← The Jim Acosta Show
The Jim Acosta Show
Harry Dunn, Michael Fanone, Molly Jong-Fast and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto
01:08:43
Loading summary
Transcript174 lines
- [00:00]
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto
Foreign.
- [00:07]
Jim Acosta
Show. It's another day that ends in Y and Donald Trump's continued corruption of the presidency. And before we get started, a special thanks to our sponsor incog. Yes, identity theft is real. It's happening and they are fighting back. You'll find a link in the post for this program or you can scan the QR code, check it out and use the code. Jim55 but in the meantime, Trump just gave himself something of a get out of jail free card. As the Justice Department has declared the federal government will not try to audit Trump in the future. All while he is doing sketchy stock trades and running what looks like a crypto grift. Let's discuss with my pal Molly John Fast. Molly, great to see you.
- [00:48]
Molly John Fast
Thanks for having me, Jim.
- [00:50]
Jim Acosta
It's a corruption cavalcade extravaganza, right? Bonanza.
- [00:55]
Molly John Fast
That's right. It's, it's. Look, this is the natural extension of Trumpism, is to just get as crimy as possible. Todd Blanche is on a job interview to end all job interviews. All he wants is Pam Bondi's old job. And so he's cooked up every which way to get it. So here's the drill. He's going to do a 1776 fund which is going to be money for insurrectionists. And if you did insurrection or any other political crime, you may be entitled to compensation. Follow that up with a the I, we will never audit Trump or his sons. But Tiffany, you're out of luck, Tiffany.
- [01:42]
Jim Acosta
I'm sorry, you may have to figure something out on your own. And little Baron too, although he's not so little. He might be in trouble too. But this is how NBC described this. And, and we have a little of this is Todd Blanche's little thing that he wrote up, I guess on a cocktail napkin. We can put that up on screen too. But NBC says acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed an agreement Tuesday declaring the federal government will not seek any sort of audit or payment from the President, his family members and companies on pending tax claims as part of Trump's settlement with the irs. In a sweeping one page addendum to the settlement agreement on Monday establishing a nearly $1.8 billion, you said so called anti weaponization fund. Yes, Blanche agreed that the US Is forever barred and precluded in its in caps forever from prosecuting or pursuing any and all.
- [02:34]
Molly John Fast
I mean it's like pay your attention to this matter. Maybe Donald Trump wrote this.
- [02:39]
Jim Acosta
I mean, look, you know, over speakerphone, loudly and obnoxiously to Todd Blanche.
- [02:45]
Molly John Fast
You'll Remember Todd Blanche as he recently went down to the Texas prison that Ghislaine Maxwell was in and he had a long conversation with her, which the net. Net of which was that she then got moved to a prison camp where she can train puppies.
- [03:03]
Mike Fanone
Right.
- [03:03]
Molly John Fast
So it does strike me that Todd Blanche is up to no good. And you remember, he is Donald Trump's personal lawyer. He will always be Donald Trump's personal lawyer. Even when he's the head, he's still pretty much Donald Trump's personal lawyer.
- [03:17]
Jim Acosta
And it feels like corruption Apprentice. It's sort of now it's like a, it's a, it's a competition as to who could be the most corrupt cabinet member. And Todd Blanche is going for it. He really wants to win at the end here.
- [03:29]
Molly John Fast
And I also think Trump does this thing where he says, like, you know, if you want to win my favor. And I think a really good example of this is that yesterday Trump was obsessed with Thomas Massie losing his seat. And so the Department of Defense, the head of what we call now the Department of War, who is in the middle of like five different wars, okay, Pete Hegseth goes down to rural. He goes down to rural Kentucky to campaign for a House seat. Okay, first of all, this breaks every ethical, what few ethical norms are left. But more importantly, it shows that just really, all Trump cares about, these tiny grievances and his real estate projects and all these people who are supposed to be running the federal government care about is making Trump happy.
- [04:24]
Jim Acosta
Right? And Thomas Massie, his only crime here, maybe he can apply to the weaponization fund, I don't know. But his only crime here is that he wanted the release of the Epstein files. And there's a bunch of, there's aipac, there's the Iran war, there's all this other dollars from apac, and that's a lot. And I don't want to discount that that was a factor in all of this. But I mean, it is, it is another example of that Trump can put out true social posts and get people primaried. And so this is what's going to happen inside the Republican Party. It may, it will doom them in the end and that they're going to get wiped out even worse in the midterms. But, I mean, Thomas Massie is now going to be held up as sort of the bloody sock up on Capitol Hill to the rest of the conference that, hey, you better get behind Trump or else, even if it means you lose in the fall.
- [05:09]
Molly John Fast
It was the most expensive primary, congressional primary ever yeah, something like $40 million. And so it's meant to be a cautionary tale for other Republicans. But what I think is the top line here and the fact that AIPAC got involved is really, as a Jew myself, I find a little worrying, because I don't think there will be people who will blame Jews for the loss, for Thomas Massie's loss. If you are a group that wants to cut back on antisemitism, this might not be the move. So I do think that's really scary. But I also think this is. I just. It just strikes me that this is a president who's wildly unpopular, who's cruising into a midterm, and instead of trying to talk about making gas less expensive or trying to make food less expensive, he is literally laser focused on ballroom events. For the ballroom. Talking about the ballroom. Mad at the parliamentarian because she said the billion dollars for the ballroom can't go into the rescissions package. Like, he is laser focused on Marie Antoinetting it into the midterms.
- [06:25]
Jim Acosta
He is. And the ballroom thing, it just shows how nutty he is right now. I mean, he. He's now talking about having a drone port at the White House, which I really feel like there are not enough Americans focusing on this. We're not focusing enough on this. I don't know what he's talking about, but the White House, I think we have this video the White House put together, like a propaganda video.
- [06:43]
Molly John Fast
Yeah.
- [06:44]
Jim Acosta
Of Trump at the ballroom project. And it's nuts. We should show this. And, you know, this is how, you know, we know that the White House sees him as Kim Jong Un. And this is very Kim Jong Un, like, in the way that he's presiding over, he's like. He's like, you know, the real estate developer, you know, but it's also, if
- [07:02]
Molly John Fast
you're trying to win elections and gas is four and a half dollars and diesel is six dollars, and people are, like, going without food because they can't afford it. And you have the President of the United States being like, I'm using your tax dollars for this.
- [07:19]
Jim Acosta
Right.
- [07:19]
Molly John Fast
Like, I just don't understand what the. Like, you know, I think he thinks that maybe he. With the redistricting, he can stop people from voting or from having actual voting power. But the truth is, people. Until he changes it, which I think he would like to. We're still a democracy, allegedly.
- [07:39]
Jim Acosta
Yes. And the Senate parliamentarian, which I don't know. Does Trump know what that is or what that means? I have a senator coming up a little bit Later. Who's. We're going to talk to her about this? Catherine Cortez Masto. But I mean, the Senate parliamentarian says, no, you need 60 votes to get this funding through. This is not one of those things where you can just wink and John Thune makes it happen. They actually have to go through a procedure here. And it looks like, you know, he's up a creek on all of this. But go ahead.
- [08:05]
Molly John Fast
And I just, I'm just interrupt you. I would pull back and think about. Remember the last time a parliamentarian said no Democrats were trying to get student loan forgiveness. Okay, so here's Democrats trying to get student loan forgiveness for people who are drowning in debt from going to college.
