Pod Save America - "Raiders of the Lost Docs." (Live from Atlanta!)

Episode Date: August 15, 2022

Guest co-host Josie Duffy Rice joins Jon, Jon, Tommy, and Dan live in Atlanta! New details about the Mar-A-Lago raid send Republicans scrambling to defend Trump while he’s under investigation, Stacey Abrams joins for a virtual interview, and Georgia Secretary of State Bee Nguyen joins to talk about protecting voting rights in the state. Plus, Lovett quizzes Jon, Tommy, Dan, and Josie on just how horrible Brian Kemp and Herschel Walker are in a game called Bless His Heart. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [e-mail] and include the name of the podcast.

Thank you. What's up, Atlanta? Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Jon Favreau. I'm Josie Duffy Rice. I'm Jon Lovett. I'm Tommy Vitor. I'm Dan Pfeiffer. We're very happy to have Josie with us on this swing. You know and love her as one of the hosts of Crooked Media's podcast, What a Day, and

an Atlanta native, even better. We are also lucky to be joined by your next Secretary of State, Bee Nguyen. And as you might know, Stacey Abrams was supposed to be here. She unfortunately tested positive for COVID. She is home recovering well. And we have a pre-taped interview with her that we'll be running later. So she wanted to talk to you guys. Pre-taped, I feel like, isn't giving the energy it deserves.

You know what I mean? A special interview. This is very special. We record exclusive. Exclusive, exclusive. It's an exclusive. No one else got it. It's an exclusive.

No one else got it. So that's good. You're going to have to stick around. There you go. Stick around to see it. All right, let's get to the news. You might have heard that 2024 GOP frontrunner Donald Trump is now the target of multiple investigations

for a variety of potential crimes. There we go. There we go. I know. Oh, no, no. Hold on a second. Hold on. Everybody calm down.

I know it's gone. There we go. Let us not become that which we, et cetera. Lock him up after a rigorous and fair process. In accordance with the rule of law. Lock him up with a rigorous and fair process. In accordance with the rule of law. Lock him up in accordance...

Hey, everybody, you're on Fox & Friends right now. Say hi. Oh, my God. Anyway, let me just go through the week. On Wednesday, the former president asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a deposition in New York related to allegations that Trump's businesses committed financial crimes. We sort of all forgot about that one. Yeah, we did. That one's just been under the radar. Here in Georgia, Trump's being investigated for his attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

And yesterday, we learned from an FBI search warrant that the federal government is investigating Trump for hiding highly classified documents in his beach house, for which he's offered a series of conflicting explanations. First, there were no documents. It's a hoax. Second, okay, there were documents, but they were planted. Three, okay, they weren't planted, but Barack Obama did it too. And four, this statement from Trump's office, which was first read on Fox News late last night by conspiracy theorist John Solomon. Let's take a listen.

This is from President Trump's office. It just came in a few minutes ago. As we can all relate to, everyone ends up having to bring home their work from time to time. American presidents are no different. President Trump, in order to prepare the work the next day, often took documents, including classified documents To the residents He had a standing order

There's the word I've been looking for That documents removed from the Oval Office And taken to the residents Were deemed to be declassified the moment he removed them Obviously, famous disciplined late night studying workhorse Donald Trump Burning the candle at both ends. A pair of bifocals tipping on the edge of his nose. Just one light so Melania can sleep.

Perusing the documents. Tommy, what do you think about Trump's work from home excuse? Does this remote work thing does this does this give him the right to um hide nuclear secrets in his beach house after he was fired from his job i mean i do kind of like this one you know what i mean like a like he's like a carrie matheson up there spreading out the intel on isis burrowing into the cells. Reading about Macron's sex life. Get me some string. I mean, like, we're laughing at it, but it's exhausting. You know, they throw out five different excuses.

Nerds like us have to debunk them. But, you know, we came all the way to Georgia, so we might as well. So on the first one. You're the nerd. Let's do it. I mean, there was reporting back in 2018, as early as like February 2018, that Donald Trump stopped getting a written copy of the presidential daily briefing, the PDB, because he just didn't feel like reading it.

Because it was written. Right, because it was written. Yeah, that's right. Because it was written. Yeah. He either got a briefing or he skipped it. Can you guys somehow get Jeanine Pirro to just narrate this for me? Right, yeah.

And we all know what he was doing late at night. He was tweeting at Fox News. Two, I mean, buddy, you have like a home office. Your house and your office are both of the White House. If you want to take the documents from your office to your home, just take them and then walk them back. You don't need a standing order to declassify. I sound ridiculous even saying this because it's so absurd. But, you know, if there was a standing order, feel free to produce it. But regardless, you can't store the top secret documents in the basement of your beach club next to the pool floats in the in the Zing Zang, you know, that you don't work there anymore. You were fired. You don't have the job anymore. And you also, by the way, can't have your lawyer sign a document to the FBI back in June saying that you'd returned all the classified documents when that is not true.

That is also a big no-no with FBI types. And also we know that the FBI was apparently very worried about whatever they saw in the surveillance footage from that general area of Mar-a-Lago that they subpoenaed. So, yeah, they saw a bunch of waiters looking for Aperol and reading about, like, how we make nuclear missiles fit into a submarine. A dash of this and uh-oh. Wait a second. If the Aperol's down here, what did I bring up there? Josie, the warrant shows three different laws that Trump might have broken.

Can you walk us through what those are? How much trouble might our guy be facing here? Well, if the FBI shows up to your house, I've never heard of someone's house where the FBI shows up and it's a good story. They never bring in a million dollar check, you know? It's like always bad. But he is facing Espionage Act, which it's all in the name, you know? It's like, you don't want that charge. Speaks for itself, yeah.

Yeah. Obstruction of justice. Yeet. And turns out you cannot destroy classified documents as an elected official if you don't have permission to do that. Yeah. So that's... That they're worried about that. That covers a lot. Yeah. So that's a lot of trouble. That's, you know, you could get some time for that. I think that he won't. No, I guess I think the big question,

what we don't know is, was this whole investigation leading up to the search of Mar-a-Lago simply to retrieve the documents and to get them back, to get back the classified information, or will the investigation result in charges? That we just don't know at all right now. But we did get some more information today from the New York Times. Yeah, some great details about how Trump himself reached out to Merrick Garland. And I don't know, would you use the word threat, bribed? What's the word we're using? Through an intermediary. So apparently we found out Trump had a person talk to someone at DOJ after his home was searched and say he wanted to send a message to Merrick Garland. And the message was he had been checking in with people around the country

and found them to be enraged by the search. And the message was, the country is on fire. What can I do to reduce the heat? Look at this fire I just set. What can we do about this? Yeah. It's like, hey, Garland, it's me, Trump. I'd like to figure out how to turn down the temperature, that thing I'm famous for doing.

I'd like to figure out how to turn down the temperature, that thing I'm famous for doing. Now, one thing I could do is tell everybody not to kill FBI agents, but short of that, my hands are tied. I really want to know who made the call. Jesse and I were just talking about that. Do you have a guess?

Speculate. That has to be a real questioning your life moment. All the choices you've made. If you were calling DOJ on behalf of Donald Trump, something has gone wrong along the way. He is down to like, the real lawyers that were furious at the lawyers they called team crazy,

they're all now gone and have replaced by people even lowered down the fucking ladder into sewage by these just like loose anchors from OAN with law degrees getting plucked from obscurity and suddenly signing off on warrants at Mar-a-Lago. I do think it's amazing that Donald Trump is, it's just such a habit to him to interfere with Department of Justice investigations that he does it even when he's not president.

Yeah. What if he just called the concierge at Mar-a-Lago? Place a call. Just imagine getting that call at DOJ though. It's like, there's someone, a former OAN anchor on the phone saying that they have a message from donald trump he said he's been checking in on the country and everyone's mad from bedminster to palm beach well you have to like you know merrick garland who obviously we

all know uh was in some kind of a hyperbaric chamber. Very, you know, I would say even-keeled. Even-keeled. By temperament. He was like radiating with anger at that brief when he gave that press statement. And you felt like he was furious because obviously there had been attacks on the FBI.

