The Young Turks - Pelosi Announces Trump Impeachment

Episode Date: September 25, 2019

And so it begins. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian, hosts of The Young Turks, break it down. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to the Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. Hey, guys, you've heard of the Young Turks podcast because you're listening to it right now. But make sure that you subscribe and give it a five star rating if you like it. Thank you for listening. All right, welcome the Young Turks. Jake U Granite and Kusparian with you guys on a momentous day.

That way I have it, hold on now. Impeachment begins. All right, hold on. Let me save it for the show. Oh, we are in the show. All right, so we've got that. We've got more devastating details from the Ukraine call. And so those are the biggest stories, of course.

Tell your mom, tell Randy Gazales, tell everybody there is. Come watch the Young Turks right now. We're about to celebrate. Okay, and I've got predictions on top of predictions. I've got nothing but fun for you guys. Now, having said all that, one of the things later in the program is not fun, which is Joe Biden's team going after Medicare for All. That is a devastating story, devastating on multiple grounds.

So don't miss that story, super important. I know we've got a big day in terms of Donald Trump news, but big campaign news a little bit later in the program as well. Speaking of a big day, and the third hour, Edward Stone is going to join us as well. as Paul Jean Swergen run for Senate in West Virginia. So giant day at the Young Turks, Anna, take it away. All right, let's get started. Today, I'm announcing the House of Representatives moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry.

That's Nancy Pelosi doing something that I quite honestly did not expect her to do. The House is now officially launching an official impeachment inquiry. This is following a report indicating that a whistleblower within the intelligence community filed a formal complaint after listening to, or I shouldn't say listening to, after there was an accusation that Donald Trump had a phone call with a world leader, and during that phone call, Trump made a troubling promise. Now since then, we've learned a great deal about Donald Trump and his relationship with the Ukrainian president.

The Washington Post has been reporting on this. The Wall Street Journal reported that on at least eight separate occasions, Donald Trump communicated with the president of Ukraine and tried to pressure him to launch an investigation into his political opponent, Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter Biden. And so this is great news. And I wanna just quickly go to some more context from Pelosi's speech today and then open it up for conversation. Take a look.

For the past several months, we have been investigating in our committees and litigating in the courts. So the House can gather all the relevant facts and consider whether to exercise its full Article I powers, including a constitutional power of the utmost gravity approval of articles of impeachment. And this week, the President has admitted to asking the President of Ukraine to take actions which would benefit him politically. The actions of the Trump presidency revealed the dishonorable fact of the president's betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security, and betrayal of the integrity of our elections. Therefore, today, I'm announcing the House of Representatives moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry.

I'm directing our six committees to proceed with their investigations under that umbrella of impeachment inquiry. The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law. And impeachment begins. We win. Okay, so hold on, hold on. I know, everybody, hold the phone, hold on. So what do I mean by we win?

First of all, we went over Nancy Pelosi. So Nancy Pelosi did not want to do impeachment under any circumstance. And today, John Lewis put the last straw on the camel's back, and she conceded. So later, in fact, I said this earlier in the day on Twitter, that later she will claim that she was personally in favor of impeachment. Later in the day, before we got on air, Howard Feynman reporting, well, I mean, as Nancy Pelosi was personally in favor of impeachment. Oh, come on, come on, right?

So that's not remotely true. Pelosi was dead set against it. Her caucus pushed her to finally take this action begrudgingly. So that's mainly what I mean by we win, impeachment begins. Now, in terms of against Trump, look, we're gonna talk more about this later in the show, but I think impeachment will prove devastating to Donald Trump, and he will not survive it. Okay, so fascinating prediction. Before we get into our predictions and the reasons why we have those predictions,

let's just briefly explain why we believe that impeachment is the right way to go about it. because there are still some Democrats, including Representative Tulsi Gabbard, who think that this is not a good idea, that impeachment will lead to a divisive climate, as if we're all getting along and holding hands today. Okay, I have to say two things about that. Look, on a previous show, I said I agree with Representative Yabbard about 90% of the time. This is apparently in the 10%. So, first of all, on which planet is this country united?

Like, what kind of an absurd talking point is, then we'll be divided. No, Donald Trump is completely divided us already. Have you not been living in America? And second of all, so under that hypothesis, if Donald Trump shot someone on Fifth Avenue, should we not impeach him because it would be divisive? Yeah, look, I don't believe in leadership that's grounded in fear, right? And so there's a lot of fear from some members of the House that I completely discus agree with. So fear number one, we will pursue impeachment, and then he will be acquitted

by the Senate, and then it's a win for Trump. If you base all of your decisions on what the political ramifications could be, then you're gonna make bad decisions. We have a system of government where we're supposed to have checks and balances. And to be quite honest with you, this impeachment inquiry is coming late, in my opinion. Very late. I mean, there have been multiple violations of the emoluments clause, there's the hush money payments, there's the obstruction of justice, there's Trump using his own charitable foundation to enrich himself and pay off his settlements. I mean, Congress has been asleep at the wheel.

So I'm glad that finally, Congress, Democrats specifically are messaging to Donald Trump, no, you are not above the law. So this is about principle over politics. So two things about that, number one, if you say to Donald Trump or any president, hey, by the if you break the law or you violate the Constitution, I'm going to do a political calculation on whether it benefits me or not to hold you accountable. Well, you basically just said, I'm a sleazy politician. And I don't really care about law or principles.

