Refried Beans | I am Grot (feat. Rep. Dan Goldman) | 7/21/2023

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Daily Beans – "Refried Beans | I am Grot (feat. Rep. Dan Goldman)" | July 21, 2023

Overview In this episode of The Daily Beans, hosted by Allison Gill and Dana Goldberg, the hosts delve into a week’s worth of progressive political news with their characteristic blend of insightful analysis and sharp wit. The episode covers a range of topics, including a bizarre courtroom drama, corrections on legal reporting related to former President Trump, indictments related to fraudulent elector schemes, advancements in Supreme Court ethics legislation, and an in-depth interview with Representative Dan Goldman regarding recent congressional hearings.

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1. Bizarre Courtroom Drama at Prettyman Courthouse [00:45 - 07:28]

Allison Gill opens the episode by recounting a peculiar incident at the Prettyman Courthouse in Washington, D.C., where the federal grand jury convenes to investigate the January 6th events.

• Key Players:
  • Judge Trevor McFadden: A Trump appointee who reportedly threw a "hissy fit" during proceedings.
  • Stanley Woodward: Trump’s attorney representing multiple January 6th defendants.
  • Frederico Klein: A Trump State Department appointee and January 6th rioter who was found guilty on all seven felony counts.

Notable Quote:

• Allison Gill [04:31]: “And now she’s cooperating with Jack Smith. And he also represents Stanley Woodward. Represents. There’s more. There’s plenty more.”

Summary: During a grand jury session, Stanley Woodward excused himself to attend another courtroom proceeding, leading to tension with Judge McFadden. Woodward's late arrival and subsequent interactions resulted in significant delays, potentially impacting the timing of indictments, including those against Donald Trump. The episode highlights the inefficiencies and dramatics within the judicial process surrounding the January 6th investigations.

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2. Indictments in Michigan's Fraudulent Elector Scheme [07:28 - 14:13]

The hosts discuss the removal of Stan Grot, a Michigan Shelby Township clerk, from his election duties following his indictment on eight felony charges related to the 2020 fraudulent elector scheme.

Key Points:

• Charges Include:
  • Conspiracy to commit forgery (14-year felony)
  • Election law forgery (5-year felony)
• Impact: Grot is barred from performing any election-related duties pending his charges.
• Broader Implications: Other Republican figures in Michigan, including former party chairs and mayors, are also facing similar charges, indicating a widespread crackdown on attempts to undermine the electoral process.

Notable Quote:

• Allison Gill [09:04]: “The group, according to Attorney General Dana Nestle, who rocks the fucking box, allegedly sought to nullify the result of the presidential election in Michigan in order to ensure Trump then president would receive a second term.”

Summary: The indictment of Stan Grot and other GOP officials underscores the legal ramifications of efforts to submit alternate electors post-2020 election. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nestle emphasized that these actions "fundamentally undermine voter confidence in the integrity of elections," highlighting the serious consequences of attempting to subvert democratic processes.

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3. Supreme Court Ethics Legislation Advances [14:13 - 23:00]

The Senate Judiciary Committee made significant progress in advancing the Supreme Court Ethics Recusal and Transparency Act, aiming to impose an ethics code on the Supreme Court justices.

Key Points:

• Legislation Details:
  • Requires justices to adopt a code of conduct.
  • Implements procedures for handling judicial misconduct complaints.
  • Mandates disclosure of gifts, travel, and income received by justices and their clerks.
• Committee Vote: Passed 11-10 along party lines.
• Republican Response: GOP senators, including Lindsey Graham, have labeled the bill as an attempt to "destroy a conservative court," asserting it would allow conservative judges to be disqualified by statute.

Notable Quote:

• Allison Gill [17:00]: “Denying a code of ethical conduct for the Supreme Court is crazy, by the way. They are the most powerful judges in America, and yet they are not required to follow even the most basic ethics standards.”

Summary: The proposed ethics bill seeks to increase transparency and accountability within the Supreme Court, addressing concerns about potential conflicts of interest and impartiality. While Democrats see it as a necessary step to restore public trust, Republicans argue it is a politically motivated effort to undermine the Court's conservative majority. The bill faces significant opposition in the Republican-controlled House and Senate, casting doubt on its future passage.

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4. Interview with Representative Dan Goldman [23:30 - 36:35]

Representative Dan Goldman of New York’s 10th district joins the podcast to discuss recent congressional hearings related to the Sub Select Committee on Weaponization and the House Oversight Committee.

Key Discussion Points:

• Censorship Hearing:
  • Featured Robert Kennedy Jr., who allegedly faced censorship by social media platforms.
  • Goldman criticized the hearing as a platform for Kennedy's fringe views rather than addressing actual instances of censorship.
  • Highlighted contradictions, such as Kennedy’s tweet not being taken down, undermining claims of censorship.

Notable Quotes:

• Dan Goldman [27:12]: “I do think that they're designed at this point primarily as an arm of the Trump defense team and as an arm of the Trump campaign team, and that is essentially all they are doing.”
• Allison Gill [27:43]: “First of all, the laptop is real. Right? It is a keyboard with a thing, but you got a hard drive.”

Summary: Goldman criticized the committee's hearings for being more about political posturing than substantive policy discussion. He addressed the Hunter Biden laptop story, questioning its legitimacy and the motives behind its amplification. Additionally, he condemned Marjorie Taylor Greene’s actions of presenting nude photos, viewing them as attempts to embarrass Hunter Biden rather than contributing to meaningful legislative discourse.

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5. Good News Segment [36:39 - 45:15]

The hosts transition to a lighter segment featuring listener submissions, sharing uplifting stories and adorable pet photos.

