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This Deep Dive podcast brought to you by Cozy Earth Home isn't just where you live, it's how you feel. Welcome to Clay and Buck's Deep Dive Podcast. Taking an issue and going a little deeper so you can too.
C
There are gubernatorial races that are underway. Some of them are going to be hotly contested and important stuff states, places like Virginia. We had winsome Sears on. She's lieutenant governor, very impressive woman. But in New Jersey, remember, New Jersey was a much closer election. What was it, Clay? It was not this, but it was in the off year that Glenn was.
A
A point or two in 2021. And remember Trump only lost New Jersey by five last year and they think the Trump team does. If they had had Kamala level money that they could have flipped New Jersey into their column.
C
So New Jersey is still blue, but it's, it's more interesting than they want it to be, for sure. And this might help a bit more. This is just one of the great moments on, on Charlemagne, the God on the Breakfast Club.
A
Mr.
C
The God was sitting down with Democrat candidate New Jersey Governor Mikey Sherrill. So the Democrat cab. Sorry, Democrat candidate for governor Mikey Sherrill. And I'm not familiar, that's why I'm asking people to weigh in a little bit on what do I need to know about Mikey Sherrill. But this was a great moment and. Mr. The God asked about this and I think it was worth us all just hearing for a second because people are very sick and tired of members of the, of Congress particularly, who seemingly are trading in a way in the stock market that mirrors information that they would only have access to because of things that they're doing in Congress and making a lot of money. She was asked Mikey Sherrill about this and here is the response from the Breakfast Club a couple of, of days ago. Play this one.
F
When Newsmax claims that you made $7 million from stock trades, what are they talking about?
A
Newsmax is first of all a very questionable organization that is paying multiple fines. I'm not sure what they're talking about.
F
Did you make 7 million in stock trades at all?
A
I haven't. I don't believe I did. But I'd have to go see what that was alluding to. Again.
C
What kind of came from, uh, Clay, I think if you're a member of Congress making about 180 grand, by the way, I think that if you made $7 million trading the stock market, whether somebody else is making those trades on your behalf or you're making them.
A
I think you should know, unless you're a billionaire and so rich that you couldn't plausibly say, I don't know what happened with $7 million. 99.99% of people in America would know if they made $7 million or not in the stock market. A lot of you out there would know if you made $700 in the stock market or not. Certainly 7,000 or 70,000, to say nothing of 7 million. These people are so bad at this buck. I just, I watch so many of these politicians. And we've reached out, by the way, to Jack Citarelli, who is the Republican contender who almost won in 2021. He is the nominee on the Republican side for this race. To remind all of you, Virginia and New Jersey and the mayor of New York City are all off calendar elections. So they will be taking place this November. That's in basically six weeks. Some of you basically can already go early vote on these. I just, I mean, credit to Charlemagne, the God who is of the left, I think, but is kind of pointing out a $7 million. Can you follow up and just kind of tell us what happened here?
C
All right, I've got some, I've got some, some stats and numbers to throw into the mix here. Cheryl makes, I said 180, 174 grand. As New Jersey's 11th congressional district Rep.
A
So she.
C
Remember, they have financial disclosures, everybody. So we can know it's public, it's public record how much money these individuals have within a range. But you have some sense of it.
A
Right.
C
So in 2019, she reported total assets between 730. And I'm just going to abbreviate the numbers here, but $730,004.3 million. Now, that's a huge range, by the way.
A
Yes.
C
That includes your house. You know, to anybody listening, the difference being worth 700 grand on paper and being worth 4 million on paper feels like a lot. But anyway, that's where she was. But Clay, in her most recent one, in her most recent disclosure form, she's worth More like 12 million. Yeah.
A
This is tough to explain.
C
And so you say to yourself, wait a second, she's making 174. It's not like she had some huge trust fund because we would know that from the financial disclosure forms previously. So somehow she has, and Jack Cittarelli has come out and hammered her on this somehow, while a member of Congress sitting on the Armed Services Committee, who allegedly has a fondness for trading Clay in defense stocks saying, interesting, she has gone from being worth, you know, let's call it a couple million dollars to put it in the middle, to being worth about $12 million. I mean, she could be worth as much as 4 million there. Even still, that would be a tripling of her net worth while making 180 grand a year.
A
Now, sometimes spouses make the money, which can also sometimes be suspect, right? Because they'll say, well, this is not the money that I'm making. This is my spouse. And I think this is what happened with. And I don't even know who her spouse is now. But Elon Ozart, now he's an, we'll.
