WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:05.000 As there's more and more Palestine protest stuff happening over the course of this weekend 2 00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:15.320 at various graduations across the country, including a walkout at Duke University where Jerry 3 00:00:15.359 --> 00:00:22.399 Seinfeld was the commencement speaker and a bunch of Palestinian students start walking out when 4 00:00:22.440 --> 00:00:28.559 he starts speaking. In spite of the fact I don't think Jerry Seinfeld has 5 00:00:29.480 --> 00:00:36.759 other than being Jewish. I'm not sure that there is any possible connection between 6 00:00:36.880 --> 00:00:43.679 Jerry Seinfeld and the Israel Gaza conflict. I don't feel like he's spoken about 7 00:00:43.679 --> 00:00:51.079 it all that much. I think there was a Curbier Enthusiasm episode where Larry 8 00:00:51.159 --> 00:00:57.359 David was conflicted between wanting to support Israel, but then he was dating an 9 00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:02.960 extremely attractive Palestinian woman, and so that was his that was his gravy internal 10 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:07.079 complim But Jerry Seinfeld, though, has nothing to do with the Israel Palestine 11 00:01:07.079 --> 00:01:12.200 conflict. And here in the middle of Duke's commencement exercises, as Seinfeld's getting 12 00:01:12.280 --> 00:01:17.359 up to speak, all these students walk out. This led to the joke 13 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:23.959 that we found the identity of the organizer of the pro Palestine walk out at 14 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:26.840 the Duke commencement speech, and it's Kevin what's his name, Kevin Knight, 15 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:32.680 the guy who plays Newman Jerry's arch nemesis on the show. That he was, 16 00:01:32.719 --> 00:01:36.079 you know, holding a Palestinian flag and leading people up. Keith Keith 17 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:42.400 Knight. Anyway, whatever, I made this comment, and the more I 18 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:49.319 think about it, the more I think it's true. Because I feel somewhat 19 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:57.879 ambivalent about the Israel Palestine conflict. I think, yes, Israel is just, 20 00:01:59.799 --> 00:02:04.599 it is right and just for Israel to defend itself. I'm not sure 21 00:02:04.680 --> 00:02:10.039 though, that I'm gung ho in agreement with every single thing that the Israelis 22 00:02:10.120 --> 00:02:15.520 do. I think there are a lot of serious questions about conduct in the 23 00:02:15.560 --> 00:02:25.080 midst of wartime. I have a lot of questions and concerns about Israeli policy. 24 00:02:25.159 --> 00:02:30.159 More broadly. Of course, October seventh was horrible and unjustified and terrible 25 00:02:30.199 --> 00:02:40.159 and evil, and Hamas Hamas is this completely evil and insane entity. But 26 00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:45.639 I think there are real serious discussions to be had and we're having none of 27 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:55.240 them. Why Because basically, the Israel Palestine conflict has become just another American 28 00:02:55.479 --> 00:03:05.560 left right fight. It's just another version of hip versus cops, some version 29 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:09.919 of hippies versus cops, which the George Floyd protests were kind of like that, 30 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:14.960 But the George Floyd the Black Lives Matters protests were able to sort of 31 00:03:15.240 --> 00:03:23.319 position themselves in a way that was a little bit more universally sympathetic than the 32 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:32.639 Palestine protesters. The pro Palestinian protesters in America are just so loathsome, and 33 00:03:32.680 --> 00:03:38.199 they so obviously blend into flat out anti Semitism, and they're so that they 34 00:03:38.439 --> 00:03:45.719 display even if they're not anti Semitic, they just display all the most revolting 35 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:54.159 characteristics of modern day left wing you know, woke, intersectionality, whatever you 36 00:03:54.159 --> 00:04:00.759 want to call it, culture down to the I was reading this thing that 37 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:05.919 Columbia, at Columbia University, which is like the epicenter of all this protest 38 00:04:05.960 --> 00:04:13.159 stuff, they had a group of people going on a hunger strike, and 39 00:04:13.240 --> 00:04:20.079 after ten days, their original group of hunger strikers passed the baton to another 40 00:04:20.120 --> 00:04:25.680 group of hunger strikers because they were concerned about health risks to the hunger striker. 