No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen - BTC interviews Vice President Kamala Harris

Episode Date: July 24, 2022

The January 6 Committee holds its last hearing until September and reveals devastating news about what Trump was doing during the insurrection. Brian interviews Vice President Kamala Harris about what the White House is doing right now to protect abortion rights, the administration’s stance on expanding the Supreme Court, whether she thinks Trump should be indicted by the DOJ, and how the White House plans to win back young people.Donate to the "Don't Be A Mitch" fund: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dontbeamitchShop merch: https://briantylercohen.com/shopYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/briantylercohenTwitter: https://twitter.com/briantylercohenFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/briantylercohenInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/briantylercohenPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/briantylercohenNewsletter: https://www.briantylercohen.com/sign-upWritten by Brian Tyler CohenProduced by Sam GraberRecorded in Los Angeles, CASee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today, we're going to talk about the last January 6th committee hearing until September and the damning news revealed about Trump. And I interview Vice President Kamala Harris about what the White House is doing right now to protect abortion rights, the administration stance on expanding the Supreme Court, whether she thinks Trump should be indicted by the DOJ, and how the White House plans to win back young people. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen, and you're listening to No Lie. So, obviously, a very big week.

I spoke with the Vice President of the United States in a great interview, so... You'll definitely want to check that out. But first, we're now officially finished with what Adam Kinsinger's called the first tranche of the January 6th committee hearings, which are going to reconvene in September. At this latest hearing, the committee focused on what Donald Trump did during the 187 minutes after his speech at the ellipse, and before he finally posted on Twitter telling his supporters to go home. So, okay, here are a few moments from the hearing that I think are worth highlighting. So are you aware of any phone call by the President of the United States to the Secretary of Defense that day?

Not that I'm aware of, no. Are you aware of any phone call by the President of the United States to the Attorney General of the United States that day? No. Are you aware of any phone call by the President of the United States to the Secretary of Homeland Security that day? I'm not aware of that, no. Did you ever get the Vice President, or excuse me, the President asked for the National Guard? Did you ever get the President asked for law enforcement response? No.

We know from the employee the TV was tuned to Fox News. all afternoon. Here you can see Fox News on the TV showing coverage of the joint session that was airing that day at 125. Other witnesses confirmed that President Trump was in the dining room with the TV on for more than two and a half hours. You've got an assault going on on the capital of the United States of America. And there's nothing. No call, nothing, zero. On January 6th, Trump didn't call the Secretary of Defense. He didn't call the Attorney General, didn't call the Secretary of Homeland Security,

didn't ask for the National Guard, didn't ask for law enforcement. He didn't make a single call or give a single order to request assistance. And if you're looking for corrupt intent, you just got it. Because we all know Donald Trump. Like, there is not a moment in his day where he doesn't feel compelled to divulge his every thought from every errant synapse that enters his brain. If something's bothering the guy, he's going to tell you. His compulsion is quite literally making sure you know.

So him sitting there, gleefully watching TV for three hours while protesters ransacked the Capitol and bludgeoned police officers and search for Mike Pence so that they could assassinate him, that was by design. Again, if Trump had an issue with it, he'd have tweeted it. He'd have gotten himself on TV. The guy was the president of the United States has the biggest microphone on the planet.

Finding airtime wasn't an issue. The fact that he didn't. The fact that he allowed this to continue unabated is a testament to the fact that he approved. of it. He wanted it to happen. And what's worse is the fact that he knew only he could call them off. He knew that. The whole world knew that. That's why Hannity texted Mark Meadows, demanding that Trump make a statement and tell people to leave. That's why Laura Ingram also texted Meadows telling him that Trump needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. That's why Brian Kilmey,

demanding Trump get on TV. That's why Don Jr., Trump's own son, who apparently didn't have his dad's contact information, also texted Mark Meadows telling him he's got to condemn it. It's because it was to everyone, everyone, that the only person who could call this off was the same person who incited it, and that was Donald Trump. And if you think all those people knew that, and yet Trump himself didn't, you are kidding yourselves. He knew full well that they'd only listen to him because he was the one who summoned them there. He was the one who peppered them with months of lies about fraud that we now know he knew were false. Lies about a path to victory that we now know he knew were false. Lies about Pence being able to unilaterally reject

