WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.790 --> 00:00:04.169 Live from the heart of the nation's capital, this is 2 00:00:04.230 --> 00:00:06.669 a Jim Acosta Show special report. 3 00:00:06.730 --> 00:00:11.480 All right, welcome to the Jim Acosta Show. It's another 4 00:00:11.519 --> 00:00:14.060 day that ends in Y in Donald Trump's assault on 5 00:00:14.099 --> 00:00:19.199 American democracy. Here we are, roughly 68 days before the midterms. 6 00:00:19.260 --> 00:00:21.839 And as I've been saying on this show, Trump has 7 00:00:21.879 --> 00:00:25.699 started this deal when it comes to rigging and intervening 8 00:00:25.960 --> 00:00:28.800 in the upcoming midterm election cycle. Big guest this hour. 9 00:00:29.699 --> 00:00:34.390 Mike Fanone, former police officer, of course, legend, the man, 10 00:00:34.409 --> 00:00:36.170 the myth, the legend. Mike, good to see you, man. 11 00:00:36.530 --> 00:00:37.509 It's good to see you, man. 12 00:00:38.310 --> 00:00:40.530 Hey, thanks for doing this. And, you know, I think 13 00:00:40.549 --> 00:00:41.909 we should, there's a lot of stuff I want to 14 00:00:41.950 --> 00:00:44.009 get to. I want to talk about ICE and their 15 00:00:44.070 --> 00:00:47.990 tactics and what we've been seeing. They're ramping back up again, obviously, 16 00:00:48.490 --> 00:00:50.810 but we've got to jump into, you know, some of 17 00:00:50.829 --> 00:00:53.509 this very much in your wheelhouse. Obviously, everybody knows you 18 00:00:53.530 --> 00:00:56.409 were there to defend the Capitol on January 6th. And 19 00:00:56.450 --> 00:00:59.399 here we are coming up on, on, the biggest national 20 00:00:59.420 --> 00:01:02.020 elections we've had in this country since Trump, you know, 21 00:01:02.140 --> 00:01:05.579 one reelection got put back in the white house and 22 00:01:05.739 --> 00:01:08.980 he's trying to do everything possible to avoid any accountability 23 00:01:09.019 --> 00:01:13.329 from the voters. He's already trying to rig the mail-in 24 00:01:13.390 --> 00:01:16.939 voting system in this country. That is well underway. And I, 25 00:01:17.150 --> 00:01:19.650 you know, just curious what your thoughts are as we're 26 00:01:19.689 --> 00:01:21.810 getting into this midterm cycle. Cause it seems to me 27 00:01:21.930 --> 00:01:25.090 it's on like he's, it's the mainstream media is reporting 28 00:01:25.129 --> 00:01:27.390 it as sort of like, well, he might do this. And, He's, 29 00:01:27.549 --> 00:01:29.629 he's warning. He will do it to me. It's happening. 30 00:01:29.730 --> 00:01:33.280 He's already meddling with the midterms. Yeah. 31 00:01:33.299 --> 00:01:35.379 I mean, that's one of the shortcomings of, uh, of 32 00:01:35.459 --> 00:01:40.519 legacy media is their inability to believe Donald Trump when 33 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:43.200 he says that he's going to do something, despite, you know, 34 00:01:43.219 --> 00:01:47.489 at this point, a proven track record of his willingness to, um, bend, 35 00:01:47.549 --> 00:01:51.709 if not break the, uh, the constitution in this country. Um, 36 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:55.579 You and I and many others in this space have 37 00:01:55.640 --> 00:02:00.909 been talking about the midterm elections and the fact that 38 00:02:00.950 --> 00:02:04.349 Donald Trump and this administration are gonna throw every obstacle 39 00:02:04.409 --> 00:02:07.790 that they can. We saw them gut through the Supreme 40 00:02:07.829 --> 00:02:12.430 Court ruling, the Voting Rights Act, and now they're targeting 41 00:02:12.729 --> 00:02:20.169 mail-in ballot. Again, these are obstacles. Americans still have the 42 00:02:20.229 --> 00:02:24.300 ability to cast their votes Mail-in balloting, at least at 43 00:02:24.340 --> 00:02:28.159 this point, is still available. But what I would suggest 44 00:02:28.180 --> 00:02:32.710 to everybody, we're 70 days out roughly from the midterm elections, 45 00:02:33.030 --> 00:02:38.110 is to plan on voting in person and to do 46 00:02:38.210 --> 00:02:42.349 so at the first available opportunity that you have in 47 00:02:42.650 --> 00:02:46.740 your jurisdiction. These are all obstacles that can be overcome. 48 00:02:47.580 --> 00:02:51.539 Americans just need to be cognizant of it. Civil engagement 49 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:55.680 should be forefront in everybody's mind if you want to 50 00:02:55.719 --> 00:03:02.310 get rid of this white supremacist, Christian nationalist regime that 51 00:03:02.370 --> 00:03:06.449 currently occupies the White House and the federal government. 