The David Pakman Show - 1/11/24: Anthony Weiner on the show, final GOP debate, Trump town hall

Episode Date: January 11, 2024

-- On the Show: -- Former Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner, now the host of "The Middle with Anthony Weiner" and co-host of "The Left vs. The Right with Anthony Weiner and Curtis Sliwa on WABC, joins David to discuss the 2024 election, the state of the economy, Joe Biden's presidency so far, and much more -- The final Republican presidential primary debate before the Iowa caucus takes place on CNN with only two participants, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley -- 2024 Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie ends his campaign and is caught on a hot mic criticizing his rivals, including Nikki Haley -- Hunter Biden shows up unexpectedly at a hearing in Washington DC and then walks out when Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene starts to speak, which wildly triggers Greene -- Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace tells Hunter Biden that he has "no balls" in a hearing gone wrong -- Former Republican Congressman George Santos is almost in tears during an interview with Piers Morgan when asked about why he lied so much and about so many things -- Failed former President Donald Trump's town hall on Fox News goes terribly wrong -- Fox News host Neil Cavuto tells Republican Congressman Tom Emmer the difficult truth that they have no evidence connecting President Joe Biden to any crimes -- Voicemail caller is reassured by David's lack of belief in psychics and tarot cards -- On the Bonus Show: Trump promotes false birther conspiracy about Nikki Haley, school district bans the dictionary to comply with Ron DeSantis' book-ban law, US says yes to new Bitcoin funds paving the way for more Americans to buy crypto, much more... 🧻 Reel Paper: Code PAKMAN for 30% OFF + free shipping at https://reelpaper.com/pakman ⚠️ Try Ground News and get 30% OFF the Vantage plan at https://ground.news/pakman 💻 Stay protected! Try our sponsor Aura FREE for 2 weeks at https://aura.com/pakman 💪 Athletic Greens is offering FREE year-supply of Vitamin D at https://athleticgreens.com/pakman -- Become a Supporter: http://www.davidpakman.com/membership -- Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/thedavidpakmanshow -- Subscribe to Pakman Live: https://www.youtube.com/pakmanlive -- Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/davidpakmanshow -- Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/davidpakmanshow -- Leave us a message at The David Pakman Show Voicemail Line (219)-2DAVIDP

Speaker 1 Just days before the first votes in the 2024 election, which will come in the Republican primary, specifically in the Iowa caucus on Monday, Martin Luther King Day. We have a whole bunch of election related events to discuss. It includes a town hall. It includes a candidate dropping out, Chris Christie, and it includes the final, quote, debate. Although there were only two people on the stage, this was a CNN hosted debate with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. The debate was only including Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley. And it got very, very ugly. And also it serves as a super useful reminder when we look at it in concert with Chris Christie dropping out in concert with Donald Trump's town hall and the questions he was asked in the town hall. It's an incredible reminder of the deranged and and

extreme ideological place where the modern Republican Party finds itself in 2024. So let's get right into it. We start with the debate. Nikki Haley and Ron DeSanctimonious, you know, the guy, the guy with the charisma. They were both asked about the recent claims by Trump's lawyers that presidential immunity could even include the assassination of a political rival if the president were not first impeached. Ron DeSantis was asked about it. Nikki Haley was asked about it. Let's look at their answers, starting with the failed Florida governor.

Let's talk about how you view the powers of the presidency because your opponent, Donald Trump, was in court yesterday for a hearing on presidential immunity. And Governor DeSantis, I'm wondering if you agree with the argument that Donald Trump's lawyer made in court that a president should have immunity for any conduct in office, including, as the judge asked, ordering the assassination of a political rival unless the president gets impeached and convicted by the Senate for the offense first. Well, obviously, that attorney gave the case away on that on that explanation. I think the D.C. Circuit is going to rule against Donald Trump

on that issue. I'm not exactly sure what the outer limits are. I don't think it's necessarily been litigated. It's not going to be an issue with me because I'm always exactly sure what the outer limits are. I don't think it's necessarily been litigated. It's not going to be an issue with me because I'm always going to follow the Constitution. There you go. So Ron DeSantis, his view is, listen, I think Trump will lose with me. I'll follow the Constitution. So it won't even be an issue. But the critical part of it is the Santa saying, I'm not sure what the outer limits are.

Maybe a president could get away with ordering a rival assassinated. Maybe a president could not. This question served to draw a very clear contrast between the insanity of DeSantis and the relative sanity of Nikki Haley. And again, I think Chris Christie was the most sane of the Republicans running. But Nikki Haley. And again, I think Chris Christie was the most sane of the Republicans running. But Nikki Haley was second to Chris Christie. And when Nikki Haley is given the opportunity to answer this question, is this could this be real? Nikki, please, governor, ambassador, whatever they call her now. Could a president order a political rival assassinated? She does the this doesn't even pass the sniff test thing. Of course they couldn't. Nikki Haley, clearly more connected, tethered to reality than Ron DeSantis.

Question was, do you agree with the argument Donald Trump's lawyer made in court that a president should have immunity for any conduct, including an ordering the assassination of a political rival, unless that president is impeached and convicted by the Senate for that offense? No, that's ridiculous. That's absolutely ridiculous. I mean, we need to use some common sense here. You can't go and kill a political rival and then claim, you know, immunity from a president. All right. So she's being clear about this.

Good for Nikki. On this stage, it's all about options from the folks on this stage. Nikki Haley is the better choice. And if you came to me and you said, sir, either DeSantis or Haley will be the next president, who do you choose? I obviously choose Nikki Haley. And this contrast where DeSantis goes, well, I won't violate the Constitution. Well, that wasn't the question, but I don't know what the outer limits are. And Nikki Haley says, of course, the president can't go and order rivals assassinated and then claim presidential immunity.

