The Megyn Kelly Show - Hunter Biden's Shock Capitol Hill Trip, and if President Biden Can Get Primaried, with Dean Phillips, Dave Aronberg, and Mike Davis | Ep. 699
Episode Date: January 10, 2024Megyn Kelly opens the show by with the shocking moment Hunter Biden and his lawyers showed up on Capitol Hill unannounced, the fighting among members of Congress, good and bad questions aimed at Hunte...r from the press, and more. Then lawyers Dave Aronberg and Mike Davis join to discuss whether Hunter Biden might be charged with contempt of Congress, what the DOJ has done in the past with Trump-related contempt cases, if Hunter wanting a public hearing makes him less likely to be charged, the accusations against Georgia DA Fani Willis having an affair with her prosecutor Nathan Wade, whether Wade's meetings with the Biden White House before the Trump charges could become a further issue, if the improper conduct could hurt the case against Trump and his co-defendants, Trump's argument he has immunity in the January 6 D.C. trial, and more. Then Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dean Phillips joins to discuss the hypocrisy and "culture of corruption" of both the Democrats and Republicans, the "disease of silence" from both sides of the aisle, some of his favorite GOP colleagues in the House, why it's important to avoid the "angertainment" in our culture today, the major issues that caused him to run against President Joe Biden, why Biden is too old to be president now, the pitfalls of the lifelong politicians, his stance on being loving and supportive of trans people but still having age limits on life-altering surgeries, his father dying in the Vietnam War, and more.Aronberg: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZl9z2UMvN9mwpUoU9-E9bADavis: https://article3project.org/Phillips: https://www.dean24.com/ Follow The Megyn Kelly Show on all social platforms: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MegynKellyTwitter: http://Twitter.com/MegynKellyShowInstagram: http://Instagram.com/MegynKellyShowFacebook: http://Facebook.com/MegynKellyShow Find out more information at: https://www.devilmaycaremedia.com/megynkellyshow
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, live on Sirius XM Channel 111 every weekday at noon east.
Hey, everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show. Oh, my goodness. Do we have
a lot of information to get to you today? This is an important one to listen to.
The man who is challenging Joe Biden in the Democratic primary, Representative
Dean Phillips, is here. I'm looking forward to talking to him about why he's doing this and what
he thinks is wrong with President Joe Biden. Why is he going after him? Why doesn't he think Joe
Biden should be the nominee and the next president? First, though, it's a mind-blowing legal news day
involving former President
Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden. When we originally booked our first segment,
the plan was to focus on Trump's immunity hearing at the D.C. Court of Appeals yesterday.
But then all hell broke loose in Georgia on that story that we brought to you. No one was covering
this yesterday. The Atlanta Journal Constitution broke it. We picked it up. Now it's everywhere. You're welcome. And there's a lot more to talk about
on that case. A lot more on whether Fannie Willis, the D.A. in Georgia going after Trump and 18
others and her alleged improper affair with the special prosecutor she brought in, who then took her on several alleged romantic vacations in which she benefited
by enjoying enjoying the sights and sounds of Napa, among other beautiful places on his dime,
potentially could sink the entire Trump election interference case. There are legal experts now
predicting the whole case will go away. I'm skeptical of that, but I think Fannie
Willis is going away. We'll get to all of it. On top of it all, as we're preparing all that for
you, a short time ago, Hunter Biden shows up unannounced on Capitol Hill, crashing a House
committee hearing about holding him in contempt of Congress. This is a massive middle finger to everybody involved in this. The first
son and his attorneys sauntering in, sitting down, hey, we deserve to be here. They waived their
opportunity to appear at the subpoenaed deposition they wanted to take of him.
And now when they decide whether he should be held in contempt, he saunters in
like the prince. I'll sit here and I'll listen and let's see what you'll do about it.
South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace called him out and probably got called out herself. Watch.
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.
Mr. Chairman, point of inquiry.
Mr. Chairman.
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?
Are women allowed to speak in here?
Hold on, hold on.
Order, order, order.
Are women allowed to speak in here or no?
Are women allowed to speak in here or no?
You keep interrupting me.
I'll interrupt the chairman.
You keep interrupting me.
I don't know that he's a lady.
Whoa.
Never heard anybody yell balls
at a congressional hearing, Dr.
I think it's the first. So the fact
checkers will check it out. And just when you thought it could not get any more wild,
Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene started talking and Hunter got up and just walked on out.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Excuse me, Hunter. Apparently you're afraid of my words.
Oh, I like to reclaim my time, Mr. Chairman.
Wow, that's too bad.
You see, when you're a Biden, you get to decide when you're going to show up in front of Congress
and when you're not. It's up to you, even if you have a subpoena, even though Trump is being
prosecuted right now by Jack Smith for defying a subpoena. But when you're Hunter Biden, it's fine.
And even when they hold the impeachment or the hearing, figuring out whether you should be
prosecuted for blowing off your subpoena.
You can just wander in and wander out at leisure. It's great to be a Biden. By the way, we believe,
though, are not entirely certain that the person who said, oh, too bad, is Republican Congresswoman
Lisa McClain. OK, after all that, CBS News then posts this video, a reporter asking why Hunter
was leaving.
Why are you choosing to leave now, Mr. Biden? Why not stay a while?
Okay, that was Abby Lowell, Hunter's attorney, saying that he would make a statement.
But as Abby Lowell tried to speak, they were interrupted by questions like this.
Quiet and let me make a statement. How do you normally smoke, Mr. Biden?
Oh, boy. What kind of crack do you normally smoke, Mr. Biden? Oh, no. Things took a turn. Oh, at least one reporter did try to do her job and ask Hunter while she had him. Hello. This was
the right thing to do. I think this is
a Fox News reporter about his father's involvement, Hillary Vaughn, in his overseas business dealings.
And Hunter actually responded. Hello, news media. This is the way to do it. Don't waste time with
stupid ass questions about what kind of crack did you smoke? Ask a probative, substantive question.
You might get a real answer like we saw here.
Watch and listen. Mr. Biden, why did you put your dad on speakerphone with your business partners if he had no involvement in your business? Do you have a dad? Did he call you? Yes.
The phone? Yes. But why did you need to talk to him during business meetings
if he had nothing to do with your business?
Right. Good job. That's the question. She's absolutely right. It's not that he's generally taking phone calls from his dad. It's why did it need to happen during your business meetings over
and over? Smart question. Good job to Hillary Vaughn. OK, joining me now to discuss so, so much are legal all stars Mike Davis, founder and
president of the Article 3 Project, and Dave Ehrenberg, state attorney for Palm Beach County,
Florida, where Mar-a-Lago is located.
Mike and Dave, welcome back to the show.
Wow, we're drinking from a fire hose of news today.
We were just going to do the Trump immunity hearing yesterday.
And look at all the things we have to go over. I'm most interested in this Fannie Willis case and we'll get to her
second, but let's just spend a minute on Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden saunters in there, Mike,
like truly the crown prince. Like I, I will just decide what I show up to on Capitol Hill and it
won't be the one that I'm subpoenaed for. It will just be this aftermath
where you're deciding whether I should be held in contempt. And then I will take no questions.
I will walk with swagger in and out. And honestly, like Nancy Mace is kind of onto something with the
privilege situation. It's just I've got to imagine there's some cringing going on over at the White
House on what, forgive me, but arrogant prick he looks like in doing this yeah i mean i ran like 70 congressional hearings and markups when i was on
the senate judiciary committee as the chief counsel for nominations for then chairman jeff
grassley i've never seen anything like this this is uh clearly obstruction of a congressional proceeding, which is a felony. This is clearly conspiracy
to obstruct a congressional proceeding, which is a felony. And this is also contempt of Congress.
Remember that Trump advisors Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro have been tried by the Biden Justice
Department and convicted and are awaiting going to prison
for defying a congressional subpoena being held in contempt. I don't know how you describe what
Hunter did as anything other than contempt and obstruction and conspiracy.
What do you make of it, Dave? You're laughing because those charges that Mike just referenced are, of course, the ones that Trump has been charged with at the federal level.
But let's speak to that, speak to whether he did violating laws and all this, but also just the I mean, come on, this is not a good look.
Well, it's good to be with you, Megan, and my friend Mike.
Now, the reason I was laughing is because I can understand the argument for contempt.
But when you say obstruction, all that other stuff, we have a right to attend a hearing.
And if they wanted to hear from him, he would have testified.
But to get to the contempt point, as a prosecutor, when you receive a subpoena, you don't get to choose the terms of your appearance.
So as a prosecutor, yes, he could be held in contempt, but he's not going to be
because it's up to DOJ. And DOJ did not press charges against Mark Meadows for refusing to
comply with the subpoena, Dan Scavino and Jim Jordan. So they're not going to do it here,
especially when the guy is ready to testify. But he wants to testify on his own terms in public.
So I get why people are upset about it, but don't expect a prosecution.
Boy, let me just jump in on that, because Trump also wanted to comply with the subpoena
for documents at Mar-a-Lago, but wanted to do it on his terms. It's a no. It's a no. You know,
and I said that to the man's face when I sat with him in September. And I would say the same to
Hunter Biden if he were sitting across from me. Now, it's a no. You don't get to determine the
terms on which you comply with the subpoena. You get one and you show up. Most normal people are afraid when they get a subpoena because there is a lot of power behind one of those things.
So it's, you know, on your first point, Dave, there's no question he violated the law in not complying.
He doesn't get to say, no, it has to be in front of the public as opposed to behind closed doors where they get a real opportunity to cross-examine him as in a real deposition versus the theater we watch when it's
in front of Congress with the five minutes Dem, five minute Republican thing.
Yeah, no, look, Megan, if you want to do a strict application of the law,
then Hunter Biden violated the subpoena and could be prosecuted for it, just like Dan Scamino,
Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan and other members of Congress. But since DOJ hasn't prosecuted those, they can't just go ahead and prosecute Hunter Biden for the same thing these other guys.