I only care about me and my power and my ego. And that's a devastating thing to admit. The only problem is that the media never holds corporate Democrats accountable. So otherwise, they'd be like, wait, are you, if a prosecutor made it a political calculation, and so whether he was going to press charges against a criminal or not, everybody would be outraged, right? But in this case, they're like, oh, well, Nancy Pelosi making political calculations as if it was smart. Number two, was the last time Democratic leadership made a political calculation that was correct? Certainly not in the last decade, right?

So when not only Nancy Pelosi, but the conservative Democrats are the ones that don't want to do this. Well, they're terrible political calculations. That's why the Democrats have lost a thousand seats to the Republicans in the last, 12 years. So why would anybody trust what they say about this? Now, most importantly, number three point about this, the Senate just voted on whether they're demanding the whistleblower complaint from the Trump administration. Now, according to Pelosi until today, and according to all those conservative Democrats, they say, well, we can't, going to impeachment doesn't make any sense because the Senate won't commit because the Senate Republicans always stick

with Donald Trump. Is that right? The vote. The vote today in the Senate was unanimous. Oh, wow. So. So the Senate Republicans have said, I don't care that you want to hide the whistleblower allegations, Donald Trump. You will hand it to the Intelligence Committee in the Senate right now. So that's great, and I'm happy that they voted that way.

But I also don't want to get ahead of ourselves and assume that they will look at that whistleblower complaint and act appropriately based on what it says. You think I'm a babe in the woods? I do not think you are a babe or in the woods. That's true, neither one of those things, more likely to be in the woods. Anyway, no, do I think the Senate Republicans will make political calculations based on what is good for their own power? Of course, of course.

But that dynamic will change as more and more information comes out. And so, and even here, look, Trump's burned too many bridges. So when he goes to this, if the Senate Republicans were truly with him, they would have blocked that vote. But they didn't block it. They were unanimous with the Democrats. That's a really bad sign for Trump right out of the gate. So let's talk a little bit about what influenced Pelosi's decision. Now, of course, it could be this giant story that's been developing since late last week involving the president of Ukraine. But there are also a growing number of Democrats in the House who are in favor of impeachment. And one of those representatives is Representative

of John Lewis, who Pelosi seems to have some respect for. And so he gave a speech, and during that speech, he said, quote, there comes a time when you have to be moved by the spirit of history to take action to protect and preserve the integrity of our nation. I believe, I truly believe, the time to begin impeachment proceedings against this president has come. To delay or to do otherwise would betray the foundation of our democracy. No, it was over as soon as he said that.

That's when I started tweeting like crazy, here comes impeachment. And people are like, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, there's no whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. John Lewis is a legend, and no matter what I think of him or the nation thinks of him, which are both, I think, fairly high estimations of John Lewis, the Democratic caucus loves him and reveres him. So when he says it is a moment in history and that you will be betraying that moment, if you do not act, it's over. So that's John Lewis saying, I can't take it anymore.

And you have to know this political context. These days, John Lewis bless his heart. I'm, you know, given his role in the civil rights movement, given what he just did, you know, it'll be hard to ever criticize him on anything we disagree on. But he's not supporting the most progressive candidates. So don't take it as some, you know, I agree with the John Lewis 100%. I'm just telling you what the political context and reality of the Democratic caucuses. And for him who is a close ally of Nancy Pelosi to snap and go, that's it.

the speech. I don't care what you think, I'm going and I'm going to defy Pelosi and give that speech, it's over. And she couldn't resist that. She couldn't withstand that. And later in the day, Pelosi comes down, because, yeah, yeah, I meant impeachment. I meant impeachment. So great credit to John Lewis, who made a giant difference here. Now, I'm sure we're going to get a lot more reaction from Donald Trump on this issue. However, let's get some initial reactions on how Trump feels about an impeachment inquiry. Congress is moving towards impeachment, including Nancy Pelosi, could be as a result of the Ukraine call.

How do you feel about that? I think it's ridiculous. It's a witch hunt. I'm leading in the polls. They have no idea how they stop me. The only way they can try is through impeachment. This has never happened to a president before. There's never been a thing like this before.

It's nonsense. And when you see the call, when you see the read out of the call, which I assume you'll see at some point, you'll understand. That call was perfect. It couldn't have been nicer. And even the Ukrainian government put out a statement that that was a perfect call. There was no pressure put on them whatsoever. I was watching Melania that entire time.

Totally. Because she's probably thinking, please impeach him. Please, I just want to divorce him. I just want us to be over. I don't want to be in the spotlight anymore. No, every time everyone's in a while when he says something questionable, she looks at him and like, really? Anyway, all right, back there, important stuff.

So, of course, almost everything he said there was not true. As always, it was a perfect call. What does that even mean? Now we know through the Wall Street Journal, no liberal rag, that he apparently asked the Ukrainian president eight times to investigate Joe Biden and his son. And then he went on to say, oh, everybody admits that the Ukrainians are okay with it. That's not true. Senator Chris Murphy said he talked to the leader of Ukraine who told him, no, I was very

concerned that the president was withholding our funds because he wanted me to investigate Biden and I wouldn't do it. And I thought, oh no, we're not gonna get the money. So nobody agrees to that at all what Trump said. And of course, he's not leading in the polls at all. He's trailing badly in the polls to both Biden and Sanders. Now let's talk a little bit about how Democrats could possibly bungle this, because Because as we know, Democrats are serial bunglers sometimes.

