The David Pakman Show - 8/14/23: Hunter Biden special counsel, Trump bests DeSantis in Iowa

Episode Date: August 14, 2023

-- On the Show: -- Producer Pat Ford fills in for David -- Attorney General Merrick Garland appoints special counsel David Weiss to investigate Hunter Biden's alleged crimes weeks after his plea deal is rejected by a judge -- Republicans including Senators Ted Cruz and Chuck Grassley decry the special counsel investigating Hunter Biden, even though they requested it a few weeks ago -- Republican candidates show up to the Iowa State Fair and Donald Trump upstages Ron DeSantis -- Trump supporters cry and fawn over seeing Trump's airplane at the Iowa State Fair -- Donald Trump is worried about being indicted in the Georgia election fraud case, as demonstrated by his posts to Truth Social -- Members of Trump's legal team appear to be responsible for the January 2021 voting system breach in Coffee County, Georgia -- Mike Pence appears on "Meet the Press" and dodges a question about whether he's a "MAGA Republican" -- Massachusetts becomes the eighth state to institute free school lunches -- On the Bonus Show: Devastating Maui wildfires kill at least 93, RFK Jr. takes back call for a 3-month abortion ban, and much more... 🌎 Babbel: Get 55% off your subscription (rules & restrictions may apply): https://babbel.com/pakman 🌱 Ounce of Hope: Get 25% OFF with code PAKMAN at https://www.ounceofhope.com/ 👍 Use code PAKMAN for 10% off the Füm Journey Pack at https://tryfum.com/PAKMAN 👂 MDHearing: Just $149.99 each + free charging case. Use code PAKMAN at https://mdhearing.com 💻 Get Private Internet Access for 83% OFF + 4 months free at https://www.piavpn.com/David -- 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

🎵 Hello everybody, welcome to the David Pakman Show. I'm producer Pat Ford, filling in for David today while he is on vacation. If you want the latest vacation updates from David, make sure to check out his Instagram. So one of the biggest stories that broke late last week is that Attorney General Merrick Garland has decided to appoint a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden. Now, you may remember that there was a plea agreement reached in the Hunter Biden tax evasion and gun charge case. However, the plea deal was thrown out by a judge who believed the deal to be too far reaching

and maybe would grant immunity in cases that haven't sprung up yet, that it may have been unconstitutional to agree to such a plea agreement. And there were many Republicans who thought that there was maybe a conflict of interest here, of course, with Hunter Biden's dad being the president and the Justice Department technically being under the Biden White House. So many of those Republicans were calling for a special counsel. Now that one has been appointed, many of those same Republicans are upset over the decision. We'll get to that later. But the big news is that Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed David Weiss, the U.S. attorney in Delaware,

as a special counsel in the Hunter Biden probe. Garland stated that the special counsel is expected to work expediently and impartially, and the decision grants Weiss increased authority, independence, and a dedicated budget to pursue the investigation. Let's go now to a clip of Merrick Garland announcing that this investigation will be taking place. I'm here today to announce the appointment of David Weiss as a special counsel, consistent with the Department of Justice regulations governing such matters. This appointment confirms my commitment to provide Mr. Weiss all the resources he requests. It also reaffirms that Mr. Weiss has the authority he needs to conduct a thorough investigation and to continue to take the steps he deems appropriate independently, based only on the facts and the law. Mr. Weiss will also continue to serve as U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware. As Special Counsel, he will continue to have the authority and responsibility that he has

previously exercised to oversee the investigation and decide where, when, and whether to file charges. The appointment of Mr. Weiss reinforces for the American people the department's commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters. The fact that a special counsel has been appointed in this case ensures that both the Trump and Biden family cases will remain in the spotlight during the entirety of this 2024 election season. But of course, these two cases are degrees of magnitude different, right? One, because Donald Trump is being charged with far more serious crimes, trying to overthrow a democratically held election, taking down documents with him to Mar-a-Lago and then refusing to give them back when asked to by federal authorities, whereas Hunter Biden is being charged with a tax evasion case and a gun charge, more

standard petty type crimes that typically don't even result in prison time. But more importantly, Hunter Biden is actually not the one running for president. It's Joe Biden, his father, who is running for president. And also Hunter Biden doesn't have any role in his father's administration, didn't have any role in the 2020 campaign, is not going to have a role in the 2024 campaign. So it would be totally disingenuous to say, yeah, sure, Trump, he may be a criminal, but so is Hunter Biden, right? So it's all a wash. Hunter Biden's not the one running for president, actually. It's Joe Biden who is. And we know that the sins of the son are not the sins of the father in this case.

Hunter Biden's attorney, Chris Clark, expects a fair resolution regardless of the venue and emphasizes the lack of political influence. So notice he's not out there claiming it's a witch hunt, claiming it's an effort to silence Hunter Biden and take away his free speech rights and influence the 2024 campaign and all the same lame talking points that we've been hearing from Trump lawyers. He's just saying, look, investigate what you have to investigate. We'll defend our client as we see appropriate, and we'll go from there. The rule of law will win out at the end of the day.

For his part, President Biden has maintained he does not discuss these types of matters about his son, and he's not discussing these matters with his son. Merrick Garland assures that Weiss will have the necessary resources to be able to carry out the investigation and that it's going to be done independently. Of course, it's important to point out that this is totally separate from the hearings and the investigations that House Republicans have been having, that being over suspected illicit business dealings overseas. And we know that House Republicans have been attempting to connect Hunter Biden's work to his father without any concrete evidence to be able to show that. We know that they're trying to claim as though Joe Biden, the big guy, was promised all these different things and was giving the deliverables. But they haven't been able to provide any evidence to show that there was any sort of quid pro quo or that Joe Biden agreed to any promises or was in on these business dealings.