So before I get back to Mike, then before I get back to Mike, Dave, so what's the difference between Dan Scavino and Mark Meadows versus Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon on the other side who have been prosecuted for contempt of Congress for not complying. Well, I think the difference is, is that whether you're Jim Jordan with speech,
speech or debate clause, congressional immunity, or you're a presidential advisor
with executive privilege, it's not the same as a private citizen like Hunter Biden. Right. And so
they raise. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
I just don't want to confuse things. I'll give, I'll give everybody a chance to say what they
want to say, but cause let me just stick with Dave for one second, because Dave, you're saying DOJ didn't go after this other trio, Meadows, Scav accurately points out, for defying their subpoenas.
So before I give it back to Mike, this one's for you, Dave.
What's the distinction between those?
You know, they do it all based on the individual's facts and circumstances. So I don't know why they didn't prosecute Scavino Meadows.
I guess Jordan wasn't prosecuted for the reasons why Mike said, because he's a member of Congress.
But I think what DOJ will do here is to say, hey, Hunter Biden did show up. He was ready to testify. And because of that,
even though he said only in front, I won't do a closed door deposition. It's not up to him.
But because prosecutors at DOJ have proven that they will only prosecute these cases on slam
dunk cases like they had against Bannon and Navarro and not against Scavino and Meadows, they're not
going to prosecute this one, even though I admit as a prosecutor, you don't get to decide the terms
of your appearance. I agree with you on that, but don't expect DOJ to prosecute this.
I don't. OK, as I recall, the Meadows thing, I don't remember the Bannon circumstance,
but I know for a fact Meadows was trying to cooperate with Congress.
He didn't give them everything they wanted, but he he was cooperating.
It just not to the extent they wanted that. That to me, that seems like a distinguishable case from Hunter Biden.
Mike, who just gave me an Italian gesture and said, if you don't do it my way, I don't show up.
Yeah, I mean, remember that Mark Meadows was the White House chief of staff, the top aide to the
president of the United States. And you had Congress seeking testimony about his conversations
with the president of the United States, which is at the heart of executive privilege, right? So you have clear constitutional issues with the separation of
powers. We've had executive privilege going back 250 years to George Washington, where presidents
can get candid advice from their advisors without being hauled in before Congress to testify about
what they said to the president, because that has
a chilling effect and the president won't be able to get that candidate advice. What did Hunter
Biden do? Was he talking to his father about his art sales? Was he talking to his father about his
hookers and blow? Was he talking to his father about his corrupt Chinese and Russian and Ukrainian
foreign dealings? What was Hunter's advice he was giving to his father
why he can't testify before Congress?
I mean, he doesn't even, go ahead, Dave.
Yeah, just, I think you made my point
when you said that Meadows did cooperate
in the way he wanted to.
Like he gave Congress some things,
but didn't give Congress exactly what it wanted.
Well, Hunter Biden is showing up and saying, I will comply, I will testify, but it't give Congress exactly what it wanted. Well, Hunter Biden is showing
up and saying, I will comply. I will testify. But it has to be in the open because I don't trust
you guys to report what happens behind closed doors for a prosecutor. Not ideal. But that is
why I don't think DOJ is going to prosecute him because it's similar to the Mark Meadows situation.
I think it has more to do with the fact that his last name is Biden. I think that's obvious. I
think this DOJ has been extremely reluctant to go after Hunter for several years now because
his last name is Biden, as alleged and then later confirmed by those whistleblowers and
their testimony. This guy gets away with murder. He gets away with murder. That's why he had to
use Nancy Mace's term, the balls, to walk in there and middle finger it to the entire Congress. I won't sit. I won't give
you testimony unless you do it the way I want you to do it, where we all know it's utterly
meaningless. How many of those stupid congressional hearings have we heard where they get nothing done
because it's limited to five minute increments? You guys are both lawyers. You know, nobody can
ever get anything done that way unless they actually try to coordinate, which everybody's too dumb to do in Congress. So it's just the whole thing is just a middle finger. And he knew he could get away with it. And so far he's getting away with it. But here's the last question on Hunter. So if they do vote to hold him in contempt, Mike, then what? Because isn't it? I mean, like, does the Congress get to say you're in contempt and then refer it to the DOJ? And then it's up to our pal Merrick Garland to determine?
Yeah, that's exactly right.
If there's a contempt, you refer it to the Justice Department and then the Justice Department decides whether they're going to prosecute.
It's a very good question for Biden attorney general Merrick Garland. How do you prosecute top presidential advisors, Peter Navarro, the former trade rep to the
trade director to President Trump, and then Steve Bannon, one of his top outside advisors,
who clearly enjoy executive privilege with their conversations with the president of
the United States, but you don't prosecute the president's son who refuses to testify about
the Biden's foreign corruption and their bribery and foreign corruption schemes.
This is not about Hunter Biden.
This is about Joe Biden.
This is about whether the president of the United States is currently compromised by
tens of millions of dollars in foreign bribes and other corruption from China,
from Russia, from Ukraine, from Kazakhstan. It seems like every trouble spot around the world,
Biden and his sleazebag family were on the take. And that's what Congress is trying to get to the
bottom of, because it's not about hunters, hookers and blow. It's about whether the president is compromised.
It sounds like a like a song from The Wizard of Oz.
What was the trio? Hookers and blow, oh my. All right, let's let's move on from those dirty antics to the dirty antics down in Atlanta, Georgia. This is unbelievable.
So just for the listeners and the viewers who did not watch the show yesterday and the
segment we did on this is totally blown up online.
So you can go check it out on YouTube dot com right now.
Slash Megyn Kelly, if you want to see it for all the basic facts.
But I'll just give you the quick overview so people know.
Fannie Willis is the D.A. going after Trump in Georgia. This is a
case he does need to worry about because she doesn't like him. The jury pool in Atlanta is
not going to like him. And it's a state case that Trump cannot undo even if he or another Republican
wins the presidency. He can't pull the DOJ off the case because that's federal and she's local.
She's from a state and he can't pardon himself or get a Republican to pardon him for a state
conviction. So he does need to worry about Fannie Willis a lot, much more so than the other state
case, which is Alvin Bragg in Manhattan. That's kind of a bullshit case that even if he gets
convicted on it, he's probably not going to jail. So Fannie's a problem for Trump.
Enter the latest defense motion on behalf of one of the other 18 or 19 defendants down there,
not Trump's lawyer, but it's all to his benefit anyway. She represent another guy,
represents another guy down there, this, this lawyer. And she finds out, this is my suspicion.
I have no proof of this. She finds out somehow that Fannie's allegedly having an affair with
a special prosecutor she brought in. This is the lawyer who found out. And I'm going to guess that the special prosecutor's wife possibly tipped her off
because hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. And these two appear to have been getting along,
Fannie and her special prosecutor, before the official selection was made and possibly before his divorce was underway.
OK, so however she found out, she found out one of the defense lawyers for one of the defendants
finds out that Fannie may be having an affair with the special prosecutor she brought in
and whom she's paid six hundred and fifty thousand dollars of the taxpayers money to,
which is double what any prosecutor down there is making. These DAs don't make a lot of dough.
The justices on the Supreme Court in Delaware make less than $200,000 a year. This guy,
her alleged affair partner, has pulled in $650,000 in a year. And Fannie seems to be having a good time with him. According to the motion that was just filed on behalf of one of the other defendants,
these two went to Napa together. They went to Florida. Dave, they were down by you.
They are Jamaica. I don't know. Like the list is long. He's been whining and dining her.
And this is while he's cashing all these checks that she has made possible. Now the defense lawyer
is moving to have her recused from the case, to have him recused from the case, to have the entire DA's office recused from the case.
Because Fannie seems to be enjoying or at least is creating the appearance of impropriety that she's enjoying the financial fruits of an appointment she made in bringing this guy in.
He's getting all this money and she's taking trips with it is the allegation.
She hasn't spoken to it yet.
They're refusing to comment.
They say they'll respond only through briefs because there's a legal brief now asking that
everybody get booted.
And the woman filing the motion says she's seen the now under seal divorce proceeding
files between the special prosecutor and his soon to be ex-wife.
And as soon as she saw them, they put them under seal.
So this woman hasn't been able to attach them as an exhibit yet, but she's seen them. The lawyer
has and is telling us, trust me, they've been having an affair. And we're all going to see
these documents very soon. So that brings us to the news today, Mike. And by the way, credit to
the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for reporting all of this. That's where we learned about it. The news today, still from AJC, is Fannie Willis is going to get deposed
in this divorce proceeding. The special prosecutor, Wade, there's been a subpoena in his
divorce case to Fannie, and it was served on Monday, hours before that filing in the Georgia Rico case.
And now this lawyer, Ashley Merchant, who represents one of the Trump defendants,
is pointing out that not only is this guy Wade allegedly having an affair with Fannie,
but he's totally unqualified to be bringing this prosecution in the first place, which just puts the puts the final stink on the whole thing.
Mike, right. If he doesn't have the qualifications to be trying the case to begin with, then she brings him in.
Her alleged affair partner showers him with all this dough.
The two are off to Napa. My God, I need a clothespin.
It stinks so bad. My nostrils need to be closed. boyfriend who has zero experience with felony cases. She brought her boyfriend in to run a
very complex, unprecedented, highly political, highly partisan RICO case against a former
president of the United States who happens to be the leading presidential candidate, including
and also with 18 co-defendants, including President Trump's top aides, lawyers,
supporters, this co-defendant, Michael Roman, submitted this 127-page motion to dismiss
the indictment based upon this.
There's also other problems besides Fannie Willis getting kickbacks from her boyfriend,
allegedly, in the form of these lavish trips, you also have this prosecutor.
If you read his bills, he bills like eight hours at a time every day with very vague descriptions.
But one day he billed a full 24 hours.
He billed every second of a day, and he put the vague description prepared cases for pretrial. Right. So you worked
24 hours in a row very early on in this case. Another prosecutor, Nathan Wade.
Yeah. Nathan Wade. Another thing that's very problematic. Here's the bill, by the way,
for that, for the for the viewing audience on YouTube, you can see he does have a 24 hour
invoice. Go ahead, Mike. Yeah. And he also this is how stupid this
guy is. This guy also billed for two meetings he had with the White House staff, one with the White
House counsel for a for for like eight hours and then another eight hour meeting at the White House
before Fannie Willis brought this indictment against President Trump. So that makes it very clear that the Biden, President Biden and his White House are lying when they said that they didn't have any communications with any of these Democrat prosecutors like Alvin Bragg and Fannie Willis before they brought these unprecedented charges against President Trump, this election interference, because Nathan Wade
billed for those meetings. And the fact that he billed for those meetings, his meetings,
his two meetings prior to Fannie Willis's indictment with the White House staff proves
that they talked about Trump's indictment, because why else would Nathan Wade have billed
for those meetings if they didn't talk about what he was working on?
