The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - #BecauseMiami: Closed for Maintenance

Episode Date: January 26, 2024

Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign hopes are done and dusted. Tim Miller, political consultant at The Bulwork, talks about why the inevitable happened. Plus, CBS Miami's investigative reporter Jim DeFede joins the show to talk about the crumbling Miami International Airport. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe Kings Network. That meatball run, that horrifying, weirdo smile Your White House dream just bit the dust But it was doomed right from the start Come back to Tallahassee It's time for punching down again You can kick up your highest And sink those fingers and put in No, not all that's BS, totally BS

And it seems to me your whole campaign was like a fart upon the wind And it's fitting that you have to kiss Trump's ass again. And now KC will have to go back and do the weather on TV. And though you said never back down, the chances of that are zero. They knew you would even choose. The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up. BLEATING MUSIC You goddamn rape me, Paul.

Well, Roy, your boy me, Ron is out in the south race. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, do not curse me like that. He is not my boy. Thank you, Ron. So let me tell you that right now. In front of this camera, he is not my boy. So one of the two mats here at Matto Lark,

and I had a bet, but we couldn't remember what the bet is. First, it was whether or not Ron DeSantis would enter the race at all, which I clearly won. And then I think we went double or nothing on how long he would last in the primary. And he lost that bet as well. We just couldn't remember what the bet was exactly. So I've got an idea that Draft King should have

like a gentleman's bet kind of section of the app where you can memorialize, for entertainment purposes only, you can memorialize the bets that you make with friends so that you don't forget what the terms are and what the expiration date is and everything, so I'm gonna patent that immediately after the show. I have one that I did, Billy. Tim Miller is a political consultant,

a writer at large, at thebullwork.com, co-host of the Next Level Podcast and the author of the bestselling book, Why We Did It, a Travelog from the Republican Road to Hell. He was previously political director for Republican Voters Against Trump and Communications Director for then Florida Governor, Jeb Bush's 2016 presidential campaign.

Please clap. Which went about as well as the current Florida Governor's presidential campaign. Actually, to be fair, Tim, Jeb made it through South Carolina, as I recall. Thank you. So it did not go quite that poorly. But I don't know, did you have some bets with friends,

too, about how long Ron was going to the last in the primary? And did you win, or who won? I'm just happy you'd discussed that little gentleman bet section so I could kind of get my emotions back together. I was getting a little dusty down here in my studio watching the tribute to Ron DeSantis in his campaign. I did not have any actual formal bets, but I did just absolutely own all of my still Republican consultant friends who were very confident in Ron at the beginning of the effort and thought it was a 50-50

shot, which I thought was absurd from the start. I was clear by what? I think New Year, that this thing was not going to happen. New Year last year, 13 months ago, this wasn't gonna happen for him. So what happened here? I mean, in addition to all the political faux pas in this race, why did he stay in so long?

Is this the classic consultant cowboys like political grifter class? You're so smart, you're so handsome, you're so tall. What's the equation? Yeah, consultant cowboys, stubbornness, face saving. You can talk yourself into stuff. And I was out covering Ron in Iowa in July. I took a photo of his event.

It was one of the saddest events he'd been to. There were like 12 people there. I did kind of feel a little bit bad about this because Donald Trump ended up using my photo in one of his press releases later. And I was like, I don't want to accidentally be helping Donald Trump here, but it was really sad seeing Ron awkwardly try to talk to the 12 people at this little kind of diner type vibe thing in Iowa. And at the time I talked to a couple

of the super PAC guys, you know, who are standing around, there are more staffers there than people. And I was like, what are you doing? Like what is happening here? And they were at the time saying, we don't really know what's going to happen with all these Trump investigations, right? Like it's helping them now, but over the long term, maybe that'll change, maybe voters will change their mind once the fourth indictment happens. Maybe you'll actually have an ankle bracelet on and we'll be able to get some delegates. So I think that that was in the back of their head for a while. And then I think there's a face-saving ego element after a while of not wanting to drop out before

Iowa. But now, Nikki Haley is the kind of Chokhanna cheeseburger candidate at this point, right? She's the last person standing in the event that something happens to Trump legally or physically or otherwise. She is going to be the nominee. I don't know that I would have taken that bet. I would have thought that Ron would have been the last primary challenger standing. Yeah, well, I think that part of the reason for that is that as you alluded to in the beautiful music video,

that Ron thinks that he has a chance for 2028 still. Hey. I find that preposterous based on his candidate skills, though I will set him up, you've noticed he's had a couple of like borderline human social media posts in the last week. His skin is looking a little better. There's like a selfie video of him and his kid, you know, talking about the football games this weekend. And I, you know, it didn't seem like it was, you know, he was in the uncanny valley between human and automaton in the video.

And so who knows what the future could bring. Nikki is just not like, look, the party is magna now. Like the party from my era when I was a Republican consultant in the aughts in the early 2010s is just gone. I like the, the Republican voters are not interested in any voter or excuse me, in any politician that kind of smells like George Bush that looks like that feels like that they're from the George Bush era. They do not want someone that's going to even talk about compassionate conservatism, whether or not they live up to it.