There's been all this sort of malicious misinformation being spread about what they were doing, which he wanted to dispel. But I am at you look at you. I wonder if part of it was the fact that the previous president of the United States called and did a like a Sopranos era. Pretty, pretty nice Department of Justice you've got here. Would be a shame if something would have happened to it. I mean, the serious truth of it is that Merrick Garland's signature experience in public life was prosecuting the Oklahoma City bombing. So these exact threats that he's hearing about at the FBI agents who work for him now are what led to that bombing in the 90s. Yeah.

Also, the time that he didn't get on the Supreme Court feels like a signature part of his public life. I know. I thought that's where Dan was going. No, I would say that's what he does in therapy. That has to stay in therapy. That does not need to come out of there. So, Dan, Trump accused Obama of taking nuclear secrets with him to Chicago after he left the White House. Were you an accomplice to that crime or did you advise him against that?

Were you a... I would no go on the... As your lawyer, I advise you not to answer this question. I need to find an OAN anchor to speak for me. I mean, in the Obama White House, unlike the Trump White House, helping the president commit crimes

was not part of the job description, so no. I mean, I think... Only fashion crimes. Two counts of dad jeans. Boom! I wonder why you don't get invited to this show. Scratch out that Obama interview from the 2023 calendar now.

I mean, this has been a talking point on the right, this idea that Obama took 30 million pages of documents to Chicago. Here is the truth. I'm going to give you a spoiler alert. It's bullshit, but let me explain why. There is a Presidential Records Act, which says that everything that a president does, his staff, they write down, is to be preserved for history, that a president does, his staff, they write down, is to be preserved for history, right? Every email, every speech draft, every memo is to be preserved. And then eventually, those documents will end up in the president's library. So when Obama left the White House in 2017, 30 million pages of documents were given to the National Archives. They were sent to Chicago. They are in Chicago, near where

the library will be. They are under the physical and legal custody of the National Archives. Not Barack Obama. They're not in his house. They're not in his beach house. They're not in his garage. They are in the custody of the National Archives. The classified documents are not in Chicago. They are in Washington, D.C. in a facility owned by and operated by the National Archives, specifically designed to protect classified secrets. Does it have a pool? Yeah, I was going to say, there's no National Archivist at Mar-a-Lago just chilling out by the pool. Mar-a-Lago is not a National Archives facility, to be clear. And so this is an incredibly stupid argument

made by very stupid people very often. Speaking of those people who love it, New York Times reports that Republicans are now divided over whether to criticize the FBI for its search after coming on a little hot. Let me just look. They came on a little hot. Let me just, look, they came on a little hot. And some Trump allies are warning senior GOP officials to scale back the attacks on DOJ and FBI because the set of facts could get worse for the former president. Here's my thing, like, just cut the guy loose. Start saying nice things about Ron DeSantis.

What are you doing? Why are you defending him still? There's no good. They should do that. Like for the sake of Republicans winning, they should be doing that, but they can't. And I was thinking about why they, why they can't. So I think that like this sequence of events, I think captures the problem, which is, you know, the worst human beings in the worst mainstream political party on the planet, they're out first, right?

Instant. They don't wait. You know, Marjorie Taylor Groen is out there. Groen. Oh, my God. It's been like this all weekend. Oh, my God. Yeah, it got more of a rise out of them than our work isn't finished. then our work isn't finished.

But so, you know, Jim Jordan races to the mics. Marjorie Taylor Greene says to fund the FBI. Sean Hannity's up. Fox News is up. They're up. And all the ones that want to wait and give it a beat to figure out what they should say, all the kind of more reluctantly pro-Trump figures, all the anti-anti-Trump figures who are trying to wait to see what the liberals

say so they can attack the liberals while ignoring whatever else is happening. All those people are quiet. And by the time they get around to saying anything, they've set those Trumpists have sort of set the bounds of what you have to do to prove your loyalty. And right now, there's no other means of connecting with the Republican base other than demonstrating your fealty to Trump. That's how you prove you get it. And so I don't know, I mean, even, you know, this is an opportunity for Ron DeSantis.

This is an opportunity for anybody who wants to kind of cut Trump loose and they would love to take it, but they either, you know, jump together or hang separately and they just can't do it. He's right about them all. He said in 2016, they're all weak. All of his opponents't do it. He's right about them all. He said in 2016, they're all weak. All of his opponents are all weak.

He's right. Josie, you're from here. What's going on with the, yeah, you've got an Atlanta native. Tell us what's going on with this Fulton County investigation into Trump's attempt to overturn the election because that's sort of under the radar here. Yeah. Well, not here. It's not Because that's sort of under the radar here. Yeah, well, not here it's not. Here it's real on the radar. You may remember that Donald Trump told our Secretary of State

to find 11,780 votes. I do remember that. I do remember that. Just excellent execution on his part, I would say. So that's not allowed, it turns out. You can't do that. So now our local Fulton County DA, the next county over, is investigating him. Giuliani is involved.

Lindsey Graham is involved. I hear they're having a tough time getting those two to testify. Yeah. It turns out, like, I tough time getting those two to testify. Yeah, it turns out like, I mean, would you want to testify? Yeah, if I'm their lawyer, I'm telling them to stay home. You know, I've been pretty critical of this DA, but a broken clock twice a day, and you can always bet against Donald Trump and you will have the moral high ground. I mean, that's the lesson. But the important thing about this is that Donald Trump's lawyer in this case is also Migos' lawyer, Cardi B's lawyer, and Waka Flocka's lawyer, Gucci Mane's lawyer.

Billion Dollar Lawyer, that's his name. Well, that's not his name. Hashtag Billion Dollar Lawyer. Yeah, he actually has a name. That's a great holiday party. It's incredible. Amazing. You don't always go to your lawyer's holiday party, but that one you go to.

Honestly, it is the most Atlanta legal proceeding possible. And I love it so much. You know, so I support that. 17 people have been designated targets of this investigation. That's a lot of people. Well, the problem is that Donald Trump doesn't been designated targets of this investigation. That's a lot of people. Well, if you, like, the problem is that Donald Trump doesn't know when to shut his mouth. And so, like, if you are going to commit crimes, you have to be quiet about them. This is not official legal advice. I'm not a real lawyer. But you have to be quiet about them. And

he's never quiet about them. So he's just implicating, just running around, saying to everybody, find some votes. And then you're like, everybody's implicated in this thing. He had a lot of helpers. A lot of helpers. Look to the helpers. We'll be back with more news in just a bit. And we're back. I've got 87 problems and the IRS is all of them.

That's right. It's time for a very special OK Stop. About the second worst thing to happen to conservatives this week, the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which invests into 87,000 new IRS agents specifically so the IRS will have resources to finally go after wealthy people and corporations that dodged their taxes. Let's roll that beautiful bellyaching footage. This bill funds 87,000 new IRS agents. Imagine IRS agents descending upon America like a swarm of locusts. Okay, stop. Good cut.

He's really sticking with that beard, huh? That's a choice. Yeah. Sort of fits with the loathsome vibe, you know? It doesn't work with the beard, doesn't work without the beard. It's also like, so the Republicans spent five years,

ten years trying to undermine the IRS, trying to make it so that they couldn't enforce the law against anyone except the most basic of filers, which meant they wanted the IRS to target the poor and the middle class. That's why some of those audited places are some of the poorest places in the country. And then we say we're going to fix it.

And we're going to put more people on it. And they call it an army of locusts. It's not anywhere near 87,000, completely made up figure. There was some treasury report that said the treasury department overall over the next 10 years

is going to have 87,000 people. Half of them are like people who are just retiring, they're refilling, they're just replacing people who are retiring. And then there's like all kinds of other jobs.

It's just, it's, it's totally wrong. If Joe Biden can create 87,000 jobs with good jobs with good benefits good for him oh there you go dan well they republicans hollowed out the irs after 2010 after they won and audits of billionaires millionaires big corporations went down to like two three percent that's what happened and and everyone else got audited so this bill is supposed to make sure that rich people get audited so they don't cheat on their taxes that's it yeah and have you tried to contact the irs it's fucking impossible there's nobody there nobody there takes case it's just plain and simple they're going to unleash irs on the american people to raise money now Now, President Biden, of course, says, well, we're only going to unleash the IRS on the wealthy.

