Piers Morgan Uncensored - Piers Morgan Uncensored: Anthony Weiner, Trump Wins in Iowa

Episode Date: January 16, 2024

On Piers Morgan Uncensored: From New York, Anthony Weiner was tipped for political greatness - before his sexting scandal played out to millions on Netflix, possibly putting Trump in the White House for the first time. Donald Trump wins big in Iowa, smashing records in the first major pit stop on the long road to the White House. Can anything stop his march back to the Oval Office? Piers Morgan speaks to Clay Travis, Bill Mitchell, Louise Mensch and Rochelle Richardson AKA Silk. Watch Piers Morgan Uncensored at 8pm on TalkTV on Sky 522, Virgin Media 606, Freeview 237 and Freesat 217. Listen on DAB+ and the app.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight on Pittsburgh and unscensored, live from New York City. Donald Trump wins with an avalanche in frostbitten, Iowa, smashing records in the first major pit stop, on the Lombrough potentially back to the White House. Could anything stop his march to the Republican nomination and potentially back to his old office? The Oval will debate. Plus, Anthony Wiener was one of the rising stars of the Democrat Party in US politics,

beloved of the Clintons, But then a lurid sexting scandal sensationally helped put Donald Trump in the White House the first time. Well, he's now out of jail, and tonight, Wiener joins me for an extraordinary and exclusive confessional interview. Live from New York,

this is Piers Morgan Uncensored. Good evening from New York, and welcome to Piers Morgan Unsensored. The three most recent winners of the Iowa caucus in America, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, and Teg Cruz may not mean very much to you. now, but that's because precisely none of them went on to become US

president, or even in fact, the Republican nominee. Irons don't often pick the winners, but they're very good at eliminating and pulverizing losers. A bit like the man they backed in a landslide last night. Donald Trump didn't just win. He obliterated his rivals

and every record. Number one, across virtually every county. He won 98 out of 99. The only one he lost, he lost by a single vote. And across pretty much, every demographic, from young to old, to college, to non-college, you name it, Trump cleaned up. And his two main rivals, Ronda Santis, and Nikki Haley trailed further behind him than any second and third in Iowa caucus history. Well, Vivek Ramoswamy has now quit the race after coming forth.

He will now endorse Trump. And in his victory speech, Donald Trump was, well, dare I say it, he almost sounded presidential. What a turnout, what a crowd. And I really think this is time now for everybody, our country, to come together. We want to come together, whether it's Republican or Democrat or liberal or conservative. It would be so nice if we could come together and straighten out the world and straighten out the problems and straighten out all of the death and destruction that we're witnessing. That's the one word you think about what you think of Donald Trump.

Inclusive, bringing everybody together. I'll believe it when I see it, but no one, never believe anyone who tells you with any certainty about what may happen here, especially when it involves Donald Trump. A year ago, you may remember, he was completely written off, not least by people like me. Governor DeSantis was breathing down his neck in the polls, plowing hundreds of millions and selling himself as Trump without the baggage, and it looked like it was working. Trump had lost the 2020 election by a bruising margin, whether he admits it or not. Of course he doesn't, but he did. He'd helmed the Republicans into a disastrous midterms after stacking the ballots with his cronies and, frankly, a few lunatics.

He was facing a mountain of legal action that since become an avalanche, 91 criminal charges in four separate cases from paying off the porn star stormy Daniels to inciting the riots at the Capitol on January 6th. Any one of these could land him behind bars. So he's been a serial loser He cost, of course, during his four-year tenure the first time the Republicans, the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Many think he's a serial liar and dangerous, but he had the biggest win in Iowa caucus history last night. The comeback king is on the march. And if the general election was held tomorrow, would anyone really bet against Trump beating a Joe Biden who looks increasingly senile? Frank Sinatra once said that the best revenge is massive success and he should know he was a superstar in the early 40s and then he became a has-been by the end of that decade. Hollywood's top talent agent, Swiftly Lazar, said that Sinatra was a dead man

and said even Jesus couldn't get resurrected in this town. Well, we know how that ended. Sinatra won an Oscar and went on to become one of the greatest showbiz icons of all time I mean, one of the most extraordinary comebacks in cultural history. Well, now Donald Trump is potentially on the verge of becoming the political version of Sinatra, and he's definitely doing it his way. The question the world should now be asking is, which Trump will we get if he does pull this off? Will he be the deal-making, univying, pragmatist, almost charming Trump we heard last night in his victory speech,

or the vengeful messenic version who we saw in his last tenure, He sees himself rather like the man in the video he shared that's before yesterday's vote. And on June 14, 1946, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, I need a caretaker, so God gave us Trump. God said, I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, fix this country, work all day, fight the Marxists, eat supper, then go to the Oval Office and stay past midnight at a meeting of the heads of state. so God made Trump. Well, President Biden is historically unpopular.

