The Adam Friedland Show (Cumtown) - ANTHONY WEINER | Scandal, 2016 Election, Hillary Clinton

Episode Date: May 28, 2025

The Adam Friedland Show - Season 2 Episode 1 | ANTHONY WEINER X: https://x.com/friedland_show  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theadamfriedlandshow/?hl=en  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@adamfriedlandshowclips  YouTube: Subscribe to @TheAdamFriedlandShow here: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheAdamFriedlandShow Subscribe to @TAFSClips here: https://www.youtube.com/@tafsclips  -- Checkout BlueChew: https://bluechew.com Try your first month of BlueChew FREE when you use promo code TAFS -- just pay $5 shipping. That’s promo code TAFS. Checkout Cornbread Hemp: https://www.cornbreadhemp.com/pages/the-adam-friedland-show?discount=TAFS  Use Code "TAFS" for 30% off your First Order CBD Products: Full Spectrum CBD Gummies (Watermelon, Berry, and Peach Checkout Lucy: http://lucy.co/tafs  Let’s level up your nicotine routine with Lucy.  Go to Lucy.co/TAFS and use promo code (TAFS) to get 20% off your first order. Lucy has a 30-day refund policy if you change your mind.  

I get it. Sometimes I critique the question you're asking. What, this is your bad word, Julie? And you do this thing of like, This is not good for you to make fun of your host on the show, it's not working. I'm like, alright, I get it. I have not seen the documentary. But you leave the documentary so I'm going to ask you a question because I saw it. You don't need to set it up as the documentary when I haven't seen it.

If I did it in real life, you can just say, I understand you. You're the one wasting time right now. Fair enough. A show of my power, a show of my power, a show of my power. A show of my power. Hello America! My name is Adam Friedland. I'm extremely excited to welcome you to the premiere episode of the new season of the Adam Friedland Show. On a weekly basis, I will be releasing episodes

where I sit down with some of the world's most important and interesting people. And for our first guest, I was joined by none other than current candidate for New York City Council and former Congressman Anthony Weiner. Now, it would be easy for me to prepare for my guest like a tabloid fixture, but let's not forget, Weiner is a seasoned and accomplished politician,

and above all else, a human being. So in order to prepare, I decided it was necessary for me to sit down with an expert on human psychotherapy, and I may have even learned a little bit about myself in the process. So without further ado, this. A red rose and a romantic novel. That's how I told my guests to identify me today amongst the hustle and bustle of the High Line, one of New York City's many hidden gems.

I was here to meet James Foley, a renowned psychotherapist to the rich and powerful. If anyone could help me get into the psychology behind Wiener, it was James. After a brief stroll through the neighborhood, we sat down in my Hudson Yards penthouse to discuss the psychological profiles of the men that have shaped our world. I'm James Foley. I'm a psychotherapist. I treat men for sexual misbehavior such as affairs, hiring sugar babies and things like that. Tell us where we can find you. Do you have an Instagram? Www.sexuallycompulsive.com what what's the what's the general profile of your of your yeah, so my practice is

Composed of high-functioning men, you know like CEOs guys who run two banks. Yeah film directors Art even high end artists, musicians. I've had elected officials. Let's say like a man sends just like a picture of his erection like under his underpants but he's like I'm not showing full meat. Is that like in a psychological process is like well if I'm not showing full meat then you know what I mean? Yes so he's like but then obviously his wife sees he's like well obviously it's legal if I'm just showing dick print but no full meat you know what I mean? Yeah people who engage in

these things will make deals with themselves. Yes they'll make a bargain with themselves and obviously get them self hurt with that bargain that doesn't really make sense. Okay, what is the difference between when a man cheats and a woman cheats? You kind of indicated something. But a lot of our programming as men and for women, as women, it's different and a lot of our programming is behind our irrational behavior. So you and I are guys we got different programming typically than then than a woman would get and then But they cheat they've oh, I'm not saying they don't cheat, but a lot of them do cheat Yeah, I mean nobody's immune from that. There's no gender

But the idea is what's what's powering it can be different. So why would it like? But the idea is what's powering it can be different. So why would a girl cheat on her boyfriend, especially if he's a great guy and stuff? I wouldn't know. That's a broad brush kind of thing. But it's... And there it was, straight from the horse's mouth, women cheat too. And with that in mind, I was finally ready to take on my biggest challenge to date, Anthony Weiner, Paws. Our next guest is a former congressman.

He was the youngest ever elected member of the New York City Council. He's run for mayor twice and currently he is running in 2025 for City Council. Please welcome Anthony Weiner everyone. Let's get some energy in this room. Hi. Hello. Hello. It's my pleasure to be here. We talked on the phone for ten minutes. We did. It was a good talk. You want this in your cup so we can, oh no, it's already got water in it. We have water in the cup and I would appreciate it if you just featured it a little bit.

No, that's what I thought. Yeah, yeah. I thought. So this is like yours is white, mine is black, like spy versus spy style. Yeah. Gotcha. So you're a big fan of the show. This one?

Yes. Maybe the biggest? Which tells you a little something of the show. This one. Yes. Maybe the biggest? Which tells you a little something about the show. You said dozens of emails. Actually your email style is very funny because you just go last name. No like sincerely. Correct. Oh yeah.

I think it's a lot of wasted words generally in the world. Yeah. Like that's why I like that your show's about eight minutes. It's quick in and out. Were you like a last name guy like with your friends? It's kind of a... Well I mean Weiner kind of lends itself to that. Right. So yeah. about eight minutes, it's quick in and out. Were you like a last name guy, like with your friends? It's kind of a- Well, I mean, Wiener kind of lends itself to that, right?

You know, so yeah, I mean, yeah. So growing up, you were Wiener to your boys? Yeah. I saw your Patrick Bette David thing. Had you heard of that guy? See, this is what- That guy is amazing. I saw a video of him recently where he's like,

four years ago, technology, three years, pandemic. Two years ago, vaccine ago vaccine this year AI technology yeah he just says sentences like that and like guys are like yeah I'm gonna pay ten thousand dollars to go to the seminar yeah and he's a billionaire now no I asked these questions because I'm on terrestrial radio. So you went there you didn't know who the fuck that guy was. No I'm not saying like I didn't do anything to get I got on a plane and flew down there but it's more kind of like the season of yes of saying yes to argue with people and so I didn't quite and it had a certain at once I looked it up a little bit and

I saw that there was no it was just just a person who just ran I would became a kind of fascinating to understand what exactly was going on because I try to understand this a little bit like this is okay I was you don't think you you're a kindred spirit with him in terms of what you're trying to do like but certainly not not not on substance not on substance but in the general like people want to look at interesting nowadays we don't really care what it is the objective with our show is this right there's the internet makes sure so much it told me this sentence before but go ahead I actually did no no no I'll tell you this right

now I talked over the phone he's like no. I'll tell you this right now. I talked to him on the phone. He's like, and he's like, and you make money from this? And I was like, well, you know, we were on a podcast for morons for six years. And then the fat one left to do crowd work. And so then we changed it because I was kind of the schmuck. I was the nebbish. And we rebranded it to make me

into an intellectual talk show host. And then he, this was amazing what you did. You let like a little pregnant pause after my whole soliloquy it goes and you go Well, you took me on quite the journey there, but You did not in any way shape or form answer my question. No, I didn't do I don't say way shape or form I don't think people talk like that. I just said you I didn't get the answer. You were like vis-a-vis Etc. Etc cetera you did not but a southern lawyer who did they who did the the notes for you who did the sample question like did you do that on your own no I haven't except you got the manager I have a room full of women

of color who prepare who are my writers I thought it might just I don't have a single honky ass okay where that does not go the, you were born in 1964 in New York City. I was, yes. Okay, and you're a Brooklyn boy. I grew up in Brooklyn, right. Where in, you're a Park Slope? Park Slope, 6th between 8th and the Park. Fabulous.