electoral votes that we now know he knew were false. Lies about winning the election that we now know he knew were false. This was the natural conclusion of months' worth of deception, all intended to defraud his supporters into showing up the capital to block certification of the election, which is a federal crime. And what's most striking about this is that we already know the extent to which Trump was aware that what he was doing was fraudulent based on what other people said. We already knew, you know, based on these January 6th committee hearings and tape depositions

that Trump was told by Bill Barr, and Alex Cannon and Jason Miller and Eric Hirschman, that there was no fraud, no path to victory, no election win, and yet he went out and lied anyway. But there was something about focusing on those 187 minutes where the whole world watched this mob, destroy the Capitol and try to murder cops and erect a gallows. To know that Donald Trump, the only person who could stop this,

made the conscious decision not to, really is more damning than everything else we've learned. It is the clearest indication yet of his criminal. middle intent. He wanted this insurrection. And if he couldn't join it himself, which we learned wasn't for lack of trying, then damn it, he was at least going to make sure that he didn't put an end to it. So look, as far as the DOJ is concerned, this isn't just about holding Trump accountable for what he did in the past. Although it is about holding Trump accountable for what he did in the past. This is about preventing this guy from doing it again in the future. And he will. He spent

months defrauding his supporters and plotting to overturn this election. He tried to pressure the DOJ, and Mike Pence outright told the Georgia Secretary of State to find non-existent votes. He summoned what he believed were impressionable state legislators to the White House to get them to bend his will. And even weeks ago, tried to personally intimidate a January 6th committee witness. And days ago, called the Wisconsin Assembly Speaker to overturn his 2020 loss in Wisconsin. The election happened almost two years ago. So if there was any doubt as to whether Trump would continue to commit crimes if he's not held

accountable, just consider the fact that he's quite literally still committing crimes to this very day. And so knowing who Trump is and what he's continuing to do, if the DOJ fails to prosecute him, then it's not just Trump's fault if and when he breaks the law again. That'll be on the DOJ too. When the Justice Department starts, you know, deferring to the optics of neutrality over actual justice, then it won't be a surprise when criminals get more emboldened. That's how it works. So for the sake of this country's future, I hope that the only person who has the power to hold Donald Trump accountable, actually does his job.

Before I go to my interview with the VP, real quick, I wanted to end this on kind of a high note, or at least what passes for a high note in this fresh hell that is our reality. So here's the behind the scenes of Donald Trump trying to record a video on January 7, 2021. The demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol have defied the seat of dust.

It's defiled, right? See, I can't see it very well. Okay, I'll do this. I'm going to do this. I would like to begin by addressing the heinous attack yesterday. Yesterday is a hard word for me. Just take that? The heinous attack are...

Ah, good. Take the word yesterday because it doesn't work with the heinous attack on our country. Say on our country. Want to say that? But look, I get it. Words are tough, especially medium-sized words like yesterday. All right. Next up is my interview with the vice president.

Today we have the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris. Good to see you again. Thanks so much for doing this. Good to be with you, Brian. Thank you. Let's jump into a topic that I think most people are focused on right now, and that is the overturning a row. You know, there are a lot of people in the U.S. right now who are scared, defeated,

and furious based on this decision of Dobbs. You know, you've been especially vocal about this issue in particular. In the short term, I've heard solutions including opening abortion sites. on federal lands, expanding access to abortion medication like Mitha Pristone. What is the administration doing right now to protect abortion rights? So, first of all, I couldn't agree with you more. I've been traveling in the country and people are rightly, deeply concerned. They're angry and fearful because the United States Supreme Court for the first time