- [08:22]
Mike Fanone
Yeah.
- [08:23]
Molly John Fast
Versus Donald Trump, who is trying to get $1 billion for a ballroom in the White House.
- [08:31]
Jim Acosta
But I'm telling you what I think he's going to do is the reason why he keeps bringing up this nutty drone port thing, which sounds like something Elon Musk had a brain fart about. He keeps bringing this up because they're going to try to twist this into being a quasi military project and they're going to steal the money from the Pentagon budget because, you know, we're going to get a. It's like a trillion and a half dollar Pentagon budget that they're. That Secretary Axe Body Spray wants to have passed.
- [08:53]
Molly John Fast
Yeah.
- [08:53]
Jim Acosta
While he's campaigning for Republicans and red districts and, and I think that's how they're going to try to pull this off.
- [09:01]
Molly John Fast
Body spray.
- [09:02]
Jim Acosta
That's what I call him.
- [09:04]
Molly John Fast
It's very naughty, but probably right. He's. I think that's.
- [09:07]
Jim Acosta
Doesn't he look. He looks like Pete Hegseth. And you know, my producer Sam always likes to put up the same picture of Pete Hegseth every time I say Pete Hegseth. And we'll see how fast they can get this picture together.
- [09:18]
Molly John Fast
He's like on his 10th wife. Like, the guys, all these guys are like, so religious and they're on their 14th wife.
- [09:25]
Jim Acosta
There he is. There's Secretary Axe Body Spray.
- [09:27]
Molly John Fast
I mean, I just think, like, if you're gonna pretend to be religious, at least try to keep it to like one or maybe two wives.
- [09:35]
Jim Acosta
You know, I listen. You know, Donald Trump's on the third. And I mean, judging by some of the reports, I don't know, maybe they're A fourth is waiting in the wings. Who knows? But the other thing too is that he keeps stuff that is going to be immediately injected into campaign ads. He was talking about how it's Just peanuts. The way that the gas prices are going up. I think we have that piece of video, too. But I mean, he just keeps saying this is peanuts.
- [10:04]
Harry Dunn
And I appreciate everybody putting up with
- [10:06]
Molly John Fast
it for a little while.
- [10:07]
Harry Dunn
It won't be much longer, but you could have. And frankly, there is so much oil out there. One of the things that is happening is these big ships are coming up to Texas, Louisiana and Alaska.
- [10:19]
Daniel Hodges
Yes.
- [10:19]
Jim Acosta
They're coming to the America Gas station. That's the other crazy things that he talks about, Molly. He says that the oil tankers can just come to Texas and buy some good old American oil in the Gulf of America and that that will solve the energy crisis. He explains things like he's explaining them to children. And when it's not true.
- [10:39]
Molly John Fast
Well, it's not true. There's like, I mean, I think there's a larger issue here, which is like how, how, how out of it is this guy? Because sometimes he talks and you think to yourself, this doesn't even sound right. So. And, you know, he just has this sort of lack of a kind of frontal lobe, the ability to not, you know, where he has the thought, but he can't not act out on it. And that's what we're seeing. And again, you know, we're, we got Donald Trump misadventuring throughout the globe. You know, globetrotting from Venezuela to Iran now to Cuba and the thing. Right. And we have the deficit growing and growing. We're not getting real accounting of the war. I talked to Jason Crow on my podcast. He said that he thinks that a lot of times they get briefed in the Gang of Eight, and some of this stuff is not necessarily. It's very politicized. You know, Donald Trump has really, if you're not on the Trump train, there's really no place for you in the Republican Party, even if you're a nonpartisan government employee.
- [11:50]
Jim Acosta
Yes.
- [11:50]
Daniel Hodges
No.
- [11:50]
Jim Acosta
His bullshit and propaganda, it has colored everything top to bottom in the federal government, and that includes the intelligence I assume that the lawmakers are getting right now. And who knows what's going to happen with Cuba. You mentioned Cuba. I know. I talked about it on your podcast. So people watch your podcast and see me talking about Cuba. But it, you know, when they indict Raul Castro, who's 94 years old, and who knows what kind of state he is in right now, it. That says to me that they're, it's sort of like Maduro. They're getting the charges ready so they can send in the commandos and do one of these things. And I will just tell people that Cuba is not Venezuela. Cuba is 90 miles from the United States. It's 90 miles off the coast of Key West. And Bob Gates, the former Defense secretary, was just on a talk show the other day saying, watch out for a Cuban humanitarian crisis coming to this country. And so. But, Molly, these, this is, this, this is why he's in sort of I don't give a fuck mode. He does not care about the consequences of any of this right now.
- [12:48]
Molly John Fast
Yeah. And I also think, look, this is, you know, all of these adventuring, all this foreign adventuring. Remember, first of all, Donald Trump ran on no more Foreign Wars. So I just worth reminding people of that. But none of this is settled. Right. The Iranians were still negotiating. We've killed the Ayatollah Khomeini, who was a much less reactionary figure and quite old. 87, 88. And we've replaced him with his younger, way more reactionary son, who has had his father, wife, and various other family members murdered. He's also been injured in these strikes. He is incredibly religious and angry. We bombed various parts of Iran. The Iranians, you know, the. Probably what this administration has said we've done does not match reporting. So Iranians still have quite a lot of missiles, which they are happy to shoot at the straits, which oil and gas need to get through. So there's no. We're no closer to a solution just because Donald Trump isn't thinking about it right now. And, you know, as this clock ticks and as the straits remain closed, gas gets more and more expensive and diesel gets more and more expensive because we have less and less supply going into summer.
- [14:10]
Jim Acosta
No. And it could be the most expensive summer ever or in a very long time for a lot of Americans. And since you're in New York, I'll ask you sort of a New York question, which is, I guess the markets have gotten to the point and the guys on Wall street have gotten to the point now where they just. Are they not even really factoring in Donald Trump anymore into what's happening? Because it seems to me that they completely, you know, they're just sort of gambling with, with, with, you know, the, the entire economy right now that Donald Trump will taco or it won't taco? I mean, it just seems like this is insane.
- [14:44]
Molly John Fast
So what I would say about this is that Donald Trump has done all of these, like, make America casino things which have pumped, propped up the stock market. But the stock market, as you and I both know, is not the Economy. So, like, he's pumped up, for example. A great example is Zinn. So the Wall Street Journal had a piece yesterday about Zinn. This administration loves it. It loves Zinn. It fired. Let's just fast forward. Let's go back for a minute. They fired somebody in the Health and Human Services because they wouldn't approve Zinn fast enough.
- [15:18]
Jim Acosta
Right?
- [15:18]
Molly John Fast
They wouldn't approve flavored vapes fast enough.
- [15:20]
Jim Acosta
Right?
- [15:21]
Molly John Fast
Flavored vapes. There's a reason that flavored vapes were taken off the market. It was because they were getting children into smoking. Right. That was the thinking was that flavored vapes were really impressionable. Children ended up smoking flavored vapes. Now flavored vapes coming back on the market. Zinn. This administration practically doing PR for Zen RFK Jr takes it. It is a nicotine pouch. The point is, this administration has opened the door to a lot of stuff you could only do in Las Vegas. Right?
- [15:55]
Daniel Hodges
Right.