So good for Nikki Haley on this particular question. The issue of immigration then came up during this debate. Immigration being made a contentious issue in the absence of a serious critique of the Biden economy. They love talking about immigration. Ron DeSantis says there will be no amnesty when he is president, seemingly very out of step with the American public when it comes to DACA. I will explain in a moment. Here's DeSantis on immigration. There are more than 10 million undocumented immigrants already living in the

United States, according to Pew Research. Will any of them be allowed to stay in the United States under your administration? The number of people that will be amnestied when I'm president is zero. We cannot do an amnesty in this country. First of all, it's going to do is cause more people to want to come illegally. So you got to enforce the law. It's got to be consistent. People got to know it's there. You also. All right. So let's talk about this, because there's two aspects to this. Amnesty can mean many different things. Amnesty can mean a path to citizenship or amnesty can mean you're allowed to have some legal status with which to stay. What Ron DeSantis said there is both contrary to international law when it comes to those who have been granted asylum and contrary to public opinion. Let me explain.

When it comes to asylum claims, international law dictates that if you request asylum and are granted asylum, then you should be given some kind of permanent status. It doesn't mean citizenship, but it is a form of amnesty to say you have made it a claim that you are seeking asylum. It has been adjudicated by an immigration judge. you have been given the claim of asylum. Some kind of of permanent status should be granted by international law. So dissent is saying no one gets it violates international law when it comes to asylum seekers who have been granted asylum. Second, when it comes to DACA, what do we mean by DACA? DACA means you're in the United States illegally, but you were brought here by your parents

when you were under 18. Imagine a six month old, an eight year old individuals who can't say, oh, mom and dad or mom or dad, you're going to the United States illegally. I'll stay wherever we're coming from. Obviously, six months old, eight year olds, et cetera, aren't able to make those decisions. Seventy four percent of Americans as of three years ago, I would guess the number has increased since then, but doesn't matter. Seventy four percent of Americans as of three years ago believe that those who were brought here as minors should be granted some kind of amnesty. Now, amnesty doesn't necessarily mean citizenship, but some kind of

permanent protected status because they are really victims, not perpetrators. Ron DeSantis is out of step with that as well. So it's just a reminder of how disconnected the rhetoric and the ideology from these Republicans is from where the country is and is from where international law is a sort of awkward moment when both candidates, DeSantis and Haley, were asked, what do you admire about your opponent? DeSantis gave Nikki Haley a number of pseudo compliments and then Nikki Haley saying only I think he was a good governor. I don't think Nikki Haley is a big fan of Ron DeSantis. Governor DeSantis, let me ask you, what do you admire about Governor Haley? Well, look, I mean, I think that, you know, at the United Nations, I did think that she

she spoke out strongly on some key issues. And I appreciated that. I also appreciate the state of South Carolina. My wife is a college. What do you like about Nikki Haley? I appreciate the state of South Carolina. That wife is a college. What do you like about Nikki Haley? I appreciate the state of South Carolina. That's interesting. Charleston graduate. Her parents lived there for many, many years. And so it is a wonderful state. There's a lot of great people there.

And I think to be able to have been governor there is a great achievement. And I really appreciate everyone I've gotten to meet in South Carolina. Governor Haley, what do you admire about Governor DeSantis? I think he's been a good governor. OK. Yeah. Listen, I there's often this question asked at debates, and it's kind of like an attempt for everybody to make nice and the show that at the end of the day, we all rise above politics and we like each other as people. You know, you don't maybe they don't like each other as people. And that's actually OK. A very strange wire just appearing here.

Really strange stuff going on. Why? What is happening? My gesticulating just caught got my hand, got caught on a wire in the studio. I don't really need them to make nice with each other. And sometimes it gets a little bit awkward when they are kind of pushed into doing it. Ron DeSantis attempting to be funny and charismatic with a clearly planned line. Listen to this.

She's got this problem with ballistic podiatry, shooting herself in the foot every other day, saying things that now she doesn't even take questions from people. Ballistic podiatry shooting herself in the foot. Clearly, the crowd loving it. And then at some point in the debate, Nikki Haley sort of just fed up with the Santas saying you're desperate. Under her administration, you would have seniors getting a less cost of living adjustments while your tax dollars are going to pay the pensions of Ukrainian bureaucrats. You talk about putting Americans last. That is wrong. You've supported all that money going over there. So let's put our own people first. We have to put Governor Haley. And of course, DeSantis is desperate. DeSantis

is polling going from thirty one down to eleven. Well, Nikki's Haley, Nikki Haley's polling went from one up to eleven. He is desperate. At the end of the day, this is a fight for second place. I believe Haley will ultimately be in second place in that Republican primary. And it is abundantly clear that between these two, Nikki Haley is the more serious person. She is the more skilled and knowledgeable individual. And she is the more sane individual. The sanest is Chris Christie of the Republicans. But he has ended his campaign. It is over, ladies and gentlemen. The most obviously sane choice for Republican nominee,

former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, has ended his campaign and caught on a hot microphone moments before going out on stage to announce this, trashing his rivals, including Nikki Haley. As The New York Times reports, Christie's exit is jolted as hot Mike picks up his unvarnished view of rivals. Let's go to that audio. First and foremost, this is a former governor, Chris Christie, never pulled over three point five in Windham, New Hampshire, moments before announcing he is suspending as they never

end the campaign. You suspend it, I guess, so you can keep raising money and pay off some of your campaign debt if you have it saying Nikki Haley is going to get smoked. Ron DeSantis is scared. Take a listen. Speaker 4 People don't want to hear it when they don't want to hear it. We know we're right, but they don't want to hear it. And there's you know, we couldn't have been any clearer if we couldn't have any more any more director worked any harder. So, you know, Speaker 5 forget she spent 68 million. Yeah, you know. And let's not forget she spent $68 million. Yeah.

I mean, we spent like $10 million. Well, when you give land to China and places like that. Yeah, that's what you get. Yeah. I mean, look, she spent $68 million so far. Just on TV. The she he's referring to here is Nikki Haley. $68 million so far.