They're still looking for that evidence. We'll see if they ever come up with it. Representative James Comer has led the congressional inquiry into Hunter Biden's financial ties, and he collaborated with other committee chairmen to investigate alleged Justice Department interference in the case. Special counsels, like Weiss, are appointed to investigate cases where the Justice Department perceives a conflict of public interest and they operate independently with a budget and is expected to provide a report at the investigation's end. And like it or not, I do understand how this issue is a matter of public interest because it has to do with the President's son and the Justice Department technically is under the executive branch.

So you want to avoid the appearance of corruption. I get that. But at the same time, the timing is strange, right? Because a plea agreement was already reached in this case between the defense and the prosecution. And yes, the judge did shut it down. I just wonder why not appoint a special counsel years ago? Why not do it at the very beginning? Why wait until now? But then again, this exact same thing can be said having to do

with Jack Smith being appointed to be the special counsel investigating Trump only once Trump decided to announce that he was running for president again in 2024. Garland should not have waited that long to appoint a special counsel to investigate Trump. He should have done it right away, pretty much. And ultimately, I don't care about Hunter Biden. I don't really care one way or another what the result of this case is. I just want them to follow the facts and treat him as if you would treat any other criminal defendant. And I'm not the only progressive that's saying this. Here is a Representative Goldman, who works on the House Oversight Committee, a Democrat, and he is saying the exact same thing. So Attorney General Garland said that he believed it was in the public interest

to appoint U.S. Attorney David Weiss as special counsel overseeing the Hunter Biden probe. Do you agree? Is it in the public interest? Well, I defer to the attorney general's determination on this. What we now know is that David Weiss, the Trump appointed U.S. attorney in Delaware, was right all along that he did have ultimate authority. And when he requested special counsel status because the plea agreement has broken down and he may have to charge Hunter Biden in outside of his own district, which he requires additional authority to do. He got it. And this is just another reflection of the true independence of this Department of Justice.

A Trump appointed U.S. attorney is investigating the president's son. That is pretty remarkable. And you don't hear from the other side a respect for the fact that Joe Biden has stayed out of this investigation. And so I defer to Merrick Garland and David Weiss. If Hunter Biden has committed crimes, he should be charged with them. I'm a Democrat saying that you don't hear any currently elected Republicans saying that if Donald Trump committed crimes, he should be charged with them and held accountable. And that's a critical distinction that the public needs to understand. And Representative Dan Goldman is not the only Democrat saying this. Also, we're hearing from Jamie Raskin, former guest on this program and Democratic congressman from Maryland. He said about this, quote, From my perspective,

it is the rule of law and the justice system working itself out the way that it does. And, you know, obviously it's bumpy and this side or that side doesn't necessarily prefer this course of events. But our job, I think, as political people is to allow the justice system to run its course. And that's exactly right. Let the justice system run its course and see whatever the evidence takes you. If Hunter Biden is supposed to be charged and convicted, and that's what normal course of events would be for any other criminal defendant, then that's indeed what should happen. So that is what Democrats are saying. Now let's move on to the Republican reaction on this appointment of a special counsel.

So to recap, Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden's alleged crimes. This happened a few weeks following the plea agreement that Hunter had with prosecutors blowing up when the judge decided not to approve it. Now, you may remember that after the plea agreement was reached between the prosecution and the defense, most Republicans were not happy about it because even though it would come with Hunter technically pleading guilty and facing some consequences, they wanted him to go to jail and anything short of that they were just not going to be happy with. They thought it was some sort of sweetheart deal, even though no jail time is typically the result of these minor tax evasion and gun charges. Roger Stone, for example, didn't go to jail when he didn't pay his taxes.

And this stuff typically results in something like being ordered to pay back the taxes that you owe, maybe a fine on top of it, a diversion program where you have to stay out of trouble. This is all pretty run-of-the-mill stuff. But okay, Republicans were not happy with that initial plea agreement. Well, now they should be happy, right, because the plea deal was rejected. And now there's a special counsel, someone who is independent of the Biden White House and the Justice Department who can investigate Hunter Biden and his alleged crimes.

Well, it turns out the Republicans aren't happy with this either. And you just cannot please these people. And so I wanted to go to different Republican reactions over the appointment of this special counsel. First, we go to Donald Trump, the failed former president trying to become president again. He certainly knows what it's like to be under criminal investigation and criminal indictment. He posted to Truth Central about this, quote, David Weiss was picked by the two Democrat senators from Delaware under blue slip.

He would not have been picked by me, but I have a great idea. Why don't they use deranged Jack Smith? Weiss has been investigating Hunter for four years, giving him the sweetheart deal of all sweetheart deals, but a brilliant judge in Delaware saw through it all. Now I read the Department of Injustice wants a new judge and jurisdiction, but so do I, with far stronger reasons than Hunter and Crooked Joe MAGA. Well, first of all, I think Jack Smith is a little bit busy right now. He has a couple of other cases that he has to focus his attention on. But furthermore, Trump's saying he wouldn't be picked by me when referring to David Weiss.

