WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:06.400 Last week, I was talking about RFK Junior a little bit and joking about 2 00:00:07.639 --> 00:00:12.439 how he had a couple of different things he talked about, especially with regards 3 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:16.160 to abortion. That showed the thing that I sort of suspected about him all 4 00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:22.960 along, which is that at the end of the day, he's a Kennedy, 5 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:29.719 He's a liberal, and the right wing dalliance with him is just a 6 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:34.880 little silly. There's a selfish thing I think on the right to think that, 7 00:00:34.920 --> 00:00:42.039 well, if RFK is a serious third party candidate and can actually seriously 8 00:00:42.200 --> 00:00:48.039 cipher votes, he can actually seriously collect a significant number of votes, then 9 00:00:48.920 --> 00:00:53.439 he could actually cause Joe Biden to lose because maybe he pulls more votes away 10 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:58.439 from Biden than he does from Donald Trump. And I've encountered a couple of 11 00:00:58.439 --> 00:01:03.320 different conservatives who I know know decide declaring that they they were going to support 12 00:01:03.479 --> 00:01:10.159 RFK Junior his presidential campaign, and then just the other shoes start dropping. 13 00:01:10.640 --> 00:01:14.799 Oh, RFK had a literal brain worm. He had a medical some kind 14 00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:19.599 of medical event or something that he had a an actual worm in his brain. 15 00:01:21.480 --> 00:01:25.799 RFK Junior stakes out the most extreme position on abortion possible. Uh. 16 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:30.920 One thing I saw that was funny, was you know, all the American 17 00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:34.680 people want is just someone normal to vote for. And then I see this 18 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:41.000 campaign ad whin a day, this campaign add that, the RFK Junior campaign 19 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:47.519 spinning out whin a win A day of falconry with RFK Junior. Hang out 20 00:01:47.560 --> 00:01:53.359 with RFK Junior and his falcon and learn about falconry. Yeah, just you 21 00:01:53.400 --> 00:01:59.879 know, this is how a Kennedy tries to relate to the little people. 22 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:04.719 Falconry. It's like when John Carey tried to show he was one of the 23 00:02:04.760 --> 00:02:08.000 little people by windsurfing. You know, a sport that only the wealthiest point 24 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:15.439 one percent of human beings participate in. You know, the sort of sport 25 00:02:15.479 --> 00:02:23.199 you can only do when you marry the heiress of the Hines catch up fortune. 26 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:28.560 But one of the things I was sort of saying about RFK Junior was 27 00:02:28.759 --> 00:02:36.879 I just don't think people are as animated by the central thing that made RFK 28 00:02:37.080 --> 00:02:43.080 Junior notable in the first place, which is his broad based skepticism for vaccines 29 00:02:43.319 --> 00:02:51.319 in general and for the COVID vaccine in particular. And on that score, 30 00:02:51.560 --> 00:03:00.680 he really stands out from both Biden and Trump. Trump sort of it's almost 31 00:03:00.719 --> 00:03:04.000 sort of sad how Trump is sort of hanging out there like sort of wishing 32 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:10.080 he had actually gotten credit for Project Warp Speed and getting the COVID vaccines you 33 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:14.280 know, funded and researched and developed and ready to go in such a short 34 00:03:14.280 --> 00:03:16.840 amount of time. He sort of he sort of has the perspective of, 35 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:22.000 Hey, my administration got this done. How come I don't get any credit 36 00:03:22.039 --> 00:03:23.639 for this? You would like to get credit for it. Biden is obviously 37 00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:29.960 very pro vaccine. RFK sort of stands out as the one guy who is 38 00:03:30.120 --> 00:03:36.599 anti COVID vaccine. But frankly, COVID is just not a big political thing 39 00:03:36.680 --> 00:03:45.319 anymore. It was a moment, it happened, and it's done. And 40 00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:50.159 I was saying this of Kennedy the other day, and a part of me 41 00:03:50.280 --> 00:03:58.039 sort of felt a little guilty. Not that I want to keep dwelling on 42 00:03:58.120 --> 00:04:01.039 the topic of COVID, I mean, nobody does. It was a very 43 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:05.800 unpleasant topic in an unpleasant time, and it's not, you know, something 44 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:15.879 I relish. I feel guilty because there's a sense that we got had in 45 00:04:15.920 --> 00:04:23.959 a variety of different respects, and that the people who had us, none 46 00:04:23.959 --> 00:04:30.000 of them have gotten held accountable. For all the different deceptive thing, all 47 00:04:30.040 --> 00:04:36.480 these massive inconveniences that they put us through that we're now sort of seeing in 48 00:04:36.600 --> 00:04:44.560 retrospect, were completely full of it. So one of the things that's been 49 00:04:44.600 --> 00:04:49.639 in the news that National Review reported on was a closed door congressional testimony by 50 00:04:49.720 --> 00:04:54.600 doctor Francis Collins, who's the former director of the National Institutes of Health. 