Highlights:

• Listener Stories:
  • Linda Pronoun: Avoided a scam thanks to the podcast’s influence.
  • Cakemeister: Shared photos of her pets, Lunchbox the tortie and Opie the Shih Tzu.
  • Helen Pronoun: Celebrated her daughter Natalie’s achievement in purchasing her first horse, Whiskey, supporting her dream of becoming a professional rider.
  • John Pronoun: Discussed his personal growth and appreciation for diverse viewpoints gained from the podcast.
  • Senator Duff: Highlighted legislative successes in Connecticut related to reproductive rights and privacy laws, and shared photos of his dog Molly.

Notable Moments:

• Heartwarming exchanges over pet photos and personal achievements.
• Expressions of gratitude from listeners for the podcast’s positive impact on their lives.

Summary: The Good News segment serves as a heartening close to the episode, showcasing the podcast's community and the positive influence it has on its listeners. From thwarted scams to new beginnings with pets and career milestones, the stories underscore themes of resilience, support, and personal growth.

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Conclusion

In this episode, Allison Gill and Dana Goldberg effectively navigate through a tumultuous week in politics, providing listeners with clear and engaging analysis of complex legal and legislative developments. Their interview with Rep. Dan Goldman adds depth to the discussion on congressional hearings, while the Good News segment offers a refreshing balance of positivity. Notable quotes and insightful commentary make this episode a comprehensive update for listeners seeking to stay informed on progressive political issues.

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Notable Quotes Recap:

• Allison Gill [04:31]: “We are going to go over that in depth on the Jack podcast this Sunday. We're going to talk about previous cases that have used 241 and we're going to talk about somebody who said, like a year and a half ago that 241 seemed like probably the easiest solution for a charge against Donald Trump in the January 6th case.”
• Dan Goldman [27:12]: “They are designed at this point primarily as an arm of the Trump defense team and as an arm of the Trump campaign team, and that is essentially all they are doing.”
• Allison Gill [17:00]: “Denying a code of ethical conduct for the Supreme Court is crazy, by the way. They are the most powerful judges in America, and yet they are not required to follow even the most basic ethics standards.”

Transcript

[Allison Gill]

MSW Media. Hey everybody, it's Ag. And welcome to Refried Beans, where we play an episode of the Daily Beans podcast from the same week either one, two or three years ago so we can see how far we've come. So please enjoy this episode from days gone by and note the date in the intro.

[Dana Goldberg]

Refried beans.

[Allison Gill]

I like refried beans.

[Dana Goldberg]

That's why I want to try fried.

[Allison Gill]

Beans, because maybe they're just as good.

[Daniel Goldman]

And we're wasting time.

[Allison Gill]

With swearing. Daily Beans.

[Daniel Goldman]

Daily Beans. Daily Beans.

[Dana Goldberg]

Daily Beans.

[Allison Gill]

Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Friday, July 21, 2023. Today, weird courtroom drama between Judge Trevor McFadden, Special Counsel, Prosecutor John Wyndham and Trump mob consigliere Stanley Woodward. Marjorie Taylor Greene showed pornographic images of Hunter Biden during a committee hearing. A correction on mainstream reporting of the statutes in the Trump target letter, the ex head of the Georgia Republican Party writes a letter to DA Fani Willis asking not to be indicted. A Michigan Shelby Township clerk has been stripped of election duties following his indictment for forgery in the fraudulent elector scheme. And the Senate Judiciary Committee has advanced a SCOTUS ethics bill. I'm Allison Gill.

[Dana Goldberg]

And I'm Dana Goldberg.

[Allison Gill]

Hey Dana. Happy Friday.

[Dana Goldberg]

Happy Friday. It has been a crazy week of news.

[Allison Gill]

Abso friggin lutely. I wrote 50 pages of script this week, so it's nothing to shake a stick at, as one might say. Later in the show today I have the honor of talking to the representative from New York's 10th district, which is Daniel Goldman. Congressman Goldman has agreed to come on the show and discuss some of the hearings that have been happening this week with the Sub Select Committee on Weaponization in the House and the House Oversight Committee. And real quick, before we get into the bulk of the news here, a lot of mainstream media is getting this wrong. New York Times got it right. The Guardian got it right. The statute that's mentioned in the target letter sent to Trump by Jack Smith for January 6th is title 18, US code 241, not 242. So the whole color of law discussions you see going on are irrelevant. And that is according to the New York Times, Maggie Haberman now reporting and Hugo Lolt, the Guardian. It's 241, which is basically the same thing as 242 minus the color of law thing. So we are going to go over that in depth on the Jack podcast this Sunday. We're going to talk about previous cases that have used 241 and we're going to talk about somebody who said, like a year and a half ago that 241 seemed like probably the easiest solution for a charge against Donald Trump in the January 6th case. So with that out of the way, don't forget to listen to Jack this weekend. It's going to be a very informative episode. But we also have a lot of news to get to here, so let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up, earlier today, something bizarre happened at the Prettyman courthouse in Washington, D.C. as you know, the Prettyman courthouse is where the federal grand jury meets Jack Smith's federal grand jury investigating January 6th. It's also where all the D.C. judges hear January 6th cases for the rioters who attacked the Capitol. Judge Boasberg, the chief judge of the district who oversees the grand jury, sits there at the Prettyman courthouse. Judge Beryl Howell, who used to be the chief judge who just sanctioned Rudy Giuliani in the Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss defamation case. She sits there and so does Trump appointee judge Trevor McFadden, who threw a hissy fit today and acted like a giant drama queen. Dana, this is what went down. Oh, as you might also know, Stanley Woodward is a Trump lawyer paid for by the Save America Pack. He represents a slew of Trump witnesses, including but not limited to Kash Patel, Walt Nada, Trump's co conspirator in the documents case. Employee, too, in the documents case. William Russell, who's a Trump campaign aide. He used to Rep. Cassidy Hutchinson until.