Oh, yeah, well, I mean. Depending on which Democrat you're talking about. Yeah, I mean, when it comes to leadership, almost all the time. Yes. So let's get into the details on that because I think this is something to watch out for. So we've just learned that Nancy Pelosi will pursue an impeachment inquiry, which is great news. This is something that she's been resisting. However, there are some signs, some hints indicating that she could bungle this based

on the way she wants the impeachment inquiry to move forward. So according to the Washington Post, Pelosi and top Democrats have been privately discussing the creation of a select committee to conduct the possible impeachment of Trump. The California Democrat has spoken to key allies in recent days about establishing a special panel rather than leaving the task with the House Judiciary Committee. Now, keep in mind that the House Judiciary Committee has been investigating Donald Trump. And so to create a special new committee to pursue impeachment would really take us back to square one and it would waste time. Yeah, so today in our announcement, real quick, Anna, so she kind of did this weird half measure, which I'm a little confused by.

So people were reporting, as Anna mentioned, that she might go with a select committee. And the judiciary would normally handle it, and they've already been handling it for months. So why wouldn't she want judiciary to handle it? Because Jerry Nadler pushed her towards impeachment. He was right and that drives her crazy. So she wants to punish him for being right. And then a select committee would allow her to pick all of her favorite weak Democrats, stack the committee, et cetera.

But in her announcement, she didn't say select committee, as was reported earlier. She wound up saying, we're gonna have all six committees look into it under the umbrella of impeachment hearings. I'm not positive what that means. Historically, the Judiciary Committee would lead. It should lead. It's not like I'm a giant fan of Jerry Nadler, but he was right about impeachment. He was right to go forward and put pressure on Pelosi, so he should not be punished for being

right. I absolutely agree with you on that. And one other person who agrees is Representative Acacio Cortez, who wrote, quote, Judiciary has been investigating and putting the pieces together for months. Impeachment belongs there. We must honor jurisdiction, historical precedent, and work done, plus allow judiciary to move forward. Now, as Jank alluded to, the Post did report that this select committee would give Nancy Pelosi some more power, and it would allow her to place someone like Representative Adam Schiff

in a leadership role, or at least an important position in the impeachment. Now, I bring up Adam Schiff, because remember, we just spoke about him during yesterday's show, and we critiqued just his presentation in regard to impeachment. I want to remind you about that in this next video. Take a quick look. If the president did, in fact, in that phone call, push the Ukrainian president to investigate Hunter Biden and Joe Biden eight times, as the Wall Street Journal reported, is it an impeachable offense in your view? Well, Jake, you know I have been very reluctant to go down the path of impeachment for the reason that I think the founders contemplated in a country that has elections every four years, that this would be an extraordinary remedy, remedy of last resort, not first resort.

But if the president is essentially withholding military aid at the same time that he is trying to browbeat a foreign leader into doing something illicit that is providing dirt on his opponent during a presidential campaign, then, that may be the only remedy that is co-equal to the evil that conduct represents. We're going to hear from the director. So you kind of get a sense that. Yeah, I mean, he's throwing out for minutes on end about a co-equal to the evil of the concurred status of the blah, blah, blah, and blee, blee, that was just two days ago. Yeah. And Pelosi's like, ooh, that's really good, because I don't know what that means.

And it sounds really weak. Let's have him lead up impeachment. Yeah, that would be a disaster. So there is a way to bungle this, and I really hope that she doesn't move forward with this idea to have a new committee launch this impeachment inquiry and do the investigations necessary. Why would you want to move backward when you know the judiciary committee has already been investigating Trump actions?

Because that's all she does. I mean, the only way that it could be worse is if she put Richard Neal on the committee. So these are the people that have been protecting Donald Trump all throughout. Richard Neal, who is the head of the House where he's a means committee, a huge ally of Nancy Pelosi refused to ask for. from Donald Trump's tax returns in the beginning of national level, and then most importantly, New York said, here, have a state tax returns. And he said, I don't want them.

So these are the serial bunglers of the Democratic Party. Now look at Acacia Cortez, of course, strong progressive, coming out and saying, wait, I thought you guys were lecturing me the entire time I've been here about historical precedent and jurisdiction and honoring the traditions of the House. Well, here we are. Shouldn't we honor the traditions of the House by doing the Judiciary Committee? Oh, well, I mean, I didn't mean traditions. Yeah, that's what I thought, okay?

So she's totally right on that, busted him on it. Another important element of that, and then I'm going to turn to why it's going to work anyway. Okay, another important element is if you have a new select committee, that takes time to put together, and then you have to bring the evidence from the other committees, and so it buys Trump more time. Whereas the judiciary committee has already done the work on it, go. They're ready to go right now, right? So Pelosi, even as she finally succumbs to the overwhelming pressure on the Democratic side to do impeachment, is still fighting it behind the scenes like, oh, but can we slow it down?

