump and his enablers remain of 414 00:31:45,115 --> 00:31:48,435 Speaker 1: Jack Smith, and especially of the second half of Jack 415 00:31:48,515 --> 00:31:52,915 Speaker 1: Smith's final report on Trump's crime that Smith is suing 416 00:31:52,955 --> 00:31:57,435 Speaker 1: to get released publicly. You think the Epstein files are bad, Hey, 417 00:31:57,435 --> 00:32:02,355 Speaker 1: what's in that box? Ah, looks like another million Epstein documents? Well, 418 00:32:02,435 --> 00:32:03,875 Speaker 1: what's in that box behind it? 419 00:32:03,955 --> 00:32:04,235 Speaker 2: Ben? 420 00:32:05,395 --> 00:32:08,475 Speaker 1: Anyway, they are still trying to smear Jack Smith and 421 00:32:08,635 --> 00:32:11,755 Speaker 1: his prosecution of Trump, but they are running out of 422 00:32:11,795 --> 00:32:15,075 Speaker 1: people to take this position publicly. It can't always be 423 00:32:15,195 --> 00:32:19,835 Speaker 1: Eileen Cannon and just Aileen Cannon. And the fact that 424 00:32:19,835 --> 00:32:22,355 Speaker 1: they're running out of people to take this position might 425 00:32:22,395 --> 00:32:25,235 Speaker 1: give you a clue about the seriousness of what is 426 00:32:25,315 --> 00:32:30,555 Speaker 1: in part two of the Jack Smith report. James Trustee 427 00:32:31,475 --> 00:32:33,595 Speaker 1: has written an article for The Wall Street Journal about 428 00:32:33,595 --> 00:32:36,715 Speaker 1: Smith's prosecution of Trump and the Mari Lago search, and 429 00:32:36,795 --> 00:32:39,395 Speaker 1: it's being sold this way. In twenty seven years as 430 00:32:39,395 --> 00:32:41,835 Speaker 1: a prosecutor, I have never seen a case with so 431 00:32:41,915 --> 00:32:46,595 Speaker 1: many irregularities, with such manifest political motivation, with so many 432 00:32:46,675 --> 00:32:50,995 Speaker 1: open questions about singular treatment and poor judgment, writes Jim 433 00:32:51,115 --> 00:32:59,355 Speaker 1: trustee James to his friends. Firstly, James Trustee named by 434 00:32:59,515 --> 00:33:05,435 Speaker 1: parents who had a brilliant sense of irony. Secondly, everything 435 00:33:05,475 --> 00:33:08,515 Speaker 1: online about this guy that he's ever written begins with 436 00:33:08,955 --> 00:33:12,515 Speaker 1: in twenty seven years as a prosecutor, or after twenty 437 00:33:12,595 --> 00:33:15,515 Speaker 1: seven years as a prosecutor or in my twenty seven 438 00:33:15,595 --> 00:33:19,115 Speaker 1: years as a prosecutor, It's like, after twenty seven years 439 00:33:19,115 --> 00:33:21,955 Speaker 1: as a prosecutor, I really have to go to the bathroom. 440 00:33:21,995 --> 00:33:25,075 Speaker 1: Can you tell me where it is? I mean, everything 441 00:33:25,155 --> 00:33:29,115 Speaker 1: is how many years you've done this? Thirdly, not mentioned 442 00:33:29,155 --> 00:33:31,875 Speaker 1: in the cell for the Wall Street Journal article attacking 443 00:33:31,955 --> 00:33:36,795 Speaker 1: Jack Smith defending Trump. Trump's first attorney after the marri 444 00:33:36,915 --> 00:33:43,115 Speaker 1: Lago search was you guessed it, James Trusty. And then 445 00:33:43,355 --> 00:33:45,275 Speaker 1: he was on the job only a couple of days, 446 00:33:45,435 --> 00:33:49,635 Speaker 1: and suddenly he quit. Another clue as to how desperate 447 00:33:49,715 --> 00:33:53,035 Speaker 1: they are. They are down to the lawyer who quit 448 00:33:53,395 --> 00:33:57,555 Speaker 1: representing Trump in the case he's now attacking. But the 449 00:33:57,595 --> 00:34:00,835 Speaker 1: winner the worst making a rare appearance here since this 450 00:34:00,955 --> 00:34:04,555 Speaker 1: is technically about everybody in the world except him, Trump him, 451 00:34:05,595 --> 00:34:08,915 Speaker 1: he has hoisted himself on his own petard. You know 452 00:34:08,995 --> 00:34:12,395 Speaker 1: how he sued the Pulitzer Prize Board He sued the 453 00:34:12,395 --> 00:34:15,315 Speaker 1: Pulitzer people, claiming that because the board gave out awards 454 00:34:15,315 --> 00:34:19,675 Speaker 1: to journalists who covered Trump's connections to illegal Russian attempts 455 00:34:19,675 --> 00:34:22,675 Speaker 1: to influence the twenty sixteen election, and then refused to 456 00:34:22,715 --> 00:34:28,075 Speaker 1: revoke those awards, he claimed that defamed him, damaged him, financially, 457 00:34:28,235 --> 00:34:32,315 Speaker 1: caused him emotional distress, all that stuff. You know how 458 00:34:32,395 --> 00:34:37,075 Speaker 1: they say don't sue