The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 9.11 How Kamala Harris Brutally Embarrassed Trump in Disastrous Debate... & Today's News

Episode Date: September 11, 2024

Use code “PHIL” for $20 OFF your first SeatGeek order & returning buyers use code “PDS” for $10 off AND your chance at weekly $500 prizes! https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/PHIL  Daily Dip newsletter subscribers can double their entries for the chance to win up to $1,000 in SeatGeek credit so make sure you’re subscribed: https://www.dailydip.co/ Go to http://meundies.com/phil to get 20% off and free shipping.  Get your first https://WakeandMake.com Bags of delicious coffee for 25-50% OFF! And get your international coffee club membership while spots are open! 55 Days Until Election Day! Make Sure You Are Registered to VOTE: https://Vote.org  – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Highlights from the Trump/Harris Debate 13:10 - Sponsored by Seatgeek 14:09 - 9/11 Is Still Killing Thousands Today 15:36 - Crypto Are Scams Robbing Americans of Billions 17:43 - Missouri Supreme Court Allows Amendment Legalizing Abortion to Stay on Ballot 22:49 - Sponsored by MeUndies 23:56 - Andrew Cuomo Grilled by Congress in Tense COVID-19 Mishandling Hearing  Full debate: https://www.youtube.com/live/GdSDngmDLmY?si=RhkKVj18GXohl2gB  ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks, Matthew Henry Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle, Jared Paolino ———————————— #DeFranco #DonaldTrump #KamalaHarris ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right, so let's talk about it. The Kamala Harris, Donald Trump debate, what happened? Well, the quick version is Kamala Harris dog walked Donald Trump. She'd hit him really hard on something like abortion and then she'd bait him with something else and he would then just quickly take that bait and he descended into like full-blown

crazy Facebook grandpa mode to the point that Donald Trump was spewing so many lies per minute, the moderators even at times had to fact check him in real time, which also is something that Trump supporters used as a way to describe it as a three versus one debate.

So also what many others defended since their platform was being used to host this debate. They don't just help platform wild lies uncontested and turn it into a he said, she said. And in general, the reaction we've seen online are people saying, yes, Kamala Harris won the debate. Now, as far as what that's gonna mean for the polls in the coming seven to 10 days or in the election,

that remains to be seen. And as always there, I'll remind you that the only poll that matters is the one that happens on election day. But let's get into some of the details and the highlights, right, because it did not take that long for Trump to go off the rails. With it all really seeming to start

with a contentious exchange about abortion that became one of the most single, significant moments of the night. Or with that, kicking off with moderator Lindsay Davis flagging how Trump has flip-flopped on abortion, right, noting that he's boasted that he's the guy that killed Roe v. Wade and said last year that he was proud to be the most pro-life president in American history. But now he's out there saying his administration would be great for reproductive rights and pointing out how just a few weeks ago, Donald Trump said he would not vote for Florida's

six-week abortion ban because it was too short. But then after backlash from Republicans, he reversed course the next day and said that he supported the ban. But Davis then going on to ask Trump why voters should trust him on abortion when he has changed his position so many times. And we saw this back in Florida. Well, the reason I'm doing that vote is because the plan is, as you know, the vote is, they have abortion in the ninth month. They even have, and you can look at the governor of West Virginia, the previous governor of West Virginia, not the current governor who's doing an excellent job, but the governor before, he said,

the baby will be born and we will decide what to do with the baby. In other words, we'll execute the baby. And her vice presidential pick, which I think was a horrible pick, by the way, for our country, because he is really out of it. But her vice presidential pick says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine. He also says execution after birth. It's execution, no longer abortion because the baby is born is OK. And that's not OK with me. Hence the vote. But what I did is something for 52 years. They've been trying to get Roe v. Wade into the states. But each individual state is voting.