You're just admitting that you would be partial if the shoe was on the other foot. Because remember, it's not President Biden who is choosing the investigator. It's Attorney General Merrick Garland. But Trump is saying that he would want to handpick the prosecutor. That's as corrupt as it gets. And he's just admitting to it. Now we move on to Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who is actually one of the more than 30 senators urging U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint David Weiss as special counsel

to lead investigations into Hunter Biden. So not just asking for a special counsel, but asking for David Weiss as special counsel to lead investigations into Hunter Biden. So not just asking for a special counsel, but asking for David Weiss specifically. But now that it's happened, he doesn't like it anymore. He's not happy about it. Let's see what Cancun Cruz has to say about this. Well, this appointment is camouflage and it's cover up. I think it's disgraceful. Listen, David Weiss was the U.S. attorney handpicked to lead this investigation who spent the last five years covering it up. David Weiss, who was personally selected by the two Democrat senators from Delaware, Tom Carper and Chris Coons, for five years, the investigation has gone nowhere other than to protect Hunter Biden and Joe Biden. Not only that, David Weiss is the one that is subject to two whistleblower complaints from senior career IRS officials who came forward. They said they'd never seen an investigation like this in their entire time in law enforcement.

Now let's go to Trump advisor Jason Miller, who said on Newsmax last month, I wish there was a Hunter special counsel. This seems to be a very deliberate effort to hide the ball or hide what's really going on here. And I wish that there would be a special counsel that would step in and actually do something here, get to the bottom of it. Otherwise, I fear we're never truly going to know whatever happened with Hunter Biden and the rest of the Bidens. After he got what he wanted, though, Miller went on Newsmax and said that the appointment of Weiss stinks, and he accused the prosecutor of sitting on his hands for years. We also are hearing from Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican from Iowa, who had once called for Weiss to be made special counsel, but he no longer

stands by that belief. He's now saying, given the underhanded plea deal negotiated by the U.S. attorney from President Biden's home state, it's clear Weiss isn't the right person for the job. To his credit, former Vice President Mike Pence is one of the few Republicans who is actually staying consistent on this topic, praising the appointment of Weiss. But with most of these Republicans, you just can't satisfy them, right? It's not about first principles. It's not about the rule of law. It's not about corruption or fairness

or any of these other things. It's about team sports for them. It's about Republicans good, Democrats bad, Trump good, Biden bad. And we have to remember that before we think about ceding any ground to these bad faith actors whatsoever. All right.

We're going to go to a break now. We'll be back with much more of the David Pakman show right after this. if you support them. And what they do is amazing for their community. Ounce of Hope is an aquaponics cannabis farm. Aquaponics means that at their farm in Memphis, Ounce of Hope sustainably raises fish and they use the nutrient rich water from the fish habitat to feed the cannabis plants as fertilizer. It is an incredible symbiotic relationship between the fish and the plants. They donate the fish to local homeless shelters as food. They donate the extra fish fertilizer to small farms and gardens in their community. And what Ounce of Hope has for you is an extraordinary selection of cannabis products shipped right to your door.

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only available to people in the UK. Private Internet access lets you use IP addresses from the David Pakman Show David Pakman dot com. off. Welcome back to The David Pakman Show. I'm producer Pat for filling in for David today while he is on vacation. So we recently had the start of the Iowa State Fair, which is a big deal in politics every four years since Iowa has historically been the first state to get a chance to vote. And if you're a candidate running for the Republican nomination or the Democratic nomination, you want to win Iowa

so you have momentum going into the future contests. And this State Fair provides candidates with an opportunity to chat one-on-one with the voters, eat some corn dogs, maybe ride the bumper cars, and just try to convey yourself as an average person who can relate to country folk and be seen as someone that you would like to have a beer with. Looking at the Iowa polls right now, Trump has 44% of the vote currently compared to DeSantis, who's in a distant second at 17%. Tim Scott, interestingly enough, is in third place at nearly 10%, even though he's not doing that well in the national polling. Now keep in mind,

it is a caucus, so the voting is done a little bit differently than a normal primary. But if the election was held today in Iowa, certainly Trump would win. So DeSantis and these other candidates, they have to go out there and try to get a boost however they can, and the state fair is a great way to do that, right? Well, who made it out of this thing looking the best? It wasn't Ron DeSantis, I gotta say. It was Donald Trump. I'll get to a clip of DeSantis giving one of his boring speeches at this event. But DeSantis was doing his best to look like a normal guy, flipping pork chops on the grill with Iowa's Governor Kim Reynolds. When Trump decided to steal the spotlight and you could see from a distance his plane starting to land.

They actually seemingly took a different flight path so that it would fly over the Iowa State Fairgrounds. And here's Ron DeSantis caught on a hot mic at this event, seeing the plane come in and saying, that's his effing plane. Clearly concerned about Donald Trump stealing his spotlight. Funny enough, this was not the only Trump-DeSantis moment that involved a plane over the weekend that made DeSantis look bad. Here's some New York Times coverage of a plane flying overhead in DeSantis' view that carried a banner behind it, which read, Be Likeable, Ron! with the Jeb!

Just as Governor DeSantis was about to start his interview with Kim Reynolds of Iowa, a plane started circling overhead, trailing a banner that said, Be Likeable, Ron! Now, we don't know who paid for that, but it was clearly someone trying to unsettle and mock the governor for his perceived awkwardness. Now, when Trump arrived at the fairgrounds, he posted for selfies, he handed out MAGA hats.