That's a very good question, Dave. Those two dates, and we've seen now his bill,
May 23rd, 2022, November 18, 2022, before Trump was indicted by Fannie Willis.
And it says travel to Athens conference with White House counsel eight hours on the May 1, November interview with D.C. slash White House.
Eight hours. Mike raises a good question.
Why? Why would he be talking to the White House and conferring with White House counsel immediately prior to Trump's indictment if there wasn't coordination with the White House on Trump's indictment? Well, Megan, let's look at the dates. The investigation in Fulton County started on January 2nd, 2021. That's, excuse me, that's when the call occurred. That's what prompted
the investigation. The investigation actually started on February 11th, 2021. And so this was
taking place, this investigation, a year plus prior to this meeting.
If there was a meeting, who knows?
This was Nathan Wade's way to bill for it.
He says meeting with White House counsel.
But this investigation was going on for many months.
And then the grand jury was meeting as of January of 2022.
So you're talking about many months
that the investigation was happening
and the grand jury was meeting.
So when you say that Biden administration
was pulling the strings,
this thing was already happening in the grand jury.
And why did they even need to care about Fannie Willis?
At that point, when the first meeting took place,
Jack Smith had already been appointed.
And so this investigation at the federal level was already occurring.
And let me tell you something as a state prosecutor.
We state prosecutors don't want to get in the way of feds, and the feds hate when we duplicate their efforts.
The feds do not want us to do what they do because it gets in the way of immunity and other issues.
So to think that the Biden administration is saying, yeah, go ahead and prosecute when they're already investigating, there's already a grand jury in
place, and they've already got their own federal case ready to be teed up, I think strains credulity.
I don't think this meeting means anything. Go ahead, Mike.
Well, the Department of Justice has very strict guidelines on who within the Justice Department
can meet with whom in the White House
when you're dealing with criminal investigations, right? So if a White House staffer can't meet with
the Justice Department about a criminal investigation, how the hell can that White
House staffer meet with a state attorney general about a criminal investigation. And oh, that criminal investigation just happens to be about their boss's chief political enemy.
This is a scandal that this Nathan Wade, on behalf of Fannie Willis,
billed for time when he met with the White House twice before Fannie Willis indicted President Trump.
This shows that there was clear collusion between the Biden White House twice before Fannie Willis indicted President Trump. This shows that there
was clear collusion between the Biden White House, not just the Biden Justice Department,
the Biden White House and this Democrat prosecutor. That's how he puts it. That's how his
his his own bill says conferring with White House counsel interview with D.C. slash White House.
It doesn't seem very ambiguous
and we deserve some answers on it, but I want to go back to you, Dave, on what Fannie Willis
is accused of here. In what world would it be appropriate for a DA to be having an affair
with somebody, to bring that person in as special prosecutor to pay him
$650,000 and then to go travel the globe with him post paying him all that money.
Megan, I'm not going to defend the optics of this. Look, it looks bad, clearly. But keep in mind that
Fannie Willis. Oh, and by the way,
I used to call her Fannie Willis too. And then I got an email from one of her friends saying,
it's Fannie, not Fannie. So for what it's worth. I don't care.
All right. Well, so she had, sorry, Nathan Wade has been a mentor of hers for years. They were
both judges and he was a mentor of hers when they were, when he was a judge. So this has been going on for a while,
not necessarily any affair.
We don't know for sure if there's an affair,
but even assume there is.
What's she doing in his divorce proceeding files
if they're not having an affair?
I'm going to even assume that there's,
even though there was no proof,
if there is an affair, let's discuss it that way.
So if they are having an affair, what's the prejudice?
What's the problem to the defendant? How are the defendant's constitutional rights being deprived? That's why I'll tell you,
I'll tell you, I'll tell you. And first of all, we don't have to prove actual harm to the defendant.
We can just prove appearance of impropriety. And she's misstepped. As you all know, we've all
taken the bar exam and passed it. So appearance of impropriety is enough. But actual impropriety,
actual prejudice could
potentially be argued here because she has a financial incentive to keep the case going.
The more her lover alleged gets, the more he has to spend on their next trip to Napa.
She's also being paid for it or the same thing. She gets paid to be.
She gets paid a salary no matter what. He doesn't. Right. He doesn't get six hundred
fifty thousand dollars if this case goes away. Well, the thing is, is the evidence there or not?
I mean, whether he is prosecuting the case or someone else, the evidence is the evidence.
And that's why the judge isn't going to dismiss. I got you on your heels. I never get Dave on his
heels. He's too smart for me usually. But I got you this time. You're on your heels because you know this is deeply wrong. Mike, there's no way she's
getting out of this. If what this lawyer alleges is true, she's toast.
Yeah, I mean, I would say, number one, if I'm ever in hot water, I'm hiring Dave because he's
a very good defense attorney, as we just saw there. He's good. I mean, he's very good. I mean, he gets
up there and says it with a straight face, which is hilarious. And number two, I would say that
if these allegations are true, not only will Fannie Willis get disqualified from this case,
she faces disbarment and criminal prosecution, both in Georgia and by the Department of Justice,
presumably not by the Biden Justice Department.
But when Trump's back in office, she faces serious criminal liability for what she's done here, including violation of public oath, bribery, improper influence of government
official, criminal conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud governments, maybe even racketeering.
She likes that racketeering charge,
false statements and concealment. There are so many potential Georgia charges alone
for which you could go after Fannie Willis on this. And I would say that the Georgia governor,
Brian Kemp, and the Georgia Attorney General, Chris Carr, they need to do their statutory duty here and open an investigation on old Fannie Willis here and her boyfriend.
Here's the thing, Dave. She's she's paying him double what others in that office are making.
And as far as we can tell, the guy's never even prosecuted a felony case before. It stinks.
But again, how does it prejudice an defendant when she went to a grand jury and a grand jury of citizens from the community voted to indict? a Federalist Society member, Judge McAfee, who has refused to dismiss any of these charges and has
refused to bounce the special prosecutor off the case because he didn't follow the right forms or
he didn't take the right. That was a much that was an earlier technical objection that people
Trump's team was raising to the way in which he got appointed with the special prosecutor.
I don't know whether that's legit or not. I don't care. This is this is something in a league of its own. That is why, Dave, you've got this is from AJC noting the
number of legal experts who have deep concerns about this state bar of Georgia's code of ethics.
If saying, OK, let's say it would be a clear violation of the state bar of Georgia's code
of ethics, according to Andrew Fleischman, criminal defense attorney in Atlanta.
Quote, if you're giving money to somebody who appears to be unqualified and they are giving you some of that money back in the form of summer vacations, then you are financially benefiting from your prosecution.
The Fulton County Code of Ethics says officials should aspire to avoid, quote, even the appearance of a conflict of interest.
It's literally on the bar exam.
All of us. Stephen Gillers, who here has read Stephen Gillers book? Raise your hand. We all
had to do it. Gillers is the he's the legal ethics guru. We all had to read before we took the bar.
You guys are around my age. You had to do it, too. He's he's an AJC yesterday saying this is
deeply concerning. It very much looks like if
this is true, she's crossed some serious ethical lines. It's done, Dave. It's done.
But my point is, the case continues when you say that this somehow jeopardizes the case.
These OK, that's a different question. That's it. OK, wait, I want to get to that. I want to get
that. So but there is no point if what this criminal defense attorney is alleging who's who's defending she's
defending Mike Roman. Her name is Ashley Merchant. She's the defense lawyer. If what she's alleging
is true, Fannie Willis, goodbye. You're you're done and your office is done. That's my prediction.
Mike agrees with me. Dave disagrees with me. And the special prosecutor, Nathan Wade, goes away,
too. They're all going away. They can spend as much time as they want in Napa if they can afford it without the state's money and the six hundred and fifty thousand dollars times two because the case is going to be ongoing.
Somebody else is getting the case at a minimum. So now that brings us to the question of who and do they think this is as good a case as Fannie Willis thinks it is? Or is there a
possibility that the case just goes away altogether? Because that's also being suggested
by a few legal experts, that it's not going to get reassigned under these circumstances.
It's going to be thrown out. So, Mike, I know you would like to see it get thrown out, Mike,
but do you think there's any realistic chance it does get thrown out?
Yeah, I mean, I do think.
As a result of this.
Yes, because there's so much prosecutorial misconduct here.
And you can get cases dismissed with prejudice based upon prosecutorial misconduct.
But let's say even they dismiss this case without prejudice for a new prosecutor to bring the charges here.
What I keep saying this for months and months and
months now. What exactly did Trump do that was illegal on January 6th? It is not illegal to
object to a presidential election. That's allowed by the Electoral Count Act of 1887.
It is not illegal to twist arms politically. That's allowed by the First Amendment. It's not
illegal to be a jerk in politics. Otherwise, every politician in D.C., besides my former boss,
Chuck Grassley, would be in prison. It is not illegal to have contingent electors in place if
you win your challenge on January 6th. They say fake electors, like Rudy Giuliani had the real
electors tied up in Trump's trunk, and then they sent in fake electors, like Rudy Giuliani had the real electors tied up in Trump's
trunk, and then they sent in fake electors and duped everyone. It's not illegal what happened
on January 6th. You have this bozo district attorney, Fannie Willis, and her supposed
alleged boyfriend bringing this bogus racketeering theory to take out their political enemies.
Right. And this the fact that this came out, that Fannie Willis is taking kickbacks from her boyfriend allegedly just shows what a clown both of them are.
All right. So, Dave, you you don't think I mean, if do you agree that if the judge thinks Fannie Willis has crossed an ethical line, she goes, Nathan Wade goes, and her whole office goes?
I think it is a possibility that the case, depending on what comes out, could get assigned.
I think there's zero chance the case goes away.
I'm sorry?
You're saying it would get reassigned to a different DA?
Like outside of the Fannie Willis office?
It's a possibility. would get reassigned to a different DA? Like outside of the Fannie Willis office. Okay.
It's a possibility.