With respect, if he if he believes that, he also believes in the tooth fairy, the Easter bunny and that Jimmy Hoffa died of natural causes. OK, stop. I think I think Colonel Sanders living in hiding has a point. I think he looks like Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire when he ducks his face in the cake and comes back up. Is that too mean? We'll leave it in. I think it's fine. It's also great when he says, with respect.

Yeah, with respect. Here's something scathing. We don't know how Jimmy Hoffa died. I was going to say, how did Jimmy Hoffa die? We don't know. Maybe when they put him in that hole, he got scared and did die of a heart attack. Exactly.

That's a natural cause. You know? That's possible. We don't know. Under the J? Roll it. Under the J? At the Meadowlands?

Oh, my gosh. The Meadowlands, yeah. I think that's right. Is that what it is in The Irishman? I don't know. That was a long movie. The best part of The Irishman is when Joe Pesci has to play a young man coming down the stairs. That's, all right.

Let's keep rolling. The so-called Inflation Reduction Act also says the $80 billion budget is for quote, increased enforcement, operational improvements, and customer service. What kind of customer service? We don't have to wonder. Before the IRS took it down yesterday, there was a posting, watch this, on their website that listed the job requirements for a special agent's position. The major duties require agents to quote, carry a firearm and be willing to use deadly force if necessary. A little

like James Bond, but instead of hunting down evil maniacs, these agents hunt down and kill middle class taxpayers that don't pay enough. Okay, stop. Amazing. I feel like, I feel like kill at the last minute was an ad lib. Yeah. I sort of just kill the IRS agents are going to shoot you like Dr. Lisa shoots me with Botox every three months. Has he met a CPA before? What is, yeah, this guy is also just sort of like Brian, my man, obviously the special agent job and the customer service job, they're different jobs. That's obvious, right?

The customer service people don't need guns. They're just taking the calls, right? I hope so. They're going to kill middle-class taxpayers. They're going to kill you. Not subtle. It's really... We laugh class taxpayers. They're going to kill you. Not subtle. It's really, we laugh at it. I think this is dangerous.

Yeah. I do want to know more about this job posting. They did take it down. They did take it down. I do feel like if you work for the IRS, you don't actually need to be armed. I think they probably need a couple people with guns. Wasn't Elliot Ness an employee of the IRS?

Did you just find those? Wasn't Elliot Ness an employee of the IRS? I'm trying to remember my untouchables. I looked this up because I was alarmed when I saw the clip. There's a special unit of the IRS that does like for like financial crimes like money laundering, international terrorism, that kind of stuff. A small unit that people need guns because they're going after terrorist financing. Law and order, colon, IRS. Yeah, it feels...

In the criminal justice system. Particularly heinous financial crimes are pursued by the agents of the Internal Revenue Service. These are their stories. Bomp, bomp. Okay. Is there stories? Bomp, bomp. Okay. Is there more? Let's roll the clip.

This is a, I'm going to do the alt text. It's an ad. Biden is building a shadow army of 80,000 new agents to hunt you down and take your money. Stop Biden's shadow army.

Stop the mansion. Shoot my bill. That was a Ted Cruz ad? I think so. I think he put it on his Twitter. And I would say... Between the porn. The best Ted Cruz...

I would say the best Ted Cruz ads have no Ted Cruz. That's right. You get the message, but none of the porn. I would say the best Ted Cruz ads have no Ted Cruz. That's right. You get the message, but none of the messenger. They have figured out what works, yeah. Also, calling it the Mansion Schumer bill is a weird addition at the end here. I love this idea that it's a shadow army. They're really proud of this bill.

We've told everybody about it. Right, it's not in the shadows. It's not really in the shadows. We've like told everybody about it. Right. It's not, it's not in the shadows. It's not really in the shadows. We've been talking about it on television for weeks. I do feel like Biden is the kind of person to tell everybody about a shadow army if you have one. But I, I don't think that's what happens.

Very dark Brandon. Yeah. Very dark Brandon. Yeah, totally. I still don't know what that means, but I just say yes. Yeah.

They come after Biden five years from now, all the government property stolen. It's just cases of ice cream cones. Just stale old ice cream cones. He didn't want to go to waste. And that's okay, stop. All right, we got through it. Time for more news.

So President Biden is about to sign a historic climate and health care bill into law thanks to a razor-thin Democratic majority that only exists because a record number of Georgians turned out to vote in 2020. That's right. It was you guys. You did it. In 2022, this state... So in 2022, this state is again at the center of the political universe. Control of the political universe.

Control of the U.S. Senate could come down to whether you reelect Reverend Raphael Warnock. You can protect the rule of law and voting rights by electing Jen Jordan as Attorney General and tonight's guest, Beeyen, as Secretary of State. And you finally have a chance to replace Brian Kemp by electing Stacey Abrams as your governor. So let's dig into these races a bit and the midterms in general, which have become much more competitive over the last couple weeks. over the last couple weeks. Josie, the polling averages show Senator Warnock with a small lead over Herschel Walker and Brian Kemp with a small lead over Stacey Abrams. Boo, John. Boo, we can boo that.

But you live here. You've been watching this race up close. What do you think? What's the lay of the land here? What are the big issues driving this race? I think that Georgia's a blue state. All right. I like that. One of the fastest growing states in the country. One of the biggest growing minority populations in the country. This is a blue state. And the future of this country is going to come out of the South and it's going to come out of Georgia.

So I think we are going to win. We're going to win. I like that. It's a good pitch. I've never been wrong. I've been wrong a few times, but I'm not wrong this time, I'm sure. You're in the prediction business. It's great.

Yeah, definitely. It's gone great. I definitely didn't see the Mar-a-Lago FBI thing coming. Nobody did. Dan, why do you think Kemp is slightly ahead in the governor's race, but Warnock is slightly ahead in the Senate race? Like, are there Kemp-Warnock voters out there? What's going on?

John, I reject the premise of your question. Yes. Polling is bullshit. Okay, okay. Okay, but because you've done such a great job hosting this podcast, I will try to answer it. Thank you. Okay, thanks. Appreciate it.

So I think Donald Trump, in a weird way, did a favor to Brian Kemp by opposing his candidacy in the most half-hearted, ass-backward Donald Trump way possible. And so by kind of backing David Perdue, David Perdue being an absolutely miserable, stupid candidate, Brian Kemp wins the primary. We're going to clap for David Perdue being miserable. For sure. He's a very bad candidate but brian kemp winning that primary with trump opposing him has given him sort of imbued him with like two character traits in the eyes of a lot of voters one is strength because he beat donald trump and two is moderation right it's it seemed it gives like a lot of republicans who voted for biden or conservative leaning independents who voted for Biden or conservative leaning independents who voted for Biden, the idea that Brian Kemp is anti-Trump, but he's not. Donald Trump is anti-Brian Kemp, but Brian Kemp is not anti-Donald

Trump. Which is even sadder for Brian Kemp. Yeah, that's just very, very sad. It's a Mike Pence situation. Yeah. They're coming for you next. And so the race now sort of shifts. I believe that that momentum is fleeting. Stacey Abrams has time to make the case. And I think in the long run, having Donald Trump removed from the picture and not making this be about 2020 or election theft or anything about it, making it being about who is going to fight for every single georgian mother's gonna be brian kemp or stacy abrams is the terrain she wants to fight this

race on it can be about health care it can be about costs it can be about helping people can be about abortion and what is going to happen in this state and that i think in the end will benefit her and give her a very very good shot to win this race despite what these fake polls you refer to say right now wow fake polls um she's she's pulling a biden you know she's pulling a biden you're behind you get covid everything goes great you win there is that's how it works now there is a model there twice right key part of it oh twice yeah okay uh tommy it seems like in the other race, in the Senate race, it seems like Herschel Walker's strategy is to blame Warnock for inflation and gas prices and everything that's pissing people off. Warnock's strategy is to convince voters that Walker is unfit to serve in the Senate. What do you think about that strategy? I mean, I think they're both good strategies, to be honest with you. I mean,

I think, you know, Herschel Walker is going to try to tie Warnock to President Biden and his low approval ratings, even though they're getting better, to tie him to inflation, to tie him to high gas prices and everything that people are mad about in the world. And, you know, normally the party in power lose seats in the first midterm. So it makes sense as a strategy. On the other side, you know, Warnock's going to lead with his bio and things he's been fighting for the last couple of years and what he's gotten done. But he's also going to try to disqualify Walker. That means talking about, you know, there's this really pretty searing ad that features a clip of Herschel Walker's ex-wife talking about abuse, you know, pointing a gun at her head, really harrowing stuff.