41 00:04:25.959 --> 00:04:28.720 Well, of course you're concerned about health risks to hunger strikers. That's 42 00:04:28.920 --> 00:04:35.279 the point of a hunger strike, you threaten that you're going to kill yourself 43 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:42.920 through food deprivation until someone does what you want. So if you just stop 44 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:48.240 the hunger strike when you don't get what you want and just pass it off 45 00:04:48.279 --> 00:04:56.680 to someone else, then what's the point of hunger striking? Like they demonstrate 46 00:04:57.160 --> 00:05:09.319 every loathsome entire titled historically like the historically ignorant, politically ignorant, entitled, 47 00:05:09.879 --> 00:05:15.920 arrogant, every characteristic you could ever think of for why I don't want to 48 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:21.959 pay for this person's student loan, Like, every single aspect of that is 49 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:34.079 on display with these pro Palestinian protests. They're so loathsome so unsympathetic, even 50 00:05:34.120 --> 00:05:39.639 to the point of like trying to you know, pretend like oh, making 51 00:05:39.839 --> 00:05:46.360 like protesting illegally occupying buildings on campus and then demanding that the university facilitate what 52 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:56.360 they do. It's this unbelievable level of entitlement and arrogance, all with this 53 00:05:56.759 --> 00:06:08.439 total lack of perspective about a group that they're protesting for. You know, 54 00:06:08.639 --> 00:06:14.399 just the the the number of you know, queers for Palestine, LGBTQ plus 55 00:06:14.399 --> 00:06:23.839 for Palestine. The Hamas would absolutely murder these people. The idea that Hamas, 56 00:06:24.040 --> 00:06:33.120 these ultra fundamentalist, radical Muslims who want to impose Sharia law. They 57 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:39.079 would execute every single one of these people if they were just normal citizens living 58 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:46.279 in Gaza trying to live out their lives like this, whether for homosexuality, 59 00:06:46.399 --> 00:06:53.519 for this, for that, like the the the idea that Hamas is some 60 00:06:53.560 --> 00:06:59.000 sort of natural ally to their struggle or that they and Hamas are akin in 61 00:06:59.079 --> 00:07:04.480 some way is completely absurd, and all of it has to do it's all 62 00:07:04.519 --> 00:07:14.600 centered around For these American protesters, it's all centered around anti colonialism, which 63 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:24.279 is this huge value that has to be preserved within liberal academia anti colonialism. 64 00:07:24.279 --> 00:07:31.839 Colonialism is bad. People who engage in colonialism are bad and well correction, 65 00:07:32.319 --> 00:07:45.360 not colonialism, Western colonialism, Western colonialism. That and usually I think what 66 00:07:45.399 --> 00:07:49.600 they're more upset about is in the form of ideology, culture, religion, 67 00:07:49.759 --> 00:07:58.439 that kind of colonialism. The idea of quote, indigenous cultures being overrun by 68 00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:03.920 Christianity, the idea of indigenous peoples being having their culture taking away and having 69 00:08:03.959 --> 00:08:11.480 it be replaced with and essentially European or Western culture. That's what they don't 70 00:08:11.560 --> 00:08:16.319 like. And so they see the existence of the state of Israel as such 71 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:24.199 attempt that there were several Palestinians in nineteen forty eight who were displaced from their 72 00:08:24.199 --> 00:08:31.920 homes, and that several Muslims. Although the concept of quote Palestine doesn't really 73 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:35.440 make sense. It wasn't ever its own like separate political entity. It was 74 00:08:35.480 --> 00:08:39.279 either part of the Ottoman Empire or part of Jordan or part of you know, 75 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:46.200 there was there was not one single like country in this region on the 76 00:08:46.200 --> 00:08:54.559 west bank of the Jordan River or the Gaza strip that was just Palestine. 77 00:08:56.159 --> 00:09:00.919 But people who lived in this region who were removed from their home nineteen forty 78 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:05.639 eight, and that is an unforgivable sin that results in the state of Israel 79 00:09:05.720 --> 00:09:13.840 just should not exist and we cannot get over it because it was a Western 80 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:20.399 act of colonialism. We don't mind Eastern colonialism. We don't mind that Azerbaijan 81 00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:26.720 is actively conquering Armenia, Armenian land that we don't care as much about. 