Like they want MAGA. They want full MAGA and if Trump chokes on a cheeseburger, fingers crossed, like they're going to find somebody else that's full maga and I think Nikki recognizes that and so she has a little bit more room to kind of do a kamikaze, who knows, you know, let's give this a shot campaign because you know, the party's not coming back to her in four years. What does George Bush smell like? No, I'm just kidding, you don't have to answer that. Well, paint. Hot dogs, chewing tobacco. Paint, war crimes, the usual, yeah. You don't have to answer that. Well, paint. Hot dogs chewing tobacco. Paint war crimes, the usual. Yeah. So let me ask you this, though.

Where is Jeb? Donde está Jeb? Why, he showed up to, like, I think, DeSantis' announcement. Why wasn't he more vocal in his support? I don't know. I mean, for the reason I just laid out, I don't think that Jeb helps DeSantis having a month or two at least in a primary setting i feel one

of my co-hosts on the board podcast used to tease me and so that if you mark the time that jim cause i endorsed a sentence and and look at his poll chart from there was all down hill for that or so i don't really blame it on jim but uh... i i i think that he recognizes that these vote the voters are ready to move on So I don't really blame it on Jeb, but yeah, I think that he recognizes that these voters are ready to move on from the Bush Party. The literal answer to your question is it's his 50th anniversary coming up soon, which

he'll be celebrating in Mexico. We were emailing about that the other day. And I think he's in high spirits. He's golfing, he's going to yoga, he's hanging out with Columba. His life is pretty good. He doesn't have to pretend like, you know, he needs to suck up to Donald Trump to have a future like these other assholes. Please clap. So, I do on that same note though, I understand why the electeds have to like,

you know, kiss Trump's ring and the Moga, yeah, well, the Moga grifters, you know, have make a living from it. But what about the people outside of the government? Where are some Trump's ring and the Moga, yeah, well, the Moga grifters, you know, I have make a living from it. But what about the people outside of the government? Where are some of these more establishment old school conservatives? We hear from of all people, Dick Cheney every once in a while, he speaks out against them. But like, and I guess we're kind of waiting for Mattis and, you know, Kelly and Tillerson,

maybe some of those people who serve Trump and know better. But like this election cycle are we going to hear from like some former grill conservatives or old-school GOP people going like what the hell are we doing? That is a totally fair critique and one that I share for this primary and I've been f***ing ranting about it for weeks now. Months. Nobody even put up a concerted campaign against Trump. I don't know that it would have mattered really. I know it would have mattered obviously if 10 more Republicans had the balls to convict him in the Senate and had old man Mitch like whipped votes to convict him from the second

impeachment then Trump would have been barred from running. But after they failed to do that, I don't know if all of the old wise men coming together to campaign against Trump in this primary would have made a difference, but it was worth a try. It was better than doing nothing. But what about in the general? Sitting around and just letting him win. What about in the general? Without campaign against him.

So, I know I have friends and others in the never-Trump world. We are organizing, and we're going to be organizing as many of these guys that have the backbone to do it, to do ads and campaign against Donald Trump here in the general election. And I think that that will include some former Trump officials and it'll include some old Bush era folks. But that's something that we're going to be working on. And I mean, I don't know, man. So many of them have let me down so often the last eight years.

I'm not getting my hopes up, but I do think that they'll be, we'll have some, yeah. Mason, interesting point earlier, made several interesting points. The one I wanted to circle back to was about the idea that DeSantis thought he was going to run as like the Trump but with policy chops, as if the Republican base in a primary gives a shit about policy chops. Because when you think about it, agree or disagree with what it is that DeSantis has done here in the state of Florida, a lot of it is the Jeb Bush blueprint. I mean, the quarter century effort to destroy the public school system,

you know, developed Christian Madras's here in Florida, Maghotov, he has achieved much of that extraordinary vision. And even some of the culture wars shit goes back to Terry Shiveau, which was, I think, the most embarrassing moment in the history of, one of the most embarrassing moments in the history of the state, certainly in the political career of Jeb Bush,

but the idea that Republicans were looking for someone to make a case for conservatism, or make a case for like, I actually can achieve these policy ends when you go to a Trump rally and they can't tell you what policies they agreed or liked about the first Trump administration, right? I mean, it's all just grievance.

I totally agree with your political analysis. I guess I'll say that first about what the MAGA voters want. It is positional, it's cultural, it's owning the libs. It's who's going to be the big middle finger against all the people that I hate, whether that's elites or Democrats or gay teachers or immigrants or dis... Whoever it is this week on Fox, if people are mad at, they want somebody that can best channel that anger and grievance. And, and DeSantis is like lame attempt to try to do that, you know, through policy obviously wasn't going to work

Trump, because Trump is the visceral middle finger that these people have. So, you know, and look, I think that, yeah, this was the interesting thing about the DeSantis and Jeb dynamic, you know, if we're just being serious about their policy, like behind the scenes, like the DeSantis that was not on Fox News did have a lot of similarities with Jeb. And that included some of the more conservative policies you laid out like education. It also included like DeSantis was an horrible like Everglades stuff and, and, and, you know, other environmental stuff just like Jeb wasn't, it wasn't the thing that he led with when pitching himself. The big difference between the two of them

was DeSantis tried to do the performative mega crap. You never would have had Jeb send some immigrant on a plane to Martha's Vineyard to piss off the librarian or whatever, to try to trigger the librarian. And that was really how DeSantis just tried to distinguish himself. And he just wasn't very good at it.