I think, I still don't believe that,
based on what we know now,
that it will get removed from her
because as a prosecutor,
you can bring on who you want.
And in this case,
if they had a relationship,
if they took trips together,
look, it looks bad,
but I don't believe it crosses the line
where she would be removed from the case.
And if we find out more
and she is eventually removed from the case,
it still doesn't affect the evidence of the case, which will go forward.
And the trials will case like this, Dave, where they cannot afford to have anything smell.
They can't have anything close to a conflict of interest or the appearance of impropriety.
They're already under a microscope.
What judge would allow her and him to stay on this case?
This guy, Fleischman, this Georgia attorney, also said the following.
And this is a good point.
He said a couple of things.
Number one, in this exact case, Bolton County moved to present the false electors,
the people who have been accused, from sharing a lawyer saying it would be a conflict of interest
to have a shared lawyer. OK, then he said the Supreme Court of Georgia reversed a conviction
against one guy in a different case, finding the D.A. had a conflict of interest in the case.
Conflict of interest can get the D.A. booted. Her conflict of interest is she's supposed to
be fighting for justice, not for a conviction. And instead, she's got a financial incentive
to keep it rolling so she can go back to Napa. The wine's delicious. Then secondly,
he pointed, third, he pointed out, we're so worried about a DA's, about her being above any,
any sort of question about her ethics that we make only taking rightful compensation
part of her oath. The DA, when sworn in, takes the following
oath. Swear that I will faithfully and partially and without fear, favor, or affection discharge
my duties as DA and will only take my lawful compensation, so help me God. That's going to
be the argument that this was, in essence, a second form of compensation, that she brought
in a guy who was not qualified to be her co-counsel
and that the two of them have been seeing the world together based on the taxpayer dime,
which appears, frankly, to have been inflated by this guy and his 24 hour billing cycle.
Well, remember, Megan, he didn't just come on the case after the indictment he was the one who went
before the grand jury and the grand jurors afterwards thought he did a good job like he
got high marks for what he did he is someone okay they have they tried felonies before i don't think
they know what the standard is whether they do or they don't it's still the grand jury process
and that insulates it from a lot of the accusations that are here. This is not a political witch hunt when you have a grand jury that indicted Trump and all the others.
Oh, my God. I know you don't believe that. I am hiring Dave if I get in trouble. I am. That's it.
Mike, you're fired. I don't blame you. You're much better than I am doing.
No, he's doing his best. God love you. It's done. Goodbye. I'm not going to learn how to pronounce
your name because you're not going to be on the case much longer. Go ahead. Yes. Say one more
thing. One more thing in the AJC article that you quote, they have a split of opinion. So there are
some Georgia lawyers who think she should be bouncing. Others who say, no, this is not
any violation. So there is a mix of opinion.
They found one guy who said, I'd be surprised if the allegations would sink the case. I mean,
go back and look at Stephen Gillers. Stephen Gillers is no conservative right wing hack.
This guy, he calls him like he sees him. He literally wrote the book and he was all over this in the first article that broke this
case yesterday. All right. We haven't gotten to Trump's immunity argument, which is the purpose
of Mike and Dave getting a book today originally. And that, too, is very interesting because that's
an effort to get rid of the January 6th federal prosecution against Trump entirely. I said
yesterday it didn't go well for Trump's lawyer and I stand by that. However, one of the arguments does provide
him with a serious glimmer of hope. And we'll pick that up right after a quick break.
So Trump and Jack Smith, his prosecutor, went before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday
via their lawyers trying to argue on Trump's side this whole January 6th federal prosecution should be thrown out against Trump, claiming he has
immunity for the acts in question because he was a sitting president when he took them.
My opinion and having listened to most of it, it did not go well for Trump. These three judges
to our Biden. Are they Biden appointees? Yeah,
they're both two are Biden appointees. And one's a George H.W. Bush appointee. None of them seemed
inclined to rule for Trump. But the glimmer of hope I was referencing before the break for Trump
and tell me if you guys agree is they did seem stuck on whether the standard for how to decide this case needs
further clarification, like what acts are at issue and were they within his official duties
or were they more discretionary? And maybe we need to kick it back down to the trial court to have a
whole hearing that would illuminate us. And long and short of it is, Mike, that would delay the case beyond the
election. And that's really what Trump would like. He thinks he's going to win if he wins.
He will using you as his attorney general can end this whole thing. So that's, in essence,
a kind of win for him if that's what they do. And they did seem kind of tempted to do that.
What did you think? Well, I think that what the D.C. Circuit should do, and I don't know if they're going to do this,
but I think at a bare minimum that they need they need to hold that presidents of the United States,
just like members of Congress under the speech or debate clause of the Constitution, just like
federal judges under judicial immunity are immune from both civil and criminal prosecution for their
official acts. Right. And so judges can't be prosecuted criminal prosecution for their official acts, right?
And so judges can't be prosecuted criminally for their official acts.
Members of Congress can't be prosecuted criminally for their official acts.
That has not been decided for the president of the United States because a president has
never been charged until President Biden's special counsel, Jack Smith, brought this
indictment of a former president, two indictments of a former president, and then two Democrat DAs, Fannie Willis, who we just talked about, and Alvin Bragg in New York, also indicted President Trump. to establish that a president of the United States is criminally immune from prosecution,
because it just would not make sense that you could be civilly immune, but you're not criminally
immune. Do you think a president of the United States should have to worry that his successor
is going to prosecute him for something he did within his official acts? Like, can the Trump 47
Justice Department prosecute President Obama for the drone strike that killed two American citizens, including a 16 year old?
Can the Trump 47 Justice Department charge Obama with capital murder?
I mean, that would be that would be crazy.
But that's the path we're heading down if the courts do not establish at a bare minimum that presidents of the United States are immune from criminal prosecution.
OK, let me get Dave to just weigh in on that much. Do you agree with that much, Dave?
I don't, because what Trump did was beyond his official acts as president.
That's OK. That's OK. But that's different. Do you agree that for the official acts? I mean,
like he's right. Trump's already threatening to go after Joe Biden if Trump wins for the Afghanistan withdrawal.
And like Mike's raising a decent point that like we can't have presidents worrying about doing things like drone strikes and getting prosecuted.
Well, they do have immunity for civil cases now, as far as criminal.
I think there should be some level of immunity if you make a decision, for example,
like a drone strike on a foreign country. Right. But it's clear that it's in your official
capacity, like your official. I realize in this case, it's not as clear. But if it is clear,
shouldn't they be immune from this nonsense? If it's clear, right. The question is,
is that Trump's people are saying you get the outer limits. And I would say you don't get the
outer limits because the outer limits is ill-defined and you can just create a huge exception to the rule there. So
I'd only agree up to a very limited point. Okay. All right. So that was one of the things they
were trying to figure out. And Trump says, I did it all in my official capacity. There need to be
fair elections in the United States. And, you know, I had already lost
the election. I wasn't still campaigning. So everything I did was in my official capacity.
Dave, I'll give that one to you first. Right. Well, the Constitution is clear. The states
handle the elections. The president has no role in that. And it is telling that even though he says
I want to ensure that there was no fraud, He didn't call North Carolina. He won North Carolina by 75,000 votes.
He lost Michigan by 155,000 votes.
He called Michigan.
He only called the states where he lost to try to overturn the election.
So what he was doing was as a candidate, not as a president who really cared about election
fraud.
What do you make of it, Mike?
Well, I mean, here's the deal.
Once you, Dave agrees with us, once you establish that presidents, Mike? Well, I mean, here's the deal. Dave agrees with us.
Once you establish that presidents are immune criminally, any president, not just Trump,
any president is immune from their official acts, then this case should get remanded back
to this D.C. Obama judge, Tanya Shudkin, where she holds a mini trial with Biden's special
counsel, Jack Smith, and the Trump lawyers.
And they have a mini trial on these immunity issues.
And they figure out what they think are official acts that are immune and what they think are
private acts that are not immune under presidential immunity.
And under the case law, under civil immunity, it's the official acts in the outer perimeter
of his official acts, because they want to make very clear that presidents are protected
and they want to err on the side of protecting the president, right? Okay. So how about that,
should it be remanded for a hearing on what's official and what's not?
No, I think based on the hearing yesterday, the argument from Trump's lawyers that you could
call out SEAL Team 6 and assassinate your political opponent
was so overboard that, no, I think this is an easy one. In this case, there is not absolute
presidential immunity for the outer acts. That is clear. I think that's a limited question that
they had. They should reject it. I think the Supreme Court is going to defer to them and let
the trial commence in Washington, D.C. Do you think so, Mike? I mean, do you agree with me
that these three judges are not going to rule in Trump's favor? The best he can hope for now is delay by
kicking it back for a hearing, et cetera. I actually hope that they don't rule in Trump's
favor because that means this case is going to get delayed beyond the election because the Supreme
Court will have to take this case of the D.C. Circuit does not hold at a bare minimum that a
president of the united states is immune
from criminal prosecution for his official acts if they do not hold that the supreme court is going
to have to take this case they're not going to rush to take this case they're going to put it
on a pretty regular briefing and oral argument schedule because there's no rush they waited jack
smith the biden justice department waited 30 months to bring these charges. They timed these.
20 seconds left, Dave. Will the Supreme Court take the case if D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals
rules against Trump? I think probably not. I think they're going to defer, deny cert,
deny review and kick it back to the D.C. Circuit. That's my prediction.
That would be nice and clean for the Supreme Court. Trump will not be happy. Be the worst outcome for him. My God. Great debate, you guys.
You're the best. Thanks for being here. Up next, Dean Phillips, who's challenging Biden.
Well, my next guest is U.S. Congressman Dean Phillips of Minnesota. You may know him better
as the man who is challenging President Biden for the Democratic
Party's nomination for president. He believes the president is, quote, in decline and too weak of a
candidate to be running again. He faces an uphill battle as the DNC and Democratic heavyweights are
all working against him. They don't want any challengers to President Biden. But anyone
willing to challenge the status quo is someone we would like to talk to.
So Congressman Phillips, welcome to the show.
Thanks for being here.
It's great to be with you, Megan.
Thank you.
So your story, your backstory is pretty interesting.
As I understand it, you were raised in a successful family and then you kind of took over the
family business for a while and parlayed that.