It's the vote of the people now. It's not tied up in the federal government. I did a great service in doing it. It took courage to do it. And the Supreme Court had great courage in doing it. And I give tremendous credit to those six justices. There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it's born. Also, something I need to know, right, in addition to this just being factually wrong, it also appeared that Donald Trump was mixing up West Virginia and Virginia, because who he's actually trying to reference is Ralph Northam, the former governor of Virginia, which is a mix-up some said showed off Trump's cognitive

decline, among other things in this debate. But back to Northam, right? He got backlash from conservatives after an interview in 2019, where he discussed loosening restrictions on third term abortions when there are serious deformities that could make a fetus non-viable. With him then going on to say that when those pregnancies are carried to term,

all doctors can do is make the baby comfortable, resuscitate it if the family wants, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother. So again, no, Democrats are not trying to legalize post-term abortions. It is illegal to kill babies. But also last night, that wasn't the only notable moment

from the topic of abortion. Because we also saw Donald Trump claiming that he didn't support a nationwide abortion ban, but then repeatedly refused to answer questions about whether he would veto one. Would you veto a national abortion ban if it came to your desk? Well, I won't have to because again, two things.

Number one, she said she'll go back to Congress, she'll never get the vote. It's impossible for her to get the vote, especially now with the 50-50, essentially 50-50 in both Senate and the House. She's not going to get the vote. She can't get the vote. She won't even come close to it. So it's just talk. You know what it reminds me of when they said they're going to get student loans terminated and it ended up being a total catastrophe. With Trump then going on to rant about student loans forinated. And it ended up being a total catastrophe. With Trump then going on to rant about student loans for a bit before Davis asked the question again. But if I could just get a yes or no, because you're running me, J.D. Vance has said that you would veto if you

did come to your desk. Well, I didn't discuss it with J.D. In all fairness, J.D. And I don't mind if he has a certain view, but I think he was speaking for me. But I really didn't. Look, we don't have to discuss it because she'd never be able to get it. Just like she couldn't get student loans. They couldn't get student loans. They didn't even come close to getting student loans. Also, that's where I'm gonna cut the clip because he once again just kept rambling about student loans

instead of actually answering the question. But again, this was really just like the prelude because shit really went off the rails when Harris dropped just a morsel of bait that Trump couldn't refuse. The size of his crowds. I'm going to actually do something really unusual and I'm going to invite you

to attend one of Donald Trump's rallies because it's a really interesting thing to watch. You will see during the course of his rallies, he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter. He will talk about windmills cause cancer. And what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom. And I will tell you, the one thing you will not hear him talk about is you. Right. And that is something she just

kind of threw in at the end to see if he would grab on to while she was answering a question about immigration, which is exactly what happened. People don't leave my rallies. We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics. That's because people want to take their country back. Our country is being lost. We're a failing nation. And it happened three and a half years ago. And what what's going on here, you're going to end up in World War Three just to go into another subject. What they have done to our country by allowing these millions and millions of people to come into another subject, what they have done to our country by allowing these millions and millions of people to come into our country and look at what's happening to the towns

all over the United States. And a lot of towns don't want to talk. It's not going to be Aurora or Springfield. A lot of towns don't want to talk about it because they're so embarrassed by it. In Springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in. They're eating the cats. They're eating they're eating the pets of the people that live there. Which then prompted this back and forth with moderator David Muir. I just want to clarify here. You bring up Springfield, Ohio, and ABC News did reach out to the city manager there. He told us there had been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by

individuals within the immigrant community. Well, I've seen people on television. Let me just say here, this is the people on television say my dog was taken and used for food. So maybe he said that and maybe that's a good thing to say for a city manager. I'm not taking this from television. I'm taking it from the city manager. The dog was eaten by the people that went there. Again, the Springfield city manager says there's no evidence of that. Vice President Harris- And that was just one of the many times

we saw Harris baiting Trump into a disjointed rant. But she also got him to use up precious time rambling on and on about his own convictions when they were talking about crime. And then there was this wild moment where she says the military leaders that she's met with while traveling the world have called Trump a disgrace. Which he responds by saying,

oh yeah, bet. You know who just fucking loves me? Far-right strongman, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who many people describe as an authoritarian leader. With him going on a nearly two minute long rant about how great Orban is and also saying some shit about pipelines in Europe. Another part of the debate that was really notable

was just the sheer number of very important questions that Trump refused to answer or dodge, even when the moderators asked multiple times. Like, for example, when the debate moved to the topic of the Israel-Gaza war, and Davis asked him a very straightforward question, and he responded by just first talking about Russia and then basically descending into nonsense. President Trump, how would you negotiate with Netanyahu and also Hamas in order to get the hostages out and prevent the killing of more innocent civilians in Gaza. If I were president, it would have never started.