Of course, there was a lot of pomp and circumstance with him landing his plane there. Most candidates don't try to do that sort of thing. They try to look like they're just like anyone else at the fair, maybe like they're from the country themselves, even though they may not be from anywhere near the Hawkeye State. But Trump, of course, is unconventional, and he does things a different way. And the idea that was being expressed from these Iowa State Fair goers

was that Trump's bulldog attitude and disregard for traditional norms when it came to the fair were actually a positive because he was being true to who he was and being authentic. And Trump supporters eagerly awaited his appearance. Many were wearing farmers for Trump hats and signs declaring him the Iowa champ. Trump did not speak too much at the events and he passed on an interview opportunity with Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, who he's not on good terms with. But Trump did have this moment with Matt Gaetz, with Trump nodding along in agreement

as Gaetz was speaking. Mr. President, I cannot stand these people that are destroying our country, that are opening our borders, that are weaponizing our federal law enforcement against patriotic Americans who love this nation as we should. We are having a great time at the fair. We love standing with you. But we know that only through force do we make any change in a corrupt town like Washington, D.C. And so to all my friends here in Iowa, when you see them come for this mandate, they are coming for our movement and they are coming for all of us. And as hard as you see them work, I need you working 10 times harder, 100 times harder.

We're going to win all of them. We're going to march to the nomination. And we're going to stay in this country. Yes, they're coming after you, of course. They're just doing so through Trump. But really, they want to go after the average citizen because the average citizen all the time just hoards classified documents, including the nuclear secrets, and then doesn't give them back to investigators when asked. The average citizen just casually tries to overturn an election every now and then. That's just normal things that the average citizen does.

The average citizen pays off porn stars as part of a campaign finance scheme. That's just typical behavior, but they can't go after every citizen at the Department of Justice. They can only go after Donald Trump. So they're going after you, but they're doing so through him. That totally makes sense, right? Now let's get to some cringe video. Here is Ron DeSantis walking through the crowd trying his best to look likable. And unfortunately for him, he's met with chants of,

We want Trump. We want Trump! We want Trump! We want Trump! We want Trump! We want Trump! We want Trump! We want Trump! We want Trump! Now here's a clip of Ron DeSantis speaking to a small crowd. To be fair, I'm not sure if this was at the Iowa State Fair itself,

but it was indeed in Iowa from over the weekend. And we have DeSantis giving what came pretty close to a Jeb Bush-esque please clap moment. Listen to how pathetic this was. And our state has never been better as a result of our decision to keep Florida free. But here's the deal. And then finally, this one may be my favorite clip from the Iowa State Fair. We have DeSantis doing his best to try to look personable, helping to sell fried eggs on a stick with the vendors, attempting to have a casual conversation with one of the workers there. Everyone else around him, including the customers, seem totally uninterested, even though the governor of Florida

and a potential future president is serving them. I don't know why his campaign would decide to do this, given the fact that he's already built a reputation for being awkward. And it's not like Donald Trump would ever be caught dead doing something like this. But here's Ron DeSantis, for some strange reason, handing out fried eggs. Where'd Chris go? You want one? Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Earn some sighting. Come and help you guys at some point during all these prevails. Here. I can do these too.

So watching all these different clips, seeing how the crowds are flocking to Donald Trump, how Republicans like him more and more with every indictment he gets, and seeing how DeSantis continues to drop and drop and drop in the polls and how he's being exposed as more and more unlikable, you have to wonder what the plan is if you're in the DeSantis campaign. You got to change the trajectory of this race somehow, but how are you going to do it? There's really only two possibilities I can think of. One is DeSantis having a strong debate performance or stringing together a few strong debate performances. But that's going to be tough to do because, for one, DeSantis isn't really known as a strong debater. That's never been his strong suit.

But also, Donald Trump may not even show up to the debates, so he may not even have such an opportunity. The second possibility is that maybe Trump is effectively unable to run because maybe he violates the term of his release in one of these cases and he's remanded to custody. But even in that case, being off the campaign trail, being unable to provide media appearances and go around the country and all these different things, people still know that he's running, right? And he still may be able to pull off an easy victory in that scenario. So DeSantis' odds at becoming the next president not doing so well, and the Iowa State Fair didn't seem to help him. Here at the show, we love to make fun of the stories that Donald Trump tells when he claims that people came up

to him with tears in their eyes to tell him something. And most of the time, the story seems to be a lie. But there's a real chance that every now and then it's actually a true story. And that's backed up by the fact that as Trump was leaving the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, Iowa, over the weekend, Right Side Broadcasting interviewed some Trumpists, and they were quite emotional over seeing his plane. We got some real insights into the cult of Trump from this event, and we'll get to the crying in just a moment. But first, we have a woman here saying that she's going to vote for the candidate with the most impeachments and the most indictments.

That's been going on. So it's important that outlets like myself actually get out there and do this. You know, I'm going to vote for the man with the most impeachments and the most indictments because guess what? He knows where all this corruption is now and he's going to go and he's going to clean up. This is personal now. I believe this is personal to all of us that are voting for him, and it's so great to see. Well, Donald Trump certainly does have the most impeachments. That's true. He has two, whereas only a couple of other presidents even have one in American history. But if you're going for someone with the most indictments, why stop at three? Why not go for a serial killer or someone who's lived a life of violent crime or something like that?

You could probably find someone who has dozens of indictments or maybe hundreds of indictments. Why stop at just a few? And it goes to show how even when presented with facts to demonstrate that this guy, Donald Trump, is a criminal who is totally undeserving of being president, it just bolsters these opinions of people who like him even more. Next, we go to a right side broadcasting report. I believe this is the voice of Brian Glenn, who is Marjorie Taylor Greene's boyfriend, but also a broadcaster. And he is explaining in this clip how he's seen so many emotional people at this Iowa State Fair event.

