Supreme Court ethics bill, possible Biden impeachment inquiry, more | America Decides

[Music] thank you the Trump agenda is not worth anything to Republicans if Trump's the one trying to execute it liberal Democrats have been trying to destroy the Roberts Court for quite a while now because they don't like the outcome of certain decisions the only way you [Music] is even had a document it's largely to assuage the public that they're not keeping the idea of you know alien craft from the public hello I'm Major Garrett in Washington and welcome to America decides Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is running against a candidate made famous by in part saying you're fired well to scientists now not because he wants to but because he has to is saying well you're laid off DeSantis is shedding more than a third of his campaign staff he's let go of 38 people since the start of April in a bid to keep financially afloat through the fall that number 38 includes roughly 10 laid off event staffers the campaign had previously announced were being let go this move comes as DeSantis lags far behind former president Trump that's the one who used to say you're fired and National and early State primary polls for more on all this Caitlin Huey Burns and Finn Gomez join us now Caitlin is CBS News political correspondent finished CBS News political director happy to have you both at the table Caitlin what do we know well this is according to the campaign manager an effort to streamline operations to well position them into the fall campaign to make them um competitive not only against the Republican field but also against Joe Biden but this also comes as we've talked about before where you just have not seen movement in this race um that's a kind of a remarkable difference from 2020 where we did see a lot of movement among Democrats at this time it's summer this is when people are heating up or cooling down we've seen kind of a steady trajectory for for Donald Trump and then we have these early State polls which this is where the decisions are made are in these early states that show that DeSantis has not um you know he's not as competitive as many would like him to be especially as someone who came into this race kind of positioned himself as the person that could be that alternative to Donald Trump and Finn let's take a look at some polling data that shows the favorability trajectory for governor DeSantis over these past many months down down by about 11 percentage points if not more so not only is his favorability suffering his campaign at least on the hard money side the actual presidential campaign we'll talk about the Super PAC in a second is having to tighten its belt yeah absolutely and you the mama pull that you just referenced uh does show I mean in real numbers his trajectory and it's a downward spiral right now well spiral might be a little strong they're trying to avoid that they're trying to fix the the trajectory the right to ship if you will I have spoken to some of his Rivals uh from other camps who've said that uh you know this has Echoes of Scott Walker uh it has Echoes of Jeb Bush from previous Cycles you know those are two campaigns that raised a lot of money but couldn't manage it and ultimately flamed out right exactly so there is one earlier than the other Walker much earlier than Bush but they both flame down right and I think there's there you know it's early you know things change as we know but you know at what one Camp one senior advisor to another campaign said that that they believe that the scientists got lulled into this false sense of strength following the midterms uh after that when he was he was so high and he had the momentum but didn't realize that a good day running as an incumbent incumbent governor here uh is is nothing compared to uh is is the the worst day running as an incumbent Governor is like an average day running for president and that's what you know in in essence you know he avoided media he avoided you know he only wants a friendly outlets and essentially this did him a disservice uh really trying to they're they're looking to right the ship they're focused on the debate stage uh we'll see if that could be a game changer now Caitlyn there are other examples on the Republican side they're just a couple of campaigns going through a massive retooling and surviving McCain did it in 2007 went on to become the Republican nominee in 2008. Ronald Reagan famously fired John Sears right before the New Hampshire primary because he lost on the Iowa caucuses in 1980 oh by the way he becomes a nominee two-term American president so you can go through these harsh moments we have to make tough decisions and bounce back the DeSantis campaign clearly believes it can bounce back but how yeah that they they do and they feel like there is enough time they're six months before voters start to actually weigh in in Iowa uh so they feel like the fundamentals of the race that still exist that he is best positioned and that he has a story to tell but the differences are you mentioned McCain in 2007. you also have a trajectory of Jeb Bush in 2015 who fired a lot of people in October had to re-jigger the campaign campaign checkups do happen they happen for a reason but that was an instance where it didn't pan out he didn't win any of the early States and dropped out after South Carolina the big question is going to be the debate whether that can change the trajectory but there's also this question of whether Donald Trump shows up to that debate or not a lot of these candidates want him to be on the stage because they want him to be there need him to be there because they need to show that they can be the alternative to him if he's not there they're kind of squabbling amongst themselves as their own kind of sub team while he you know can afford to evade some of these traditional