[Dana Goldberg]

Cassidy said nope and told her to.

[Allison Gill]

Lie to the January 6th committee. And she fired him and got a better lawyer. And now she's cooperating with Jack Smith. And he also represents Stanley Woodward. Represents. There's more. There's plenty more. But he also represents a handful of January 6th rioters. So here's what went down today at the Prettyman courthouse. Trump aide William Russell was there with his attorney, Stanley Woodward to testify before the federal grand jury investigating Donald Trump for the coup for January 6th. At some point, Stanley Woodward had to excuse himself from the grand jury room, ran across the hall to Trevor McFadden's courtroom to attend the reading of the verdict of another one of his clients.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, my God.

[Allison Gill]

Trump's State department appointee and January 6th rioter Frederico Klein. Now, Klein opted for a bench trial, which means a trial with no jury. And the judge makes the final call, and Trevor is gonna read his verdict in the Klein case. And Stanley Woodward's late, so he's late. So to Judge McFadden's verdict reading, which really I guess upset the sensibilities of Judge Trevor. So he asked Woodward why he was late. And Woodward says, I'm not sure if I can tell you. Because of grand jury secrecy, my other client is testifying before the grand jury. And then Judge McFadden, who does not preside over the grand jury, that's the chief judge, Judge Boasberg. Trevor told Stanley Woodward he would go ahead and waive the grand jury secrecy rule so that Stanley could tell him what made him late. And fucking Stanley. Woodward said in open court, oh, well, my client is testifying about matters that have to do with executive privilege to the grand jury, the federal grand jury. And as if that weren't bad enough, Judge McFadden then sent a court clerk to the federal grand jury room to fetch the special counsel, lead prosecutor John Wyndham, and the other prosecutor and bring them to his courtroom. And he made them sit in the front row while he read his verdict. And then, like children, and then finally called them up to the bench with Woodward, at which point he turned on a court husher. And I had to ask on Twitter, like, what the frick is a court husher? Is it what I think it is? It is. I just learned today, it's a button you press that generates white noise in the courtroom so no one can hear what the judge is discussing. Now, eventually, he dismissed them, Trevor McFadden, and they headed back to the grand jury room, wasting about 45 minutes of their time, the grand jury's time, Judge Boasberg's time, and our time, frankly, they might have had time, other words, at the end of today to vote on a true bill, to vote to indict Donald Trump. If McFadden hadn't had his little hissy fit. Incidentally, Frederico Klein was found guilty on all seven felony counts for his role on January 6th.

[Dana Goldberg]

I'm telling you, this, Newsweek has just been bananas. All right, hd, I know. This is from Jordan Hermani at Michigan Live, Shelby Township clerk. His name is Stan Grot. He must refrain from administering any and all official duties while eight felony charges are pending against him for his involvement in a scheme to replace Michigan's Electoral College representatives in 2020. This is all about the fake elector scheme now. The Department of State's Bureau of Elections announced Grotz removal of duties Thursday via a letter. News of the move was first reported by the Associated Press bureau of Election Director Jonathan Brader. He wrote the allegations, quote, fundamentally undermine voter confidence in the integrity of elections. While acknowledging he could be eventually exonerated. Yes, went on to say, therefore, in order to ensure public trust and confidence in the integrity and security of elections, I'm instructing you to refrain from administering any elections held in Shelby Township while these charges are pending against you. That was the end of Braider's quote. Now Grot did not immediately return a phone message. He told the Associated Press he did intend to abide by the letter's request. He was One of those 16 individuals charged earlier this week that we had talked about with a handful of felonies stemming from their attempts to submit an alternate slate of pro tunneled electors in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Now these include conspiracy to commit forgery, which is a 14 year felony by the way, two counts of forgery, also a 14 year felony conspiracy. Conspiracy to commit uttering and publishing which is a what?

[Allison Gill]

14 year felony.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yep. Uttering and publishing which is what ag.

[Allison Gill]

A 14 year felony.

[Dana Goldberg]

Uh huh. A conspiracy to commit election law forgery which is no five year felony. And two counts of election law forgery which is also a five year felony. The group, according to Attorney General Dana Nestle, who rocks the fucking box, allegedly sought to nullify the result of the presidential election in Michigan in order to ensure Trump then president would receive a second term. And this is a quote again the false electors actions undermined the public's faith in the integrity of our elections and we believe also plainly violated the laws by which we administer our elections in Michigan, Nestle said in a statement on Tuesday. My department has prosecuted numerous cases of election law violations throughout my tenure and it would be malfeasance of the greatest magnitude if my department failed to act here in the face of overwhelming evidence of an organized effort to circumvent the lawfully cast ballots of millions of Michigan voters in a presidential election. End quote. Thank you Dana. Now, as part of his removal of duties, Grot cannot. These are the things he cannot do. He cannot perform voter registration or routine list maintenance. He's not allowed to order election supplies or ballots. He can't process absent voter ballots applications or issue absent voter ballots. He's not allowed to prepare polling locations or recruit, assign or train election inspectors. He's not allowed to maintain membership on the township's election commission. He can't have a role in the logic or accuracy testing what that does. It ensures voting equipment and ballots used in an upcoming election or properly display a ballot, collect votes and tabulate those results. He's not allowed to address election day issues at all. And he can't compile unofficial results or a post election canvas. There's a lot of shit he cannot do, which is probably basically everything he's supposed to do now. Others also charged for their role in the false electors plot. They include former Michigan Republican Party co chair Michonne Matic, Kathy Burden, who's one of the three Republican National Committee representatives for Michigan, Kent Vanderwood, the mayor of Wyoming, and Marion Sheridan, who's the party's current grassroots vice chair. These weren't just 16 schlubs that lived in Michigan. These are Republicans that have held office or that have committee assignments. Like this is. It's crazy.