Yes, 39, June, I used to go 51. How was the, was the food co-op there at the time? No, no, it was a very different kind of vibe then. Where are you now? Lower Manhattan. Lower Eastside? We're at East Village, East Village. Alphabet City. It's a very different kind of vibe then. Where are you now? Lower Manhattan. Lower East side? We're at East Village. East Village. Alphabet City.

It's too loud. Yes, too loud. It's too loud in these. There's a lot going on. There's a lot going on there. You have like a NYU vomit when you walk outside. There's a lot going on there. And your mother was an educator?

Or a math teacher. Or a math teacher. Well, educator. Who are you trying to impress? She's a teacher. Teacher. I was trying to compliment your mother. I'm not sure why. Why are you trying to shit on your...

Why are you down branding teacher? I think it's an umbrella term. Which one? Educator. And a more precise one is teacher. She's a teacher. Okay, your dad? An attorney.

He was like a little neighborhood attorney. He kind of hung a shingle outside our house, that kinda vibe. Just like a family law practice. Some real estate stuff, yeah. I don't really know for sure. Like some real estate closings, that kinda thing. Wasn't big enough for people who wouldn't have Jacobi Myers, but they wouldn't have a big firm,

they'd have like, Grow and Weiner. And did they split up when you were a kid? When I was in college. When you were in college. Your parents together? My mother passed away. Oh, I'm sorry. They were together for four When I was in college. When you were in college. Your parents together? My mother passed away. Oh, I'm sorry. They were together for four years.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, my thing was like, my dad passed away recently. My thing was when my parents, man, I can tell the story. Story's really not apropos of anything. Go ahead. Tell the story, what? No, it's just when they split up. Let me tell you.

Okay, take a pause. You're, is this a literal pause or just a but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but,

but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but That was like so... That was a jack... come on, I'm a schmuck. Kind of weak. It got to pop. What is that? It got to pop. I understand what that tells you. It got to pop. No, no, I wasn't beefing about you. Oh my god.

You know, there's the... Sorry, I'm not... No, no, I'm not beefing about you. You never... what is it? You never... Okay, sorry, I gotta laugh. I'm not trying to do a whip of a pork barrel back room deal in the fucking halls of whatever. No, it takes a little while for me to figure out where the crowd is.

This is not a very strong crowd. I mean, they're just laughing at like... It's four guys. What do you mean not a strong crowd? They laughed at Weiner? Sorry, your last name is... They didn't. Your last name is Weiner.

It's not a big deal. No, it's fair enough. Okay? There was like... Did you think you were like, I'm fine, dude, there's another guy in Congress named Dick Armie. Here's the thing is oh yeah Dick Armie. You're like what compared to Dick Armie this is not that bad. There was Norm Dicks too. Norm Dicks? Yeah in Washington. Yeah. See this is what I'm this is what I don't take. It's funny it's funny okay and you're not a coward like that goddamn John Stewart Leibowitz

trying to erase our culture. New York City kids, my girlfriend grew up in the Upper West Side, I didn't grow up here, and I feel like you guys grow up grow up faster. Like my friends that grew up in the city they're like I had my coke phase at 13. Yeah. They kind of become adults faster. I guess so. I mean that's the kind of the argument public schools you bounce off a lot of different types of people, you know. Plus growing up in the 70s you mugged a lot. Like yeah, I guess so. I guess so. And you were going to Manhattan with your friends in high school?

High school, yeah. Actually the same neighborhood I live in now, we would kinda go and just to see how edgy it was, that kinda stuff. Where are you going, Studio 54? No, no. Andy Warhol's factory. We go to like Rocky Horror,

walk on, walk on. Rocky Horror? Yeah, St. Mark's, that kinda style. But that's really, that's fuckin' nerds. Yeah, that's probably. You Mark's that kind of style, but that's really that's fucking nerds Yeah, I'm not that's probably throw their characterization of my was yeah I would have been a CBG bees if I was you yeah if I was your age in New York City So you're you're gonna you're gonna see you were cool then now what happened? I've always been one of the coolest guys No, so I mean I I guess they've been New York in the 70s is characterized as like a

completely different place. Yes. You've lived here for most of your life. Except when I was in college, in prison I was here. In Washington I would go back and forth. Yeah, yeah. I used to live in DC. I went to college there. Where? GW. You're just like this, yeah, you're a Jew through and through, huh? No, they gave me the most money your girlfriend Jewish Why you know, I'm just curious. What are you my fucking? She's 20 she's her mom's half Jewish with 25 percent is my max. Okay. Oh my god, they don't I can't start No, no, it's not. I'm trying to gauge the level to back and forth. You do the questions. Oh, we're having fun. I'm just doing a shtick where I'm like, oh, what are you, my mother?

And I'm doing a shtick to being offended by being apologetic. We're just all doing it. Listen, you could have been a nightclub comedian in another life. I could have been a member of the US House of Representatives. You probably could have been. In parallel universes. Yeah, where did you grow up? I grew up in Vegas. Yeah, you could have. You could have been like Shelly Berkley or something like that. I worked for Shelly Berkley. Vegas yeah you could have yeah it been like Shelley Berkeley or something I worked for Shelley Berkeley

you could have been that that could have been you I was a I was an intern when I was a junior in high school at the Congresswoman's field office yeah me and my friend me and my best friend Alex were interns there and we'd like wear it like a shirt remember your what office were you in what do you remember do you know the the field offices of shell you were in? Do you remember? Do you know the field offices of Shelley? Oh, you were in the district office. She was my congresswoman. Got it.

So you weren't really committed. You were just doing it. What do you mean committed? I was in high school. I had to go back home afterwards. Oh, there are people that do internships in Washington. Not in the middle of school. I just did it to get out of eighth period.

There you go. OK, so I'd go. I think that's the definition of not being committed, is when you say, I just want to get out of eighth period Well, I got good. What kind of what was your GPA graduating? It's a little bit was your essay in high school in high school. I bear I don't think I had a three You didn't have a three. I don't think so. I was not a great student But listen, I still got you've ever heard of Harvard

What I mean, I mean I'm just saying I... Harvard University. Yeah, I didn't go there, but I just wanted to make sure you've heard of it. But I went to the State University. You see, now I know the room. You went to Plattsburgh. I went to Plattsburgh State. Me and my friend Alex, when we were working at our congressman's office, we'd have to wear a shirt, so we felt like we were businessmen.

And we'd go afterwards to Hooters, because we thought that we're like adult. This is in Vegas. Yeah, when we were like 17, 16 year old boys. Got it. Yeah. It's a great place. Have you been there? Las Vegas, Nevada.

No, Hooters. I don't believe I have. It's demeaning. Which part? The fact that they don't let like more. I thought you meant just generally being here. I was gonna. This is good for you. I'm telling you this just generally being here. I was gonna, this is good for you, I'm telling you, this is good for you.