Can we make it less effective? It's incredible, it's amazing. But I'll tell you right now, mainstream media, you know how they are, so I'll say it ahead of time as I always do. Later, they will give Pelosi all the credit. They'll say, oh, what bold leadership to start impeachment? Oh my God, that's why she's such a great. Great Speaker of the House, she knew exactly how to do it.

Okay, hilarious. No, today, before impeachment begins, that is nonsense, that is not what happened. Okay, now turning to the most important question, will it work? Yes, yes, it's gonna work. So look, Donald Trump is, you know, like, you know, opening up a can of worms. It's opening a can of worms and demagogues and Beals of Bubbs and it's a, it's a, The things that he's got in his past and the things that he's done as president and before are a parade of horribles.

Okay, I mean one terrible thing after another after another. It's kind of an ironic phrase that I just used. But anyway, so all you gotta do is open the can. That's all you gotta do. Now this guy is too corrupt to stop being corrupt. You know the day that he made the Ukrainian call was right after the Democrats announced they weren't gonna do a goddamn thing about the Buller report. So he's like, oh, okay, then I guess I can be as corrupt as I like.

Hey, investigate Biden, okay? Take him out, Ukraine. By the way, that in itself is illegal, even if it's not a quid pro quo. That is asking a foreign government for assistance in your election. That is totally illegal. So he, and then the second part of it is, he's too stupid to cover it up. So he goes out and he's already told people, oh yeah, I did the call, yeah, yeah. And I, you know, it was about corruption.

And I was holding up the money because of the corruption. Corruption about what? Biden. Biden's corrupt. Oh, you idiot. Why did you admit that? You're so stupid. Okay, that alone is enough to get him, let alone the obstruction charges on Russia.

Let alone the fact that his co-conspirator in campaign finance reform violations related to the hush money to the porn starts is in prison right now, his co-conspirator. It is clearly illegal, let alone the monument is closed. But most importantly, I mean, look, with Pelosi and the shit. Schiff and all those folks, and Neil for sure. And the shift. And the shift. I'd be surprised if they ever got to the heart of it.

But now that Nadler is a little pissed at Pelosi, maybe he's free to not being competent. And so, look, I'm not, it's hard to put your chair on. Maybe he's free to not be. I know, I'm serious, right? To put your chips on any kind of Democratic leadership. But, guys, if they even look 5% into his business. ties with Russia. This thing is over. By the way, it might be over tomorrow because Donald Trump says he's going to release the phone call. If he really does, and in the transcripts, you don't

need a quid pro quo. You just need him saying to the Ukrainian president, why don't you do me a political favor? Why don't you spend, in essence, when he asked you to investigate Biden, he's asking you to spend money from the Ukrainian government to help him win re-election. It's already over. You just have to be strong. So look, man, I don't know how we could get the Cascio-Cortez and the just Democrats to go and somehow be a strong force in this impeachment proceedings. If they are, it's good night Irene for Trump. And even if they're not, I think Trump's going to outbungle Pelosi into getting kicked out of office. Look, Trump has been outbongling everyone. But whether this impeachment inquiry works or not really depends on something that I feel we can relate to.

It's not just about putting together a compelling case, it's about messaging, it's about marketing, right? And so what does Trump have over everyone in the Democratic Party, the marketing, the messaging, the right-wing apparatus that pushes out all of the positive Trump stuff and makes it appear is though this is nothing more than a witch hunt. These Democrats just can't win, so they're going to go ahead and do all these slimy. You know what we're going to hear from Republicans. They're doing these slimy things to push them out of office. That's all they've got. I mean, I already see that narrative playing out today. So my- It's not going to work.

Okay, I think that it is very likely to work if Democrats don't consider opening that can of worms completely and doing a real comprehensive investigation into everything. Don't Robert Mueller this, right? This should not be limited in scope. Yes, this story regarding the president of Ukraine is huge, but I don't think that should be the only thing they focus on. I think they should definitely expand the scope. They should focus on violations of the Amoluments Clause.

They should focus on financial crimes. They should focus on possible elections crimes like hush money payments, like everything you just said. But they also need to be better and more aggressive in their messaging. Because it's not just about Donald Trump. It's also about ensuring that the electorate understands the importance of what's going on here. Yeah, so look, never underestimate the ability of Democratic leadership to bungle anything. I hear you.

On messaging, they'll probably be horrible. So it's a bungal off. Okay, who's going to bungle it worse? But Trump is blaring from the rooftop. I did it. I did it. He's ironically helping their messaging in Napolitano on Fox News today going, well, that's definitely a crime.

Even Steve Ducey was like, that would be off the rails. So man, he's hurt already. It doesn't know it. But the last thing is, and this is important guys, before Pelosi had all of her chips on not impeaching, okay? So all she cares about is their own career. And look, that applies to, it's not to pick on her too much, it applies to 90, it used to be 99% of politicians, now 95% of politicians, right?

And so her, everything was invested in, it is such a genius move not to impeach. But now that she's taking the action to impeach, that equation completely flips. So now Pelosi, the Schiff, and all those guys now will shift over to, it was a genius decision to impeach. So if we're going to impeach, we got to go. We got to prove that this was the right decision. So now they'll push everything, including the media, to say that impeachment was the right move. And so they'll be invested in getting that right. So we'll see if that winds up working. I'm not putting like my bet on Pelosi or Democratic leadership. That'd be crazy. I'm putting my bet on Trump has done so many terrible things that all you got to do is find out.