52 00:03:07.349 --> 00:03:11.689 Yeah, and the Postal Service, they're saying as of Thursday, 53 00:03:11.750 --> 00:03:15.419 new requirements for mail-in voting are now in effect. This 54 00:03:15.539 --> 00:03:17.620 is according to The Guardian. As Donald Trump seeks to 55 00:03:17.659 --> 00:03:19.509 crack down on the practice, the move is expected to 56 00:03:19.539 --> 00:03:23.030 trigger a new round of legal challenges. And, you know, 57 00:03:23.050 --> 00:03:25.069 what they're trying to do is require state election leaders 58 00:03:25.110 --> 00:03:29.090 to submit their voter rolls for inspection, which is nutty 59 00:03:29.150 --> 00:03:31.370 because the Postal Service has no role in this. And 60 00:03:31.389 --> 00:03:32.830 the federal government is not supposed to have any role 61 00:03:32.870 --> 00:03:36.750 in this. States are supposed to run their elections. And obviously, 62 00:03:36.889 --> 00:03:39.689 all of this is because of Trump's, you know, so-called 63 00:03:39.710 --> 00:03:44.740 executive order on this earlier this year. But, you know, Mike, 64 00:03:45.319 --> 00:03:48.520 I mean, to me, the issue is, is that he's 65 00:03:48.580 --> 00:03:51.330 trying to grab power where it doesn't exist. He's trying 66 00:03:51.349 --> 00:03:54.550 to take over the elections in this country. What, like 70, 67 00:03:54.530 --> 00:03:57.689 like you said, 70 some odd days or less before 68 00:03:57.729 --> 00:04:00.870 the election. And I don't understand why the courts just 69 00:04:00.909 --> 00:04:03.370 don't step in. I mean, the Supreme Court's already allowing 70 00:04:03.409 --> 00:04:05.949 this thing to go down the legal process. And we 71 00:04:05.990 --> 00:04:08.009 know how he plays the court system like a fiddle. 72 00:04:09.080 --> 00:04:10.979 And he, you know, my concern is he's just going 73 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:12.939 to try to turn this entire midterm into like a 74 00:04:12.919 --> 00:04:16.300 52 car pileup. And it's not going to, it's something 75 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:18.079 that we can't sort out. And they'll just say, well, 76 00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:20.000 we can't see the new Congress next year. I mean, 77 00:04:20.220 --> 00:04:21.939 these are the kinds of scenarios we have to start 78 00:04:21.980 --> 00:04:22.980 thinking about, seems to me. 79 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:27.459 I completely agree with you. And I mean, ever since 80 00:04:27.540 --> 00:04:30.649 Donald Trump took office, I've been thinking about the next 81 00:04:30.730 --> 00:04:34.589 election cycle and what goes beyond that, because, you know, 82 00:04:34.610 --> 00:04:38.759 there's a lot of people who are willing to say 83 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:41.220 that we've, you know, we've, we are currently in a 84 00:04:41.319 --> 00:04:45.899 constitutional crisis, because we still have an election to be held. 85 00:04:46.290 --> 00:04:49.069 And we still have an opportunity as American citizens to 86 00:04:49.129 --> 00:04:53.069 hold this administration accountable with our vote. And I believe 87 00:04:53.129 --> 00:04:56.089 that and I believe that Americans should avail themselves of that. 88 00:04:56.829 --> 00:04:59.310 But I agree with you, people need to be thinking 89 00:04:59.389 --> 00:05:04.310 about what will happen on November, what happens on November 6. 90 00:05:04.310 --> 00:05:07.199 What happens after they cast their vote, And the way 91 00:05:07.220 --> 00:05:10.139 that this administration, how are they going to address this election, 92 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:15.740 which clearly is not, you know, the trajectory of the 93 00:05:15.779 --> 00:05:19.550 American public is not in their favor. It doesn't look 94 00:05:19.589 --> 00:05:22.790 good for Republicans and it shouldn't look good for Republicans 95 00:05:23.649 --> 00:05:27.449 in the way that they've handled governing since Donald Trump 96 00:05:28.100 --> 00:05:28.660 took office. 97 00:05:29.319 --> 00:05:29.399 Yeah. 98 00:05:29.420 --> 00:05:29.540 Yeah. 99 00:05:30.199 --> 00:05:33.439 And somebody who I guess is at his side day 100 00:05:33.500 --> 00:05:35.579 and night is Natalie Harp. She's been in the news 101 00:05:35.660 --> 00:05:40.949 quite a bit. She's the staffer that prints out, I guess, 102 00:05:41.129 --> 00:05:44.670 glowing articles about him to keep him puffed up and happy. 