And he just came off as being cruel. And as cruel as he is has kind of this whatever people find him funny. And he can do it with a little bit of a wink and like DeSantis is like not capable of doing that as a, and I think that is a big part of the reason why he ended up just not wearing well with the Maga voter. Yeah, it's a cult of personality. You're not going to win in that kind of primary. Last question before we go,

you were a comms guy, political consultant. The strategy that DeSantis had in this primary of, we know Trump's gonna punch down, that's what he does. But then DeSantis punching down, how are you gonna win? You're not gonna win that fight. But you made a point earlier about Ron DeSantis, apparently, has taken over his own Twitter account. and there's this dark DeSantis character now that's actually like, I'm wondering as a comms guy, where the hell was this guy? We're showing, for those listening,

we're showing a tweet right now where Politico was reporting that some Florida Republicans want taxpayers to pay Trump's legal bills. And this was a bill introduced by Eliana Garcia, a woman who only won in Miami because of legitimate election fraud, someone who was actually charged over this. So she files this bill, Jimmy Petronas supports it, and Politico runs this. Some Florida Republicans want to spend $5 million to help defend Donald Trump and pay his legal bills. And Ron DeSantis retweets this with a sub-tweet, but not the Florida Republican who wields the veto pen. Badass.

I mean, like, it's like, what's that headline? When the worst person you know makes a good point, you know, kind of thing, like. Pretty good, meatball. Where it was just, I agree. Look, I said this from of thing like. Pretty good, meatball. I agree. Look, I said this from the start. I was I was bullish on DeSantis for about a month in November of 2022. And the theory of the case that a lot of reporters called me and they said, just,

I know you hate Ron DeSantis. And, you know, don't say all the shit that he did that was noxious is I've never liked him. But like, what advice would you give him if you called you? And after the midterms, I said, look, I think that he should immediately start the campaign right now. Donald Trump is a loser. Donald Trump is a weakling. I can actually give you all the mag of shit that you like and actually get it done. And that's the whole campaign. Like, you don't need it. You don't have to be TD. You know, he didn't have to go after Trump on everything like some of us who are never Trumpers do. But it's just, it's a simple message. Trump is a loser.

Trump's stealing from you, right? With this month, like Trump's asking you for money to pay for his legal bills. He's a criminal and he's a loser and we can give you all the mag of stuff you want without him. Instead of that, he did, he decided to have that Florida legislative session

where it's like, I'm gonna get to Trump's right on culture war issues and attack Disney and do, don't say gay all the way into junior college instead of just kindergarten and all like all the other crazy culture warship that he did. And and and that was just a fundamental mistake. And I don't know that it probably might not have mattered if the party's a cult of personality, but he at least would have been in the ball game if we had that kind of dark dark run from day one. Tim Miller, thebullwork.com. Thanks so much for being here.

Thanks, Billy. Hi, Roy. How are you doing? Hey, Jim. You know, I notice that whenever I call in call in sometimes it's Billy sometimes it's Dan They're always angry. They're always yelling. There's always a lot of tension. Oh, yeah Why is that? It's it's all sexual tension Jim, but but but really you're a sea of calm throughout it all no matter What chaos is going on around you? You are just a read on the lake,

just sort of floating along and making the checks clear and thinking that God is good and you know, and you just sort of, it could be worse than being in Miami. Yeah, well, I'm a historic individual, Jim. So, you know, everything just, it's just even. That's it. Roy is deceiving because. Excuse me?

He is deceiving because he's like Zen-ish. Like he gives off that air of Zen, but like whereas like me and Dan, like our tension is all extroverted, it's all outward, Roy is f***ing seething on the inside. Yeah, absolutely. Like, like. Yeah, everything's internal. I mean, it's just app.

He is, he is, he's on point. He's three years, he's three years from an ulcer, is what you're saying. He is on his way. Three years from an ulcer. I need to start drinking more milk. Yeah, he is like a kettle on a stove. Like, I can, you can't hear it whistling yet,

but it's gonna, it's gonna, it's gonna happen. Yeah, you know, Roy is a Bright Line train just cruising along, you know, on it. You know, I pitched the head of Bright Line. This is my favorite pitch I ever did on a story. They came in a couple of years ago and they were trying to do a goodwill tour and I'm sitting with them in the conference room.

They're head of PR, the head of the thing. Some guy with an Irish name. He's actually Irish. I can't remember it now. And they were trying to do some promotion. And I said, I got an idea. I'd like to pitch you a story. And he went, sure, go ahead.