His latest approval ratings are disastrous. A majority of Americans, including the majority of Democrats, think he's too old to run again. Inflation has whacked Americans in their pockets. And there's general disillusionment about the state of the country. And, of course, there are two major wars that have erupted on his watch. For many voters, Trump is looking less like a democracy-threatening demagogue, and more like the entertaining showman.

who spits in the face of the establishment and presided over the country when everything costs less and none of the America's allies were at war. Of course, a lot can and will happen between now and November. Trump could be forced to drop out. He might be convicted of serious crimes. Anyone on either side could drop dead,

let's be honest. You're talking about a person of 81 against a person nearly 78. But the race for number two is therefore not as pointless as it might seem. Because the number two could potentially become number one, should something happen to Donald Trump in this race, even if he wins a nomination.

And it's that that is, I think, engrossing Washington right now. We're joining me to discuss Donald Trump's victory, the host of Your Voice America, Bill Mitchell, Rochelle Richardson, better known as Silk from Diamond and Silk, and here in the studio, former Conservative MP, Louise Metz. Well, before we get into Trump, Louise, it's just some also breaking news back in the UK, which is Rishi Sunak facing a slew of resignations from senior members of his own party tonight,

including Lee Anderson, one of his deputy chairman. He has quite a few deputy chairman. And this is over the controversial Rwanda bill. For those you can't get their heads around this, what is going on and what might happen? Well, what is going on is you've got three minor members of the government who've thrown their toys out of the pram and quit because they can't do maths. The fact is the right wingers want to toughen up the Rwandan bill, make it even less easy to appeal. They want to automatically block things coming down from the European Court

as opposed to letting ministers do it. The thing that they haven't thought through, though, is that there's a bigger group of centrist MPs who, if Rishy Sunaq caved to these rebels, the centrist MPs would rebel. So the Tories need to stop with the circular firing squad and get a bit of discipline and compromise. Are they going to have precisely no bill whatsoever

when Labour takes the reins, as they are undoubtedly going to do? Sunnak has put a lot of political capital into this bill. Having been, it appears from various reports to have been skeptical to start, is all in now. And at its heart, it's a simple bill. If you turn up illegally on the shores of Britain, you will be taken to Rwanda in a deal with that country in Africa. And you will then apply for asylum. If you're successful, then you can come to our country. But if you're not, that's where you stay.

And the idea is it will deter smugglers who are making all this money from this appalling trade. from doing what they're doing. Yeah, and those people who criticise this really haven't thought it through. The really cruel and inhumane thing would be to allow these small boats, these people smugglers, to keep making their money off human misery,

trafficking people into the UK. Just before Christmas, we found out that Tony Blair, when these papers were unsealed, had actually thought of something very similar. And even Labour isn't totally trying to junk this bill. So you've got to ask yourselves, why can't the Tories get their act together

and stop making the perfect? the enemy of the good. OK, well, tomorrow night is the next stage of this bill, where if there's another big rebellion, it could turn very serious for soon now. We'll see what happens. Thanks for that, Louise. But let's talk Trump now.

Let me go to Bill Mitchell. Bill, you've been uniquely, I would say, critical, very negative, often highly abusive about Donald Trump. How did you feel when he woke up this morning and saw that not only had he won in Iowa, but he'd won by record-breaking margins on every single-breaking margins on every single- every metric and it cleaned everyone's clock. I have to disagree with you with the record breaking. The turnout in Iowa last night was 110,000.

Donald Trump got about 51,000 votes. That's equivalent to about a small college football stadium. Also, that is the exact amount that Ted Cruz got in 2016. Although Trump's percentage was higher, the actual amount of votes was smaller because the turnout was so low in Iowa. We had bad weather. And we also had the AP calling

the race literally before people had even voted. I've never seen anything like where the AP comes out and all the races. All right, but Bill, if your preferred candidate, Ron DeSantis had got these numbers, you'd be saying the complete opposite in assuring me he was now a shoe in for the presidency. Well, no, I would not be saying that all. You know, we can say that Trump won by 30 points. He beat DeSantis by 30 points, but really Trump only won by two points because he got 51% of the vote, that means that 49% of Iowans did not want him to be the president. He is the titular

incumbent. He is the leader supposedly in this race. Half of Iowans did not want him. Also, he did poorly in suburban areas, and he did poorly with young people. DeSantis got 35% of the 18 to 29 crowd, and Trump only got 22%

of that crowd. So it was not as big a deal as you're making it out to be. I think it is a big deal, and I'd be very critical of Trump. actually in the last year or so. Let me turn to Clay Travis, who joined. It's one of the founders of Outkick. Clay, you were kind of in the DeSantis camp,

but you think it's time for the party to rally behind Trump. Why? I think DeSantis the most effective governor in the United States. I think he did an incredible job. He got everything right with COVID. I think Florida is incredibly lucky

to have him as a governor. But I think the message that came out of Iowa is Trump's going to be the nominee. And rather than fight this out and spend tens of of millions, if not $100 million or more attacking Trump going forward. Pierce, I think it's time to go ahead and acknowledge that Trump is going to be the nominee. I haven't seen any suggestion that Nikki Haley or Ron DeSantis is going to be able to catch him. Yes, he got 51% of the vote,