So you're a city kid, Metz Islanders. Correct. The Metz are the team of the Jews and the Redheads, right? Brooklyn. Brooklyn. Brooklyn. Your family were Dodger fans? No, but the, you would not if you grew up in Brooklyn.

You kind of seem like a Yankee fan though. No. You're a Met fan that acts like a Yankee fan. What? You were like, go on, I'm a middle class guy. I'm like- Oh, you go toe to toe in Congress. That's what the Mets do.

That's a 27 rings. The Mets are a blue collar team. That's my team, yeah. No, the Mets are like, I'm sorry. The Mets are a blue collar team. That's my team, yeah. No, the Mets are like, I'm sorry. The Mets? I've been at City Field sitting next to people and they're like, more of this again with this. You're like an abused wife that keeps going back to him. Not anymore.

Yeah, you keep going back to him, the Mets, and saying, he's changed, he's not going to hit me anymore. I don't want to. Who tunes into listening to Mets Yankee banter on this show? I was on a good riff right now, you just killed it. Not so sure, because I'm not. You're a Met fan, but you act Yankees. I know, you did that line, it wasn't that great the first time. I'm saying no, I am a Brooklyn guy, the Mets are a middle class team,

you guys buy your rings, we earn them. Guys that have two families that live three blocks away from each other are Yankee fans, right? Guys that are like, have chronic allergies and you know, like get sensitive, like when they, listen to Paul Simon, are Mets fans. The 86 Mets were like the iconic bad boy team of books that they written about.

Yeah, but you were there. You were with Dykstra doing lines. First of all, no. Is that the measure of like what team you're... I've lost the thread here. What do you mean? Can we edit out the sports parts of this show? Why is this the offensive part of the show?

No, I'm just saying... See, this is the thing. He is a Met fan. He's acting like a Met fan right now now No real New Yorker is a Yankee The Bronx you want to do the geography thing I think a lot of you Italian and Dominican guys would disagree with you in the Bronx No, and Ben's in her's there. They're not yes. They are that asshole. Giuliani. That was it You think mayor Giuliani was an asshole? No, that wasn't the hard part. The Yankee, the Yankee.

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slash tafs and use Tafs at checkout. That's cornbreadhemp.com slash Tafs cornbread hemp. This is the good life and now back to the show Okay, let's get back to it. You went to Plasberg College. No, Plasberg State University College of Arts and Science I know for peace it's P-Suck. Plattsburgh for college, I'm sorry. P-Suck. Yeah, okay, go ahead. Yeah, they call it the Yale of the SUNY system. They totally do. Okay, and when did you get involved or become interested in politics?

Probably there. Probably there. I ran for student government there. What was your platform? What were you fighting for? Vote for Wiener, he'll be frank. Okay, that's just a saying. Well, like, what did you want to do for the school?

That's what, what do you think you need in college? It's really, you have no more fish sticks in the cafeteria a pun about hot dogs. Yeah And they were like that's good vote for wiener. He's on a roll But what that was your entire platform you were like, okay, I wanna I wanna know so I want an office of Palestinian investigations The division in student government at least in Plattsburgh, is probably other places, is you have these guys, these resident assistants who basically they're the professional guys on campus who are hired by the colleges to be in the dorms, the RAs, we all know what

they are. But they're students. Right, so my whole thing is those people should not be allowed to be on student government. Why? Well, because they effectively work for the administration, so I don't think they should be. Those are always the ones that are most ambitious to run. So I ran. It wasn't a platform.

Who gave a shit? I kind of like that spite run. Yeah. So that's what I did. And I didn't win. I came in. Anyway, I came close. And then there was a bit.

You want to keep hearing the rest of this? Yeah. I don't think I've ever told any podcast before. This is what people want. I'm dubious. But let's, I'll continue think I've ever told it on any podcast before. This is what people want. I'm dubious, but I'll continue. We'll see. We'll see if the dialogue groups do well for this segment. We'll cut it if it's boring.

So there was a vacancy, because some kid didn't come back for whatever. He ran, and then he didn't come back for whatever reason. What was this guy's name? Full name. I don't remember the guy's name. You remember. So there's a vacancy.

You definitely remember a full name. I remember names for the rest of the story. So then the charter of the Student Association of Plattsburgh State says that the president who's elected gets to choose a vacancy and has to get ratified by the Senate, right? So the president was Christine Sloban, and she chose someone, not me. And I'm like, that's not fucking fair I was the next person votes. So I lobbied all the members of the Senate to reject her appointment Oh my god, and they did and she was your first enemy and she said alright fine

I who the fuck wants this job fine you can have it and then I made the rest of the Senate miserable the rest of the time because I was constantly Complaining you love the game. I got a taste for it then in college yes. Okay and then you worked for Chuck Schumer. I did. In DC right afterwards. Uh-huh. And that was kind of your was he your first like mentor? Yeah first and only really. What did you learn about how politics actually works? I learned a couple things one I learned the I learned the combination of the inside, outside game. And I also learned that relatively few people run Congress.

That there are 435 of them, but there's really only a handful that actually do a lot of the work. So that you actually can really influence things a lot easier than people might think. Like you run for Congress, if you can figure out the 25 or 30 people that get shit done, you can really get a lot done. And who are those people? Sometimes they're staffers to committees, sometimes they're

members who are super insider kind of people. Like you know Nancy Pelosi, knowing Nancy Pelosi was gonna be someone early on, like I supported Nancy for whip and majority leader and whatever else you know like she's like a real wolf of Wall Street well she really knows how to pick up she's a very good she's very good she's incredible she was very good at her job she's very good oh that I didn't she's unreal yeah people have money I held does she know what stocks to get behind a lot of people are rich yeah are you not familiar with that I'm making a joke about how like, yeah, and I'm not and I'm not playing along. Why? You think, do you think it, that members of Congress should own

stocks? Right? Why shouldn't members of Congress own stocks? It's most transparent fucking body on earth. I think that you can. Every fucking word is published somewhere. Every word that's said. Do you think that if you have an investment in something, go ahead something and there's a piece of legislation that would threaten that investment, do you think that that is a conflict of interest? No. What the fuck are you talking about? Because every fucking piece of legislation is incredibly public and anyone who's investing based on pieces of legislation is not going to do very well.

No, no, no. Let's say you already have an investment and this would threaten that investment Is it morally correct legislation who that threatened and enhanced every? Investment on earth go ahead give me an investment. I'll tell you there's legislation on both sides I don't feel for the I don't think for the relaunch. I don't think this is good. Okay. Here's let me tell you this Kind of like you should have bumper sticker knowledge. Oh, it's not over There are so many is like way for thin man. Oh my god The conflict doesn't matter who's right it doesn't matter being right right and it sounds bad to people that members of Congress

Come in I know with not a lot of money and leave incredibly wealthy do okay my dude listen I understand yes brother people have a way for thin Diversively translucent knowledge of politics that gets reinforced by assholes like you and I'm supposed to go you know that's why why is that asshole? You're choosing the wrong correlative the correlative is is that these are people that are exposed to a lot of rich people So the idea that investing on like inside information, every single thing that goes on in the economy, sometime or another the United States Congress touches upon. So basically you're saying, well, you've got all this inside knowledge about everything

on earth. Literally, as a member of Congress from Brooklyn, I was voting on agriculture policy. Didn't mean that I have inside information on soybean prices. It's a stupid premise. Now, if you want to say that rich people become members of Congress, bounce off other rich people, have information and investment opportunities that normal Mrs. Crapolucci doesn't have, 100% right. But it has nothing to do with the work of Congress, with being in a committee and saying,

hmm, this line 17 here, which no one can read, says that we're going to start investing in AI. I'm going to go invest in AI. That's bullshit. OK. When someone becomes a president, there's a custom where they detach from their private financial interests, right?