Watching the plane here as it warms up and people are kind of capturing the moment right now. There's a couple people that are almost in tears as they tell the president wave goodbye. I just saw a lady wiping away tears. And I think that she's getting emotional right now because she knows that the president that's in that plane right now is the only person that can save this country. Right. And God has put him on this planet to do that right now. He's at the moment. Yes, God has put Trump in this position to save the country, but he's got to earn it. And we've got to earn it too, right? So he couldn't just win back-to-back elections. No, that wouldn't make sense. He has to win a term and then lose re-election and then come back to try to win again. Why? Because, I don't know, God works in mysterious ways, I suppose.

And then we have a woman sniffling when speaking to Right Side Broadcasting, presumably wiping away tears from her eyes. You can hear the emotion in her voice. And then she talks about how there was a big dump at three o'clock in the morning on election night. And I got to say, when I first heard this, I laughed hysterically. Listen to this. In our country right now and the way that he is treated and dishonored and the man comes

back, he keeps fighting and fighting for this country. He's not been paid. He donates the money. He comes back and he fights again. Why? He loves America and we matter to him. And he's not going to give up. He's not backing down. And we aren't either. He won that last that election before we went to bed and three o'clock in the morning, I woke up and I'm like, what happened? The big dump. And, you know, people can say whatever, but I'm just telling you, this man has been anointed, and this man is our way back. I believe in our founding fathers, our Constitution,

and what's happening in this country right now is wrong and a travesty, and we need him back. I couldn't have said that any better. I agree with 100% of what you just said. I've got to say, these people sound like they're just copying and pasting the words of Donald Trump when they say this stuff. It's like they can't really think for themselves. I know I don't have to tell you guys, but we knew that there was a red mirage theory going into the 2020 race,

that the earliest votes were going to get counted, were going to skew in Donald Trump's favor, because most states were counting the in-person votes ahead of time before the mail-in votes. And Trump was telling his supporters not to vote by mail and to only vote in person. So looking at the results come in on election night, it looked like maybe Biden was making a comeback towards the end, towards the early morning hours. But really, the votes were the votes and you can count them in whatever order you want to, but what matters is how many votes each candidate got, and you gotta wait until enough votes are counted, all the votes are counted,

to be able to determine officially who won the election, and it doesn't matter what order you go in. So there was this idea that there was a comeback that took place, but it's just about the order that they counted the votes in, and then the big dump at three o'clock in the morning. I mean, that is comedic gold right there. I know sometimes it can be hard to sleep through the night,

and maybe you need a bathroom visit in the middle of the night, but just the mix of her saying the big dump with the emotion in her voice, that is something else. And the Trump cultishness not only came from the Trump supporters themselves, it also came directly from Brian Glenn himself when asking this hard hitting question to the failed former president. Mr. President, you have the debate coming up. How can these other candidates stand on the same stage as you and try to roll out a better plan to save America when you already had the four most successful years as any sitting president? I feel, in fact, they've already lost without even getting on the stage. I want to get your thoughts. I got to wonder over at Right Side Broadcasting, are they even pretending to be journalists?

I mean, if they're not, that's totally fine. If they're just doing commentary and biased reporting, then sure, they can have at it. But they're called Right Side Broadcasting, not the Trump News Network. So it seems even a little bit too sycophantic for them. If I was in this type of position and I was, you know, interviewing maybe Bernie Sanders or some other politician I liked, I couldn't bring myself to be so sycophantic. I mean, I would, you know, maybe ask a question that could be perceived as biased or something like that,

but there's no chance that I would be able to bring myself to grovel at the feet of someone like that. I mean, that is just absolutely embarrassing. So that was Donald Trump's appearance in Iowa over the weekends. And with the reactions that we got from Trump supporters, it's no wonder why he is leading this Republican primary race by leaps and bounds. Let's go to another break. We'll be back with much more of the David Pakman show right after these messages. Many people know how hard it is to break bad habits, and sometimes you have to replace a Thank you, David. in the show. It satiates that hand to mouth fixation that if you're trying to break a bad habit can be very useful.

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the state of Georgia over alleged election fraud and interference. The investigation now not only includes the efforts to pressure Brad Raffensperger and other election officials to find votes for him that didn't exist, it also has to do with Trump associates allegedly infiltrating voting systems in Coffey County, which is a story I'm going to get to in a little bit.

But I guess that thinking that Trump could tweet through it, or in this case, truth through it, he decided to post a bunch of messages to Truth Social over the weekend. Now, it's probably moot because it seems as though a decision by Fannie Willis and the grand jury has already been reached. It seems like Donald Trump is going to get charged once again, but it's not a guarantee. So you'd think that Donald Trump would just focus on the three criminal cases he's already facing as a guarantee and ignore this potential case out of Georgia and worry about it if and when the indictments do come. But that's not how Donald Trump operates. He thinks that he can get ahead of this. You know, when you think about like distance running, for example, you're supposed to run the mile that you're in when it comes to boxing. It's one step at a time,