103 00:05:44.750 --> 00:05:47.750 And she's been called the human binky and so on. 104 00:05:48.370 --> 00:05:52.120 And there's been a lot of discussion online that, oh, 105 00:05:52.139 --> 00:05:55.600 you shouldn't pick on Natalie Harp. She's just this woman 106 00:05:55.639 --> 00:05:58.040 who works for him and that's so misogynistic and so on. 107 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:00.120 People need to understand. And we've been covering this on 108 00:06:00.139 --> 00:06:03.790 the show. Natalie Harp used to be an anchor on OAN, 109 00:06:03.819 --> 00:06:07.990 the far-right TV station OAN, doing propaganda for Donald Trump. 110 00:06:08.009 --> 00:06:10.430 This was around the time of the 2020 election, and 111 00:06:10.490 --> 00:06:13.410 she was an election denier. She just was. And she 112 00:06:13.470 --> 00:06:15.949 even mentioned you one time on one of her shows, 113 00:06:16.129 --> 00:06:19.370 and I just think maybe we should get your response 114 00:06:19.389 --> 00:06:20.709 to it. It's kind of a weird thing. 115 00:06:20.949 --> 00:06:25.120 Don Lemon brought on air Michael Fanone, a Metropolitan Police 116 00:06:25.189 --> 00:06:28.889 officer who testified before the January 6th Committee on to 117 00:06:28.910 --> 00:06:33.649 play on air a profanity-laced voicemail left allegedly by a 118 00:06:33.670 --> 00:06:36.910 Trump supporter, with Don Lemon asking for his reaction. Can 119 00:06:36.930 --> 00:06:38.550 you imagine if we just had a show and we 120 00:06:38.589 --> 00:06:40.790 had you come on and you could play all your voicemails, 121 00:06:41.170 --> 00:06:43.829 read all your tweets, all your hate mail? This is 122 00:06:43.889 --> 00:06:46.290 what happens in a society. And for them to do 123 00:06:46.329 --> 00:06:48.939 this and say, this is Trump's America. 124 00:06:48.980 --> 00:06:50.000 You know what? 125 00:06:50.009 --> 00:06:51.839 When I look at these guys, the thought that comes 126 00:06:51.899 --> 00:06:53.540 into my mind is defund the police. 127 00:06:53.819 --> 00:06:54.860 I mean, defund the Capitol. 128 00:06:55.779 --> 00:06:58.319 Yeah, anyway, there's that joker talking to Natalie Hart. And 129 00:06:58.339 --> 00:07:00.560 we should thank Decoding Fox News. She does a great 130 00:07:00.600 --> 00:07:03.279 job finding these clips. And she's done a terrific job 131 00:07:03.560 --> 00:07:06.399 unearthing all of this Natalie Hart material. She's been an 132 00:07:06.439 --> 00:07:08.920 election denier for a long time. But your thoughts on 133 00:07:08.939 --> 00:07:10.420 the fact that she brought you up on one of 134 00:07:10.459 --> 00:07:11.319 her kooky shows. 135 00:07:13.500 --> 00:07:16.910 Yeah, I mean, listen, first of all, I think you 136 00:07:17.790 --> 00:07:20.189 take into consideration like who she was speaking to there. 137 00:07:20.250 --> 00:07:23.699 She was talking to Dinesh D'Souza. This is the guy who, 138 00:07:23.860 --> 00:07:27.079 you know, in 2022 put out a movie or a 139 00:07:27.220 --> 00:07:31.819 documentary in his mind, 2000 Mules, which was completely debunked. 140 00:07:32.660 --> 00:07:36.019 And he actually had to issue numerous retractions. I think 141 00:07:36.060 --> 00:07:38.899 he ended up getting sued over that, but I'm not 142 00:07:38.939 --> 00:07:42.079 exactly sure. And he also was found guilty in federal 143 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:48.500 court for donating $ 20, 000 to a U.S. Senate campaign, which, 144 00:07:48.680 --> 00:07:51.339 you know, was deemed to be an illegal campaign contribution. 145 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:58.360 So he's a convicted felon to boot. I mean, listen, 146 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:01.360 I've seen that she has been involved in pushing a 147 00:08:01.480 --> 00:08:05.959 lot of propaganda surrounding the 2020 election and saying that 148 00:08:05.990 --> 00:08:09.290 the election had been stolen. OAN is not a credible 149 00:08:09.370 --> 00:08:16.410 news outlet. It is a propaganda network designed to push 150 00:08:17.009 --> 00:08:22.579 MAGA extremism at every turn. And so it doesn't surprise 151 00:08:22.620 --> 00:08:26.209 me that she has found her way into the inner 152 00:08:26.290 --> 00:08:34.970 circle of MAGA and of Trump. In preparation for this, 153 00:08:34.990 --> 00:08:39.139 I read the letters that she wrote to Donald Trump. 