51 00:04:55.319 --> 00:04:59.959 And for all the inks spilled about Anthony Fauci, Francis Collins was just at 52 00:05:00.040 --> 00:05:08.720 as central to the federal government's COVID response and messaging and all kinds of stuff 53 00:05:08.759 --> 00:05:14.279 like that, He's actually Anthony Fauci's boss. He was Anthony Fauci's boss. 54 00:05:15.439 --> 00:05:19.480 That was the thing people didn't get about Fauci. His job was not being 55 00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:30.560 America's doctor or anything like that. Fauci's job was he was a federal bureaucrat. 56 00:05:30.199 --> 00:05:34.959 He was a federal bureaucrat who oversaw a division of the National Institutes of 57 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:45.920 Health whose chief job was ordering and directing federal grant money towards infectious disease research 58 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:55.319 of various kinds. That was Fauci's actual job, and doctor Collins' job, 59 00:05:55.439 --> 00:06:00.879 as being one click about Fauci was beyond just infectious disease research more broadly, 60 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:04.240 overseeing the National Institutes of Health and what does the National Institutes of Health do? 61 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:12.519 They give out federal grant money for research, that's all they do now. 62 00:06:13.720 --> 00:06:17.600 Collins and Fauci, both though, were central in crafting a lot of 63 00:06:17.639 --> 00:06:24.000 the federal guidelines, recommendations, et cetera for how to deal with COVID that 64 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:28.160 we're introduced by the CDC. You know, two weeks to stop the spread, 65 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:34.480 social distance, the concept of social distancing, masking, all this stuff 66 00:06:34.519 --> 00:06:41.319 that we're one by one, we're sort of seeing all these different things that 67 00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:45.600 everyone insisted we had to do in response to COVID, which caused massive disruptions 68 00:06:45.639 --> 00:06:50.439 to the economy, massive political disruption. Frankly, I think if COVID doesn't 69 00:06:50.480 --> 00:06:58.000 happen, Donald Trump probably wins the twenty twenty election. All this massive disruption 70 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:05.519 where piece by piece we're sort of seeing how wrong they were. The COVID 71 00:07:05.639 --> 00:07:14.120 vaccine was not, as it was heralded, this perfect preventative measure. In 72 00:07:14.120 --> 00:07:20.720 fact, it didn't really very effectively stop the spread of COVID. It seemed 73 00:07:20.839 --> 00:07:30.120 to help prevent a severe case of COVID, but once we realized it didn't 74 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:34.759 really stop COVID from spreading. That undercut all the logic from vaccine mandates. 75 00:07:35.199 --> 00:07:40.439 If it just becomes individual's decisions. Okay, well, if I take the 76 00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:45.600 COVID vaccine and eliminates my risk for a very serious illness. But am I 77 00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:50.360 in a category of persons for whom COVID would be a very serious illness? 78 00:07:50.600 --> 00:07:58.639 I always I sort of took the perspective for me that most of the people 79 00:07:58.759 --> 00:08:03.399 dying from COVID actually or getting very sick from COVID either had some pre existing 80 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:09.720 condition or they were very elderly. And my thought was, you know, 81 00:08:09.800 --> 00:08:13.879 I was a lot younger than I was, you know, thirty one years 82 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:18.040 old during COVID. I was a very healthy thirty one year old. So 83 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:20.759 I thought, well, I am I'm a skinny thirty one year old. 84 00:08:20.759 --> 00:08:26.120 The odds of me getting very sick from COVID or dying from COVID are incredibly 85 00:08:26.199 --> 00:08:30.600 slim. So I don't really want to get vaccinated. You know, if 86 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:37.759 I were seventy, maybe, and especially if it's not going to prevent me 87 00:08:37.799 --> 00:08:41.720 from spreading COVID to other people, then I don't really want to do it. 88 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:43.879 I just never got to a point where I felt in my life I 89 00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:48.039 actually needed to do it, or I was ever in a category of job 90 00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:52.759 where I was mandated to do it, or anything anyway, Francis Collins. 