He's been lying about his background. Herschel Walker lied about an FBI agent, which, by the way, thank God for him that he lied about being an FBI agent because they're very unpopular with Republicans right now. You know what I mean? That could have been a problem. He got ahead of that one. And then there's just a bucket I don't know, a bucket I would call

like, what are you talking about? The air floating to China and climate change? Yeah. You know what I mean? He had more of a point there than we'd like to admit. Did he? Let's talk about this later. Look, hands up, I was pretty worried about Herschel Walker's

candidacy because he's famous. He's an amazing football player. He is a hero to a lot of people. High name ID. He's really struggled so far. Yes, Biden's approval is in a low place, and that makes it harder for the Democratic Party. But I think right now I would rather be Warnock than I would Herschel Walker. Yeah, I mean. Tommy, can I ask you some follow-up questions?

Yeah, follow-up. One, do you think Herschel Walker can execute, I mean... Tommy, can I ask you some... Can I ask Tommy some follow-up questions? Yeah, follow-up. One, do you think Herschel Walker can execute a strategy without speaking publicly? That part is going to be hard. He did an interview with the head of the RNC on their podcast and struggled with that. Rana Romney? Rana Romney, although, you know,

he was a hell of a football player, Dan. Do you think it's a problem for him that his name is associated with the most lopsided trade in NFL history? Potentially, yes. These are good questions. It is tough because we've talked about all these Republican candidates and we've had this debate, like, do we call them extreme? Do we call them out of touch? John Fetterman's calling Dr. Oz out of touch. A lot of other Republican candidates are extreme. You could say that Hershel call them out of touch john federman's calling dr oz out of touch a lot of other republican candidates are extreme i could you could say that herschel walker is out of touch and extreme but the unfit label is is unique to herschel walker and i think sort of the only way to go because it's a target rich environment there with herschel walkers well like the everyone's trying to be sort of polite categorizing all the different weird things

it's yeah we're in outer fucking space the president pled the fifth it's below the fold you got a guy running around have the answers are like he's like why did I threaten my wife I wasn't myself I was one of

the many other people that live inside of my head that story's only in the news for three days. Yeah, he's unfit. I think we should make an issue of it. Yeah. Sometimes it's just very, you don't need a lot of careful strategies. It's a very obvious route. The fact that we're even having this conversation,

it feels like, even in preparing for this show, we're going to do a game later where we talk about your terrible fucking Republicans. And even using clips about Herschel Walkerer you're like wait we must savage this man but also like should we like i feel this feels wrong like i don't i don't know what to do because it's like he's basically like being just sort of pushed out to do this but i i think that's why one of warnock's early ads was like, hey, you know, Herschel Walker, great football player. I love football too, but he's not fit

for the Senate. So, you know, like he's trying to take that tack where you're like, yeah, some of you know him, know him as a football star. That's great. That's fine. Shouldn't be in the U.S. Senate. Yeah. And then the super PACs dust off their baseball bat and they start swinging. I mean, that's sort of how it works these days. But yeah. Well, I'm glad someone is. Lovett, we talked last night about how Democrats have been gaining momentum since the Dobbs ruling, and they're now heading into the midterms with this historic climate and health care law to campaign on. Republican strategists are at least saying they're not that worried.

They're saying that since the law won't do that much to reduce inflation in the short term over the next couple months, that it won't help Democrats and may actually hurt them if they're just bragging about reducing inflation, but the bill doesn't actually take effect for a while. What do you think about that, and how should Democrats handle that? Talk about this bill. First of all, I would start by trying to take as little advice as we can from Republican strategists. It's not on the level, and I don't think they have our interest at heart. First point. Oh, is that what you think we shouldn't do?

Interesting. That said, no, I don't think Democrats should walk around saying we solved inflation. I do think it would be helpful if gas prices keep going down. That'd be a good thing for Democrats to do by having it happen to them. But beyond that, you know, it's about the choice Republicans made in opposing this. This was a bill about reducing health care costs, reducing the cost of prescription drugs. They were against it. You know, Tim Ryan, who's, you know, running this race in Ohio, he commented on the FBI, not a raid, and said, search and seizure, and said, these Republicans are fighting for Donald Trump, we're fighting for you. They're obsessed with every other thing except doing things that will help you in your day-to-day.

Whether you want to call it extreme or out of touch, here are the things we're fighting for, here are the things we're trying to do for you, here are the things we'll keep doing if you keep us in charge. Here's what they care about, taking away your rights, taking away your right to vote and attacking the FBI because it's politically convenient for them to defend Donald Trump. They care more about helping Donald Trump than they do about you. As I mentioned earlier, obviously Stacey Abrams couldn't be here tonight, but she was gracious enough and well enough to tape an exclusive interview. That's right. Siren emoji.

Exclusive interview right before this show. Minutes before this show. It's like in Rocky when she's like, cut me, cut me, Rock, cut me. I'm going in. I got to do pod. We're done. That's our cue to get off. Stacey Abrams, welcome to Pod Save America.

Thanks for having me. How are you feeling? I am on the mend. The Sahara has deserted my throat, and my eyes are no longer on fire, so I'm getting there. Here's what I think. I think this is like hustle culture. I'm sorry, I'm sneaking in. I think this is hustle culture at its absolute worst. All right. We're going to send the FBI to your house with some

soup. All right. Thank you. I appreciate this. The soup has been good. I've had a couple of friends drop soup off for me and it has been quite tasty. I don't think my jump in worked as well as I'd hoped it was. We thought I was going to pop in. We don't know. We don't know. We thought I was going to pop in. We don't know. We don't know. So I know better than to ask you about polls, so I'm not going to do that. But what have you found to be the most surprising and difficult challenge of this campaign against Brian Kemp? That people give him credit for not committing treason. give him credit for not committing treason. It is stunning to me that someone who built his reputation and his entire political career on voter suppression, who responded, as he said,

to the frustrating results of 2020 and 21 by once again imposing more voter suppression and more barriers for voters, gets credit because once he didn't do the absolutely wrong thing. It's also amazing to me that he is getting credit for spending billions of dollars he opposed. And he does this remarkable jujitsu where he takes credit for all of this money that he says shouldn't be here, but is the reason he should get reelected. Yeah, that sounds that sounds pretty ridiculous. Yeah, I don't think he should get a special dispensation for not committing treason, you know? I think it's a fairly low bar, one that we should expect of all elected officials.

It's like, you know, hey, do I get a prize? I didn't put these puppies in this wheat thresher, you know? No, there's no prize for that. You're not supposed to do that. That would likely not be the analogy I picked, but I appreciate the graphic. You've been pointing out Kemp's extreme position on abortion. If you're governor, you're facing a Republican legislature that has already passed some very restrictive abortion laws, what can you do as governor to protect abortion access? Well, number one, we know that he is going to make it harder if he comes in. He has already said that he thinks the bounty system in Texas was interesting and something

worth looking at. He has said that as a personal matter, he does not believe in exceptions for rape or incest. And so there's nothing to stop him from making things worse. And so first and foremost, I can forestall the legislative imperative that they tend to feel to worsen and one up one another with these draconian laws. But on the positive side, I was in the legislature when we passed, when the state passed the 20 week ban, which was deeply problematic and narrowly adopted. The six-week ban passed by one vote in the House. A number of those who voted for that ban are no longer with the legislature. And so I believe my election will also bring people with

me who will hear the people loud and clear and will reverse these bans. What we saw in Kansas, I think, can absolutely happen here in Georgia. But we need a governor willing to do the work. I wanted to ask you on just a completely unrelated topic about Nichelle Nichols, because this is a we are you know, we're both we're both Star Trek fans. And I know she meant a lot to you. And I just wanted to hear what you felt when you heard that she had passed and what some of your favorite moments were of Nichelle Nichols on Star Trek. So I actually had the chance of meeting her. We were in the airport together coming out of, I think, L.A. And she was so gracious and gorgeous and thoughtful.

thoughtful. And she just chatted me up about the work I was doing for democracy, which for me was, I mean, yes, it's been great to meet President Obama and all those people, but Nichelle Nichols complimenting you on your work is an extraordinary thing. But what energized me about her is that her work wasn't just on the screen. It was the work she did to get women in science, the work she did to champion inclusion, and that she always did it with such grace and kindness. And she created space for everyone else in the room to be a part of the conversation. And those are things we should take for granted, but we don't. And it's surprising when you confront it. And she, every time I had the chance to see her after that, it just reminded me of what just an extraordinary human she was.