$59 million by DeSantis. And we spent $12. I mean, who's punching above their weight? And who's getting a return on their investment? you know, and she's going to get smoked. And you and I both know it. She's not up to this. She's still 20 points behind Trump in the future. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And he's going to he's still going to carry out. Yes. Always. I talk to DeSantis calls me petrified that I would be getting out of Iowa. And that was an interesting little note there.

He's probably getting out after Iowa, referring to Ron DeSantis. So listen, the one and only truly sane and honest guy in the Republican slate and Republicans didn't want him. We look at the polling. He got up to let's see, he's exiting at three point two. It doesn't really look like Christie ever pulled more than three point five. And here is his announcement telling the crowd, I can only assume the crowd was briefed in advance that this was going to be the end of Christie's campaign because they have essentially no reaction to the announcement.

Here is Christie announcing his time has come. I've always said that there came a point in time in this race where I couldn't see a path to accomplishing that goal. That I would get out. And it's clear to me tonight, right, that there isn't a path for me to win the nomination, which is why I'm suspending my campaign tonight for president, the United States. Silence. I know and I can see it from some of the faces here that I'm disappointing some people

by doing this. But at the end of the day, I never pulled more than 3% people who believe in our message and believe in what we've been doing. I also know, though, it's the right thing for me to do. And of course, it is true. I mean, listen, he took his obvious, sober, sane, anti-Trump message to the Republican electorate. And only three percent of them seemed to want it. And he was rejected by 97 percent of the Republican electorate, 63 percent of which wants more

Trump. This reminds us how dangerous the MAGA party is to the rest of the country, to the world. And Chris Christie now exits. Voting starts in just a few days. This is where we are. We have to battle the Republican Party that exists rather than the one that we would prefer exists. And this is where we are. We'll take a quick break. We'll talk about the Hunter Biden fiasco after the break. We will see clips from the Trump town hall and a very interesting guest will be joining us, by the way, Anthony Weiner. Looking forward to speaking to him. 30 million trees are destroyed every year for toilet paper in the U.S. alone. So toilet paper in the US alone. So toilet paper is a big contributor to deforestation and climate change. Our sponsor, Real Paper, makes toilet paper from bamboo. Bamboo plants

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The info is in the podcast notes. So much of the news that we read every day is driven by clickbait headlines, even from reputable sources, and we'll end up stuck in these echo chamber algorithms. And it's not a good thing at all. Our sponsor, Ground News, will pull you out of that situation. Ground News will give you a summary of every breaking news story. It'll show you how the left is covering it, how the right is covering it, how the center is covering it, assuming that they are covering it. If not, it'll tell you that. And then you can make your own mind up. For example, Ground News is showing me here how right wing news outlets have concocted this narrative that George Soros is some kind of Hamas apologist. Of course, only right wing news websites are pushing the story. And

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The link is in the podcast notes. I dare say a borderline Kafka esque moment yesterday in Washington, D.C., Hunter Biden, the beleaguered son of President Joe Biden, showing up unannounced in Washington, D.C., sitting in the audience of a hearing, walking out when Marjorie Taylor Greene started to speak wildly, triggering Marjorie Taylor Greene. This is some bonkers video. So let me first explain to you kind of the gist of what was going on here. Newsweek reporting Hunter Biden made an appearance Wednesday at the House Oversight Committee and left abruptly when Marjorie Taylor Greene was given the floor. The president's son has been the

target of a House Republican investigation over financial dealings where Republicans, congressional conservatives, purport that Joe and Hunter Biden benefited from transactions with Ukraine, China, Russia. Remember, they have no proof of any of this. Hunter showed up Wednesday as House Republicans intended to hold him in contempt for defying a congressional subpoena at the point at which Marjorie Taylor Greene started to speak. He just got up and left clearly planned in advance. He taps the guy next to him, who I believe is his lawyer, and it sends Marjorie Taylor

Greene into a bonkers tailspin. It really is. Listen, you can have a whole bunch of different perspectives on the Hunter Biden thing. And my perspective is it. I've seen no evidence that Joe Biden is connected to it. I've seen no evidence that Joe Biden is running interference legally for Hunter Biden and Hunter Biden should be treated as anybody else is, which is do we have evidence he did something wrong, committed a crime, charged the guy. I don't care.

OK, but the allegations being made by Republicans simply have no hold, no weight, hold no water, hold no oil, whatever. And here is Marjorie Taylor Greene really wanting her moment to dress him down. And he walks out and she doesn't like it. Speaker 4 Gentlemen, time's expired. Chair recognize Miss Greene from Georgia for five minutes. Speaker 5 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Excuse me, Hunter. Apparently, you're afraid of Hunter. My word. Oh, I like to reclaim my time, Mr. Chairman. First, their bubble.

Wow, that's too bad. There you go. Now of course, the big picture here and I don't know, it's like, is this a story or isn't it? Or is it only a story because Republicans are committed to making it one? The backstory on this is that Republicans want Hunter to testify behind closed doors and Hunter and his lawyers have insisted and many Democrats have insisted, let's do it in public. Right.

I mean, are you are you afraid of what he would say in public? Republicans have argued when the testimony is done in public, it becomes a circus and a sideshow and a performance, whether whereas they would really be able to get more, I guess, what they consider valuable or accurate information from him in a classified or not classified in a closed door setting. And this has been going back and forth. And as, of course, is the case. The argument yesterday from Democrats was, listen, he's here. Do you want to have him sit in public at the witness table and testify? And Republicans insist he's afraid to testify, but he's there and he's saying,

I'll do it publicly. But they don't actually want him to do that. They only want it behind closed doors. I think the entire thing is a mess. I genuinely don't even really know what Hunter's presence and then walking out when Marjorie Taylor Greene starts to speak accomplishes other than it has performative value. But the degree to which Marjorie Taylor Greene was triggered by this is absolutely fascinating. And his presence there seems to have broken the brains of multiple Republicans. I now want to talk about what Congresswoman Nancy Mace did. You may recall that Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace has appeared numerous times on Fox News, CNN and other media outlets and has made all sorts of allegations about the things that Joe and Hunter Biden supposedly

did. And every single time she's asked for evidence, sometimes it's from Fox host Maria Bartiromo. Sometimes it's CNN hosts. Nancy Mace is asked for evidence and she says, well, we're trying to get the evidence. We need the impeachment inquiry in order to find the evidence, which is an admission that it's merely a fishing expedition. They don't have the evidence. That's the bottom line, because it probably doesn't exist. As far as we know, Nancy Mace going after Hunter Biden during this very same house oversight hearing yesterday telling him he has no balls, which is funny because there are actually pictures that were leaked of Hunter Biden's testicles. So we know he does have them. It's particularly funny.