It was like, I think the either the liquor business or the some sort of beverage business.
And then you're the guy behind the gelato Talenti.
How do you pronounce it?
I never know when I buy it.
The store is the talent of talent with an eye.
It's very easy to remember talent with.
That's your company.
That that's sort of what you were doing before you ran for Congress.
Yeah, with two partners. But I'll tell you, but Megan, my story actually starts really
differently than what you refer to, which is I lost my dad in Vietnam. He was a U.S. soldier,
a captain in the Army, and used an ROTC scholarship to pursue education, was sent to Vietnam in 1968,
right before I was born, and was killed in July of 69 in a helicopter crash, literally just three days after the U.S. landed on the moon.
And I lost my dad.
I was six months old.
My mom was 24 and widowed, and we had nowhere to go.
So we stayed with my great-grandparents for my first three years.
And then I got really lucky, Megan.
I was adopted by a father who married my mom,
brought me into an amazing family of businesses and philanthropy,
a lot of advice.
Dear Abby and Ann Landers were my grandmother and my aunt. And I got lucky. And, you know,
in a way, what I'm doing now is to pay it back. You know, it shouldn't just take a stroke of good luck or the zip code in which you're born to determine your outcome. And I think it's a
responsibility of people like me who've been successful because of good fortune and hard work to pay it forward. All right. So I was going to
back into the loss of your dad, because that's sad. I didn't want to start with that. But
I understand that you went back to the site where his helicopter went down
on a congressional delegation trip. Can you tell us about that?
Yeah, I first did it. I did a trip with a bunch of buddies, actually. It wasn't,
this was not a congressional trip. It was on my own with some friends. I did a bicycle trip in
Vietnam and then took that occasion, my first time in Vietnam, to actually go visit the site where my
dad was killed, where he took his last breath. It was a helicopter crash into a mountain called
Dragon Mountain in Pleiku, Vietnam. The helicopter was really a
cross-section of America. It was two Jewish guys, two black guys, an Italian guy, and then a Mexican
national, David Valdez, who aspired to be an American. And he joined the United States Army,
went to Vietnam, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen just weeks before he was killed in that
crash. And my dear friend, the actor Woody Harrelson, joined me to go to the crash site. And Megan, it was one of the most powerful,
meaningful, heart-touching moments of my entire life to be literally at the very site where he
took his last breath. And in some ways, I took my first. It was a very inspiring experience.
And I'll tell you, the best part of the story. I haven't even told the best part of the story. When I got back to the United States, the Today Show did a really nice spot
about my visit and it opened the door to what I wanted my whole life was to meet the only survivor
of the crash, the co-pilot, a man named Tom Devereaux, who had never been able to track down
in 30 years. I sent one email. I thought it would be the final time I'd give it a
shot. And sure enough, when I got back home, his wife answered and invited me to his 80th birthday
party in Colorado Springs, which I attended this summer. And I got to hug the very man who survived
that crash. I think it was a beautiful experience for him and a really meaningful one for me. And
just another story of reconciliation that I wish our country would work on a lot more right now. Oh, God bless you. And God bless your dad and your family for their
sacrifice. I'm sure you understand the plight of military families in a very unique and personal
way as a result. And that piece of your story is a good thing. I mean, it's a good thing to have
guys like you serving who get the sacrifice of not just those who serve, but the families around them. Exactly. Because they serve too. I don't
think we appreciate that, Megan, how difficult it is for families when their moms or dads go
overseas for deployments for months. You know what that's like when you're a kid and your mom or dad's
away for months at a time, or you can, by the way, the number of military families that are
on SNAP or food stamps and need rental support, it's really appalling that we can always find the money to send young men and women to war.
And then they come home and we fail to provide the services and support that they deserve, that they've earned.
And it doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or Republican.
We should really enhance our esteem for not just veterans, but their families.
Amen to that. Okay, let's move on to some substantive issues, because I want to ask
you about some news of the day, and then we'll get into your candidacy and what you're doing,
right? Like why you're doing this. We just left off after an hour talking about Fannie Willis
down in Georgia and the case that she's been bringing and these new allegations against her, which have many, I say,
objective lawyers, lawyers who I tend to see bashing Trump. Even they are saying if this is
true, that she's had an affair with a special prosecutor, that they've been taking trips
together after he's been getting rich on the taxpayer's dime. She's got a serious appearance
of impropriety that could result in her disqualification and should.
What do you make of it?
So, Megan, this is just another symptom of a really contagious and dangerous disease, perhaps even more dangerous than COVID,
which is diseases of corruption, of unethical behavior and, frankly, a disregard for the very public offices that we take an oath to the Constitution in which to serve.
And I don't care if you're a Democrat or Republican. There are wrongdoers on both
sides of the aisle. And I'm just really disgusted, as I know you are too, that it appears to most
Americans who have lost total faith in government. Why? And for reasons why, I understand. But when
you see members of a party only defending their own, never, ever, never calling out the truth, saying the quiet part out loud about those who might be affiliated in the same party, that is a dereliction of duty.
And I guess I've gotten myself in trouble for being honest, for calling it like I see it.
You know, I condemned Donald Trump after January 6th.
I was trapped in the House chamber that day.
I was subject to that
insurrection like this whole country. You know, that's but why would I then not call BS when I
see it on my side of the aisle? And I think that disease of silence, of staying in line, of fear
is a contagious disease on both sides. And I'm telling you, whether it's Senator Menendez in the
Senate, whether it's this allegation in Georgia, whether it's Hunter Biden, you know, gross activity, unethical behavior and
corruption is what it is. And it doesn't matter your political stripes. We should call it out.
We should be consistent and we should demand that people in the highest positions of power in the
United States of America are honest about the truth. And the
erosion of that, Megan, is dangerous. And that's why I'm trying my darndest right now to call
attention to what I consider to be the obvious. And that is we have a culture of corruption that
has to be addressed. It's so refreshing to hear you say it. You know, we used to live in a society
where there were Dems like you and there were Republicans, too, who felt this way and could
meet across the aisle and talk about, agree on just the most egregious behavior. And it's it's just
been lost. It's been lost. Well, not totally. I hate to interrupt you, but let me tell you,
I will make this claim. Angertainment, which I consider to be the evening cable news,
would love to have. Yeah, they would love to have us believe that we are more divided than we really
are, of course, because it generates
billions of dollars in revenue and attracts eyeballs. But I can tell you from personal
experience, Megan, that I love my Republican brothers and sisters, the principled handful
with whom I've worked out for the last five years, with whom I've been in the trenches,
with whom I've created human relationships and trustful ones. They're really good people. They're also beholden to this disgusting system that forces a change in behavior,
even among the most principled people on earth. And I'm telling you, I've gotten more beautiful
texts from my Republican colleagues over the last number of weeks, including one yesterday from
someone who would shock you because they're kind and they're generous. And it's not about Biden.
It's not about politics. It's just saying, hope you're hanging in there, man. Appreciate your
courage. You know, I hope you're doing well. And by the way, after October 7th, I got more notes
from my Republican colleagues just saying, hey, you're on my mind. You know, I'm sure this is
tough for you and your community. And I tell you, those go a long way. So I don't want your viewers
to think that all is lost.
In fact, that's why I'm running for president, Megan, is to demonstrate to the country that not only can we work together, we damn well have to.
And I celebrate that. And that's why I would have a bipartisan cabinet and the best and brightest, a team of rivals, because I really love learning from my conservative colleagues of whom there are many of great capacity intellectually.
Does anyone stand out? Any nice names to offer up?
Oh, sure. I can tell you Dusty Johnson, an extraordinarily principled conservative with whom
I have a great relationship and have worked very diligently on the Problem Solvers Caucus.
Brian Stile, I think a wonderful young conservative with great intellect and great capacity to lead.
One of my best friends in Congress was Anthony Gonzalez, of course, who was the young Republican from Ohio who has now since left Congress.
You know, William Timmons, who led the Modernization Committee on which I served.
I see great potential in. I can keep going on down the list of really good people that I've worked with directly. By the way, I just wish
more people would make their decisions about other human beings after they've worked with them,
gotten to know them a little bit. If we did that, we might change our opinion on a lot of people.
And I sure have myself. And by the way, Chip Roy, Chip and I worked on the first bill that I had
signed into law was during COVID, the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act.
Chip and I, you'd never imagine the number two bipartisan member of Congress, which is me,
Chip is probably 430 or so, but we're buddies. Right. It's pretty deep conservative.
Yeah. But that's why we like each other. And we've worked together on that bill. Donald Trump signed it into law. And the only reason we saved probably thousands of businesses
and hundreds of thousands of jobs is because he and I took the time to build a relationship.
And by the way, Tim Burchett, I think the most funny, human, wonderful person in Congress
could be none other than Tim Burchett of Tennessee. He brings levity when we need it.
He is my brother and a man I have great affection for.
And again, we don't see it the same way. We vote quite differently, but we sure respect each other.
And I understand a mission to let people in America know, because you'd never hear it
on television, that there are a lot of us that actually have really good relationships. And our
generation is trying to rise right now so that we can end this nonsense, period.
See, this conversation is reminding me of
the one I had with another Democrat who ultimately left Congress, and that's Tulsi Gabbard, who went
also, you know, very pro-military. She's a member of it and went to Congress with a well-meaning
intent. And she was more of a centrist like you are and just was so disillusioned by what the
party did to her, too. Right. She was not on board the Hillary train and really felt like they turned on her. And you are not exactly on board. You're supportive of Joe Biden. You just don't think he I want to be here? And it just seems to me like that body will either just pound the soul right out of you to where you submit, you become
hard, hardly partisan and go along and do what they want or you leave. Yeah, you got it. It's,
it's, I've never seen in my entire life. I've been affiliated with a lot of companies,
institutions, organizations. And I got to tell you, Megan, if you tried to design
the most dysfunctional, ridiculous institution from scratch imaginable, you would design the
current U.S. Congress. Our founders would be so disgusted because, by the way, they didn't they
didn't set the rules. They anticipated future generations of Americans who would put their
country first and set aside political nonsense.
And the truth is, Democrats and Republicans for generations have set rules in Congress designed to do two things, eliminate competition and protect the power structure. And by the way,
who do we typically elevate to positions of power in Congress? The people who raise the most money.