but Vivek Ramoswamy dropped out, predictably all, pretty much, all of the Vake Ramoswami's support would be likely to go to Trump. If Ron DeSantis dropped out, I think the majority, maybe even the vast majority of Ron DeSantis support would go to Trump. I don't think it would go to Nikki Haley. The math just doesn't add up. I think this is over. It was a dominating victory, and Trump is going to be the nominee, barring a health issue or something truly outlandish coming from the Supreme Court, Trump is going to be the Republican nominee in 2024. Okay. Louise Mensch, you're not completely convinced. You still see a path for Nikki Haley. How? There is a path for Nikki Haley. It's a pretty narrow one, but it is there.

That is to win New Hampshire convincingly. She barely campaigned in Iowa. She managed her expectations. And she almost came second. It's true that Ronda Santis is still alive because he did come second, but only just... If Nikki Haley can pull a rabbit out of the hat in New Hampshire, it's not totally over because the anti-Trumpers,

the never-Trumpers in the Republican Party, will then say we've got to get full on behind Nicky to have any chance of beating this guy. Did you think, Louise, in a million years, because I didn't, that a year ago we would be talking about Donald Trump having such a landslide victory in Iowa? No, I did not. I'll be completely honest.

It is absolutely true that it was a very low turnout because of the weather. That said, it was decisive. I wouldn't say that it was anything other than decisive. He is Teflon Trump. As you said, nothing sticks to the guy. And it's amazing to me as a political observer to see the kind of grip that he has

on the Republican Party's imagination, because there are problems with him. The Supreme Court could come down against him. His health is really bad. You're like, talk about Biden. There's nothing between the two of them. You know what? Last night, 70 or percent of Iowaan Republicans, when asked, said that they would still support Trump in this race,

even if he's convicted of a crime. I mean, I found that absolutely staggering. They also, the majority of them, have brought into his belief that he was robbed of the first election. Well, I think you've got to, if you want to win the general election, as opposed to the nomination, you've got to look. at those independents and some of the numbers that came out were not great for him. A lot of Nikki Haley supporters said that they would not vote for him in a general election.

It doesn't take much of your core vote to peel away from you for you to lose. That's what happened to Trump in 2020. And we have no idea what the wider American public will do about all this, because this is purely at the moment a Republican-only vote. Let me go to Silk. First of all, let me just say to you, I was so sad when I heard about the death of your sister at the start of last year, about a year ago.

You were such a wonderful duo. I had the pleasure of interviewing you a few times. And it's sad for me that you're no longer with your sister. And I just want to extend, before we start, that's my deepest condolences. I know it's late and it's a year later, but just seeing you again and interviewing again, this time on your own made me feel sad.

And I just want to extend my personal thoughts to you. Thank you for your condolences. Don't feel sad for me at all. It used to be diamond and silk. Now it's diamond with silk because diamond is, always with me throughout my day, throughout this journey, and I will continue to carry the torch of trying to help save this country. And that's the reason why we need President Donald J. Trump 2024. Because, look, he is the man with a master plan to make America great again.

Let me just get right on down to it. Despite the turnout, the turnout was for Trump. Where was the Santa's turnout? Why didn't anybody come out for New York? Why didn't anybody come out for Nikki Haley, because the people want President Donald J. Trump, bottom line. Okay, let me turn to Bill again. Bill, I mean, I admire your fortitude in the face of apparent extreme adversity, because there's no doubt if you look at even Trump's biggest critics have actor E. Crow this morning, because, you know, I've been very critical of him. I never thought he'd be in this position. I honestly thought Desantis were going to be Trump without the baggage and he'd have a great chance and all the money was going his way.

But I read a column just now for the sun back in England. There are two things that Trump has, which are amazing qualities for a politician. One, incredible resilience. Absolutely incredible resilience. He is not being knocked over by stuff that would have knocked over any other political figure in the world. Secondly, he's funny. He made this quip on the eve of Iowa, and it was freezing cold, saying, even if basically it costs you your life, come and vote for me.

And I saw, even at CNN, my old colleagues, trying to take this series. and be censorius, and they all burst out laughing. If you're a politician who's charismatic and can make people laugh and you're firm about your policies, even if you know half the country may not agree with you, these are massive Trump cards, literally. Well, you said that 70% of the people in Iowa said they would vote for Trump even if he was convicted.

That means 30% would not. So if 30% of the GOP base will not vote for Trump if he's convicted, and I'm assuming 100% of the Democrat base would not, You've just outlined an unelectable candidate. Trump is not going to escape 91 counts for indictments without any conviction. Some of these cases are going to be held in a D.C. court and a New York court, it's not going to happen. If we nominate Trump, we are going to be putting a Democrat in the White House, and we're also going to split the vote and lose the House and the Senate. And then we're going to get the Supreme Court in the Democrats' hands.