- [15:56]
Molly John Fast
Like, you know, you can gamble on anything ever. You can gamble on whether or not a world leader is going to be deposed. And what we're seeing actually is that there's a lot of insider gambling happening. So they made America a casino, which will. Which right now. And especially because the AI stuff, there's just a feeling there's no regulation. And so it's pumping up the Dow. But what's going to happen sooner or later is that, you know, it's like, it reminds me of Looney Tunes, you know, when the character, the coyote would run off the cliff, right. Then realize they're going, yeah, that's where we are.
- [16:36]
Jim Acosta
That's where we are. And. And apparently it's okay for Donald Trump to. To buy stocks in companies after he's pumped them up publicly. And that was.
- [16:48]
Molly John Fast
So the FT had this incredible graph, which was basically, Donald Trump was never a stock trader until his second term. And then he got bit by the Nancy Pelosi bug. And he is now he just trades and trades and trades. And when asked about this. So yesterday, JD Vance, Donald Trump's vp, who is desperately trying to out Marco. Marco Rubio. Martin, you'll remember last week, Marco Rubio did a presser. It was. People liked it because he has slightly better personality than J.D. vance. This week, J.D. vance did it. And he could not have been less likable had he tried. And watching J.D. vance try to be likable is almost worse than watching J.D. vance scream.
- [17:32]
Daniel Hodges
Oh, it's painful.
- [17:33]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [17:34]
Molly John Fast
And in it, he said, you can't expect Donald Trump to know he's so wealthy he Just trades up. And the point of all of this is that people who are in government should not be trading stock. It should be illegal. Members of Congress, Senators, presidents, if you guys need to trade stock, you should not be taking our tax dollars.
- [17:54]
Jim Acosta
Right. And it's part of the reason why it's totally nuts that the Justice Department just gave him a get out of jail free card or get out of being audited card with the irs.
- [18:04]
Molly John Fast
It's not legal. I mean, I don't think there's any world.
- [18:08]
Jim Acosta
Right. I mean, if he's doing all this shady stuff with crypto and stock trading, I mean, it seems like the IRS might want some of that money. It just seem to me that's what would happen to you and I
- [18:20]
Molly John Fast
of Trump 2.0 is that white collar crimes are not real crimes. And that. And you'll see they're constantly pardoning white collar criminals. They're constantly making these little payout deals. Remember Justin's son? Remember? So I do think that's something we have seen a lot in this administration. I think we'll continue to see it.
- [18:41]
Jim Acosta
Well, Molly, thank you so much as always. And I have Senator Catherine Cortez Masto waiting in the wings. I can bring her in very briefly.
- [18:48]
Molly John Fast
Hi, Senator.
- [18:49]
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto
Hello, Molly. I caught you a little calling out Las Vegas. I love it.
- [18:54]
Molly John Fast
Well, I just. Well, we love Las Vegas, but do we love. I, I'm not sure that Poly Market should be operating.
- [19:02]
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto
We are with you 100%. We're trying to prevent the, the Poly Market and those contracts from. For the reasons you just said. Insider trading, national security. No. Consumer protection. All of the above.
- [19:14]
Jim Acosta
The list goes on and on. No question.
- [19:16]
Molly John Fast
Gambling in Las Vegas.
- [19:18]
Jim Acosta
Right. And on Wall street, as it turns out, and in D.C. thank you, Molly. Good to see you. And Senator, thank you so much for joining me on the show. Really appreciate it.
- [19:28]
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto
I'm excited to join you. Jim, thanks for the invite.
- [19:31]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, you bet. I mean, I guess I just want to get your sense of your reaction to, I guess, the acting Attorney General Tod Blanche, putting out this addendum to this fund that was created, you know, earlier this week, they put out an addendum that basically says that Donald Trump and his family or members of his family cannot be audited from here on out, no matter what there. It's even been capitalized in certain places. I'm sure you've seen this. I guess. What's your reaction to that? Do you think it's legal?
- [20:01]
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto
Well, let me say a couple of things. First of all, as a, as an attorney in a former AUSA right here in Washington in D.C. it's embarrassing. It really is. I have never seen more self dealing and corruption than I have with this president in this administration. And really in the work that I've done in the history, I don't know, I'm hearing in the history of the country, this is the most corrupt administration.
- [20:24]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [20:25]
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto
And what, and I think people need to understand this because what, what he has done is not only has he brought that level of grift and corruption with him into the White House, he has surrounded himself and put people in position that actually help him and benefit him with the grift and that self dealing. This is a perfect example. This is why this is so outrageous and I think why many former Federal Attorneys, current AUSAs, and that's why we saw the general counsel and the treasury, everybody's just outraged by it. I've never seen anything quite like it. And I, and that's why many here in Washington, amongst my colleagues and some Republicans are rightfully outraged by what they have seen. And not only that last minute and by the way, remember Blanch was before the budget committee hearing and he was talking about the weaponization fund that they went into, which is outrageous enough. But he didn't bring this up. This wasn't really brought out until later on because it wasn't part of the original settlement agreement. It was a separate addendum that all of a sudden it comes on the website. And not only that, let me add one more thing to this.
- [21:34]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [21:34]
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto
Most, most crime, most crime people don't advertise it. This administration, because of the support from the Supreme Court, because of everything that they've done, they are blatant about what they are doing. I mean the very fact that he put it on the website for people to see that he had really, he is just putting it out there thinking nothing can be done to him, he can't be prosecuted for anything. So he doesn't really care now who sees it or does it. And he is going to benefit himself, his family, his businesses, his allies and those who stand with him. As we have seen from the January six pardons from those folks that came into the Capitol, harmed our police officers, destroyed the Capitol in support of Donald Trump.
- [22:19]
Jim Acosta
No, and I want to ask you about that, but I mean just to button up this part of it, the get out of jail free aspect of it, you know, when he's engaging in these sketchy stock trades, you know, he'll pump up a company on CNBC or something like that and then we'll find out, lo and behold and behold later, that he's bought tens of thousands of shares of that company when he's doing this. Also very sketchy crypto, it seems like a crypto grift, you know, with his personal family. And I just seems to me the IRS might want some of that money that, you know, that he might be, he might have to pay some taxes in that regard. And that seems like what he's trying to do on the front end is say, I'm not going to pay any taxes on this. And the IRS can't audit before they can't come after him. It just, it's sort of like what you're saying, that he's advertising his corruption. He's putting it out there.
- [23:05]
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto
Well, and then think about this. The other thing he's running around saying to try to take people's money and try to, to create these slush funds. He's trying to say that. And the Doge, remember the Doge came in because there was so much fraud and abuse. There's fraud and abuse everywhere. We've got to stop it. And then when we say, okay, well, we need funds to go into the IRS to make sure we can catch the fraud and abuse so that we can audit people and then prosecute them, he clearly is not supportive of that when it comes to him or his family members or his businesses. So that, that's what you see a lot of he will call things out and call other people out, but when it comes to him or his family members or business, no, it's okay. It's legal and it's above board.
- [23:47]
Jim Acosta
And what about this so called anti weaponization fund? What's your reaction to that? Obviously, they've made it very clear that January6 rioters and insurrectionists conceivably apply for some of that money and get some of that money. Some of his own political cronies and lackeys have already indicated that they want to get on, get in on the action. NBC was reporting earlier this afternoon that there's, there's one person in particular, Michael Caputo, who worked in the first Trump administration. He's already filed the first known claim. This, according to NBC, for the Justice Department's new fund, he's seeking $2.7 million in restitution. He says it's owed to him because of the Russia investigation going all the way back to the first Trump administration. So it's sort of like a fire sale. Anybody can come in and ask for this money.