But here is an unhinged Nancy Mace. She's talking about white privilege. It's it's wild stuff. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman Comer. First of all, my first question is who bribed Hunter Biden to be here today? That's my first question. Second question. You are the epitome of white privilege coming into the oversight committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed. What are you afraid of?

You have no balls to come up here. And he's got no balls. I'm in point of inquiry, Mr. Chairman. By the way, Hunter Biden, just this is all a performance. And I'll be honest, it's a performance that's wasting taxpayer dollars. We should all be furious. Big picture about this entire thing. The micro of Hunter just sitting there with this expression on his face, like a sort of pseudo neutral expression as he's told he has no balls. Something about it is absolutely hilarious. If the gentlelady wants to hear from Hunter Biden, we can hear from him right now. Mr. Chairman, let's take a vote and hear from Hunter Biden. What are you afraid of? Hold on, hold on, hold on.

Order, order. Are women allowed to speak in here or no? Are women allowed to speak in here? It's so funny to hear Republican Nancy Mace talk about the white privilege of others and imply that because she's a woman, people are talking over her. Given the track record of the modern Republican Party, there's something stunningly ironic about that. You keep interrupting me. I'll interrupt the chairman. I don't know that he's a lady.

I think that that Hunter Biden should be arrested right here, right now and go straight to jail. Our nation is that due process on it, on the rule. Come on, come on. The premise that the law applies equally to everyone, no matter what your point of order, Mr. Chairman, point of order, it doesn't matter who you are. Point of order, Mr. Chairman, Biggs over here, Trump Jr. over here. State your point. My point of order is this. Are we going to continue on with with this blatant interruption? Yes. This this is absurd and inappropriate.

I intend to give my statement. I don't intend to have anybody interrupt. I'm not going to interrupt your statements. I think you should have decorum and courtesy and don't act like a bunch of Nimrod. All of a sudden they're concerned with decorum and courtesy. Isn't that funny? All of a sudden, the white privilege that didn't exist is attached to Hunter Biden because he's in the room.

All of a sudden, the total lack of any gender discrimination goes out the window when Nancy May suggests she's being interrupted because she's a woman. These people are pathetic. They are furious that they've been looking, looking, looking and can find no evidence tying Joe Biden to any of the alleged actions of Hunter Biden. This is now what happens. And to be very clear, I would love Hunter Biden to testify. I would prefer that it be done in public.

Let's just hear from the guy. I have fascinating video of failed former Congressman George Santos, the guy who claimed to be a volleyball star and finance superhero and many other things. He was interviewed by Piers Morgan. He was asked, why did you tell all those lies? Why is it a mental illness? What is it? And Santos is on the verge of tears, on the verge of tears and says he has no idea why he lied about it. This is a pretty interesting segment. Take a look at this. When you self-reflect, have you been able to work out what it is about you which made you lie so brazenly so often,

but often for no real reason that anyone can really work out other than you just lied? You know, Pierce, no. There's nothing I can say to that. There must be a reason. No. Really? No. Unfortunately, no.

But you're sure it's not a mental disorder? It's not a mental disorder. How can you be certain? Okay, well, are you willing to diagnose me here and now? No, I'm just curious. How do you know it's not? Oh, Pierce. Life hasn't been pretty, I'll put it that way.

And clearly, the last two years were tough. What's weird is it seems the last two years were mostly tough because he lied about everything. He's sort of suggesting the lies were caused by the last two years being tough. But it seems that the last two years were tough because he made up his entire life history. Things that happened in the campaign, I could I could barely ever even attempt to start explaining it. So I always choose to just it is what it is. Huh? It really is. It's just what it is is pathological lying. You don't want me to think you're a pathological. You can say that you can say that, well, you don't want me to think you're a pathological liar. You can say that.

Well, you don't think that's fair. You don't think it's fair. No, but it's your opinion. Is it fair? No, it's not, but it's your opinion. Explain why that's not accurate. It doesn't matter what I think, Peter. Actually, it does.

No, it doesn't, because you already have your predetermined thought. No, I don't. I'm only interested in facts. By your own admission, both in the last interview and again today, you have told repeated lies about almost every part of your life. And the question that people are wondering, now you've flamed out, is why? Because you actually came into Congress as a breath of fresh air. You had a big win. You were seen as an electoral, big electoral force.

A powerhouse. I was a powerhouse. And you hit suddenly he was a political powerhouse that I mean, he's continuing to lie in this interview. When when was he a political powerhouse? I don't remember that. You were the first openly gay Republican congressman with a 16 and a half point victory swing by Biden. So all of this was great, right? And yet you've blown that whole thing up because it turned out that you just had told endless lies. And the question is, everyone wants to know, and you've never really answered, is why?

And it's fascinating to me that you just don't have an answer or you don't want to give me an answer. I don't have an answer for you. I really don't. Wow. Speaker 1 By the way, I love the awkward pause. Childhood. No. Nothing. Nothing triggered this. No. No. Speaker 1 You know what? What's missing from this is some more specific options, right? Like, listen, George, did you lie because it was opportunistic?