one punch at a time, one round at a time, but not for Donald Trump. He's focused on Georgia at the moment. And I have a theory as to why exactly that is, why he's focused more on the Georgia case and worried more about the Georgia case than these other criminal cases. But here's Donald Trump over the weekend posting quite a few times to Truth Social about the potential Georgia indictments. He first said, quote, The only election interference that took place in Fulton County, Georgia, was done by those that rigged and stole the election, not by me, who simply complained that the election was rigged and stolen. We have massive and conclusive proof if the grand jury would like to see it. Unfortunately, the publicity-seeking DA isn't interested in justice or this evidence. Also,

as in Manhattan, the corrupt DOJ is pushing hard trying to keep Biden in office. The whole system is dishonest and broken. So Trump acting as if he's going to prove voter fraud and that's going to be his criminal defense in this Georgia case. Good luck with that one. Next, moving on. Trump said, why is phony like in perfect phone call? Get it because Trump here spells phony with an E as opposed to the American spelling of just spelling it P-H-O-N-Y. Very, very clever. Fannie Willis, the severely underperforming DA of Fulton County who is being accused of having an affair with a gang member of a group that she is prosecuting, leaking my name in regard to a grand jury pertaining to election fraud and irregularities that I say took place

in Georgia. I made a perfect phone call of protest. What does phony Fannie have to do with me? She should instead focus on the record number of murders in Atlanta. So the claim that Fannie Willis had an affair with a gang leader has already been debunked. We talked about this last week when I hosted the program, but it's completely made up. She represented a hip hop artist in a case and later she had a falling out with the hip hop artist and Laura Loomer just made up this idea that she had an affair with him, even though there was no

evidence or reason to suggest that that's what took place. And Donald Trump is just running with it saying, well, people are saying these things as if that is sufficient evidence for you to be able to make claims like this and act like you're not the one that's actually making them, but still parroting them and still pushing it forward next we have donald trump saying i hear that racist fulton county atlanta district attorney phony fanny willis who weekly presides over one of the deadliest communities in the u.s with thousands of murderers violent criminals and gang members roaming the streets while going untried free and are treated with kid gloves is using a potential indictment of me and other innocent people as a campaign and fundraising con job,

all based on a perfect phone call as president challenging election fraud, my duty and right. I'm not sure why he thinks Fannie Willis is a racist, maybe because she's black and he's white and she's investigating him. Aside from that, I'm going to need some citations to see why exactly Trump argues that Fannie Willis is racist, because I'm not seeing it at the moment. And then simply Trump tweeted, sorry, truth. How can they charge me in Georgia? The phone call was perfect. Witch hunt. So Donald Trump has Georgia on the mind right now. And this is why I think that he is so particularly worried about this specific case. It's theoretically possible that in the two federal cases against Donald Trump, he can pardon himself if he becomes president again.

Now, we don't know if that is the case for sure because it's never been tested. The courts will have to adjudicate whether someone can pardon themselves. But it's at least possible in theory that Donald Trump could make that work and that he could be able to free himself of the charges. But remember, a president can only pardon in federal cases. And this case out of Georgia is a state case, so he would not be able to pardon himself in Georgia if he's convicted there, even if he does become the president. Now, the charges out of New York also are state charges, of course, but they're believed to be less serious. Even if he is found guilty, he may not get any jail time. He may just get house arrest or a suspended sentence or something like that, especially accounting for his age and lack of criminal history up until this point.

But in Georgia, he probably wouldn't be so lucky because while we don't know what the charges specifically are yet, they seem to be a lot more serious than the ones out of New York. And they're charges that could actually put him behind bars for a long period of time, maybe the rest of his life, and he would have no opportunity to bail himself out. So that's why I think Georgia is so important. That's why I think he's so worried about Georgia. Of course, it matters, first and foremost, whether the evidence points to him having committed serious crimes. And we do, after all, have him on tape asking Brad Raffensperger to fine him the 11,780 votes. So it's pretty cut and dry, if you ask me. But it's so important also because I think

Donald Trump would not be able to get away with this one. He'd actually have to face the consequences. We could learn more about the suspected Georgia indictments as soon as today, maybe tomorrow, maybe later in the week, but it all seems to be happening very, very soon. And I'm eager to see what happens in that case. Following the 2020 election, there were, of course, plenty of Republicans led by Donald Trump who were claiming that there was widespread voter fraud that tipped the results of the election. And funny enough, we did find some instances of voter fraud here and there. But more often than not, it was Trump supporters voting twice for the red menace. And it was this ironic counter that we had to people who were claiming that it was the left who were double voting, voting on behalf of dead relatives, voting in two different states, etc.

Well, now we have another instance of such election hypocrisy, but on a much, much bigger scale than an extra vote or two here or there. as we know, have been talking about how Democrats broke into machines to get access to the vote counts to change them or whatever the case may be. Mike Lindell, of course, was the most prominent figure pushing this idea, talking about the votes being switched and the packet captures. And of course, he tarnished the names of Dominion and Smartmatic. We'll get a load of this. Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis is investigating attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia and has obtained text messages and emails connecting members of Trump's legal team to the voting system breach in Coffey County, Georgia, back in January 2021. There are more than a dozen individuals who are expected to face charges as part of this investigation, including individuals linked to the Coffey County voting system breach.