91 00:08:54.080 --> 00:09:00.399 So all these different sort of pillars of their ideology, masking the effectiveness of 92 00:09:00.399 --> 00:09:05.480 the COVID vaccine, this, all of these have been knocked down lately, 93 00:09:05.159 --> 00:09:11.799 And I think the frustration is, are none of these people going to be 94 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:18.879 held accountable for all the disruption they wrought upon the economy, upon people's personal 95 00:09:18.919 --> 00:09:26.440 lives, The huge increases we saw in depression rates, especially among children and 96 00:09:26.519 --> 00:09:35.399 teenagers, the huge learning loss that was occasioned by these liberal bureaucrats who imposed 97 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:39.399 these crazy health guide these insane health guidelines that weren't really grounded in fact, 98 00:09:39.960 --> 00:09:50.159 and the threat it poses for the future that if some left wing health bureaucrat 99 00:09:50.360 --> 00:10:01.080 declares another kind of health emergency, will a Democrat controlled government. I mean, 100 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:03.600 they were able to do this with a Republican controlled government. Presumably another 101 00:10:03.639 --> 00:10:07.840 Republican controlled government won't do this again. But although I don't know, Trump 102 00:10:07.879 --> 00:10:13.240 has expressed very little. Trump never apologizes for anything. Trump never expresses regret 103 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:20.919 over anything. The idea that some health commissar will just snap his fingers and 104 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:24.879 all of a sudden, the whole country will be in lockdown again. That's 105 00:10:24.919 --> 00:10:33.039 a scary thing to think that you had a whole wing of American political life 106 00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:37.840 openly just saying we should be governed by scientists. We should be governed by 107 00:10:39.159 --> 00:10:45.279 these infectious disease experts, and what they say we should do completely without any 108 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:52.240 regard to competing interests, without any regard to competing economic or social sacrifices that 109 00:10:52.519 --> 00:11:01.200 come about as a result of this. So anyway, Francis Collins was interviewed 110 00:11:01.240 --> 00:11:07.919 by members of the House of Representatives and it emerged from his closed door testimony 111 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:16.960 that there was actually no scientific backing for the six foot social distancing rule, 112 00:11:20.039 --> 00:11:26.240 no scientific backing for it. There was never any research in favor of it. 113 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:33.960 There was a two meter rule that some European researchers had and the Americans 114 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:37.639 just kind of copied it, but there wasn't any scientific backing for it. 115 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:46.360 Let's remember that churches, theaters, all kinds of entities were closed down for 116 00:11:46.519 --> 00:11:54.120 years because of that rule, because how do you keep people socially distanced in 117 00:11:54.200 --> 00:12:01.120 a church? How do you keep people socially distanced in you know, whatever 118 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:07.679 said it, and the impact that had, particularly on churches. I mean, 119 00:12:07.759 --> 00:12:11.840 I look around, you know, I go to Sunday morning Mass at 120 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:16.919 my church and it's packed. I mean, I go to the main Mass, 121 00:12:16.360 --> 00:12:20.399 it's packed, it's walled wall and I think, boy, during COVID, 122 00:12:20.919 --> 00:12:26.240 even when we were allowed to be inside, half these pews were empty. 123 00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:31.799 So just half of everyone didn't get to go to church half the and 124 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:39.279 so many churches, their attendance numbers post COVID still haven't caught up to what 125 00:12:39.320 --> 00:12:43.240 they were pre COVID, and possibly never will. COVID I think was this 126 00:12:43.399 --> 00:12:50.559 huge event, a sort of huge convenient event, allowing people to stop going 127 00:12:50.600 --> 00:13:00.840 to church. And as much as I was sort of ragging on RFK by 128 00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:03.720 sort of saying, yeah, you know, yeah, RFK, oh, 129 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:07.200 the anti vaccine crusade, Yes, that's you know, I just don't think 130 00:13:07.240 --> 00:13:13.039 that message is really revving the engines of a lot of voters anymore. There's 131 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:16.639 part of me that sort of feels guilty for saying that. Not that I 132 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:20.559 would ever vote for RFK in a million billion years. Again, he's still 133 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:26.639 at Kennedy, but I feel guilty for sort of saying like, we shouldn't 134 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:35.000 forget what these people did, and we should hold these people accountable for what 135 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:41.519 they did. And I'm afraid we will never actually hold any of them accountable 136 00:13:41.559 --> 00:13:46.200 in any way, shape or form whatsoever. I'm afraid that Anthony Fauci and 137 00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:50.720 Francis Collins, in spite of Francis Collins giving this congressional test, only saying 138 00:13:50.759 --> 00:13:52.440 oh, yeah, there was nothing. You know, we had absolutely no 139 00:13:52.480 --> 00:14:01.120 scientific evidence for the socially distanced six foot rule. There was nothing. I'm 140 00:14:01.159 --> 00:14:03.639 just afraid that these people are going to get to ride off into the sunset 141 00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:13.200 with their nice, big fat federal pensions and just you know, no consequences. 