And I'm also just going to once again give you this opportunity to join me in saying that Star Trek VI, The Undiscovered Country, is the best Star Trek film. You've dodged this before, but I'm hoping today we can get a straight answer on this question.

You're wrong. Oh. Uh-huh. Wow. Okay. Okay. That's it. John, I try to be straightforward with you and I apologize if I, if I tried to, I didn't want to hurt you last time, but I think it's important that we, we do have an honest relationship. Honestly, I needed to hear that. I'm going to go process it. It's okay. There's help. Are you bored? I just had COVID. I'm not afraid of you.

Do you want to play portal two? Do you want to do portal 2 co-op do you have a ps5 let me get past november and then we can talk okay you uh you said in an event the other week um if black men vote for you then you will win what is your message to uh undecided black men or undecided voters in georg Georgia everywhere who are not just sure if they're not going to vote for you or Kemp, but whether they're going to come out to vote at all? So the point of my comment was that Black men have remarkable power in this election. They have a capacity that sometimes is not met by their turnout, which is legitimate and honest. And I don't disparage those who make the decision not to vote because

often the leadership that gets elected is not reflective of their needs. That said, I know that if we have the kind of turnout possible among Black men and they vote for me, I will win this election. That is why my campaign has been so focused on making sure we're addressing the challenges. Those challenges are safety, justice, and opportunity. On the safety side, it's making sure we make our community safe, but that we also hold police and law enforcement accountable, that we don't have to choose one or the other. That on the justice side, that criminal justice reform is critical because Georgia has had and continues to have one of the highest mass incarceration rates in the nation. And as

people are returning citizens, they deserve to be reintegrated into society and to have real chances at success and an opportunity for those who are doing well or want to do better we need to tackle affordable housing we need to make sure that black entrepreneurs can actually get access to the resources the capital and the contracts they deserve georgia is in this unique space where if we don't have a new governor, it will be 100 years before we close the parity gap between minority and non-minority contracting, and that's especially acute for Black-owned businesses. Those are the things I can do, and I'm the only candidate willing to talk about doing them. And so to me, if a person isn't willing to say they see the problem, how do you expect them to solve it? Last question for you. You've got a big audience here tonight filled with people who are probably going to be volunteering for you, knocking on doors for you, making calls for you.

They're going to be talking to a lot of voters who aren't sure if they're going to vote either. You've got a pep talk for everyone in the audience tonight? I do. Look, in 2018, I was running for 18 months. That created a very different energy. It also was exhausting. It was fantastic and I appreciated it. But this time we've had a different dynamic to this election.

But the urgency is real because four years ago, I was positing what could happen. Now we know. And we also know what good leadership can look like. I need every person out there not to suspend their disbelief, but to lean into their hope for more. We can get this done. We've got the numbers. We've got the voters.

We've proven it in 2020 and 2021. And we can do it again in 2022. So I just need everyone to show up, bring your friends, bring the people you owe money to, make sure you talk to the folks you broke up with as long as it wasn't really, really ugly, and just get them out there. Because if we build this energy again, we can absolutely win this election. And the last thing I'll say for both of you is, and I think Bea will talk about it, we know that this is about democracy. If we do not have a governor in 2022 elected and taking office in 23, Our 270 electoral votes across this country are in jeopardy and Georgia is going to be a pivot point. We know that because of the more decision that is

likely to come down for the Supreme Court in 2023, state legislators and governors are going to decide the future. We've already seen this happen with Roe v. Wade. We know it's going to happen across the board. Governors matter. This governor matters. And if we want governors to do what's right for our people, I need to be the one we select here in Georgia. Stacey Abrams, we missed you tonight, but thank you so much for joining via Zoom. We hope you feel better and best of luck out there on the campaign trail. Thank you, guys. Joining us now is Georgia's next Secretary of State,

Bee Nguyen. So great to see you. Great to see you too. And I have to start off by saying I am so sorry I am not Stacey Abrams. They love you too. Look, I was elected in 2017, the seat formerly held by Stacey Abrams. So I know what it's like to have to follow through and be right after her. But here's a fun fact. I have immigrant parents, and now they think that you're supposed to be a state lawmaker and a tax attorney and an author and run for governor.

So thanks a lot, Stacey. No pressure. It's so great to see you again. It's so great to see you in person. The last time we talked was you were on the pod in February of 2021. And that was that awful time when we all knew there was a vaccine, but nobody could get it, you know, and you're still trapped in the house and it's really miserable. And we talked about all the Republican bills in the Georgia state legislature that were attempting to make it harder to vote. Can you help? I mean, I'm sure these folks know better than most what was actually passed, but listeners at home might not know.

Like, what actually passed and how can you help prevent voter suppression if you become Georgia's next secretary of state? So the Georgia General Assembly passed a 98-page bill that was signed by Governor Kemp that was supported by the current Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger. And there are so many different provisions in that bill that do make it harder for Georgians to vote. And we've seen some of those things manifest themselves already. So first, something that's very relatable, I used a secure Dropbox to vote during the 2020 election. Yes, that's great. Those Dropboxes are no longer available 24-7. They are no longer

outside, which was very helpful for people with disabilities. You can drive up, drop it in. Also helpful for people who have different working hours where you would have to drop it off late at night, right? They're inside. They are only available during early voting. They cut off the time period. So if you are a procrastinator or maybe your ballot came in late, which often happens, you can't drop it off anymore the Friday that early voting closes. So no longer available that Saturday, Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday.

Then we've got the application to vote by mail and the receiving of the absentee ballot. The timeframes have been condensed on both ends. So it makes it harder to request and receive one. The rejection rates have gone up. And then they made it a crime to hand a bottle of water to a voter waiting in line in a state like Georgia, where as recent as 2020, black voters waited in

line four hours, six hours, eight hours, up to 11 hours. Yeah. So like lots of little efforts to strip away voter access. Yes. You mentioned your opponent, Brad, Brad Raffensperger. He gets, he gets a lot of credit in sort of the mainstream press for rejecting Donald Trump's request that he just find 11,780 votes. So just for the record, if Joe Biden were to call you and say, B, I need you to find me about 12,000 votes, what would you say? I would have not sat on that phone call. I would have reported that right away. There you go. He waited. Now you're both heroes in the mainstream media. Okay, so now that we've dispensed with that, what else? It's like George

Bush had a memorable line, the soft bigotry of low expectations. Like, yes, you didn't help with the coup, Brad. That's great. What else should we know about Brad Raffensperger's record that has sort of gotten wiped away by the other reporting? Yeah, so you know Stacey Abrams said it best, right? Not committing treason doesn't make you a hero. But here's some other things that you should know about Brad Raffensperger. He is an extremely conservative Republican. He served in the General Assembly. He has a record to back that up. He is staunchly anti-choice. He introduced legislation to urge the body to consider life beginning at the moment of conception. He's got an A rating from the NRA.

Boo. And he does actually not believe that every eligible Georgian should have the right to vote. One of the things that he is currently saying is he believes that we should end automatic voter registration, which has added millions of Georgians to our voter roll, and he continues to purge Georgia voters off our rolls. He's not a friend to democracy. He is not a friend to women either. So we don't like him. We don't like him. Someone who did reach out to him is Senator Lindsey Graham, who is now fighting a subpoena that would force him to testify about Trump's

efforts to change the results of the 2020 election. It's unclear what's going to happen, I think. What questions would you like to hear Senator Lindsey Graham answer about that phone call or this broader effort? Well, I'm glad you asked about that because I know you were talking earlier about this investigation that's happening in Fulton County. And one of the things that's not really talked about is some of the things that happened behind the scenes. So I had to appear before the grand jury and testify two days after I won my runoff election. And I think that what I would like to know is who allowed Rudy Giuliani to come into our legislative body in the first place? Good question. Okay?