environments and Finn very quickly Mitt Romney Republican senator from Utah had an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal telling Republicans look if you're struggling later on in this campaign meaning by January February you need to get out essentially saying donors can't make that decision people close to those campaigns need to basically have an intervention to pull them out I'm not sure if he's talking about DeSantis but he's talking about anyone who's struggling early next year yeah he gave a a Target deadline of February 26 2024 that's following the the first primary State contest of course and you know super you know and really in the Crux of the of the of the of the primary race the problem here is is a couple things one is Mitt Romney was the uh the last nominee before Donald Trump in 2012 parties changed a lot in 13 years a lot this is not the same party a and you can't really have that sort of coordination it's very hard it's like hurting it's like hurting Lions if you will you know this is not easy Larry Hogan when he initially was was testing a potential run and and you know and bowed out before you really started uh he essentially said the same thing there's going to be a collision course where everything's going to be piled up right in the middle that's kind of where we're going now where there's this trajectory where we'll have this you know 12 14 people in the race you're going to have a pileup so what Romney's saying is jump out but the 26 he's saying he's saying the Republican donors and Republican uh movers and shakers should put that pressure let you know but again will the Republican Party collectively listen that is a big question that I do not believe it'll be very difficult for them to Romney made a good point which is in that that um you know voters don't listen to people like him people that are in charge of the party apparatus they don't listen to a lot of these endorsements campaigns listen to donors because they have to when the money dries up the campaign has trouble moving forward right money dries up from big donors but if you're sustained by small dollar donors you can hang around for a while and who draws small dollar donors better than anyone else in the Republican side not former president Donald Trump right unquestionably that is true um control room I can't hear you so tell me where we are on time 90 seconds okay good we can keep we can keep this conversation going let's talk briefly about the DeSantis Super PAC because that's the other part of the campaign very well funded these layoffs were on The Campaign hard dollar sign Finn what can you say about the health of that Super Pac and its relevance to the future of the DeSantis campaign well that's the you know pro pro DeSantis uh the Santa supporters point to that they point to this Juggernaut of fundraising that the Super PAC have 130 million 130 million dollars which is a lot of money they say they can still fuel it they're doing this unorthodox way of really uh you know placing the Grassroots operation and other elements so typically part of the campaign component into into the lap of the Super PAC so they're saying hey all all our big moves everything are it's all it's all fine we're we're they're encased in this in its fundraising however polling numbers right we're looking at everything that you the CHP setting everything you you said in a major I mean those are The Telltale sign is that this that they're they need to do more there has to be more of a of a fix perhaps having money and the ability to spend it spend it wisely and productively that's going to be a huge test for the DeSantis campaign Finn Gomez chb otherwise known as Caitlyn Huey thank you very much President Biden signed a proclamation today to create a National Monument honoring Emmett Till the black teen was abducted and killed by white men in 1955 for allegedly whistling out of white women those men who perpetrated that crime were later acquitted President Biden spoke about the importance of knowing all of that complex brutal and painful history we can't just choose to learn what we want to know we have to learn what we should know we should know about our country we should know everything the good the bad the truth of who we are as a nation that's what great Nations do the monument also honors Till's mother may meet till Mobley who pushed to keep the casket of her son open at his funeral I spoke to Lonnie Bunch III he's the secretary of the Smithsonian institution about that decision and how it impacted the Civil Rights Movement she decided that she had to have an open casket because she wanted the world to see what they did to her son oh it was horrible and that Courage the fact that it was then published in a black newspaper and then it began over the world it really rejuvenated the civil rights movement and I would argue so much of the change of the 50s and 60s started from that moment of her courage today would have been Emmett Till's 82nd birthday Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are divided over Bill to mandate a supreme court code of ethics we'll ask the bill sponsor about that GOP opposition next you are streaming America decides welcome back to America decides with public trust in the Supreme Court wavering and that's being generous amid scrutiny over the financial dealings of some of the justices Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are moving forward with a bill that would overhaul the high Court's transparency requirements the bill would among other things require the court to adopt an Ethics code as well as impose more rigorous rules for disclosure of gifts travel and income the legislation cleared the committee along Party Line Senate Republicans accused Democrats of playing politics liberal Democrats have been trying to destroy the Roberts Court for quite a while