George. You write here. The New York Trump case is kind of perfect. Now, you wrote this before this verdict dropped. You said his other criminal cases involve lies about the 2016 election, about the military secrets he stole. But the alleged lies in the people v Trump strike at the core of his moral presence. And Trump knows it. what do you make of the verdict that we saw here today? and also David Fromm's comments, considering the way this sits in our nation's consciousness and the way it stacks up against some of the other things that Donald Trump is accused of doing. Yeah.
Well, I actually agreed with everything that David said. And in terms of this verdict, the only thing that really I wasn't I was surprised by the fact that so many people were surprised I was in that courtroom. for a number of the days I read the transcript, I followed along very closely in this case was never, ever close. It was it there was really no defense. The only defense was that Michael Cohen lied on some other occasions. But on the things that he testified to about Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal and the catch and kill scheme with with the, with the with the with the National Enquirer, all that was corroborated many, many times over by documents. So I'm just surprised at how many people were kind of unwilling to accept this case. that that said, I do you know, I think that it is this case really does capture Donald Trump in a way. It it's where he started. He's been a criminal his entire life, and he cannot help himself. I mean, he if you, you go out there and you see his son and him all claiming that the victims of them some mastermind scheme by by President Biden. I mean, it's just it's just silly and ridiculous. And Marco Rubio should be ashamed. I mean, if you don't want to be found guilty of falsifying business records, and as a felony, you know, don't sleep with the porn star. Don't lie about it. Don't pay her off. Don't cover up the payoff. Don't cover off the pay off in the middle of a presidential campaign. And, where you're making a contribution. And don't don't gross the guy up for taxes who used as a as the front man if you don't want. If you don't want to be held liable for rape like Donald Trump has, don't grab the woman's genitalia if you don't want to be held liable from defaming the woman that you raped. Don't keep lying about what you did and calling her a nutjob. If you don't want to be indicted for overthrowing the Constitution, don't start a self kook. If you don't want to be indicted for classified stealing classified documents and obstructing justice, don't take the classified documents. When the government asked for it back, give them back. If if you if the FBI serves you with a search warrant, don't hide the documents and and don't lie about it and don't have your lawyers lie about this. Isn't that hard? Donald Trump is not the victim here. Donald Trump is is does all of these things to himself. And I agree with David. I mean, once upon a time, the Republican Party was the party, not just an anti hippies, but a personal responsibility and of, of law and order. What party? Where is that party here that no one's willing to hold in? The Republican Party is willing to hold Donald Trump to account for his crimes, crimes that aren't really even in dispute. And no one, no one is willing to call him up and said he's he's going to get the nomination. That's just insane. And it just shows the degree of moral rot we have on the conservative side of politics today. Scott Jennings, I think this is for you. Where is that party? Well, I disagree with a number of things, George said. Of course. I mean, he's talking about these crimes that were committed that, that,
that, that I mean, he's talking about the obvious crimes that were supposedly committed. But that's the core of what a lot of decidedly non MAGA Republicans are mad about is that there is no underlying crime. I looked at the statement from Maine Senator Susan Collins, who I think encapsulated it perfectly. She said this was a Partizan prosecutor who promised to get Trump, and that's what he did not promise to go after the law, but he promised pathetic promise to go after Donald Trump. And so the issue is here. What is the crime? He's never been indicted for or convicted of the campaign finance theory at the core of this case. And so Republicans were wondering today, you know, what what what do you have to do to to build a defense against something you've never been convicted of in the first place? I'll tell you the mood in the party. If you're looking for a generalized attitude, is reminds me a little bit about the Kavanaugh period. You go back to the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, 2018. I remember that period being the MAGA people were mad. The non MAGA, the anti-Trump, the right. Every wing of the party was vibrating, angry about what was being done to Kavanaugh. I feel and sense that the same thing is happening today, which is why I think you're probably going to see this backfire politically on the Democrats, and they're going to regret it. I mean, George, I will say, I have heard from some people who really don't want to see Trump get elected in the Republican Party, who are concerned that this is just this particular case is just going to drive, additional enthusiasm for the former president. I'd be interested to respond to that. And you got your face in your hands. Well, you got to say this. I have to say, I mean, look, I mean, you know, Scott's lying. And that's the problem with the Republican Party. It is continually addicted to love that. Wait a minute. What am I what am I what what am I lying? You're lying. You're lying, Scott. You're lying about the law. You're lying about what the jury was charged to find. They don't have to find an underlying crime. They had to find the intent to cover up an underlying crime. And the underlying crime was pretty obvious. What was the crime? You ran for public office, Scott. You. You ran for public office. Scott. You know you can't take money from somebody and reimburse them to for as a you know, if it's a campaign, never run that damn well and you're okay. Fine. Well, you you're close enough. You're involved in politics to know that. Okay. So that's the problem with the Republican Party is that they are suffused with lies. I don't know why this network is paying Scott to say this lies. Whoa, whoa. Okay. Let's talk. Please. Let's not go there. No. We should be proud of Scott as our colleague. And we're going to treat him respectfully as such. Continue. Well, you should hear here's my question. If if it if it is if it is an obvious crime, why did the Department of Justice and the Federal Election Commission take a pass on it? Well, the Federal Police should have been prosecuted. It should have been prosecuted. On January 21st January 21st, 2021. Let's look. That's what we all know. This is the thing about Tommy Trump. He's never Donald Trump, never been Donald Trump has been let off. He should have been indicted for it. And the fact of the matter is, Donald, he wasn't sure what he was. Hold on. Please, David. The Federal Election Commission is a broken and paralyzed institution. it requires it requires a majority. It's got equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats. It requires a majority to act. And it's not acted on anything for a decade because it has been it is broken. And one of the reasons that things are ending up in the criminal justice system is because the internal political system has been sabotaged by the people that complain that the criminal justice system is the wrong, is the wrong remedy. You know, I want to pick up something else, Scott said. This is a become an important Republican talking point that Alvin Bragg vowed to, punish Donald Trump. That doesn't seem to be true. People are looking to the record to say, where is this? Where is this promise that you're talking about? And I wonder, it's maybe they've mistaken Alvin Bright for Letitia James, the New York state attorney general, who did make that promise. but Bragg actually was the person who declined to bring a criminal action based on the Civil frauds that then won, verdicts of a half $1 billion. But he's been actually quite a cautious, not as conscious as Mayor and Merrick Garland, but still quite cautious. He was not someone who was chomping at the bit to get this president. Scott. I disagree, I think it's obvious that he wanted to get the president, and I think it's obvious that he he did it. I mean, I, I mean, he he these Democrats in New York, I mean, if you ask the average Republican have been desperate to get Trump from the beginning, and they finally did it. And I you know, the I'm not a lawyer, but the political impact of this I am an expert on and I'm telling you right now, this has done more to unify the Republican Party behind Trump than anything else you could have possibly done. I've heard people on TV last night say, now they got to throw him in jail. We gotta throw him in jail. My advice would be, go right ahead. Ask for the maximum jail time. Go, go right. Go right ahead. Because I would love to see you. If being a can deal with the consequences of that Republican being a convicted felon, we're good for you. Politically, we would not have had to wait for 230 years of the life of this republic for people to run for office as convicted felons. historically, everyone has agreed that it's a bad thing to be a political. He didn't sell it. He didn't run for office as a convicted felon. He was convicted after he started running and he was running for office. He is now today, it's not too late for the Republican convention to swap him out and find someone who's not a convicted felon. You know, it's technically it is before the convention. After the convention, we might actually see something