Good question. Because whoever let him come in, both on the House and the Senate side, they allowed him to use a body that should be held up to very high standards. They allowed him to use it as a guise, as a way to legitimize lies and conspiracy theories. And they did not care when we went to them. I actually went to them and said, what is going to happen when we get death threats for speaking up against his lies? They said, you're on your own. You're on your own. And so who let him come into our legislative body? Which lawmakers decided they were just going to turn their head and look the other way and allow this guy to come in and subject us to what we experience,

but also amplify the lies and the conspiracy theories? I think those lawmakers, they should also be held accountable in some form. I think those kinds of questions take on added meaning, given what we've been seeing with the threats against the FBI specifically. Stepping back a little, I mean, Republican efforts to scare voters into thinking that there is just widespread rampant voter fraud. It didn't start with Donald Trump. It has been a years-long, decades-long concerted effort to create fear of voter fraud and then use that fear to pass voter suppression laws.

Are there lessons from your experience fighting this fear-mongering in Georgia that the National Democratic Party can take to more effectively push back? Well, I think that it is a really hard topic, right? Because we want secure and fair elections, and we conducted a secure and fair election in the state of Georgia. And what has happened is we have lost the narrative around what is happening with voting, which is voter fraud is a very, very rare. And in the few instances it happens, those things are caught. And there are cases in which it is very unintentional. So for example, we had an expert coming to our legislature to talk about this idea of moving to a primarily vote-by-mail state, which is the most secure form of voting. And they showed us the statistics that says

in these millions of cases, it's handfuls where somebody accidentally voted twice, and usually it's somebody who's older who has forgotten that they voted, and these things are caught by the system. But what we don't talk about is how many people are disenfranchised because of the laws on our books. So the example that I like to give is in 2020, we know that DeJoy and the Postal Service, they weren't delivering our bills, our ballots, our prescriptions. There was a massive slowdown in many states past emergency ruling to say, if your ballot is postmarked by election day and received within 72 hours, that's what we do with military overseas ballots in Georgia, then your vote counts. So there was

a court case that said, yes, in Georgia, postmarked by election day, received within 72 hours. Well, guess who appealed that ruling? Brad Raffensperger. So as a result, thousands of ballots arrived late and they were not counted. And that happens in every single election cycle. And that should not be the case. Absolutely not. I mean, the other challenge, and National Democrats deal with it, we deal with it on the show, I'm sure you deal with it, is sometimes even talking about voter suppression laws and voter suppression efforts can risk making people feel demoralized and feeling like, you know what, if they're going to make it this hard, if someone might criminalize this, why even bother? How have you found effective ways to push back on that sort of sentiment? Yeah, and I do think it's important that we

continue to mobilize and inspire people and remind them exactly why it is so important to vote. And I was thinking about this because it's just been really hard with all these Supreme Court decisions and everything that's been going on to sometimes feel very optimistic. And, you know, you have to have this time to absorb how you're feeling, your anger, your sadness, your concerns about what's going on in our country. And I was thinking the other day, I said, you know, my dad, he always taught us that education was the great equalizer, right? And I very much believe in making sure we invest in our public education system, and that is a way to ensure people have economic opportunity. But voting is also a great equalizer. It is the time in which it doesn't matter who you are, how much money you make, where you live, the color of your skin. When you go to that ballot box, your vote counts

the same way as the rich white man that makes more than everybody else in the world, right? Donald Trump who votes by mail. Yeah, it is an equalizer. That is real power. One person, one vote. I mean, that is, there is no other thing in the world that gives you the ability to leverage your power in the same way. And that's exactly why they want to take it away from us. Yeah. You just mentioned your dad. I mean, I've heard you talk really movingly about your father's experience in Vietnam as a prisoner of war, and then your family's challenges that they faced coming to the United States as refugees. How did that lived experience and growing up sort of hearing those stories inform your approach to public service? My dad, he was held for three years by his own government. They put him in a jungle in the middle of nowhere.

They cut him off from his family and friends for six months. And when he was released, he was subjected to starvation, hard labor. We don't know what else because he doesn't really talk about it. So when he was released, my parents made the difficult decision to flee their country. They left in the middle of the night on a boat. And they knew that it was very likely they might drown at sea, like the hundreds of thousands of people who have tried to flee their countries in search of a better life. But they knew that it was eminently important, this idea of living freely, living in a democracy, having these freedoms that were stripped away from

them, including the right to free assemble, the right to free speech, free press, a free and fair election, the right to criticize your government without being thrown in jail also. And when I was young, growing up in Augusta, Georgia, I knew, yeah, Augusta in the house. I knew that our civil liberties weren't guaranteed. I also watched my parents, two heroes in my eyes who, you know, risked their lives and facilitated an escape. I watched my mother specifically shrink back and make herself smaller. And she did so because she spoke English with a heavy accent and people would look past her or through her or just not look at her at all. And I was her translator when I was a little kid. And that always left me with this feeling of, I never want anyone to feel the same

way that she did. I never want anybody to feel the way that my parents did or to endure what they endured just to get here for basic civil liberties. And so I dedicated my entire life to making sure that whatever I'm doing, it is to empower people, which is why I ended up working in public schools for 10 years doing non-profit work much to my parents dismay I would I did not follow those traditional career paths because of them because they showed me that in order for me to carry on their legacy I've got to dedicate my life to making sure I do everything we can to protect the civil liberties, to make things better for the people in our country, and to aspire to live up to America's greatest ideals. Going to the hard way. So there are the, you have all these big, closely watched races in Georgia this year.

There's your campaign. There's Stacey Abrams' campaign for governor. There's Senator Warnock's campaign. Are you guys working together? Is there like a coordinated field effort? Is there like an Avengers thing happening? How does that work? Oh, yeah.

How can we all help out, and how do you guys work together to win this thing? So we are working together. We celebrate the diversity and strength of our ticket. And even today, with Stacey having COVID, it was Stacey, what do you need? How can I support you in this moment? What is it that I can do to help you?

But we all understand that in order for us to build a strong Georgia, in order for us to build a strong country, all of our races are important and critical. And Stacey spoke about this earlier. We know that we're facing this moment in time where our rights are being attacked. And I'm very saddened to think about the generations coming behind us having fewer rights than we do, specifically around choice, right? And how that is going to impact young people, their ability to finish high school,

their ability to finish college. We know statistically, the earlier you get pregnant and have a child, the less likely you are to finish high school, to graduate from college. You're stuck the earlier you get pregnant and have a child, the less likely you are to finish high school, to graduate from college. You're stuck in a cycle of poverty. And I think about the ways in which we can collectively work together to mitigate the harm that we are going to see in the state of Georgia. And that means we will see women die. We know that. They're already dying, actually, because our current governor won't expand Medicaid

and invest in our health care system. We have one of the worst mother mortality rates, and especially for black women. Over half of our 159 counties don't have OBGYNs. So we need a governor who is going to expand Medicaid, who is going to protect women. And we need an attorney general who's going to challenge the constitutionality of that abortion ban, which is Senator Jen Jordan. Yeah. And then here's what we'll also see, which is specific to the Secretary of State's office. We're going to see workers who rely on the SOS's office for their licenses, like nurses, like social workers, get caught up in this system. Thank you, social workers and nurses.

What the Secretary of State can do and what I would do is choose not to invest the resources to investigate nurses or social workers who are caught up in this harmful law. And we know that Brad Raffensperger, he is not going to stand up for our workers. So we're all in this together because we know what's on the line for Georgians. For some Georgians, it will be a life or death situation. So it seems like the clear takeaway is we need to win all these elections. We need to win all of these elections. All of these elections. BWIN, thank you so much for coming on.