154 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:44.279 I got to be honest with you, Jim, my reaction 155 00:08:44.360 --> 00:08:49.500 was that this is not a person who should be uh, 156 00:08:49.710 --> 00:08:56.730 occupying a, um, an important role within a white house administration, uh, 157 00:08:57.470 --> 00:09:01.090 reading those letters. Um, I mean, if, if those were 158 00:09:01.129 --> 00:09:04.049 written to me, uh, by a woman, uh, I'd be 159 00:09:04.090 --> 00:09:07.549 applying for a restraining order, not, uh, not hiring her. 160 00:09:07.820 --> 00:09:10.639 And so, but you know, those are the type of 161 00:09:10.659 --> 00:09:14.200 people that Donald Trump surrounds himself with. Um, he loves 162 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:18.840 the people that, uh, that love him unconditionally. Uh, he just, 163 00:09:19.659 --> 00:09:21.100 you know, can't get it. Yeah. 164 00:09:21.139 --> 00:09:24.399 She's yeah. She's sort of like a cult follower on, 165 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:27.419 on the staff, on the payroll, uh, paid for with 166 00:09:27.470 --> 00:09:30.470 our tax dollars. Uh, yeah, I mean, but I, you know, 167 00:09:30.490 --> 00:09:32.830 this is what they do and, and, and he loves 168 00:09:32.870 --> 00:09:34.950 this stuff. And it, when I, as soon as I 169 00:09:35.009 --> 00:09:38.149 saw that she had been doing all this election denialism, 170 00:09:38.669 --> 00:09:41.529 I thought to myself, well, that's why she has the job. 171 00:09:41.649 --> 00:09:43.440 I mean, people have speculated about all these other kinds 172 00:09:43.480 --> 00:09:44.919 of reasons. I don't know. I have no idea if 173 00:09:44.940 --> 00:09:48.490 that's the case or not. But if somebody talks about 174 00:09:48.789 --> 00:09:51.929 how he won the 2020 election over and over again, 175 00:09:51.929 --> 00:09:55.970 Donald Trump's going to like that person. Because because most 176 00:09:56.009 --> 00:09:59.580 normal people, rational people don't think that way. No. 177 00:10:00.299 --> 00:10:03.000 And I, I mean, I, I always question, you know, 178 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:06.279 and I guess I should probably stop at this point. Um, 179 00:10:06.419 --> 00:10:09.059 you know, it's like, what, what do you think is 180 00:10:09.080 --> 00:10:13.080 going to happen after, you know, your daddy Trump is gone? 181 00:10:13.879 --> 00:10:15.000 What are you going to, what do you think is 182 00:10:15.019 --> 00:10:18.009 going to happen? I mean, you know, the Republican party, um, 183 00:10:20.129 --> 00:10:25.370 is eventually going to rebuild, I think, because we live 184 00:10:25.409 --> 00:10:28.000 in a two-party system and they are eventually going to 185 00:10:28.029 --> 00:10:33.159 purge themselves, maybe not of all the extremist ideology, but 186 00:10:33.179 --> 00:10:36.000 they're certainly going to get rid of problematic people that 187 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:39.179 think that the 2020 election was stolen because it's just 188 00:10:39.240 --> 00:10:42.120 not good for the branding because everybody has accepted the fact, 189 00:10:42.480 --> 00:10:45.679 at least rational people in this country, have accepted the 190 00:10:45.720 --> 00:10:51.039 fact that the 2020 election was not stolen Donald Trump lost. 191 00:10:53.399 --> 00:10:56.179 You know, where where are people like her going to 192 00:10:56.299 --> 00:11:00.220 end up? Because he doesn't have very many years left. 193 00:11:01.259 --> 00:11:04.769 Yeah. And, you know, one of the other defining issues 194 00:11:05.110 --> 00:11:07.169 heading into the midterms, I think, is going to be ice. 195 00:11:07.850 --> 00:11:09.710 You know, Trump thinks that's that's been one of his 196 00:11:09.750 --> 00:11:11.889 bread and butter issues. I think it's probably one of 197 00:11:11.909 --> 00:11:16.620 his most toxic issues. He let Stephen Miller go apeshit 198 00:11:16.779 --> 00:11:20.320 with ICE and immigration in this country. And it's burned 199 00:11:20.360 --> 00:11:24.340 him politically. And they've been ramping up their operations. I mean, 200 00:11:24.360 --> 00:11:26.210 it's not covered as much in the news. It should 201 00:11:26.230 --> 00:11:28.210 be covered a lot more in the news. I mean, 202 00:11:28.230 --> 00:11:32.389 there's this one story that my team flagged for me that, 203 00:11:32.549 --> 00:11:35.169 and this was in the Connecticut, let's