C
Get, he's an investment banker. So his compensation may be a significant part of this. But Clay, she was fined for failing to disclose stock sales in 2021.
A
Well, this is where it gets very shady. OK, correct me if I'm wrong on this, because this seems like something that shouldn't be allowed. You basically cannot prosecute elected officials like congressmen and senators for insider trading, correct? Because they get all sorts of information that is not public and then they're allowed to trade on it. And this is where it gets super shady. This is like the Nancy Pelosi situation. The spouse oftentimes is the person who's actually trading on this and they are able to monetize this in a way that is hyper shady. Remember, if you look at Nancy Pelosi's trading record for stocks, she's somehow better than Warren Buffett at buying and selling stocks. There's a Nancy tracker out there where you can look at all the moves Pelosi makes because they have to disclose it. I, I, I don't understand why it isn't basic required for everybody out there to put their holdings in a trust and just use that. Let me give you an example, Buck. Most of my money after I sold Outkick, that is not in real estate is in S&P 500 index funds. That is, I just buy the 500 largest companies in America. 90% of the time, the S&P 500 outperforms experts. I am not by and large buying and selling very many stocks. Now, there's no restriction on me buying and selling very many stocks in the first place. But I would say about 5% of my stock assets are in physical stocks that I control and about 95% is effectively in S&P 500 index funds. I don't understand why it isn't standard for everybody, Democrat, Republican, independent, who was elected to Congress to put their assets, their 401k, their individual stocks. Just put it into a index fund and say, I'm not going to buy and sell individual stocks while I'm a representative of the United States Congress. What am I missing here? To me, that seems like it should be standard for everyone out there. And if they're arguing otherwise, I think it's highly suspect for people to be trading hundreds of times in a year. And remember what happened during COVID because I haven't forgotten this. Remember when they got the briefings about how dangerous Covid was going to be and what was going to happen? And a ton of congressmen and women immediately sold all their stocks before the stock market started to decline. They got access to information that you and I didn't have access to about what was going to happen in terms of shutdowns. The stock market plummeted, and a lot of congressmen and women sold before the stock market collapsed and then bought at bottoms and made a ton of money off information that's not public. I don't know what I'm missing here. This candidate, I think, is lying. I think she has likely benefited off inside information. But this is important when it comes to corruption. We don't just focus on corruption itself. We focus on the appearance of corruption because it's so toxic to public trust. How is there not a direct appearance of corruption when individual congressmen and women are making trades and destroying the greatest investors of our lifetimes in their results?
C
Just, just so everybody understands, in something like the, like, National Defense Authorization act or one of those big omnibus or, you know, Porculus or whatever you want to call it, these big bills that come out where they're just full of pork and they're full of all this spending. If you're on some committee and you know that a certain defense contractor, for example, is about to get a 3 or 5 or $10 billion government contract, guess what? It's probably gonna go up as a stock. Okay, yes, I think we all understand that. And so if you are essentially. Now, you know the rules. They've changed the rules so that technically there's like a little more reporting and stuff, but you're not barred from trading. And let's just, let's just take. Let's just be honest about this. Have you seen anybody get in trouble for insider trading from the United States Congress?
A
No, I'm not aware of it right now. I think, Buck, that they're not. You're not allowed to be prosecuted for it.
C
I think it used to be the case they changed the Rules. Let me, let me check on it. They made some. The stock act. They made some adjustment to it, but I think it's like, you can't be prosecuted for knowledge that comes from the course of your job, which is the whole point of that. Let me check on this one. I got to see what the rules are because this was. Clay. This has been a push for over a decade. People have been trying to, you know, trying to figure out why members of Congress are able to get so, so rich.
A
But larger issue. Yes, on that. It, to me, it's just, it shouldn't be allowed. Minor issue or secondary issue as it pertains to this race. If you made $7 million in stock trades, you better have a good explanation for how that happened. And again, the husband may well be the reason. But to claim, oh, I don't know, I'd have to look into that. How out of touch are you if you can make $7 million and not recall whether or not it happened? Unless you're a billionaire and your stock price valuation is constantly going up and down Again, all I'm saying is I'm not a Congressperson. S&P 500 index funds a good option. Why would we not make that standard for anybody who's in elective office? Now, there are some complexities, usually blind trust. And this is getting into specifics. Let's say you own a company and that company is publicly traded. You can just say, hey, I'm not going to buy or sell stock. Or it's a blind trust. I'm not managing it. There are lots of ways to handle this that do not create this huge. This huge impression of impropriety. That to me would make a lot of sense.