142 00:14:13.879 --> 00:14:20.120 Half of American political life just thinking they were heroes, continuing to pretend 143 00:14:20.120 --> 00:14:30.720 like they were heroes. It just frustrates me that they're probably not going to 144 00:14:30.840 --> 00:14:35.080 get any We're not really going to get any come uppance for these people, 145 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:39.919 that they're not going to be held accountable. And I sort of wish that 146 00:14:41.080 --> 00:14:43.759 were more of a central point of the presidential debates, but I don't think 147 00:14:43.799 --> 00:14:48.159 Trump. I think Trump realizes people are tired of talking about it, and 148 00:14:48.200 --> 00:14:54.519 so he's not talking about it. When we return, I try to list 149 00:14:54.559 --> 00:14:58.120 out all the things that were allegedly true about COVID that are now no longer 150 00:14:58.159 --> 00:15:05.720 true. Next on the John Girardi Show, Francis Collins, the former head 151 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:09.440 of the National Institutes of Health, had closed door testimony in front of Congress 152 00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:15.399 this past week in which he admitted that the six feet or more guideline that 153 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:20.960 he did not issue, but the Centers for Disease Control did issue, that 154 00:15:22.039 --> 00:15:26.080 there was no actual scientific evidence that he can remember actually supporting it. And 155 00:15:26.120 --> 00:15:33.279 this is a huge admission. And let me just recall to you what a 156 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:43.080 huge thing this is. So the six foot thing, the six foot thing 157 00:15:43.879 --> 00:15:54.399 was the reason for all of the regulations that wound up shutting down businesses, 158 00:15:54.000 --> 00:16:02.279 shutting down schools, limiting people's normal interactions, infringing at certain points on the 159 00:16:02.279 --> 00:16:10.679 free exercise of religion, shutting down churches. That's that was the cornerstone of 160 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:15.639 it. Was this six foot rule and the impossibility of complying with it in 161 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:22.639 a movie theater, in a church, in a business with normal operations. 162 00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:29.080 It was the key thing. In a school. It was the key thing 163 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:33.519 that disrupted the economy over the course of twenty twenty, twenty twenty one, 164 00:16:33.639 --> 00:16:41.399 twenty twenty two. That was the main thing disrupting the whole economy was this 165 00:16:41.639 --> 00:16:45.759 six foot rule from the CDC. Six feet rule comes from the CDC, 166 00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:52.720 that filters its way to all fifty state health departments and becomes the basis for 167 00:16:52.799 --> 00:17:02.919 all the government restrictions. And we get a shrug from Francis Collins, the 168 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:04.920 head of the National Institutes of Health, one of the key figures and helping 169 00:17:06.359 --> 00:17:11.279 develop and message and promote all these different federal policies. We just get kind 170 00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:18.319 of a shrug sort of oh yeah, I can't really actually remember that there 171 00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:22.319 was any actual firm like scientific evidence for the six foot eh, you know 172 00:17:27.400 --> 00:17:33.119 it. It was this huge thing that this is. It's like, this 173 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:40.039 is basically and it's almost an admission that everything we did during twenty twenty was 174 00:17:40.119 --> 00:17:48.359 pointless, that it wasn't necessary. Would we have been any worse off if 175 00:17:48.359 --> 00:17:53.680 we had just you know, hey, everybody just be more careful, wash 176 00:17:53.720 --> 00:17:59.200 your hands more blah blah blah. I mean, would we have actually been 177 00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:03.319 any worse off? Would the numbers of people who died from COVID actually have 178 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:11.160 changed much if given that the six foot rule wasn't really that effective, would 179 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:17.160 or at the very least, it wasn't grounded any science. I mean, 180 00:18:17.200 --> 00:18:19.400 it's impossible to argue from a negative. I guess we don't know. We 181 00:18:19.400 --> 00:18:23.319 don't have a way of showing that anything would have been better or worse, 182 00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:30.640 or that the change would have been negligible, or or what the death toll 183 00:18:30.880 --> 00:18:38.640 over the norm would have been over excess would have been. But we It's 184 00:18:38.759 --> 00:18:47.119 yet another thing where this was sort of proposed to us as orthodoxy and now 185 00:18:47.160 --> 00:18:52.119 it's not necessarily true. The six foot rule, the fact that you could 186 00:18:52.119 --> 00:18:59.480 still spread COVID after getting vaccinated, the whole origin of COVID argument, and 187 00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:03.279 the labily theory, the lab leak theory which everyone everyone in the healthcare establishment, 188 00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:07.039 Fauci Collins at all were saying, No, no, no, that's 189 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:12.000 that's a horrible conspiracy theory. Don't you dare spread this horrible conspiracy theory. 