The MeidasTouch Podcast - Sen. Baldwin Blasts Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Betrayal’

Episode Date: June 29, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on the cross-exam of Trump witnesses at a recent Senate hearing and Meiselas interviews Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin about these hearings and the disastrous budget bill. Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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That's D-A-Z-N dot com slash FIFA. Uh oh, Republicans did not see this coming. Essentially, the Democrats in the Senate hijacked the MAGA Republican senators' hearings and then brilliantly cross-examined these either Trump cabinet members or Trump's picks to be judges. Let me show you what went down here. You had Democratic Senator Welch cross-examining Emile Bové. He's one of the top Justice Department lawyers. He was Donald Trump's personal lawyer. And Trump wants to make this guy who's the subject of a whistleblower complaint for saying

everybody in the Justice Department should like F the federal judges and not listen to federal judge's orders. But watch as Senator Welch cross-examines this guy, Emil Bové, who was sitting at this Senate hearing to be appointed as one of the top judges in our country to become a judge for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Watch this. All right.

Who won the 2020 election for president of the United States? President Biden was certified as the winner of that election. So you give the standard answer. You can't say that he won because he got the majority of votes and also got the electoral college victory. I think the characterizations that you just made, Senator, are both political. And so I can't address them under the cannons and they're also tied up in ongoing litigation. Let me understand how it's political to state who got the most votes in any election.

Senator, I'm just trying to be precise. The process by which our country declares the victor in an election is a certification process. President Biden was certified. Thank you, Senator Welch. Heel back, thank you. Senator Blackburn. Next, I want to show you this moment of Democratic Senator Whitehouse. And here he looks at some of the MAGA Republicans on the Judiciary Committee and says,

like, do you see what the problem is with this Boves guy right here? It's pretty pathetic. And this is a stain on our August committee. Play this clip. Negations take place. Did you contact them? I refer you to my prior answer, Senator. Did you let them know

that the effort by interim U.S. Attorney Martin had been shot down. I apologize, Senator. I'm not trying to be difficult, but I must refer you to my prior answer. Senator Kennedy? Just, if I may, Chairman. Yes, proceed. This is not further questioning. I know my time is expired.

Do you see my point now? We have an individual here who is here seeking confirmation to one of the highest judicial offices in the land. I'm asking quite legitimate questions about potential misconduct in office. Some of it has nothing to do with the substance of pleadings, but has to do with administrative matters like seeking the removal of a criminal career chief prosecutor. Some of it has to do with administrative matters like case assignment. And the fact that I can't get anything resembling a straight answer in the

Circumstances that we're in right now, I think is Signals a really bad moment for this committee and I hope we can Would be glad to discuss that with you. Can we get him back then once the rules are clear? Senator Kennedy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Next up you have Democratic Senator Murray. Here she is cross-examining Russell Vogt, the architect of Project 2025, who now runs the Office of Management and Budget. And she just basically shows that he and the Trump regime are just

unlawfully impounding funds and will try to use procedural tricks to violate the law. Play this clip. The president does not have a line item veto, much less a retroactive line item veto. Your notion of this pocket rescission defies common sense and by the way, the plain text of the law. Director, vote, will you commit to this committee that you will not attempt to do an end run around Congress with this so-called pocket rescission, something

members on both sides of this dais have made clear is outright illegal? Senator, there's a lot of mischaracterizations into my previous comments. I would just say that we believe that we have, under the law, numerous options with regard to how to achieve savings, including rescissions that are timed at the end of the fiscal year. General accounting office has articulated that earlier in the life of the Entombed Control Act. This should be a yes or no, and what I hear you is all kinds of word salad to make sure that you are letting us know that you intend to do things that are outside the intent of the law.

And it has also been reported that you are considering sending Congress a massive deferral package under the ICA in an attempt to run out the clock and avoid legal scrutiny of this administration's illegal freeze before ultimately impounding the funds at the end of the fiscal year. And then you have Democratic Senator Van Hollen tries to cross-examine Pam Bondi, the attorney general, and you'll see how she basically says, I can't tell you my views about Emil Bové or other people. It's all subject to pending litigation, so I'm just not going to answer your question

or play this clip. I assume you agree that zealous advocacy does not mean telling untruths to courts of law. And second, if that's not the case, what do you mean by saying he was not a zealous advocate? Senator Van Hollen, this is all pending litigation, as you're well aware. And the timing of it, I can't discuss pending litigation. This is a whistleblower lawsuit pending within my office. But I will say the timing of it, I find suspect, as he takes hits at Amal Bovi, who is one of the best human beings I know, one of the smartest, brilliant men I know, who will soon

become a federal judge. And his hearing happens to be today. And I find the irony of the timing of it pretty remarkable, the lawsuit. But the timing of it, pretty remarkable, the lawsuit. But- I also like how Senator Patty Murray is like basically mocking her Republican colleagues. And she goes, GOP's big ugly bill kicks people off, healthcare and food assistance.