If I were president, Russia would have never, ever, I know Putin very well, it would have never, and there was no threat of it either, by the way, for four years, have gone into Ukraine and killed millions of people when you add it up. Far worse than people understand what's going on over there but when she mentions about israel all of a sudden she hates israel if she's president i believe that israel will not exist within two years from now and i've been pretty good at predictions and i hope i'm wrong about that one she hates israel at the same time in her own way, she hates the Arab population because the whole place is going to get blown up. Arabs, Jewish people, Israel, Israel will be gone. It would have never happened.

Iran was broke under Donald Trump. Now Iran has $300 billion because they took off all the sanctions that I had. Iran had no money for Hamas or Hezbollah or any of the 28 different spheres of terror. But then when he was asked about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and whether he wants Ukraine to win, he also avoided answering. And I want to ask you a very simple question tonight. Do you want Ukraine to win this war? I want the war to stop. I want to save lives that are being uselessly, people being killed by the millions. It's the millions.

It's so much worse than the numbers that you're getting, which are fake numbers. Just to clarify the question, do you believe it's in the U.S. best interest for Ukraine to win this war? Yes or no? I think it's the U.S. best interest

to get this war finished and just get it done. Right, and we should pause there to take just a moment to note how fucking wild it is that Trump is refusing to say that he wants Ukraine to win a war that started because Putin invaded. Also going back to other big moments, there was one where Muir noted that it took Trump two hours before he told his supporters to go home on January 6th. And he asked if Trump regretted any of his actions that day. You just said a thing that isn't covered peacefully and patriotically, I said during my speech, not later on. Peacefully and patriotically.

And nobody on the other side was killed. With him then turning the discussion once again to immigration, which he did numerous times throughout the whole debate when the topic was something entirely different. But here, when Muir asked him the question again, we saw this back and forth. You were the president. You were watching it unfold on television. It's a very simple question as we move forward toward another election. Is there anything you regret about what you did on that day?

Yes or no? I had nothing to do with that other than they asked me to make a speech. I showed up for a speech. I said, I think it's gonna be big. Which one, it's wild that he's trying to minimize his role. Like, I just showed up there, even though beforehand he was tweeting, it's gonna be big. Which one, it's wild that he's trying to minimize his role. Like I just showed up there, even though beforehand he was tweeting,

it's gonna be a wild one. Also on the note of January 6th and Trump's election lies, another key moment came when Muir asked Trump about several comments that he made in recent weeks where he appeared to acknowledge that he lost to the 2020 election. In the past couple of weeks leading up to this debate, you have said, quote, you lost by a whisker,

that you, quote, didn't quite make it, that you came up a little bit short. I said that? Are you now acknowledging that you lost in 2020? No, I don't acknowledge that at all. I said that sarcastically. You know that. We said, oh, we lost by a whisker. That was said sarcastically. Look, there's so much proof. All you have to do is look at it. Trump then once again pivoting to talking about immigration and the border. And then once he finished, Muir responded. I did watch all of these pieces of video. I didn't detect the sarcasm lost by a whisker. We didn't quite make it. And while ABC didn't share those clips last night, I'll show you for yourself so you can decide if Trump was being sarcastic. I was told if I got 63 million,

which is what I got the first time, you would win. You can't not win. And I got millions of more votes than that. There are very few things that you can be certain of in life. But you can always be sure the sun will rise each morning. You can bet your bottom dollar that you'll always need air to breathe and water to drink. And, of course, you can rest assured that with Public Mobile's 5G subscription phone plans, you'll pay the same thing every month. With all of the mysteries that life has to offer, a few certainties can really go a long way.