I'd like to meet with the train engineers who have killed all those people, like, because I got to think. Wow. Because no, no, no, because I gotta think. Wow. No, no, no, because here, but listen to me, I think it's a good, I think it's, would be an important and good story that they should wanna do. If so many people commit suicide

by walking out in front of the train. And in a way, I think they think it's a victimless crime that they're only hurting themselves. But imagine being the guy in that lead car, seeing this person standing there and knowing there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop it as you plow them through that person. The psychological toll on that, and that's been going on for years. And I just thought that if you brought that out, if you had that moment where an engineer was willing to speak about the pain that I

caused, it might ignore differently to how it affects me. And he just looked at me and he went, we'll get back to you. And then I never heard from them again. There are serial killers with fewer bodies than train conductors of the Bright Line, which for those of you who don't know, Bright Line per square mile is the deadliest train in the United States of America, possibly the world. But Jim, I don't know if I'm at a place here or at a line, but Jeremy on the show, he commutes with a bright line every day, and he has been on the train when it's hit someone. And as a passenger, he said it's extremely traumatizing. He relayed the whole experience to me, which I won't. I've asked him to come on because

Miami to talk about it, and I think he wants to bring on Brightline as a sponsor for him so we can get unlimited Skittles in the first class train, get those free upgrades. But like it really sounds like a really upsetting experience. And he said like just the atmosphere in the train amongst the fellow passengers when this happens, the train comes to a stop, they make an announcement that there's been a trespassing incident. That's the first thing when this happens. The train comes to a stop. They make an announcement that there's been

a trespassing incident. That's the first thing that they say. And then of course the murmuring through the passengers are like, what do you mean? Did somebody get on the train who's not supposed to be on the train? And then they start to, you know, they hear the ambulance come, they hear the police,

you know, and then they start to slowly reveal more information about what's actually happening. And it just sounds like a really disturbing and upsetting set of circumstances that I think you're right, it would be interesting to learn more about Jesus. But yeah, I pitched that and the guy just looked at me, the PR guy was amazed.

But here, but here's the one thing that we can think away from this. At least the Sky train at the airport hasn't killed anybody because it's not moving. How's that for a Segway? Wow. It's still might kill people. You've been doing it stationary. Great. Well, it almost did. I mean, the thing was really cracking apart. Great Segway. Run

the clip. So then I started looking around and I noticed other escalators were broken and elevators were out of service and the moving walkways were down. So I sent out a tweet saying, is Miami International Airport the worst run airport in America? Now after my tweets Miami-Dade Mayor Daniela Levine Kava held a press conference, which I'm told was in the works before I caused a stir. And the mayor seemed really eager to make that point at the start of her press conference. I want to be very clear, we are not here today because of a few tweets. We are not here because of a couple of escalators or elevators.

We're here because I have prioritized deferred maintenance since day one. Okay, that's all well and good. CBS Miami investigative reporter and the host of its popular Sunday morning political show facing South Florida. Jim DeFede is here. To answer your question, is Miami International Airport the worst run airport in the country? Yes. When I say that Miami has third world government and fourth world infrastructure, nothing embodies

that statement quite like MIA. This is one of the most vital pieces of infrastructure in the community. It is the heartbeat of the entire economy, responsible for bringing people in and out of a tourism driven market. And it has been nothing but a money pit and ATM machine for the cronies of corrupt politicians in this community dating back three decades to Miami Dade County mayor

Alex Pinellis and nobody has done a damn thing about it. It is the first and last impression of everybody who visits this community and I got off the plane amazingly, last week for that press conference, I came back into town that night, late Thursday night, so I couldn't be there. I get off the plane, Roy, I exit my gate, walk straight out, and I run into a sign that says, restroom closed for maintenance.

That's the first, and then I went, ah, I'm home. I knew right away. Jim. You're really making my trip to Las Vegas into a weekend and have some very pleasant. Well, on the upside, you're going to a real airport. Like I came from LGA, which used to be, Joe Biden once called LaGuardia a third world airport.

And now it's like beautiful and like so beautiful. I still wouldn't eat the sushi at L LGA though at LaGuardia. I don't eat airport sushi. That's not a thing that I do. But LaGuardia is beautiful now. And then I wind up in Miami and I'm like, this is this place has been under construction my entire life. I used to joke when I was a kid that the sign should say, welcome to Miami International Airport. We're sorry for the inconvenience because like that's everybody's experience.

Jim, Miami Dade Mayor Daniela Levine-Cava, nothing says we're here because of a few tweets than her opening her press conference with, we're not here because of a few tweets. Even though that press conference might have already been in the works, you ripped her on your show on Sunday this week. And then she appeared later on another Sunday show after she had a chance to watch your show on Sunday this week. And then she appeared later on another Sunday show after she had a chance to watch your show

and she didn't really have an answer and explanation for it. So tell me about your experience at the airport and how did you feel about the mayor's response? Yeah, so the problem with the airport is they keep trying to expand, expand, expand. And so they start adding gates that are barely even in the airport. I mean, they actually are on the tarmac. Like it's like, I wondered if I was in Opalaka

at one point when you go to gate D 60, it's at the very far end. It's part of American Airlines, I guess. Part of America, I guess. It's right. And so you have to go. It is literally a mile. That's not like a, oh, it's a feel like I've walked a mile. No, it is a mile. Yes. In length from when you enter the airport to gate D 60 to get onto your plane. That is how far it is. And so there used to be a thing called the Sky train, which would run the length of the D concourse that would be able to, you know, take people to and from so you can get to your flights on time.