C
Well, I just would note, Clay. So two former members of the House of Representatives have been prosecuted and convicted for insider trading, which. The stock act of 2012. That's what I'm referring. So this has been going on for a while. So there is this stock act. It doesn't bar them from trading. Obviously, there's disclosure requirements. But here's the thing. It's super hard because of the information that they're coming into contact with is of a political nature. It can be very like, if you're going to invest in a big defense contractor, what's. How do you know that you don't just, you know, they get into this mosaic defense strategy for white collar criminals of like, well, did I do it because I thought of this bill that's coming up or. Because I love the fundamentals and I know I read the latest 10k. I mean that's.
A
Well, also curious on whatever. I would be curious what the prosecution for insider trading is because those guys could have been prosecuted for actual insider trading that had nothing to do with Congress. Right. In other words, I believe the testimony that you hear behind closed doors is not allowed to be prosecutable for insider trading. You could still be prosecuted if, for instance, you're out of office and your cousin calls you and he sits on the board of X Company and he says he, hey, we're about to.
C
That's what happened.
A
Yeah.
C
By the way, they actually were not prosecuted. This is very important clarification. They were not prosecuted for anything under the Stock act or anything having to do with Congress. They were prosecuted for insider trading access they had before being in Congress. Yes, that's a different thing.
A
This is what I'm saying. Like you basically get a free rein to insider trade at Congress.
C
So my initial premise of like no one in Congress has ever. That no one in Congress has ever been prosecuted for insider Congress, insider congressional information. That is true.
A
This is a Clay and Buck deep dive podcast.
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Start your 7 day free trial today. Offers are subject to change. Go to Fox One for complete terms and conditions. Fox one we live for live streaming now. Let me be blunt. Gold is up around 40% this year. That's not speculation, that's reality. If a portion of your savings isn't diversified into gold, you're missing the boat. Here are the facts. Inflation is still too high, our dollar still recovering and the federal government debt is not going down. This is why central banks are flocking to gold. They're the ones driving prices up to record highs. But it's not too late. I recently bought more gold from Birch Gold Group and you can get in the door now. Birch Gold will help you convert an existing IRA or 401k into a tax sheltered IRA. In gold you don't pay a dime out of pocket. Just text my Name Buck to 989898 and claim your free info kit. There's no obligation, just useful information. The best indicator of the future is the past. Gold has historically been a safe haven. I've got gold in my home. Safe gold bars, gold coins. You can too my friends. Birch Gold Group is who you should contact. Birch Gold makes owning physical gold very easy. Text Buck to 98-98-98 now to claim your free info kit on gold. Text Buck to 989898 Our society works because of the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment. Everyday American should be able to speak openly about honesty, family and traditional values without retribution. And That's a principle PureTalk proudly supports. They sponsor our show which allows us to stand strongly behind the microphone every day and share the truth with you.
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F
Thank you for the time, guys. Looking forward to it.
C
Look, you had a great run back in 2021, just a few points from beating Phil Murphy. And you know, we were talking about it then. We were giving you the high five. I know it was too much to ask in that cycle to pull it off, but you came very close. It was a, it was a heroic finish nonetheless, this time around. Mr. Jack, I'm seeing polls with you dead even, maybe even a couple points ahead. Can you pull it off? What need, what do we need to know about this race that is a.
F
Dead heat right now and that's really good news for Republican. I mean, we are the minority party in this state, but we're going to continue to get out there over the last 39 days, make it happen. And when you see Democratic mayors across the state endorsing my candidacy, I think it only reaffirms that people across the state have had it with Phil Murphy sale policies and they know that my opponent is Murphy 2.0.
A
What should people who want you to win? We've got a big audience all over New Jersey. What should they know to do? What should they know about when early voting starts? How to donate? Give us your pitch right now. You said I think 39 days out. What needs to happen in the next 39 days? What should people listening to us right now do to support you?
F
The vote by mail ballots have already been mailed. They went out last week. So if you're a vote by mail it, vote by mail ballot voter. We want you to get that in. There'll be nine days of early voting leading up to election day and then of course, Tuesday the 4th. But what differentiates me from my opponent is Chederelli's have been here for 100 years and three generations of Ciatarelli have all been business owners and created jobs right here in New Jersey. My opponent hasn't been here all that long and she spent half the time she's been here in the Congress. And during that time she tripled her net worth and broke federal law on stock trades and stock reporting for congresspeople.
C
Now, what would you. Let's, let's. Before we get into what she would do other than apparently make a lot of money in the stock market on some defense stocks that she doesn't remember. You know, it's 7 million here, 7 million there.