5% of it. We already know all the things we listed, plus the things you don't know are even worse. All you got to do is do like a quarter of a decent job at impeachment to get them. And so I think that all this stuff will come out with blinding speed, is my guess. Now, that's bold to say blinding speed. I hear you on that. The most optimistic person on the planet. I'm telling you, but when Trump goes down, it will be so quick, in the words of Trump, it'll make your head spin. As I told you on day one of his presidency, one day you're gonna wake up and somebody's gonna tell you Trump resigned. And you're gonna be like, what?

No, that can't be true. It is going to be true. He is going to resign. He's not going to make it. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. Chink. Here we go. Game on.

I am not as optimistic as Jank, but we got to go to break. So I'm going to go ahead and do that. When we come back, we're going to back up a little bit. give you some more details on how Trump is already incriminating himself when it comes to this story regarding Ukraine. Come right. We need to talk about a relatively new show called Un-F-The-Republic or UNFTR. As a young Turks fan, you already know that the government, the media, and corporations

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So search for UNFDR in your podcast app today and get ready to get informed, angered, and entertained, all at the same time. All right, back on the Young Turks. Look, it's a good day in America, so I want to make sure that I share your guys' quotes with everybody, too. These are our members first. If Robert Mueller had balls, writes in, I've been waiting for TYT to come on ever since Nancy grew up here.

Ladies and gentlemen, hold, hold. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. Okay, Jesse Lammers writes in, I live in France. I usually don't stay up to watch live, but I got a text from a friend tonight telling me the news. Decide to watch you live tonight. I'm just quoting her. Megan says, Trump, yes, I did ask them to investigate Hunter Biden. Also Trump, which hunt?

Totally. He's too stupid to understand that he's admitting crimes. You're about to see that. Okay, Donna, here's my greatest fear. They impeach number 45, the Senate GOP lets him off, and he gets to play the victim. But Donna, he's gonna play the victim no matter what, all he ever does is play the victim. Oh, my crowd size is bigger, my button is bigger, okay, it doesn't matter, all he does, and his supporters love it anyway.

So nothing changes, he never loses those supporters. And remember, the way that the media has been reporting this, and the way that the Trump administration has been talking about, not impeachment. But just investigations into his questionable activity, like the Republican base. And most voters think that impeachment's been going on, right? So anyone who thinks like, oh, there's gonna be a terrible political price to pay. Look, again, I just wanna reiterate, there is a way for Democrats to bungle this. There's no question about that.

But you can't lead from fear. You have to, if you care about this system of government and you genuinely want to protect checks and balances, you need to impeach. You need to let Trump know he's not above the law. Because if you don't impeach, if you don't pursue this, it does send a message that the president is above the law and can do whatever he wants without being held accountable. So I'm probably gonna repeat this dozens of times going forward, but stop being afraid of Trump voters.

Like what a weird pathetic way of doing politics? Like what will Trump voters think? voters will think that Hillary Clinton, as I explained in the post game yesterday, is actually a man. They'll think that the guy crossing the order with no money in his pocket secretly controls the whole country. They'll go after teenagers who just want to protect the environment. It doesn't matter what they think.

No, you're not trying to get Trump voters, you're trying to get independence and people on the, and you're trying to motivate your own base. God, they don't know politics. Anyway, onto Twitter, Kara Curley says he's admitted to hundreds of impeachable offenses, But hey, if this is the one, okay, I'll take it, L.O.L. I think that that sentiment is pretty right. My gay marriage says, let's be honest, the only reason Pelosi came out in support of impeachment today is because Biden called her and said, hey, this corn pop is using his power against me, an establishment Democrat.

That's not a bad point. No, that's a great point. So nice job, my gay marriage, okay? because he touched a third rail going after establishment Democrats. Definitely, and I think his handle is poking fun at Dave Rubin, who says he's against identity politics, but always mentions that he's gay married. Oh, that's so funny, I haven't even considered that. Okay, I have no idea. But anyway, if he had done this with Bernie Sanders, if Trump had called, and if Bernie Sanders was leading and Trump had called and said, hey, you know, I want you to investigate Bernie

Sanders, I'm not sure Pelosi would have done impeachment. Oh, come on, we know the answer. Yeah, so anyway, last one, because I love this one. Victor Simoyes Liel writes in. So has Jenk finally turned the tables on Anna regarding that bet? Go ahead, Adam Schiff. Very premature. Adam Schiff, I want impeachment.

How dare you, sir? How dare you? All right, but we're not done. I have one more comment to read. from a very important TYT member, my husband, Christian, who's watching, he says, be optimistic with three exclamation marks. Yes, Christian, that's right. And then he wrote, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.

That's right, Christian. Christian's watching everybody. With three different clocks ticking. Hashtag Christian is watching. Okay, by the way, one more thing. This is so fun. Shop TYT, they have a fall sale, what is it, 20% off. You gotta do fall 20 or something?