Oh, she goes, this is how I'm gonna try to communicate. Maybe they'll listen to me. And then she puts it all in caps and just writes it the way Donald Trump would write a message. She goes, GOP's big ugly bill kicks people off healthcare and food assistance.

Hospitals will close, kids with disabilities will lose caregivers. Big winners, billionaires. Total fraud, polls like garbage because it is. GOP should drop it. Thank you for your attention to this matter. I mean, and that's true. I mean, and that's true. I mean, apparently that's what works with the GOP.

And you see right there how a lot of these MAGA Republicans who show up as witnesses to these hearings, not even answering the question. So let me bring in Democratic Senator from Wisconsin, Tammy Baldwin. And now I'm joined by Senator Tammy Baldwin from the great state of Wisconsin. I want to show your cross exam to our audience of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Doug Collins. Let's just play it and I want to get your reaction to it. Let's play the exchange. I would just add one comment about the recruitment and retention of physicians and nurses.

You know, I've heard from a lot of the practitioners and VA practitioners in my state that when they begin to be doing the jobs of several others who have been dismissed, nurses doing the work of CNAs and if they want to start an IV, having to also do the logistics of getting the IV poll and the IV

They're doing the work of several people beyond the additional overtime Implications of their job and so working conditions as well as salaries need to be looked at I just you don't have to comment No, I just wanted you to hear that I appreciate this center I would I need to comment because it's not been let go we're not firing anyone So I mean for them to firing the people me. And I appreciate that, Senator. But I need to comment because it's not been let go. We're not firing anyone. So I mean, for them to say that- You're firing the people underneath for them. No, we're not firing anybody.

I mean, it's not from RIF. It's not, if they're being fired, they're being fired for a cause issue in the facility they're at. They were let go. And I'm talking to the nurse. But they're not from things we've done. Since you started.

No, I mean, tell me where they were because it's not happening. I mean, the real was the real to follow up with you with the examples that if they've taken earlier time, that's not firing. They're not there. And so you have to face that in order to keep your nurses and doctors saying I'll be hard being supported. I'll be happy to work with you. But there's no one being fired. They may have left for other reasons, but they're not being fired. You know, it's the gaslighting for me and the lying and they show up in front of you

and they say they haven't been fired and you go, well, I've speak to them. I know they've been fired. Trust me, they've been fired. And then these Trump cabinet members said, well, you know, it may be that they left on their own and they just or they just got a letter and the letter happened to say you got to go. But that's not fire. And what do you make of that exchange? And just in general, the exchanges you're having with these witnesses as they come before

you in the Senate? Yeah. Well, as you say, there's a lot of gaslighting going on. But I have to say that they're trying to do revisionist history. to say that they're trying to do revisionist history. I think we all remember the Valentine's Day massacre when all these people were let go and got their, the probationary employees who got their letters saying, your service is no longer in the public interest and your work wasn't good.

It was just lies. And we saw a huge percentage of the federal workforce let go. And then we got all the early retirement and deferred resignation. I don't know, it was just, we know this happened. They try to cover it up. And when we asked the Department of Veterans Affairs,

and when we asked the Department of Health and Human Services, and we asked the Department of Veterans Affairs, and when we asked the Department of Health and Human Services, and we asked the Department of Agriculture, how many people were let go? Under any circumstances, how many are no longer there than were there the day that Trump was installed and inaugurated and Doge was set up? They will not answer letters. So I remember my cross-examination

of Secretary Kennedy for HHS, and he said, we will have radical transparency, and they have had radical opaqueness. They never answer a letter. They never answer a question. It is one of the ways that democracy begins to degrade when there is no sense of responsibility on the part of the administration to tell us the truth.

Gotta ask you about the disastrous budget bill now as it works its way into the Senate. There's a lot to talk about, of course, the Senate Republicans, even taking more people off of Medicaid. We There's a lot to talk about, of course, the Senate Republicans, even taking more people off of Medicaid. We covered that a lot. I want to focus with you though on women's reproductive rights, because within this Senate budget bill, there's a massive attack on women's reproductive rights, especially as we are now at the third year anniversary of the horrific Dobbs decision. I want to talk about that both, you know,

I guess a bigger middle finger to women's reproductive rights in this budget bill and what you're doing to kind of push back on, you know, on the three year anniversary of Dobbs. Yeah. Well, thank you. I appreciate the question. So this week, we observed the third anniversary of Dobbs. And I want to start just by saying that the overturning of Roe v. Wade has caused real harm to women across the United States.