We're going to get the filibuster gone. It's going to be a disaster. So we cannot, cannot nominate Donald Trump. It will be a disaster for America if we do that. Clay, I mean, these are legitimate concerns. I mean, this is all completely unprecedented. What do you say to what Bill does say? All of Donald Trump's entire political career is completely unprecedented.

What I would say is, remember who Donald Trump or any other Republican is running against. I think that Trump, I think that Ron DeSantis, I think Nikki Haley, I think Vivek Ramoswamy, I think every one of the top four Republican candidates in Iowa would beat Joe Biden head to head because Joe Biden is the weakest incumbent president, maybe an American political history. I still question whether he's even going to be capable of being the nominee come November 10 months from now. I think they're going to replace him. I think I said on your show that I still think Michelle Obama's coming in as the relief pitcher that's going to replace Joe Biden at the Democrat convention. if it's Biden. I actually think Trump will win comfortably. Today, a poll came out of Georgia. Georgia was a state

that Joe Biden won in 2020 by a narrow margin. The Atlanta Journal Constitution has Donald Trump up eight points. The polls were almost 100% right in Iowa. All of the polls of the swing states right now are saying that Trump would beat Biden. I think that's because COVID is over, which is the only reason I think Biden won. I think it was the watergate of the 2020 election, much like Jimmy Carter was an accidental president. Joe Biden was an accidental president. And elections are referendums on the incumbent. And Joe Biden has done a disastrously bad job. I think that Donald Trump, if the election right now, would win comfortably over 300 electoral votes. I think the same thing for Nikki Haley, for Ron DeSantis, and for Vivek Ramaswami. I think 75% of American public says Biden doesn't

have the mental or physical fitness to be president. That is the number one story in this campaign right now. And I think it'll be the number one story if Biden's on the ballot in November. When two-thirds of Democrats think he's too old to run and he's their guy, there's a problem, Houston. Thank you to my panel. It's going to be a riveting year. But one thing's for sure. Donald Trump woke up today with a massive smile on his face and with good reason. Uncensored next as Trump takes this huge step towards the second term of the White House, I speak to the man whose sex text text scandal was perhaps pivotal and helping put Trump there in the first place. That's Anthony Wiener, uncensored, from New York City.

Welcome back to Pierce, welcome on unscensored, live from New York City. Donald Trump's record-breaking win in Iowa's turbocharged his bid to return to the White House, but the fact he ever became president in the first place could have been as a direct result of my next-guess-errant actions. Former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner was a rising star of the Democratic Party, beloved by the Clintons and tipped for political greatness. But he lost it all in a string of lurid sexting scandals. An FBI agent investigating Wiener's laptop

discovered that Wiener's wife, senior Hillary Clinton aide Huma Aberdeen, had used it to contact the presidential nominee with those infamous emails. FBI director James Comey then publicly reopened the investigation into Clinton's use of a private server to send classified emails,

dealing a hammer blow to her campaign just days before the election. many believe it may have cost of that election. Well, both Weiner and Trump wants debated each other about their relative electoral ambitions on my old CNN show. Let's take a listen.

I'm not president yet, although I think I have as much chance as Donald Trump does, which should make this case. Let me bring you in there. I'd say that if I'd be polled like Anthony's polling, I would drop out immediately. No, are you? We'd be dropping out soon enough, Donald. We both know it.

When Anthony makes a statement like that, it's too bad for him, but I don't to announce your standing right now. I look at it in New York running for mayor. He does very poorly. So I just wish him a lot a lot. I'm the front rider, big guy. I'm not sure you're ever going to be around at the end.

Well, it turned out that it was Anthony O'Neum. It wasn't going to be around much longer. And Donald Trump went on to become president. So how does Anthony Wino now feel about being the man who, some say, put the Donald into the White House? I sat down with the native New Yorker who served a prison sentence for his crimes to find out. Well, I'm joined.

Now by Anthony Wiener. Anthony Wiener. Good to see you. You as well. Nice to have you back in town. Well, it's been a long time. I actually worked up the last time I interviewed you with 2011. Before a lot of stuff happened in your life. At the time, you were doing well on the polling to be the mayor of New York City. You were a very dynamic, pretty successful congressman, popular.

And I interviewed you in a debate with Donald Trump. Well, the two of you went at each other. And it culminated with you saying to him that you had more. more chance of becoming president than he did? Yeah, that's right. It was a while ago. I think you had once upon time had a successful show on CNN. So look how much can change. Gazing.

Interesting, though, how things have played out since then for Donald Trump, who obviously has now been president. Do you think he can be president again? Well, it doesn't seem that way. I mean, we just had this race, this exact same race. And so one thing, one determining factor in a race, how it's gone in the past. Biden beat him pretty easily just three years ago. So I don't really think that you should expect that much.

It's hard to see how Donald Trump improves his chances, being under indictment by the American people in 91 instances. It doesn't seem that way, and it doesn't seem, frankly, that even his own party is that enthusiastic about him returning? So I think at the end of the day... Most Democrats don't want Biden to run again. They think he's too old. Most Republicans don't want Trump to run again.