But when I flew through to go to Des Moines and back to cover the Iowa caucuses in December, I left out a gate D60. The Sky train was down. It had a nice sign that said to close for maintenance. I thought to myself, great, that's my look. I just happened to pick a couple of days where the train is undergoing maintenance and all right, I'll just deal with it. And I slept my way to D60.

And then I came back from Iowa and it was still broken. And then I thought, okay, well maintenance, I guess it's more involved. And then a month later, I went to Tallahassee and it was still down for maintenance. And that's when I started making phone calls and I realized it wasn't maintenance. It was because that the pillars that keep the sky train up, the concrete pillars had

major cracks in them that were suddenly discovered, first a few cracks, then they sent inspectors along the length of the entire thing and discovered a lot more cracks and then they realized we got to shut this thing down before it collapses and kill somebody. And so that's when they created these signs that said down for maintenance. Now I don't know about you, but to me, you know, when something is at the verge of killing people because it's so unsafe, that's not maintenance. That's a major structural issue.

And my problem was that it went down in September. So by the time I flew in December and then again in January, if I had known, I might have made other plans. But the public was never made aware of what exactly these problems were. And in going to your point about Danielle Levine Kava, the problem that I have with her press conference, look, I think it's good that she's now focused on, you know, doing the type of maintenance that needs to be done. That she's investing the money to improve the airport. I'm fine with all that, but just take responsibility. Don't go to the press conference and blame past administrations

for their failures when you've been in office for three years and prior to that you were a county commissioner for many more years before that. Six years, yeah. So don't blame others. Just if she had just said, you know what? We made a mistake, we should, we put this off, we shouldn't have, but I'm gonna do what's right now

and we're gonna get it taken care of. That would have been the end of it. But by blaming the past, by blaming others and not taking the responsibility on herself, then she opened herself up to criticism. And now you've got a guy like the former County Mayor, Congressman Carlos Jimenez, who let's face it, isn't exactly the cheeryest guy in the world,

but you suddenly seed him the high ground so that he gets to come on and yell, well, it wasn't my fault, you know, and she's been in office for three years. Why isn't she dealing? And now you've got a feud and nothing good is accomplished from any of them. The bottom line is, is when you read the sign maintenance, you thought that meant maintenance, right?

And this is going to help you. Yeah, you know, like maybe, maybe, maybe they needed to change the spark plugs on the Sky Train, you know, maybe some, maybe some of the seats need polishing or something. Maybe they needed to change the spark plugs on the SkyTrain. Maybe some of the seats need polishing or something. I don't know. Oil in the wheels. A little oil, yeah, exactly. I take my car in for maintenance.

When I take my car in for maintenance, it usually doesn't stay at the shop for six months. Well, the bottom line is when you saw signs and they're still up now, that it's closed for maintenance, that That's a lie at the time that you first saw those science gym. It was closed indefinitely, okay at the time they had no ETA as to when the work was going to be done not to mention this piece of infrastructure is 25 years old maybe less 22 23 years old we spent hundreds of millions of dollars on it.

And if it had been done right the first time, there probably shouldn't be cracks that are this potentially fatal at this point. My concern was, why did these, the cracks not show up sooner? In other words, they found some cracks and then they did a bigger search and found a lot more cracks.

Well, they did, They first appeared in about 2021 and they were notated as minor cracks and not at all concerning. And two years later, all of a sudden, it's shut this thing down immediately. And I have a question. Is anybody gonna go back and look at the contractor, look who's, you know, T.O. or Primo got that deal

and see if they did a good job the first time such that less than a quarter century later We're concerned about this and I want to stay on this definition of the word maintenance issue for a second I want to play this rerun this little clip here from the mayor We're here because I have prioritized deferred maintenance since day one. Okay Prioritized deferred maintenance. Okay, since day one first of all, there's no I'm not even on day one. OK. Prioritize deferred maintenance. OK. Since day one. First of all, there's no, I'm not even on day one yet, but I will get there. OK. Deferred maintenance.