You thought it would help you get elected. Did you lie because it just comes naturally to you to lie? Did you lie because you think it's fun? Was it because it helped you raise money? You know, there could be there has to be there has to be something here. You can't explain it. No, I can't explain it. Can't explain it.

Sorry, something about them staring at each other is just absolutely fascinating. So listen, I don't know that we've closed the book on George Santos. I wouldn't be shocked to see the guy run again with a totally different biography. I wouldn't be shocked to see him crop up in some other way for the sake of the Republican Party. I hope that this is it. And one of the things I want to talk to Anthony Weiner about after the break himself as someone who ultimately resigned, remember, Weiner resigned. Santos was was removed is what his thought was about this as as it was unfolding. So George Santos,

unable to tell us why did you lie about everything? Will we ever know the real reason? I hope so. You might remember that a few years ago, the show got hacked and a bunch of money was stolen and we never got it back. But I now have more peace of mind because I'm using aura. Our sponsor aura is your all in one tool for protecting your online and financial accounts. Aura alerts you any time your personal information is found on the dark web or data breaches like social security number, login credentials, financial accounts, and you get super fast alerts.

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You can try or for free for 14 days at aura dot com slash Pacman. That's a U R a dot com slash Pacman. The link is in the podcast notes. It's great to welcome to the program today. Anthony Weiner, former U.S. congressman from New York, talk show host on W.A.B.C. He hosts the middle with Anthony Weiner and also co-hosts the left versus the right with Anthony Weiner and Curtis Lewa. Really great having you on. I appreciate your time. It's my pleasure. Thanks for having me. So so many things I want to ask you about just because we

talked about it earlier today. George Santos, the disgraced former congressman, did this very strange interview with Piers Morgan where he was asked, why did you lie about everything? And he doesn't know. He has no answer, etc.. You know, your situation was different in a lot of ways, including that you resigned, whereas he was he was kicked out essentially as you were following that story. Was anything about the way it ultimately went down surprising to you, given the way the Republican Party operates? Or was it basically exactly what you would have expected?

Well, it's interesting. I mean, first of all, I have a certain amount of empathy for him. I kind of feel like we're watching in real time a person who's really breaking down. I mean, who knows where I don't want to I know well enough not to try to diagnose from afar, but I don't have nearly the zeal that other people seem to have. And maybe it's because I have a certain amount of of common experience of being in the middle of a maelstrom. The the important difference is or maybe the most important difference is is the conversations that I was having with my leadership and my colleagues. The the most important thing to them and to me was that when I was in the middle of the scandal, and first of all, let me just make it very clear,

I lied. I contributed to it. I'm responsible for the things that I did. There's no way that there's someone else that did this to me or the press didn't do anything wrong by pointing out the things that I had done. But the important difference was when I would speak to Nancy Pelosi and I would speak to Steny Hoyer or my colleagues and my friends, there was this overarching concern about the institution of Congress. And I felt it too. I really, you know, I was never like a deep insider. I was more and more concerned about maybe being mayor one day, but I had worked there since the 1980s. And I had told Nancy Pelosi, I remember, I said, you know, if I resign, we may lose this seat. I represent a Democratic district, but one that, despite what people may think about New York City, was on the conservative side. It turned out that that happened. But that consideration never entered into it.

In his case, obviously it did. Obviously, the Republicans. Now, I would point out as close as these votes were, they never lost one by one. They could have gotten rid of him at any point. And I should also say this. I've said this on the radio. I don't think it was appropriate for them to have thrown him out. I think that, you know, the people of the third district of of of New York made this mistake. If they believe they made a mistake, but they have a chance to correct it. But all that being said, I did look at it with a certain amount of, you know, there but for the grace of God go I. Well, you know, there's an interesting difference, I think, between Democrats and Republicans in general when it comes to these sorts of situations. And the one that comes to mind is the Al Franken

situation, where in retrospect, I think that there was maybe a too quick decision to say that he should go given the relative, I don't know, mildness of what he did, particularly when he wasn't even in office. And I think it came from Democrats wanting to show we're not like them. How do you see the Franken situation? Well, it's hard. I'm viewing it now from afar. I mean, I think the principal difference that we these things show is that Democrats have more fidelity to the processes of government, more fidelity to the integrity of government. I'm not saying that there are not problems on the Democratic side. You're talking perhaps to one of them. But I do think that there is this sense that Congress elected office is about something

beyond the individual. Now, sometimes that gets us into a place that we don't think maybe pragmatically enough. And who knows? Maybe if I was in a swing district and the Democrats held a five person, maybe maybe we would see it would have been different with me. But I do think that we do get into this place that we are so into the idea of the fidelity of these institutions that maybe it has shown us to be a little bit quick on the trigger. But let me let me just just make sure to separate me from this. I wasn't I don't think I was mistreated in any way, etc.. I want to talk a little bit about Trump, a little bit about Biden. You expressed recently on your programs, I think, a view that is similar to my view, which is I would prefer for Trump to just lose at the ballot box. And also, it seems pretty clear that when you read Section three of the 14th Amendment, he's in violation of that.

And it's important if we believe in law and order that we don't pick and choose for political reasons when to enforce or apply the Constitution, that that's what it is. Section three is pretty clear. But also, it would be better, nicer, more definitive in some way to just have a country that wouldn't vote for this guy and for him to lose in November fair and square. Is that more or less your view? And if so, how do you square what should be done with regard to him being on the ballot? It it does.