now because they don't like the outcome of certain decisions Rhode Island Democratic senator Sheldon Whitehouse joins us now he serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee and his sponsor of the Supreme Court ethics recusal and transparency act Senator good to see you briefly tell us what the legislation would require that's not required now well it would require the Supreme Court to adhere to the Judicial Code of Conduct that all other judges must follow and to make sure that they do it would actually create a procedure so that whether a Justice is violating the rules or not actually gets determined by someone it would also require more disclosure to match what members of Congress and executive officials are required to disclose about gifts of travel and hospitality and other things like that it would require uh when a recusal question is raised that the Justice right why they did or did not recuse so that there's a record of some kind and then it would require the much better disclosure of these little flotillas of what are called emiki Curie Friends of the Court groups that come in and file briefs with the court it's kind of last minute lobbying with the Supreme Court before they render a decision and a great number of them now are essentially fake organizations screening for big special interests and we think that the groups that fund them and the real special interest behind them and whoever actually wrote the brief should all be disclosed and what would the public in your opinion Senator learn that it can't learn now well some really simple things like how many gifts did justices Alito and Thomas get from the six right-wing billionaires who have now been documented to have given them various kind of gifts second with respect to Justice Thomas's recusal in the January 6th case the simple fact that needs to be known to determine whether that was lawful or unlawful is what he knew about his wife's activities related to that case and when did he know it so you'd get an actual answer to that question that would support a determination as to whether it was legal or illegal for him to have failed to recuse himself Senator as you know Republicans have said there are some very serious separation of powers issues involved here that Congress ought not to be intruding on the Supreme Court's business your opinion on that that's one of the funnier arguments that they make because it has absolutely no merit whatsoever in fact if you look at the body that right now oversees the conduct of the justices and the federal judges it's called the judicial conference and it was established by Congress and if you look at the requirement that they have for financial disclosure that was a law that was passed by Congress and if you look at the rules about recusals those are pertained to a statute passed by Congress regarding recusals so essentially what they're saying is it is not congress's business to look at how a body created by Congress is implementing laws that were passed by Congress and that obviously makes no sense at all and address Lindsey Graham's criticism that the only reason Democrats are interested in this is because they don't like recent Supreme Court decisions well the more interesting point is that in the long long markup of my Reform Bill not one Republican on one occasion defended any of the reported misconduct by the justices so they're trying to change the subject to how evil is the democrat's motive as opposed to wait a minute is there really a problem at the Supreme Court I think the facts will show that there really is a problem at the Supreme Court and some of our best Witnesses I think are going to be federal judges who know where the guidelines are what the rules are and are getting increasingly irritated with the court for not following the rules and guidelines that they have to follow speaking of good Witnesses would you like to see Justice Alito and Justice Thomas appear before the Judiciary Committee and how willing are you to go to The subpoena if that's necessary I think in due course it could be very valuable for them to testify and explain what was going on but in the same way that a good lawyer prepares for a deposition before they go into the room with the witness we need to be able to do the uh investigative work to find out exactly where it went on to see the documents and at the moment we're getting zero cooperation so far from any of the billionaires that we are pursuing who have been lubricating the court with free travel and hospitality and gifts so are subpoenas on the table either for them or the justices I think uh subpoenas are a very natural results a very appropriate result for Congress established by law that we can do that if we continue to get a stone wall and no cooperation again you do these things in proper sequence in a good investigation so I don't want to get ahead of my skis but clearly there is a path to subpoenas I want to ask you Senator about something that has gone on in Alabama the legislature there controlled by Republicans is refusing to adhere to the high Court's decision that it withdraw redraw rather not withdraw but redraw congressional districts there to include a second majority minority District your thoughts on what's going on there and a state's apparent willingness to defy a supreme court order well I suspect that this goes back to court and the litigants point out what's happened in the the Alabama legislature just defied the Supreme Court and then what ordinarily happens then I believe is that a special Master gets appointed to manage the situation and a court approved map is produced one additional point that I'll add if the right-wing Justice is on the Supreme Court had not messed around with Shelby County versus holder had not done the damage that they did to the Voting Rights Act none of this would be happening