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EXTRA BONUS CONTENT: NY POSTcast - Fmr. FBI Director Comey Indicted for Perjury, Trump Warns Radical Left, Sec of War's Mystery Meeting
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- [00:00]
A
Hi, Pod Force One listeners. I'm Caitlin Becker, host of the NY Postcast. Every morning we bring you a mix of the day's top headlines covering the stories people are actually talking about, from national news to politics to true crime, all from the New York Post. Take a listen to our latest episode. No one is above the Law. That's a post from Attorney General Pam Bondi. As a grand jury hands down an indictment of former FBI Director James Comey. I have the latest. And as we learn more about the man at the center of the Dallas Ice shooting, President Trump is lashing out at the radical left for its role in all of the recent violence and offering a warning.
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B
The right is a lot tougher than the left. But the right's not doing this. They're not doing it. And they better not get them energized because it won't be good for the left. And I don't want to see that happen either. I'm the president of all the people.
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A
Plus, a mystery meeting. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is calling military leaders stationed around the globe to Virginia for a meeting next week, but he's not saying what it's about. I've got a couple of ideas, those stories and more. Today, Friday, September 26th. 6th. I'm Caitlin Becker, and this is the New York Postcast. For those of you watching on YouTube, I am obviously on the road, so my surroundings here look a bit different. But our stories, they, of course, remain the same. Do you remember the other day when I told you about President Trump pressuring Attorney General Pam Bondi to move quickly on prosecuting his political enemies? Well, Bondi's Department of Justice has notched its first victory there. Former FBI Director James Comey has been formally indicted by a federal grand jury. Comey's now facing charges of making false statements and obstruction of justice. While a lot of the details around this investigation and the grand jury haven't been made public as of Thursday night, we know what the case is about. The case revolves around Comey's testimony in front of Congress about the 2016 Trump Russia collusion investigation. Now, he gave that testimony on September 30th of 2020, and that date is key. Lying to Congress has a statute of limit conditions of five years, meaning if that crime was committed, if the charges were not filed within that time frame, they simply can't ever be. And if you don't have a calendar handy, you might not notice that the statute of limitations in this case has a deadline of Tuesday. Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on X after the news was announced saying that no one is above the law. And quote, today's indictment reflects the Department of Justice's commitment to holding those who abuse positions of power accountable for misleading the American people. Now, Comey is highest ranking former federal official to face charges in connection with that long running FBI investigation into alleged collusion between Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russian officials. Now to Texas and the latest on that fatal shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas. Authorities found several handwritten notes from shooter Joshua John. One referred to the work of ICE agents as, quote, human trafficking. Another expressed hatred of the federal government. And in a third he wrote, quote, it was just me and my brain. Good luck with the digital footprint. Now, the FBI says that John carefully planned his attack with one note outlining this chilling thought. Quote, hopefully this will give ICE agents real terror to think, is there a sniper with armor piercing rounds on that roof? In addition to this mountain of evidence, authorities added that John conducted multiple online searches for video of Charlie Kirk's murder as well as for apps that track the movements of ICE agents. Yet despite all of that, John's family is dismissing the claims that he was a radical leftist who hated ICE agents. A relative who spoke with the post simply said, quote, it has nothing to do with that. Now, the shooter was also very active as a gamer. And his profile on the online gaming platform Steam offered investigators a trove of information. He logged more than 17,000 hours in the past two years and spent a good deal of time playing first person shooter games. And just hours before he took up a real life gun that killed one in injury, injured two others, he logged in to play Fortress 2 and left four dead two, both first person shooter games. Moving on now back to D.C. or Virginia in this case. And a mystery secretary of war Pete Hegseth has summoned all of the U. S. Military's top brass to Marine Corps base Quantico next week, but he isn't telling them why. Now, these generals are stationed all over the world, so it's pretty short notice to get them all back to Virginia. And a meeting like this is extremely rare. As you might guess, it presents quite a security concern. As one military analyst told the Post, quote, are we really sure we want all these senior officers in one place? Great question. Now, broad theories about the meeting's topic include a major national security issue, cutbacks and firings, or large policy shifts. Now, Hegseth has said that he wants to reduce the number of leaders in the military and to then fill out the lower ranks. The secretary has already directed the Pentagon to cut the number of general officers by 20%. Now this meeting also comes as the Pentagon makes final edits to a new national defense strategy for the president's second term. And it's a shift. Sources have said that the new plans shift the focus from China and the Indo Pacific, a strategy that Trump sent into motion in 2018, which continued well through the Biden administration, to instead one centered closer to home in the Western Hemisphere. If the busy news cycle has made you forget that a government shutdown is looming, you're not alone, because I definitely forgot to. But don't worry, I'm here to remind you that funding for the federal government runs out at 11:50pm this coming Tuesday night. And if Congress doesn't pass a budget or a continuing resolution to fund it at the current levels, there will be at least a partial closure of the government. Now, the last time that we were in this predicament was back in the end of 2018, kind of the beginning of 2019. The 35 day shutdown during President Trump's first term was so far the longest ever. And the Trump administration is preparing for the possibility again by directing federal agencies to be ready for mass and permanent firings of staff should it happen. Now, the Post Politics reporter Ryan King is all over this and he joins me now to help make sense of it. So Ryan, for starters, where do congressional negotiations stand at this point and what's the likelihood that the shutdown is going to actually happen?