82 00:09:26.919 --> 00:09:30.519 And even for these young liberals, I don't think they really care about the 83 00:09:30.600 --> 00:09:39.799 Russia Ukraine conflict that much like honestly, the Russia Ukraine thing, it's it's 84 00:09:39.159 --> 00:09:48.840 much more of a baby boomer liberal crowd that supports that. But these aoc 85 00:09:50.279 --> 00:09:58.480 age folks, that's not really revn their engines. This is what they care 86 00:09:58.519 --> 00:10:05.960 about. Why because it's perceived as an indigenous, brown skinned culture, because 87 00:10:05.960 --> 00:10:13.279 we have to view things through the lens of American racial politics, fighting against 88 00:10:13.320 --> 00:10:20.440 a Western imperial oppressor, even though that Western imperial oppressor is in this case 89 00:10:22.120 --> 00:10:35.919 Jewish. So that's what's animating them. But that's the American conflict behind this 90 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:43.480 American internal culture. And you know, again, it's descended in America into 91 00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:52.200 a hippies versus cops thing, just another iteration of the same thing, a 92 00:10:54.279 --> 00:10:58.159 less popular iteration of Black Lives Matter or the Women's March or whatever. It's 93 00:10:58.200 --> 00:11:05.440 all just an another example of hippies versus cops. Behind that, though, 94 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:13.120 is like a real conflict where there are real serious questions going on. Should 95 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:22.159 the United States provide deadly military funding for the Israelis? I mean, I 96 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:28.039 would be okay if people said I support Israel's cause, I support Israel's military 97 00:11:28.039 --> 00:11:30.639 operations. Okay, why do we have to give them tens of billions of 98 00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:37.200 dollars of military funding? Ye? Are we able as a country anymore just 99 00:11:37.240 --> 00:11:41.039 to say, you know what, we're glad you guys are fighting that war. 100 00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:48.200 Keep it up, moral support at a baby. We can't just do 101 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:56.600 that. We have to give you tens of billions of dollars. So there's 102 00:11:56.679 --> 00:12:01.120 questions about that. There's questions about now what seems to be what is the 103 00:12:01.399 --> 00:12:11.639 major controversy du jour is that Congress having authorized giving billions of dollars for military 104 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:22.039 aid to Israel, the Biden administration is refusing to hand it over because Israel 105 00:12:22.120 --> 00:12:30.559 wants to go into this one section of Gaza called Rafa to sort of do 106 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:37.200 a final offensive push against Hamas. So the money is being held up. 107 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:46.440 Now. I think you can raise some real questions about President Biden. And 108 00:12:46.679 --> 00:12:52.960 in the next segment I think I'll draw a comparison here to what happened under 109 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:58.279 Donald Trump with military funding authorized by Congress and slowing up the delivery of it 110 00:13:00.360 --> 00:13:03.440 so that there are a lot of actually really serious conflicts. But I think, 111 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:11.200 unfortunately, unfortunately it has devolved. This whole thing has just evolved into 112 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:16.799 another hippies versus cops argument, where I mean, I guess I'm grateful that 113 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:22.919 in this iteration of hippies versus cops, the hippies look bad. But at 114 00:13:22.919 --> 00:13:30.120 the same time, we've got a horrible war going on with America now invested 115 00:13:30.200 --> 00:13:37.320 with billions and billions of dollars in it. When we return the similarities between 116 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:43.240 Trump's first Ukraine impeachment and what Biden is doing now. Next on the John 117 00:13:43.279 --> 00:13:50.879 Girardi Show, let me take you all back in time to remind you about 118 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:56.679 Donald Trump's first impeachment. Ah, it's like a first kiss. You never 119 00:13:56.679 --> 00:14:01.360 forget where you were when it happened, except with the Trump first impeachment you 120 00:14:01.480 --> 00:14:05.799 kind of do because it was sort of an unremarkable thing. Here's here's basically 121 00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:13.159 what happened with Trump's first impeachment. The Trump administration, authorized by Congress, 122 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:24.120 presumably, was going to give military weaponry to the Ukrainians. This was I 123 00:14:24.200 --> 00:14:33.799 think in twenty eighteen Biden is excuse me. Donald Trump communicates with Zelenski, 124 00:14:33.960 --> 00:14:37.120 the president of Ukraine, to say, Hey, I want to give you 125 00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:41.720 this military aid, but could you look into this whole thing with Hunter Biden 126 00:14:41.799 --> 00:14:50.000 for me, and seems to indicate that he's going to make the delivery of 127 00:14:50.120 --> 00:15:03.840 this military funding dependent on Ukraine investigating Hunter Biden. Ultimately, though he didn't 128 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:13.480 make the military funding dependent on Ukraine investigating Hunter Biden, he gives Ukraine the 129 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:22.840 military funding. A whistleblower blows the whistle on this conversation between Trump and Zelenski, 130 00:15:22.840 --> 00:15:26.600 which is troubling in itself, Like, if the President of the United 131 