Uh-huh. President Trump, I don't believe has done that. He did not do it, right? OK. When a member of the public sees that,. He did not do it, right? Okay? When a member of the public sees that, we lose faith in that institution, right? Because the people that we elect to Congress shouldn't have any financial interests in what they are legislating, right?

So even if you're saying I'm wrong, right? And that I'm undereducated, okay? In principle, we are in a time where people's faith in our institutions, especially in the fucking government, is at a low point. In my opinion, people just don't fuck, they think it's all bullshit now. Correct. Here's the problem. Yes.

When I ran for mayor, and I wanted to put pressure on Mike Bloomberg because I was going to run against Mike Bloomberg, I said, I don't have any money. You should put everything in a blind trust. And so I said to my staff, I said, let's figure out how I do this. They said, well, you can't because you have to report every quarter what you're holding. So I said, I can't, so it's blind. I just can't read my own filings. Well, no, you have to sign your files.

It's a conflict. But I'm saying it's bullshit. You, you, not you particularly, but you people like you, wanna find an easy-pat boogie man for these things. Even if you're a middle-class guy like me, who am I calling up for money? A bunch of rich people, right? So it is, now in the city, it's a little bit different. They incentivize you to call regular New Yorkers.

Your guy Pete lives in my district. I'm gonna ask him for $10 on the way out of here. I mean, he, yeah, he lives in my district. Don't give him $10. It's worth eight, it's eight to one. You know that's kind of me giving you $10, just so you know. You've just pleaded guilty to a felony.

Why, what's the felony? You can't, he's a straw donor. Be a good friend? Be a straw donor. Be a good friend? Okay, so Chuck was your mentor, right? Yes. And you took his seat in the house.

I did, of course. After you were in D. Can I ask you another question? Sure. You were in, I used to live in D.C. Yeah. I mean, like, how ugly are these people? Physically? In the government.

I mean, the only two pieces of ass, I think, in Congress when you were there were you and probably Mitch McConnell. Let's move on. Okay, so what is your relationship with Senator Schumer now? Not great now. I've kind of given him a lot of space because I want him to be able to say, I don't know what that wiener's up to nowadays, that kind of vibe. You feel like you've become a pariah like what? I feel that I let him down. Yeah, I mean I yeah, I do I do you you let him down

Drew your your scandals and stuff. No, he was very kind actually during my scandals Etc, but I think that obviously, you know I caused him a lot of aggravation and he and he was I was closely associated with him So when my shit happened, I think a lot, you know, the blast radius for my stuff included him. So yeah. All right. I want to talk about being a Democrat during the Bush era and I want to talk about your

rise to prominence. Because your viewers are really into the Bush era right now. That's their... What do you mean? What? I am. The Bush era is largely forgotten. I did my A work then and like no one remembers it but go ahead

I mean we shouldn't forget it. I mean you did vote for the right one. I did yeah There's a crap war that was a bad call. That was a bad call. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I really I thought that Did you know at the time it was a shitty call or because you were such an art and scientists You're like, yeah get in there. I got it. I did a walkout. I didn't walk out of my high school. That's good, and everyone's like bag That was just a really upset me I Hated I fucking hated Bush. I hated him. No Bush wasn't an I hated Bush well right okay But you weren't a New Yorker on September 11th were you no in spirit? I was I was listening to Howard Stern on the radio.

Close enough. I felt like I was there. Close enough. You know that someone called in from the tower to Howard from that day? Oh shit, I did not know that. And he was like, Howard, Baba Booey, I'm in power. Not funny. Too soon.

Not funny. Because the rest of America, we thought it was pretty funny. Anyway, of course you rose to prominence like in national attention because you had that fiery speech about the 9-11 first responders bill. And there used to be this notion of like, there were Democrats in the party that were also fucking killers. You were a Democrat who wasn't a pussy. You were macho.

You were known for going on Fox News and smacking them down. And that did something for a lot of people because that was during the rise of Fox News, that was during the Bush era. What do you make of the state of the modern day Democratic Party? Do you think there are people that have that fire? Well, the comparison doesn't fit because I was kind of, I was a bigger fish in a smaller pond at the time. Like there was this notion, you don't go on Fox News and fight with these guys because why do it?

Like what does it get? And I thought, one, it's the sport of it, and two, it's one, two. They're idiots. Yeah. But now, it's now the entire institution of politics has gotten to be performative of people who just say shit for the purpose of having it echo for no particular reason.

So there are a lot of people that do that well. What does that mean? People that just want to be in it for the clicks and just want to say the outrageous things because they know it'll get picked up. But in the modern-day Democratic Party— Or Republican Party. No, no, I'm talking about the... because you're a Democrat. The party is kind of...

they don't have a defined message against Trump right now or a unified message against Trump right now. They just lost an election to the apprentice for a second time. You know, the party is kind of in a bad way right now, but they are perceived, I think, by the electorate as perhaps a feat or lacking in passion or kind of empty. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, one party won by 1.3% of the vote and, yes, you can make this narrative of, oh my god, we fucking suck. Or we were like a few hundred thousand votes away from being, oh my god, it's amazing

how great the Democrats are doing. We've had three elections in a row that are tied. You've got a lot of fucking people in the country who apparently don't take this stuff very seriously and just wanna like make visceral screams every four years. All right, we know that. Now, how we as Democrats, we have more fidelity to process. Do you think there's anyone in the party right now

that possesses like kind of the skills that you presented in 2008, 2007? I know, but what I was doing, what I was doing- Just talk shit about some people right now. What I was doing was I was expressing genuine, that moment in 2000, whatever it was, I was angry and tired and over, hadn't slept enough and I yelled and screamed a lot. And people are like, oh my God, that's amazing. Now everyone's fucking yelling and screaming. No, that's not true. Can you tell me one speech on the House or Senate floor that has garnered the attention that you got?

I know, that's the point I'm making, is that everyone is doing the same shtick now while doing the performative outrage. No, they're not. They're all doing it. Congress is now, it's a little bit, it's become somewhat of a legion of skanks, if you will. I mean, it's become, what can I say? What is? It's a little bit, it's become somewhat of a legion of skanks if you will. I mean it's become, what can I say, it's trash.

What does Marjorie Taylor Greene do all day? When I saw that fight between AOC and the other congressmen and Marjorie Taylor Greene and they were like, with your butch body, your bad haircut. What is that all about? It's the government. They're acting like fucking Jerry Springer right now. When I see that slog, when I see that lurch. Is there anyone who does that like I used to do?

That's not like what you used to do. What you were doing was like you were standing up for a piece of legislation, and you were standing up for people. You were talking shit about someone's haircut. Fair enough. And your outfit looked bad. You know talking shit about someone's haircut. Fair enough, fair enough. And your outfit looked bad. You know, seriously, it's trash.