unless you're prepared for discovery. This 459 00:34:37,155 --> 00:34:40,195 Speaker 1: is what they mean by that. In response to the 460 00:34:40,235 --> 00:34:45,075 Speaker 1: Pulitzer suit, two law firms have now filed joint discovery 461 00:34:45,155 --> 00:34:51,235 Speaker 1: claims against Trump on behalf of twenty defendants. So there's 462 00:34:51,355 --> 00:34:54,595 Speaker 1: twenty defendants paying these two law firms, and they are 463 00:34:54,635 --> 00:34:58,715 Speaker 1: getting their flipping money's worth. He was financially, in psychologically 464 00:34:58,795 --> 00:35:01,475 Speaker 1: damaged by the Pulitzer Board. Okay, let's assume he's right 465 00:35:01,515 --> 00:35:05,275 Speaker 1: about that. Prove how much you were damaged. Give us 466 00:35:05,275 --> 00:35:09,355 Speaker 1: the before and after don the lawyers want The defense 467 00:35:09,435 --> 00:35:14,195 Speaker 1: lawyers want as part of discovery all of Trump's tax 468 00:35:14,235 --> 00:35:18,955 Speaker 1: returns quote from all jurisdictions, including all attachments, schedules, and worksheets, 469 00:35:19,835 --> 00:35:23,795 Speaker 1: dating from twenty fifteen to today, and all other documents 470 00:35:23,875 --> 00:35:27,275 Speaker 1: quote sufficient to show all sources of your income sufficient 471 00:35:27,315 --> 00:35:30,875 Speaker 1: to show all of your financial holdings and his liabilities, 472 00:35:30,915 --> 00:35:32,515 Speaker 1: because how are they going to tell how much he 473 00:35:32,675 --> 00:35:36,475 Speaker 1: was damaged financially if they don't know how much he 474 00:35:36,555 --> 00:35:40,035 Speaker 1: had before and how much after. But wait, there's more. 475 00:35:40,395 --> 00:35:44,355 Speaker 1: The psychological and physical part of damages quote to the 476 00:35:44,395 --> 00:35:47,635 Speaker 1: extent you seek damages for any physical ailment or mental 477 00:35:47,755 --> 00:35:51,715 Speaker 1: or emotional injury arising from counts one to four of 478 00:35:51,755 --> 00:35:54,635 Speaker 1: your complaint. All documents, whether held by you or by 479 00:35:54,675 --> 00:35:57,315 Speaker 1: third parties under your control or who could produce them 480 00:35:57,315 --> 00:36:01,195 Speaker 1: at your direction, concerning your medical and or psychological health 481 00:36:02,475 --> 00:36:06,515 Speaker 1: from January one, twenty fifteen to present, including any prescription 482 00:36:06,675 --> 00:36:12,075 Speaker 1: medications a AH, any prescription medications you have been prescribed 483 00:36:12,195 --> 00:36:15,955 Speaker 1: or have taken you want them alphabetized during a numerical 484 00:36:16,035 --> 00:36:19,715 Speaker 1: orderer by lot number for the avoidance of doubt. This 485 00:36:19,795 --> 00:36:25,235 Speaker 1: includes all documents concerning your annual physical examination for the record. 486 00:36:25,275 --> 00:36:29,395 Speaker 1: The law firms involved are Ballard, spar And, Atherton, Gallardi, 487 00:36:29,475 --> 00:36:31,875 Speaker 1: Mullen and Reader. And I don't know anybody at any 488 00:36:31,915 --> 00:36:35,275 Speaker 1: of those firms, but I'll endorse them right here. And 489 00:36:35,355 --> 00:36:37,915 Speaker 1: the defendants they get gold stars too, and they are 490 00:36:38,875 --> 00:36:44,075 Speaker 1: the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation President Elizabeth Alexander and Applebauma 491 00:36:44,075 --> 00:36:48,515 Speaker 1: of The Atlantic, Boston Globe, longtime editor Nancy Barnes, former 492 00:36:48,555 --> 00:36:52,555 Speaker 1: president of Columbia, Lee Bollinger, author and journalist Catherine Booe. 493 00:36:53,155 --> 00:36:56,435 Speaker 1: Neil Brown, president of the Pointer Institute, the former editor 494 00:36:56,435 --> 00:37:00,315 Speaker 1: in chief of USA Today, Nicole Carroll, former Columbia Journalism 495 00:37:00,395 --> 00:37:03,915 Speaker 1: dean Steve Cole. Gail Collins of The New York Times 496 00:37:04,195 --> 00:37:06,635 Speaker 1: Vice President is an editor at Large of Standards at 497 00:37:06,635 --> 00:37:11,235 Speaker 1: the Associated Press. John Danizuski, Editor VP at The Philadelphia Incy, 498 00:37:11,635 --> 00:37:19,515 Speaker 1: Gabriel Escobar, UCA historian, Professor Kelly Lytel Hernandez, longtime Pulitzer 499 00:37:19,555 --> 00:37:24,635 Speaker 1: Prize Deputy administrator, Edward Klement, New York Times columnist Carlos Lozada, 500 00:37:25,035 --> 00:37:29,355 Speaker 1: former LA Times