uh the Voting Rights Act the Law changes that took apart these uh districts and set them up so that there were not enough uh majority black districts um that would have been held off by the Department of Justice early early on so this is the kind of conduct that you get when you have a supreme court that's willing to degrade the Voting Rights Act and in this case now they darn well better enforce their decision Senator Sheldon Whitehouse we thank you thank you impeachment it's a serious process especially if the target is the president United States and before you have impeachment you must have an impeachment inquiry house Speaker Kevin McCarthy said today Republicans are moving in that direction against President Biden we'll give you the details when we come back and watching America decides welcome back to America decides house Speaker Kevin McCarthy is ratcheting up the rhetoric over the house gop's investigation into the Biden families foreign business dealings McCarthy spoke of an impeachment inquiry into the president this afternoon I get to the bottom of the truth and the only way Congress can do that is go to impeachment inquiry that gives Republicans and Democrats the ability to get all the information CBS News Congressional correspondent Scott McFarland joins us now from Capitol Hill Scott why is this the only way House Republicans can get to the truth I thought the various hearings for the oversight committee and Judiciary and the like were the way to do that Republicans control all the Committees here in the U.S house and all the Oprah site responsibilities and capabilities that come with it speaker Kevin McCarthy has used that phrase impeachment inquiry quite a bit over the past 24 hours but we've noticed as this day progressed and he's spoken about it again there's a bit of softening in the language where he's speaking of it more philosophically or more theoretically now than maybe it was earlier in last night's interviews or how it was perceived overnight saying it's a tool Republicans can use to get to the bottom of whatever they want to get to the bottom with in the Biden Administration but there's also this sense here major and it's growing from some Republicans that if they're going to employ an impeachment inquiry better to use it first against President Biden himself you'll recall congresswoman Marjorie Taylor green has talked about impeachment of the homeland security secretary the FBI director the U.S attorney for the District of Columbia and eventually the president but there's others in the freedom caucus that say let us begin with President Biden there's only so much time and so much bandwidth Kevin McCarthy is juggling all this and it was noteworthy that he brought up the phrase somewhat unsolicited over the past 24 hours then calibrated it as the day went on Scott there's something happening tomorrow that I know you are eager to talk about I want you to share some sound you've collected on it with our audience now when I was growing up we had the term UFO unidentified flying object but Washington simply cannot sit still it must ruin a good acronym we now have UAP which is unidentified anomalous phenomenon thumbs down on that Scotty catches up on what this all means I can't disagree with your verdict but let's talk about what the U.S house is doing tomorrow house oversight subcommittee is having an investigation into what the government has and it potentially is not willing to tell the public about these uaps that you and I call UFOs Congressman Tim Burton republican from Tennessee will chair this hearing he has said unequivocally to CBS News he believes the Pentagon or the U.S government in some way has some evidence or some details about strange UFO Landings sightings or Hardware in its possession he talks about one such UFO during an interview just yesterday goes underwater it comes out no friction there's no heat trail no vapor trail like you would see traditionally from a rocket or a jet what's the propulsion system how is it doing this so I I think there's a lot of questions that the American public needs to know and deserves to know frankly and and I don't trust a government who doesn't trust his people here's what happens tomorrow 10 a.m eastern time three people who say they've had some type of witness or encounter with the UFO will testify to the U.S House oversight subcommittee they'll tell their story Congressman virtue will be leading with his own remarks but the Pentagon has spiked a lot of this they have said there's just no evidence that there have been UFO retrieval units inside the government that they're sitting on this cache of UFO equipment Hardware but they're going to get quite a platform tomorrow major one Congressman Who's involved with the hearing says they have media requests that they haven't seen before International media a tonnage of media you have to RSVP in advance there is if nothing else major a lot of interest in this topic and Scott real quick the Pentagon has been more forward-leaning in this space in the last two or three years releasing a few more things that it had previously right they have a task force they have a sub agency looking at all this the National Archives just today released uh some of what they've had in their collection UFO related studies and details but tomorrow you're going to give a platform a national platform here in Congress to three people who say they've seen it with their own eyes or their own equipment let's see what they detail and if it moves the meter with Congress or with others in the government as Scott McFarland well knows the truth is out there thank you for today you can stream America decides Monday to Thursday at 5 PM Eastern you are streaming CBS News

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Length: 24min 14sec (1454 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 26 2023