took a constitutional right that was granted and guaranteed to women, took it from the women of America, from the people of America. And this is no small matter. And what this is meant is that these various states with these extremist so-called leaders are passing laws that are making it virtually impossible for a woman to have access to reproductive care to abortion. They are criminalizing doctors. They're punishing women. There are states where there's no exception for rape or incest. And I'll tell you somebody, a former prosecutor who specialized in child sexual assault, for example, it's immoral from my perspective to relegate a woman who has, or a girl or a child who has been subject to such violence and abuse to require them to then go through

a pregnancy that they don't want. So what do we need to do? Well, first we have to understand that the context we're existing in. We have three independent co-equal branches of government. The court has acted. Now Congress needs to act and put into law, like we say codify row so that the protections are there in law. And also, the executive branch must act as we have and we'll do more. So the president, for example, has signed executive orders to guarantee protections for women as it relates to their constitutional right for interstate travel, right? So women, girls who need to leave the state where it's been criminalized or it is now illegal, giving them protection to be able to go to a state where they can get the medical care they need. We are also doing the work and through the executive

order from the president to make sure that for early abortions by medication, that we actually are able to facilitate that. And let's be clear, there's a lot of disinformation out there. The FDA 20 years ago verified that it is safe. And in terms of that medication for use by women and those who need it. So these are the things that we need to do. I'm very happy that yesterday, the House of Representatives passed legislation that is putting into law protections for same-sex marriage and interracial marriage. But I think, Brian, it's really important to note that 157 by my count, 157 Republicans

in the United States Supreme Court on the United States Congress on the House side, voted against this legislation. So that means we've got at least 157 elected members of the United States Congress who clearly are not supporting the integrity and the legality of same-sex marriages and interracial marriages. So we've got a fight in front of us. And as far as I'm concerned, we have to build up the strength of a movement that is grounded in the knowledge that this is about a fight for freedom and liberty and basic fundamental constitutional principles, that we have to build up the movement in a way that does the best of what we do, which is coalition build, knowing that the same people who are attacking a woman's ability to make decisions about

her own body are the same people in many instances that are attacking voting rights, that are the same people in many instances that are attacking LGBTQ rights around the country. And so let's build up the coalition and do what we need to do to support the privacy rights of the American people as it relates to all of these issues. I mean, look, you mentioned the three co-equal branches of government. You know, I know that longer term, the answer is to vote, to hold the House, expand our Senate majority by two seats so that Democrats can eliminate the filibuster. 111 days. I believe it's 111 days as of today that we are looking at the midterms and it's

about, sorry to interrupt your mind, but I just want to get this out. But 111 days. Okay, what do we have before us in 111 days? Elections that are local elections about who is the county prosecutor or the DA, right? For those states that are criminalizing, this, it's going to be important to make sure that you elect, if you care about the issue, prosecutors and DAs and county prosecutors who will stand up for the constitutional rights of women and all people in their county and not criminalize providers, much less patience. It's about who is your Secretary of State in terms of the voting rights issue. It's about who is your governor who is signing off on these laws. We have governors from Florida to Texas and other states who are approaching this from an extremist

position that is definitely about attacking the rights of women to make decisions about their own body. All these elections matter. And then we need a pro-choice Congress. And here's the thing. As it relates to the Senate, I served in the Senate before you know that. We need to elect two more senators so that we can get the United States Congress. Now the House has acted on the Senate side to act to protect a woman's right to choose. That's what we need. And thankfully, Biden has said he will not let the filibuster get in the way of that becoming law. To that exact point, you know, if we are able to expand our Senate majority and eliminate the filibuster and ultimately pass the Women's Health Protection Act, even if it is passed,

it is painfully obvious that this Supreme Court, under no circumstances, will allow that that law to stand through whatever tortured legal rationale they can come up with to justify it, which means that at the end of the day, so long as we have this court, the future of abortion rights is still going to be in peril. So in that instance, do you believe that the court should be expanded? I'm going to disagree with you, although I agree with your general point, which is that we always have to be vigilant, knowing that every right that we have gained will not be permanent if we're not vigilant. So I agree with that point. But to put it in law, there may be litigation, but we will be in a much better position than to not do that. And, you know, listen, women are getting pregnant.