190 00:19:12.039 --> 00:19:17.279 Hey, Facebook, shut down anyone who's saying this horrible conspiracy theory that that 191 00:19:17.319 --> 00:19:19.720 COVID leaked from a lab. Well, it could very damn well have leaked 192 00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:22.759 from a lab. But we have no idea. But we don't, We 193 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:26.359 don't embarrass ourselves because we were giving grant money to that research lab, from 194 00:19:26.440 --> 00:19:37.039 which it could very well have leaked the piece about it in National Review. 195 00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:41.880 The editorial about it written in National Reviews sort of sums it up really well. 196 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:48.279 Restricting the liberties and marring the settled patterns of life for a nation of 197 00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:59.759 over three hundred million based on guesses and shrugs is simply unacceptable. And I 198 00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:03.839 think this is the problem. I feel like I'm a little bit like I 199 00:20:04.039 --> 00:20:07.000 wasn't, you know, I didn't wake up this morning thinking I'm gonna talk 200 00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:12.119 about COVID on the radio show today, Like I'm not as jazzed up to 201 00:20:12.160 --> 00:20:18.160 talk about COVID anymore. I think everyone in America is tired of thinking about 202 00:20:18.200 --> 00:20:23.759 COVID and very much enjoys living in a non COVID infected political world. Like 203 00:20:25.319 --> 00:20:30.319 to have COVID not be dominating everyone's individual conversations and political conversations, not to 204 00:20:30.359 --> 00:20:36.119 have it be a political issue anymore, is a delight for most Americans. 205 00:20:37.319 --> 00:20:41.680 But I just have this sense that these people got away with it. They 206 00:20:41.960 --> 00:20:52.920 got away with this ridiculous, disastrous response that had massive, prolonged political, 207 00:20:53.200 --> 00:21:04.680 fiscal, social, religious, everything impacts on the whole country, and no 208 00:21:04.680 --> 00:21:07.200 one is going to be held accountable. Really, at the end of the 209 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:11.160 day, none of these people are getting held accountable for what they did. 210 00:21:11.960 --> 00:21:18.319 When we return, former Fresno area San Waquin Valley congress Member TJ. Cox 211 00:21:18.920 --> 00:21:26.079 takes a plea deal, I will describe what is different between his case versus 212 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:30.799 a Donald Trump's case. What is fraud? Next? On the John Girardi 213 00:21:30.839 --> 00:21:40.880 Show. I find it bizarre the Trump trial. It sort of doesn't feel 214 00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:45.200 like to me. It has the kind of wall to wall coverage you would 215 00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:52.799 expect of the first criminal trial of a former American president in like ever or 216 00:21:53.279 --> 00:22:00.480 I don't know ever, but certainly of the last one hundred years. And 217 00:22:00.519 --> 00:22:03.440 I guess part of it is probably because the judge didn't allow the trial to 218 00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:08.440 be televised, which probably is a good idea. But I just feel like 219 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:12.200 the coverage of the oj trial back when I was a kid was like way 220 00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:19.039 more intensive. Again, though that was televised. Nonetheless, the lack of 221 00:22:19.119 --> 00:22:25.400 coverage of the Trump trial I think has masked what a massively unfair trial it 222 00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:27.920 has been for Trump. And before you start saying, oh, you'res a 223 00:22:27.960 --> 00:22:33.640 right wing radio guy, just you know, shilling for Trump. If you 224 00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:42.400 look at all of my discussion of Trump's legal affairs, let's say, I 225 00:22:42.440 --> 00:22:47.680 think I've been pretty fair. I think I've called balls and strikes. I 226 00:22:47.720 --> 00:22:52.599 think that the cases against him in Georgia, framing that as a Rico case, 227 00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:56.000 I think is kind of weak. I don't think there was an ongoing 228 00:22:56.039 --> 00:23:02.960 criminal enterprise there of the sort that Rico in visions or a Rico case is 229 00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:07.079 looking at something like this, at something like the mafia, an ongoing, 230 00:23:07.359 --> 00:23:11.799 enduring criminal enterprise that's intended to go on for a long time once the election 231 00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:18.079 was over. There was no ongoing enterprise of any sort in Georgia. So 232 00:23:18.279 --> 00:23:22.359 I think a lot of aspects of the Rico case and Georgia were silly. 