see, it's in 204 00:11:35.210 --> 00:11:38.620 one of the Connecticut newspapers. And it says that ICE 205 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:42.350 officers have been following school busses It says for more 206 00:11:42.379 --> 00:11:45.649 than a year, activists in Danbury have mobilized to support 207 00:11:45.669 --> 00:11:49.809 the local immigrant community as ICE activity is ramped up. 208 00:11:51.230 --> 00:11:53.269 And it says members of immigrant rights groups and their 209 00:11:53.289 --> 00:11:55.909 families have helped people compile custodial paperwork to prepare for 210 00:11:55.929 --> 00:11:58.990 the possibility that parents could be separated from their children. 211 00:11:59.649 --> 00:12:03.129 This week, activists say they're facing the nightmare scenario they 212 00:12:03.169 --> 00:12:06.080 hoped they would never see. Massive raids have resulted in 213 00:12:06.120 --> 00:12:09.779 parents detained in front of their children at school bus stops. 214 00:12:10.730 --> 00:12:14.450 And apparently Senator Blumenthal of Connecticut has said he wants 215 00:12:14.490 --> 00:12:17.799 to see an investigation into this. But I mean, this 216 00:12:17.879 --> 00:12:19.799 is this is the kind of sick stuff that we've 217 00:12:19.820 --> 00:12:21.700 seen on display by ICE. I mean, they will even 218 00:12:21.759 --> 00:12:25.059 go to school bus stops to pick up people that 219 00:12:25.080 --> 00:12:27.139 they think are in the country illegally, which, you know, 220 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:29.700 they're just taking their kids to school. It's pretty sick. 221 00:12:31.960 --> 00:12:35.470 Yeah, I mean, I've said all along, ever since this, 222 00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:42.210 you know, immigration enforcement effort began. that ICE is unaccountable 223 00:12:42.250 --> 00:12:46.590 to the American people, that they carry out this enforcement 224 00:12:48.149 --> 00:12:53.690 inhumanely and in many cases in direct violation of the 225 00:12:53.750 --> 00:12:58.509 courts and of the American constitution. This agency needs to 226 00:12:58.580 --> 00:13:02.919 be disbanded and there needs to be a full scale 227 00:13:02.980 --> 00:13:08.399 investigation as to the conduct of the individual agents involved 228 00:13:09.379 --> 00:13:14.019 in the immigration enforcement and also the supervisors and the 229 00:13:14.120 --> 00:13:22.570 individuals that sent them to these places to carry out 230 00:13:23.269 --> 00:13:29.450 that type of enforcement. It literally goes against everything that 231 00:13:29.490 --> 00:13:35.279 American law enforcement officers are taught to protect and to 232 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:39.690 serve their communities This is not protecting their community. You know, 233 00:13:39.710 --> 00:13:46.610 we've seen so many times in American streets, violent confrontation 234 00:13:46.690 --> 00:13:51.620 between American citizens who are appalled at the behavior of 235 00:13:51.669 --> 00:13:57.259 these agents who are there filming them, protesting them, trying 236 00:13:57.299 --> 00:14:01.139 to hold them accountable. And the reaction from these agents, 237 00:14:01.720 --> 00:14:06.080 I mean, to say it's aggressive is the understatement of 238 00:14:06.120 --> 00:14:06.419 the year. 239 00:14:07.649 --> 00:14:09.590 Yeah, I mean, I think you and I have talked 240 00:14:09.610 --> 00:14:13.049 about this before, and it's still an issue. They still 241 00:14:13.080 --> 00:14:16.960 haven't cleaned up their act. They're still hiring these jackasses 242 00:14:17.080 --> 00:14:21.480 to be ICE agents, people with virtually no training. They 243 00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:24.490 seem like they have anger management issues, and they can't 244 00:14:25.250 --> 00:14:28.110 even do their jobs without flying off the handle. There 245 00:14:28.129 --> 00:14:29.529 was a case just in the last couple of weeks, 246 00:14:29.570 --> 00:14:31.970 I think it was in northern Virginia, where you and 247 00:14:32.009 --> 00:14:34.370 I are from, Mike, where the ICE agents were putting 248 00:14:34.409 --> 00:14:36.470 their gun, they're pointing their gun in the face of 249 00:14:36.529 --> 00:14:39.750 this lady in her car, and she's in a parking lot, 250 00:14:40.049 --> 00:14:42.850 and they're saying that she was trying to run them 251 00:14:42.909 --> 00:14:45.009 over with her car. She says, I got dash