There's no such thing as deferred maintenance. It's either maintenance or you're not maintaining it. If you're deferring it, then it's not maintenance, number one. But to say I'm prior, I prioritize deferred maintenance, that's a double negative. You've added six syllables into that nine syllable phrase that you don't need. Prioritizing deferred maintenance is simply maintenance,

okay? That's- She prioritized deference. That's what it is. And further, she says from day one, but on the Sunday show after yours, Jim, she went on to say that she didn't even know how bad the situation was at the airport

until she became mayor, which I mean, I'll get to that in a moment. But then she said it took years, years was her word, to get the contracts to where she needed, so she couldn't have prioritized anything from day one if it also took her years to get her act together and have a press conference just so happens by coincidence, Roy. This press conference about what a dump the airport is happens in an election year when she's up for reelection so Jim come on dude. All right so let's take a couple of things here because I do you know I think like I said the airport is a major part of this community it is vastly important for the economics of this

community as well as the seaport again I think Daniela Levine Kava could have done better on this. But one of the fears that I do have, and I've told this to you in our conversations, I don't want this to be a pretext for Tallahassee and Governor DeSantis to swoop in and say, we're going to take the airport and seaport away from Dade County control and create an unelected board that the Santas donors will get to sit on to oversee the airport. Why not? Why not, Jim? Are they going to do worse? I understand. I understand. I understand that very well do work. The governor wants to hijack our multi-billion dollar revenue generating airport.

So some of that, some of that, those kickbacks will go to him instead of our local officials and the port. Now, but like this is vital infrastructure. Could he do, and he wants to hijack it like he did Disney and the Reedy Creek Improvement District, but, and of course the, what the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, will he do, will they do so much worse than Miami-Dade County has done over the last 30 years? I have a basic problem with taking away local control from local elected officials who, while we have a terrible ability to hold them accountable because people refuse to vote,

it still is an opportunity to hold them accountable, whereas if you only have a board that is overseen by appointees, by the governor, who are often in other airport authorities that he's appointed to, major campaign donors, then there is no accountability. They're only accountable to the governor that they serve, as opposed to at least there's a possibility of forcing a mayor like Daniel Ovincava to hold a press conference and in an election year, worry enough about the airport to actually do something about it, an independent board and authority, I don't think you could ever hold them accountable.

When we come back more with CBS Miami's Jim DeFede, brought to you by the Bright Line Death Train. When I was commissioner, these items were not presented to us, right? We certainly looked at growth issues. And so certainly now that I'm responsible directly and I've been digging, I found out it took us a couple of years to, unfortunately, to change out the contract so that we could be aggressively pursuing these conveyances.

And that is what we are doing. We're back with Jim DeFede from CBS Miami, who really has been highlighting what everybody who comes to the city of Miami realizes when they get here, which is that this airport is not of this century. It's not even really of the last century. It's certainly not of a first world country. And that was Miami Dade County Mayor Daniela Levine Kava not really responding to some of the criticisms that Jim DeFede leveled on his CBS Miami Sunday morning program

later that same day. Jim, I find it very hard to believe, as she is kind of alluding to there, and she has in some other videos, interviews on this subject, that until she became mayor of the county three years ago, she was unaware of what a mess the airport is. She was a county commissioner for six years before she was, she's been mayor for the last three. This is a $12 billion a year budgeted county. And are they just so out of touch? Like once you get elected, you breathe that rarefied air where they have no idea what us plebes have to go through

at the airport to get on a plane. Like she probably doesn't park in the parking lot and have to navigate her way from a parking space with no working elevators or walkways into the terminal building. probably doesn't park in the parking lot and have to navigate her way from a parking space with no working elevators or walkways into the terminal building. Finally, when she gets to the terminal dealing with understaffed TSA checkpoints,

then having to make her way a mile, literally a mile in some cases, through terminal or D at the, like she just doesn't know, she probably gets dropped right off at the door, jumps onto a golf cart and gets buzzed away. Is that the problem here? Is it like she's just totally out of touch?

There has been a history at the airport of county commissioners, and I don't know if Daniela has partaken of this, but certainly there are commissioners who are given VIP status and have for decades. I mean, I can go back to Joe Gerson. Joe Gerson used to go up to the counters of American Airlines and demand to be given free upgrades to first class by yelling that he was the chair of the aviation committee

and anyone who didn't give him a first class ticket, he'd cost them a gate, American Airlines a gate at that MIA. So I mean, that sort of stuff, hijinks has been going on for a long time. Look, I get it from Danielle's perspective. You know, if there's a problem with the contract, if there's a problem with a certain issue at the airport, you know, you hope to be brought in, but to your larger point, you're right. Anyone who's spent any time at that airport,

walking through it, knows that it's not great, you know, and that if, especially if you travel as much as the mayor does, you know, when you go to other cities and you see their airports and you compare it to ours, I think you get that feeling. And you experienced women crying at the airport and people. But what was your experience that you sent out that mean tweet, Jim? So again, I was at the far flung gate D60. You know, I was there with my photographer.