00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:30.720 States can't have a candid conversation with a foreign military leader without a fear that 132 00:15:30.759 --> 00:15:35.679 it's going to get leaked to the press, that doesn't seem like a great 133 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:39.759 situation for the sake of international diplomacy and the president's interactions with other kinds of 134 00:15:39.759 --> 00:15:50.639 world leaders. This gets leaked and the press explodes. The press is sure 135 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:56.639 that this is a campaign finance violation at the very and this is the first 136 00:15:56.639 --> 00:16:02.039 thing they run with, which is which strikes me is bizarre. Well, 137 00:16:02.039 --> 00:16:03.480 at the very least the first thing they say, so, this is wildly 138 00:16:03.480 --> 00:16:11.840 inappropriate Donald Trump making the delivery of military a dependent on a personal vendetta, 139 00:16:11.960 --> 00:16:18.919 a personal political vendetta against Joe Biden because he might run for president. And 140 00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:25.080 so people on the left try to go through, well, what did he 141 00:16:25.159 --> 00:16:29.320 do that was illegal here, and they come to realize there really wasn't anything 142 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:33.159 illegal. First they say, well, it's a campaign finance violation. That 143 00:16:33.240 --> 00:16:36.799 was the first thing they ran with, and everyone was convinced that he violated 144 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:48.960 campaign finance law by asking Zelenski to investigate whether the Hunter Biden situation in spite 145 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:52.879 of the fact that Zelenski never did, and I guess an investigation of Hunter 146 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:57.279 Biden, in their twisted thinking, would count as basically an in kind campaign 147 00:16:57.360 --> 00:17:03.399 donation that was not reported. Well, that's not how it works. That's 148 00:17:03.440 --> 00:17:07.920 not how campaign finance violations work. Campaign finance violations work. If you pay 149 00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:11.640 for a bunch of political attack ads against your opponent and you don't report it 150 00:17:11.640 --> 00:17:18.240 as a campaign finance expense, right, that's a campaign finance violation activity that 151 00:17:18.359 --> 00:17:26.839 only exists for the purpose of a political campaign. In fairness, one of 152 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:30.680 the things we've seen is that Hunter Biden was probably doing all kinds of dirty 153 00:17:30.680 --> 00:17:37.240 stuff, sleazy stuff. There's all kinds of allegations of illegal to shady stuff 154 00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:41.960 that Hunter slash Joe might have been doing, Failure to register as a foreign 155 00:17:41.960 --> 00:17:48.079 agent, like all kinds of stuff that would have been maybe legitimate for the 156 00:17:48.119 --> 00:17:52.240 President of the United States to ask about. But never mind that. So 157 00:17:52.279 --> 00:17:57.599 they go from campaign finance violation then they say it was bribery, the Trump 158 00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:04.160 was, but that doesn't work because it doesn't fall into the category of what 159 00:18:04.359 --> 00:18:08.079 a bribe is under the federal bribery Statute. Then they said, well, 160 00:18:08.079 --> 00:18:14.599 it was a quid pro quo, a quid pro quo Trump was gonna give 161 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:18.599 them military aid if they did something else. Well, quid pro quos are 162 00:18:18.599 --> 00:18:25.519 not in and of themselves illegal. That that's not an illegal thing that happens 163 00:18:25.559 --> 00:18:30.440 all. That's what most of American foreign relations are. We will do this 164 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:33.200 nice thing for you if you do this nice thing for us. We will 165 00:18:33.240 --> 00:18:37.559 do this if you help us advance our interests here. So they went through 166 00:18:37.559 --> 00:18:42.759 this whole mental exercise of trying to figure out, well, this seems sleazy, 167 00:18:45.839 --> 00:18:51.200 but how do we blame Trump for it? And eventually they just decide 168 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:56.519 to impeach him, which, in fairness, you can impeach and convict someone 169 00:18:56.920 --> 00:19:02.680 for I don't know, looking at you cross the constitution. It leaves the 170 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:10.400 constitution, leaves the power of impeachment and conviction in the political realm. It's 171 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:12.720 in the hand of the political branches of government. It's a political question, 172 00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:15.960 not a legal question. You don't have to meet a certain standard of proof. 173 00:19:15.960 --> 00:19:22.160 You don't have to impeach and convict someone of a high crime or misdemeanor. 