Okay, Anna, tell me. Yeah, fall 20 and check out the number 20. Okay. at TYT Avengers, I'm not sure we're allowed to do this, so buy it while you can. Endgame election, 2020. And look, I'm normally Hulk, but I like being Iron Man. So thank you, whoever designed this, and I'll find out later. Anyway, that you're Black Widow.

I don't know what that says about Christian, but anyway, and I guess Trump is Thanos. So I love this shirt. Get it while before we get sued. Shop QRT.com, 20% off of long sleeves and hoodies because of the fall. And you put in promo code fall 20, right? Yes, fall 20, the number 20. God, I really want that hoodie. Come on, hit me on.

I have one and I'm wearing it on old school. Oh, nice. I checked that out tonight, by the way. Yeah, all right, let's move on to the rest of the news. Donald Trump told his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, to withhold money that was appropriated for military aid to Ukraine. Ukraine until Ukraine agreed to do an investigation into Hunter Biden, who is Joe Biden's son. Now this is based on a report, a new report by the Washington Post, and three senior administration officials spoke to them on the condition of anonymity.

That's why we know about this new update to the story. Now this direction by Trump to Mick Mulvaney happened a week before his call with the Ukrainian president. Now, officials at the Office of Management and Budget relayed Trump's order to the State Department and the Pentagon during an interagency meeting in mid-July. They explained that the president had concerns and wanted to analyze whether the money needed to be spent. So let's pause because I want to tell you how extraordinary that is.

So normally when Congress gives money for a specific purpose, in this case, Ukraine military assistance, there are different agencies that are tasked with delivering that money. So in this case, it was the State Department and the Pentagon. So the Office of Management and Budget is headed by Mick Mulvaney, who was also the acting chief of staff. So Trump tells Mulvaney, get your Office of Management and Budget to tell two other parts of the government, do not spend that money. That is extraordinary, weird, unusual.

So he goes and tells them, and they're like, what? But by law, we have to send this money. And he says, no, don't do it. They say, okay, what should we tell the press about why we're not doing it? Say it's an interagency matter. Not an interagency matter, Trump told him, don't send the money. I'm about to call the Ukrainian president and threaten him. Now we're gonna go to some video featuring Donald Trump's statements about withholding

the money. He has admitted to it. There are two videos we're gonna go to, and I just want you guys to pay close attention to what he says in each, because he contradicts himself. But the point is, he admits that he withheld that money, $400 million in military aid. And here's why he claims he did it. Take a look. Can you explain why aid to Ukraine was stopped?

Because I think that other countries should be paying also. Why is the United States the only one paying to Ukraine? And I've been talking about this for a long time, not only with respect to Ukraine, but a lot of other countries. And I made that loud and clear, I told that to Mick Mulvaney, I told it to a lot of people always make it wherever he is. I told it to a lot of different people. So I said, hold it up, let's get other people to pay.

And then everybody called me, oh, please, can we pay? And I said, and there was never any quid pro quo. The letter was beautiful, it was a perfect letter. Now, of course, NATO member states absolutely did contribute military aid to Ukraine. It wasn't just the United States. So he lied there, but keep in mind, he admitted that he withheld that money. Now with that said, hold on one more quick thing about that. Don't forget what he said in that video.

Okay, so real quick, he said, and then everybody paid up after I meant, no, nobody even knew that you were holding up the money. How could they have possibly known you were holding up the money and then go, oh my God, you're right, Mr. Donald Trump, now we'll put in more money. None of that is remotely true. Yes, now with that said, let's go to the next clip where he immediately contradicts himself. There was no pressure put on them whatsoever. I put no pressure on them whatsoever.

I could have, I think it would probably, possibly have been okay if I did. But I didn't, I didn't put any pressure on them whatsoever. So look, the reason why I bring that up is, and say he contradicts himself, is because in some statements, he claims, no, no, no, you know, Ukraine, they're not contributing enough when it comes to NATO. Now, they're not a part of NATO, but they are a partner of NATO. He claims, no, no, no, I withheld the money in other statements because there was corruption. within Ukraine, and so that's one of the other reasons why I did it.

So he, again, keeps contradicting himself. He keeps throwing everything and anything out there to see what can stick. But again, the point is, he has admitted that he did withhold that money. And we have, you know, based on that whistleblower report, some indication that the real motivation behind it was he wanted an investigation to a political opponent. Well, actually, it's even more clear than that. But first, let me break down the two potential crime. here, both of which he's, one he's definitely admitted to, the other one he's largely admitted

to, and then get to other crimes that Republicans and conservatives are charging him with. So first one is asking for assistance from a foreign government for your political campaign is clearly 100% illegal. Now if you remember, Robert Mueller said, well, the Russians did help Donald Trump in the election, But it was not super clear that Donald Trump asked for their help. So they had a Trump Tower meeting where parts of his campaign seemed to be asking for the help, but they didn't receive the help in that particular meeting, et cetera. You remember that whole conversation?

And so Mueller said there's not necessarily enough evidence to charge him on that because he didn't ask for it. In this case, he's on tape with the Ukrainian president. And he just admitted, you saw it with your own eyes saying, yeah, you know, look, I held up the money, and the Wall Journal now saying yes, he asked eight different times for an investigation of Joe Biden and his son. So asking for that foreign assistance is already a crime, okay? Because it is not for the benefit of the United States of America and its people. It is for the benefit of his personal political campaign.