every day in America. And this is a real issue. And we need to act with a sense of haste about what is at play, what is at stake. And codifying role will be an important moment in terms of putting back in place protections for the folks who are at risk right now because of what the court did in Dobbs just weeks ago. More broadly, I guess, you know, just in terms of the assault by the court, Would you support court expansion just in the general sense as we see this court continue to, you know, make as assault on the American people? I think what we've got to do right now is deal with what we've got in front of us. And the reality is that we don't even have the votes in the United States Senate to codify Roe. And there is a way to impact that, which is to have a pro-choice Senate, which means we need to elect two more senators who are pro-choice.

to get that through. So we can have this discussion about, you know, other aspects of this issue, but frankly, right now I'm focused on what we have in front of us immediately in terms of the task at hand. In addition to what we need to do in the long term, and I agree with you, this is a part of a movement. I mean, the president has been clear that expansion of the court is not something that's on the table. So let's focus right now on what we need to do around winning this election with pro-choice, you know, people and, you know, mostly Democrats because the Republicans, for the most part, you know, in many ways, in terms of the leaders of the party, have been unwilling to support this issue.

So let's switch gears to the January 6th committee. Millions of Americans have been watching these hearings where we've learned the extent to which Trump knew the truth about his claims of fraud and his stolen election claims and yet peddled those lies anyway, incited an insurrection anyway, and even tried to march with knowingly armed insurrectionist to the U.S. Capitol. All eyes are obviously on the DOJ now. You were a prosecutor. You'd mentioned that before. If it was up to you to, like, prosecute this case, would you? And do you think that there's particular danger in failing to indict Trump, given what we now know? So as a former prosecutor, I would tell you, I'm not going to comment on somebody else's case

because I think it's really important that you talk about a case based on full knowledge of what the evidence is. And thankfully, this congressional process has been available to and transparent with the public so that we are in real time seeing what's happening. And I know there's more to come even this week. But let me say this. There is no question that that was an attack, a visceral attack on our democracy. There is no question that our democracy is on the ballot in terms of what's at stake right now, that there are extremists in our country that are willing to subvert the very foundations of our strength, which is our democracy, and we need to take it very seriously.

There's no question about that. I want to switch over to the issue of the economy and gas prices. Those are two issues plaguing the entire world right now on those issues. If you've got a pulse, you'll hear Republicans blaming the White House for both of those. So can you explain what the White House has done to address high gas prices and inflation? And can you also explain what solutions have been proposed by Republicans? Yeah, I mean, I'll start with the point that you started with. But actually, let me just first.

This is one of probably the highest priorities of our administration, which is bringing down these costs. And so, for example, we've released a million barrels of oil through this, Strategic Petroleum Reserve, we have seen in the last 30 days a dropping gas prices at about 50 cents per gallon. And we think that's a good sign because it is a real issue for the American people and working people in particular. So these are some of the things that we have done, including extending the child tax credit and also passing a tax cut so that families have up to $8,000 a year more in their pocket to pay the expense. of raising a child such as school supplies, medication, food. But to your point about Republicans,

so Brian, on the child tax credit, right, which brought down in the first year child poverty in America by 40 percent, not one Republican in the Senate voted in favor of it. On the tax cut, there's putting as much as $8,000 in the pockets of working parents to help pay for the expenses of raising a child, not one Republican voted in favor for it. We are right now, one of my big issues for a long time has been to work on the issue of maternal health because we've got women in America who are dying at some of the highest rates in the world for pregnancy-related causes, right? So one of the things we want to do is support women, including those who have given birth in postpartum care. So we are extending Medicaid coverage, which had been only two months postpartum to 12 months postpartum, encouraging states to do that. Not one Republican voted in favor of that.