Subscribe today for the peace of mind you've been searching for. Public Mobile, different is calling. Lost by a whisker. He beat us by a whisker. And it was a terrible thing. I got many millions of web votes than I got the first time. It didn't quite make it just a little bit short.

But then the final highlight that I'll touch on is one of the few times that the moderator sort of kind of basically got Trump to actually answer a follow-up question. With the result being this absolutely unforgettable soundbite that's already being memed at warp speed and will go down in history with other top-notch Trumpisms like Fefe and Tim Apple.

And specifically, you know, we saw Davis pointing out that Trump has long promised to repeal and replace Obamacare but failed to do so during his presidency. Noting that Donald Trump said last month that he was working on a better plan to replace the ACA and asking. So tonight, nine years after you first started running, do you have a plan and can you tell us what it is?

Now at first, Trump doesn't answer the question. Instead, he's just ranting about how much Obamacare sucks. So Davis tries again and we get this. So just a yes or no, you still do not have a plan. I have concepts of a plan. I love it so much. It's like when my wife's like, so what are we doing for dinner tonight?

I'm like, ah, I completely remembered. I said I was gonna do that. And we have options. We have a concept of a plan. But of course, all that said, right, these are just a few key highlights from the debate. I'm not able to hit on every single one right now, which is also why I'm gonna link below to the full debate

in case you missed it. Though a lot of people did watch the debate last night with the early Nielsen ratings saying the debate brought in 57.75 million viewers across the big four broadcast networks, CNN, Fox News, Fox Business, and MSNBC, which reports to know it is six and a half million more people in the final tally for the debate between Biden and Trump.

And even that number included nine more networks and out of home viewing, which aren't factored into the current numbers. But yeah, that actually is gonna bring us to the end of this story because I'd really love to know what your thoughts with the debate were, especially if you watch the whole thing or a chunk of it. And then I gotta say, it's been fun for me to learn

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It's been 23 years now since the Twin T towers fell, changing the course of world history forever. But also, you know, even though we think of this as something that happened a long time ago, 9-11 is actually still killing people today. And that's because of all the dust and smoke that billowed out across lower Manhattan, over the East River, and into Brooklyn right after the towers collapsed.

But of course, even more of it getting kicked up as rescue workers were trying to work through the debris pile where the towers had once been. And this is the air quality remained polluted for months to come. And so what happened during that time is tons of people breathed in all sorts of nasty shit, asbestos, heavy metals, and toxic chemicals. And as of last December, at least 6,781 people had died of illnesses related to their time at ground zero that we know of. Meaning that at a minimum, those diseases have claimed over twice as many lives as the attacks themselves. And more people are still dying to this day.

But those numbers are also just the fatalities. We have to also consider all the people suffering from debilitating medical conditions. Stuff like cancers, autoimmune disorders, asthma, respiratory ailments, and PTSD. And actually with that, right now, 127,567 people, including over 82,000 workers and volunteers, are enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program,

which provides medical monitoring and treatment to survivors. But this also as the CDC estimates that up to 400,000 people could have been exposed to toxic contaminants, risk of injury, and levels of stress that could lead to later health problems. Right, so with us seeing Biden, Harris, Trump, and Vance

gathering at Ground Zero today to commemorate the horrors of September 11th, let's also remember that many victims of the attack are still with us, they are alive, and they need our help. And then, you know, most people know that crypto scams are on the rise, right? But the actual numbers and the details are wild. In fact, the problem has gotten so bad,

the FBI published a report explicitly focused on crypto-related fraud for the very first time. And so with that, the agency revealed not only that crypto-related fraud jumped 45% last year, but also $5.6 billion was stolen from Americans, and not only from older people. And notably here, the director of fraud victim support for AARP told NBC News,

while $5.6 billion in losses is substantial, the true figure is likely much higher due to unreported cases. And in fact, the FBI apparently agrees, with an FBI official telling reporters that the agency's trying to raise public awareness about the issue so that victims report cases more quickly and have a better chance of getting back their stolen money.