That's why it's illegal. The second part of it is the quid pro quo. If he on top of that said, I will hold up that payment unless you do something about this. Well, then that's a second crime, because then you're talking about extortion, potentially bribery. These are directly named in the Constitution as reasons for impeachment. You know, you always hear high crimes and misdemeanors, but before that, there's specific crimes like treason and bribery.

Those are immediate grounds for impeachment. So in this case, you have to connect the dots, but it's not very complicated to connect them of where he says, yeah, I held up the money. And yes, I asked for them to investigate Biden. Okay, if his big claim is, well, I never said those two things were connected, even though I did them within the span of a week. And I, you know, talked about it in the same conversation. If he was a regular person and made that case in court, he would definitely lose. Every prosecutor and every jury would be like, yeah, that was the whole point of that conversation where you said, I've got your $400 million. Now do the investigation on Biden

or else. So Senator Chris Murphy made a statement that I think is incredibly important. He spoke to Vladimir Zelensky, who is the president of Ukraine. And here's what he said. Senator Chris Murphy, Senator Chris Murphy, who spoke to Zelensky during an early September visit to Ukraine, said Monday that the Ukrainian president directly expressed concerns that their meeting, at their meeting, that the aid that was being cut off to Ukraine by the president was a consequence of his unwillingness to launch an investigation into the Bidens. Now, I also want to go to this next clip featuring Murphy, but before I do so. Yeah, so that quote is devastating.

Now it's coming from a Democratic senator, but it would be really fascinating if they wound up in the impeachment hearings, calling as a witness, the president of Ukraine. Because if the president of Ukraine really said that, it's over. I mean, he's like, I'm on the phone call, he tells me he's not going to give me the aid that the U.S. Congress passed unless I help him politically against his rival. That's good night, Irene. I mean, even Fox News hosts now are talking about bribery, off the rails. I mentioned Republicans and Conservatives, William Weld, now admittedly running against them in

the Republican primary, such as it is, but said, look, that could be as high as treason. And he even said on television, the crime for, the punishment for that is the death penalty. Now, I think that's crazy talk, okay? But that's a Republican saying that. So, okay, no, that's crazy talk. But look, guys, this is massive, massive. And so there's also his admission, Trump's admission, that. Yeah, it was about Biden.

He said, now in the clips that we showed you, he said, oh, it's about making sure that everybody chipped into the assistance to Ukraine. But on other occasions, he said, no, it's about anti-corruption, and I want to make sure they're not corrupt. And he mentioned voluntarily, because he's really dumb, is about Vice President Biden and his corruption, too. Oops. So you just admitted that you're holding up the money because you wanted them to investigate Biden. also criminally inept, he should be charged with being totally incompetent. So I don't, I can't see how they wouldn't, I mean, you never put it past Democrats to screw up anything.

But this is a layup. He definitely did it. Yeah, I mean, I, he, I think he did. That is my gut instinct, but- It's not a gut instinct, it's- He already admitted it. I know, I know. I know. I get it. And today he says, oh, I'm gonna release the transcript because it was a perfect call.

And you think, well, oh, well then maybe he didn't do it because he's gonna release the transcript. No, probably his advisor's like, no, don't, don't release the transcripts. He's like, no, it was a beautiful call. No, I guess he doesn't realize it's illegal. That's, you look, people keep telling him things. A thousand times they've told him when you do the tariffs, that's a tax that Americans pay. China doesn't pay it. We pay it. And he's like, no, it's not. No, it's not. He really believes that it isn't. He really believes that he's right. And then somehow China's paying it, which

isn't true. So if they tell him, hey, that's illegal, don't admit that, don't release the transcript. But no, it's not. No, I could ask for any political favor from any foreign government. Okay, that's like your opinion, man. But your opinion doesn't count when we're talking about the law. So the only way that this could be screwed up is by the Democrats. So 50-50 proposition. All right, we got to take a break. When we come back, we're going to switch gears and talk about how Biden is working with unsavory think tank tanks in order to push out messaging to make people think Medicare

for all is bad. But it's not. It's good. And I'm going to tell you why when we return. No, no, by the way, look, I'm excited about the Trump news. That's the story we're about to do. It makes my blood boil. So I'm going to go on the war path.

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All right, back on a young church, Jenkins Anna with you guys. Viscuous Crean in the member section, right, said, call me once, shame on you, call me eight times, it was a perfect phone call. Captain Cornball says, as a Brit, it's weird seeing Boris Johnson. and not thinking he's the biggest liar on my screen. Yeah, it is kind of incredible to see like two of the dumbest people in positions of power. I know, but as somebody on Twitter pointed out, in fact, I'll give you the name. I, Sanchez, you know, Trump being impeached, Boris Johnson might get kicked out as prime minister,

Net Yahoo losing the elections. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. What did I tell you? Is that blue I see? Hope. Okay. Okay, we should sell my poem online. Put that on a shirt.

That's a bestseller. We should do that. We should try it and see how that works out. Do you think that people won't buy it? Oh, they're going to love that home. Sure, I'm sure people are going to love it. Okay. You can get this shirt, which I love.