174 00:19:22.279 --> 00:19:27.000 Those things are suggested in the Constitution. But the structure is basically, 175 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:30.960 you're impeached when a majority of the House impeaches you. You are convicted when 176 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:37.440 two thirds of the Senate convicts you. That's it. That's the raw reality, 177 00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:41.599 which is based in the structure of how the Constitution sets it up. 178 00:19:45.319 --> 00:19:48.960 That's an impeachable offense. Well, it's an impeachable offense if a majority of 179 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:55.200 the House can impeach you for it. That's what's an impeachable offense. And 180 00:19:55.279 --> 00:20:00.000 so the House of Representatives, the Democrat controlled House of Representatives, impeach Donald 181 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:04.680 Trump for quote abuse of power because they couldn't find an actual statute he had 182 00:20:04.759 --> 00:20:11.960 violated, an actual law he had transgressed. Is Joe Biden basically doing the 183 00:20:11.960 --> 00:20:26.400 same thing right now? Joe Biden is holding up the delivery of congressionally authorized 184 00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:36.240 military funding for Israel. He is doing so allegedly because he does not want 185 00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:41.039 the Israelis to pursue their strategy in I think it's Rafa, a certain district 186 00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:48.079 of Gaza. Is he abusing his power? Why is he doing this. 187 00:20:48.200 --> 00:20:56.279 Is he doing this because he's afraid of losing Michigan and Minnesota. Don't think 188 00:20:56.279 --> 00:21:00.240 it's outside the realm of the possible. I think if Biden came out and 189 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:07.960 very clearly stated what authority he has over this and his reasons for slowing this 190 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:11.519 down, and said, hey, I think, hey, the United States 191 00:21:11.559 --> 00:21:15.240 doesn't want this weaponry used to kill this many civilians, so I'm going to 192 00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:22.240 slow this down, I'd respect him for it. But Biden doesn't have that 193 00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:32.880 kind of energy and ability to express what he's doing. So here's the thing. 194 00:21:32.920 --> 00:21:37.359 I mean, I don't know that I inherently disagree with the idea of 195 00:21:37.480 --> 00:21:45.039 heavily conditioning the delivery of US weaponry to a foreign country. I absolutely think 196 00:21:45.079 --> 00:21:51.759 we should, although frankly, maybe if Biden wanted it this heavily conditioned, 197 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:55.519 he would have put those conditions into the bill that was in front of Congress 198 00:21:56.720 --> 00:22:07.680 before he signed it. But here's the thing, though, it seems as 199 00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:11.680 though Biden, with a lot of this, is trying to walk this tightrope 200 00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:15.079 between wanting to support Israel and look like a normal politician, but on the 201 00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:21.960 other because really our Israel Palestine debate is between hippies supporting Palestine and cops supporting 202 00:22:22.039 --> 00:22:25.599 Israel. He wants to seem like a cop so that the majority of Americans 203 00:22:25.599 --> 00:22:29.680 support him, but he can't alienate the hippies too much. If he alienates 204 00:22:29.680 --> 00:22:33.200 the hippies too much, he might lose Michigan, he might lose Minnesota, 205 00:22:33.640 --> 00:22:38.359 which have large Muslim populations that are very sympathetic to Palestine, and he might 206 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:45.400 lose a bunch of college aged voters all over the country. When we return, 207 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:49.440 I'll talk about the ridiculousness of Donald Trump's trial in Manhattan, try to 208 00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:53.319 give you a little legal analysis. That is next on the John Girardi Show. 209 00:22:56.680 --> 00:23:00.000 I want to go through the Trump trial a little bit, just because 210 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:06.480 there have been more absurd things happening in it, and again just to reframe 211 00:23:06.519 --> 00:23:11.240 it. I want to reframe it for all of you because some of you 212 00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:15.960 might still have the idea that this is a hush money case. That's how 213 00:23:15.960 --> 00:23:22.480 it's constantly referred to, and you might think from the testimony that the judge 214 00:23:22.519 --> 00:23:25.400 is allowing in the trial that this is about hush money. Just last week, 215 00:23:26.279 --> 00:23:33.480 Stormy Daniels was led into the courtroom to testify about her affair with Donald 216 00:23:33.480 --> 00:23:38.680 Trump, and that might make you think that this case was about hush money, 217 00:23:38.839 --> 00:23:45.240 whether Trump gave this woman hush money. I'm here to tell you that 218 00:23:45.240 --> 00:23:49.799 that's not actually what's charged in the case at all, and frankly, it 219 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:56.920 wouldn't be because hush money is not illegal. Let me repeat that, hush 220 00:23:56.039 --> 00:24:00.920 money is not illegal. Non disclosure agreements, for better or for worse, 221 00:24:00.839 --> 00:24:06.759 are not illegal. They just are not, and it's not what Trump was 222 00:24:06.799 --> 00:24:11.519 charged with. Here's what Trump was charged with. I will lay out a 223 00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:18.799 little bit of the timeline. Trump allegedly has this affair with Stormy Daniels. 