[Allison Gill]

Yep. They're lawmakers.

[Dana Goldberg]

Unbelievable.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah. Stan Grot. I am Grot. That's interesting name. All right. Up next, another fraudulent elector is in trouble, this time in Georgia. Lawyers for Georgia's former Republican Party chair are again trying to fend off their client's possible indictment into criminal interference with the 2020 election. Ex GOP Chair David Schaeffer was within his constitutional rights when he cast an alternate. Alternate is in quotes, Electoral College ballot for then President Trump and therefore should not be criminally charged. That's what Schaeffer's lawyers told Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. He was within his constitutional rights. His right to forgery, his right to commit crimes is protected, apparently under the First, Fifth and 14th Amendment, according to this letter.

[Dana Goldberg]

So crazy.

[Allison Gill]

The attorneys made their case in a 13 page letter sent to Willis on July 18. Willis is expected to seek the indictment against several individuals in August. She has previously identified Schaeffer as one of the targets. But Schaeffer, who Presided over the December 14, 2020 meeting of the alternate electors, is protected. This is according to him, by the First, Fifth and 14th Amendments. Such actions are not and cannot be criminal or criminalized, and any attempt to do so is a direct assault of those most highly protected constitutional freedoms. Wow. The lawyers attached an expert declaration from Todd Zywicki, a George Mason University law professor who specializes in laws governing presidential elections. Schaeffer's actions, Zywicki wrote, were lawful, reasonable, proper, and necessary. And. And any suggestion they could be criminal ignores legal and historical precedent, the reasoned advice of counsel that counsel received, and the plain language of the Constitution, federal and Georgia law. Oh, well. Oh, my.

[Dana Goldberg]

No, dear, that's a. That's a pearl clutch.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah. The letter to Willis was sent the same day Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessa filed her criminal charges that we just talked about. Like the electors in Georgia, Michigan's GOP electors, in casting their votes for Trump and Pence, said they were the duly elected and qualified electors that signed their name to that piece of shit forgery and then put it in the fucking mail to the National Archives. Those crimes. Those equals crimes. Sorry.

[Dana Goldberg]

Those equals crimes.

[Allison Gill]

Yes. Quote, that was a lie. Nestle said in a statement. She added that the electors may have believed the now debunked myths of vote tampering or ballot dumps and may have genuinely believed that there was. It was their patriotic duty, but that did not give them the legal justification to violate the law and upend the constitution. Just like O.J. couldn't go steal back his memorabilia with a gun.

[Dana Goldberg]

Also against the law.

[Allison Gill]

It might be your memorabilia, but you can't go in and get it with a gun. Willis could take similar stances with Schaefer because there's a way to do that within the law, right? You file a complaint, you call the police, you tell them, this guy has your stuff. There's a way to do this within the law here in the United States as well. You go to court, you file a lawsuit, you file 64 lawsuits and lose them all.

[Dana Goldberg]

All of them. One of them. Twice, I think.

[Allison Gill]

Now, it says here Willis could take a similar stance with Schaeffer. That's Fani Willis and some of the other false electors in Georgia. Her office, though, has given immunity deals to at least eight of the 16 false electors. That's according to a lawyer and the lawyer for those individuals. Recent campaign disclosures show the state GOP paid $340,000 to lawyers representing the false electors. As for Schaeffer, he is situated differently than any other electors, according to his lawyer, Craig Gillen, Holly Pearson, and Anthony Lake. His lawyers, plural. Sorry about that. Yeah, he's differently situated because he fucked around a lot more. That's what makes him differently situated. And he also didn't cut a deal with the government. That also makes him differently situated. At the time of the alternate slate of electors, when they convened a lawsuit challenging the Georgia election results with Trump and Schaeffer as co plaintiffs, was pending. The lawyers said Schaeffer had a First Amendment right to pursue that litigation, and his Electoral College vote for Trump was to ensure that his lawsuit would not be rendered moot and effectively waive his rights. That's not how it works, bro. Broseph. There was no such litigation pending in Michigan at the time. So that's why his lawyers are like, we're different from Michigan. Oh, because you had a bullshit lawsuit that was thrown out of court pending that you signed, by the way, knowing that those numbers were false because they had already had the reports from the two research firms saying that they were wrong. Anyway, Schaeffer and the other electors did nothing wrong, this letter to Willis insisted, because very experienced and reputable attorneys who, by the way, have been sanctioned and are almost disbarred, provided explicit legal advice to Mr. Schaefer and other electors based on the existing law and the Hawaii precedent, which is a whole other story. Their actions were entirely proper and lawful. No, they weren't.

[Dana Goldberg]

No, sorry, they were not A.G. thank you. And last in this section, this is from Melissa Quinn at cbs. The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday advanced legislation that would require the Supreme Court to adopt an ethics code, with Democrats following through on their pledge for legislative action after a series of reports about justice who Clarence Thomas's relationship with Harlan Crow now call the Supreme Court Ethics Recusal and Transparency Act. The bill from the lead sponsor, which was Sheldon Whitehouse, who's fucking brilliant, cleared the committee along party lines, not surprising on an 11:10 vote. During the committee's consideration of the measure, Republicans introduced several amendments touching on the protests outside Supreme Court justices Homes, the leak of the draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, Supreme Court expansion and imposing new rules on reporters who cover the high court. All of the GOP senators proposed changes failed, by the way, with the exception of one, an amendment from Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana that after it was modified, condemns racist attacks and comments against current or former justices, including Thomas, which passed unanimously, by the way, because Democrats don't like racist comments. Period. Now GOP lawmakers have said White House's bill is dead on arrival in the full Senate and the Republican controlled house, which is unfortunately true. Now, the legislation, which has backing from more than two dozen Senate Democrats. It would require the Supreme Court to adopt a code of conduct for the justices and implement procedures to handle complaints of judicial misconduct. It would also require the high court to impose more rigorous rules for the disclosure of gifts, travel and income received by the justices and law clerks. Now, this is a big deal because apparently some of these aren't illegal. They're just really shady. Yep. And they shouldn't be happening.