When I see that slob, that lurch, fetterman, I'm like, put on a fucking shirt. You're in the government. Have some fucking respect. It's the government. You know the only time he wore his suit was when Netanyahu came and spoke to the Congress, and he looked worse in the suit.

I got you there. I got you there. What? Yeah, that's great. Do you have Fetamins clothing? I don't. I think you should put a shirt. Fair enough. It's Shabbos, put a shirt.

By the way, am I underdressed for the show? No, you asked me before what you should wear. I did, because I didn't have enough experience to put a shirt. No, there's a great outfit for you. Okay, thank you. How are you 60? Guys, I want to talk to you about Lucy We're really excited to kick off our partnership with Lucy a very exciting brand partner that we welcome into the Adam Friedland show family of products Lucy is 100% pure nicotine and guess what guys as

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Lucy products are only for adults of legal age and every order is age verified. Warning this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. Thank you Lucy. Thank you. And now back to the show. Okay, so I want to ask you about the ACA in 2008. Affordable Care Act.

Who do you think the audience is for this show? They want to answer for the ACA. Don't talk down. No, they know it is Obamacare. I coined Obama. Well, I didn't coin it, but when the Republicans are calling Obamacare to be derisive, I called Obamacare to say, yeah, we should own this. They didn't own it. I mean, the Heritage Foundation owned it. That's the point. And I was saying, yeah, we should own this. They didn't own it. I mean, the Heritage Foundation owned it. But that's the point. And I was saying, why are we running away from it? Either we're proud of this thing or not.

You want to call it Obamacare, if you're proud of it, you should call it Obamacare too. And they called me from the White House, and they're like, you're mocking the president's accomplishments. I'm like, no, I'm just calling it what they want to call it this. We're proud of it too.

It felt like Bush left office with an atrociously low approval rating. He did. It felt like there was this guy, I lived in DC at the time. And I remember the night Obama won. And I was with my friends, I was in college. We were like listening to Born in the USA and we didn't realize it was a song about

how America has abandoned the veterans coming back from Vietnam. But we're like, it was the first time we felt like, yeah, we're fucking patriotic. A black guy became the president. And he's incredible, he's an incredible speaker. I ran to the White House and I was shouting at the building and I was like, fuck you, Bush.

And I was like, a black guy's moving into your house, you fucking piece of shit. And girls were showing their tits. But going back to the ACA, so we had an opportunity to finally give people the ability to go to the hospital as a human right. And it, on a personal level, I became jaded probably for the rest of my life because they immediately gave up on it. Give up on?

On single pair. Oh no, they never, they made a decision early on. I mean look, you've got to decide. A lot of our economy is a single payer system in Medicare and Medicaid, the Indian Health Service and then a lot of it is employer based. And they had to make a decision early on what they were going to do and they learned from the Clinton failures to double down on the insurance model and give insurance companies a bunch of money to substance give you money to give to insurance companies it wasn't a

transformative thing that maybe a young Adam Fried Friedman the fuck up your dream you're doing the Patrick Bette David thing to me again Friedland shortened Friedlander was was it? Was it shortened? Anthony Peanuts. Wow. No, okay. So do you think that that is, that caused a problem with you and the White House? I had some conversations with the president himself and with his, but I repaired them when I had an opportunity to bring a single-payer system to the floor and I chose not to do it. After the passage of the ACA?

After it passed at a committee, I had received a commitment to bring a single-payer system to the floor of the House, and it became clear that it would both go down and put a lot of my Republican colleagues in a situation they might not be able to vote for Obamacare that I decided not to offer it. And still to this day, I wonder if that was the right decision that I made. But I made that sacrifice and they appreciated it. You haven't seen the documentary, right,

about your run for, I mean I imagine that would be like fucking stressful as fuck for you to watch it. The main reason I haven't seen it is and I don't have to talk about it. I'll say this as a person that just watched it. Right. I haven't seen it. It's in it's incredible. I mean, but like it wouldn't be the way I'm watching it as like this is incredible. Like film.

You wouldn't feel the same way because obviously it's your life. Right. And it's and it's you in an incredibly stressful moment of your life. Yeah. Do you know about the sandwich? The sandwich? Oh, you don't even know. Well, you could say anything is in the movie and I would not know. That's not really fair.

There's a moment on election day. There's a moment on election day. It's like the greatest actor in the world could go to Juilliard and they could study acting for 40 years and not eat a sandwich in a moment of stress like you ate that sandwich. You were like, it was election day, you were like everything's fucked, and you were eating this like Philly cheesesteak or something. It's like the way that Tony would go into the fridge and just like eat deli meats, right? Right I was falling apart at that point.

As a viewer, it's an incredible story because there's a turn in the middle of it, right? I haven't seen it man. Don't I'm not telling you to see it. I'm just telling you. Well you're asking me to get into like the experience of seeing it. No, no it's not about that. That's not what I'm asking about. I said obviously don't see it.

Please don't see it. No, no, it's not about that. That's not what I'm asking about. I said, obviously, don't see it. Please don't see it. That would suck. But like, at the beginning of the documentary, they detail what the first scandal was, which was the accidental sweep. And the first thing that came to mind to me... By the way, what do you think your audience knows about you? One of the great questions I had... Stop condescending the audience.

No, I'm asking you. Because we're having this conversation as if the audience is completely tuned in on what my scandal was and was not and happened a long ass time ago. Okay, then they should watch the documentary. I don't fucking know, dude. It doesn't matter what they know. It matters if we're having an interesting conversation. Fair enough.

Okay. What do you think? No, it's just because this is a little bit of a meta question I'm experiencing in my life. Let me just finish my thought. Is that like I'm now in this process of returning to public life to some degree and some people are really tuned into my scandal life. How are you doing this with your scandal?

And some people are like, what? What are you even talking about when you talk about your scandal? Why are people saying that? No, there are a lot of people who, 2000 is a long time ago. In New York City, I think that you, I think people know. So that's your, yeah, it's a Royce etch this. You to some degree are in that first camp, but there are a lot of people in the second camp that I experienced that when I start to talk about it, they're like, what was that? Tell me about the scandal again so I'm refreshed. Like the dude at Wingstop, I sent my son to pick up an order at Wingstop and they're like, tell

your dad he should run for governor again. That was ridiculous. How do you know his son? How do you know your son? Because it had my name, Anthony Weiner, on the thing and they thought I was Elliot Spitzer. They conflated the two, confused or conflated? They confused the two stores. You guys should be on a ticket a little bit. Spitzer Weiner's, you know? Sorry, okay, that didn't work. Okay. And we keep going.

So I go back to the, I'm going back to the White House thing in the ACA. There's a moment at the beginning of the documentary that details the first scandal. And there's, and they play a clip of Obama saying if it were me, I would resign, right? Got it. And it was kind of like, I like, the thing I picked up on

was like, oh, the president kind of like took the shot, right? And I was wondering if the origin of that was like through, from the ACA or from like something else that had happened, you know, in Washington DC that had nothing to do with this, whereas like there was tension between you and the White House. I was not a particularly popular person in Washington. Why not?

Because Washington doesn't, has a weird relationship with ambition. So like young... What are you talking about? I'm about to finish. It's politics. What do you mean a weird relationship? That seems like a bullshit sentence. Did it seem like the end of my thought though?