cam, bro. 252 00:14:45.029 --> 00:14:48.759 I got dash cam. And they had to totally back off. 253 00:14:48.779 --> 00:14:50.820 I'm sure you saw that case. I did. 254 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:54.620 I mean, it's insane to me that, you know, and again, 255 00:14:54.700 --> 00:14:59.919 like no accountability, you know, no discipline, but pointing a 256 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:06.330 gun at a citizen your firearm as a law enforcement 257 00:15:06.370 --> 00:15:11.029 officer is not a de-escalation tool. This is something that 258 00:15:11.370 --> 00:15:14.909 is used only in the rarest of occasions in which 259 00:15:15.549 --> 00:15:22.370 deadly force is authorized. And obviously, because some woman pissed 260 00:15:22.409 --> 00:15:29.460 you off does not necessitate using, but apparently this guy 261 00:15:31.220 --> 00:15:34.440 thought it was, um, you know, and I, you know, 262 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:37.500 we were talking offline. I think it's worth noting, um, 263 00:15:37.580 --> 00:15:40.679 you know, back in January of this past of this 264 00:15:40.740 --> 00:15:45.360 year in Minneapolis, there was an incident involving, uh, an 265 00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:48.919 ice agent, um, Christian Castro. 266 00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:50.480 Oh, I was going to ask you about that. 267 00:15:50.519 --> 00:15:50.740 Yeah. 268 00:15:50.899 --> 00:15:56.889 Yeah. Who pursued a Venezuelan national, uh, this Mr. Sosa Solis. Uh, 269 00:15:57.159 --> 00:16:05.440 and during, uh, that pursuit, The agent shot Sosa Solis 270 00:16:05.720 --> 00:16:09.639 through a closed door and then later lied about the 271 00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:13.750 encounter in official documents and in court in which he 272 00:16:13.850 --> 00:16:19.110 said that Sosa Solis charged him with a shovel. That 273 00:16:19.169 --> 00:16:22.909 was completely debunked with with camera footage, I think, from 274 00:16:23.309 --> 00:16:29.330 a surveillance camera or ring camera that captured the entire encounter. Now, 275 00:16:29.370 --> 00:16:32.370 he was indicted. And again, like right. Go back to 276 00:16:32.389 --> 00:16:35.860 No Kings 1, No Kings 2, all of these protests 277 00:16:36.840 --> 00:16:41.419 that came about because of the conduct of these ICE 278 00:16:41.460 --> 00:16:46.259 and CBP agents, American citizens demanding accountability. And we finally 279 00:16:46.330 --> 00:16:48.830 see that. This was the first ICE agent to be 280 00:16:48.889 --> 00:16:54.529 indicted for their conduct involved in this immigration sweep in Minneapolis. 281 00:16:55.649 --> 00:16:59.679 And he's arrested in Texas. He had been transferred to 282 00:16:59.740 --> 00:17:06.170 Texas after this incident. And Greg Abbott intervened and refused 283 00:17:06.230 --> 00:17:08.150 to allow him to be extradited. 284 00:17:08.710 --> 00:17:09.029 Right. 285 00:17:09.089 --> 00:17:12.890 So, you know, that fugitive warrant expired in Texas after 286 00:17:12.890 --> 00:17:16.210 90 days. And today is my understanding he was released 287 00:17:17.299 --> 00:17:20.640 without any other pending charges. Yeah. 288 00:17:20.900 --> 00:17:23.700 And this is according to PBS. Christian Castro was released 289 00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:27.140 at the break of dawn from a detention center in Brownsville. 290 00:17:27.180 --> 00:17:29.380 He motioned his hand toward a few camera operators and 291 00:17:29.400 --> 00:17:32.509 a reporter crowding around him. quickly got a new SUV 292 00:17:32.630 --> 00:17:34.630 and drove off a few days earlier, a. 293 00:17:36.490 --> 00:17:36.710 U.S. 294 00:17:36.759 --> 00:17:39.500 District judge wrote in an order that said he couldn't 295 00:17:39.539 --> 00:17:43.779 prevent a county sheriff from releasing Castro or order Texas 296 00:17:43.799 --> 00:17:48.019 Governor Greg Abbott to sign the extradition warrant. And he's 297 00:17:48.039 --> 00:17:52.029 been charged with assault, falsely reporting a crime in the 298 00:17:52.109 --> 00:17:58.170 January 14th shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa Celis. And he's 299 00:17:58.210 --> 00:18:00.509 accused of firing a gun through the door of a home. 300 00:18:00.930 --> 00:18:04.009 And Mike, I mean, what makes this such an important story, 301 00:18:04.029 --> 00:18:06.859 it's sort of like the killings of Rene Good