The investigation suggests that the breach was not a spontaneous effort by Trump supporters, but it was actually a coordinated push by Trump's allies aim to access voting systems after the 2020 election to support their baseless claims of widespread fraud. But it seems like they were actually the ones who were doing the interference in the fraud. So what we know for certain is that in 2020, Coffey County in Georgia, they experienced a security breach that exposed sensitive voter information, including things like names, addresses, and social security numbers. The breach was reported in October, and after an individual discovered and reported unauthorized access to the county's voter registration database via the election website. So this incident raised awareness about the potential vulnerabilities of election systems and emphasized a need for enhanced cybersecurity measures to safeguard voter information and maintain the integrity of our elections. And now we're learning that it looks like Trump, or at least his lackeys, were the

ones responsible for this breach. The focus of Fannie Willis's investigation has expanded to include evidence of Trump's attorneys, operatives, and their role in the breach, as well as connections to similar efforts in other states. The breach in Coffey County is a key aspect of the investigation alongside Trump's call to, of course, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in efforts to present fake slates of electors. That's where most of the focus on is, at least in this case, you know, this idea that Trump called up. Brad Raffensperger asking him to find the 11,780 votes. That's what's getting the most attention.

But this breach could be maybe just as significant as everything else that we know about this case. A former Trump official testified that discussions about accessing voting systems in Georgia took place in White House meetings, including one involving Donald Trump himself. So we'll see if they're able to tie Trump specifically to this effort. But to be honest, you probably don't even need this case to be able to charge him with something in Georgia. Text messages indicate that Trump's lawyers had hired operatives and sought to access Coffey County's voting systems during Trump's lame duck period. An elections official allegedly facilitated the breach and sent a written invitation to Trump attorneys ahead of the breach. Rudy Giuliani, none other than Rudy Giuliani and fellow Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, have also been examined as part of this probe.

It would not surprise me at all if they were the ones directing this. The investigation also reveals attempts to use the breach and related evidence to support efforts to decertify election results. While Giuliani denies involvement, text messages link him to the situation. And we know that Giuliani's word cannot be believed on anything at this point. If he told me that he had oatmeal for breakfast at this point, I don't think I could even believe that. The investigation includes surveillance video and documents obtained in a civil lawsuit focused on election security in Georgia. So it's quite possible that if and when these indictments come out from Georgia, maybe today, tomorrow, this week, or next week, whenever the case may be, we could be learning even more about what happened in that state

in the aftermath of the 2020 election. What we already knew was damning enough and seems to be plenty to put Donald Trump in prison, at least theoretically, but it could be a far worse situation. And it further exposes Republicans and Trump as being complete hypocrites on this. They claim as though they're the ones that care about voter fraud and election security when it seems as if they're the ones who are actually committing it. All right, we're going to go to another break. We'll be back with much more of the David Pakman show right after this. Welcome back to the show. So I got to say, I really don't understand what the point is of the Mike Pence presidential campaign. Now, I understand not every candidate jumps into

the race with this expectation that they're going to have a reasonable shot at winning, but you can usually piece together what the motive is behind someone running for president. Looking at the Republican candidates right now, I think there's only two candidates who went into this thing with a reasonable shot at being able to win. Donald Trump, of course, being one of them. And he actually can win, right? He can not only win the nomination, he could maybe even win the general election. We'll have to wait and see.

He's also running as a defense strategy to keep himself out of prison. Ron DeSantis is the other candidate who jumped to this thing thinking that he could win, I think, because back after the midterms, he looked unbeatable. He won his reelection by 19-20 points, and people were speaking very highly of him at the time before everyone realized he doesn't have what it takes to take on Donald Trump, and he doesn't really have much of a personality. But these other candidates, like Vivek Ramaswamy, I don't think he got in thinking that he could win, but maybe he thought he could raise his name recognition.

Now he's a household name in some circles, so he's doing quite well in that regard. Nikki Haley, maybe she thought that she would have a path to another cabinet position. Maybe she thought that being a minority female candidate, she would have a unique path in this race. And if Donald Trump was taken out with indictments and being unable to effectively run for president, she would be the one waiting in the wings. We have Tim Scott, who I think just wants to run for vice president

or maybe serve in a cabinet position under a second Trump presidency. We have Chris Christie, who clearly just wants to take down Donald Trump for personal reasons. He has a personal vengeance against Donald Trump, and he wants to try to take him down one-on-one on the debate stage. And then some of these other candidates, the zeros and ones, as we call them, they may just be in it for more name recognition, maybe a cabinet position, maybe a Fox News or CNN contributorship. Maybe they're trying to sell a book. But when it comes to Mike Pence, what is he going for in this race?

He's currently polling at 5%, which isn't the worst, but you're also not going to win any states with 5%. You're also not going to win the nomination with 5%. And he's running on his record as Donald Trump's vice president, even though Trump and Trump supporters hate him now, and in some instances wanted to kill him on January 6th, 2021. So it just seems to be like a incoherent political strategy. Case in point, Mike Pence went on Meet the Press with Chuck Todd over the weekend, and he got a question he wasn't prepared for, it seems, which is, do you consider yourself to be a MAGA Republican? And here is how the former vice president

chose to answer the question. Do you consider yourself a MAGA Republican? I'm incredibly proud of what we did in the Trump-Pence administration for four years. And you better believe it. In those four years, after eight years of the slowest recovery since the Great Depression, eight years under Barack Obama and Joe Biden that saw military cuts that hollowed out our military, eight years of liberals on our courts, under the Trump-Pence administration with the support of MAGA Americans, we literally did make America great again. Do you feel like you're a MAGA Republican or not?

Before that pandemic struck. And look, I'm a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican in that order. I've always said that. People who know me know those are my values. Those are my ideals. And I really believe that the agenda that I've always been about, that I'm looking forward to taking to that debate stage, is the agenda that will bring this country all the way back. So you can tell that Mike Pence was caught off guard here and his normal talking points weren't going to work.