Yeah, but I'm telling you it's a bullshit sentence. You let me know when I can continue my thought and maybe we can draw a conclusion about the thought when I'm done with it. I'm helping you out here. You're not. You're like the Lee Harvey Oswald of stories. You're like just sniping at me while I'm talking. Can I continue?

So Washington has a weird relationship with ambition in that people get rewarded, obviously, for being ambitious. They run for a cent. But if you're someone who thinks, well, this guy's not waiting in line, he's out there doing things on cable that we didn't think of doing, he's jumped over five members of Congress to run for mayor, et cetera, et cetera,

that's, the people don't like that, institutional people in Washington don't like that. Now maybe voters do, and maybe donors do, and maybe TV producers do, but other politicians don't. So the fact that I was a relatively backbencher and I was someone who had become this spokesman for and against Obamacare and for single parent, everything else, there was a little bit of like,

you're too big for your britches kind of vibe. You were getting airtime too, you know? I was getting airtime, et cetera. And so people would be, there was insiders who were like, who is this fucking guy? That kind of vibe. Name names, who was the guy, who was doing it? was insiders who were like, who is this fucking guy? That kind of vibe. Who was the guy? Who was doing it?

I think that there were times my colleagues here in the New York delegation didn't like that I was running for mayor when I had only been in office for a few years and was being successful at it. So there's that tension as well. And then the executive branch doesn't- Who's this, Gerald Nadler? Nadler was not a big fan of mine.

He still is. He still grimaces at me when he sees me. Well, I think he just looks like he's grimacing always. Nadler was not a big fan of mine. He still is. He still grimaces at me when he sees me. Well I think he just looks like he's grimacing all this. You know, he pooped his pants. I thought it was you. Me, McConnell and Nadler. We all pooped our pants on TV. Okay, anyway, zooming out, right? The assumption is, for a long time, is that power and celebrity and powerful men is an aphrodisiac.

The women are attracted to powerful men. Oh, for sure. For sure. Oh my god. They're crazy about me. They're crazy about me. No, no. We celebrate our JFK. I think it was a 2011, it was indicative of a shift in society. I think if a congressman's underpants with a little bit of a, okay, print was tweeted out in 2025, what I would say is it wouldn't make the top 100 news stories this year. So it represents an intersection between,

of like an old kind of New York tabloid press which is like that was kind of an old world thing correct and then the new world introduction of technology into that's one version the other version is it was a relatively snowy news period and I'm a guy named wiener who tweeted out a picture of his dick so there's that first guy too no I'm saying that there I'm not just I'm not just dismissing that idea I'm saying that there I'm not just I'm not just dismissing that idea I'm saying that there was an element of it, but Matt Gates fucked the kid Right, and if his name was Matt kid fucker

Think about it this way think about it this way Trump almost got shot on TV two days later. We didn't even remember Yeah, I'm not sure I see the transition in those. If it was today, it wouldn't, like it would be a 48 hour news cycle, and it would be forgotten. Yes, but yes, technology, if similar technological norms were around,

Kennedy would have been the same, yes, but therefore what? Yes, yes. It's not therefore what, it's an interesting moment in like our culture, right? Because, not necessarily original thought, but yes, that's, yes. It's not there for what? It's an interesting moment in like our culture, right? Yeah. Because, not a terribly original thought, but yes, it's, that's, yes. No, people who said that about my case, oh my god. I'm sorry, I'm the Carlos Mencia of original thoughts.

Sorry, I mean, oh, I stole someone's bit. Whose bit, whose original thought was that? The movie was basically that premise. Yeah, what are you gonna do, yell at me? The congress people should have fucking stocks? Okay. I mean, like, when this subject comes up's it's unpleasant for you to talk about right? Yeah Look we can do it It's just we're gonna do let's move off of this one not terribly novel idea that technology played a part in my what I'm saying

Is this you're running for office right now, right? It's it's Kind of giving me advice on how to do something, how to do, I criticize. Because you're doing a bad job right now. Okay. I'm just telling you, it could be your defense to me. Yid to yid, yid to yid, you gotta be like a little bit, you gotta be smooth. You've also done this bit four times already.

I get it, sometimes I critique the question you're asking. And you do this thing of like, this is not good for you to make fun of your host on the show, it's not working. I'm like, all right, I get it. I get it. I get it. All right, you turned the paper over. I thought that was a good sign.

I thought we were going to go to some new material. I'm ready, man. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Let's do some more of this. Yes, technology. It's not some more of this. Okay, listen.

You got to... Okay. No, no, no. I'm not doing the technology thing. You know what we should have pivoted? Yeah. Gates Kidfucker, what was the chance to pivot? Yeah. That was the, all right, now we move to the next thing.

Got the big laugh, we move on. You're showing your hands a little bit right now. Which is what? That it's annoying that I'm asking any of these questions and you're sick of talking about them. Incorrect. I just think the movie as a jumping off point is not great. But go ahead. Why is that not great? Because there. I just think the movie is a jumping off point is not great. But go ahead.

Why is that not great? Because there's interesting questions about the movie maybe but by and large- I have more questions about the movie. By and large people haven't seen the movie. I haven't seen the movie. I think a lot of people have seen the movie. I don't think a lot of people have seen the movie. Guys? I said it's great.

He said multiple times. You have multiple times. Okay, there's another moment that's really sweet, and my mother passed away four years ago, when your mom, she looks so sweet, that lady. Yeah, she's the best. She goes back in the phone bank for you while everything's falling apart. Yeah. And I started crying, because I'm like, I miss her so much.

Like, I was like, it's so nice. Is she still around? She's around. No, no, no, not, I don't miss your mom. Your mom's an educator. In the documentary, midway through. No, you can't do it this way. I think I can. I have not seen the documentary.

But you leave the documentary, so I'm going to ask you a question because I saw it. You don't need to set it up as the documentary when I haven't seen it. If I did it in real life, you can just say, I understand you. You're the one wasting time right now. Fair enough, go ahead. Obviously, it was something documenting your comeback, and then midway through, there's a shift. Was there ever a moment in your mind where you were like,

just like, let's stop doing this? So the documentary came to be. It was a staffer, right? This guy that used to work for me said, let me document this stuff. And I'm like, look, dude, here's what I do need. I need someone to videotape everything that I do on the campaign for our own purposes. One, we might need it for ads.

But two, I was very concerned about people making accusations about something that happened on the campaign. I wanted to document it. Did you have it in the back of your mind that there was a possibility of something else derailing your chances of becoming mayor? Oh, constantly. So you were under constant stress even before this. I always knew I had this scandal in the background and it was going to be hard for me to get

behind it, to get ahead of it. Because one way or another I'd have to persuade 50% of the voters to vote for me, either in a runoff or in the primary. So I always knew it was gonna be tough. So I don't know if I ever thought for sure, even when the polls were showing me ahead, I always knew it was gonna be tough because I'm a smart political person.