executive editor, Kevin Marita, Pulitzer Prize administrator, 501 00:37:29,395 --> 00:37:34,555 Speaker 1: Marjorie Miller, USC Professor viet Ton Nuen CEO and co 502 00:37:34,595 --> 00:37:39,755 Speaker 1: founder of the Nineteenth Emily Ramshaw, New Yorker editor David Remnick, 503 00:37:40,115 --> 00:37:46,235 Speaker 1: and Harvard University philosophy professor Tommy Shelby. Sponsored by the 504 00:37:46,355 --> 00:37:51,635 Speaker 1: Chubb Foundation. And they all want Trump's medical and financial records, 505 00:37:52,155 --> 00:37:56,075 Speaker 1: and his health records, and his mental health records in discovery, 506 00:37:56,075 --> 00:37:59,395 Speaker 1: and I hope the BBC and anybody else he's facing 507 00:37:59,435 --> 00:38:03,635 Speaker 1: a lawsuit or is facing a lawsuit from him sues 508 00:38:03,995 --> 00:38:09,795 Speaker 1: using this as their template demand and then publicly release 509 00:38:09,955 --> 00:38:13,755 Speaker 1: your demand for discovery on all his financial records, all 510 00:38:13,835 --> 00:38:16,915 Speaker 1: his health records, all his mental health records, all his 511 00:38:17,035 --> 00:38:24,355 Speaker 1: drug records. This is outstanding. So Trump suing for defamation 512 00:38:24,515 --> 00:38:27,915 Speaker 1: and damages but winding up getting all his own financial 513 00:38:27,995 --> 00:38:31,355 Speaker 1: and health and drug and mental health records thrown in 514 00:38:31,475 --> 00:38:35,515 Speaker 1: the discovery pile. Because if you're financially or psychologically damaged, 515 00:38:35,515 --> 00:38:37,955 Speaker 1: you got to show it. Or if you're emotionally damaged, 516 00:38:37,995 --> 00:38:41,835 Speaker 1: you got to show that too. Two Day's worst person 517 00:38:43,035 --> 00:39:31,555 Speaker 1: then the world. I never play the end of it. 518 00:39:31,595 --> 00:39:34,115 Speaker 1: I just love the end of it. Things I Promise 519 00:39:34,195 --> 00:39:44,075 Speaker 1: Not to Tell in Ted Turner. Next now here is 520 00:39:44,115 --> 00:39:47,155 Speaker 1: a post Christmas What did you Get for Christmas? Edition 521 00:39:47,355 --> 00:39:50,355 Speaker 1: of Things I Promised Not to Tell? And we take 522 00:39:50,355 --> 00:39:54,675 Speaker 1: you back a scant forty three Christmases ago. I have 523 00:39:54,715 --> 00:39:56,915 Speaker 1: one more story to tell you about covering the nineteen 524 00:39:56,995 --> 00:40:00,235 Speaker 1: eighty two National Football League Players strike, and this is 525 00:40:00,355 --> 00:40:03,195 Speaker 1: less about the strike itself and more about the man 526 00:40:03,315 --> 00:40:07,875 Speaker 1: for whom I covered it Ted Turner. Ted Turner had 527 00:40:07,915 --> 00:40:10,515 Speaker 1: put CNN on the air just two years earlier, and 528 00:40:10,675 --> 00:40:13,115 Speaker 1: his sports guy Bill McPhail had interviewed me for a 529 00:40:13,235 --> 00:40:15,835 Speaker 1: job as their New York sports reporter even earlier than 530 00:40:15,875 --> 00:40:19,035 Speaker 1: that May of nineteen eighty And when I did not 531 00:40:19,115 --> 00:40:21,515 Speaker 1: get it, I was genuinely relieved, because I was convinced 532 00:40:21,555 --> 00:40:23,795 Speaker 1: there was no way they would ever get CNN on 533 00:40:23,835 --> 00:40:28,395 Speaker 1: the air, no chance. Ever, Obviously I did not account 534 00:40:28,435 --> 00:40:32,635 Speaker 1: for Ted Turner's stubbornness. Anyway, I wound up going their 535 00:40:32,675 --> 00:40:35,155 Speaker 1: freelance in nineteen eighty one, as I have related in 536 00:40:35,235 --> 00:40:38,155 Speaker 1: some detail here, when Lou Dobbs and his girlfriend, the 537 00:40:38,195 --> 00:40:39,595 Speaker 1: New York Sports reporter. 538 00:40:39,355 --> 00:40:41,595 Speaker 2: Had to get out of town fast at the existence 539 00:40:41,635 --> 00:40:43,115 Speaker 2: of missus Lou Dobbs. 