224 00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:26.480 She wants to go public with it during the twenty sixteen campaign. Trump would 225 00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:33.000 rather her not. There are possibly many different reasons why he would rather not, 226 00:24:33.160 --> 00:24:37.440 maybe because the allegation in question is that they started having an affair right 227 00:24:37.519 --> 00:24:45.400 after his son Baron was born, a lot of reasons why certainly would have 228 00:24:45.400 --> 00:24:52.039 been embarrassing for him in the election. They agree that she will receive one 229 00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:56.160 hundred and thirty thousand bucks if she signs a non disclosure agreement. Not illegal, 230 00:24:57.839 --> 00:25:03.480 But isn't it a campaign finance violation if you don't report it? That's 231 00:25:03.640 --> 00:25:07.279 the other argument that's made, Well, no, not really. Campaign finance 232 00:25:07.400 --> 00:25:14.359 only gets involved when you're talking about expenditures for things that are clearly campaign related 233 00:25:15.319 --> 00:25:19.680 and you're not reporting them. Okay, television advertisements for a campaign, mailers 234 00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:26.039 for a campaign, expenditures that do not exist, but for the existence of 235 00:25:26.039 --> 00:25:40.799 a campaign anyway, this is almost certainly not a campaign finance violation. And 236 00:25:40.839 --> 00:25:44.039 how do I know this, Well, the Federal Elections Commission, which has 237 00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:48.319 an easier time of proving elections violations because they only need to prove things through 238 00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:51.000 a civil standard. They don't need to prove that you did things beyond a 239 00:25:51.039 --> 00:25:53.400 reasonable doubt. They just have to prove that you did something wrong by the 240 00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:57.720 preponderance of the evidence to find you civilly. They're not criminally convicting you. 241 00:25:57.960 --> 00:26:04.400 They investigated this whole thing and didn't charge Trump with anything. So here we 242 00:26:04.440 --> 00:26:08.519 have a non disclosure agreement, not illegal, not a campaign finance violation. 243 00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:15.799 Trump agrees to it. Over the course of twenty seventeen, Trump engages in 244 00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:22.359 the alleged criminal conflict, the alleged criminal conduct that is at issue in his 245 00:26:22.440 --> 00:26:27.119 trial. This is actually what he's being charged with, not with agreeing to 246 00:26:27.160 --> 00:26:34.200 a non disclosure agreement, not with giving this woman money, not with not 247 00:26:34.359 --> 00:26:40.119 you know, having Michael Cohen be the middleman for paying this. Cohen took 248 00:26:40.160 --> 00:26:45.759 out the money himself, paid Stormy Daniels himself, and then Trump reimbursed him. 249 00:26:45.119 --> 00:26:53.240 None of this is illegal. The alleged criminal action was Trump listing this 250 00:26:53.400 --> 00:27:03.960 in his business records, his payments to Cohen, which were actually which was 251 00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:07.759 basically repayment of a loan. Right, That's what Trump's payments to Cohen were. 252 00:27:08.039 --> 00:27:14.960 Coen paid Daniels on Trump's behalf, and Trump needs to reimburse him. 253 00:27:15.079 --> 00:27:22.039 This is payment of a loan. Trump lists the payments to Cohen not as 254 00:27:22.160 --> 00:27:30.440 repayment of a loan. He lists it as ongoing legal services. That is 255 00:27:30.519 --> 00:27:41.440 the crime falsification of business records. That Trump listed this as paying for attorney's 256 00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:48.160 fees, paying an attorney retainer, when actually this was repayment of a loan. 257 00:27:49.559 --> 00:27:57.079 Now, the New York statute that this allegedly violates, I'm not even 258 00:27:57.119 --> 00:28:06.119 sure that Trump is violating it. Let me read it for you. Section 259 00:28:06.279 --> 00:28:12.920 one seventy five point zero five of New York's penal law Falsification of business records 260 00:28:14.839 --> 00:28:19.880 with intent. So Uh, this is a crime. Prosecutors must prove that 261 00:28:19.920 --> 00:28:26.680 the accused with intent to defraud causes a false entry to be made in the 262 00:28:26.720 --> 00:28:33.880 business records of an enterprise with intent to defraud. So it's not just having 263 00:28:33.960 --> 00:28:40.119 something wrong in your books, it's having something wrong in your books with the 264 00:28:40.200 --> 00:28:48.720 intent to defraud. Intent to defraud. These are important words that you have 265 00:28:48.759 --> 00:29:02.759 to kind of understand. So intent means that you are specifically intending that the 266 00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:10.880 evil criminal outcome happened. Trump is doing these business records with a specific intent 267 00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:25.640 that fraud occur. However, here's the problem. Who is being defrauded. 