A
I mean, that's when Charlemagne, the God to Buck's point, can ask her, how did you make $7 million? And she says, I don't know, basically. Or she had no idea how she made it. I think that's pretty tough for most New Jerseyans out there to say. You know, I think I'd know If I made $7 million.
F
It's a disqualifier.
A
Who wouldn't know if their net worth.
F
A triple in such a short period of time? Who wouldn't know where an additional $7 million came from? Here's what we do know. She broke federal law and had to pay fines for it as a congressperson. Well, here's what else we know. The New York Times reports that while she was sitting on the House Armed Services Committee, she was trading defense stocks. I mean, this really calls into question her character, as does the stunning revelation of yesterday that she didn't participate in the graduation ceremonies at the Naval Academy back in 1994.
A
Yeah, we saw that story about the Naval Academy and we talked about it yesterday with our friend Ryan Gardusky. What is that story? I think it was from 1994. And why does it matter? And to you, how does it connect to her today?
F
She's built her entire political brand around the fact that she attended the Naval Academy, but she hasn't been transparent with us. The Naval Academy punished her and we believe it's for lying. And, and so she did not get to participate in her graduation ceremonies. She can clear this all up by approving the release of her disciplinary records. She's not doing that. And I think that tells us a whole lot. And for her to say that, what she's been saying out there in the public, I think it's code for having lied to the investigators. Quite frankly, she's saying that she covered for her friends who did cheat. I think that's code for lying to investigators.
C
Now we got a lot of W O R, which is our New York City based affiliate. Obviously that signal is huge all across, particularly the northern half of the Garden it reaches well beyond that. We have a lot of listeners who are commuters into New York City who listen on W. Jack. And so they're very interested to know what are you going to do if you become governor? To make what is a. I'm from, I'm from Manhattan. So we like to make, you know, the occasional give a little ribbing to New Jersey. But I love New Jersey. It is a great state, beautiful state, a lot of things going for it. What are you going to do to take New Jersey to the next level? Either problems to fix or just things to focus on in the future? If you are in fact able to pull off this, this very, very photo finish governor's race, we are going to pull it off.
F
And there's a number of things we're going to do, including those things on day one. Here's one thing I'm never going to do is lie to the people of New Jersey. This laughable, illegitimate, not feasible plan that she's put forth to declare a state of emergency to freeze our electricity rates. Why would we want to freeze them at an all time high? We want to lower them. I could do that on day one by pulling out of the regional greenhouse gas initiative. This is a carbon tax policy that's been in place since Murphy took office. The air is no cleaner. Electricity has skyrocketed and ratepayer dollars are going to other states. I could save half a billion dollars a year in ratepayers dollars, homeowners, tenants and businesses. We need to get our electricity rates down. Also on day one, I'll end the immigrant trust directive. We'll no longer have sanctuary cities and we will not be a sanctuary state. Also on day one, I'll give us an attorney general that supports both police and parents. The current attorney general does not.
A
You lost, as we said, very close race in 2021, Trump lost a very close race in New Jersey. I think it came down to basically five points. The Trump team said, hey, if we had had the money Kamala had, we could have poured it in. We might have been able to win New Jersey. Why is New Jersey moving red? And why do you think now is the time when you're going to kick the door down and win this, this race here in 39 days?
F
It's all because Phil Murphy's policies have failed across the board. Taxes up every year since he took office. Spending up 70%. When he took over, the state budget was 36 billion. It's now 59 billion. 70% increase. Housing, we've got an overdevelopment crisis going on in our suburban communities. Public education, we slipped from 2 to 12 on the national report card with all the learning loss in the post pandemic world because he shut down the schools for two years, law enforcement, nonviolent crime has spiked. Break ins, car thefts, flash mobs on the Jersey shore and at our malls.
A
Why?
F
Because his attorney general's handcuffed our local police. These are the issues and they represent policy failures of the past seven plus years. And my opponent has endorsed every one of these policies. In fact, in some cases, like the wind farms, she's doubled down.
C
It's remarkable to see how I think there was a clip already circulating, Jack, of Mikey Sherrill saying your opponent that she can't even commit to not raising taxes on the middle class like she's. Tax raises are on the table all across the board from what I can understand, which for your. Your state is already pretty heavily taxed state from what I understand. I mean I was living in New York City where it's completely insane, but New Jersey taxes under Murphy have been rough.