540 00:40:44,275 --> 00:40:47,435 Speaker 1: Eight months later, as the nineteen eighty two NFL strike loomed, 541 00:40:47,475 --> 00:40:49,755 Speaker 1: they had made me staff and given me a contract, 542 00:40:49,795 --> 00:40:52,035 Speaker 1: first offering me one thousand dollars less a year than 543 00:40:52,035 --> 00:40:55,315 Speaker 1: they were paying me freelance. Even CNN of nineteen eighty 544 00:40:55,315 --> 00:40:59,675 Speaker 1: two acknowledged the absurdity of that mathematical proposition. So I 545 00:40:59,795 --> 00:41:03,755 Speaker 1: was invested already whining about Ted Turner, employee of CNN 546 00:41:03,795 --> 00:41:06,235 Speaker 1: when the football player walked out on strike in September 547 00:41:06,315 --> 00:41:10,035 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty two, and that strike was my beat every 548 00:41:10,155 --> 00:41:13,515 Speaker 1: day from March to November. A day or so after 549 00:41:13,555 --> 00:41:15,755 Speaker 1: the strike began, we set up an interview with the 550 00:41:15,755 --> 00:41:19,595 Speaker 1: president of CBS Sports, Neil Pilson, about the effect that 551 00:41:19,635 --> 00:41:21,995 Speaker 1: the strike would have on TV Sports in general and 552 00:41:22,075 --> 00:41:25,115 Speaker 1: CBS Sports in particular. And as the camera crew and 553 00:41:25,155 --> 00:41:30,115 Speaker 1: I filed into his office, Pilson wearily said, nothing against you, guys, 554 00:41:30,115 --> 00:41:32,715 Speaker 1: but I've done so many interviews already about this strike 555 00:41:33,035 --> 00:41:34,875 Speaker 1: that if you actually come up with a question I 556 00:41:34,875 --> 00:41:38,035 Speaker 1: haven't been asked already, I'll give you Well. We all 557 00:41:38,155 --> 00:41:41,155 Speaker 1: leaned in towards him. Give us what the job? A 558 00:41:41,275 --> 00:41:46,635 Speaker 1: job interview? At least fifty dollars, I'll give you CBS 559 00:41:46,635 --> 00:41:50,675 Speaker 1: Sports caps man. Not exactly a job, but better than nothing. 560 00:41:51,555 --> 00:41:53,715 Speaker 1: So we rolled tape and I said, so, mister Pilson, 561 00:41:53,755 --> 00:41:56,115 Speaker 1: in light of the strike, do you wish CBS Sports 562 00:41:56,235 --> 00:41:58,995 Speaker 1: did not have the Super Bowl this year? As it does? 563 00:41:59,515 --> 00:42:02,115 Speaker 1: And he laughed, and he took off his mic, and 564 00:42:02,155 --> 00:42:04,515 Speaker 1: he went over to his office phone. He buzzed his assistant, 565 00:42:04,835 --> 00:42:07,915 Speaker 1: bring in three caps, will you? And he sat back down. 566 00:42:07,995 --> 00:42:10,875 Speaker 1: He said, you guys did it. Nobody asked me that yet, 567 00:42:10,955 --> 00:42:12,995 Speaker 1: and it's like the only question that really interests me. 568 00:42:13,155 --> 00:42:16,755 Speaker 1: You're still rolling. Neil Pilsen then proceeded to give a 569 00:42:16,835 --> 00:42:19,635 Speaker 1: lengthy and thoughtful answer about how as long as the 570 00:42:19,675 --> 00:42:22,595 Speaker 1: season was not canceled, it was probably better to have 571 00:42:22,715 --> 00:42:26,435 Speaker 1: the next Super Bowl because people would be so grateful 572 00:42:26,675 --> 00:42:28,955 Speaker 1: that after the strike they wound up playing in any way. 573 00:42:30,715 --> 00:42:33,155 Speaker 1: So now a week goes by after that interview, and 574 00:42:33,195 --> 00:42:35,595 Speaker 1: the bargaining sessions between the players and the owners are 575 00:42:35,595 --> 00:42:39,755 Speaker 1: taking place in a Manhattan hotel, the Lows on Lexington Avenue, 576 00:42:39,915 --> 00:42:43,475 Speaker 1: a dump with a nice lobby. All that matters to 577 00:42:43,515 --> 00:42:45,955 Speaker 1: me is the Lows with the dump and the nice 578 00:42:45,995 --> 00:42:50,195 Speaker 1: lobby is literally three blocks from my apartment. The players 579 00:42:50,195 --> 00:42:52,715 Speaker 1: and the owners just marched through a long hallway into 580 00:42:52,795 --> 00:42:55,835 Speaker 1: private rooms. That's all we see of them. It is 581 00:42:55,875 --> 00:42:58,835 Speaker 1: not heavy lifting. There are nice seats at least in 582 00:42:58,835 --> 00:43:01,915 Speaker 1: that lobby. But it is enlivened one day by news 583 00:43:01,955 --> 00:43:04,995 Speaker 1: that our boss, Ted Turner has asked the union if 584 00:43:04,995 --> 00:43:07,875 Speaker 1: he can come in and meet with their twenty odd 585 00:43:07,915 --> 00:43:10,875 Speaker 1: player negotiating team because he wants to pitch them on 586 00:43:10,915 --> 00:43:14,755 Speaker 1: something He was in fact due there yesterday, but was 587 00:43:14,835 --> 00:43:19,555 Speaker 1: unavoidably detained. The rumor the players told me never confirmed, 588 00:43:20,195 --> 00:43:22,875 Speaker 1: was that while changing planes in Chicago, Turner and an 589 00:43:22,915 --> 00:43:28,035 Speaker 1: air hostess had ensconced themselves in a dumpster or the 590 00:43:28,075 --> 00:43:31,675 Speaker 1: other version was in a janitor's closet for twelve hours 591 00:43:31,715 --> 00:43:36,675 Speaker 1: of whoopee, and