So that's one thing they have in common. They're both old. They're both unpopular within their parties. They're going to be the nominees, and I see just like, look, if you look at it every time that Donald Trump has run, 2016 lost the popular vote. 2018, his party got shellacked. 2020, he lost by 7 million votes. 2002 in the midterms, the Republicans should have done amazingly, they got squashed. So the party of Donald Trump is not a successful party, and I see no reason it'll change this year.

Let's talk about you. I saw an interview you did. That's it. We're done talking about the election? No, no. I'm going to come back to the election. I'm interested in your story. I'm not running.

I think it'll be a relief to a lot of people, not your supporters, of which I'm sure you have a lot of support still. But let me ask you about, I guess, scandal. I saw you say in an interview recently where you said, very hard to move on from a sex scandal if your name's Wiener,

which may be laugh, right? But it's true, right? Your headline credited itself, really, with your name throughout that process. What has it been like for you just getting your life back on, Well, I've, look, I'm healthier. I'm in recovery. I serve time in prison. I'm on the radio now, so I'm not in public life, but I'm having my say. It's kind of, I'm actually surprised you're

not doing more introduction to the subject to your listeners and viewers because it's been a while now. So it's kind of receded a good deal. Well, when people ask you, well, let you do it. When people ask you what you did, what do you say? I said I had a scandal where I was texting and sexting dozens and dozens of people and got me in trouble. It cost me my career, cost me my wife, cost me my family, cost me a lot of things, cost me my liberty. But I also say I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be right now, that I believe that these things happen. I think some people need to hit a lower bottom than other people. But I say that I have, I don't have a lot of regrets in that I kind of believe that I'm where I'm supposed to be right now.

What was the lowest moment? So the lowest moment was, look, I mean, the lowest moment was when, it's hard to say. It's a good question. I haven't asked that. I guess the lowest moment was when, you know, my son, someone sold a picture to the newspapers of me with my son, which was obviously very difficult for me to see. And, you know, but I... Because you were in bed with him and you were also sexing somebody.

Well, I wasn't texting anyone. It was, yeah, without going into the details, which aren't really that important. And what's important is that he was, someone sold a picture with him in it. And, you know, at the time I was spending, frankly, a lot of time, as I always did with my son, he was in the picture. But the harm that I did so many people, it was frankly, long before I went to prison, I had hit my bottom and I entered recovery. And there are a lot of people who I disappointed, but a lot of people that I still feel that I can serve in other ways. What was prison life for you? It wasn't easy.

I wouldn't recommend it. People say date night one is the worst because you suddenly hear the clanking door and you realize that's your life for the next. Look, it is, it's a community like any other. So it has its challenges in some ways being someone in politics that I was able to navigate those things. I'm someone who maybe because of issues that I have had with my inner emotional state that I was able to endure it easier than others. But I wouldn't recommend it. I think it was lucky for you. You dodged it.

Did you have a good reception from people in there or not? So people, look, I managed it. The answer is that I was a bit of a novelty until you're not. I mean, there are lots of people in prison who have everyone has a story, and it's like politics. It's like being in any community. You have people that are difficult to deal with, and you have people that show you a lot of empathy,

and you have people that, you know, these are people in there for a very long time. I think that I at once had it harder and easier than others, and harder in that they wanted to make it very clear that they were not cutting me in a slack, but I also think they made sure that I didn't come home in a box. When you've looked back at it all, can you work out what drove you to do that to yourself?

I mean, you basically blew up your own career and life. Yeah. When you had so much going for you, you were married to a very beautiful, successful person who was working for Hillary Clinton. You know, you had a young son who you loved. Career-wise, you were a high-flying politician. Who knows how far you could have gone?

And yet you blew it all up. Have you been able to work out? What did that? You know, but all of those things, maybe people not as prominent as I, all of those things are things that people can say about the way addiction, the way mental issues affect their lives. There are a lot of people who live great lives. but who because of inner demons, because of challenges with addiction, it all gets blown up.

So there's nothing unique about me except that I did it in a very, very public way. It isn't immediately clear, you know, what was the moment zero that started at all. But it seems pretty clear to me from everything I understand, that the way I was processing things more and more and more input that I would get, more and more and more accolades, more and more and more criticism, the more and more feedback that I would get, the more that I craved. And once technology created a way that I can be getting it nonstop, and I could be interacting with people nonstop in ways appropriate, inappropriate, and everything in between, it became something that was consuming to me,

and it became a compulsive activity. I understand that now, and understanding it's part of it, treating it, having a rigorous program that kind of keeps you on the straight and arrow. but like so many people that deal with mental issues, they're not that far in the background at any moment. Your wife, whom Aberdeen, said of the scandals, he didn't just break my heart. He ripped it out and stomped on it over and over again.