We really appreciate it. Binder campaign, volunteer, donate. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. So if you guys in the audience, if people listening back home want to get involved with any of the key races in Georgia or anywhere around the midterms, come on out. Go to votesaveamerica.com slash midterms. You've got all the tools you need to get involved in the right races. This Tuesday, August 16th, our friends at power to the polls are relaunching poll worker recruitment day you can sign up now votesaveamerica.com that's it sign up

sign up so uh every city we've been going to on this tour we've uh had an activist come on stage we have one of the very best organizers in the country tonight. She is the Chief Executive Officer of the New Georgia Project, someone who was instrumental in turning this state blue, Inse Ufa.

Hello, hi. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hi. Good evening, Cobb County. Good evening, Pod Save Nation. All right, so I'm Nse Ufad. I'm the CEO of the New Georgia Project. For anybody in the room who doesn't know who we are, we are a community organizing,

base building, voter registration, voting rights organization. We've helped over 600,000 young people and people of color register to vote in all 159 of Georgia's counties, right? I love our organization and I love what we do. So let me tell you, I'm the kid of an African politician and an African preacher. So brevity is not my ministry. So I'm going to keep it short.

And the way I'm going to keep myself disciplined is I'm just going to hit you with some facts like things that are provable, things that are Google-able. One, Georgia is America's newest swing state. Right? You need to know that we had a high watermark

in 2020. 7 million people voted. The margin of difference between the successful President Biden campaign and the loser, former President Trump's campaign was people voted, the margin of difference between the successful President Biden campaign and the loser former President Trump's campaign was 0.0015 percentage points, just over 12,000 votes. What you need to know is that Georgia, so they have what are called pivot counties. These are counties that were long, long, long historically Republican counties. And then in 16, they voted for Clinton. And in 20, they voted for Clinton.

And in 20, they voted for Biden. And then they have what are called reverse pivot counties, right? So these are historically, again, Republican counties that voted for Clinton in 16 and Biden in 20. Forgive me. The point is that there are only six of those counties in the entire country. And three of them are in Georgia. One of them is Cobb County. The other is Gwinnett County. Is anybody from Gwinnett County here? And the last one is Henry County. All right. Okay. What I also know is that the people that we elect in the next 88 days, particularly the ones that we send to the United States Congress, are going to be the ones that certify the 2024 presidential election,

right? And so if we cannot send January 6th insurrectionists, we can't send election deniers, we need a Secretary of State that's going to count every vote, right? We need a governor that's going to take Georgia's priorities serious, right? We need a governor who knows that they're the only governor in the entire United States who lives and works within five miles of the CDC and will not lie to us about what they know in the middle of a pandemic, right? Right? Me,, personally, New Georgia Project is a nonpartisan organization. You hear that, Brian Kipp? And aggressively so. Nse Ufaad is not.

Nse Ufaad has not given up her First Amendment rights. Nse Ufaad is a proud American, a proud naturalized American. And not only do I believe in my right to vote, I believe in my right to free speech. I believe that Stacey Abrams is the best candidate that we've ever had for governor of the United States. Okay. What I also know is that we currently have a rogue Supreme Court, right?

That when I started law school and blah, mind your business, right? Bush versus Gore was one of the first big law cases, lawsuits that we studied, right? And we're talking, you remember pregnant nipples, hanging chads, Catherine Harris, Jeb Bush looking out for his brother, all of that, right? So then imagine this Supreme Court, this rogue Supreme Court that's overturned Roe versus Wade, that is seeking to dismantle decades of precedent just to own the liberals and make people cry. That they will be the ones to determine if we have a contested election. They will be the ones to determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. And we cannot have that. Right. I know that Brad Raffensperger did that one thing that one time. Y'all are really happy about it. Right. What we need right now is a secretary

of state that would rather like fall off of a tree, would rather die than abandon their responsibility and abandon their obligation to make sure that we have free and fair elections in the great state of Georgia, right? So, again, it's Saturday night. You have a lovely panel here. I'm going to let y'all go, but I can't wait to see you all in the streets, newgeorgiaproject.org. We absolutely need each and every one of you to see you all in the streets. NewGeorgiaProject.org. We absolutely need each and every one of you to get super annoying for the next 88 days, right? Get super

annoying, right? Because that is what it's going to take, that we have to do everything that we can to make sure that the will of the people is reflected in the results of our elections. Brad Raffensperger isn't going to help us do that. The only thing that can help us do that is if we have overwhelming participation. I'm talking about every precinct, every county, every election. It must happen. That is how we hold the line on this great country that we love, this great state that we love,

and the future America that we're building, the one that works for all of us. Y'all good night. Say we fought. How about that? I like that. That's great. You want to play a game?

Georgia, America turned to you in the aftermath of an insurrection and said, hey, vote hard for Warnock, and while you're in there, there are these two six-year-olds in a trench coat going by John Ossoff, and they could use in there, there are these two six-year-olds in a trench coat going by John Ossoff, and they could use your help too. And you did it. Now the future of your state and our country hangs in the balance yet again. Will you have a senator who fights for you, or a senator who fights women and ghosts? Will you have a governor who loves Star Trek and democracy or a governor who refuses to expand Medicaid and thinks women are like big talking scarves

that embryos wear to keep warm. We know how committed you are to pushing Stacey Abrams and Raphael Warnock over the finish line. So if you haven't already, now is the time to sign up at votesaveamerica.com. Volunteer. But for any of you who need a reminder of what's at stake, it's time for a game we're calling Bless His Heart. Here's how it works. We have two teams. Tommy and Dan. Josie and John. I was played by Al Gore last night. And we won. Just saying.

He did win. Let's see who knows just how heinous they are. Tommy and Dan, I'll start with you. How much taxpayer money did Brian Koepp spend for the sole purpose of trying to get permission from the federal government to block Georgians from accessing healthcare.gov as part of the Affordable Care Act? Just money they spent for the purposes of blocking access to a website. This is a multiple choice? Yes.

Thank God. Was it $1 million, $11 million, $21 million, or $31 million? C? Yeah, I go with C. Okay. 21? Incorrect. It was $31 million.

We should have known it was the worst. We only found out because the waiver was pursued under the Trump administration. And then the Biden administration said, no, go fuck yourselves. And they're like, but we already spent $31 million. So much money. A lot of money to just block a website.

Kind of blocked itself. Yeah, for a while. The thing self-blocked. Healthcare.gov. That one was free. That one was on the house. Time with the 2013 jokes. Josie and John. In 2020, Herschel Walker told Glenn Beck that he had a dry mist that would solve what?

Oh. I think it was COVID, right? No. Multiple choice? No. No choices. In what year? The year is 2020. Oh, yeah. it was COVID, right? No. Multiple choice? No. No choices. In what year? The year is 2020.

Oh, yeah. COVID. COVID. COVID-19. That is correct. Play the clip. Just wanted to make sure. Yeah.

Do you know right now I have something that can bring you into a building that will clean you from COVID as you walk through this dry mess? that would clean you from covert as you walk through this this dry mix as you walk through the door it will kill any cover on your body epa fda approved when you leave it will kill the virus as you leave this here product then i have something you can go and spray down this product do you know they don't want to talk about that? They don't want to hear about that. You know how you know? I got a lot of questions. Did he invent the product?

I have so many questions, yeah. If it kills it going in, why do you got to kill it going out? That's your question? That's huge. That's a really good question. That would be the first question I would ask in the Shark Tank pitch of that. Dry mist. Also, what is a dry mist?

I feel like that doesn't... Oh, yeah. Powder. Powder is a dry mist. It's like that doesn't... It's like dry cleaning. Like dry shampoo? It is wet, it's just not water. Glenn Beck is like, this is too crazy for me. That's saying something. Look at Glenn Beck's face. Glenn Beck's face is the same as the Laura Ingraham face

when dealing with the Trump lawyer, which is that like, hey, hey, we're both doing the same thing. Do it the way I do it. I thought that was Guy Fieri for like the first 20 seconds. Yeah. Tommy and Dan, who said the following? I was as frustrated as anyone else with the results, especially at the federal level,

and we did something about it with Senate Bill 202. Brian Kemp? What Dan said. Correct. We're not doing buzzes and dings? Son of a bitch. Yeah, it was Brian Kemp. Josie and John.

Yes. What is Herschel Walker talking about in the following audio clip? Do you support any new gun laws in the wake of this Texas shooting? Do what now? Do you support new gun laws in the wake of this Texas shooting?