that's why he was a day late. Anyway, 592 00:43:36,715 --> 00:43:38,995 Speaker 1: I walk into the Lows that morning, and if somehow 593 00:43:39,035 --> 00:43:41,275 Speaker 1: I had not been able to recognize my camera crew, 594 00:43:41,355 --> 00:43:43,795 Speaker 1: sure enough it is the same two guys who had 595 00:43:43,835 --> 00:43:46,995 Speaker 1: been with me at Neil Pilson's office at CBS when 596 00:43:46,995 --> 00:43:49,075 Speaker 1: I asked him the question he had not been asked before, 597 00:43:49,115 --> 00:43:53,315 Speaker 1: earning us free CBS sports caps, and the cameraman and 598 00:43:53,355 --> 00:43:57,115 Speaker 1: the deck operator are of course wearing their CBS sports caps. 599 00:43:57,115 --> 00:44:00,795 Speaker 1: And understand. In nineteen eighty two, CNN was not an upstart. 600 00:44:00,955 --> 00:44:03,555 Speaker 1: It was not the feisty outsider, It was not the 601 00:44:03,595 --> 00:44:09,115 Speaker 1: future of news. We were called pretend TV. It was 602 00:44:09,155 --> 00:44:14,195 Speaker 1: said that CNN stood for Chicken Noodle News. One day, 603 00:44:14,275 --> 00:44:16,475 Speaker 1: I called somebody up and asked for press credentials for 604 00:44:16,555 --> 00:44:19,915 Speaker 1: Cable News Network, and the guy said, Cable News Network. 605 00:44:19,995 --> 00:44:24,035 Speaker 1: The Ether people own the newsstands downtown. I had no 606 00:44:24,115 --> 00:44:25,875 Speaker 1: idea what he was talking about, so I went to 607 00:44:25,915 --> 00:44:27,635 Speaker 1: one of the newstands and I asked the guy who 608 00:44:27,675 --> 00:44:29,675 Speaker 1: owns this place? And he pointed to a plaque and 609 00:44:29,715 --> 00:44:35,315 Speaker 1: it said owned by Cabel News Company. The Cabell News Company, 610 00:44:35,315 --> 00:44:39,035 Speaker 1: owner of downtown newsstands, was better known than Cable News Network. 611 00:44:39,835 --> 00:44:44,195 Speaker 1: We got scoffed at in some arenas and venues like 612 00:44:44,235 --> 00:44:47,275 Speaker 1: Madison Square Garden in New York. Our crews were not 613 00:44:47,355 --> 00:44:50,555 Speaker 1: admitted because they were not in the Union, So the 614 00:44:50,595 --> 00:44:54,275 Speaker 1: CBS sports caps were an important, albeit borrowed touch of 615 00:44:54,395 --> 00:44:58,355 Speaker 1: legitimacy and dignity, especially for my cameraman and my deck guy. 616 00:44:59,835 --> 00:45:02,435 Speaker 1: So the three of us position ourselves in that long 617 00:45:02,635 --> 00:45:05,555 Speaker 1: haul in the lobby waiting for my bos lost Ted turner, 618 00:45:05,715 --> 00:45:08,115 Speaker 1: me holding the mic with the big red CNN logo 619 00:45:08,195 --> 00:45:10,395 Speaker 1: on the mic flag, and the crew wearing their gaudy 620 00:45:10,555 --> 00:45:14,755 Speaker 1: CBS sports caps and in Ted walks emerging from the 621 00:45:14,795 --> 00:45:18,795 Speaker 1: brilliant early autumn sunshine filtering in from behind him from 622 00:45:18,835 --> 00:45:22,195 Speaker 1: the street like this was a perfectly lit movie scene. 623 00:45:22,675 --> 00:45:25,795 Speaker 1: And he sees me and recognizes me and smiles and 624 00:45:25,835 --> 00:45:28,755 Speaker 1: comes over and beams hot damn, it's my CNN crew. 625 00:45:29,315 --> 00:45:31,475 Speaker 1: And he shakes my hand and we roll tape, and 626 00:45:31,515 --> 00:45:33,515 Speaker 1: I start to asking my first question, and suddenly the 627 00:45:33,635 --> 00:45:37,315 Speaker 1: joy drains from his face and he stops me. 628 00:45:37,515 --> 00:45:40,075 Speaker 2: Old it what they wearing on their heads? 629 00:45:40,955 --> 00:45:43,315 Speaker 1: He gestures at the cameraman and the deck guy, and 630 00:45:43,355 --> 00:45:44,275 Speaker 1: I explained the baxter. 631 00:45:44,395 --> 00:45:46,955 Speaker 2: I don't give a damn who gave him them. This 632 00:45:47,035 --> 00:45:49,515 Speaker 2: is the CNN crew. They wearing CBS sports caps. Get 633 00:45:49,515 --> 00:45:52,115 Speaker 2: them off they damn heads. And he pushes me, I 634 00:45:52,115 --> 00:45:57,435 Speaker 2: mean really shoves me and strides past us. Now, even then, 635 00:45:58,755 --> 00:46:01,675 Speaker 2: I'm five six inches taller than Ted Turner and twenty 636 00:46:01,675 --> 00:46:04,915 Speaker 2: five pounds heavier at least, And maybe I can live 637 00:46:04,955 --> 00:46:07,435 Speaker 2: with my employer embarrassing me in public, but I do 638 00:46:07,515 --> 00:46:09,635 Speaker 2: not have to let