That official noting that many victims have accumulated massive debt to cover losses from these fraudulent investments. To give you a better idea of the scale of what we're talking about, the FBI received more than 69,000 complaints last year from people that have been scammed into sending cryptocurrency to criminals.

And while that represents only about 10% of the total number of financial fraud complaints, the losses associated with them reportedly made up almost half of the money people were scammed out of online. Also, as far as those scams, they range from phony tech support to extortion to impersonating government officials. So the vast majority of reported losses, almost $4 billion worth, were a result of investment scams, which are also known as pig butchering scams. Basically the idea is that scammers take on a fake persona and they build a deep, often months long relationship with a victim.

And with that, the people running the scams, they're reportedly often people trafficked to Southeast Asia and forced to do so. So with that pig butchering scams are reportedly often run by human trafficking victims in Southeast Asia. And they're a newer way of making money for organized crime groups. So that's not to say that we don't see anyone

doing this stateside. Right, I mean, just this last December, for example, four men were arrested for allegedly stealing more than $80 million in a pig butchering operation. But yeah, ultimately the moral of this story, it's actually two morals. One is an oldie, but a goodie. And that is if it seems too good to be true,

it probably is. And two, when people say that get rich quick schemes are not real, they're wrong. It's just that you are probably not the one about to get rich quick. It's the scammers, the frauds, the hacks. Because contrary to what 98% of movies tell you, the bad guys win a lot.

Only some of them get caught. Then, this is wild, we gotta talk about how with less than three hours to spare, the women of Missouri won back their best chance yet of advancing reproductive freedom in the state. Right, because after weeks of chaos, craziness, and legal battles, it is now official. of chaos, craziness, and legal battles, it is now official.

In November, Missouri voters, not the politicians, will decide whether or not a right to abortion should be enshrined in the state's constitution. And it has been one hell of a journey just to get to this point. Because this stems from just hours after Roe v. Wade was overturned back in 2022, with Missouri becoming the first US state to ban abortion.

And of course, more than a dozen states have now enacted near total bans on the procedure as well. And notably, in Missouri's case, the only exceptions are to save the life and health of the mother, right? There are no exceptions for rape or incest. But since Missouri is a state that lets specific issues be voted on through statewide ballot measures, there was quickly an effort to get abortion to be one of them. With that being led by a group called Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, who then back and make, collecting more than 380,000 signatures backing a ballot measure

for a constitutional right to abortion, which is actually more than double the number of signatures needed. And specifically here, the proposed amendment would guarantee the constitutional right to an abortion up until fetal viability, which is around 24 weeks. And then beyond that,

it would protect other reproductive healthcare needs, such as birth control and in vitro fertilization, as well as provide protections against criminal prosecution for individuals who assist with abortion. And with that, it was only last month that the measure officially secured its place on the ballot after being certified by the Missouri

Secretary of State's office. But in the week since then, it has just been absolute chaos. For one, you had the people behind the amendment suing the Office of Secretary of State, Jay Ashcroft, over his proposed language summarizing the measure. Or because the Missouri ballot language is displayed at polling centers to help voters understand the impact of voting yes or no

on sometimes complicated ballot measures. And Ashcroft, he wrote a summary saying that a yes vote on the proposal would enshrine the right to abortion at any time of a pregnancy in the Missouri constitution. Also that it would prohibit any regulation of abortion, including regulations designed to protect women. And then finally that it would prohibit any civil

or criminal recourse against anyone who performs an abortion and hurts or kills the pregnant women. Right, and to be clear, of course, none of that is true. Last Thursday, a judge also agreed, ruling there that Ashcroft's language was, quote, "'Unfair, insufficient, inaccurate, and misleading.'" And then with that, having it rewritten more accurately. But then as all that was playing out,

anti-abortion lawmakers and activists also filed a lawsuit against the measure. And on Friday, another judge ruled in their favor, with him specifically saying that the measure shouldn't have qualified for the ballot because it didn't sufficiently explain the ramifications that it could have. And as an example there,