233 00:23:22.440 --> 00:23:26.720 I think a lot of the January sixth charges were kind of a big stretch 234 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:33.519 to call those things that Trump was actually charged with and was Remember Trump wasn't 235 00:23:33.559 --> 00:23:40.359 actually charged with anything having to do with the violence on January sixth. He 236 00:23:40.519 --> 00:23:47.160 was charged with basically his arguing to Mike Pence and trying to convince Mike Pence 237 00:23:47.200 --> 00:23:49.559 not to certify the election results on January sixth. That's chiefly the thing he 238 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:56.759 is being charged with at that substruction of that substruction of Congress, or it's 239 00:23:56.799 --> 00:24:04.000 some other kind of offense there when Trump was pursuing a minority legal viewpoint. 240 00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:08.079 Maybe it was incorrect, It's probably incorrect, But I guess I find it 241 00:24:08.200 --> 00:24:12.880 hard to suss out that that was a criminal offense. You might think it's 242 00:24:12.960 --> 00:24:15.039 bad, you might think it's wrong, you might think it's corrupt, you 243 00:24:15.079 --> 00:24:18.680 might think it's a misinterpretation of what the law is. I just don't know 244 00:24:18.759 --> 00:24:25.039 that it gets to the level of an actual criminal offense. Now, though, 245 00:24:25.079 --> 00:24:30.240 with the Mara Lago documents case, I think they've got him more or 246 00:24:30.359 --> 00:24:33.880 less dead to rights. I think he clearly retained a bunch of documents he 247 00:24:33.039 --> 00:24:37.119 was not allowed to hold on to, and he was retaining them in an 248 00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:45.839 incredibly irresponsible fashion. So I actually think they he's more or less they've got 249 00:24:45.880 --> 00:24:52.400 him more or less dead to rights with regards to the retention of documents that 250 00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:55.079 he wasn't allowed to keep holding on to. Yes, he was allowed to 251 00:24:55.119 --> 00:24:56.680 hold on to them as president. No, there doesn't seem to be any 252 00:24:56.759 --> 00:25:03.160 actual record that he declassified those documents, and even if he did, they 253 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:10.720 were dangerous. They were sensitive materials that jeopardized national security to just have in 254 00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:14.599 an unsecure place, and might have violated federal law anyway, even if he 255 00:25:14.640 --> 00:25:22.400 had declassified them. Now, one thing that at least politically is in Trump's 256 00:25:22.440 --> 00:25:26.920 favor for the document's case is the fact that Biden did the same damn thing 257 00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:32.240 and that Hillary Clinton did a very similar thing, and neither of them are 258 00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:36.799 in any trouble, but he, for some reason, is getting a federal 259 00:25:36.839 --> 00:25:41.519 prosecution for it. So I feel like I've called balls and strikes with President 260 00:25:41.599 --> 00:25:45.640 Trump. And one of the things with this Manhattan trial that has been so 261 00:25:45.839 --> 00:25:52.400 there's a lot of things about the Manhattan trial that have been ridiculous. I 262 00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:55.960 think, though, the central thing is understanding what Trump's been charged with. 263 00:25:56.000 --> 00:25:59.640 And I've discussed this on the show a number of times. Trump isn't being 264 00:25:59.720 --> 00:26:06.440 charged urged in Manhattan with hush money payments. That's not a criminal offense. 265 00:26:07.880 --> 00:26:12.559 Giving someone, having someone sign a non disclosure agreement, and giving them money 266 00:26:14.119 --> 00:26:22.440 for that non disclosure agreement. That is not against the law. Maybe in 267 00:26:22.519 --> 00:26:26.680 certain contexts, for certain kinds of things, it might be against the law, 268 00:26:26.680 --> 00:26:29.720 But in the context of what Trump was doing with Stormy Daniels, giving 269 00:26:29.720 --> 00:26:33.480 her money to not talk about an affair they allegedly had. That's not illegal. 270 00:26:34.599 --> 00:26:41.519 It might be sleazy, it might be distasteful, but it's not illegal. 271 00:26:45.119 --> 00:26:56.000 The thing Trump is actually charged with is allegedly fraudulent misstatement in his books 272 00:26:56.160 --> 00:27:03.599 of the nature of the payment, Fraudulent business records practices, Okay, falsification 273 00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:08.519 of business records with intent to defraud. That's the actual thing in the New 274 00:27:08.599 --> 00:27:14.119 York Penal Code that Trump is charged with, basically within the books of the 275 00:27:14.119 --> 00:27:21.519 Trump organization listing these payments which were made to Michael Cohen. So again, 276 00:27:21.519 --> 00:27:29.240 here's here's the chain of events. Stormy Daniels signs a non disclosure agreement during 277 00:27:29.279 --> 00:27:32.640 the fall of twenty sixteen, signs a non disclosure agreement that she's not going 278 00:27:32.680 --> 00:27:40.759 to tell her story. Michael Cohen has to get money to pay. I 279 00:27:40.799 --> 00:27:45.720 believe it was the National Inquirer who then paid Stormy Daniels. Trump needs to 280 00:27:45.880 --> 00:27:56.119 pay Michael Cohen. So Trump gives Cohen a series of payments to pay him 281 00:27:56.240 --> 00:28:00.400 back for outlaying this one hundred and thirty thousand dollars that went to Stormy Daniels 282 00:28:00.759 --> 00:28:08.079 but Trump was giving him other moneies. Cohen was Trump's ongoing attorney for various 283 00:28:08.119 --> 00:28:12.079 personal affairs. He was helping out with other things. He wanted a bonus 284 00:28:12.279 --> 00:28:15.480 because he for you know, all the work he had done, and he 285 00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:21.039 wanted more money. Cohen was at this time again, we're in twenty seventeen. 