- [24:37]
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto
Well, and Jim Anybody that Trump supports and likes can come in and get the money.
- [24:43]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [24:43]
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto
I can guarantee you if it's Joe Biden's son, he's not going to get any support. Right. He won't get any, anything.
- [24:52]
Molly John Fast
Right.
- [24:53]
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto
So let me just say this. The weaponization fund that they have created, I've never seen more of a corrupt slush fund given to somebody who literally should not be in a position to pick winners and favorites when it comes to victims of crime. So traditionally you have a, you will have a fund for victims. True, true, true, true victims of crime. And to pay out settlements, to take care of individuals remuneration, just to support them. Right. Because they were victims of crime. That's not what this is. This was clearly created to support Donald Trump and his allies and those, and keep in mind what it also signals, it signals to others, if you commit a crime in the name of Donald Trump, in support of Donald Trump, he's going to take care of you. That's what this is about. It's outrageous. And the fine point on this, this is taxpayer dollars. I mean, I was just home in Nevada. People are suffering. Fill up your gas tank. It's over $5, $5 a gallon. Groceries are over $300 Euro and people are paying $300 more. Healthcare, housing. I can name so many things that people are struggling with. But their taxpayer dollars are going to this weaponization fund, going to a billion dollar ballroom, going to a war in Iran that Donald Trump decided to choose that he wants to take on. Are you kidding me?
- [26:13]
Jim Acosta
Well, now he's talking about Cuba, Senator. I mean, I don't know what your reaction is to this indictment of Raul Castro.
- [26:18]
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto
Yeah, yeah, I'm concerned. I'm concerned it's a pretext for him to go in and invade Cuba without any oversight of Congress, without, without any care about the men and women he's sending there. And without it, the American taxpayers even knowing, Americans even understanding what's going on here, it's a, it's again, it's Donald Trump unilaterally deciding he is the government of the United States. Forgetting Congress, forgetting the courts, he has decided he can manage the money however he sees fit and he can do whatever he wants. Violation of all of our laws and our Constitution. And what's. Jim, what is so, I think offensive about all of this is we're coming up on the 250th anniversary of our country, right. We're going to have a big celebration and Donald Trump is going to be the one right now that is Pushing the celebration. And, and he is pushing it under the guise of his form of government, which is not the government that our forefathers fought for and then created with our checks and balances and a government of the people. Donald Trump thinks this is a government for him and his families, right?
- [27:25]
Jim Acosta
No, absolutely. And you mentioned the ballroom earlier. We saw that there was this decision from the Senate parliamentarian that, that the, you know, he can't do this through reconciliation, that you have to have 60 votes in order to get the funding, the $1 billion in security funding, as they call it, for the ballroom. Do you think that this can be, this project can get killed? I mean, it sounds as though it's not on. I mean, he's already doing it anyway. He's already building it. How does this work if. If they don't, if they don't have the funds to do it? And, you know, we clearly could see from this White House propaganda that they are doing construction there.
- [28:02]
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto
Well, they have. And let's remember thinking back when he started this, right? He just did this, bulldozed it down. No support didn't come to Congress, didn't get the requirements and the authority to do it. Right. But remember at the time he said, but it's private donations. Don't worry. Private donors are gonna, are gonna cover this. Now all of a sudden, taxpayers are on the, on. On it for what, a billion dollars? That's outrageous. And Republican leadership wants to give it to them. But what you have seen, and you've said this absolutely right, there's a Senate rule that says when you're trying to pass a budget, all when you're trying to pass a budget, appropriation, budget, it has to be focused on funding pertaining to the items that you're trying to fund. Right. In this case, they're looking to fund ICE and cbp. Some of the agencies within dhs, The Billion Dollar Ballroom really doesn't have anything to do with that. So there's a Senate rule that says if it's not germane, you can't put it in. And that's where you have rightfully said, the Senate parliamentarian said it's not germane, you can't put it in. Right now the Republicans are behind closed doors trying to figure out how they put it back in. Now, I will say this, and publicly, some of my colleagues, Republican colleagues have said, no, it's out. I'm not going to do it. I don't support this. But there are still some within the leadership of the Republican Party are trying to figure out how to put it in. And we will know tonight whether they've kept it in or not. We have not been able to see the final language because they're still negotiating through it right now. And I hope it will come out tonight and we'll see whether that billion dollar ballroom at taxpayer expense is in the reconciliation package.
- [29:46]
Jim Acosta
Very interesting. Well, and we're heading into a midterm cycle, Senator. I mean, it seems to me somebody was just a subscriber, was just commenting, saying what can be done to stop Trump corruption? What can be done to rein in corruption? It seems to me that could be the message for the upcoming midterm campaign. I mean, it's a corruption bonanza in Washington, D.C. right now. And who's going to stop it?
- [30:11]
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto
Yeah. So voters will. And that's why I think when I say people and the right to vote and getting out and exercising how you feel about this government in terms of your right to vote is so important. And that's why I tell people right now you need to be engaged, you need to be educated. What is happening here, understand it, protect your right to vote. I tell people in my state, if you want to do something now, contact people, send postcards, call congressional members, organize at the local level, peacefully protest. Right, peacefully. Use your First Amendment right to protest, do what you can, but turn out to vote. Here's the other thing, though, Jim. Because the policies of this administration are so bad, because not of just, it's not just about the corruption. It's about the corruption at the expense of the American, of Americans, quite honestly, who are struggling right now under the bad policies of this administration with high costs. Remember, you got to connect the dots because the people are struggling. And this guy at the top in the Oval Office says he doesn't really care about that. He doesn't care. And he always finds a billion dollars somewhere, taxpayers dollars to do whatever he wants, but not to help them. So when you connect those docs for dots for voters, voters realize, okay, he is bad. I'm going to exercise my right to vote and vote him out. Donald Trump knows that. So now he's trying to control our elections. Right. He is trying to Jerry, rig the, the election process so that our voters who are unhappy with him can't come out and exercise the right to vote. So it's another reason why people, and I tell folks in Nevada, you got to be on guard here. You've got to, we got to stand up for our election process. We have to understand what they're trying to do at all levels and it's not just Donald Trump. It's Republicans in leadership. It's some of his base that are out there. They're in positions to make a difference in those states. We've got to push back, and we've got to be vocal about it.
- [32:03]
Jim Acosta
Yeah. Well, Senator Cortez, Master, I think a lot of people agree with that and really appreciate your time. Thanks for coming on the show. Glad we finally did this.
- [32:11]
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto
Let's do it. I am as well. Thank you, Jim. You take care.
- [32:14]
Jim Acosta
All right, you too. Thanks, Senator. Really appreciate it. You know, we're, we're still talking about this goon squad slush fund, as I described it earlier this week, that's going to, you know, reward Trump and, and his political attack dogs for attacking our democracy, for doing all sorts of things when they should actually be held accountable for their actions. And I know somebody who is super pissed off about this, as I am probably more pissed off is Bike fanone. Mike, Good to see you, man.
- [32:40]
Mike Fanone
What's up, buddy? How's it going?