some anti-abortion activists have said that it could affect state laws that ban minors from getting gender-affirming healthcare and prohibit human cloning. Notably, while the judge agreed, he also said that he wouldn't issue an injunction ordering Secretary of State Ashcroft to remove the measure until Tuesday,

with that being in order to give supporters of the measure a chance to file an appeal. But despite that, Ashcroft tried to pull it off the ballot anyway. So then the supporters of the measure immediately asked the state Supreme Court to hold Ashcroft in contempt. And while that specifically didn't happen,

the court did come through when it came to the appeal, with them restoring the abortion measure to the ballot less than three hours before the state's deadline for printing balance for absentee voters. And so with that, you had Rachel Sweet, the campaign manager for Missourians for constitutional freedom saying, "'Today's decision is a victory for both direct democracy

"'and reproductive freedom in Missouri. "'This fight was not just about this amendment. "'It was about defending the integrity "'of the initiative petition process "'and ensuring that Missourians "'can shape their future directly.'" And there, you know, she has a point, right? Because obviously this is a lot bigger than just one state.

Missouri now is among more than half a dozen states with measures to protect abortion rights on their balance this fall. That's including battleground states like Arizona and Florida. And in many states, we've seen abortion rights groups having to overcome all sorts of legal and logistical hurdles just to get on the ballot.

And that is because Republican lawmakers and anti-abortion groups have tried to change the rules or pass legislation that makes it harder to put the questions on ballots or pass them. In Florida, for example, a state panel largely appointed by Republicans approved what critics say was dirty trick language to appear alongside the ballot amendment. The language saying that the measure

would result in significantly more abortions and fewer live births, which quote, may negatively affect the growth of state and local revenues over time. And then in Arizona, the Republican appointed Supreme Court upheld language in a state publicity pamphlet that'll be sent to voters about the ballot amendment

that uses the phrase "'unborn human being' rather than embryo or fetus." And all of that is on top of other legal challenges. Like in South Dakota, for example, the measure has survived one trial, but notably another trial seeking to strike the measure is scheduled for later this month. And this is Nebraska Supreme Court just heard arguments

in a similar case on Monday and a decision's expected soon there. And as far as why Republicans want to keep abortion off the ballot, well, one, it's because in purple and in even some red states, they know they'll probably lose, right? It's pretty well known that most Americans support legal abortion.

And actually since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, every ballot measure that is sought to preserve or expand abortion access has passed in both red and blue states. I mean, even a state like Missouri, for example, where in 2020, Donald Trump won with almost 57% of the vote. Recent polling shows that 52% of voters support the amendment,

which is incredibly notable on its own. Also, of course, it also means that it is not certain to pass. Though it possibly is an easier challenge than that of Florida, because state law there requires 60% to vote in favor, not just a simple majority. And that's definitely a key thing,

because in other red states, abortion rights groups have won with percentages in the high 50s. And so with all that, one, of course, I'd love to know your thoughts on this story, and two, treat this as your daily or semi-daily reminder from your friend, Philip DeFranco, to go to vote.org. Make sure you're registered to vote.

You never know when people are getting purged. Or if you're not registered to vote, definitely do it. And also while you're there, you can look into voting early because let's just get this shit out of the way. And then if not, that, create a voting plan. And then you'll be in your most comfortable self this fall. It starts from the waist down.

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And then there was other big political news yesterday that ended up getting overshadowed by the debate. And that's that the Republican-led House Select Subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic absolutely grilled former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. When were you negotiating for your multi-million dollar advance deal for your book as seniors were dying in nursing homes. That is the question in front of you. You can't make up facts, Congresswoman. You're the one making up facts. You're the one who undercounted nursing home deaths. You're the one who I want to ask right now. You apologized today, but there are families sitting here. I want you to turn around, look them in the eye, and apologize, which you have failed to do. Will you do it?

This is not about political theater. No, this is about accountability. And so that was one of the more heated moments from GOP representative Elise Stefanik. You also had the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene straight up accusing him of murder. Yes, murdering them. Right, but importantly, most of the relatively level-headed criticism focused on a directive Cuomo's health department issued in March of 2020. With that, directing nursing homes to readmit patients who are still recovering from a COVID infection, assuming the proper transmission prevention measures were in place. With the idea there being that you could free up space in hospitals without putting other nursing home residents in danger because people are least infectious towards the end of their recovery.