I knew that when you have these kind of negatives. Obviously like opening yourself up to another run right now. Presently, yes. Presently. Very different vibe. You think it's a different vibe. I don't think I would be running if I thought good people were running. I think that there's kind of, it's been 10 years since I've run, so it's not like I've been, and I've had other opportunities and people say to me all the time, you should

run, you should run. I just think that there's no good reason not to run, right? If I think I'd be doing a good job at the job and I have, if I'm better than the other people, why shouldn't I run? It happened for a third time, and many people have asked you this question, I'm gonna ask it again. Go ahead. Because of the proximity of the Comey letter

to the election in 2016. Correct. In some ways, you are considered kind of like a Archduke Ferdinand of Trump. You have to set this part up at all, the election in 2016. In some ways you are considered kind of like a like an archduke Ferdinand of Trump. You have to set this part up at all or you're kind of having it hard? You're doing this thing again where it's an annoying question. Maybe you don't. Maybe you don't. Maybe you don't. Maybe you don't. All right. A third accusation arose in 2016 and as a result of it, your laptop was seized and there were emails from Hillary Clinton and 10 days before

the election, James Comey wrote a letter to Congress and in a razor thin election, many people perceive it to be the thing that pushed Trump over the line. So Comey, they had my laptop, they had it for weeks and weeks and weeks, they knew that wasn't anything on it that was relevant to the campaign, that was relevant to the investigation. The prosecutors in New York said, why are you guys just sitting on this? And it turned out they were sitting on it because Comey did this 11th hour thing that is against the law where he announces the announcement.

I'm not saying it was your plan to do it, but like through a butterfly effect. Right, except it wasn't accidental. It was intentionally done that way. Giuliani leaked about it long before we got this. We're holding it until the very end. So James Comey was working in concert with the Trump campaign? Oh, it's not really clear. I mean, he's never answered exactly why it was he held onto this so long until 10 days

before the election. They had it weeks before. The inspector general that looked into this asked the same question. The people in the FBI, the FBI was pulling against Hillary Clinton and Giuliani was getting leaked all this information. They had it for a long time. Why did Comey wait until 10 days before to talk about it? That's a question for Comey. So if you have a, the butterfly effect is Comey holding onto stuff until 10 days before. Of course, of course. I mean, like, I'm not saying that it was your intention to get for a third time and then

have Donald Trump accidentally become president. No, say that it was... I'm not saying that it was deliberate. No, saying the Anthony Weider butterfly effect is like it was held for weeks after. It was your laptop, though. I know, but it was held for weeks after that. The butterfly effect was not me. It was Comey.

What Comey did with that. He wouldn't have had the laptop, and that wouldn't have, how comey did with that he would have had the laptop it and that would have had you know right but he could have had a laptop my point is you could have had it for six months and held on to it it was weeks it was not that close to the part of the butterfly you're still you're someone could make that argument still beautiful butterfly there's something to make that argument but they'd have to construct a fairly convoluted I'm saying like you were tangentially related to a historical people that if you know if you believe the Anthony Weiner part about it, you have

to ignore the James Comey piece and the Rudy Giuliani piece and the FBI piece. No, that's the butterfly effect. We'll say the human centipede effect. You have the Anthony Weiner, you have Giuliani, you have Comey, you have Trump. Right, but Adam, if it's not Anthony Weiner, there could have been something else that was the butterfly. But in the material universe, what happened was that... I mean you could also say...

Why are we debating this? This is a ridiculous point for you to be taking. You know that... That's the sixth time you've taken an answer of mine and critiqued it in real time. Because you're taking some sort of abstract issue with it when it's a simple point. I am. You asked me, what do you think about the butterfly effect argument I'm saying I'm dismissing it and here's how I'm doing it. You're dismissing it because James Comey could have used anything but I'm saying what happened was he used your

thing. Right or you could say. So it's still a butterfly effect. You can say that Hillary Clinton is the butterfly. I think she's gorgeous. When you look at your life as you were like now the what is it the minority leader of the Senate was your first mentor. Correct. And then your your wife was the assistant to the Secretary of State. Correct. President Clinton officiated your wedding. Well correct. You were around incredibly powerful. Yes. People and now I mean you're somewhat of a Forrest Gump. Yeah like a zealot. You were around incredibly powerful people. Yes. And now? I mean, you're somewhat of a Forrest Gump.

Yeah, like a Zellig? Well, Zellig isn't good too. You know, Woody did blackface in that movie too. Yeah, I don't think also Zellig works here. You know, I met him. With Zellig or Woody Allen? Zellig's not a real guy. I know, but I thought maybe he'd be.

Who? What? Shrek? I thought maybe you'd like, you would appear. I met him in a restaurant recently. And that's Zellig and then that's also, it's Friedlander over there. So look at him. No, that movie's incredible actually. And it has become a cultural term. I know, I've been, I don't know quite what I'm supposed to do about watching Woody Allen

movies. Am I, are we allowed to do it? I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, we're allowed to do it. Okay. The joke obviously is, to a comedian, when we see this, right, is this. Oh good, I love to see the comedian mind at work.

When we see that news story, we see that all of us as men possess the capacity to ruin our own lives with our own penises, to trip over our own penises, but that Western civilization perhaps tripped over your penis. It could have been the penis that changed history the most. Got it, got it, seen it, read it, done it. Done it. Yeah go ahead. Who read it? Who said it? People have written, said it, and done it but yeah we can do it again. I mean I'm saying that to a comedian that's kind of obviously how we're gonna view it. And you? But right now the way I view it is that there's a human being that

was an incredibly stressful situation. Thank you, pal. We have obviously an attitude towards addiction in society now, and that if we can accept that your behavior—and I know you're in recovery—if we can accept that your behavior was impulsive or compulsive, that you were doing it after you resigned from Congress, you were doing it after you ran for mayor that you know that that was a product of a disease you know I think society society has that view nowadays but what I I think probably complicates matters for you is the is the jail sentence and correct the final time that it included someone that was an underage individual. Correct. You now are on the registry, right? Correct. And I'm just wondering, you've been in the system now, right?

I have. And I read your 25 ideas for New York City, and I didn't really see much about criminal justice issues. And I wonder what impact it had on you to be in the system, and what impact it has on you now to still be on this registry and have something that follows you the rest of your life. Yeah, well, first of all, the registry part is something I had to agree to. The crime I committed, obscenity, was not included in that, but the prosecutor, look, it's informed me in the following ways.

One, that prosecutors make decisions for political reasons. The higher the monkey climbs, the more you can see his ass, and that I accept. I was a famous person, so someone that might not get charged for a crime, it was ridiculous for me to get charged with a crime and to do prison sentence for the things that I did. You think that? Well, no one— Is that your claim? No one generally gets prosecuted.

No one in the Southern District's ever been sentenced for obscenity, for transferring obscene material. So I did learn that there was an element of prosecutorial discretion that I think everyone should be concerned about, that people being made examples of and the idea that people being over-incarcerated. I learned I was a very privileged person to be in that system, but I experienced a lot of men in that system who were also charged with things they probably shouldn't have been for periods of time that they shouldn't and their inability to get a trial, a fair

trial because of the trial penalty in the federal system. So I learned a lot about that stuff that informs how I talk about this stuff today. What was your experience being incarcerated like? It was hard. I wouldn't recommend it. How did you politic? I formed relationships with a lot of different elements inside. Yeah. Like there were guys at the prison library, these more senior black guys,

and I would kibitz with them about what's going on in Washington. I worked in the rec yard, and so those guys I got a relationship with. I lived with the unit store man. With the store man? It's some people. With the store man. It's the guy who has stuff that he sells.