F
This was an astonishing moment at the debate. She's been lyingly, lying blatantly about me raising the sales tax to 10%. And yet at the debate when I was asked, I said the sales tax is not going to be increased. I will lower property taxes, I will lower income taxes. I gave specific ways on how I'm going to do that in a very fiscally responsible way. They then asked her the same question and she said I'm not going to commit to anything. So wait a second, you're lying about me raising taxes. And then when you're asked whether or not you raise taxes, your answer is I'm not going to commit to anything.
A
When I travel around. And I know this has been an issue in New Jersey too. It doesn't matter where you're from. A lot of people see men and women's sports as a clarifying, crystallizing issue. I know it's a big point down in Virginia, but a lot of moms and dads in New Jersey are fed up with the cultural ridiculousness of the Democrat party. Do you feel that even having accelerated since you last ran in 2021, parents.
F
Are very upset about a number of these far left liberal policies. Policy 5756 school districts keeping secrets from parents. We're going to stop that on day one. Our children are best off when our school districts and parents work in partnership. Biological boys playing in girls sports. That's One of those 80, 20 issues in New Jersey, more than eight out of 10 people don't agree with that. And so these are the policies, the LGBTQ curriculum in our public schools. My opponent has said she will not let parents opt their kids out of that lesson. I mean these are 80, 20 issues. But again, she's not from New Jersey. She's out of touch, she's tone deaf. It's just another reason why we're going to win this race.
C
Now, what is the to the degree you can speak to this, I know you got a big state, millions and millions of residents, but some of the. What's the profile would you say of the late breaking voter at this point? Is it independents that are going to be the difference maker? Is it Democrats defecting from the high taxes and some of the other policy matters we've talked about? Who's going to be the deciding cohort in your home state if in fact we're able to see you get across the finish line with a W?
F
For sure. Moderate Democrats and unaffiliated slash independent voters, the ones that are still undecided. And I really do believe that after eight years of Phil Murphy's policies and us going around the state the way we do, offering specific, responsible, thoughtful proposals on how to fix New Jersey, at the end of the day, we're going to win this race.
A
Are you, here's the final question for you, Jack. This is important and you may want to dodge it. Are you a Yankees Mets guy? Are you a Jets Giants guy? Who are your teams? Because I know there are a lot of people out there and the Ryder Cups going on. I even said to my team, I'm a little bit surprised he's not there with the President right now rooting on Team USA because I bet there's a lot of New Jersey guys and gals that are out at, at the golf course right now as well.
F
Well, I'm a Yankees guy and they frustrate us a whole lot over the summer. But this veterans team is rising to the occasion when it counts most. And here we are with only three games left and they're tied for first. Go.
A
Yes. There you go, Governor, I hope. Good luck. We're going to help put you in the governor's office if everybody out there listening right now gets their votes in and works as hard as they can for you one last time here as you go to break. Where should people go if they want to offer you support?
F
Jack4nj.com and that's the number four jack4nj.com.
G
I greatly appreciate that.
A
Good Luck, sir, that is Jack Chipping.
C
Home the W. Jackson.
F
We need the dub every day.
A
We're happy to have you on anytime down the stretch run here. We can help out. But again, everybody, check that out. Get your votes in. New Jersey is in play and Jack Cittarelli needs to get the win for all of you. You're listening to a special Clay and Buck Deep Dive podcast. Welcome back in Clay Travis, BUCK SEXTON show. We are joined now by Congressman Tim Burchett of the great state of Tennessee. Government is shut down. We're going to get into that. But Congressman, you wanted to come on because you're as fired up as Buck and I were about the amount of stock trading that some of your colleagues are engaged in. And not just stock trading. Some of the best timing that has ever existed in the history of the world. I mean, Nancy Pelosi is Warren Buffett level investing savant. Isn't this just, even if it's not actually improper, it certainly has the appearance of impropriety, which I think demeans the overall value of trust in public servants. I think you probably agree it's kind of crazy, isn't it?
G
I agree 100%. And thank you so much for letting me come on with you. It's an honor. Congress is broke and it is crooked as a dog's leg, brother. There is no other explanation when a congressman can make 600% return on their investment. And, you know, and it day in and day out or 300 or 200 or whatever. I mean, just go on the unusual Wells website and read the top hundred. It's unbelievable. It is unfreaking believable. And people are making a living now of just following Nancy Pelosi stock trades. Yeah, Buffett needs, Warren Buffett needs to go to the, go to the front porch and sit there and play with his grandkids or something and just turn it over to Pelosi. It is unbelievable. And we can't even get the bill in committee. Neither party. They're gutless. They are gutless. And it is shady as all get out. And I, you know, I have a, I had a $12,000 portfolio. My buddy Tommy Saler managed. Everybody needs a dadgum mutual fund and that's what we ought to do. And I get sick and tired of hearing people in Congress say, oh, I'm sacrificing so much. Well, dadgummit, go home and let somebody else do it. That's not sacrificing so much. America's tired of this garbage. It is broke. You've Called it out. We've called it out. And here's what's going to happen if we do get this bill to the floor. And Luna has represented Annapolina. Luna, she's gonna try to. If we don't get this bill out that everybody's been working on, which is a little too big and a little too beautiful, in my opinion, but still, she's gonna take my bill, which is a clean bill. It just says no stock trading of, you know, for members of Congress unless it's a mutual fund and your. And your siblings and your wife and spouse, whatever. And that's it. That should be it. You know, make the dad gum sacrifice. It's crazy. I, you know, I make skateboards.