How do you raise the most money? By the way, anybody in politics can become famous quickly.
You just got to be a jerk.
And those of us who actually try to do our jobs with dignity and respect and decency
and competency are watching our colleagues play by this new system of rules, which rewards
idiots.
They become very successful politically.
They raise a ton of money.
And we all watch that.
And yes,
it is soul sucking. And I still have every intention to do what I can to make that culture
work because I know it can. It just takes leadership. And that's why I'm running for
president, Megan, because from the White House. You sound like the grandson of Dear Abby and
Ann Landers. I mean, it sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders, but I have to ask
you, out of all the advice, my gosh, we all look to our nannies for advice.
Was there anything that stood out?
Is there like a couple gems that you want to share?
I'll tell you, this is actually a story I don't tell regularly, but it was actually
my grandmother, dear Abby, who anointed me a Democrat.
And I'll tell you a quick story.
My first political experience ever, I show up to school, I think I was seventh grade,
1980.
And who speaks at our assembly that day but John Anderson, Congressman John Anderson, the Republican from Illinois, who decided to run.
And I never imagined I would draw this arc, but it's very connected.
He ran for president as an independent and he came to our school and he told us that day.
And I remember it vividly. He talked about the need for independence in politics, which I didn't understand at the time, and he talked about money in politics,
which I didn't understand at the time either. But I was really excited. I got to dinner that
night with my family, including my grandma, who sat next to me. She asked about my day,
and I said, it was amazing. The next president of the United States came to our school,
and she laughed, I remember, and said, look, if he's speaking to a bunch of seventh graders in the summer before an election, he's probably not going to win. So that was a note
to self. And and then she said, but hey, before you continue, are you a Democrat or Republican?
And I said, Grandma, I'm 11 years old. I don't even know what those are. And she said, you're
a Democrat. She anointed me a Democrat in 1980 at Murray's Murray's steakhouse in downtown Minneapolis. I'll never forget it.
I had a similar experience. My Nana said to me, I said, are we Republicans or Democrats?
And she said, Republicans are for rich people. We're Democrats. That's, that was her impression,
right? She was born in 1915 and all the Republicans she knew had money. She thought
tax cuts were bad, right? She wanted more taxes
because she thought she might benefit from them and so on.
Of course, the world has been turned on its head now,
but I can understand the imprint of the Nana
on one's future political crisis.
I'll tell you one other story
that's really important about her,
and this was how she operated.
By the way, she only became Dear Abby and my aunt Ann Landers
because of Senator Joe McCarthy in Wisconsin, 1950.
My grandma and my aunt were housewives, because of Senator Joe McCarthy in Wisconsin, 1950, my grandma,
my aunt were housewives in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and his antics during the Red Scare literally got them out of the house into activism. It brought one of them to Chicago, Ann Landers, who became
Ann Landers in Chicago. My grandma ended up going to San Francisco, but had it not been for Senator
McCarthy's communist scare, they never the world
never would have known if you're having landers. And my grandma said one thing all the time.
If you don't know the answer, find someone who does. And I'll tell you, when she passed away
and I was the recipient of her old Rolodex, I'm talking about like the old Rolodex.
Megan, I'm telling you, thousands of names by category. And when I tell you the most extraordinary, prestigious, well-educated names in everything
you could possibly imagine, when someone wrote her a letter with a problem, she didn't know
the answer, but she knew somebody that did.
And that was her lesson to me.
Don't pretend you know.
Find someone that does.
And that's exactly what good leadership entails.
That's very cool.
And I feel for you having jumped from what's very cool. And, you know, I feel
for you having jumped from what seems like a lovely business, ice cream, into something that's
incredibly toxic. I always say I work in such a toxic stew and I'm only on the outskirts. You know,
I'm a reporter covering politics. I'm not actually in politics. And I'm sure it's been very eye
opening. Let me let me get to a couple of these issues. You mentioned Hunter Biden. What did you make of him coming onto the House floor today after having flouted the subpoena?
Just like, hey, here I am, the prince. I can do what I want.
Megan, I'm just, you know, frankly, I recall the days where presidents were presidents.
The first lady typically made appearances on occasion, but the family was usually secondary or off limits if they were presidents. The first lady typically made appearances on occasion, but the family was
usually secondary or off limits if they were children, but they didn't really engage in the
leadership platform, if you will. And look, I'm appalled. I wasn't thrilled with how the Trump
family was engaged. I'm not thrilled with how the president's brother and son clearly, who are both
unethical people, are engaged. I've seen
no evidence, by the way. I just want to make it clear. And if I had, I would let you know right
away. I've not seen any evidence that Hunter's indiscretions lead to the president himself.
But the man is clearly unethical. He clearly was an addict and is recovering. And I do give him
credit for that. But this is just sickening. You know, Americans right now, by the way, Megan,
they don't give a hoot about Hunter Biden. Ultimately, they don't give a crap about all
the BS going on in the Congress right now. They are suffering so badly. The cost of health care,
housing, education, food and fuel. And they look at what happens in our United States Congress
and they must think to themselves every day, like, what in the world is going on?
Nobody's listening to me. No one cares. Nobody hears me. But you know what? Donald Trump heard him. And that's exactly why Joe Biden is losing. And he will lose in the next election because all
the coverage is about Hunter Biden or this or that. And the idea at the end of the day is that
people are not being heard. We have a crisis at the southern border. We have wars around the world. People can't afford their lives. And this is what people consider important.
Hunter Biden should go away, should go away. And I think what he's doing today is foolish.
There is some evidence against Joe Biden. I don't want to make this all about the corruption case.
We've done a lot of deep dives on it. But let's table the evidence that he was involved.
10% for the big guy emails to that effect.
Is it appropriate for a sitting vice president to allow his son to sit on the board of a
Ukrainian energy company when he, the vice president, is in charge of Ukrainian policy?
No, no.
In fact, I'm still shocked.
Now, look, anybody who's a parent, we all know the more you tell your kid you can't
do something, you know, they're more likely to do it.
It doesn't matter their age.
That's when they're eight.
I know.
I'm just saying generally, Megan.
And no, I just I answered that.
Have you ever had anyone answer the question so directly?
The answer is no.
He shouldn't have.
Not a Democrat.
I can't believe that the sitting vice president would have condoned it or even allowed it.
It is so egregious. It is so wrong. And it is such an example of why Americans have no faith in their government.
They can't seem to find a politician who actually cares and is actually ethical and is actually transparent.
And that's why I understand.
Who won't sell out. Who won't sell out. Right.
It's just like. And of course, all these politicians were supposed to sort of get into office won't sell out. Right. It's just like and of course, all these politicians
were supposed to sort of get into office and then get out. Right. Not be lifetime politicians.
That's what Joe Biden is. So many. It's not he's it's on both sides. And now we've got these 80
year old lawmakers and now we have to, you know, octogenarians are near running for president.
So that brings me to you. How old are you? I'm 54. OK, I should.
I don't want to mislead people. I'm going to be 55 on January 20th. So there you go.
OK, very, very young for the record. I like it. So you're running for president and you I know
you've said you've been asked about the fact that you say you totally agree with Joe Biden's
policies. You're 100 percent behind his policies, but not his candidacy. So why is there a need for Dean Phillips?
Oh, let me start with policy. You know, I have voted for his policies. Does that mean I'm 100
percent behind his entire platform? Not at all. In fact, I think I'm one of the only Democrats
pointing out the other truth, which is we have a crisis at the southern border that is embarrassing, indescribable, and frankly, unforgivable.
And that is a responsibility of a number of administrations from the past, Democrats and
Republicans.
But it's true.
And I'm a Democrat telling you that we have got to secure our border and also our northern
border.
Megan, we are not far away from where we have migration
waves of millions of people who are fleeing war or famine or lack of water. And, you know,
the fact that we don't put a high, the highest priority of the American president should be
secure borders. And it's a big problem. I favor the legalization of cannabis. That's a big
difference. I'm an investor in peace and I do that through strength. But I do believe that it is the failures of Joe Biden in the past
that we have the crisis in the Middle East and also Ukraine. And these are truths. I voted for
the agenda, which, by the way, were investments in America. My proposition, Megan, is to invest
in Americans. And that means housing, healthcare, education,
and to ensure the prices for food and fuel
are something that every middle-class family
in America can afford.
So that's the policy difference.
As for the pragmatism,
Joe Biden is gonna lose to Donald Trump.
Now, I have affection and appreciation
for principled conservatives.
In fact, I want those ideas
embedded in my own policy perspectives.
I do have animus towards Donald Trump, not Trumpers, but Donald Trump. And Joe Biden is
going to lose to him. And if it's Nikki Haley, if you're a Democrat, Nikki Haley is ahead by 17
points over Joe Biden in the last Wall Street Journal poll. So there is a democratic delusion
and frankly, a hypocrisy of democracy
based on what the DNC is doing in Florida and North Carolina, here in New Hampshire,
where I am right now. And I'm on a mission to say the quiet part out loud, speak truth to power,
and give Americans the chance to completely turn the page to a totally different chapter,
if we want to. And that's my proposition.
It is not some bold claim that we could never achieve. It's not demeaning everybody who comes
in my path. It's trying to return to a time where competency, integrity, decency, and experience
all play together. And we work together and fight for each other instead of against each other. And that is
my proposition. That's how I wake up every day. You make a point of distinguishing between Trump,
who you don't like, and Trumpers, people who support him, MAGA. That's very different from
our sitting president who, you know, the dark Brandon speech, ultra MAGA. He's been trying to
demonize Trump supporters pretty much at every turn. And what we hear is
that that's his plan for the next year, like just demonize Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump,
and his supporters. We don't want to empower these people. Why do you disagree with that?
Well, first of all, and by the way, this is a symptom of the disease you just mentioned,
which is people who've been serving in Washington for decades. Joe Biden has never had a job outside of the
public sector. He's been in Washington, I think, since 1972, since I was three years old.
How would he even ever know how to create a compelling strategy that I've done my whole
life in the private sector? I've never built a business, Megan, by demeaning my customers
or telling them they suck or they're dumb or they don't matter.