268 00:29:27.559 --> 00:29:37.640 Fraud doesn't just mean anything that's bad. Fraud generally a good way of thinking. 269 00:29:37.680 --> 00:29:40.720 When you hear fraud, think of these words. When you hear the 270 00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:44.799 word fraud, the thing you should think of is lying for money. That's 271 00:29:44.839 --> 00:29:52.720 basically what fraud means, lying for money. Okay, if my five year 272 00:29:52.720 --> 00:29:56.200 old tells me that he brushed his teeth when he didn't, I can't scream 273 00:29:56.240 --> 00:30:03.000 at him fraud. Jack Girardi, you are a fraud, sir. No, 274 00:30:03.160 --> 00:30:08.240 he hasn't engaged in fraud. He just lied. He's not earning money 275 00:30:08.319 --> 00:30:17.039 as a result of it. Okay. Now, if Jack Girardi represents himself 276 00:30:17.079 --> 00:30:22.480 as a healthcare provider who's reimbursed, who needs reimbursement from medical for patients, 277 00:30:22.519 --> 00:30:26.480 and he doesn't actually have a medical practice, and he's not actually taking care 278 00:30:26.519 --> 00:30:33.519 of any patients, and he's submitting requests for reimbursements from medical and getting money 279 00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:37.000 from the state, but he's lying to get money, that is fraud. 280 00:30:37.319 --> 00:30:48.720 Okay. So not all falsehood is fraud. So who was being bilked out 281 00:30:48.759 --> 00:30:56.160 of money as a result of Trump characterizing this as attorney's fees rather than loan 282 00:30:56.200 --> 00:31:03.319 repayment. Not the government. The government actually got more tax revenue out of 283 00:31:03.319 --> 00:31:11.039 this. Why, well, if you loan me fifty thousand dollars and I 284 00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:15.480 pay you back within the calendar year, well my repayment of fifty thousand dollars 285 00:31:15.559 --> 00:31:22.039 back for you, you're not taxed for that fifty thousand dollars. You don't 286 00:31:22.039 --> 00:31:26.039 have to pay the irs like forty percent, you know, the top marginal 287 00:31:26.119 --> 00:31:30.400 tax rate plus California taxes on loan repayment. Loan repayment money coming back to 288 00:31:30.440 --> 00:31:37.359 you is not tax the same way that normal income is. So Cohen said 289 00:31:37.359 --> 00:31:40.559 to Trump, Hey, if you're if you're giving me this money as legal 290 00:31:40.640 --> 00:31:42.720 fees, you need to give me more because I have to pay tax on 291 00:31:42.799 --> 00:31:47.519 this. And that's what Trump did. He gave Cohen more. So, 292 00:31:47.640 --> 00:31:56.039 Actually, the taxpayers the government got off better in this deal because all this 293 00:31:56.119 --> 00:32:00.519 money that Trump was giving Cohen that he if it had just been loan repayment, 294 00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:05.160 the government wouldn't have gotten any of it. Trump actually wound up giving 295 00:32:05.200 --> 00:32:07.960 Cohen much more than one hundred and thirty thousand dollars. I think it was 296 00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:16.279 almost double so that Cohen could pay his taxes. So who was defrauded here? 297 00:32:17.680 --> 00:32:24.480 Who was lied to for money? Nobody? And that's the basics of 298 00:32:24.519 --> 00:32:29.400 it. You can say all day up and down, and I'll agree with 299 00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:34.799 you that Donald Trump is a sleeze ball. That Donald Trump jeets on his 300 00:32:34.880 --> 00:32:47.440 wife wives. Okay, I'll concede that point. His relationship with Stormy Daniels 301 00:32:47.480 --> 00:32:52.039 was sleezy, his relationship with Michael Cohen was sleezy. His relationship with the 302 00:32:52.039 --> 00:32:58.720 guy who publishes the National Inquirer is sleezy. We're basically all this stuff is 303 00:32:58.759 --> 00:33:05.680 sleep NDA's or sleez Slee's away. Totally agree with you all of this is 304 00:33:05.680 --> 00:33:09.839 sleazy. I just don't think it's illegal. I just don't think he's committed 305 00:33:09.839 --> 00:33:15.000 a criminal act for which he should be convicted. And I think it is 306 00:33:15.119 --> 00:33:23.799 absurdly politicized that this whole trial is absurdly politicized. This judge has ruled against 307 00:33:23.880 --> 00:33:30.200 Donald Trump on like every single issue possible. He has allowed in evidence that 308 00:33:30.799 --> 00:33:37.359 has nothing to do with the central case, which is in twenty seventeen, 309 00:33:37.720 --> 00:33:50.920 after the election is over. Did Trump engage in fraudulent bookkeeping practices? No, 310 00:33:51.160 --> 00:33:57.279 I just don't think he did well. Or he had bookkeeping practices that 311 00:33:57.319 --> 00:34:07.400 were maybe inaccurate, but they certainly