What I like to do, what I like to do is sit and everything and stuff. I'd like to see it, you know. The quote is, what I'd like to do is see it and everything and stuff. What is that his plan for? I believe it's solving gun violence, right? That was his plan for solving, what do you think?

Solving everything, I think. That's pretty much his plan. It was. It was gun violence and everything. You got it right. Tommy and Dan, how did Brian Kemp describe his feelings about Georgia's six-week abortion ban going into effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade? Is this choices?

Yeah, I'll give you some choices. Okay. He was despondent. He was satisfied. He was overjoyed. He was furious. Overjoyed. I was overjoyed.

Yeah, he was overjoyed. Sick fart. John and Josie. What? In May, Hershel Walker outlandishly denied that he had ever heard Donald Trump say what, as he alleges in this video clip.

Do you think the election was... Oh, wait, that's the answer. Well-oiled machine. What did I do wrong? I did something wrong. Right? We did something wrong. Right? We should keep moving. You got it. Is that the 2020 election we stole?

We did it. He claims he never, let's roll the clip. He claims he never heard Donald Trump say the election was stolen. Do you think the election was stolen? Well, I don't think, I think you, I think reporters say that. I don't know whether President Trump said it, because he never said it to me. I'm not arguing with you. He says it over and over again.

No, no, no, no, no. I've never seen that clip. Is that Lou Dobbs? Looks like Al Gore if we're being honest. Brutal. Tommy and Dan, in a 2018 campaign ad,

Brian Kemp sits holding a shotgun that's threateningly pointed at whom, menacing this person with murder, if they were to date who? His daughter's boyfriend? Potential boyfriend of his daughter. Potential boyfriend. You got it.

Let's roll the clip. I'm Brian Kemp. This is Jake, young man interested in one of my daughters. Potential boyfriend or his daughter. Potential boyfriend. You got it. Let's roll the clip. I'm Brian Kemp. This is Jake, young man interested in one of my daughters. Yes, sir. Masculinity is weird, and you should all stop doing it.

Hey, guys, we're back on the five. Did you get it right? Oh, yeah, we nailed that one. Yeah. Ding. Yeah. Ding! Ding. We talked. I thought we were going to do the dings.

In recent weeks, John and Josie, Brian Kemp has falsely accused Stacey Abrams of encouraging boycotts against Georgia businesses. In reality, Kemp himself encouraged Georgians to boycott companies that spoke out against gun violence and in 2018 asked state legislators to impose financial penalties on Delta Airlines for doing what? Is it A, no longer stocking my pillow pillows in first class, B, ending a partnership with the NRA that gave the gun group members a discount, C, removing the pepperoni from the savory snack pack, or D,

or D, siding with Amber Heard? It's got to be B. It's got to be B. Yeah, it's B. We're going to go with B. C is unforgivable, though. It's unforgivable. That's pepperonis good. The pepperonis.

You need the pepperonis in that savory snack box. It's the heart of the fucking thing. It's not the hummus. I'll do it in a pinch, but it's weak. Tommy and Dan. Yeah. In April, Brian Kemp signed a law letting Georgians carry a gun without a license. According to a poll done by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in January, what percentage, without going over, of Georgian residents across Democrats and Republicans said they opposed the law reminder prices, right?

Rules applies for this one. Think it out. Think it out loud. Who opposed the law? It's an, how many people oppose it? How many people, how many people think is a dumb fucking idea and pull you?

We're trusting polls. We're going to trust this. We're going to take it. We're going to, we're going to get a face value. Yeah. Yeah. You want to say 65?

Sure. It's 70. That's pretty close. I'm giving it to them. Good guess, Dan. That was really good. Yeah. Just call me Nate. That's how you get the sub stack. Very good.

They don't just give those things to people. I don't think. They literally do give them to you. Josie and John, final question before the lightning round. Last March, Brian Kemp signed a voter suppression bill that attempted to sideline the Secretary of State, give the GOP-controlled legislator power to seize control of county election boards,

and in a state where voters sometimes wait as long as seven hours in line, stop people from being able to give voters waiting in line what? Water. That's right. Water and what? Food. Snacks. No snacks. No little pepperonis for you.

Only hummus. Eat shit, democracy. Vote hungry. Republicans. Vote hungry. You know what that sound means. It's time for a Herschel Walker lightning round. Here's how it works. I'm going to read you a statement that begins with the phrase Herschel Walker lied about and you have to just tell us

if it's true or false. Did he lie about it? Or did he not lie about it? Okay. In other words, if he lied, you say true. If he didn't lie, you say false. Okay.

That's right. It's tricky. All right. We're going to go back and forth. We're going to go fast. Herschel Walker lied about graduating the top 1% of his class at the University of Georgia.

True. That's right. He did not graduate. Herschel Walker lied about being on the President's Council true true false false false false false false

false false false false false false false false

false false false false false false false false

false false false false false false false false

false false false false false false false false

false false false false false false false false

false false false false false false false false

false false false false false false false false

false false false false false false false false

false false false false false false false false

false false false false false false false false

false false false false false false false false false false false false more children beyond his TikTok star son, Christian. Currently yelling about gas prices at a Starbucks. There's at least three. You're just finding out that Christian Walker is Marshall Walker's son? Yeah. No. It's fucking wild.

What a moment. What a great moment. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Explains a lot. Explains a moment. What a great moment. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Explains a lot. Explains a lot. How are you feeling?

Talk us through it. Yeah. It's so many feelings. It does. It explains. It's good that they're all in the same family. That's not like, you know. Yeah.

It's sort of like how cauliflower, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts are one vegetable. Yeah, you don't want to spread that out too much. At first you wouldn't know that they're the same, but then when you step back... Tommy and Dan. Herschel Walker lied about owning a chicken business as the largest minority-owned food company in the country. Yes, he lied. Yes. In 2020, Walker claimed his company had over 800 employees,

calling it a mini Tyson Foods. That same year, the company applied for a COVID loan that listed eight employees. John and Josie. Herschel Walker lied about starting an upholstery business that he claimed was the largest in the U.S. What do you think? Do you think true? I mean, probably.

Okay, true. Yeah, yeah. In addition to not being the largest upholstery business, the company does not seem to exist at all. Wow. Wow. Tommy and Dan, Herschel Walker lied about being on the 1992 Olympic bobsled team in Albertville, Canada. False. He was on it. He was. He actually didn't lie about that. That's something cool that he did.

Wow. That rules. He's really fast. Yeah. Shouldn't be a senator. Any more than Dianne Feinstein should be on a bobsled team. Chuck Schumer pushing the sled. Herschel Walker lied about being an FBI agent as well as a Cobb County Police Department officer.

True. True. Yes, he did do a week-long course at Quantico and received the title of honorary deputy from the police. Like when they give you little wings when you were a kid. Get on out there. You're a pilot. Vroom, vroom.

Dan and Tommy. Herschel Walker lied about founding a program to support veterans' mental health. True. Yeah, he just occasionally support veterans' mental health. True. Yeah, he just occasionally does events for the organization. Wow. Final question. Oh, this is too much.

I can't. I can't. We're beating up on this guy. You have nothing to threaten me with. Uh. No. Who won? Tommy won.

Tommy won the game. I've decided. They're terrible. So if you haven't signed up, sign up at votesaveamerica.com. Thank you. That is our show for tonight thank you to B-Wen Nse Ufa, Stacey Abrams and Josie W. Rice

sign up for Votesave America thank you Atlanta Hot Save America is a Crooked Media production. The executive producer is Michael Martinez. Our senior producer is Andy Gardner Bernstein. Our producers are Olivia Martinez and Hayley Muse. It's mixed and edited by Andrew Chadwick. Kyle Seglin and Charlotte Landis sound engineer the show. Thanks to Tanya Sominator, Sandy Gerard, Hallie Kiefer, Ari Schwartz, Andy Taft, and Justine Howe for production support.

And to our digital team, Elijah Cohn, Phoebe Bradford, Miloft, and Justine Howe for production support. And to our digital team, Elijah Cohn, Phoebe Bradford, Milo Kim, and Amelia Montu. Our episodes are uploaded as videos at youtube.com slash perfect media.