So they give a lot of mouth to the issue in terms of, you know, just rhetoric, but in terms of actual policies that we have promoted, we have examples of where no Republican has supported it. One of the greatest things that we can do as leaders, if we are leaders, is support working families, working parents in America. And consistently, we have seen a lack of support. for the policies that actually make that real and therefore bring down costs, household costs, for working people. I should note, too, that in a number of Republican-led states, you know, those same politicians who are lecturing

about how to protect life are also the ones with the worst maternal health outcomes, the worst infant mortality rates, in many cases in the Western world. So it's just ironic that those are the same people. And if I may, to your point, the other step that we are going to continue to fight, for is, for example, saying child care should be affordable and for working families,

they shouldn't pay more than 7% of their income in child care. We're trying to get this Republican support for that, haven't gotten that yet in a way that we can actually see it through. Same for paid family leave during the pandemic. That became quite clear that if people have to choose between going to work sick or not to work and can't put food on the table, well, they're going to choose to actually make sure they put food on the table, right? And that means going to work sick, as opposed to being able to stay home and know that they don't have to compromise paying the rent or feeding their

kids. So let's finish off with this. We are inching closer and closer to midterms. You alluded to it just a few minutes earlier. Polling has come out recently showing waning support from young people who were critical to this administration's victory in 2020. How does the White House plan on winning that key demographic back? Well, you can look at, for example, some of the big issues. affecting young people right now. Why don't we start with where this conversation started on the issue of Roe, right, and the Dobbs decision, what it means in terms of choice to make decisions about whether you're going to start a family, when you're going to start a family. Young women right now are making decisions about if they are college bound, where they might

go to college in which state, depending on whether that state is allowing them to have autonomy over their own bodies. There are young women in America right now who are entering the workforce who are determining what state they should live in or leave because they may be punished or their health care provider may be criminalized because of what's happening. This directly affects young women and the people in their friend network and the people they know, which are of all genders, right, are being affected by this decision. In particular, those who are in the stage of life where they're considering and making choices about when and whether they will have a family. You look at the issue of the climate crisis, you know, my home state of California, but you look

around the country right now and look at Europe. The climate crisis is so real. And the decisions being made now, and in particular by extremist leaders standing in the way, of meaningful action on the climate crisis will have a profound impact on the young people of America and the world. By 2030, which are some of our deadlines and timelines, if we don't see serious action, we are looking at a moment where we can't turn back the clock, right? These are the things that are at stake. The issues that are at stake are voting rights, where, by the way, from the same states, again, where you're seeing restrictions on voting rights, you're seeing restrictions on a right of a woman to choose.

So these are issues that impact young people because, as we all know, your right to vote and the action of voting unlocks all the other rights, including same-sex marriage, including whether we're going to stand up against a law that says don't say gay, basically restricting kindergarten through third grade teachers in Florida to be able to love open, and teach what they believe is important for people to understand. All these things are on the ballot and all these things are at stake right now in America. And I can't think of a population, frankly, that has more at stake than younger Americans in terms of this trajectory for our country and by extension our world. I traveled the world as vice president. I'm told I've talked with

directly and met with a total of probably 80 prime ministers and presidents and a couple of kings. And America holds ourselves out to be a model for the world. And on that basis, we can then walk in a room and talk about the importance of respecting human rights and other things. But they're watching us around the world. And when our highest court takes a constitutional right from the women of America, we've got so much at stake that is about the people who are directly impacted, but also our standing in the world. That affects everybody in our country, regardless of their age.

But if you want to talk about trajectory where this is all headed, in particular, it will have a long-term impact on younger Americans right now. Vice President Kamala Harris, thank you so much for taking the time. I appreciate it. Thank you. It's good to be with you, Brian. Thank you. Thanks again to Vice President Kamala Harris. And one last note, if you're new to this podcast, make sure to subscribe and please leave a rating and a review.

That's the best way to support my work. Okay, thanks so much for listening. That's it for this episode. Talk to you next week. You've been listening to No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen. Produced by Sam Graber, music by Wellesie, interviews captured and edited for YouTube and Facebook by Nicholas Nicotera, and recorded in Los Angeles, California. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe on your preferred podcast app. Feel free to leave a five-star rating and a review, and check out briantylercoen.com for links to all of my other channels.