It's just the opposite. The whole reason I won my first race in Congress in 2018 and flipped a
district that had been Republican since 1958 is I used invitation, not confrontation. I have great
affection for all Americans. And I'm really I'm equally angry. I'm angry at Washington. I'm angry
about the two party system. I'm angry we don't have term limits. And I'm equally angry. I'm angry at Washington. I'm angry about the two-party system.
I'm angry we don't have term limits. And I'm really angry that amazing, hardworking Americans who bust their tails to make ends
meet for their family and invest in their country are totally ignored in huge swaths
of this country.
They matter.
I hear you.
I invite you.
And I want to work together to make life better for the people who really have been forgotten about and why Democrats ignore that.
Not only ignore, but condemn, condemn these people. I'm appalled.
And that's why I think we need competition. And that's why I'm providing it.
And I'm just hopeful that people who are like, we do need competition. We'll see whether the Democrats allow it.
They're very good at stifling. Very good at stifling.
Just ask Bernie Sanders.
They're working hard right now.
Believe me, I mean, they're working really hard.
Oh, I realize.
I mean, I've been watching.
I mean, they're very good at what they do.
I have to give them some credit on that.
They're better at that than winning elections, I'll tell you that.
Yeah, well, we'll see.
The border.
You've spoken about your feelings shared, I think, by most of our audience.
Today, there's news you've probably seen out of Brooklyn at this James Madison High School, where now they are moving.
They moved 2000 immigrants, illegal immigrants into a high school there, kicked the students out from school, said, OK, here they are arriving.
You can do remote learning instead.
And now we find out today it's not even remote learning. It's just remote homework assignments. The children have
to request a Zoom with a teacher if they would like to have actual instruction in their taxpayer
funded school because the people who came to the country illegally are now in their homerooms and their classrooms.
What do you make of this?
It's a massive failure, a massive failure in leadership, period.
And let me say this to Megan.
I know you probably feel the same way.
Those poor kids whose parents bring them across the border for the same reasons that my four mothers and forefathers and probably yours came to America, which is to flee persecution
and find a better life. I mean, I'm sure that's what most of these poor kids and their families
want. But I'll tell you, the leadership failure is just extraordinary. And that's why when I'm
president, Megan, I can fix this. We can have border security. We can have a buffer zone on
both sides of the border, barriers, better technologies, completely redesigned ports
of entry for both commerce and people. But if we really want to fix the problem, Megan, it's way
too late once they come to the border. It's our asylum system. It's our policy that is actually
responsible for the problem itself. And I'm sure you know this. We force people who wish to declare
asylum to cross our border. And they have to wait,
they have to spend $10,000 roughly per person. They give it to a Mexican cartel, which by the
way, then uses it to hurt our country. And then they come across the border. They're processed
by border patrol. They're dumped in the streets of El Paso or somewhere else with not a penny in
their pocket, the inability to work and nowhere to go other than
told to show up at a court case maybe three or four years from now. So what can we do? It is so
simple. We've changed the law to force the declaration of asylum cases in your country of
origin. So if you're coming from, say, El Salvador and you feel unsafe, you go to the consulate or
the embassy, you make an application for asylum. We can build inexpensive dormitories next to our consulates or something to keep people
safe temporarily.
We adjudicate their cases there.
They hold on to their $10,000.
And if they qualify, we bring them to America.
They can work.
And they have $10,000 to start their lives here instead of having to rely on the public
sector.
So why wouldn't we do that? Why wouldn't we make a simple change? And the reason is simple.
Well, you tell me. You tell me. We talk about it all the time. Why? What is it about the open
border that is that is appeasing or pleasing to Democrats, including Joe Biden? There has to be
an answer because otherwise we wouldn't have such a sieve. Because politicians are focused on winning the next election.
Executives and those that come from the private sector like me,
we want to solve problems and then turn it over to somebody else.
And every single person I've encountered in Washington, D.C., Megan,
they want to stick around as long as possible.
I've torpedoed my career in Congress by design.
By design. I knew I was going
to Biden, right? Yeah. By challenging the president. I knew my party would completely
disenfranchise me. I knew that would be hard to come back. And my goodness, everything I expected
has happened. I wish we had more people in Washington that would knowingly torpedo their
career to get something done. That's what I want. my legacy. Can you expand on that? Like what, what blowback have you received?
Oh, well, you know, I, well, I will tell you that the tactics are mostly, um, behind the scenes.
Uh, the, um, the inability to attract any media interest is, is actually a function of
the strategy, uh, telling donors, telling media hosts, telling networks, uh, that they better be
careful if they
platform me or support me because they're watching. And of course, you know better than
anybody. You know, the lifeblood of Fox or MSNBC is access to the administration, information and
people. And if you do something to risk that flow, you are literally risking billions of dollars of
revenue. So you know that. Do you think the White House has given a warning to the CNNs and MSNBCs of the world, and maybe the mainstream, the broadcast channels too? Don't put
them on. Otherwise, no access. Let me just say this. Until I see hard evidence of anything,
I will not say with absolute certainty. But do I have anecdotal evidence? Lots of it. Yes. But
that's who I am, by the way. If unless I see or hear firsthand, I'm not going to tell you I know. I don't know. But do I think? Absolutely. And do I have some
pretty good evidence? Yes. That's how the game works. State parties, let me tell you another way.
The Democratic National Committee clearly communicated with the Florida Democratic Party
to remove all candidates from the ballot other than Joe Biden, announcing essentially that the
four million Democrats in Florida do not need to have a primary because Joe Biden already won. Same thing in North
Carolina. Only one name submitted by the Democratic Party to be on the ballot, Joe Biden. And by the
way, I'm not a fly by night candidate. You know, I'm a third term sitting member of Congress. I was
a member of House Democratic leadership elected by my peers. I'm the I'm the ranking member of the Middle East Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs.
You know, I'm not a fly by night candidate.
And they are intentionally suppressing voters, intentionally suppressing candidates and intentionally suppressing debate.
So the hypocrisy of democracy is alive and well, and I'm going to call attention to it.
And that's why they're very, very upset with me. And I know how a lot of my friends on the other side of the aisle who
had the audacity to speak their principles, how they felt when the MAGA machine turned against
them. It is discomforting. And that's really my call to action, Megan, is to the exhausted majority
of thoughtful center-right and center-left Americans, if you really want to do something about this,
support someone like Nikki Haley or me.
You know, why not?
Why not turn the page?
Like Trump said, what have you got to lose?
All right, stand by.
Hold that thought.
Much more to discuss.
We'll get into a couple of the platform reasons.
And I'll give, this is a tease, Congressman Phillips.
We'll get into why not, right?
I've got a lot of center-righters
and some center-lefters listening to this show. right? I've got a lot of center writers and
some center lefters listening to this show. So we'll talk about a couple of the issues
and see how that goes. Stand by. I'm Megan Kelly, host of the Megan Kelly show on Sirius XM.
It's your home for open, honest, and provocative conversations with the most interesting and
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free. Offer details apply. Okay, so quick question on Mr. Biden. Too old or mentally infirm?
Well, Americans are making it very clear. They feel he's too old. By the way, Donald Trump's only a few years younger, I think four years younger. So there's clearly some
disconnect. But Americans have opined. I think 75 percent of the country has said that they
believe he's too old. It's more about stage of life than anything. I think people see the
decline in his ability to communicate and his physical infirmity on occasion. I do not see
any evidence of any
cognitive issue to be forthright. I want to make that really clear. But once Americans have made
up their mind about who they want representing our country in the future, you've got to listen
to the numbers. Now, politicians lie all the time, but the numbers don't. And the numbers are very
clear. They do believe he's too old. And both, by the way, I think most Americans want to turn
the page from both Donald Trump and Joe Biden. That's really the case.
Seven and seven percent believe he's too old. And I think it's over 65 percent of Democrats
share that same opinion. How about Kamala Harris? If President Biden were to step down,
would she need to go, too? Because I know you pointed this out and then got chastised for it.
But, you know, as well as I do, that the American populace, including the Democrats,
are not huge fans of Kamala Harris. And I see the numbers and that's what I was referring to.
And here's the here's my very basic point for Democrats. Look at what the GOP is doing right
now. There is a very spirited competition, despite having Donald Trump, the former president, in the race.
Democrats should be behaving exactly the same way.
If it's Vice President Harris, if it's Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, me, whoever wants to, the whole point is to practice democracy.
So I'm not going to opine on whether it's Newsom or Harris or me or somebody else.
That's the whole point of democracy, is let each of us make our case.
If your numbers are low because people don't know you, well, then you get a chance to make them go
up. And the best part about not being well known like me is that two thirds of the country doesn't
hate me. And that's actually a real benefit. You know, you know what it's like in this day and age.
It's hard. No, it's very hard to be not hated. Do you think she'd be a good president, Kamala Harris?
I don't.
My experience with the vice president has always been reasonable, decent, and she seems effective to me.
But that's not that's my perspective.
And at the end of the day, I would like to see anybody compete in a Democratic primary
that wishes to.
And that's not a yes.
Look, I don't.
It's not a yes.
I support one person right now to replace Joe Biden, and that is me.
I'm prepared.
My experience is, I think, perfect for this job.
And at the time to meet the moment, my style of leadership is exactly what the country needs.
So I'm not going to opine on who it is.
And I know, look, I know that's what attracts eyeballs.
And you want me to say something about her or Gavin Newsom.
No, I'm just curious.
I think I know the answer.
I just don't.
I don't think you want to say it. I know very say. The time I've spent with her has been quite pleasant. And I think she's a good person. But that's irrelevant to whether she'd be a good
president. That's irrelevant. You know, I mean. Let me make, but let me make this point. I think
it's really important. We're all making decisions about people based on Twitter, conversations from
a friend, something you see on TV, and nobody is showing up to actually look
someone in the eye, hear them make their case, ask questions of them. And all I would say, Megan,
and I would just invite everybody listening, the next time you're going to condemn a politician,
do it after you've had a chance to maybe just go to one event, get a sense of who they really are,
because the media right now is really misportraying.
Well, that's true in your case. We've had enough of her and Biden and Trump to know who they are
and whether we like them or not. But yeah, in your case, I know you had New Hampshire is your big
place where Biden's not on the ballot because he thumbed the middle finger at them because he
didn't want them to be first in the nation. He wanted South Carolina to be. So you your big play
is to do well in North Carolina, where Biden has to be a write in nation. He wanted South Carolina to be. So you, your big play is
to do well in North Carolina where Biden has to be a write-in vote if people want to vote.