him shove me in front of 639 00:46:09,675 --> 00:46:13,675 Speaker 2: all the other reporters. So for a second, I think, ah, 640 00:46:13,675 --> 00:46:16,275 Speaker 2: I'm just gonna run down the hall and catch him 641 00:46:16,275 --> 00:46:20,315 Speaker 2: and horse collar the bastard from behind. About a year 642 00:46:20,355 --> 00:46:22,875 Speaker 2: into my TV career, I have already accepted that there 643 00:46:22,875 --> 00:46:25,555 Speaker 2: are positives to television, but I've also already learned nearly 644 00:46:25,555 --> 00:46:28,355 Speaker 2: all the negatives. And not three months earlier, I had 645 00:46:28,355 --> 00:46:31,155 Speaker 2: gone over to ABC to interview with them about going 646 00:46:31,195 --> 00:46:35,035 Speaker 2: back to do radio sports. Seems to me, given what 647 00:46:35,075 --> 00:46:37,235 Speaker 2: I know about Ted Turner, dragging him to the ground 648 00:46:37,275 --> 00:46:40,675 Speaker 2: and then quitting TV forever would be a pretty appropriate farewell. 649 00:46:41,955 --> 00:46:53,315 Speaker 2: And then one word popped in my head, Rent Ah, Right, Rent. 650 00:46:52,515 --> 00:46:55,235 Speaker 1: So quickly I go to Plan B to be fair 651 00:46:56,195 --> 00:46:58,435 Speaker 1: in thought, if not an action, Ted Turner was right, 652 00:46:58,955 --> 00:47:02,275 Speaker 1: look pretty silly to have the CNN camera crew wearing 653 00:47:02,355 --> 00:47:06,115 Speaker 1: CBS sports caps while interviewing the founder and owner of CNN, who, 654 00:47:06,195 --> 00:47:08,395 Speaker 1: by the way, was in the newspaper constantly because he 655 00:47:08,475 --> 00:47:12,115 Speaker 1: kept saying he was going to buy CBS. Plus, I 656 00:47:12,195 --> 00:47:13,835 Speaker 1: still had a story to do that day, and that 657 00:47:13,915 --> 00:47:15,435 Speaker 1: crew was going to have to go back into the 658 00:47:15,515 --> 00:47:17,995 Speaker 1: room where Turner would be meeting with the players about 659 00:47:18,035 --> 00:47:21,515 Speaker 1: an hour later for the proverbial spray shot that would 660 00:47:21,555 --> 00:47:24,595 Speaker 1: give us some video to use of their meeting, and 661 00:47:24,635 --> 00:47:27,715 Speaker 1: simply having my guys take their caps off was not 662 00:47:27,795 --> 00:47:31,195 Speaker 1: going to suffice. So I ran the three blocks back 663 00:47:31,235 --> 00:47:33,355 Speaker 1: to my apartment to grab the only bit of merch 664 00:47:33,555 --> 00:47:36,995 Speaker 1: or swag produced in the first two years of CNN something. 665 00:47:37,035 --> 00:47:42,395 Speaker 1: They had an apparently inexhaustible supply of CNN bumper stickers. 666 00:47:42,995 --> 00:47:44,515 Speaker 1: I must have had a hundred of them in my 667 00:47:44,595 --> 00:47:47,715 Speaker 1: place alone, and there were boxes and cartons and boxes 668 00:47:47,755 --> 00:47:51,595 Speaker 1: and cartons of them in the New York bureau, which 669 00:47:51,635 --> 00:47:53,275 Speaker 1: was funny enough as it was, since I don't think 670 00:47:53,275 --> 00:47:55,435 Speaker 1: all the people who worked at CNN in New York 671 00:47:55,435 --> 00:48:00,155 Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty two owned six cars among them. Anyway, 672 00:48:00,355 --> 00:48:02,595 Speaker 1: I trimmed a couple of the stickers down to just 673 00:48:02,675 --> 00:48:06,475 Speaker 1: the CNN logos and raced back to the Crappy Low's Hotel, 674 00:48:06,515 --> 00:48:08,395 Speaker 1: and just as they were calling for the crews to 675 00:48:08,435 --> 00:48:11,035 Speaker 1: come in to get the spray shots of Ted meeting 676 00:48:11,075 --> 00:48:14,995 Speaker 1: with the players, I put those CNN logo stickers over 677 00:48:15,115 --> 00:48:18,515 Speaker 1: the CBS logos on my guy's caps, and to my delight, 678 00:48:18,595 --> 00:48:21,995 Speaker 1: they stuck in place a little large, but it worked. 