[Allison Gill]

Yep.

[Dana Goldberg]

Now the measures call for the Supreme Court to establish procedural rules that require each party in a case or entities filing, quote, friend of the court briefs to disclose their gifts, income or reimbursement provided to the court's members and hardens rules for when justices or judges must recuse themselves from cases. Now Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat that we know and love, said the legislation would bring Supreme Court justices in line with with other federal officials and is a quote, crucial first step in restoring confidence in the high court, which has a pretty good approval rating of about like the live action of Cats. I think that's basically that low. Now this is a quote from the story. The live action of Cats was so bad, the movie live action of Cats was so bad, I think they may actually have a better approval rating than the Supreme Court right now. Now this is a quote. Unlike every other federal official, Supreme Court justices are not bound by a code of ethical conduct, which is fucking crazy, by the way. They are the most powerful judges in America, and yet they are not required to follow even the most basic ethics standards. It's time for the highest court in the land to be held to the highest ethical standards. He said in a statement. Now, today's markup affirms Senate Democrats commitment to rebuild our country's faith in our judiciary and re establish legitimacy in our courts. We must ensure that the Supreme Court is not in the pocket of the ultra wealthy or Harlan Crow. It doesn't really single him out or MAGA extremists. Now the proposal, though, is highly unlikely to become law due to the opposition for Republicans in the Senate and the House. GOP senators have painted the revelations about Thomas as part of a broader attempts by Democrats to delegitimize the high court's conservative majority. After major decisions on abortion, guns, affirmative action and religious rights, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy suggested he did not believe Congress should step in at all. Of course he doesn't. And this is A quote from McCarthy. I think the Supreme Court, with three separate branches of government, has the ability to oversee themselves in this process. Justice. The House is doing their work here. McCarthy said that at a press conference on Monday. Senator Lindsey Graham, who is the Judiciary Committee's top Republican, puts the bill's prospects in stark terms, saying, and I quote, this ill conceived effort in the name of reforming the court will go nowhere in the United States Senate. And. Yep. And went on to say this is a bill to destroy a conservative court.

[Allison Gill]

Well, hold on, hold on a second. Yeah, so putting ethics into the court destroys the conservative part of it.

[Dana Goldberg]

And according to Lindsey Graham.

[Allison Gill]

Wow, great quote. Yeah.

[Dana Goldberg]

Lindsey went on to say, oh, I'm sure this is going to get better. This bill is to destroy a conservative court. It's a bill to create a situation where conservative judges can be disqualified by statute. And Lindsey, it also disqualifies Democratic. And of course judges are supposed to be not Democrat or Republican, which we know is such bullshit. But stop. Went on to say it's a Bill to rearrange the makeup of how the court governs itself. And it's an assault on the court itself, actually. Now if you want to talk about assault, talk to Clarence Thomas and possibly Kavanaugh. He said that during a judiciary committee. By the way, while there have been previous proposals focusing on the ethics rules at the Supreme Court, momentum behind legislative action built over. The news organization Publica revealed that Thomas accepted luxury vacations and travel arrangements from Harlan Crow. We know that now this was over the course of their 25 year friendship. The outlet also found that Crow purchased three properties from Thomas and his family for more than 133,000 in 2014. We know that he paid tuition for Thomas's grand nephew at two private schools. We know that there's a lot of interesting things happening with Harlan Crow. And I don't know about you Ag, but I always pay tuition for my friends kids and I buy, I buy houses for them, you know, just to help them out.

[Allison Gill]

Well, I mean, if they're going to take you on a luxury yacht. Oh, no, it's the same. Oh, they're doing all of it. Yeah, yeah.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, and I only took that because who else was going to use that first class seat? It was just empty.

[Allison Gill]

Very one sided relationship. I mean, Harlan Crow is just being used, isn't he?

[Dana Goldberg]

Well, it seems the Senate Judiciary Committee and Finance Committees have asked Crowe for an accounting of the gifts, trips and travel arrangements he's given Thomas, though he has rebuffed their request, saying we don't, we don't have a right.

[Allison Gill]

Listen to me, Dick Durbin, read my lips. Subpoena the man you have. Subpoena. Power. Subpoena.

[Dana Goldberg]

Do it.

[Allison Gill]

Do it. All right, everybody. We'll be right back with Congressman Daniel Goldman to discuss the oversight and weaponization hearings from this week. Stick around. We'll be right back after these messages. We'll be right back, everybody. Welcome back. Joining me today, he sits on the House Sub Select Committee on Weaponization and the House Oversight Committee representing New York's 10th district. Please welcome Congressman Daniel Goldman. Hi, Congressman Goldman, how are you?

[Daniel Goldman]

Good, how are you, Allison?

[Allison Gill]

I'm doing great today, although, you know, it's been a marathon of interesting hearings for you and I've been doing my best to watch all of it and feeling for you as you have to sit through a lot of this. But when you are up for questioning, it's always important to, to pay attention. And today they're having a, there was a censorship hearing, I guess, right in the talk a little bit about that hearing and what your line of questioning about the laptop was with the guests that were there today.