It does square with it, with how I think about it. And it they're inconsistent positions. I'm the first to admit it. I read the Colorado decision, and it was the first time that I really took this seriously because, as you know, we have the most political Supreme Court in American history. I was there for Bush v. Gore, and I thought they would never exceed this, and now they kind of have several times. I have no doubt in my mind that they are going to look past whatever textualist precepts that they claim to have, whatever originalist ideology they claim to have, and they'll put him back on the ballot. But when I read that Colorado decision, which was, I mean, I know not all of our shared listeners can go read 200

something pages, but it is, it's plain English and it's pretty darn good. And it's pretty darn persuasive. And they go into the historical stuff. Look, what comes down to the, to two basic questions. One, do we believe all of the constitution still is active? I mean, okay, maybe we had the 19th and 21st amendments. You can say those aren't really things anymore. Maybe we're not being asked to quarter officers anymore of the military. But we certainly believe this. We certainly believe the 14th Amendment is still a thing, although sometimes the court seems to not want to talk about Section 5 and other things. But the other thing we have to ask ourselves, and I've heard some of my listeners, and just for the context for your viewers, I'm on a very conservative radio station choosing to do something a little bit different, which is try to maybe not persuade, but try to bring information where they wouldn't get it otherwise. But the other question is, do we consider the people who were working for us during Reconstructionists, do we consider them founding fathers also?

Do the Republicans consider the Reconstructionist senators, the Reconstructionist president, do we consider that part of our founding story? And if we're just going to say no, that it doesn't count, or we're not really that proud of that part of our history, then I think that my Republican brothers and sisters should come out and say it. But to me, I think you and I have very similar positions. I believe this is going to be reversed. I believe he's going to be on the ballot. And then I think the way we really cleanse the Trump era is by doing it at the ballot box for a third time. He lost in 2016 in the popular vote, lost by nine million some odd votes in 2020, and hopefully he'll lose again in 2024. So then the other side of this, of course, is President Joe Biden.

If we zoom out really far, when economies look the way today's economy looks, presidents tend to get reelected when they run for reelection. This is like 40000 foot view. OK, you look at stock market unemployment. Inflation is not perfect, but it's getting down close to three percent. It went up a little bit based on the most recent report. GDP is up, et cetera. Just super big picture. In general, if the election in 10 months is the way it is today, history would say you get reelected. Also, we've never had an election like this one where a former president who lost reelection

is likely to also be on the ballot. Oldest president in history in Joe Biden. Both sides are saying there's some cognitive misfires happening here. Which view do you take on the impact that a pretty solid economy will have on this reelection? Well, I think the economy and the the the other one I use is crime. There are some things that perceptions take the stats, the data are trailing indicators. Now, is that what I mean? Yeah. Basically, it takes a little while for perceptions to turn. Yes. Yes. And I think that that is happening, frankly, might be at a propitious time that it's going to take a good

10 months or so for people to get the message. But there is something else that I think is going on, and I think you have a better finger on it than I do, given the way that you communicate with your viewers and listeners, is I think that we do kind of have a way to get wormhole in conceptions that take on a life of their own. I mean, we've had this famous, now famous conversation about someone tweeting about a $15 Big Mac and didn't really exist, but it became a TikTok meme for a while, you know, how expensive things are. So I think that Joe Biden is facing headwinds in the way that information is consumed and processed by voters that I never did when I was

in political life. It might not have even been true four years ago, let alone 40 years ago or 50, however we make these historical analogies about what works and what doesn't. And I think further, Joe Biden is being hindered by another thing. He is not a great communicator in the classic sense. He's given a couple of excellent speeches recently in Charleston and at Valley Forge, where if you read the speech, you're like, wow, this is an amazing speech. And a lot of people listen to it. So all they come away with is that same trite thing about him being old. So the combination of information ain't what it used to be, like facts ain't what they used to be. And his not being as good as Obama or Clinton

or frankly, George W. Bush or anyone at communicating and selling these things has become problematic. And then a third element of it is that he and his team, and there has to be kind of a through line of what the strategy is. And I think they they should hang in there with Bidenomics. I do think that that needs to be a thing they stick with. But I do think they've also got to come up with better answers on things like immigration in the Middle East and things like that. The full interview with former Congressman Anthony Weiner is going to be published to our YouTube channel at youtube.com

slash the David Pakman show. Check it out. We will take a quick break and the show continues right after this. Staying healthy is often about what is a sustainable habit, one that works for you, something you'll stick to. I have a scoop of age one in the morning before my infamous cappuccino. Each serving of AG one just gets me super simply the vitamins, minerals, pre and probiotics that I'm looking for. It's just like a foundation for the entire day.

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AG one travel packs with your first purchase at drink. AG one dot com slash Pacman. That's drink AG the number one dot com slash Pacman for free vitamin D and K2 and five free travel packs of AG one. The link is in the podcast notes. In an attempt to counter program the final Republican primary debate before the Iowa caucuses on Monday, failed former President Donald Trump held a town hall. The town hall was on Fox News. The town hall was hosted by Martha McCallum and Brett Baier. And this town hall was such a disaster that even the friendly anchors were

unable to save Trump from himself. We're going to jump right into this. Trump was asked about the report that while he was president, his businesses profited to the tune of millions of dollars from foreign governments, including China. Trump straight up admits it and says he got that money for good reason, including that the plugs, the plugs at his hotels are really good. I guess the Chinese are just fixated on good plugs. And Trump's hotel has them. Take a listen to this. Mr. President, before we wrap up this, you know, there is this report, House Democrats, documents that say that nearly $8 million in payments to your businesses from foreign governments, China included, Saudi Arabia, while you were in office.

They say Article 1 of the Constitution says you can't accept money from foreign governments while president. Would you pledge to divest from your business in the second term as other presidents have done? That's what they're reporting. I own hotels all over the place, I don't get free money. Somebody rents a hotel room, et cetera, et cetera. Much money I gave back. In fact, I didn't have to do it. You know, George Washington was a very rich man.

People don't know that. This is it. Remember the question was, okay, you did this thing during your first term. That was a violation of the Constitution. Will you pledge not to do it during the second term? And he talks about George Washington being rich in his essentially White House, which wasn't built, but they had an office. He had a business desk and he had a country desk right next to each other.