So he really had to stumble through that one. He doesn't exactly say yes to the question of whether he's a MAGA Republican, but he also doesn't say no. He does say at one point, you better believe it, but I think he was answering his own question there about whether he was proud of his record serving as Trump's VP rather than whether or not he was a MAGA Republican. And let's also rid ourselves with this idea that there's anything more to the MAGA movement than Trump cultishness. Now, some try to argue that MAGA is about nationalism and putting America first before the countries. It's about protectionism when it comes to trade and instituting tariffs. MAGA is about nationalism and putting America first before the countries. It's about protectionism when it comes to trade and instituting tariffs. It's about being hardline on immigration.

It's about being anti-establishment, being anti-media, being pro-law and order. That one is especially funny now given the context of what's going on with all the Trump charges. But let's be real. Being MAGA is just about being a Trump suck-up. It's not about policy issues. It's been his entire 2024 campaign. And I think that this question here by Chuck Todd was deeply emblematic of exactly what's going on with Mike Pence. My home state of Massachusetts has recently passed legislation to provide free meals to all students in public schools, regardless of their ability to pay, following a trend seen in multiple other states. The governor of Massachusetts, Mara Healy, a Democrat,

signed the new program into law as part of a budget totaling nearly $56 billion. The budget allocation encompasses various sectors, including things like childcare, workforce development, housing, and public transit. Around $172 million of that budget is going to be allocated for the purpose of offering free school meals to students from kindergarten through high school. The high cost of housing and medical bills added to the difficulties of budgeting for the meals. The new meals program is expected to alleviate financial stress for families, saving approximately $1,200 per student annually. So let's say you have a few kids in school that could save you quite a few thousand dollars,

which is definitely going to be beneficial. State Senate President Karen Spilka noted that this initiative would contribute to reducing the financial burden on families. By adopting this program, Massachusetts becomes the eighth state to establish a permanent universal meals program for public school students. Other states that have done the same include California, Colorado, Minnesota, Maine, Vermont, Michigan, and New Mexico. So notice how they're all blue states. This move comes on the heels of temporary changes that were made during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, many schools in various states implemented temporary measures to provide free meals to students due to the economic challenges that many families were facing. The U.S. Department

of Agriculture issued waivers during the pandemic, allowing schools to offer free meals to all students regardless of their income as part of efforts to ensure that students were still receiving proper nutrition despite disruptions that were caused by COVID-19. And we've discussed plenty of times why free school lunches are the way to go. And of course, whenever we say free, we have to explain to the dumb, dumb Republicans what exactly we mean. Because when we see free, yes, we mean taxpayer funded and free at the point of service because Republicans love to counter with this idea that, oh, well, you know, nothing's actually free. We know that. We just mean that the burden is going to be spread across society rather than these specific

families. And we know the benefits of free school lunches. It alleviates financial burden. Offering free school lunches can significantly ease the financial strain on families, especially those who are facing hardships. You don't want families to have to pick between paying, let's say, a gas bill and giving their kids two versus three meals per day. That's just not a position that you want to put families in.

It also reduces stigma because when all students receive free meals, it eliminates any stigma associated with having free lunches for specific students who can't afford it or reduced fair lunches. That's another thing too. You just want everyone to be seen as the same. You don't want kids getting picked on because maybe their family can't afford the few dollars a day that it costs to get a lunch at school. It also contributes to enhanced academic performance. This we know because nutrition plays a crucial role in cognitive development and academic performance. If you're focused on your stomach rumbling, you're not going to be able to focus as much on the math assignment that you get or the upcoming English test that you have. And this also addresses food insecurity because free school

lunches can help combat food insecurity, ensuring that students are able to receive consistent meals, even if their families are struggling financially. And we know that adequate nutrition is just so, so important. So it's not just like it's the right policy decision for one or two reasons. It's the right policy position for multiple, multiple reasons. And we as a society need to better prioritize things. We need to see our money going towards things that actually make a difference, right? Instead of having our money go towards things like fossil fuel subsidies and a bloated military budget and corporate handouts. So it would be better if we could see our money go towards things like health care, like affordable housing, and like, yes, free school lunches. So good on Massachusetts. And of course, my family did have to pay for my lunches growing up. And at times I brought my lunch. Sometimes I paid for it at school. I remember it was $3.25. Am I asking for a refund on behalf of my family who had to pay for those lunches all those years?

Of course not. That would be silly. And of course, I'm drawing a comparison here to the student loan forgiveness debate. It's sometimes about paying it forward for the next generation rather than getting compensation for yourself. We couldn't reasonably go back and compensate families who had to pay for school lunches growing up in the past, right? But we can do it going forward. And just because people in the past has a struggle, that doesn't mean that people in the future have to do the same.

So that is it when it comes to school lunches. Massachusetts is the latest state to implement such a program and good on them for doing that. So on the bonus show today, we're going to be talking about the devastating wildfires that took place in Maui over the weekends.

Just absolutely tragic. About 100 people so far have been confirmed dead because of the fires. So we're going to get into that. We're also going to discuss the latest way in which presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is trying to make inroads with the right wing. And it's pretty odd for someone who is supposedly a Democrat. Sign up at joinpacman.com to get access to the bonus show, and we'll see you there. The rest of the week, we have Jesse Dollimore and Farron Cousins filling in, so looking forward to that. Thank you for tuning in, everybody, and we'll see you next time on The Daily Package.

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