- [32:42]
Jim Acosta
Hey, good to see you. Everything's good. Everything's. I mean, it's about as good as it can be. You know, this, this, this fund. It was bad enough on Monday when they announced this, and then yesterday they put out this little addendum that is basically, I, I thought about doing a mock up of the, the get out of jail free card from the Monopoly game and then put Trump's face over the little guy that is getting sprung loose. But that's basically what they're doing. They're, they're giving him a get out of jail free card in addition to setting up a fund for his goon squad, for the rioters, the insurrectionists at the Capitol on January 6th. People who are going after you and people who will break the law for him.
- [33:24]
Mike Fanone
Yeah, I mean, in its simplest forms, that's exactly what it is. It's, it's payout or, or buyout or, you know, it's money for people that have committed crimes on Donald Trump's behalf. And it completes the, you know, the, the full promise of his campaign, which was, if you committed crimes on my behalf on January 6th, I will absolve you of all criminal culpability. He did that. Check that box. And now he's going to pay them for it. How this diminishes the normalization of political violence in this country, I don't know. We should ask Scott Jennings. But I think that the argument is over. Donald Trump has done more in the history of this country to normalize and advocate for political violence than anyone at any time. And he's also the most corrupt president in the history of this country because he flaunts this flagrantly in all of our faces. And, you know, there's not very much we can do about it, unfortunately. I, I don't. I don't see any end to this anytime soon.
- [34:44]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, and it's a kick in the teeth to, to guys like you and, and Aolino. I've been texting back and forth with him. I know Harry and Daniel Hodges, they filed a lawsuit today to try to stop this. But, I mean, you know, you know, the senator was just on earlier saying this shouldn't be a government that's all about Trump. It is, but it is that. That's. That's why we're in this. This mess.
- [35:06]
Daniel Hodges
He.
- [35:07]
Jim Acosta
He can't act like a king and a dictator because that's the way things are right now.
- [35:10]
Mike Fanone
He is. And he's corrupted all of the institutions that, you know, were designed to hold him accountable. We don't have a Department of justice anymore. We don't have a Federal Bureau of Investigation. We don't have an Attorney General. We have Donald Trump's personal attorney or former personal attorney cosplaying is the acting Attorney General for the United States. And in doing so, and in, you know, trying to legitimize this slush fund before a, you know, oversight committee, he has completely destroyed the credibility of the Department of Justice. I don't look at them as a legitimate institution. I don't care if you're a career prosecutor or not, you know, And I think that therein lies the solution to this problem. The American people give power to these individuals. It's the American people that give the power to the President of the United States, and they do that with their obedience. Why are we being obedient to institutions that are this blatantly corrupt?
- [36:21]
Daniel Hodges
That's.
- [36:22]
Jim Acosta
No, it's true. And, you know, when you have Republicans like Thomas Massie, who defy Trump, getting tossed out by Republican voters, he still has, you know, 70%, 80% of the Republican Party still behind him, despite the fact that he's in the low 30s for an overall approval rating. So, I mean, Republicans are still immersed in conservative media and things like Fox, so it's really hard to, you know, to see how we figure this thing out anytime soon. But I will say I still think it's worth pointing out when he's a goddamn hypocrite about this. For example, right after January 6th, when he was in Hot Water. And he thought he was going to be impeached and convicted and removed and blocked from the presidency ever again. When it was not so good for him, he said, we have a little clip to play. He was saying how the people who did the violence at the Capitol should be brought to justice. Remember when they forced him to say this stuff? He did say it. They forced him to say it, but he said it. We should play this, Mike, and get your reaction.
- [37:18]
Harry Dunn
Or on the left, a Democrat or a Republican. There is never a justification for violence. No excuses, no exceptions. America is a nation of laws. Those who engaged in the attacks last week will be brought to justice.
- [37:42]
Jim Acosta
Isn't that something?
- [37:43]
Mike Fanone
You sure that's not AI. I don't think I counted 10 fingers there, you know. Yeah, yeah.
- [37:51]
Jim Acosta
I mean, I'm saying Donald Trump, that's for sure. Yeah.
- [37:54]
Mike Fanone
Well, he's reading a script. And, and let's not forget that in Trump 1.0, there were actual guardrails to the presidency. And, you know, I'm quite certain that there were individuals that were in that room that were watching him film that, that had scripted that to the T, because they themselves did not want to be held criminally culpable for anything that took place on January 6, 2021. That doesn't exist anymore. Now we've got Todd Blanche and Cash Patel and, you know, Dr. Oz and. And this whole cast of buffoons and clowns who themselves have committed crimes on Donald Trump's behalf. And so it's like, you know, it's that old adage of if you, you know, you. If you commit a crime in. In with another person, that now you guys were kind of linked together, and
- [38:43]
Jim Acosta
so birds of a feather flock together kind of thing.
- [38:45]
Mike Fanone
Donald Trump has surrounded himself with other criminals, and like Steve Bannon said, you know, so infamously, if. If Democrats win in the midterms, there's a lot of people, myself included, in this room, that are going to go to prison. And. And he meant that. And it's true. Which is why they're going to do absolutely everything that they can, whether it's legal or illegal, to try to prevent Democrats from winning the election.
- [39:15]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, no, it's true. And I, And I think that, you know, this is just a signal as to what might happen in the upcoming midterms. You know, I've been talking about this for several days now. Todd Blanche was on a Sunday talk show, I guess Maria Bartiromo, who's still spewing that crazy nonsense that she does over on Fox Business. He was saying, oh, there's tons of evidence that the 2020 election was rigged. No, there's not, there's not, there's no evidence. They've never produced any evidence. Todd Blanche is full of. And go ahead.
- [39:42]
Mike Fanone
But it doesn't matter because the people that are keyed into the Fox News, Fox media ecosystem, they've been fed those lies going all the way back to, you know, to 2019. And so I, or I'm sorry, 2020. And so there's, there's, you're never going to break them of that belief. I mean, my, my comments and my DMS are flooded every day with people that still think that I'm not real, that I'm not a real police officer, that, you know, and, and who are so enraged that I would have the audacity to continue to lie after five and a half years about my experience on January 6th. You're not going to get through to those people. You're not going to break, you know, them. Donald Trump still Enjoys what, an 80% approval rating amongst Republicans.
- [40:36]
Jim Acosta
Right.
- [40:36]
Mike Fanone
Despite all of everything that has happened here. And I, you know, and that's, you know, my argument, and this is where I think a lot of Democratic lawmakers are, are full being fools, is that there are people on the right who you could take away their health care, who you could destroy their ability to earn a living and, you know, raise the prices, the cost of living to, to a point in which it is unmanageable for them. And as long as you give them someone to blame, that's not Donald Trump, they will buy that hook, line and sinker. They always have and they always will.
- [41:23]
Jim Acosta
No, I mean, I, I think it's right, I think it's right what you're saying. And I mean, what do you think about. I'm going to bring on Harry Dunn a little bit here. Your, your pal, he's filed this lawsuit with Daniel Hodges. Is that something, Mike, that you might want to do, too? What are your thoughts on this?
- [41:39]
Mike Fanone
Listen, I, I applaud Harry Dunn and Danny Hodges and their efforts and Aquilina Gunnell. They're brothers in arms and, and will forever be brothers in arms. That being said, I have absolutely no faith in our court system. I think that it is corrupt, it is corroded. I have no doubt that if this makes its way to the Supreme Court, that the Supreme Court will side with Donald Trump and the slush fund. And so I, you know, I've, I've got, there are other areas in, in which I'm pursuing accountability against this administration. But again, you know, everybody should be doing everything and using every means at their disposal, and if Harry and, and Danny have access to legal representation and, and can pursue this avenue and more power to them.