and 302 00:18:06.940 --> 00:18:10.779 Alex Preddy. There's a sense that there's no accountability with 303 00:18:10.819 --> 00:18:14.180 these ICE officers and what they do, that they can 304 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:17.829 violate people's constitutional rights. They can kill people. And there's 305 00:18:17.869 --> 00:18:20.829 no accountability. There's no investigation. I mean, just the other day, 306 00:18:20.890 --> 00:18:23.630 Alex Preddy's family was speaking to, I think, ABC and 307 00:18:23.690 --> 00:18:26.289 talking about this. And I think this has a lot 308 00:18:26.309 --> 00:18:29.759 of people around this country really pissed off. That ICE 309 00:18:30.259 --> 00:18:32.119 is getting away with this. I guess Stephen Miller is 310 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:36.799 saying these guys aren't to be touched. It's crazy stuff. 311 00:18:37.720 --> 00:18:44.210 Yeah, I mean, they are immune from criminal prosecution under 312 00:18:44.250 --> 00:18:47.890 this administration. You know, you talk about the party of 313 00:18:47.950 --> 00:18:51.369 law and order and you have a political party that 314 00:18:51.430 --> 00:18:57.970 is intervening in criminal matters because they support the conduct 315 00:18:57.990 --> 00:19:03.400 of of those particular individuals because they're acting, you know, it, it, 316 00:19:03.740 --> 00:19:06.920 to me, it really harkens back to the pardoning of 317 00:19:06.940 --> 00:19:08.769 the January 6th insurrectionists. 318 00:19:10.009 --> 00:19:10.190 Yeah. 319 00:19:10.289 --> 00:19:15.730 If you commit crimes on our behalf, on the administration's behalf, 320 00:19:15.849 --> 00:19:18.789 we will absolve you of all criminal culpability. And so 321 00:19:18.849 --> 00:19:24.829 now there's, you know, there is a, there's a plan 322 00:19:25.410 --> 00:19:31.319 that if, ICE agents commit a crime in a jurisdiction 323 00:19:32.019 --> 00:19:35.279 where they're willing to hold that agent accountable. They'll simply 324 00:19:35.380 --> 00:19:39.440 transfer them to another jurisdiction that's not willing to hold 325 00:19:39.480 --> 00:19:42.829 them accountable, wait till the warrant expires, and then they're 326 00:19:42.869 --> 00:19:46.190 free to go. And ICE can you know, transfer them 327 00:19:46.230 --> 00:19:50.960 around and keep them out of, you know, the long 328 00:19:51.059 --> 00:19:54.200 arm of the law as long as they want. And 329 00:19:54.240 --> 00:19:57.000 now the agents know. And so, you know, to the 330 00:19:57.059 --> 00:20:01.359 American people, you have a, and I use this term loosely, 331 00:20:01.460 --> 00:20:04.299 a law enforcement agency that's acting under the authority of 332 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:08.730 the federal government in which its agents can behave however 333 00:20:08.789 --> 00:20:14.059 they want and they are immune from any type of 334 00:20:14.119 --> 00:20:18.009 accountability or criminal prosecution. And there's nothing that you can 335 00:20:18.049 --> 00:20:19.250 do about it. Yeah. 336 00:20:19.670 --> 00:20:22.869 And I will say, and I think this is a 337 00:20:22.910 --> 00:20:25.549 challenge to the media in this country. We've got to 338 00:20:25.569 --> 00:20:27.490 start covering ICE a whole lot more than we are 339 00:20:27.549 --> 00:20:31.210 right now. People seem to have backed off in their coverage. 340 00:20:32.259 --> 00:20:34.700 And I think it's going to ramp up again. If 341 00:20:35.140 --> 00:20:38.759 somehow Trump you know, gets a straight flush, gets four 342 00:20:38.839 --> 00:20:41.980 aces here in the midterms, and they somehow retain the 343 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:45.880 House and the Senate. And there's no accountability again. There's 344 00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:49.019 no oversight from the Republicans once again. I think ICE 345 00:20:49.079 --> 00:20:51.140 is going to go wild in this country. And even 346 00:20:51.319 --> 00:20:53.660 if the Democrats control the House and maybe not the Senate, 347 00:20:53.700 --> 00:20:56.720 with Todd Blanch as the Attorney General, I think ICE 348 00:20:56.740 --> 00:20:59.720 will run wild in this country. And people need to understand, 349 00:20:59.769 --> 00:21:02.309 when Donald Trump says he wants to be on the ballot, 350 00:21:02.329 --> 00:21:03.930 he's been saying this lately, you know, make sure I 351 00:21:04.369 --> 00:21:06.630 People think of me as on the ballot. People should 352 00:21:06.670 --> 00:21:09.269 think of him as on the ballot. And Stephen Miller 353 00:21:09.509 --> 00:21:12.410 and Tom Homan and people like Greg Bovino who got 354 00:21:12.430 --> 00:21:15.690 the boot. But I mean, basically, it's still the same operation. 