679 00:48:22,795 --> 00:48:25,475 Speaker 1: Minutes later, the boys came out of the meeting room 680 00:48:25,475 --> 00:48:28,835 Speaker 1: and the cameraman was in hysterics. He wound the video 681 00:48:28,915 --> 00:48:30,995 Speaker 1: back and had me watch it through the viewfinder of 682 00:48:31,035 --> 00:48:33,875 Speaker 1: the camera. As soon as they had walked in, Turner 683 00:48:33,915 --> 00:48:36,035 Speaker 1: started to give them dirty looks, and then suddenly one 684 00:48:36,035 --> 00:48:39,195 Speaker 1: of the NFL players said, Hey, Ted, there's your crew. 685 00:48:39,475 --> 00:48:44,515 Speaker 1: There's your CNN crew. Hey, CNN over here, everybody was laughing, 686 00:48:44,515 --> 00:48:48,035 Speaker 1: and now Ted was beaming that them. That's my CNN crew, 687 00:48:48,035 --> 00:48:52,075 Speaker 1: all right, good work boys. When his meeting with the 688 00:48:52,075 --> 00:48:54,275 Speaker 1: players broke up an hour later, I got a message 689 00:48:54,275 --> 00:48:57,715 Speaker 1: from Ted's assistant to wait for him around a corner 690 00:48:57,755 --> 00:49:01,315 Speaker 1: from the main lobby so he could give me give 691 00:49:01,435 --> 00:49:04,435 Speaker 1: CNN exclusive details about what he was trying to sell 692 00:49:04,475 --> 00:49:06,995 Speaker 1: the players on. It was a series of exhibition games 693 00:49:07,355 --> 00:49:09,315 Speaker 1: so the striking players could make a little money on 694 00:49:09,355 --> 00:49:12,515 Speaker 1: the side that he could televise, and there would be 695 00:49:12,555 --> 00:49:14,915 Speaker 1: a pitch to the National Labor Relations Board that the 696 00:49:14,915 --> 00:49:17,995 Speaker 1: strike had been forced on the players by the owners, 697 00:49:18,275 --> 00:49:20,995 Speaker 1: which would have meant the players would have all become 698 00:49:21,115 --> 00:49:25,635 Speaker 1: free agents. Ted wanted them, all of them, every player 699 00:49:25,635 --> 00:49:28,515 Speaker 1: in the National Football League to sign instead with him. 700 00:49:28,995 --> 00:49:31,875 Speaker 1: He would create a twenty four team league. He would 701 00:49:31,875 --> 00:49:35,115 Speaker 1: give the Union half ownership of every team, he would 702 00:49:35,155 --> 00:49:37,635 Speaker 1: find backers for the other half, and all he wanted 703 00:49:38,115 --> 00:49:41,875 Speaker 1: was the TV rights. It didn't happen, obviously, but what 704 00:49:41,955 --> 00:49:46,275 Speaker 1: a breathtaking scheme. Anyway. Turner was all smiles when he 705 00:49:46,315 --> 00:49:48,275 Speaker 1: came out of the meeting to tell me before he 706 00:49:48,315 --> 00:49:50,115 Speaker 1: met with the rest of the press, and he said. 707 00:49:49,915 --> 00:49:51,915 Speaker 2: Great with the hat. Good work, but I have to 708 00:49:51,915 --> 00:49:53,995 Speaker 2: get you guys some real c and ED Sports has 709 00:49:53,995 --> 00:49:54,675 Speaker 2: for Christmas. 710 00:49:55,595 --> 00:49:58,315 Speaker 1: Ted stayed another fifteen or twenty minutes doing god knows 711 00:49:58,315 --> 00:50:01,835 Speaker 1: what with god knows whom. I didn't see any dumpsters 712 00:50:01,875 --> 00:50:03,675 Speaker 1: in the hotel, and then he left by the main 713 00:50:03,755 --> 00:50:06,075 Speaker 1: exit as the rest to the camera crews and reporters 714 00:50:06,115 --> 00:50:08,555 Speaker 1: trailed him. I went along just to see if there 715 00:50:08,595 --> 00:50:10,195 Speaker 1: was anything he hadn't told me. And as he went 716 00:50:10,235 --> 00:50:13,035 Speaker 1: out the doors to his car, he said, see overman, 717 00:50:13,475 --> 00:50:17,235 Speaker 1: and I said, don't forget the hats, and Ted Turner 718 00:50:17,275 --> 00:50:20,395 Speaker 1: gave me one of the dirtiest looks I have ever 719 00:50:20,435 --> 00:50:26,315 Speaker 1: gotten in my life. Sure enough, a couple of days 720 00:50:26,355 --> 00:50:29,555 Speaker 1: before Christmas, I get a call from my boss in Atlanta. 721 00:50:29,875 --> 00:50:32,075 Speaker 1: I mean, Jess got a box of one hundred CNN 722 00:50:32,195 --> 00:50:35,555 Speaker 1: Sports Truckers caps from Ted Turner's office. I don't know 723 00:50:35,595 --> 00:50:37,635 Speaker 1: what the hell this is all about, but his assistant says, 724 00:50:37,675 --> 00:50:41,515 Speaker 1: if we wanted to know, we should call you. I 725 00:50:41,555 --> 00:50:44,475 Speaker 1: was very proud of making the correct choice between correcting 726 00:50:44,595 --> 00:50:50,275 Speaker 1: mistake and getting us all hats and dissaulting him. There 727 00:50:50,355 --> 00:50:54,315 Speaker 1: is one PostScript. Ted talked the players into the exhibition 728 00:50:54,395 --> 00:50:56,795 Speaker 1: games I mentioned only two of them, one at RFK 729 00:50:56,955 --> 00:51:00,595 Speaker 1: Stadium in Washington, which I went to on assignment, seated 730 00:51:00,715 --> 00:51:06,595 Speaker 1: next to Ted Turner. He had two flash with him. Anyway, 731 00:51:06,595 --> 00:51:09,515 Speaker 1: The crowd was so small at RFK Stadium in Washington 732 00:51:09,515 --> 00:51:11,555 Speaker 