[Daniel Goldman]

Yeah. So look, the. The biggest guest, the highest profile guest was Robert Kennedy Jr. Who purportedly was supposed to come because of Republicans assertions that he was censored by social media, presumably at the direction of the government. It was pretty interesting to me. Two things. One is he talked almost nothing at all about what happened to anything specific about him, other than that his accounts were taken down because they were spreading disinformation and misinformation, including that Hank Aaron died because of the vaccine and other things. And then the other thing that was truly remarkable to me is that they had a hearing with a witness, ostensibly who was censored, except that the tweet that the White House referenced of his was never taken down. So how can you have censorship if whatever you were saying and wanted to say remained out there in the. In the public? And I think that's just a reflection of both the charade that this committee is, but also the real effort, which was to bring him to essentially get. Give him a platform to espouse his views as the only real primary candidate who's announced against President Biden. And it is the continuation of the politicization of congressional hearings. And they are designed at this point primarily as an arm of the Trump defense team and as a arm of the Trump campaign team, and that is essentially all they are doing. I focused my line of questioning less on RFK Jr. Who I don't really think has anything worthy or interesting to say, especially as someone who has actually said that he would direct his Attorney General to prosecute Anthony Fauci, which feels to me like an effort to weaponize the federal government, to direct an Attorney General to prosecute your enemy. And certainly his late great father would be quaking in his grave if he knew that that's what his son was espousing. But I focused more on one of the authors of the now infamous Hunter Biden laptop story in October of 20, who is essentially a fringe right wing journalist espousing all sorts of baseless accusations.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, I thought that that line of questioning was. It was superb. It was succinct, because there were a couple of things that you brought up with regard to the laptop and Ms. Morris, I believe her name was. And basically you started off with whether or not they were able to do a forensic audit on. Well, first of all, the laptop is real. Right? It is a keyboard with a thing, but you got a hard drive. And second of all, did you do A forensic audit. How did that line of questioning turn out?

[Daniel Goldman]

Look, I thought I was able to kind of show two things. They keep talking about this laptop, laptop, laptop, and that the FBI had this laptop, and therefore it's somehow legitimate, et cetera. But the reality is they didn't get that laptop. They got a hard drive from Rudy Giuliani, who was associating with an agent of Russian intelligence, which she conceded in the months before he provided it to the New York Post. Now, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that a laptop can be manipulated. And certainly Russia has the technology to do that. You can alter documents, you can delete them, you can add them, you can keep some on that are legitimate.

[Allison Gill]

That's a well known Russian op, right, Is to have some legitimate stuff to legitimize the stuff that you put on there that's fabricated. I mean, that's a very common thing that we see.

[Daniel Goldman]

Exactly. And so the point I was trying to draw out is whatever they want to say about, you know, the FBI's laptop, we and those at, you know, Twitter and other social media companies were focused on the source of the story, the lack of credibility that he had, his association with Russian intelligence agents who we were trying to prevent to influence the election. And then, of course, the story was, I think, ultimately taken off the platforms for about 24, maybe 48 hours. But the controversy that it generated drew far more eyes to it than it would have ever otherwise gotten. So the notion that this had some impact on the election is farcical. Unfortunately, in these hearings, you only get five minutes. There were a number of other things that I, I wanted to address. One of the things that this witness said is that the story is 100% accurate. At other hearings previously, I have demonstrated that the very first sentence of it is diametrically opposite to the facts, which is that the Ukrainian prosecutor general was ultimately removed because he was not prosecuting corruption, including at Burisma, not because he was. And so, in fact, by removing him and putting someone else who would prosecute corruption, it is, you know, purportedly or potentially bad for Burisma. And so the whole premise of the Burisma allegations, which have been debunked numerous times, but in numerous ways, including in our. In the first impeachment that I worked on, are now trying, of course, to find some sort of hook with the House Republicans, but. But they're. They're unable to do it in part because it's just not true.

[Allison Gill]

I guess it depends how you define corruption, so. Depends on what side of the corruption aisle you're on. And you also brought up the very good point that Goulding, the other person who worked on the on that was not in the byline for that story and had his name removed. And she eventually had to concede that point too, about the New York Post story. So I thought that was a really effective line of question. Before I let you go, I know you're very busy. I want to talk a little bit about the hearing yesterday with the Oversight Committee. And I think that, well, first of all, it went on for a very long time. But I think that one of the top stories out of that is what ended up happening with Marjorie Taylor Greene's presentation with showing actual nude photos and I guess trying to justify that it had something to do with proving to the committee that there was some sort of tax write off that needed to happen. But I found both of those, quote, unquote whistleblowers to be not very credible. And it seemed like what they were talking about writing some things off as business expenses that maybe were personal expenses and not having to warrant a special counsel. And they make you argue about that instead of understanding the grand fact that the person, David Weiss, who was investigating all this had more power basically than a special counsel and could prosecute and charges anywhere. But tell me your top line thoughts about that hearing and what your takeaways were.

[Daniel Goldman]

Well, look, when ultimately the top line that come out of it was the shameful, despicable and real gratuitous attacks and embarrassment by Marjorie Taylor Greene, there was no need or basis for her to show that other than just to embarrass and humiliate Hunter Biden, which they've been freely doing regularly. It is, it's shameful and disgusting at this point. But I do think on the substance of the hearing, a couple things came out. The first is that these witnesses didn't understand the difference between a special counsel and a special attorney. So when they testified that U.S. attorney Weiss said that he would not become a special counsel, which, by the way, Bill Barr said he did not need to appoint him as a special counsel because of course, he's a Trump appointed US Attorney in the Trump Justice Department when this investigation began. And many of their complaints related to what they call slow walking occurred under the Bill Barr Justice Department. But what ultimately David Weiss has now written a couple times to the Judiciary Committee is that he was assured that if needed, he would have all the authority he wanted, including being appointed as a special attorney, which would mean that he could bring a case outside of his own jurisdiction in Delaware. So that was a, that is a critical clarification that undermines a lot of their claims. In addition, you know, you worked in the Justice Department. I was a prosecutor for 10 years. And as I said yesterday in the hearing, I've never met an agent who didn't want to charge every subject with every crime. That is, that's what they're trained to do. They're trained to gather evidence. They're trained to try to put together a, a case to prove, prove a crime. But there were a couple critical things that, that happened here that demonstrate why they, their complaints are off base because it's not their job to make the ultimate charging decision. One is that the DOJ Tax Division, which has to approve all tax indictments, wrote a hundred page memo on this case and did not give it its pure seal of approval. There are three assessments that the Tax Division gives approval, discretion and declination. And in this case, they didn't give an approval, they gave discretion, which meant that they had real reservations and they were leaving the charging decision up to the US Attorney's office. So after the US Attorney's office gets that back then, of course, the prosecutors meet extensively with defense counsel, as is normal in this case, and they start learning more and more about what the potential defenses are. These agents didn't know what was in that DOJ tax memoir, and they were not privy to any of the conversations that the prosecutors had with the defense attorneys. And so that is exactly why the prosecutors have discretion to consider how to prove the case, because it's the prosecutor's job to prove it at trial. It is not the investigating agents. And so essentially they just didn't have all the information to support what they were alleging. And so I think that really undermined their allegations.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, well, I mean, if they really truly want every crime to be prosecuted, there'd be more than three statutes mentioned in the target letter that Donald Trump received last.