286 00:28:21.079 --> 00:28:22.640 Trump has won the election, He's in the White House. Trump was 287 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:26.640 bummed that apparently he wasn't going to get some kind of role within the administration. 288 00:28:26.720 --> 00:28:32.000 He had these sort of grandiose dreams that apparently he'd be like White House 289 00:28:32.039 --> 00:28:33.880 counsel or that he'd be attorney general, or that he'd be chief of staff 290 00:28:33.960 --> 00:28:41.960 or something, which shows kind of what a lunatic Cohen was. So Trump 291 00:28:41.079 --> 00:28:45.440 gives him way more than the one hundred and thirty thousand dollars he paid Stormy 292 00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:49.720 Daniels. Now, part of this was they were going to classify this as 293 00:28:49.880 --> 00:28:57.680 attorney's fees, and if Cohen is receiving moneies at attorney's fees, he has 294 00:28:57.720 --> 00:29:03.039 to pay taxes on that. If he receiving money as loan repayment, he 295 00:29:03.079 --> 00:29:06.559 doesn't have to pay taxes for it. And that's the core of the prosecution. 296 00:29:07.400 --> 00:29:18.039 It's characterizing the payments to Cohen as attorney's fees rather than loan repayment. 297 00:29:19.279 --> 00:29:26.240 That's the crime. That's the crime putting in his books indicating that the payments 298 00:29:26.759 --> 00:29:37.799 were attorneys fees rather than loan repayment. Now, there are like several threshold 299 00:29:37.839 --> 00:29:41.440 problems with this. First of all, is it really that crazy to call 300 00:29:41.559 --> 00:29:49.319 these payments to Cohen attorney's fees. It's you know, maybe it's inaccurate, 301 00:29:49.319 --> 00:29:56.319 but it's not completely crazy. Cohen was Trump's ongoing lawyer. There was stuff 302 00:29:56.359 --> 00:30:00.039 Trump was paying him for. You know, if he's going to continue to 303 00:30:00.119 --> 00:30:04.319 be your lawyer and you're giving him more, that gives you some buffer of 304 00:30:04.359 --> 00:30:12.039 a retainer. It's not clear that there was anything that It isn't one hundred 305 00:30:12.079 --> 00:30:18.240 percent clear even from the testimony, Even from Cohen's testimony, I don't think 306 00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:22.839 there's nothing that doesn't seem like there's anything explicit in the air that we all 307 00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:26.039 know that this is the loan repayment, but we're gonna hide it in the 308 00:30:26.039 --> 00:30:32.599 books by calling it legal fees. Well, that doesn't that doesn't seem to 309 00:30:32.640 --> 00:30:37.559 me to be very well established. Now, the core problem, and this 310 00:30:37.640 --> 00:30:42.240 is where we'll talk about our beloved former Fresno era former member of the House 311 00:30:42.319 --> 00:30:49.200 Representatives representing King's County and I think portions of Tillarry County, TJ. Cox, 312 00:30:51.440 --> 00:31:00.000 which is this word fraud. TJ. Cox was charged with various counts 313 00:31:00.119 --> 00:31:15.400 of wire fraud. What is fraud? Fraud means lying for money, lying 314 00:31:15.799 --> 00:31:23.880 for money, lying in order to get yourself more money or property. Alvin 315 00:31:23.960 --> 00:31:30.400 Bragg, the District Attorney in Manhattan, is trying to say that this lie, 316 00:31:30.880 --> 00:31:37.839 classifying these payments to Cohen as attorney's fees rather than loan repayment, perpetrated 317 00:31:37.880 --> 00:31:42.240 a fraud in the American people of depriving them of a Hillary Clinton presidency. 318 00:31:42.279 --> 00:31:48.880 That's the fraud. But that's not what fraud means. Fraud, when it's 319 00:31:48.960 --> 00:31:53.359 used in New York law, and as it's used in most jurisdictions, the 320 00:31:53.480 --> 00:32:01.359 term fraud specifically refers to not some general sense of being cheated. Fraud means 321 00:32:01.799 --> 00:32:10.079 deceptive conduct in order to get money or assets or stuff or property. Okay, 322 00:32:10.400 --> 00:32:14.680 that's what it means. And again, a great way of thinking about 323 00:32:14.720 --> 00:32:17.960 it, A great shorthand. When you're reading a news story and you see 324 00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:29.119 the word fraud, think lying for money, that's what it means. So 325 00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:40.240 TJ. Cox was indicted for quote, multiple fraud schemes. When he was 326 00:32:40.559 --> 00:32:46.039 the head of a Fresne company aimed at assisting development investment in financially distressed areas 327 00:32:46.480 --> 00:32:51.319 through the new Market tax credit. He was a partner in a nonprofit that 328 00:32:51.440 --> 00:32:54.279 least the troubled Granite Parks sports complex in central Fresno from the City of Fresno. 