That must have been hard to hear. Very hard. She actually said that in an amazing book called Also, also, I should know it, but if and or something like that. Of all of the people on the list of amends that I need to make, hers is one that I'm going to live the rest of my life. Have you been able to rebuild a good relationship with humor? Very much.

So you share a child. Very much so. We share a child. We see each other just about every day. She's one of my biggest supporters. Hopefully, I'm one of her biggest supporters. Look, in a way, what we experienced is Suey Generous. There aren't people who can say, well, what do you do if you're married to a guy named Ween

who is in a sex scandal and winds up going to prison when your kid is eight years old? And I also have an sense of what she went through. being a person who is connected with Hillary Clinton, who now she's on television herself, and to see her connected with some outrageous, you know, Islamophobia, outrageous story from QAnon and all these other things. So in a way we're closer than we've ever been. Well, on the next.

More from my exclusive interview with Anthony Wiener, the man who may have propelled Trump into the White House through his sexting. Does he harbored any guilt that of his actions that ultimately may have turned Donald into a president. I get it. I'm not going to dispute it when something is as close as it is, something like 60,000 votes in three states are the difference. If you want to point to something that changed the dynamic, I'm unwilling to top to that.

That's coming up on Oncensored Live Next from New York City. Welcome back to Unsensored, live from a pretty snow-swept New York City and more now from my fascinating one-on-one interview with the former Democratic congressman, probably the world's most infamous sextor, Anthony Wiener. Of course, it had catastrophic impact on you personally, but it had a pretty catastrophic professional impact, not just for you, but for a lot of other people, because as part of the criminal investigation into the final sexting scandal

with what turned out to be a girl of 15, as part of that, they seized your laptop, and on the laptop they found the infamous emails, which led to James Comey, at the FBI, opening up again the case into Hillary Clinton, which many people, including her, believe, tipped the election Donald Trump's way. So the consequences of your behavior

had a quite spectacular impact on America and on that presidential race. Do you think, looking at it dispassionately now years later, do you think that without that investigation into you, your laptop and the discovery of those emails, and the reopening of that investigation, Hillary would have been president. Look, it's very easy to do these, the butterflies, wings flapped and all these different things happened. Now that we know that the Russians were putting their finger and their money very heavily down on the scale

and that it was likely the Russians that hacked into Podesta's emails and turned them over to WikiLeaks and these things like that. To say that any one particular thing led to it. no doubt that James Comey probably contributed to, as close as it was, to Donald Trump being president. Now, can you say if it was not me that James Comey did something corrupt with my laptop? Would it not have been something else? Could it have been something else that the Russians did? But it was your laptop, ultimately. It was my laptop, but you say, did I think it was conclusive in the race?

It could be. It's as close as it was, you can point to the amount of times that Hillary's. he didn't go to Wisconsin because you didn't think that it was in place. You can point to the other ways that the Russians. I just wonder whether you feel any sense of guilt. The answer is, the answer is I do, but I also don't believe, being, knowing this business, I'm not sure I buy the point A to point B analysis, but if people want to hold that view, I certainly respect it.

You know, generally speaking, things don't change that much close to the election, but I can tell you that the trauma that it's caused me and my wife because of that, of that perception, I get it. going to dispute it when something is as close as it is, something like 60,000 votes in three states of the difference, if you want to point to something that changed the dynamic, I'm unwilling to cop to that. Did you apologize to Hillary personally? I did not apologize. I don't recall if I apologized personally, but I don't, I might have dropped your note as part of my amends process saying, I'm sorry for any harm that.

I mean, you'd remember, surely. No, I did letters and the like as part of my eighth step, as part of my making amends. You'd remember if you'd written to Hillary saying, I'm sorry about what happened? No, I, if you're asking me, am I sorry about what happened? Certainly I did. No, no, but I'm asking, did you actually write that letter, do you think? Yes, but I thought you wasn't with a laptop. Are you asking generally?

I certainly did generally any impact I had on her. I said with terrible distraction that it was for her. You actually wrote her a letter saying that? I, yeah, as I did. Did she reply? that's between us. I mean, it's extraordinary. We sit here talking about the next election.

Actually, we're not talking about the next election. We're talking about two elections. Well, no, no. We began by talking about the next one, and it's obviously started this week. It's just fascinating to me to be with somebody who's been through the ringer, no question. But also may have played a part in history,

albeit that wasn't why you were doing what you were doing, and you never thought through that that could be a consequence. But, you know, you are a part of American presidential history in that sense. That's a heavy toll to bear. Well, never mind everything else. If you want to, if you want to construct it that way. Well, I wonder if you do, really. I don't.

I mean, you've given this more thought perhaps than I have. I mean, I view it that, look, a thing happened. Someone with responsibility not to do corrupt things, did a corrupt thing, and help swing the election to Donald Trump. I'm not contesting that. If it were not me, would it have been something else? Were there not another list of things that it could be? All I can say is, I, generally speaking, am not someone who's going back and navel-gazing about that.