[Daniel Goldman]

Well, the best part about what Marjorie Taylor Greene said is not the disgusting photo that she put up, but I believe she said at some point that everyone should be charged if there's any evidence of a crime. And I hope she considers that as she looks at the indictments of Donald Trump.

[Allison Gill]

That's agreed. Agreed. Thank you so much for your time today. I know you gotta get outta here. We really appreciate you talking to us. 10th District New York Representative Dan Goldman. It's been a pleasure.

[Daniel Goldman]

Thanks so much for having me.

[Allison Gill]

Everybody stick around. We'll be right back with the good.

[Dana Goldberg]

News after these messages.

[Allison Gill]

We'll be right back.

[Dana Goldberg]

Foreign.

[Allison Gill]

Welcome back. It's time for the Good News everyone. Then Good news everyone. And if you have any good news confessions corrections, you want to give a shout out to a loved one or send us an adoptable pet in your area. If you can't pay pod pet tax or do misheard song lyrics, monda greens with us, or photos of your happy place, or frog orgies or baby pictures, anything you want to send us at all, you can send it to [e-mail] and click on contact. We have the good news here. For a Friday, a Friday afternoon, there's no Zoom Happy hour tonight. We're actually having a live meet and greet in Grand Rapids. If you're a patron and you want information on that, you can check your inbox. You must RSVP first up from Linda Pronoun. She and her thank you so much. I love your podcast, but got a very welcome and unexpected bonus from today's Daily Beans. A listener wrote in and told you about a scam that she was almost victimized by. I stupidly fell for the scam and after verifying that it was a scam, reported it to my credit card company and received a credit A very unexpected benefit from listening to a podcast that I love. Thank you to Sarah, your listener who reported her experience, and to you for airing it. Much appreciated.

[Dana Goldberg]

That's great. I love it. That's right. We pass things forward. We pay it forward on the podcast. All right, this is from Cakemeister. I love it. Pronouns he and him. Hey Lady Beans, I love what you do. Your podcasts are a regular part of my news consumption. To keep myself informed as this is my first submission, here are several submissions at once. First, as my pet tax, I've had Lunchbox who's the tortie? Ever since she was a kitten name. I know she's very friendly with strangers and is typically pretty open to belly scritches until she isn't. Secondly, the other week I got to see a family friend's pile of kittens who are adorable.

[Allison Gill]

We got a pile of kittens.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh yeah. Finally my woobies. I don't have an image of my childhood blanket as I sent it to my overseas fiance to give her some comfort it was giving me if our distance gets too much for her. Oh my God. I do have an image of the stuffed zebra I've slept with as a child and the stuffy my fiance sent to me to sleep with to remind me of her. Why are you guys so fucking cute?

[Allison Gill]

I Know, cakemeister.

[Dana Goldberg]

I know p S. I refuse to believe Toto's Africa does not say men on Mars.

[Allison Gill]

Right? Right. Oh, look at the beautiful torti.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, the kitties.

[Allison Gill]

It's a pile. It's a pile of kittens. Oh, my gosh. They're all so cute. They're all different colors, too. You got a white one with an orange tail. You got a ginger. You've got a light ginger. Then you've got a little black one with white toes. Then you've got an all black one. Then you have a little gray tabby. So mama was busy.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, man.

[Allison Gill]

Oh, look at the stuffies.

[Dana Goldberg]

So sweet.

[Allison Gill]

Very cute. Thanks, cakemeister. You guys are awesome. Next up, from Helen Pronoun. She and her I want to share some good news about my amazing daughter. Natalie is 18 and Covid homeschooling. I derailed this smart girl's hope of handling college. She totally could. But that's a story for another day. Natalie has had a love affair with horses since she got on her very first one at 18 months old. She's taken lessons and competed in dressage shows, winning a newcomer's award and many other prizes. She wants to ride professionally, but this mama is clueless about what that process entails, and I didn't know how to guide her. Just last night, we sat down with the owner at her lesson barn, surprised to find out they have a student trainer program and can guide her along the path to becoming a professional rider. Today, we sealed the deal on purchasing her first horse, Whiskey, pictured in the pet cred below. I'm super excited things are falling into place for Natalie and that we're fortunate enough to support her on the road to fulfilling her dreams. Bonus. Can you attempt an equestria guest on Whiskey? Oh, whiskey's beautiful.

[Dana Goldberg]

This one's all you, ag.

[Allison Gill]

There's no answer, so I'm just gonna guess. Thoroughbred.

[Dana Goldberg]

That's what I would say.

[Allison Gill]

Beautiful horse with the blaze. That's the face marking is called a blaze.

[Dana Goldberg]

Thank you. I learn all kinds of new things about horses all the time.