And it's varied from state to state because when Roe was overturned, there was no longer a law of the land, right? We reverted to state law. In Wisconsin it was particularly harmful. It still is. Because we have a law on the book that was written in 1849, one year after statehood, before the Civil War, before women had the right to vote,

that is widely viewed as a criminal abortion ban. And for 15 months in Wisconsin, there were no services available at all unless you were on the brink of death. And then a trial court judge in Wisconsin said, oh, that 1849 statute was never intended to cover abortion. It was meant to be a fetus side bill. And relying on that trial court, county court decision, three counties in Wisconsin started offering services,

which still means they're unavailable in the remaining 69 counties in our state. But this is what the result of DOBS is. Now, we had President Trump, when he was campaigning, try to distance himself from the idea of a national abortion ban. Oh, I don't support a national abortion ban. He said, this should be left to the states, as though one's rights

and freedoms should rely on their zip code, their county, or their state. But that aside, he is now acting in a way in this budget reconciliation measure and through other executive actions, he's making it into a national ban. What do I mean by that? You limit the availability of Mifepristone. You defund Planned Parenthood.

You reverse Biden era guidance on what the responsibilities of an emergency room is when somebody comes in with a partial miscarriage. Each of those steps, adding one after another, begins to equal a national abortion ban. That's what we're facing right now. And it could get much worse if this budget reconciliation bill that's pending in the Senate right now comes to pass.

We know the American people hate this disastrous budget bill. I think if there's a positive story that's come out of this, it does feel like the attention, it has reached the population. We mean, any one of the polls, whether it's a Fox poll, a Quinnipiac poll, whatever, it has this thing at 32% max approval and often it's in the 20s, which is as low as you get. But still, you have, your Republican colleagues know

that this will kill the people in their state. You have the House members, the Republican members of Congress. They know they're gonna take away jobs and health. They know they're gonna kill their people and throw them on the street. Yet they do it for their dear leader because he calls it a big, beautiful bell

and he uses it to, it's ridiculous. It's a crazy thing to observe. I wanna give you the final word in this interview, but how do you go, how do they go along with it? You know these people, I mean, and the people who are like, oh, I'm so concerned. I'm just so concerned. They do it for their dear leader,

but they're also doing it for their dear donors because the big beneficiaries of this bill, this big beautiful betrayal as some of us call it, is that they are taking away 15 million people's healthcare and 3 million people's food security. And they're doing that to make room in their budget to partially pay for enormous tax breaks for big corporations and the very wealthy. That's the net effect of this bill, and they need, you know, I'm so glad that the,

that we're informing the public of what's in here, because it is the voices of the people that will ultimately help us prevail. Want to thank you so much, Senator Tammy Baldwin, for joining us. As always, thank you for introducing the legislation as well to get you. The Women's Health Protection Act, yes,

which would restore Roe v. Wade across the land. Before we go about it, just talk to our viewers about that quickly. Absolutely. So once the DAPPS decision came out, it became very important for us to reintroduce a bill that's been around for a while called the Women's Health Protection Act. This would restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land, but most importantly, at a time when every state is interfering with reproductive freedom in different ways, it would allow us to stop these medically unnecessary laws from being in effect.

In Wisconsin, before Roe came down, everybody who was seeking in abortion had to have a 24-hour waiting period. They had to have an invasive mandatory ultrasound, whether medically necessary or not. They had to have counseling that included some things that doctors had to tell their patients that were medically inaccurate, all because the state legislature said that must happen in other states.

There's different burdens and hurdles, et cetera. So Women's Health Protection Act would not only restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land, but it would prevent states from enacting these medically unnecessary hurdles to accessing full comprehensive reproductive care. I'm glad we got that in. I think it's so important. And again, not that we should be dictated and guided by polling,

but this is an issue that Americans overwhelmingly support and were being dragged by extremists and right-wing demagogues into attacking women's reproductive rights over and over again. It's absolutely ridiculous. And it's something that with all of the distractions that the Trump regime throws our ways,

we shouldn't forget about the ultimate portrayal these mega Republicans did in women's reproductive rights. And thank you for championing it, as always. You've done throughout your career. Senator Tammy Baldwin, thanks for joining us. Thank you for having me it as always. You've done throughout your career. Senator Tammy Baldwin, thanks for joining us. Thank you for having me. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to six million subscribers.