You can only go to the commissary every so often, but if someone wants to go watch a movie and they want to get a bag of chips, the store man will take care of you. And I lived with that guy and no one really fucks with the store man. And so there are ways that I stayed safe. Being on a registry, like, if you kill someone, right?

If I murder someone, I get out of jail, I don't have to tell my neighbors that I'm a murderer. Correct. Correct. Like, what is it about this category of crime? Like, why is it treated differently? I don't know. It's the kind of the last.

I mean, it's kind of weird. Obscenity is usually not considered one of the last... I mean it's kind of weird. Obscenity is usually not considered one of these crimes and so it's kind of weird but I guess you know sex crimes have their own special thing in people's imagination because they take in such a broad range of different things. Is it all sex crimes or is it just involving minors? No it's all sex crimes. All sex crimes. Yeah. Do you know that this individual was underage at the time?

I didn't have a trial. I didn't have a trial. And I'm reluctant to do anything that sounds like I'm not accepting responsibility for what I did. However, there are elements of this case that made it winnable for me. Let's just put it that way. If it was winnable, why wouldn't you try to win?

Because they said to you, you can either accept this charge or we're going to charge you with something else that has a mandatory minimum. And so the risk is called the trial penalty in the federal system. So it's very risky. And that's why so few people go to trial, because you can plea bargain for 21 months and see your six-year-old again in a couple of years or take your chance going to a trial with the name Anthony Weiner and all that goes with that, and hope that you win the case and spend a lot of money and then you could then get charged with, then you found guilty of a 10-year mandatory minimum because they charged you with something else. Not many people go to trial in the federal system, like one or two percent, because they

have the ability to really raise the cost for you if you decide to. How has it affected your life though, being on a registry? Since you've been out of jail. Well it's very hard, it's a thing that people can say about you that taints you and it makes it seem like you're scary and that people can make up stories. My whole thing is I'll accept responsibility for the things I've done, not for things I have not done.

The prosecutors said you have to accept this as part of the penalties, part of your plea bargain, so we said we would. I mean, obviously you're running for office again. Yeah. Like, it must make it like a... you intend on winning, do you? I do intend on winning. If you run for office. Right. So how do you account for that? Like, in the eyes of a voter? Well, it depends on where they enter the conversation.

If they say, you're on the sexual industry and I can explain it, if they say—some people, I say to them, look, I have done my time, done my probation, I have accepted responsibility, and why can't I go back and work for this community doing the job that I'm best at? To me, people who talk about the idea of justice and the justice system, they're full of shit if they believe that I'm not entitled to run even though I have done my time and accepted responsibility. And my notion of criminal justice is you pay your debt to society no more. To what extent do you want to expose yourself for a third time now to that? Yeah, I get versions of that question a lot,

like why are you putting yourself through it? And I guess the question, shouldn't the question be, well, what is, why shouldn't I? Like, what is the alternative? Is the idea, okay, this is whole body of things that you're good at doing, but you shouldn't do it because people are gonna say mean things to you. Well, the alternative is what?

I only go into job spaces where people won't say mean things to me. I'm also on the radio, on a conservative radio station where people call up and yell at me about stuff. There's a lot of things that people don't like candidates for. Maybe they don't like me because of these things in my background. But I guess the question I would have is like, well what is the logical extension of that? That I curl up under a table somewhere or I just disappear. If I would have been elected in 2013, we would have had a better city.

I would have been a better mayor than de Blasio. So if someone wants to say, I'm not going to vote for that guy for city council, I'm going to vote for someone less good because I don't like what I know about them, this embarrassing thing I know about that guy. All right, well, fuck you. That's your decision. If you want to vote for a less good city councilman because you know embarrassing things about me, then so be it. But as the person, what am I supposed to do? If I

think I can be of service, if I think that I can add something, if I think I'm really good at this and I'm better than the people running, what's the argument for me not running? Oh, I'm gonna, people are gonna say mean things to me? Well it feels shit to lose, right? If you lose. I suppose it does, but you're asking a different question. You're saying that you have to get — I could lose because I'm a Zionist in a district that's very lefty. I could lose because of any number of reasons. You can always lose if you're in an election. Is this a liability? Yes. But I also have assets. I mean, I'm the far better candidate than any of these people.

I've got better ideas than them, etc. So if you're saying you only go into a race that you think that you're gonna win... Yeah. You know in a lot of cities like a dog gets elected mayor. Do you think New York will ever have a dog mayor? We have. I just saw a thing on Instagram that says there's a dog mayor now of New York. Right now? Yeah. Mayor Adams, you're calling him a dog?

No, I think dog mayor is like a different thing. Kind of. He's got that dog in him. You know what, you look kind of like a silent film star a little bit. Except the talking part. You don't need jokes? I don't.

Yeah, you do. I know you do. I know, you're the comedian, I hear. Do you headline your show? How do you, do we advertise on the show? I mean, what, how does it work? Don't worry about it. Okay.

Do you wear this when you do your standup? Is this like the nebushhi, like Jewish thing you... Why would I say Nebesh? Forgive me. You're right. You're right. I apologize. I apologize.

You're a Rodney fan, right? Rodney Dagerfield, yes. Yeah. Want to give us a couple of Rodneys? Oh, did you? When did you read this? I used to do Rodneys when I was in college, but no, I'm not going to do Rodneys. In the documentary, the Rodney.

Did I really? Yeah, well, everything was turning to shit. You were in the car. It was a great moment. Sorry to bring up the documentary. No, I didn't realize that. Do your favorite job. I'd rather not. Why not? I'd rather not.

It's great. It was Rodney influencing you at all? Who is your guy? Who is your like guy that They're like, I want to that's the guy I want to emulate So Stuart. No, okay my guy not Stuart. No, I said Woody for sure. Oh, of course. Yeah, Woody Love I'm Larry Yeah, you know the fuck get it. What I don't know Give us one joke. Give us one Rodney. We just give it on a light level

because it's so heavy. It's the way you structured this. You could have done the yucks at the end. Just give us one joke. I'll give you my dad's favorite joke. Go ahead. Okay. A Rodney joke?

No. So there's a Jew who gets shipwrecked. My neighborhood's dangerous, boy. Shut up. Really. A lot of crime in my neighborhood, boy. A Jew gets... The other day, I asked the police officer, where's the nearest subway station? He said, I don't know. No one's ever made it.

You know something? Talk about your wife. I get no respect for my wife. The other day, I was at a bar. The bartender says, what do you want? I said, I get no respect for my wife. The other day I was at a bar. The bartender says, what do you want? I said, I don't know, surprise me. He shows me a naked picture of my wife. Oh, I get no respect.

I'm all done. I'm all done. Go ahead, go ahead. I interrupted your thing. Now you've got to compete with Rodney. But go ahead, knock yourself out. My dad's favorite joke. So the Jew washes up on a desert island, right?

Ten years later they find him. He's been alone. He's built an entire city. There's a there's a town hall. There's a postal office The synagogue that's the one I would never go into Thank you. Alright, here's a scenario, right? It's a Super Bowl, right? The birds just freaking won, right? You're there with your best friend, Right? Had a couple too many. Is it cheating if you, if you one time just get a blowjob from your male best friend one time? No, that's not cheating as long as you know.

Alright, thanks a lot. Oh, okay. Cool. Okay. Okay, thanks guys. You're amazing. I hope you had fun. I had a lot of fun.