[Allison Gill]

All right, cool. Thank you so much for that submission and how wonderful. What a great thing. I love it when people are on the road to their dreams for serious. You know, serious.

[Dana Goldberg]

All right. Thank you. This is from John Pronoun c and him. Good morning. I just want to say thank you. Long story short, I was born and raised in a traditional Catholic family, and while I always knew I leaned left, socially, I would have considered myself a Republican. Well, going through the pandemic led to a Lot of introspection while finding multiple podcasts eventually leading to yours. I could go all day with details. However, your show has not only fed me the political news, it turns out I'm a junkie for it also exposed me to some things I wasn't comfortable with, which led to a lot of bias. So I can't thank you enough for exposing me to viewpoints and other perspectives. I've definitely grown as a person in part from this show. A lot more to say, so you'll hear more from me, and I will see you in Grand Rapids. Pet Tax. This is Kira. German shepherd. Belgian. Belgian Mall About. Belgian Mall About.

[Allison Gill]

I think it's supposed to be Malinois, but thank you.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yep.

[Allison Gill]

We have a typo here. It just says Mall About.

[Dana Goldberg]

Thank you. And then Opie's a Shih Tzu. Opie kick ass. McDerson always has to poop in the highest location he can find. And Kira is a big, lovey puppy. You know what, John? I love this submission so much because we talk very, like, openly, but almost like we're just sort of in our living room talking to our friends. And a lot of the things that you hear that aren't stories are Ag and I's take on how we feel about the world or our experiences or our communities. And to know that it's affected anyone in a positive way that may have just been learning new things about new communities that they may not have either accepted, supported, or that they had biases toward to knock down those walls. What a fucking gift. John, thank you for the submission and the acknowledgment. I love it. And welcome to the family.

[Allison Gill]

Pretty outstanding. And look at this beautiful pupper.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yep, that is a sweet pupper.

[Allison Gill]

Oh, and here's another beautiful pupper. There's Opie. Oh, my gosh. His face.

[Dana Goldberg]

It is. They're both adorbs.

[Allison Gill]

They are. They're both beautiful dogs. Thank you for that submission, Senator Duff. Pronouns he and him. Hi, AG&DG sending this along because I want to thank you for being strong on so many issues Americans care about. I listen every day, and you give me the strength to continue the fight. Many times we hear about states that are getting it wrong. But today, I want to highlight my state, which I believe gets it right more times than it gets it wrong. Yesterday, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed four bills we passed this legislative session. We adjourned. On June 7th, Connecticut continues to lead the nation on protecting women's reproductive health, safeguarding abortion rights, access to birth control, and keeping health data private. Here's a brief synopsis of the four bills. Protecting medical providers from adverse actions taken by another state. Awesome. Allowing pharmacists to prescribe birth control. Perfect. Increasing access to reproductive care by college students at public institutions of higher education, including gender affirming care. Protecting the privacy of patient health data online. Awesome. More info on each bill can be found on my Facebook page. Enatorduff D U F F Elections have consequences and that's why everyone's vote is so important in Connecticut, Ohio, Wisconsin, Texas and Florida. Wherever you are. We can win everywhere and we could flip the bad to good if everybody votes and brings someone with you. Thanks again for the inspiration. I'm proud to be a part of protecting rights and standing up to the bullies, just like you two and so many others. I'm attaching two pictures. One with Gretchen Raffa from Planned Parenthood New England at the bill signing, who is a great partner and advocate in our fight. Second, from my pod Pet tax, I'll send you our Rescue Molly. Our Gotcha Day was July 17, 2017, so we just celebrated five years of her saving us.

[Dana Goldberg]

Aw. Oh my God. Look at the pup.

[Allison Gill]

Beautiful. Wow. Senator Duff, that's so cool. I'm so glad you send in these updates, my friend.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, it is nice to hear them.

[Allison Gill]

And it's nice that a senator pays their pod Pet tax. Like the we have an ethical senator. I love it.

[Dana Goldberg]

I love it too. I know. And if he had gifts, I bet he would tell us about it. All right, we're going to wrap this one up.

[Allison Gill]

Yep, that's it. It's been a heck of a week and you know I'll do. I may not be able to get a bonus episode out for patrons for the Beans weekly wrap up. I will do my best but I will be traveling this weekend back to the homestead. So please bear with me if I don't. If I'm not able to get that out. We did get a cleanup bonus out so you will have that. And of course we will be recording the Jack podcast for you that will come out this Sunday. Lots of really important details in that particular show. If you haven't been listening, now's a great time to catch up cause the indictments are any day now. We are on full on indictment watch for January 6th. So do you have any final thoughts before we get outta here this weekend?

[Dana Goldberg]

I just want to thank everyone who bought a ticket for Rochester show. We are sold out so I will see everyone a week from Friday who got tickets and the rest of you Hopefully, I'll be performing in a city near you by the end of the year, so I'll keep you updated on dates and my website and all of that. But I just really want to thank you all for the support. And I'll have a couple other gigs coming up later this year that are open to the general public. One of them will be a fundraiser in Ohio for Planned Parenthood because they need our help. And that'll be in October, and I'll give you more information on that. And that'll be in Cincinnati. So if you're near Cincinnati, I'll be hosting that and raising a lot of money for Planned Parenthood.

[Allison Gill]

Ah, awesome. Amazing work, my friend, as always.

[Dana Goldberg]

Thank you.

[Allison Gill]

I hope everybody has a wonderful, wonderful weekend. We'll be back in your ears on Monday. Until then, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health. Vote blue over Q.

[Dana Goldberg]

And please take someone with you.

[Allison Gill]

I've been AG and I've been dg and them's the beans.

[Dana Goldberg]

Refried beans.

[Allison Gill]

I like refried beans.