- [42:32]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, so what, what is the, Is it, Is it the midterms as well? I mean, you and I had this philosophical conversation before, and I, I think you, you tend to pour cold water on my head that when I express any hope whatsoever about anything. But what do you think?
- [42:50]
Mike Fanone
Man, I don't use the word hope. It's just I have committed myself to this fight, and I will commit myself to this fight until we either win or I'm dead. And so, you know, and that's. I mean, I wish more Americans would, Would wake up to the fact that, you know, that they need to prioritize this fight in this moment and civic engagement and make that a part of their daily lives. And, yes, I get it. You know, you're raising families and you've got bills to pay and, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like, I, I'm gonna be honest with you. I don't care. I got a family, too. I got kids. I don't have a job. You know, I, I had to leave my job because it became painfully obvious to me that the Metropolitan Police Department was gonna. That was not going to support me in my pursuit of, and accountability for January 6th. And so I left. And I've been trying to circumnavigate this and, you know, because you and I are friends, the personal experience of this and that. No, I'm not a millionaire. I'm not even 100 air. So, you know, like, let's put those conspiracies to bed. I do this, I'm committed to it. And because God forbid I leave this country to my kids in a worse way than, Than, you know, was given to me.
- [44:21]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, no, I, I hear you, man. And I, I, I'm, I feel you. Is there any way you would apply to this fund just as a you to say, I told my mom she
- [44:33]
Mike Fanone
should apply to it. You know, for people that are familiar with her story. She had to stop 30 years because of all the death threats, the, you know, the bomb threats, people showing up at her house, somebody threw, you know, dog feces at her, a brick, right front window. You know, she's endured quite a bit at the hands of Donald Trump's supporters simply because her, her son had the audacity to testify before Congress about his experience on January 6th. But do I think that she would get Any of that money? Not a chance.
- [45:12]
Jim Acosta
Right.
- [45:12]
Mike Fanone
And quite frankly, I. You know, I'm tired of my family members, just like I'm tired of Harry Dunn, Danny Hodges, and Aquilina Gunnell constantly being the ones who have to put themselves in the breach to try to save democracy. Where the Is everybody else? Where's all the other police officers that day? You know, if you're not willing to step up, then you don't have a right to be upset about this fund. You don't have a right to be upset about the pardons. Just do your job and off.
- [45:45]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, I hear you, man. I know. And I think we've got Harry with us. Let's bring in Harry, because Harry's got a slightly different take Mike. And that Harry is. He's. He's gonna sue these. He's gonna sue these sons of.
- [46:00]
Daniel Hodges
Yeah. What's up? What's up, man?
- [46:01]
Harry Dunn
Hey, Mike.
- [46:02]
Daniel Hodges
What's up, brother Jim? What's up, yo? No, I, I caught the end of it. And I expect nothing more, nothing less from Micah did his fiery self. I love it. But, yeah, I, I, you know, somebody asked me, they said, you know, Harry, why don't. If you look at our lawsuit, we're not even asking for money. Like, we just want this to stop. It's illegal, it's wrong, it shouldn't be happening. And, yeah, any, Any. If any money goes out, it should be given to police officers. But we know administration doesn't think favorably about one law enforcement, and damn sure not. Not us four. When I was S four, me, Danny, Michael, and Aquino. They damn sure don't think favorably against us. I mean, that's why Joe Biden had to give us a pardon going out, because he knew that this administration would come for us, let alone reward us or, or not even reward. Compensate us fairly for what we went through. I'm not asking out for money. I'm asking for people's votes. Like we're not the same. People like, these people are full out grif. Gr. And they don't give a damn about anybody but themselves, man.
- [47:06]
Jim Acosta
That's right. And, Harry, you're running for Congress.
- [47:09]
Daniel Hodges
Yeah. Crazy, right? Like you. You got to be some kind of crazy to want to go join that dysfunction up there. But I feel like in this, in this moment, you need somebody that understands what it's actually like to put your life on the line. And repeatedly considering all the threats that we are subjected to day in and day out, that's one of the things we outline in our. Our lawsuit. Like, we will be harmed by this, like the death threat. I mean, hell, all you got to do right now is go look under any right, right wing influencers post on social media where they talk about the, the lawsuit and talk, look at all the comments, talking about, oh, we're going to get a race soon. Oh, you guys are pathetic. We're coming for you like that. That's stuff happening, like right now in the face of a lawsuit. So empowering them by rewarding them, it only makes it even worse.
- [47:54]
Mike Fanone
Yeah. I'll tell you, Jim, you know, specifically speaking, the, the moment this slush fund was publicly announced, there were people that jumped in my DMs and my comments in my social media feed saying specifically, oh, this is great. Now I can kill Mike Fanon and Donald Trump's gonna pay me to do it. I can kill one of my family members and Donald Trump is going to pay me to do it.
- [48:16]
Jim Acosta
But that's what this is. I mean, look at some of the people he's pardoned have been, you know, arrested and charged with, you know, molesting kids and all kinds of violent stuff. You know, and now he's going to give them money. They're going to go line up for like an ATM machine for cash.
- [48:32]
Daniel Hodges
The day, the day that he pardoned them, that was forgiveness. He forgave them for what they did because he did in their name. This slush fund is rewarding them, which is in turn incentivizing them to say, oh, well, I can do this and get paid for it. Oh, hell yeah, sign me up.
- [48:49]
Mike Fanone
It doesn't even matter if any of these guys ever receive one red cent from this fund. It's the enticement and the, the idea that maybe this could happen that will either fuel one of them to reoffend or fuel somebody in the future to say, hey, I could do this and I'll get pardoned and get cash. This is right.
- [49:15]
Daniel Hodges
And if you think that there are
- [49:16]
Mike Fanone
deranged people out there that would do, do that type of thing or think that way, then you're a idiot.
- [49:24]
Jim Acosta
Right? And we know that the, the proud boys and the Oath keepers, they don't have real jobs, by and large. They don't. You know, they don't have, Nobody's paying them to do anything. And so this is like Donald Trump paying them to be kind of like his stormtroopers, to stand back and stand by. I mean, that's the thing, Harry, that, that I think is actually pretty menacing about this.
- [49:43]
Mike Fanone
This is.
- [49:43]
Daniel Hodges
Yeah, yeah, it is. I called it a retainer fee. This is a retainer fee for, you know, Donald Trump's private militia and private mob. Just like, you know, we have to pay lawyers retainer fees for, you know, stand back, stand back and stand by to lawyers. He stand. He's actually saying it to the people who are will commit violence in his name. Because Donald Trump damn sure ain't going to go away quietly on, on, uh, in 2029. He's not going to go away quietly. And somebody asked why, how do you, why did you say that? He doesn't have a good track record of going peacefully out of office.
- [50:17]
Jim Acosta
Right.
- [50:18]
Daniel Hodges
Anyway, he's the only person, he's the only person that, you know, did not have a peaceful trans. Transition of power from administration to administration. So this is a retainer for his mob.
- [50:28]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, this is he, this is why he wants that bunker, that new bunker over at the White House.
- [50:32]
Mike Fanone
Yeah.