You're allowed to do that. I didn't do it. I put everything in trust. And if I have a hotel and somebody comes in from China, that's a small amount of money. And it sounds like a lot of money. That's a small. But I was doing services for that. People were staying in these massive hotels, these beautiful hotels, because I have the best hotels. I have the best clubs. I have the best clubs. I have great stuff. And they stay there and they pay. I don't

get $8 million for doing nothing like Hunter. I don't get I don't get $500 they pay. I don't get $8 million for doing nothing like Hunter. I don't get I don't get $500,000. I don't get 500. OK, sorry, my correction there. It's clubs, not plugs. He was bragging about the clubs, not the plugs. But understand, he's not denying the report. Trump is acknowledging, yeah, I got millions.

I got millions from China. To me, it wasn't a ton of money. And I was giving things in exchange. It was not just money coming in. It was money that was being paid into my businesses for services rendered, acknowledging the report and not saying I won't do it again in my second term. Trump with a cognitive misfire, saying that his travel ban prevented terrorist attacks in 2016. Small problem with that. He wasn't president in 2016. In 2016, they

had no terrorists that they know of that came into the country. None. You had the travel ban. There you go. In 2016, no terrorists came in because of Trump's travel ban. Trump did not become president until 2017. Of course, it was Barack Obama who was president at that point in time, really struggling to keep the timeline straight. Fox News hosts tried to figure out who is going to be Trump's vice president. Interestingly, Trump says he has already selected his vice president, but he declines to name him or her.

Let me just ask you a follow up on that about who would be in your in your cabinet, in your administration. If you are the nominee, which I know you expect to be, who would be in the running for a vice president? Well, I can't tell you that, really. I mean, I know who it's going to be. Give us a hint. I'll give you we'll do another show sometime.

What about any of the people who you've run against? Would you be open to mending fences with? Oh, sure. I will. I will. I've already started like Christie better. I don't see it. I don't see it.

That would be an upset. Christie for vice president. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to announce. All right. So Donald Trump has all it is I don't see it. That would be an upset, Christy, for vice president. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to announce. All right. So Donald Trump has all it is actually sort of an interesting revelation that he has already chosen the person. The the obvious follow up is, does that person know that you have selected them? Have they accepted? Have they agreed? That's a pretty fascinating moment. I have to tell you, Trump two days ago said that it will be bedlam in this country if

he is not granted total immunity for his actions while president. When he was asked by a reporter, you're not talking. Will you denounce violence? He didn't do it. He was asked about it here. And I think Trump says here that violence would not be acceptable. I hope that that's what he's saying. In recent days, you seem to issue a warning that if in the courts and even the US Supreme

Court, if they didn't treat you fairly, that maybe there would be bedlam in the country. Use that word bedlam in the country. And in the last two days, the same time in the last two speeches, President Biden is focusing his campaign on the threat to democracy and political violence. Take a listen. I'll say what Donald Trump won't. Political violence is never, ever acceptable in the United States political system. Never, never, never.

All right, so to Robert's question, this is clearly a focus of the Biden campaign. So can you say tonight that political violence is never acceptable? Well, of course, that's right. And of course, I'm the one that had very little of it. We were able to keep political violence inspired by me down to a very low level during my presidency. I mean, what? A thousand defendants from January 6th. Fine wars again. I didn't start. I wasn't involved in wars. We beat the hell out of ISIS. We won

100 percent. We brought our troops back home. All right. So obviously, Trump unable to stay on track. But to his credit, I guess he's sort of saying political violence is bad. I don't know. He was asked about Chris Christie suspending his campaign. And he says about the hot Mike moment that Chris Christie is right about Nikki Haley being unable to win. That was the big news late today. The former governor of New Jersey dropped out of the race in New Hampshire. You saw it there.

There's a lot of speculation now that there could be a combining of forces of the people who supported him. He had about 12 percent there. And by some estimates, you're ahead by an average of 14 in the Real Clear Politics average polling in New Hampshire. So if that 12 goes to Nikki Haley, she could give you a run for your money there. Well, you know, you have Democrats in New Hampshire and they vote and you have independents in New Hampshire in large numbers and they vote. And I have polls that show me leading by a tremendous amount in New Hampshire and a lot in Iowa and nationwide. We're leading by almost 60 points.

So I'm not exactly worried about it. I understand New Hampshire very well. I've won it twice and did very well with New Hampshire. I love the people. They love me, I think. We did a good job for New Hampshire economically and even from the standpoint of the military, taking care of the vets. And I think we're going to do very well in New Hampshire.

Now, you know, Chris Christie was in and he got a hot mic I heard about. I thought actually the biggest story wasn't the fact that he super hot mic opt out. Nobody cared too much about that. But he had a hot mic where he was talking to somebody about the weather and he happened to say that she doesn't have what it takes. She'll be creamed in the in the election. And I mean, I know her very well and I happen to believe that Chris Christie is right. That's one of the few things he's been right about.

All right. So Trump agreeing with Chris Christie's right. That's one of the few things he's been right about. All right. So Trump agreeing with Chris Christie. Indeed. Indeed. It will be difficult for Nikki Haley to win. Another interesting moment. They did take questions from the crowd because it was, after all, a town hall. Trump was asked by a dissenters voter.

Why do you personally demean so many of the people who work for you? And he went on to demean all sorts of different people. Quite a moment here. Take a look. That's absolutely true. So let's hear from Jane Jack, who is a teacher from Rhodes, Iowa. Jane, thank you so much for being here. And you said that you plan to caucus for DeSantis, but you're not completely decided. Is that right? No, I am firmly I will be caucusing for DeSantis. But I will say, Mr. President, I am extremely grateful that in your first term,

you accomplished so many great things, but it was also with the help of many great people. Right. Since that time, you have publicly criticized and personally demeaned so many of them. If you're given four more years, how will you convince good people to take the risk of working with you? Right. So I have a lot of people that want to work with me. I have people calling just as I'm

getting on the stage. I had a call from two of the very most important people in the military want to come to work for me. Everybody wants to come to work for us. We're going to have no trouble. We had great people. We had a couple that were not great, stiffs, as I would call them. But that's true with anybody. But now I've gotten to know Washington. I've gotten to know the people. I know the best. I know the smart ones, the dumb ones, the weak ones, the strong ones. And I think you're going to see something like you've never seen before. And the people in this room know it. We did and we did an amazing job.