1: that at one point they got on the PA system 733 00:51:11,595 --> 00:51:14,715 Speaker 1: and asked all the fans to go sit down behind 734 00:51:14,715 --> 00:51:17,595 Speaker 1: the player benches so the TV shots of the game 735 00:51:17,635 --> 00:51:21,675 Speaker 1: wouldn't show all those empty seats. The other game was 736 00:51:21,715 --> 00:51:25,075 Speaker 1: in the Los Angeles Coliseum. They drew even less, maybe 737 00:51:25,155 --> 00:51:29,035 Speaker 1: one thousand fans, probably more like five hundred five hundred 738 00:51:29,035 --> 00:51:32,875 Speaker 1: fans in the La Colisseum. Five hundred fans looks like 739 00:51:32,955 --> 00:51:37,195 Speaker 1: the raisins and rice pudding. But it was the name 740 00:51:37,315 --> 00:51:40,275 Speaker 1: of his ad hoc league with these games in Washington 741 00:51:40,355 --> 00:51:43,515 Speaker 1: and LA that still sticks with me forty years later. 742 00:51:43,555 --> 00:51:47,675 Speaker 1: Ted named it himself. I'm pretty sure he did this deliberately. 743 00:51:48,315 --> 00:51:50,595 Speaker 1: I know nobody else noticed it until I made a 744 00:51:50,635 --> 00:51:54,155 Speaker 1: big deal about it. Ted Turner called his ill fated 745 00:51:54,235 --> 00:52:00,195 Speaker 1: venture his Erzatz National Football League the quote all Star Season, 746 00:52:01,835 --> 00:52:05,075 Speaker 1: and I said, perfect. The acronym you have built for 747 00:52:05,155 --> 00:52:22,955 Speaker 1: it is a s S. How could I possibly have 748 00:52:23,075 --> 00:52:27,275 Speaker 1: known at the age of twenty three that Ted Turner 749 00:52:27,315 --> 00:52:31,915 Speaker 1: would be the most employee friendly TV owner I'd ever meet, 750 00:52:34,595 --> 00:52:36,595 Speaker 1: given that I actually met him twice, because I met 751 00:52:36,635 --> 00:52:38,355 Speaker 1: him again after he got sober, and it was like 752 00:52:38,435 --> 00:52:41,195 Speaker 1: meeting him all over again. And given how much money 753 00:52:41,235 --> 00:52:45,355 Speaker 1: he was losing in nineteen eighty two against the Curve, 754 00:52:45,715 --> 00:52:47,675 Speaker 1: he was also the least cheap when it came to 755 00:52:47,715 --> 00:52:50,875 Speaker 1: his employees. Any who, I've done all the damage I 756 00:52:50,915 --> 00:52:53,155 Speaker 1: can do here. Thank you for listening. Most of our 757 00:52:53,195 --> 00:52:56,195 Speaker 1: Countdown music was arranged, produced, and performed by Brian Ray 758 00:52:56,315 --> 00:52:59,195 Speaker 1: on the guitars, bass and drums, and John Phillip schaneil 759 00:52:59,315 --> 00:53:02,915 Speaker 1: handling orchestration and keyboards. They, of course, are our musical 760 00:53:02,955 --> 00:53:07,235 Speaker 1: directors of Countdown produced by Tko Brothers. Our satirical and 761 00:53:07,235 --> 00:53:10,395 Speaker 1: fifthy musical comments are by the best baseball stadium organist ever, 762 00:53:10,595 --> 00:53:14,155 Speaker 1: Nancy Faust. The sports music is the Olderman theme from 763 00:53:14,395 --> 00:53:18,315 Speaker 1: ESPN two, written by Mitch Warren Davis courtesy of ESPN Inc. 764 00:53:18,875 --> 00:53:21,755 Speaker 1: Other music arranged and performed by the group No Horns Allowed. 765 00:53:22,235 --> 00:53:25,635 Speaker 1: My announcer today is my friend Kenny Maine. This program 766 00:53:25,715 --> 00:53:31,675 Speaker 1: was produced by Ted. Everything else was, as always my fault. 767 00:53:32,515 --> 00:53:35,515 Speaker 1: That's Countdown for Today, Day three hundred and forty four 768 00:53:35,595 --> 00:53:40,395 Speaker 1: of America held hostage again, just one and nineteen days 769 00:53:40,755 --> 00:53:43,115 Speaker 1: until the scheduled end of his lame duck and lame 770 00:53:43,195 --> 00:53:48,115 Speaker 1: brained term. Unless he is removed sooner by MAGA or 771 00:53:48,355 --> 00:53:54,475 Speaker 1: Sundowning or Jeffrey Epstein or affordability or Susie Wilds or 772 00:53:54,675 --> 00:54:02,115 Speaker 1: Marble armrests. Here's no countdown Thursday, Happy New Year until 773 00:54:02,115 --> 00:54:04,675 Speaker 1: the next one next year. I'm Keith Olderman. Good morning, 774 00:54:04,715 --> 00:54:28,915 Speaker 1: good afternoon, good night, and good luck. Countdown with Keith 775 00:54:28,915 --> 00:54:33,995 Speaker 1: Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 776 00:54:34,155 --> 00:54:38,155 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get 777 00:54:38,195 --> 00:54:39,115 Speaker 1: your podcasts.