- [50:33]
Jim Acosta
You know, it wasn't nice the last time he had to run down to the bunker. Like, like, like a, like a, Speaking
- [50:37]
Daniel Hodges
of that, he talking about we don't got money for health insurance. We. And this is a politician in me coming out. We don't got money for health insurance. We've got money for child care. We don't got money for affordable, affordable housing. You know, you want to withhold SNAP benefits, but you're spending billions of dollars a day on this illegal war. You pulled $1.776 billion out your ass. Well, excuse me, out of taxpayer money. This is taxpayer money, dude. This is taxpayer money. So that's the thing that makes me so just furious about this. This is, this is the American people. Now, these people are more than welcome to go grift with their GoFundMes or, or, or give sin goals or whatever they use, set up their paper, whatever you want to use to do it. But this is taxpayer money that we the people. Anybody that pays taxes doesn't have a say of where this money is going. And that's what part of our lawsuit's about, too.
- [51:27]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, but this is why here, this is why you're running for Congress in Maryland. People need to wake up and realize there's elections coming up, primaries coming up. You see Harry on the ballot. You know what to do.
- [51:39]
Daniel Hodges
Absolutely. Harry done for md.com definitely check it out. And you know, I, I don't give much credence to a lot of the comments and things like that on, you know, but somebody was like, oh, this guy's just trying to further his political career, but I don't have a political career. Dude, like, I don't need a title before my name or initials after mine.
- [52:02]
Jim Acosta
Yep. Oh, we lost.
- [52:06]
Daniel Hodges
The hell with all of that.
- [52:08]
Jim Acosta
Good, you're back.
- [52:11]
Daniel Hodges
You know, I don't need a. A title in front of my name or initials behind my name to define, you know, the type of person or the service that I'm doing and have done for this country. I don't need that. Like, you know, I had a good job with the Capitol Police, but I saw that, you know, this nation is desperately in need of people that are going to stand up and actually fight for it and not just use it as a slogan. And, you know, that's why I'm so grateful to be, you know, friends with Michael and just the other. Like, we've turned into, like brothers throughout this because we have a common goal, and that's just standing up for standing up against bullies and calling shit out when it's wrong. And, you know, that's what we need in this country. There's far too many cowards in this country, but you don't. You. We don't. It's three non cowards on this screen right here that we're looking at.
- [53:00]
Jim Acosta
Thanks, Harry. Appreciate it. I know you got to get to the next campaign event, but yeah, I think you nailed it right there. Thank you so much. All right. Good to see you. All right. And, and Mike, I guess Harry's got his thing and he's. But you're everywhere these days. I've seen you out there doing like, speeches and stuff. This is. You've made this. I mean, I know that you're not happy about the state of affairs right now, but, you know, you are trying to get out there and change things in this country. I think it's. I think it's a good thing, man. I think it's good that you're doing it.
- [53:29]
Mike Fanone
I mean, my lane has just been getting people engaged, trying to energize, you know, Americans across the country and, and really in a bipartisan fashion, or I won't say bipartisan, but I'll just say anybody can. Can come out and. And I think that, you know, what I have to say is universally appealing, but it's also about holding politicians accountable on both sides of the political aisle. Unfortunately, right now we've got a one party political system in that one is functioning and the other one is got cancer. But even the Democratic Party, unfortunately, is not meeting the moment, I think, in. In the way that they should. And it's, you know, what do they need to do?
- [54:17]
Jim Acosta
What do they need to do. Mike, the Dems, I kind of agree with you. It's, it's just, you know, you look at the, even the polls show that folks are like, you know, it's just not enough. What they're doing is not enough.
- [54:28]
Mike Fanone
Yeah, I mean, listen, one, you know, whether you, I don't know if like a third of them or 2/3 of them are camera shot, but you should be in front of every camera all the time, calling out every act of corruption that this administration is engaged in and how it's affecting the American people. The other thing is, I don't like, we got to get away from this, you know, this old school playbook or this, you know, old playbook of, of dealing with, you know, these political fights and start engaging in some asymmetric warfare here. We got to recognize that, you know, this is an existential threat to our democracy and to our republic. We got to start treating it as such. Because if you don't, politicians set the tone for the people. You know, when, when politicians come out and say, this is a threat to our democracy and this is why people pay attention. But then when you go and, and, you know, fly down to Mar a Lago and kiss Donald Trump's ass or, you know, normalize some other behavior that he engages in or, or step away from, you know, from meeting the moment, then the American people look at that and they're just like, oh, he's, it's another politician telling me that it's another election. That's the most important election of my lifetime. But I think that, you know, one of the things I think they should be doing is I think they should be engaging with big labor and they really should be pushing the idea of a general strike. I think we've come to that. I'm not convinced that the midterm elections are going to be free and fair. That's not to say that I'm not going to vote and I don't encourage people, people to vote. Everybody needs to be doing everything that they can, but I think that they need to be preparing for a situation where Donald Trump, because he's already beginning to meddle in these elections. Oh, yeah, and, and how would we respond to that? What, what avenues do the American people have to address that, you know, if, if in fact that's the case?
- [56:31]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, no, there's got to be a game plan because I, I, I will guarantee everybody right now, he is right now trying to figure out how to, you know, how to get out of this, out of this mess that he's in right now. Yeah.
- [56:43]
Mike Fanone
Right. He's going to do everything. It's not going to be one specific thing. I mean, he, Is he going to send ICE agents to, to, you know, polling places?
- [56:51]
Jim Acosta
Yes.
- [56:52]
Mike Fanone
Is he going to, you know, he's already gutted the Voting Rights Act. Is he going to try to disenfranchise as many vulnerable communities and communities of color and prevent them from voting? Yes. Like, just go down the list and he's going to check every single box. And it's about addressing that now and in areas where he throws an obstacle, creating a mechanism within that community to circumvent that obstacle, but also to start coming up with some new and fresh ideas, like a general strike that, you know, that might be able to bring, you know, Republicans to the table when it comes to holding Donald Trump accountable.
- [57:31]
Jim Acosta
And, Mike, I could see a situation, I could see a scenario where come early January next year, they're, they, they're about to see the new Democratic Congress where he starts a whole new Stop the Steel thing and they come to Washington that I, that is not beyond the realm of possibilities. Now that he's giving these people money, I could see another one.
- [57:52]
Mike Fanone
And I mean, there's a, like, listen, in my community in rural Virginia, yes, I talk to a lot of, of Trump supporters who are now completely disenfranchised with, you know, with the MAGA movement and with Donald Trump, but they're not jumping into bed with Democrats. These are people who will never vote for a Democrat. Even if there was only one political party left and the alternative was literally their own death, they would not vote for a Democrat.
- [58:20]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [58:21]
Mike Fanone
So if you think that the, the, you know, and yes, there are going to be few, there might be fewer votes for, for Trump. But there are also, like we talked about earlier in your show, and I know we're running out of time here, but it's like there are people that are so entrenched in this belief system that, you know, have so bought into the argument of, you know, blaming the other. And Donald Trump provides them on a daily basis with what the other is, whether it's people of color, whether it's immigrants, whether it's trans people, and they are angry enough and believe that those are the people who are responsible for their difficult lives, that, yes, if Donald Trump summoned them to Washington, D.C. in another stop the Steel fashion, we would see another January 6th play out right before our very eyes.
- [59:08]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, and the next time it might be paid for with your tax dollars. I mean, that's what People need to wake up to. Mike, good to see you. Thanks. Thanks again. Let's, let's keep doing this. It's been too long since the last one. Let's make it happen.