We were coming back from Des Moines. He had a bunch of gear and the prospect of us actually walking the mile did not seem great. So we actually waited for one of the golf cart trolleys that are supposed to be running up and down the airport, you know, to take people through to come by. We waited, you know, it took about 15, 20 minutes before one of the golf carts came by and we, you know, by photographer Leon and I, we loaded up into the golf cart and we start going and anyone who's ever taken one of these golf carts it's a trip because the horn doesn't

really work so it mostly involves the guy driving the golf cart just going beep beep beep out of the way beep as they run up on the heels of people like beeping with his mouth you mean with his mouth you know he's saying beep excuse, beep. And he's like, and people got iPads on and he gets right up behind them, you know, and just goes, beep, beep, you know, and, you know, and these people turn and scatter. And at one point, you know, this, this poor, in this case, this was a woman at this time, was so like clearly had, had not had a break, just hustling people up and back,

that she turned to me and said, I have to go to the bathroom. And I was like, okay, she said, I'm gonna stop. And she stopped at one of the restrooms that actually was working and left me, and my photographer and several other people in the golf cart, and she went in to use the bathroom. And we're just sort of sitting there,

people are walking by and I couldn't help but just as somebody walked by, I just went, bee, bee, you know, just for the, just because I thought that's what I was supposed to do, sitting in the golf cart. We're going and there was a woman who literally almost jumped out in front of the golf cart. And then just what is the bright lighting? They started pleading no to pleading. Can you please take

my mother to baggage claim? I can't get her there. It's too far. No. And so we know we loaded her mother up on the on the golf cart to get her. And and it's just sort of like like it felt like it felt like you know, I was on the roof of the American Embassy in Saigon as the last choppers were coming through. And this woman was saying, please take my mother, please take my mother, you know, go on without me. You know, and I, you know, I ended up helping the woman myself to baggage claim and she didn't speak a word of English and just stood there and I went, okay, well, wait here and then I left.

And that was my, and that, and you know, people are upset by this and I understand. You could have called ahead and asked for a wheelchair, but I'm sure the woman wasn't thinking that I'd have to walk with my mother a Mile in order to get to the baggage claim area, you know Yes, she could have you know waited for an empty golf cart But where she was standing there weren't gonna be any up in the golf carts

And so yes, you know Miami deserves better. It should have better do I said, I, as I said, you know, I'm glad the mayor is now focused on it. And if it took folks lighting a fire under or an election year, that makes my point before about, you know, holding elected officials accountable so that they can then at least try to do the right thing or be forced to do the right thing in an election year. Before I forget, we're going to have to do a whole segment or podcast in the future about Joey Gersten. Let's not open up that can of crack, but we're gonna have to do that. And maybe we should get Adam Gersten, the owner of Gramps and Winwood on here, to talk about Uncle Joe, because that is a hell of a story. Miami's second craziest Joe. Jim,

before we go, though, I have to introduce the audience to Luby Navarro, former Miami-Dade County School Board member. Here's a clip from a 2022 School Board meeting. Many people in the community don't know how much, how important faith is to us, but we have expressed that many times and I know and hope that this item will pass today not only with my support but with the unanimous support so that we send a message to our community that we have one Creator, one Creator and that is not a church gathering. That was, as I said, a Miami-Dade County Public School Board meeting and they voted unanimously for a national day of prayer. I guess they

had these shredder machines warmed up for the Constitution as well. But this Luby Navarro is a woman of faith, Jim DeFede. This is a woman who thinks of God in everything that she says and does, and that is the way she lives her life. And this is not just a Ms. Navarro. This is a Dr. Navarro. Now to be clear, when I refer to her as Dr. Luby Navarro,

she does not have a medical degree or even a doctorate. She refers to herself as Dr. Navarro because in 2019 she was handed an honorary degree from the Catholic University of New Spain, which is located on the ninth floor of an office building in downtown Miami. Jim, before we get into the status of her doctorate here, what happened last week with Lubey Navarro? Lubey was arrested. Lubey was arrested by the Miami State Attorney's Office

for accused of stealing $100,000 by running up bills on her school board issued credit card. Basically, it was according to investigators, according to prosecutors, the scheme was a fairly simple one. She would use the credit card for all sorts of personal purchases, including a trip with her mother to the Dominican Republic, a trip with her boyfriend to Las Vegas. to with her mother to the Dominican Republic that trip with her boyfriend to Las Vegas, Vegas baby. Then there was, she would also use the credit card to buy gift cards, about $40,000 or more

than $40,000 in gift cards, which she could then use to either buy other items that she didn't want to have show up on the credit card, or she could give to friends and family members for them to use so all total is about a hundred thousand dollars that she let's be clear she denies the allegations and her attorney ben cuny says that she will ultimately be exonerated

but right now she is uh... out on bond that she's wearing an ankle monitor and she's not having a great week. Two things I want to add, Ben Cuny most recently represented another elected public official at trial, Joe Corroyo, and lost 63.5 million dollar verdict. So good luck to Lubey and to with her with her lawyer Ben Cuny. But also, Roy, this is a very important detail. Things that Lubey Navarro bought with her Miami-Dade County School Board credit card. She spent tens of thousands of dollars outfitting

her now ex-boyfriend's Fort Lauderdale restaurant, like refrigeration units and various other pieces of kitchen appliances and electronics, really to curry favor with him because she did not want to let this man go. How do I know? Because one of the other things she bought with her Miami-Dade County Public School Board credit card is from Amazon she ordered multiple silicone false bellies

because she was attempting allegedly, prosecutors say, to fool this ex-boyfriend that she was pregnant with his baby so that he would not leave her. Real woman of God, this lady here. Real woman of God, that is absolutely, we have one creator, one. I don't care about the Jews and the Muslims or the Buddhists or anybody, we have one creator

in Miami-Dade County public schools and that this woman I think she worships the almighty dollar is what I think but most of all you also you also forgot she Detectives also say they found Two electronic tracking devices that were duct taped under the wheel well of her boyfriend's car and under the Front grill so she could keep tabs on where he was going. Oh. This was a good relationship. She was not going to let this guy go.