As it turned out, Hillary Clinton beat him by six million votes, five and a half million votes. As it turned out, there were tactical decisions that were made. As it turned out, there were two of the most unpopular candidates in American history. Did Anthony Wiener's laptop make one of them more popular or less popular? I'm not sure I'm buying it. I'm much more persuasive is what Donald Trump's intelligence agency said. which is it was part of Russia's systematic effort to steal the election for him. So was I part of that?

Could be. So was John Podesta. I mean, John Podesta's emails arguably had a much greater impact on that campaign than I did. What do you make of the Trump phenomenon, which it clearly is? I mean, he not only won as the least qualified candidate in history against the most qualified, which was spectacular enough. But it now looks like he's got a very good chance of being a Republican nominee, albeit you don't think he'll beat Biden.

But the Trump phenomenon is an extraordinary. thing, literally. For those of us who are New Yorkers, like we've known Donald Trump a very long time. And we know he's a jackass, and we know he's not good at business, and we know he doesn't have as much money, as he said, and we know he's generally a buffoon.

As a Democrat, he's been a boon to our country in that he's completely crushed the Republican Party. They can't win anything since he's been in office, including his own races. And now, you've got an animated country to make sure he doesn't become, and he could wind up in prison. So that's about par for the way we thought of...

How would he fare if he winds up in prison? You know you've been there. I don't. I can't even imagine what it's like. Could he handle it? Do you think? It's not. Look, I'm sure if they made sure that Anthony Weiner came home in One Piece,

I'm sure they'll make sure that he comes home in One Piece. Would it be good for America, if he is convicted of any one of the 91 charges? Would it be good for America to see any president go to prison? No. Would it be better for him to be pardoned? I generally think, well, I don't know about pardon. In that eventuality? No, I don't know if pardoning is necessary.

I do believe that this has been an important civic moment for the United States of America to test this theory that no one is above the law. If Donald Trump can make a comeback and potentially even win the White House again, why can't you? I mean, many would say a lot of the stuff he's got up to over the years makes you look like a choir boy. I get plenty of chances to kind of scratch the itch of being of service to my community. I'm kind of now kind of an elder statesman. politicians call me for advice and things like that. But do I really want to go and rehash all of these things again?

Do I really want to ask for a third chance? I am a good politician. I would have been an excellent mayor. It would have been better than de Blasier. I would have been better than Eric Adams. But all of that being said is that politics is like a lot of things in life. It's about being at the right place at the right time, being what the people are looking for at that particular moment,

being a good candidate. And I think that I can reasonably have people say to me, listen, we gave you that chance a couple of times. You blew it. You had your chance. But I'm enjoying what I'm doing now. Did any of the celebrities who sucked up to you when they thought you might be mayor or they thought Hillary might win and your wife would therefore be working at the White House, all those celebrities who would have been all over you like a rash? Any of them stand by you after it all went down?

I am not in any way a victim here. I have victimized other people and I need to make amends to those people. But I believe that part of why, why I'm here and part of this, and part of the reason I said gladly yes to come on and chat with you is because I believe that part of the way I can be of service in the years to come is not necessarily voting on stuff in Washington or giving a heated speech, but maybe having someone see what I've been through and say, you know what, okay, that guy's named Weiner and he's having a sex scandal and went to prison and lost his career. If he can come out the other side, then I can too.

Have you been tempted finally at any stage of all this to change your name? No. You can't do it legally. Is Pierce Morgan your actual name? I wondered that. Yes. Is it really? It's a very TV name.

No, I can't imagine it. And people say the same thing. Would you ever leave New York? You know, like move to Iowa, for example. Me, it's part of, don't you believe that if you wanted to conceive of, like, how would I have my undoing? It would be in this way.

How would I finally be laid low, someone like me? It would have to be all of this. It would have to be named Weiner. It would be a postmodern sex scandal people I've never met, never made any effort to meet. The answer is no. And by the way, the last original insult I heard about my name, I heard in the fifth grade. So it's like, I'm not going to hearing anything new now.

Anthony Winner, it's good to catch up. You as well. Come back to New York anytime. I can't give you a key to the city, but I can make you welcome. Good to see you. You as well. All the best. Fascinating conversation with someone who really is a part of American presidential history.

He probably is the guy who got Trump elected. But you can watch the whole uncut and uncensored wiener interview on our peers Morgan Unsensored YouTube channel from now. Well, Unsensored next, I'm joined in my studio by my pack. Welcome back to Unsensored from a snow hit New York City. I'm joined now by my Fox News contributor, author and co-host of Gutfeld, Kate Timpf and culture writer and novelist Kat Rosenfeld. So, A Brace of Cats.