- [59:20]
Mike Fanone
Thanks, buddy.
- [59:20]
Daniel Hodges
All right.
- [59:21]
Jim Acosta
Thanks, Mike. Appreciate it. And people need to understand what they're, you know, on the Republican side, on the MAGA side. I mean, they went out in droves in Kentucky and they got rid of Thomas Massie and they went out in droves the other day and they got rid of Bill Cassidy, and I guess they may come out in droves in Texas and get rid of John Cornyn. So if you're, if you're a, an incumbent Republican who has been supporting Donald Trump, by and large, I mean, Thomas Massey did defy him on the Epstein files. You know, Donald Trump does not care about that. He does not care. And he will screw you over in the end. That is, that is a guarantee. That is always a guarantee with Donald Trump. He will. If you are loyal to him, he will. That might, I think that makes it more enticing for him to screw you over if you've been loyal to him. It makes it even more delicious if he runs you over with his, with his golf cart at some point in time. And, but people need to understand. And I, and I, I know I say this all the time, but I'm going to say it again. He's not all there. This is not the same Donald Trump that I covered during the first term. And he is saying more and more goofy things all the time. For example, just recently, I guess he was referring to James Talarico as a vegan, but he couldn't say the word vegan. He kept saying vegan. And I guess the great Aaron Rupar on Twitter pointed out that he's now changed.
- [60:39]
Harry Dunn
It just doesn't like vegans. I, I do believe get it. And he's a vegan. He's a vegan in Texas.
- [60:47]
Jim Acosta
He's now saying vegan.
- [60:48]
Harry Dunn
He was a vegan. Now all of a sudden he's Texas doesn't like vegans. I, I do believe get it. And he's a vegan. He's a vegan in Texas.
- [60:58]
Jim Acosta
Anyway, it's a nice edit there from Aaron Rupar. He says, I guess a couple weeks ago, Trump was saying vegan and now he's saying vegan. And I don't know, you know, is Donald Trump not aware of what a vegan is or how to say the word vegan? Up until about a couple of weeks ago, he did not know how to say the word vegan. But now he, apparently somebody told him, pulled him aside, as the wonderful Aaron Rupar has pointed out. Somebody must have pulled him aside and said, no, sir, it's actually vegan. The word is vegan. And so you, when you, when you go off on James Talarico, you have to say vegan. But anyway, James Tallrigger does not have anything to worry about because if he's facing Ken Paxton in the upcoming Senate election, James Talarigo is looking very much like United States Senator at this point. But then there was another batshit crazy thing that Donald Trump said just today, as a matter of fact, that if Jesus Christ himself descended from the heavens, Donald Trump would have won California in, in one of the last elections. Let's play this and, and we can listen to this.
- [61:57]
Harry Dunn
That's the problem. The votes are rigged. You have a really rig rigged vote in California. You have all the mail in ballots, everything else very hard to win because the elections are very dishonest. If we had Jesus Christ come down and count the votes, I would have won California because I do great with Hispanics. But it's a rigged vote. They send out 38 million votes. Nobody knows where they're going.
- [62:22]
Jim Acosta
Donald Trump, you do not do great with Hispanics, by the way. You don't do at all great with Hispanics. I've checked the polling on that. Check your mass deportation policy, check the way ICE has been waging war on Latinos and country for, and I'll put that to the side. But if Donald Trump thinks that he has actually won the state of California in, in past elections, I'm sorry, folks, he's gone. It's gone. It's time for the little white van to pull up in front of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the one with the padding on the inside. They need to go into the building and say, I'm sorry, Mr. President, but you seem to think that you've won California, that you would have won California had there been honest accounting of the vote there in California. That makes you certified certifiably crazy. And you must come with us now. You must get in this padded van and we're gonna, we need to take you somewhere where you won't hurt yourself or other people. I think that's where we are right now. And I just think that on a daily basis now, we are getting constant reminders. And when I watch the corporate media, I don't watch as much of it anymore. The legacy media, the corporate media, the mainstream. When I watch that, I don't really see What I think is just normal news, you know, dissecting of the crazy that he is saying. It's almost as though the corporate media is sanitizing Donald Trump and normalizing Donald Trump and sane washing Donald Trump instead of just his own people doing his own people do that, obviously, but the media should not do that. And we should be showing the public things like when Donald Trump can't say the word vegan and when Donald Trump thinks that he won California and when Donald Trump is talking about building a drone port at the White House. I keep coming back to this because he keeps talking about it. He's talking about building a drone port at the White House. And I know when I say these things, I feel like I sound like I'm crazy and I'm just relaying what he said. And so it seems to me there needs to be. I don't. And I know I say this all the time. There needs to be a conversation, an adult conversation about this. And I guess we're just not going to have it. We're just not going to do that as a country. I remember when Joe Biden was in the White House, it was, it was an outlandish thing. If he stumbled over some words or if he got the person's name wrong, it was like, oh, my God, Joe Biden, Joe Biden, Joe Biden, Joe Biden. And there were books written about Joe Biden being, Bye bye. So sorry, we got to go now. You know, that he was no longer there. And Donald Trump on a daily basis is saying things like vegan, which I think was that. What was that? Mr. Spock? No, he was a Vulcan. He's saying things like vegan and that and talking about Jesus counting the votes in California and drone ports at the White House. Folks, we are now at the point of One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. We are now at the point where the little white van, the little, the little white van needs to. The little white van that could, needs to pull up in front of the White House and, and finally put us all out of our misery and take the President of the United States somewhere where he cannot hurt himself or anybody else. We had a big show today. A lot of people stopped by. Really appreciate seeing Mike Fanone again. Seeing Harry Dunnigan and, and having them on together is a real treat. It's a reminder of what these two men did in defending our, our democracy. People like Daniel Hodges, people like Akalino Ganell. I'll try to have them on again soon because I think it's so important to keep reminding people of what they did for our country. And Donald Trump, by the way, you are helping remind people of what these police officers did for our country when they defended the Capitol on January 6th. When you created this weaponization fund, this goon squad slush fund. You are.
- [66:13]
Mike Fanone
You are.
- [66:14]
Jim Acosta
You don't realize you're doing this, but you're reminding the American people, you're reminding people around the world what these police officers, what these heroes in law enforcement did in defending our democracy on January 6th. And I will not stop on this show. It's sort of like what Mike was saying earlier. Either we're going to win or we're going to die. That's. That's basically how this boils down. There's no giving up. There's no surrendering. There's no saying, I, well, that's it. I've had too much. I can't take it anymore. That's not an option. That's not an option this year, folks. Sticking your head in the sand is not an option. Staying home and Netflixing and chilling is not an option. You know, going to, going to your beach house and not thinking about this and not worrying about this is not an option. And by the way, you probably can't afford it anymore. Those things are not an option. Giving up is not an option. Just like the police officers did not give up on January 6th. We can't give up on them. We can't give up on this country. And so I thank Mike for coming on. I thank Harry for coming on. My. My pal Molly, John Fast, and Senator Catherine Cortez Basto as well. And I thank all of you for watching and thank you for supporting independent media. It makes a difference. It means that we can do shows like this every day and we can go over a little bit every day. Mike was saying, oh, you're gonna wrap up. We can go as long as we want. I won't do that to my team because it'll drive them crazy, but we can go as long as we want. But in the meantime, still reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. I'll see you next time.