329 00:32:54.599 --> 00:32:58.039 He was the partner in an almand processing company, and he was a 330 00:32:58.079 --> 00:33:04.839 candidate for Congress. Comcuters alleged Cox stole more than one point seven million dollars 331 00:33:04.880 --> 00:33:10.160 in diverted client payments and company loans and investments. They said Cox created false 332 00:33:10.279 --> 00:33:17.759 records, lying and a fraudulent loan guarantee again lying to secure a one point 333 00:33:17.839 --> 00:33:23.759 five million dollar construction loan for money through a sports nonprofit for improvements at Granite 334 00:33:23.839 --> 00:33:29.279 Park. So TJ. Cox is clearly demonstrating for us, this is what 335 00:33:29.400 --> 00:33:36.039 fraud is. He's giving false records, records where he's cooked the books for 336 00:33:36.160 --> 00:33:45.480 what for a big fat one point five million dollar construction loan. The indictment 337 00:33:45.559 --> 00:33:52.079 also alleged campaign contribution violations from Straw donors. He gave more than twenty five 338 00:33:52.119 --> 00:33:54.960 thousand dollars to business associates and family members so they could look like they were 339 00:33:54.960 --> 00:34:06.200 donating to his twenty eighteen campaign for congress. Now Trump, let's now look 340 00:34:06.200 --> 00:34:07.960 at Trump. So with TJ. Cox, we see very clearly he's lying 341 00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:13.159 in business records to get loans, to get money, lying for money. 342 00:34:14.280 --> 00:34:22.320 That's what it is. That's fraud with Trump, though, Okay, let's 343 00:34:22.400 --> 00:34:27.840 assume for the sake of argument, that characterizing his payments to Cohen as attorney's 344 00:34:27.880 --> 00:34:30.480 fees rather than loan repayment. Let's assume that that's a lie. I don't 345 00:34:30.519 --> 00:34:34.599 know that it is, but let's assume that it is. Let's assume that 346 00:34:34.599 --> 00:34:42.360 that's wrong. That's inaccurate. What money was he getting, what property was 347 00:34:42.360 --> 00:34:52.559 he getting? Nothing that there was no financial advantage to classifying the payments to 348 00:34:52.599 --> 00:34:54.960 Cohen as attorney's fees rather than loan repayment. If anything, there was a 349 00:34:55.000 --> 00:35:00.760 financial disadvantage. They had to pay more taxes of on it. So again, 350 00:35:01.639 --> 00:35:06.599 an attorney receiving attorney's fees, that's income for the attorney. He has 351 00:35:06.639 --> 00:35:10.599 to pay income tax on it. If it's an attorney just getting a loan 352 00:35:10.840 --> 00:35:15.760 repaid to him. Like, if I loan you fifty thousand dollars and you 353 00:35:15.800 --> 00:35:20.760 pay me back fifty thousand dollars, that's not a And I loan you fifty 354 00:35:20.760 --> 00:35:23.559 thousand dollars on you know, April first, and you pay me back fifty 355 00:35:23.559 --> 00:35:27.360 thousand dollars on May first, I don't have to report that on my taxes. 356 00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:30.719 That's not a taxable event. It's just money out money in. That's 357 00:35:31.000 --> 00:35:35.280 not a tax worthy event. If you give me fifty thousand If I'm a 358 00:35:35.320 --> 00:35:38.639 lawyer and you give me fifty thousand dollars to pay me legal fees, that's 359 00:35:38.639 --> 00:35:42.599 income to me. That is taxed. I have to pay income taxes on 360 00:35:42.639 --> 00:35:45.440 it. So Trump actually wound up giving Cohen way more than one hundred and 361 00:35:45.440 --> 00:35:52.559 thirty thousand dollars so that Cohen could pay his taxes. So far from getting 362 00:35:52.599 --> 00:35:57.199 more money by reclassifying these payments, Trump had to pay more money. The 363 00:35:57.679 --> 00:36:02.800 It was a good deal for the Coffers of the state of New York and 364 00:36:04.280 --> 00:36:07.400 the federal government. They got tax money out of it when they wouldn't have 365 00:36:07.480 --> 00:36:12.400 otherwise. So I think the TJ. Cox thing is showing us sort of 366 00:36:12.400 --> 00:36:19.559 how silly the Trump prosecution is. There was no fraud in the Trump context. 367 00:36:20.039 --> 00:36:23.840 Where again, fraud doesn't just mean anything you think that's deceptive. Fraud 368 00:36:23.960 --> 00:36:29.679 means lying for money. When we return, who is Biden really pandering to 369 00:36:29.840 --> 00:36:37.000 by being soft on Palestinian protesters and soft on the cause of Hamas and Gaza 370 00:36:37.039 --> 00:36:40.840 in general. That's next on the John Girardi Show. A lot of people 371 00:36:40.920 --> 00:36:46.960 have noticed how bizarrely soft the Biden or at the very least confused the Biden 372 00:36:47.000 --> 00:36:52.320 administration has been in its messaging between Hamas versus Israel. Do they support Israel 373 00:36:52.320 --> 00:36:57.480 all the way? Do they not support Israel? Are they soft pedaling this 374 00:36:57.599 --> 00:37:00.239 blah blah blah? And are they doing this for political considerations? Are they 375 00:37:00.280 --> 00:37:04.880 afraid of all these student protesters that they're going to lose the student vote if 376 00:37:04.920 --> 00:37:08.800 they are perceived as two pro Israel? And people are sort of pointing out, 377 00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:14.039 you know, the anti Israel vote in America is really very, very 378 00:37:14.079 --> 00:37:22.599 small. Here's what it really is. A lot of these anti Israel protests 379 00:37:22.639 --> 00:37:30.480 on college campuses are being funded by major Biden donors. I think that's what's 380 00:37:30.800 --> 00:37:35.239 driving this sort of mixed messaging on Biden's behalf. On the one hand, 381 00:37:35.280 --> 00:37:42.039 he realizes most Americans are sort of for the most part pro Israel, so 382 00:37:42.079 --> 00:37:45.039 he doesn't want to tick them off. But he's got some super left wing 383 00:37:45.119 --> 00:37:51.880 donors who are on kind of the opposite side of this thing, and I 384 00:37:51.920 --> 00:37:55.679 think he feels like he can't tick off either side. That'll do it. 385 00:37:55.920 --> 00:37:59.039 See you guys next week on The John Girardi Show.