F
It's.
G
And I'm 61 years old, and I haven't broke my neck yet. I made one for Tulsi Gabbard a couple weeks ago, and she loved it. But, yeah, I always tell people when I work on these skateboards, it's cheaper than a psychiatrist. It's good therapy for me. But people want to buy them, so I'm trying to sell them. Went to the ethics people, and I literally have to get. I'm getting a business plan together. I've had that. I've had to hire an attorney if I want to sell skateboards, but dad gamut. If I want to do insider trading. Just become a member of Congress and it rains on you.
A
It is wild. And, you know, I was going off on this Congressman, because my thing is, I now have resources. I've been in a position where I had nothing and actually owed a lot more money. Go to law school. It's not cheap. I owed a lot more money than I had assets for a while. But just doing what you're saying is actually really good advice. Buy s and P500 index funds. Buy big groups of stocks. We're not even saying, certainly, that members of Congress can't own stocks. It's just. Don't trade individual stocks. Like this is having a blind trust and just having a large basket of mutual funds or index funds. Actually really smart advice for anyone out there listening to us right now. And it's crazy to me that, first of all, your job should be pretty busy. The idea that you should be pulling out your phone and doing individual stock trades anyway, it feels kind. It just feels bonkers to me that this is going on.
G
Well, some of them do hundreds of stock trades in a year. Can I give you one example that everybody can follow and could understand? During the Biden reign of terror, when he decided to give our missile defense system to Ukraine, which I don't vote for any more. Any, I haven't voted for any dollars for Ukraine. I'm sick of that. But anyway, that's another story. Well, it turns out that members of some of our military committees that had access to that information had bought stock and guess what? The missile defense companies over just a couple of weeks prior to it. Now why do you say, what does that mean? Well, we had to replenish ours in a no bid, multi billion dollar contract with these companies overnight. So you see, their stock prices would, would go up dramatically. And yet that's common practice in Congress. They can watch the trends. You're in the meetings, you know, you hear about COVID You hear. I was in the meeting, you heard about COVID And I remembered I had, I had bought Denny's stock and all the left accused me of some kind of insider trading. I left the dadgum meeting because the Democrats wouldn't let any of the. They had all their staff members in the seats and we couldn't get any seats. But anyway, I have, I've just come to the conclusion that, that we've got too much information. And generally the vast majority of the people up there probably aren't doing something incredibly shady. But we know that this time in and time out, when they just seem to just defy all logic, every odd, the odds of trading and every month they turn in these huge gains. And it's just baffling to me that we allow that to go on and we can sit here and tell the American public that nothing's going on.
A
How does this shutdown end up ending, Congressman? Like, where does it go from here.
G
When Schumer sees his polling numbers declining? I think what's really behind it, and this is my theory, I've put it on people and they, they've agreed with me. Schumer is looking in his rearview mirror right now and all he sees is AOC and that big grin of hers bearing down on him. He knows that she can raise millions of dollars overnight. Just that was me snapping my fingers overnight. Hollywood, all the elitist, they'll be throwing the money at her. And all he's doing is watching that New York mayor's race, where literally a Marxist communist will win probably unless something, unless God shines favor upon the poor folks in New York that don't know any better.
A
By the way, God shining favor on the poor folks of New York actually means Andrew Cuomo should win. That's how bad of a situation they're in.