weren't bilking anyone out of money. And 312 00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:10.719 that's the end of it. The judge has allowed in all this testament Stormy 313 00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:19.000 daniels testimony, her testimony about whether the details of her and Trump's sexual liaison 314 00:34:19.440 --> 00:34:23.280 has nothing to do with what is charged, namely, did you falsify business 315 00:34:23.320 --> 00:34:31.000 records in a fraudulent with fraudulent intent? That was after his relationship with Stormy 316 00:34:31.079 --> 00:34:37.199 Daniels. That had nothing to do with his relationship with Stormy Daniels. It 317 00:34:37.280 --> 00:34:43.760 was long after the fact. It really, it isn't even connected to the 318 00:34:43.840 --> 00:34:49.559 agreement to pay her money. It was how Trump was writing down his records 319 00:34:49.599 --> 00:34:58.679 for repaying Cohen, for paying her money. The judge has allowed in all 320 00:34:58.719 --> 00:35:00.800 this evidence that has nothing to do with the central thing. And what is 321 00:35:00.840 --> 00:35:05.800 it all about. Really? They are angry that Donald Trump won the election. 322 00:35:06.239 --> 00:35:08.159 They think that somehow, if the Stormy Daniels story had come out, 323 00:35:08.199 --> 00:35:14.360 that Trump would have lost the twenty sixteen election. And they're never ever going 324 00:35:14.440 --> 00:35:15.639 to get over it. They're never going to get to go over the fact 325 00:35:15.639 --> 00:35:21.239 that Donald Trump won an election. That's all it is. When we return, 326 00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:27.239 I put the dirt on any conservative support for the Robert Kennedy Junior campaign 327 00:35:27.280 --> 00:35:34.559 that's next on the John Groardy Show. I've noticed this thing of a decent 328 00:35:34.679 --> 00:35:40.519 number of conservatives, not a large number, a decent number flirting with anyway 329 00:35:40.599 --> 00:35:44.760 Robert Kennedy Junior saying, you know that Robert Kennedy, He's got a lot 330 00:35:44.800 --> 00:35:47.840 to say. And I've just been waiting for the other shoe to drop. 331 00:35:47.880 --> 00:35:53.719 I've been waiting for the other crazy shoe to drop because fundamentally he's a Kennedy 332 00:35:54.760 --> 00:35:59.679 and I fundamentally just don't trust him. I feel like a lot of this 333 00:35:59.760 --> 00:36:04.960 is a a bit. I think he seems to genuinely care about the vaccine 334 00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:12.719 issues, and so in the post COVID like anti vaccine, the era where 335 00:36:12.760 --> 00:36:17.079 COVID related issues were really animating everybody, Kennedy seemed like, Oh, this 336 00:36:17.159 --> 00:36:21.400 is the guy, this guy really has something to say. Well, we're 337 00:36:21.440 --> 00:36:25.920 in this sort of COVID doesn't really still matter anymore quite as much. I 338 00:36:25.920 --> 00:36:35.159 think we need to learn from the disastrous lessons of the COVID response. I 339 00:36:35.199 --> 00:36:39.960 think, frankly, I thought it should have been more of a point during 340 00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:45.000 the Republican primary that Trump actually wasn't all that great in a lot of his 341 00:36:45.079 --> 00:36:47.239 COVID response stuff, and actually Ron de Santis was much better. But whatever 342 00:36:47.400 --> 00:36:52.440 Republicans decided, we're sticking with Trump. Biden was obviously terrible the whole time. 343 00:36:54.920 --> 00:36:58.599 So Kennedy sort of stood out for all that. Well, Kennedy came 344 00:36:58.639 --> 00:37:05.719 out last week and he's been flip flopping on specifically the issue of abortion. 345 00:37:06.760 --> 00:37:09.840 At one point, like six months ago, he seemed to indicate that he 346 00:37:09.880 --> 00:37:15.960 would support federal legislation banning abortion after like a certain maybe the ten or fifteen 347 00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:20.480 week point in pregnancy, which I was shocked. I was like, wow, 348 00:37:20.559 --> 00:37:23.679 that would be amazing if if you support that, I'd have to like 349 00:37:23.800 --> 00:37:30.400 actually really seriously like reconsider my like where I stand in the world as far 350 00:37:30.440 --> 00:37:38.000 as here's someone who actually now seemingly is supporting a more vigorous pro life round 351 00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:45.400 of policies than Donald Trump. Well, the other shoe dropped one was a 352 00:37:45.400 --> 00:37:52.920 story that RFK had some kind of worm in his brain. Don't know how 353 00:37:52.920 --> 00:37:58.840 that would work. And also, maybe not unrelated, he announced that he's 354 00:37:58.960 --> 00:38:01.199 totally supportive of legal abortion, even up to the point of birth, a 355 00:38:01.239 --> 00:38:06.199 position that was so radical that the woman who is running as his running mate 356 00:38:06.239 --> 00:38:09.880 his vice presidential nominee, learned about it on a podcast and was completely taken 357 00:38:09.920 --> 00:38:16.679 aback. So rest in peace to conservatives supporting the RFK Junior campaign. It 358 00:38:16.760 --> 00:38:20.599 was fun while it lasted. That'll do it for John Girardi Show, See 359 00:38:20.599 --> 00:38:21.559 you next time on Power Talk