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B
Yes, the negotiations right now basically seem non existent. There is supposed to be a meeting on Thursday between the Democratic leaders of Congress and President Trump, but Trump canceled that meeting on Tuesday before he addressed the UN and since then, it doesn't appear that there's been any significant communication between any of the leaders on the two sides. Leader Jeffries was asked about any communication with GOP leadership on Thursday, and he was very cagey about it, but basically implied that there's really no significant discussions going on. Now, as for the risk of a government shutdown, I'd say it's very significant. I've covered a bunch of government shutdown showdown fights in the past and a lot of times it does look very likely that the government's going to shut down. And then kind of at the last minute there's a bit of a breakthrough and it gets averted. But this time around, Democrats have really dug themselves into a bit of a corner here. They have been very public about their demands that Republicans make concessions to them on health care policy. And Republicans have not been inclined to do so at all. And this seems a little bit different than the situation was in March during the last shutdown fight where Chuck Schumer basically caved at the last minute because now he's been very public about the demands and he's faced a lot of pressure from his base not to back down. So right now it's going to come down to whether or not any of the two sides blank.
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A
Well, Ryan King here making it kind of depressing. That sounds pretty bleak when you put it like that. So it just seems like a shutdown is looming. So for anyone who doesn't remember, what does a government shutdown look like? How does it impact you, me, the person listening?
- [08:20]
B
Well, the biggest impact is on government workers because the majority of government workers who are deemed non essential personnel or basically get furloughed and they don't get paychecks. Even a lot of the ones that do get required to show up to work don't get paychecks. A lot of it is going to depend on some of the decisions that the Trump administration would make. The president has a lot of leeway when it comes to shutdowns. The last government shutdown that had taken place in a significant way was between 2018 and early 2019, when the government shut down for a record 35 days. And what you see is like the general public just doesn't get access to a lot of traditional government services, things like national parks, museums. Here in D.C. there's a lack of a lot of court proceedings for federal courts, food inspections, different things like that, contact with, you know, the IRS for tax related stuff. A lot of that stuff just doesn't happen. But what does continue during these government shutdowns is mandatory programs. So things like Social Security checks, Medicare, etc. Those programs will continue when the government shuts down.
- [09:30]
A
I mean, when you put it in that way, I'm thinking, okay, museums being closed, a bummer, kind of sucks, but not the end of the world. But then food inspections, court proceedings, tax issues, that can be a big headache for the average person. So I finally, I want to ask you about this administration memo about mass firings. Can you walk me through that a little bit? What are they asking of these departments and what could the potential long term impacts be in this case with a looming shutdown?
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B
Yeah. So the OMB director, Russ Vaught had put out this memo late Wednesday evening directing agency heads across the federal government to basically come up with plans for reduction in force for a situation where the government shuts down. So basically what he's demanding is that they come up with a plan to fire a bunch of government workers. Now, typically when the government shuts down, these workers are furloughed, so they're laid off, but then they get hired back, and then there's usually back pay, etc. This time around, he's making it seem like these people are going to be permanently fired. And this was something that Chuck Schumer was concerned about back in March during the last government shutdown fight. He was concerned that the Trump administration would take advantage of the powers that a president has during a government shutdown fight to enact further cuts in the federal government beyond what Doge had been doing at that time. And Vought's memo kind of makes it seem like the Trump administration is planning to do just that. And a lot of Democrat leaders are basically saying they view this as a bit of intimidation to try to make them back off. And as for the long term implications of a government shutdown, it could do some economic damage, it could rattle markets, but the biggest impact is on government workers who aren't getting paychecks during that period.
- [11:22]
A
Yeah, I remember the furlough era when I was covering a lot of legal news back years ago in a few different government shutdowns. And then there would be that random every other Wednesday or something. There just wouldn't be court because it was a furlough day. And things really did. There was quite a backlog. So hopefully we can avert a government shutdown this time. But the way you put it, it doesn't seem like that's gonna happen. Ryan King, thank you for breaking that down for us.
- [11:48]
B
Thank you. Thanks.
- [11:50]
A
A left leaning gun club. Yes, you heard that right. Is posting some alarming recruitment flyers on the campus of Georgetown University. The John Brown Club is a group with ties to political violence and it's using those ties to lure members posting an advertisement with the line, hey, fascist, catch. Now, you probably remember that was one of the phrases allegedly written on ammunition and found at the site of Charlie Kirk's assassination. The flyer also says, quote, the only political group that celebrates when Nazis die, the John Brown Club, is listed as a far left group by the center for Counterextremism. Their members attend left wing political events armed, and they say that they're there to protect protesters from right wing counter protests. Now, the club is named after a militant slave abolitionist who is said to have organized the execution of slavery sympathizers in Kansas. Now, we're a little early for Halloween, but there's a bloodthirsty Terror on the loose in a San Francisco suburb. Here's the MO the perp hurls themselves at unsuspecting residents, biting and scratching them. At least five people have been attacked with two victims ending up in the er. The culprit? Nope, not someone on bath salt. It is an as yet to be named squirrel. One neighbor, Isabel Campoy says quote, she almost killed me, claiming the ruthless rodent jumped from the ground up to her face. Residents have posted flyers warning of the attacks that read attack Squirrel beware. This is not a joke. An expert that spoke with a local television affiliate says the animal is likely being just territorial while hunting for food. They also note that it could have been cared for by humans in the past and if they associated people with food, they will lose their natural fear of them. I'm not seeing it. They might lose their fear, but why is she biting? I really want to name her and first there were killer wasps but I that now there's this killer bees biting squirrels. I don't know who raised a squirrel. Zero manners. Not like you my friends. You have stuck with me for another week and you've even been here when I had to temporarily pick up and move locations wherever I am. And I'm not going to tell you there are no killer squirrels. I also thank you in advance of course for following and liking the New York Postcast. Wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube, have a fabulous weekend. I will see you guys on Monday back in studio. Thank you for listening to this episode of the NY Postcast. If you enjoyed it like and subscribe today. Wherever you get your podcasts.