Putting aside the effect of this policy for a moment, nobody can seem to agree what it actually was. You have the Republicans claiming this directive mandated that nursing homes readmit COVID patients against the advice of the CDC and CMS. But you have Cuomo claiming the directive left it up to the nursing home's discretion and was consistent with CDC and CMS guidance at the time. And then either way there, he rescinded it six weeks later. So as for whether it contributed to the disease

spreading through nursing homes, Cuomo flatly denied that allegation, with him citing a report earlier this week from the subcommittee itself that he says proves his point. In fact, the report finds no causality whatsoever, not one death. 35 states had a higher death rate in nursing homes than New York. But I should also add there that that report was also very critical of his administration in other ways, with it writing, for example, that a July 2020 report from the state's health department clearing the directive of any blame for nursing home deaths had been heavily edited by Cuomo and his aides. And this is some outside experts have linked the directive

to hundreds or possibly thousands of deaths claiming nursing home patients could have been sent elsewhere. This also, as other research has come to different conclusions. Like for example, a report commissioned by current governor Kathy Hochul that didn't blame Cuomo for the nursing home deaths. Was it saying instead it was consistent with national outcomes? Though it also wrote that his decision

to concentrate the state's pandemic response in his office was a significant and unnecessary mistake. We also saw a federal investigation into Cuomo's coronavirus task force focusing on nursing homes ending without filing any charges. But then that aside, we also have to talk about the other big sticking point of this congressional hearing, the allegation

that Cuomo deliberately covered up nursing home deaths to make himself look better, right? And this claim stems from an early decision by his administration to only count people who died inside the nursing home in the nursing home fatality numbers, right? And not those who died elsewhere, such as in a hospital. And with that, Cuomo said he didn't make that decision and wasn't sure exactly who did, but then went on to justify it. Because you were calling up a nursing home and basically asking them to do a forensic audit in the middle of a pandemic. Please track this patient. They went from the nursing home to home. And what happened? They went from the nursing home to the hospital. Can you find out what happened? The confidence level in the out of facility deaths

or presumed deaths was very weak. With him going on to say that he decided to only put out numbers that he had full confidence in at first. And adding then when more accurate figures for out of facility deaths were available, he would release those as well. Which is something he did in 2021,

adding several thousand deaths. So admittedly that came after he was under scrutiny. I'm also adding that the undercount of nursing home deaths didn't affect the total death count since those missing fatalities were just attributed to hospitals instead. Right, so in his words, it was never a matter of counting deaths, but of allocating them.

But I should also add there that an audit by the state comptroller claimed that his administration continued to withhold the higher death toll even after it apparently had corrected most discrepancies by May of 2020. And so with all this, of course, I'm gonna let you come to your own conclusions about the substance of all the allegations.

But for Cuomo, he was out there saying they lose sight of who's really to blame for the pandemic death toll. Trump weaponized the Department of Justice, starting investigations against New York and three other democratic states. Trump's shocking allegations, all false, were designed to shift blame from him to Democrats, and they did.

And this subcommittee, run by Republicans, repeats the Trump lies. With him constantly hammering home that point over the course of two hours, and also repeatedly saying that the hearing was a witch hunt and that the Republicans are hypocrites. To which there, the Republicans responded with essentially the same point, that he is just deflecting the focus from himself. You've tried to blame everyone, including the CDC, the CMS, nursing home operators,

nursing home staff, and unidentified low-level DOH staffer that supposedly sent out this directive. And of course, President Trump. But the buck stops with you. I'm sorry, but you've shown no empathy. You've shown no remorse. And this is not where it's gonna end. Because the subcommittee announced that it plans to subpoena Governor Hochul for more documents about the state's COVID response. But that, my friends, is the end of your Wednesday evening, Thursday morning dive into the news. I hope you have a great one. I love your faces and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.