G
Yep. Yeah, well, that's. That's. You're very accurate. You're very accurate. But the truth is, is that Schumer is watching his rearview mirror. He knows his polling numbers, and the reality is he needs to go back to flipping raw cheeseburgers on his grill and playing with his grandkids, if he has any, and get out of this thing. He has left. You know, he was a. He wasn't a moderate, but he was just an old classic liberal. And now he's just turned far left as you can get. And all it is, is about staying in power, and that's what Washington, D.C. is truly about in leadership. They love the suburbans. They love the, you know, four deep with security. They love the spotlight. They love never standing in line. They love the security. They love the access and, yes, the access to the inside information. And. And when they're out of leadership, it's gone. It's gone. All that is gone. And they can't stand it. And his time has come and gone, like a whole lot of them that need to be out of there. But he is. That is why he's going to wreck this country is just to keep himself empowered. And Hakeem, you know, he's out there talking about something. Nobody's paying any attention to him. He's saying how the House Republicans are shutting government down. We voted to keep the dadgum government open. Only one Democrat voted with us. And, you know, the whole thing is just. It's so obvious. And as soon as his polling data flips on him, he'll be at the table with Trump, but he won't be till then.
A
We're talking to Congressman Tim Burchett of Tennessee. How did you get into skateboarding and making skateboards?
G
Well, I didn't smoke pot and I didn't drink. Although since I've become a member of Congress, I've fiercely considered taking on crack cocaine just to take off the edges. But. But no, I just always liked it. I like. I like the physics of it. And. And I'm an inventor. I always just make stuff. And I had a little piece of plywood and some old skates, and I put it on there. And. And I would just. And that's. Those are death traps, you know, and. And I never. And, you know, my dad would challenge me if you can get to the end. See if you get to the end of the driveway or something. And, you know, eventually I would. And then. And so I. And I'm just. I've always been fascinated by bamboo. It's poor man's carbon fiber. I read an article on it in 1980 in a national Geographic. And so I started just. I've always done stuff and tinkered, and now that I've got some equipment to do it in, my major was technological adult education. Certified to teach shop, basically. I can weld and build engines and I can burn your house down if you want me to wire it. I'm not very good at that, but I can do all those things. I can do casting and, and just all the stuff around the machine shop, but I just like it. And then I'm a capitalist at heart. And I read somewhere that there's a. I think it's a $5 billion industry in this country now. I don't want all 5 billion of it, but I wouldn't mind shaving a little off the edge. And so, you know, I make it out of recycled stuff, mainly because I'm cheap. I guess I'm fiscally smart. But, you know, I use old pallets and I've been using banana fibers off of banana plants that I've grown. And I'm just, just all over about it. I just. And, and, and skateboards, something you can make small and you can transport easily and, and kids dig it. When you see a 61 year old out there with his vans on, skateboarding on a board that he built himself, it's kind of cool and it's good to bring up conversation and, you know, and I like it. And again, as I say, it's cheaper than a psychiatrist.
A
But we're talking to Congressman Tim Burchett of Tennessee. All right, I got the ultimate controversial question for you here to close up the interview, Congressman. All right, better decision. Who made the better decision? Who made the worst decision? I know you are a big University of Tennessee football fan, Nico. Going to ucla, transferring from Tennessee, going to ucla. UCLA is now lost every game. His head coach has been fired, his offensive coordinator has been fired. Sorry, UCLA fans out there catching a stray. You didn't expect this. Okay, Nico, to ucla. That choice or Kamala Harris picking Tim Walls as her vice president? Who made the worst decision? Who made the better decision? You're on the floor.
G
I'm gonna say Kamala because.
F
She was.
G
A train wreck anyway and she just picked a bigger train wreck. I almost, you know, they, they always pick somebody who. I always feel like somebody that's not going to overshadow them a lot of times. And. But I, but J.D. vance, as we say in East Tennessee, he kicks some ass. I like JD he's strong, and he's a kind of a buddy of mine, I guess. But, yeah, that gum. Well, they call him Tampon Tim or something. I don't like saying it, but he is just a. He's a knucklehead, man. He just can't get out of his own way. I don't know who he was running against to get elected governor out there, but that gum must have been a convicted felon getting ready to go to the electric chair or something. I'm not sure the Republicans put up against him, but, yeah, Nico, I mean, he just took some bad advice, but he's. He'll get a little bit of a paycheck, and if he's. He can just get all his groupies and family away from him, he might be okay. He might be able to salvage something in the Canadian Football League, but, yeah, that's where I'm at before I get myself in any more trouble.
A
Well, I'm already thinking the headline for the New York Times is going to be tennessee Congressman Tim Burchett praises Nico for his move to ucla. Hey, this is. This is a lot of fun. And I would argue, I love the Tim Walls. You may have seen the meme Congressman where it shows Barack Obama, and he says, I need someone dumber than me as VP Joe Biden. Joe Biden says I need someone dumber than me as VP Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris says, I need someone dumber than me, and it's Tim Walls. There's a lot of truth to that. We have seen a rapid descent in intelligence across the board there. We appreciate the time. If people want to get the skateboard, by the way, where do they go?