New Hampshire.
New Hampshire. And, you know, you say people aren't showing up. I saw the thing. It was sad.
People didn't come to your, nobody came to your event the other day. I think they should go to
your event. They should hear you. They should listen to you. But how does that bode for your
chances when you're having events there and nobody shows? Well, so first of all, let me,
it's actually kind of funny because that moment, yeah, there's the picture right there. So. And
you made a joke to your credit. You tweeted it like you made a joke about it, which I thought
was very classy of you. Look, I mean, if people could see, first of all, I would love for every
American to come along with me on the campaign trail for one day. I love America.
This is so fun.
It is wonderful to meet people.
The daily experiences you have here, some are heartbreaking.
Some would make perfect episodes of Veep.
And the truth is, sometimes you have events where you're shocked by how many people come.
And then sometimes you have moments like yesterday.
We pulled my government repair truck outside the hotel we were at.
I thought I'd serve coffee to these young people going to this college convention.
And little did I know that they were all parking in the garage and coming up a different way.
So, yeah, it looked pathetic and sad and weak.
But at the end of the day, what's really interesting, Megan, is Jake Rosen, the reporter that put up that tweet.
I think his post showing me lonely in the back of my truck staring off into the wilderness.
I think that's
generated like i don't know three million views or something one hour later he did another tweet
of me playing bingo with this extraordinary and hysterical group of old ladies here in manchester
he did another tweet literally one hour later and i think it has like 4 000 views so it's either 4
million if you make someone look pathetic or sad or like snarky.
Yeah. Only 4000 if it's actually it was a really beautiful experience playing bingo with a whole room full of seniors. So my point is, no one wants to see that. I take your point.
OK, let's go through a few issues in the time we have left. I don't have a lot of time. So
tick through these with me quickly, if you could. Here's the one. I mean, I have voted Democrat in
the past, unlike most of my colleagues who are more on the right now.
I have voted for Dems and Republicans. And so you're kind of luring me in with your attitude and your bipartisanship and your just optimism and so on.
However, I'm almost a single issue voter now on the trans thing and children.
And I don't know if you saw I asked the candidates about this at the last presidential debate on the GOP side, but it's a hard no for me on somebody who would allow these
surgical procedures to be done on children who are under 18 in terms of chopping off body parts
from kids who can't even smoke a cigarette. And I also am very much against puberty blockers
straight into cross-sex hormones because even the trans community admits this is causing
in sterility. This is causing sterility, infertility. For minors, they can't possibly
consent to their own sterilization. And I think you're on the opposite side of me on this. So
persuade me why I should still consider you. Well, here's how I feel. And look, I know that
most of your listeners, if not all, and you as well, you know, care.
We have hearts.
We care about human beings.
We don't want to destroy lives and we want to be empathetic.
I'm the father of two wonderful daughters.
My youngest daughter, Pia, is a gay woman.
And I have particular empathy for people who have been oppressed or shuttered or kept out or closeted.
And I've never walked in the shoes of a queer person, of a trans person, of someone who's
facing bipolar disorder, whatever it might be, and they've never walked in my shoes.
So generally, I lead with love. And unless it affects another human being, I tend to say,
I think it's something the government should stay out of. The government should stay out of
women's bodies. The government should stay out of my house and out of my bedroom, out of my
bathroom. That's how I see it. But as house and out of my bedroom, out of my bathroom.
That's how I see it.
But as it relates to your question specifically,
I will answer it.
You know, I don't believe that children
under the age of 18 who cannot buy firearms,
who cannot buy beer,
who cannot do a lot of things
in the United States of America
should be able to make such consequential,
life-changing decisions until a certain age.
And I do think maybe that is the common ground, that you can have empathy, you can have love,
you can have understanding, and you can have support. But when it comes to making decisions
that will really have significant repercussions, I do think a certain age is totally reasonable.
What's the age? What's the age? Majority? 18?
Well, I think this is, by the way, I'm glad you asked that question because at the end
of the day, we're using these arbitrary ages that in my, I would argue, are both hypocritical
in many cases and incongruent.
But we're one of the only countries in the world, by the way, that allows you to drive
before you're allowed to drink, right?
Wouldn't it be a little bit more reasonable for kids in this country to grow up not thinking alcohol is something you go get bombed on when you turn 21, whereas you
actually appreciate its effects, you understand it, you might enjoy a glass of wine with family
when you're a teenager, and then you learn how to drive afterwards, like most reasonable countries
do? I don't know if the age, 18, let me just say this. lower than 18, 18. Look at 18 is usually in 21 of the two ages we consider to be threshold ages in this country.
You know, I'm not a doctor. I'm not an attorney. I'm not the parent of a trans child.
So I don't believe that, frankly, I should be telling you what that age should be.
What I'm telling you is that as president on issues of great consequence and a great challenge, this is an example of how I would lead.
Bring together a table of parents, of trans children,
of trans adults, of doctors,
and hear perspectives on both sides about what makes sense
and whether or not the government should get involved.
Those are the fundamental questions.
I'm not demeaning.
Before you appoint that table of people, please let's talk.
Because what's happening right now in the medical community is they've been completely captured by activists and they
complete, including the American psychiatric association, the American academy of pediatrics,
even the endocrinology association has been captured and you're seeing more and more
D transitioners come out and sue these groups, sue the doctors. They've been so wronged.
All right, let me table that one for now.
Abortion. You know, there are a lot of Democrats out there who believe in abortion on demand, and they won't set any limits. They won't set a limit for the third trimester even.
I think most people can agree if the life of the mother is in jeopardy, that the life that's
already here has to take precedence. But should there be limitations on abortion for any trimester?
Let me start with my values.
My values are that I believe in freedom and liberty, and I believe that should extend
to women's bodies.
I don't think government should play a role in telling a woman how she can treat her body,
what she can do with it.
And I certainly don't think men should be doing that.
Those are my values.
So I believe in a woman's right to make that choice with her health care provider and herself.
I also know there's a lot of conversation about late term abortions.
And I think, you know, Megan, the data is very clear.
There are very, very few of them.
And if there are, they tend to be very tragic circumstances for either the fetus or for
the mother.
So to your question, I had I'll tell you in New Hampshire about a month ago, I had the
most extraordinary conversation in my entire life on this subject because I had a young conservative approach me on the issue of abortion.
He said, I'm fiercely pro-life. And I said, I respect you and I'm fiercely pro-choice.
So let's have a conversation. And I said to him, where might we find common ground?
And he said, well, what if we were to reduce the incidence of unwanted pregnancies?
I said, well, what a great way for Democrats and Republicans to start.
And then he continued and he said, I'm going to actually make the conservative case for progressive principles.
And he proceeded to say, imagine if American women were facing this decision,
knew that their baby would be brought up with shelter, with food, with great education, with health care
and security in the neighborhood, an opportunity to make a living and be self-sufficient
for his or her life. Don't you think more women might make the choice to have their babies?
And I literally was so dumbfounded because it was the most beautiful case to make where
Democrats and Republicans should be focusing our efforts. This notion of being pro-life. Just to be clear, just to be clear, just so that people understand.
So you would not, because you're not in favor of any government bans or, so you would say
in all cases, it's up to the woman, there should not be any bans on it, third trimester included.
What I'm saying is this, and I know it's incongruent with some people's perspectives
and perhaps yours. I'm saying this very clearly. I'm very concerned about the growing role of government in people's lives, including this one.
And by the way, a lot of people share that concern.
And I first of all, and I want to say I have respect for people who see this differently.
And I would ask that you have respect for me.
It is very simple to me. I just don't think, I think on this specific subject,
I don't believe that government should be playing a role.
I think physicians should be playing a role.
All right, wait, I only have two minutes left.
So I want to squeeze this last one in.
DEI, under a lot of fire right now,
especially in the wake of the anti-Semitism
we're seeing on campuses.
We think it's directly linked to these programs.
What do you think?
I think it's directly linked to these programs. What do you think? I think it's really simple. DEI is a symptom of a disease that has never been treated.
And that disease, for everybody watching and listening right now, is slavery. Our country
never, ever repaired the relationship between the United States government and those who are
enslaved and their descendants. We have never made a distinct
effort to ensure that the long tail of slavery is rectified in the United States. And the best way
to do that, and I will propose we do so, is to raise the foundation. I want to do a lot of things,
Megan, starting with a notion of what I call the American dream account, which is a thousand
dollars vested in every baby's account in the beginning of their life. You're endorsing you're endorsing DEI because of slavery. So you you're
in favor. I'm endorsing. No, no. What I'm saying is DEI is a symptom of a disease that we've never
addressed. I want to address the disease, which is to make amends and to fix the injustices of
the past by raising the foundation for the black community and for
all Americans. And let me tell you what I propose. I want to start something called American Dream
Accounts. For three and a half billion dollars a year, every American baby would be afforded a
thousand dollar account that would be invested in the stock market in American companies.
Five hundred dollars a year can be added to it over the course of your teenage years.
It will become yours if you graduate high school or get your GED. And at six percent interest,
five hundred dollars a year. That's every day, irrespective of race, everybody, everybody.
And then secondly, if you want to afford one year of your life to serve our country,
AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, U.S. military, we'll put another $10,000 in your
account. So you have $30,000 to start a life, own a home, begin a business, use for your expenses.
I got 40 seconds until the computer is going to cut us off, but I just-
Well, there you have it. That's the beginning of a process.
Are you in favor of these DEI programs in K through 12 and college campuses?
I think training and preparing young kids for the world in front of them,
which is a very diverse one, is really important. Do I think that the systems that are being employed right now and the programs and some of the people are effective and the right ones? No. And that's absolute. So I think, again, two things. You know what? Let's wrap this up with my last perspective. Two things can be true at once.
You've got 10 seconds. We need to prepare kids better for their futures, and that means diversity understanding.
But is the way we're doing it right now effective and correct?
No, I think it's actually really bad.
I want to fix it.
I want to fix it. Thank you for being here.
We got to run.
I appreciate it.
Dean Phillips, to be continued.
All the best to you.
Thanks for listening to The Megyn Kelly Show.
No BS, no agenda, and no fear.