355 00:21:16.230 --> 00:21:17.230 ICE is on the ballot. 356 00:21:18.900 --> 00:21:23.140 Yeah, 100 percent. I mean, you know, listen, law enforcement, 357 00:21:23.299 --> 00:21:25.779 the credibility of law enforcement in this country is on 358 00:21:25.799 --> 00:21:29.039 the ballot. We've seen we have literally seen I mean, 359 00:21:29.079 --> 00:21:33.339 you talk about like every accusation is is an admission 360 00:21:33.380 --> 00:21:36.660 with this administration. And the fact that they have they 361 00:21:36.700 --> 00:21:40.660 accused the Biden administration of weaponizing law enforcement to go 362 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:43.839 after American citizens. And what have they done? They have 363 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:48.569 literally weaponized federal law enforcement to go after American citizens, 364 00:21:48.589 --> 00:21:52.569 the enemies of this administration. And they are doing it 365 00:21:52.630 --> 00:21:57.609 in real time and right before our very eyes. you know, 366 00:21:57.769 --> 00:22:01.430 that the credibility of law and order, you know, the 367 00:22:01.490 --> 00:22:04.269 rule of law is on the ballot, whether we are 368 00:22:04.309 --> 00:22:08.779 going to have, you know, real laws that everyone is 369 00:22:08.819 --> 00:22:11.980 accountable to, or we are just simply going to have 370 00:22:12.019 --> 00:22:17.079 this two tiered system of justice where people who commit 371 00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:20.180 crimes on behalf of this administration or who are deemed 372 00:22:20.359 --> 00:22:24.069 to be, you know, potentially beneficial to this administration, like 373 00:22:24.089 --> 00:22:27.930 we've seen with, crypto guys and all these white collar 374 00:22:27.990 --> 00:22:30.950 criminals that Donald Trump has pardoned and who have now 375 00:22:31.049 --> 00:22:37.440 found themselves in business dealings with the Trump family or 376 00:22:37.660 --> 00:22:43.180 whether we're going to allow law enforcement agencies to act 377 00:22:43.220 --> 00:22:48.930 with impunity outside of any level of accountability. The rule 378 00:22:48.970 --> 00:22:54.230 of law, which is the founding, that is the foundation 379 00:22:54.250 --> 00:22:56.220 of this country. is what's on the ballot. 380 00:22:57.380 --> 00:23:01.519 Yeah, no question. And Mike, just to kind of start 381 00:23:01.539 --> 00:23:05.670 wrapping things up, I've known you for a long time. 382 00:23:05.690 --> 00:23:11.509 I know that after January 6th, you and I got 383 00:23:11.529 --> 00:23:15.329 to know each other a bit more. You were deeply disappointed, obviously, 384 00:23:15.410 --> 00:23:18.349 when Trump got reelected, put back in the White House. 385 00:23:19.250 --> 00:23:22.069 I know for a while there, you kind of lost 386 00:23:22.250 --> 00:23:25.799 faith in democracy. And feel free to attack anything I'm saying. 387 00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:30.230 I'm screwing it up. But we're heading towards the midterms. 388 00:23:30.869 --> 00:23:34.970 We're heading towards another presidential election cycle. Your thoughts on 389 00:23:35.130 --> 00:23:38.509 can this country pull itself out of the ditch that 390 00:23:38.529 --> 00:23:41.299 it's in right now, pull itself out of the mess 391 00:23:41.710 --> 00:23:44.059 that it's in right now, or is it kind of 392 00:23:44.759 --> 00:23:48.640 uncertain in your mind? And I don't know. Is that 393 00:23:48.680 --> 00:23:51.579 something that you've been kicking around thinking about? 394 00:23:53.130 --> 00:23:56.690 I mean, that's a complicated question to ask me when 395 00:23:56.730 --> 00:23:58.049 we're trying to wrap it up here. 396 00:23:58.630 --> 00:23:59.970 Well, take as much time as you need. 397 00:24:00.049 --> 00:24:03.549 I mean, listen, like, do I believe that the American 398 00:24:03.589 --> 00:24:09.380 people have the ability at this particular moment? Yeah, I mean, 399 00:24:09.400 --> 00:24:15.880 I think that elections will take place. I feel relatively 400 00:24:15.960 --> 00:24:20.420 confident that they will actually take place. Do I think 401 00:24:20.440 --> 00:24:23.960