I hope he doesn't have any pet rabbits. That was a... I mean, Billy, you... I don't know about you, but I expect more from a doctor of that. I mean, Dan, we don't know... We don't know, you know, she denies these allegations, but if they are true, it's very disappointing for someone who's a doctor. Before we go, last minute, update us on the status. What did the new, what is it, the

Catholic University of New Spain located in an office building in downtown, right down the street here from the studio what what is the right i i i called the chancellor of the uh... catholic university of new spain chance and i informed him that uh... he is one of his on a redacted or all recipients was accused of that i outlined all the things that she's accused of and he went

all heavens that's not good and uh call me back about 20 minutes later to announce that they were stripping her of her honorary doctorate. No she's not a doctor anymore. Well you can you can call Lubey Navarro a lot of things and people have and will but one thing you will not be able to call her in the future is Dr. Lubey Navarro. Jim DeVidi, CBS News. Jim, thanks so much for being here. Go to CBS Miami.com. Follow Jim's outstanding work.

Watch him every Sunday morning. It's well worth it. And some of his fabulous documentaries are available online there, which we've talked about on this show. Jim, thank you so much. Thanks, Billy. Thanks, Roy. You know, Roy, it gets a little bit exhausting

because like I go to these meetings to speak truth to power because I hear from a lot of people in and around the city, business owners, residents and people who work in city government. You know, there's hundreds of people in the city government who are being held hostage by this Miami mafia, this toxic work environment of just fear and intimidation and threats. None of them feel like they have a voice because if they speak up, they're going to threaten

their livelihood. They're not going to be able to feed and clothe and shelter their children. I hear from them constantly, all the time. And they suffer from stress, they suffer from anxiety, clinical depression, some of them. One woman died. She was a civilian employee, she was a supervisor of the property unit in the Miami police department.

She dropped dead in the police department, on the ground, in front of her husband and daughter of what was allegedly a work-related stress heart attack, right there. Corruption is not a victimless crime. And there are people who are suffering in silence, and I had this, you know, little platform, and if I can help amplify the message or give voice

to people who feel like they can't speak for themselves, what else do you have a platform for? And... Joe Carollo... He's always been her wife, dear Yeah, that's Joe Carollo, friend has threatened me multiple times from the deus. Fortunately, part of the advantage that I have is I don't live in the city of Miami. I don't live in this mafia-controlled territory where it

would be a damn shame if something would happen to your nice home or business. And he has actually threatened me from the dais where he said, if little Billy, lived in the city, I would send code enforcement to his house to mess with him, which by the way is a violation of the Charter and now Roy the latest and the greatest is the ball and chain guys Who have three lawsuits going against the city in Joe Corolla? Either Individually or and you know the government itself they have filed another lawsuit claiming that very

Charter violation that Joe Corolla was found by a court of law certified by a federal judge to have violated the Constitution of the United States and their First Amendment rights, that by the Citizens Bill of Rights in the city of Miami Charter, he should be immediately removed from office. And he may very well be in the upcoming months.

And also what happened is Judge Rodney Smith in the federal trial that they got a $63.5 million judgment against Joe Corollo for corruption last summer, he executed a warrant as did the clerk of the federal courts in the southern district of Florida and that warrant, Roy, orders the U.S. Marshals to go to Joe Corroyo's house to his businesses and seize All of his property. I mean property like his house his underwear his um

Sox his socks any real estate cars I think I'm gonna wind up at some auction I think I'm gonna wind up at some auction buying his mother's costume jewelry And I'm gonna show up to the next city commission meeting all blinged out like Walter f***ing Mercado I'm sorry. You're gonna have to bleep that. Yes all the cans of Goya beans. That is his full name That is his full name by the way Walter f. Mercado and I don't rejoice in that. What am I talking?? Yeah, yeah, you're rejoicing. This is Corollo Freud. This is like Shadden Freud 10X.

You're doing backflips. I will tell you, Roy, I'm gonna leave you with this Miami moment with all of the news about the US Marshals getting ready to come in and just. FBI, open up! We'll see you next week, Cocanes. Bad news for Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo. We are learning U.S. federal marshals have been directed to seize the assets of Miami

Commissioner Joe Carollo. U.S. marshals a confiscar efectivo bienes y terrenos del comisionado de Miami, Joe Carollo. A federal court has directed a U.S. marshals to seize cash, goods and land from Carollo in order to enforce the more than $63 million judgment against him. Back in November, a federal court ordered the city of Miami to garnish the commissioner's wages. A judge is ordering one quarter of every city paycheck from Caroyo be taken to do so.

Caroyo was found liable last June, remind you, after two business owners filed a lawsuit accusing the commissioner of trying to destroy their businesses as political retaliation. Play the popcorn.