Yes. Very excited. Amazed. You found time in your schedule with the smash hit book, the smash hit tour. So thank you. Thanks for having me. Weiner. I mean, as a former tabloid newspaper editor, I have to say the idea that a bloke

called Weiner would be at the center of a sexting scandal that basically cost Hillary, probably the White House, was a dream. Absolutely. And especially because this was his second time he was getting to do all that work to rehabilitate your image. And then when again, and then go back to doing the same stuff again, all while your name is Weiner. And he seems to, he doesn't shy away from the public. guy, I mean, to willingly come down and talk to you. I can't say it's a decision that I would have made, but that really applies to, I would say, almost if not all of his decisions. Yeah, to his credit, cat number two, he doesn't see a way back for himself. He's kind of,

I think, almost he's come to terms with what's happened, and that's it, and he's going to have a different life. Yeah, it does seem that way, although, I mean, Wiener may be selling himself short, so to speak. I think, you know, he is set up in a way for potentially a redemption arc. Maybe he can have a third act. He seems to be in a position where, you know, as he said, he doesn't want to necessarily be a politician again and I don't think

he could be. But if he's in a place of influence, maybe, you know, he has a chance to take a different path. I mean, cat number one, it is extraordinary when you look at Donald Trump. I mean, if someone said a year ago to me, he would have had the kind of result that he got in Iowa last night,

I'd have thought they were in cloud cuckoo land. But he has shown extraordinary resilience. Whatever you think of him, it's incredible what is now happening with Trump. Yeah, when he, I'm thinking back 2015, 2016, I was among the many people walking around saying there's no way. There's no way not taking it seriously. This time, I'm not really surprised by it.

I predicted him in 2016, but nobody else would. I was writing columns saying he's going to win. But this time, I did not see this. I thought he was done. No, I mean, I'm not surprised, but I think that there's a lot of it has to with so many people walking around really thinking to themselves, are we really going to have to do this again? Are we really going to have to do this again? And it looks like, yeah, we are going to have to do this again. Are you ready for the chaos of another Trump presidency with all

that goes with it? Oh, I don't think he's likely to win, fortunately. But not. I just think he is. If he wins the nomination, it seems likely, he's up against basically a man who looks like a corpse. I mean, Joe Biden is so unpopular. His approval ratings are completely tanking. He's 81 going on a thousand, why wouldn't Trump be able to beat him? Well, Biden is a stable corpse and a corpse we know. But my sense of the upcoming election, assuming that it will be Trump versus Biden, is that it's sort of like walking into a restaurant and the menu will have two options on it. One is a thin bowl of gruel that you've already eaten half of.

And the other is a flaming hot Cheeto that someone left under a couch in 2014. And, you know, personally, you know, the gruel would at least be a little bit nourishing Let's switch gears, cat number one. The Emmys. What struck me watching it and watched the Globes, the Emmys, and the Critics' Choice? Almost zero virtue signaling or political chat. It's almost like they've all suddenly got the sort of woke bashing memo that people don't want to hear this. What's going on?

Yeah, I think especially people don't want to hear it from Hollywood celebrities. Because essentially what it always felt like to me and what it felt like, I think, to a lot of people is not only I have more money than you and not only am I better looking than you and not only do I have all these things you don't have, I'm a better person than you too. And I'm going to tell you how bad you are. And it's just so it, it just is so gross. And especially with so many people struggling, they don't want to hear that. Nobody wants to hear that. People want to watch TV to just kind of tune out and have fun. Do you agree? What's happening, what's happened. Why have they stopped yapping at us all? I think people are starting to get kind of tired of being scolded by the Hollywood elite. I think Kat's right about that. What I'm interested to see, I think the real sign of the vibe shift will be what happens at the Oscar. I agree. It's been very political for the past several years. You know, if that is where they kind of change course, I think that will signal that we're done with this particular moment. It's also quite telling to me that the only massive news story

that none of them have felt compelled to speak out about is the Israel-Hamas war, almost like they're all too terrified to stick their head over any parapet with that war. I've been struck by that. None of them have broken ranks whatsoever. It'd be interesting if they do at the Oscars. Let's turn to two of my favourite people. Harry and Megan.

So a new book, a very authoritative book by a guy called Robert Harbin, is the inside track from the Royals. They've all collaborated with this book about the late Queen in particular, that she was far from approving Harry and Megan saying they could call their daughter Lilibet, which was her private nickname given to her by Prince Philip and used by a tiny number of the family. She was furious and really upset.

another Wopper from the Sussex Wopper machine. And it's got to be so frustrating because one of my favorite things about my family, the people of my families, I know I can tell them anything and they're going to not, even if we're fighting, they're not going to share that, right? Yes. They took family secrets and exposed everything.

They don't seem to have any relationship with their family other than as a cash cow. And they'd lie about it, I mean, repeatedly. Most of this stuff seems to be untrue. Yeah, but I mean, this is great for them because the only time that they're ever in the news and the best thing for them at this point is feuding with the queen, even now that she's dead.

It's true. They're going to keep it going as long as that. Cats, we run out of time. I love this, the two cats. This was great. Let's do it again. Thank you very much indeed. Great to see you, cat number one.

That's it from me. Whatever you're up to. Keep it uncensored. Good night from New York. See you tomorrow night. Live again from the Big app. Good night.