G
Well, nowhere yet.
A
Okay.
G
Got a business plan. I got to put it on ethics and. And. And so they can approve it or not.
A
Hey, if Hunter can sell paintings for $500,000, I would think you could probably sell a skateboard for a couple of hundred bucks. But what do I know?
G
Well, the Biden family couldn't spell ethics, so I got. I just want to be the man my little girl thinks I am. So I'm going to try to follow the rules here. I get my lawyers involved, and we'll get it all worked out eventually into the year, hopefully in time for Christmas.
A
That's the goal. Just in time for Christmas. Hey, we appreciate the time. Go big Orange, and we'll talk to you again soon.
G
Thank you, brother. Appreciate y'. All.
A
Man, he is great. The next time you don't join a conversation because you just don't know enough about the topic Listen to a Clay and Buck Deep Dive. It's boot camp for the brain on any given subject. Find deep dives in the Clay and Buck podcast feed on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Now you can stream Fox News Live on the Fox one app. Stay on top of breaking news and the biggest stories live as they happen, all from the Fox voices you trust, bringing you the coverage you won't find anywhere else.
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Date: October 4, 2025
Hosts: Clay Travis & Buck Sexton
Notable Guests: Jack Cittarelli (Republican gubernatorial candidate, NJ), Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN)
Episode Theme:
A detailed exploration of the controversy over Congressional stock trading, financial transparency for elected officials, and a look into the hotly contested New Jersey gubernatorial race — with broader reflections on public trust, corruption, and the disconnect between politicians and the general public.
Clay and Buck take listeners on a deep-dive into the perennial “hmmm”-inducing issue of members of Congress amassing significant wealth—especially through stock trading—and the related implications for public trust and the appearance (and potential reality) of corruption. The episode illustrates these concerns through the lens of New Jersey’s gubernatorial race, highlighting financial disclosures and ethics controversies around Democratic candidate Rep. Mikie Sherrill, while also diving into proposed reforms and Congressional resistance to change.
"99.99% of people in America would know if they made $7 million or not in the stock market. A lot of you out there would know if you made $700 in the stock market or not."
— Clay Travis [05:20]
"You basically get a free rein to insider trade at Congress."
— Clay Travis [16:41]
"Who wouldn’t know where an additional $7 million came from? Here’s what we do know. She broke federal law and had to pay fines for it as a congressperson."
— Jack Cittarelli [23:52]
"If I want to sell skateboards... I have to hire an attorney... but dad gamut. If I want to do insider trading, just become a member of Congress and it rains on you.”
— Rep. Tim Burchett [36:16]
The DC Game:
Lighter Moments — Skateboard Side-Hustle:
On Congressional Wealth:
"These people are so bad at this, Buck. ...We focus on the appearance of corruption because it’s so toxic to public trust. How is there not a direct appearance of corruption when individual congressmen and women are making trades and destroying the greatest investors of our lifetimes in their results?"
— Clay Travis [11:39]
On Cultural Politics:
“Biological boys playing in girls sports. That’s one of those 80-20 issues in New Jersey, more than eight out of ten people don’t agree with that.”
— Jack Cittarelli [29:50]
Biting Satire:
“I didn’t smoke pot and I didn’t drink. Although since I’ve become a member of Congress, I’ve fiercely considered taking on crack cocaine just to take off the edges.”
— Rep. Tim Burchett [41:54]
| Segment | Time | |-----------------------------------------------------|---------------| | Main Congress Stock Trading Discussion | 02:45–16:54 | | Jack Cittarelli Interview (NJ Gov Race) | 21:28–32:20 | | Rep. Tim Burchett Interview (Stock Trading Reform) | 33:40–47:37 | | Additional banter and lighter moments | 41:54, 43:56 | | Notable Quotes | See above |
This episode provides a sharp, sometimes scathing look at the ethical pitfalls of Congressional stock trading, using the New Jersey gubernatorial contest and specific personalities (notably Mikie Sherrill and Nancy Pelosi) as focal points. Through engaging interviews, especially the candid and down-to-earth Rep. Tim Burchett, the hosts illustrate not just the legal loopholes, but also the deeper threat to public faith in democracy. The message: The systems of accountability are broken, and both parties lack the will to change a status quo that makes “things that make us go hmmm” an understatement.
For listeners:
Find more deep-dive episodes on pressing political issues in the Clay and Buck podcast feed on iHeartRadio or your preferred podcast provider.