And the reason, you know, we have support is because of the job we did. Now, you like Ron DeSantis, but he wouldn't even be around today. He'd be working in a pizza shop or perhaps a law firm if I didn't endorse him. You know, I endorsed him, took him from nothing to winning an election. Isn't that the best? The voters say, I mean, listen, and who cares, right? I mean, Trump doesn't care. him, took him from nothing to winning an election. Isn't that the best the voters? I mean, listen, and who cares? Right. I mean, Trump doesn't care.

The voter goes, yeah, I kind of don't love that you demean people and I'm supporting DeSantis, but I appreciate you. And he goes, yeah, DeSantis would be working in a pizza parlor if it weren't for me. Good for Trump. Right. I mean, he's not going to be pushed into into into behaving differently by by a voter in the crowd. Another voter in the crowd asking Trump about abortion. And this was a very interesting moment because Trump takes credit for terminating Roe v.

Wade, of course, through his Supreme Court picks, something which is very unpopular, quite frankly. And Ron DeSantis, because you both talk a lot about pro-life your record. And that's my number one issue. And the cry of my heart is justice for all people. And I've been vocal and celebrating with you all of your pro-life victories from the past. But then in this campaign, you've also blamed pro-lifers

for some of the GOP losses around the country. And you've called heartbeat laws like Iowa's terrible. And so I'd just like some clarity on this because it's such an important question to me. Yeah, it's a great question, right, sir. You seem to be taking both sides of the issue. You take credit for getting Roe v. Wade overturned and you celebrate that. But you also say that extreme anti choice bills like the ones we're seeing in so many

places are bad. Which is your position? And the truth is, like with Trump, it's my position is whatever will get me votes. For you to reassure me that you can protect all life, every person's right to life without compromise. So that's a great question. I appreciate it, too. You wouldn't be asking that question even talking about the issue, because for 54 years

they were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated. And I did it and I'm proud to have done it. They wanted to get it back. Right. You wouldn't be have that. There would be no question. Nobody else was going to get that done. And we did it and we did something that was a miracle.

So Trump here saying and again, it's all who's in the room, right? This voter is very anti choice. So Trump goes, I'm the guy who did the biggest anti choice thing in the world in another environment where it's clear that the country is kind of like, wait, we want abortion to be legal in most cases. Then Trump goes, oh, no, these extreme things that they're doing in some of the states are bad. He'll take whatever position is useful to him. Another disastrous town hall. But he's going to run away with Iowa. We'll have results Monday night, Tuesday morning. I want to play one clip for you that is really kind of like

the fight. I mean, it's not it's not the end, but it should be the final nail in the coffin of this entire Joe Biden criminal bribery thing. And it comes from a Fox News host. This is fascinating. Neil Cavuto, Fox News host, said to Congressman Tom Emmer, listen, if you could connect Hunter Biden to Joe Biden criminally, you would have done it by now. It's been years. You how many hours have been spent on this investigation? And as I've said before, Neil Cavuto clearly has come to the same conclusion. Joe Biden has been in the public eye for decades. If there were evidence that was available that he did any of these things he's accused of, you would have found it by now. And Tom Emmer doesn't like it.

And using his father's position to advance whatever business interest was in Hunter's best interest. So I think it just shows, again, his arrogance and his complete foolishness. Is there proof of that, though? I understand the focus on Hunter and what he's up to, but that if you had the goods on him and connect him to the dad, it would have gone out there now. Then Chairman Comer, not you specifically, sir, but Chairman Comer has done a disservice by not revealing that proof. Well, I don't know that. I think a disservice would be rushing to judgment without letting all the facts come out.

And in this case, Hunter Biden and there's a couple of other witnesses and there's thousands of documents that they've asked for from the National Archives. We're asking for documents. There's witnesses. We've got all this other stuff going on. Neil Cavuto's right. I mean, how I know the answer to the question, how long are they going to keep doing this? They're going to keep doing this for as long as they can and for as long as they think

it'll hurt Joe Biden's chances of getting reelected in November of this year. But at this point, Neil Cavuto's right. If Joe Biden had done even a fraction of the things he's accused of, there would be some evidence somewhere. And of course, they want to make a fraction of the things he's accused of, there would be some evidence somewhere. And of course, they want to make it part of the cover up. Well, we haven't found the evidence because they've covered it up. There is no reason to think that that's the case. When even Fox News hosts start to realize that this is what's going on, the ship has

sailed, my friends. Caveat, if at any point any of the evidence is found, I'll be the first to say this is serious and it should be investigated. But at this point, it's very difficult to imagine that that's going to happen. We have a voicemail number. That number is two one nine two. David P. Earlier this week, we had a caller who was upset with me that I don't believe in psychics and tarot cards.

Here is a caller who is happy that I don't. Hey, David, I just wanted to thank you for the your stance about the tarot cards and the psychic and and then the fact that you you've doubled down on that and you said, of course, I don't believe that. Right. This is why I listen to your show. This is why I like you because you have such a, you know, reasonable opinion on these things. And I will say when you had Dr. Steven Novella on your show, that's when I knew that, you know, you were you know, you were a guy that I was going to watch every day. I was really on the fence up until then. And I was like, I mean, this guy's going to have Dr. Steven Novella on.

Well, I appreciate that. Yeah. Listen, I don't know how it could come as a shock to anybody that I don't believe in psychics and tarot cards as what they claim to be. I believe there are people who claim to be psychics. I believe that there are things that are named tarot cards. But the idea that those are really what they claim to be. No, absolutely not. We have a fantastic bonus show for you today. Sign up at Join Pacman dot com. We'll see you then. And I'll be back

tomorrow.