By the way, oh, and I'm going to read a tweet about shirts in a second. Shop t.yot.com. I know. We have so many stories. I know, but they got to get this stuff before we get legally stopped from selling it. They'll all be collector's items. Anyway, short out to behind the scenes, TYT employees, employees who help me when the mail service lost my purchase and made sure I got a new one.

Being in Minnesota and California, I love showing my hometown support by wearing TYT's Ilhan Omar, too strong t-shirt around LA. I've seen a lot of people wearing that, that's awesome, also that'll be a collector's item. Okay, last one, corn pop writes in, he's back. Is no one talking about Trump's relationship with Russia and Russia having invaded Ukraine? This is less about Biden than it is about Russia. Biden is trying to make it about himself for the election. Look, corn pop, I don't know about that.

Don't cut me with a rusty knife, but I, but it is interesting that the whistleblower said his concern was not about what Trump was trying to get. Remember, the urgent matter was that Trump made a promise to another foreign leader. So it might not, it might have been about Ukraine, but it might not have been to the Ukrainian leader. Think about it. Okay, so let's go forward. All right, let's do it. Nope, go. Edward Stone's on the show later.

Okay. Television, be a grown up when you're talking about children. She's trying to save the planet because your president doesn't believe in climate change. That's Christopher Hahn ripping into Michael Knowles from The Daily Wire, one of Ben Shapiro's lackeys. Now, why is he ripping into Knowles? Knowles felt the need to attack Greta Toonberg, the young teenage climate activist who has been inspiring people. She is the person behind the marches that took place in over 150 countries last Friday. She's an incredible young lady, but Michael Knowles has decided to attack her in

one of the most disgusting ways on Fox. I hate this, but we should know what the conservatives in this country are really about. Take a look. were about science, it would be led by scientists rather than by politicians and a mentally ill Swedish child who is being exploited by her parents and by the international left. So what you're seeing here is a political movement and a religious movement, and it's fulfilling religious and political goals of the left, but it isn't doing very much for science. Chris, you had a visceral reaction to that. Go ahead. Yeah, I mean, you're a grown man and you're attacking a child. Shame on you. She's trying

I'm not, I'm attacking the left for exploiting a mentally ill child. Now, relax, skinny boy, I got this, okay? You're attacking a child, you're a grown man, have some coup. I'm not, I'm attacking the left for exploitation a mentally ill child. Maybe on your podcast, you get away and say whatever you want because nobody's listening. You're on national television, be a grown up when you're talking about children. She's trying to save the planet because your president doesn't believe in climate change. And kids need to take to the streets to worry about their future.

You are despicable for talking to her about her like that. And you should apologize on national television right now. I think the international left and her parents who are exploiting a girl with many mental illnesses. You called her mentally ill. Take it back now. She is mentally ill. She has autism. She has obsessive compulsive disorder.

She has selective leutism. She had depression. You are despicable. Man. Wow. Nice job by the Democrat on Fox News. Christopher Hahn is his name. Yeah, Christopher Hahn, wonderful work, you almost never see that.

But that's who these guys are. So she's got Asperger's and she said it's a gift and she said, look, I don't know if I didn't have it, maybe I wouldn't have done this. So and so I'm in a sense blessed with a superpower that I decided to go forward and have the courage to do this, et cetera, et cetera, I'm paraphrasing what she said there. But that's a good way of looking at it. Describing her as mentally ill is not a good way of looking at it. Also, what is Knowles suggesting there, right?

That the parents keep her locked up in a cage. This is something that she's clearly passionate about and wants to do something about. Climate change is serious. And I love how Knowles mentioned leave it to the scientists. Because conservative D-bags like you have really cared about what the scientists, the vast majority of which have been screaming from the rooftops about climate change. I mean, it's ridiculous. And look, she's underage, she's a child, right?

So I don't agree with attacking children, whether they're children who believe in right-wing ideology or left-wing ideology. I hated seeing anyone on social media go after Baron Trump after Donald Trump was elected. But here's the thing, well, members of the left, and I'm specifically talking about public figures. While public figures on the left will draw this red line and say, do not attack children under any and all circumstances, that is not the case on the right. On the right, they don't care. They have absolutely no rules, no boundaries, and absolutely no respect for anyone, including

the very children they claim to protect when they want to pass laws violating women's reproductive rights. So look, what he said about her is obviously despicable on its face. So I don't think we have to discuss it that much more. But I do want to make a comment about the scientists. He said if it was real, it would have been a movement led by the scientists. But it is. 99% of the world scientists say that it's real, it's manmade, and we must act urgently.

And you know what Republicans like Michael Knowles say when the scientists say that? They say, oh, they're all getting paid off. It's all a conspiracy. Don't believe the scientists. So which one is it? And then the other thing that they say is, oh, scientists shouldn't talk about this. That's not their job. Politics isn't their job.

They should go back to science. Hey, idiot. They are talking about science. They're talking about temperature readings. They're talking about the ocean temperature. They're talking about carbon. They're talking about methane. They're talking about things relating to science.

And when they do, you browbeat them. And then when somebody else says it, you go, oh, that's the illegitimate too. Scientists shouldn't talk about it. Children shouldn't talk about it. The left shouldn't talk about it. No one should talk about it except ExxonMobil. Where's my check? Where's my check?

Exactly. Michael knows you're either one of the dumbest people alive, not getting paid by ExxonMobil to do their bidding and the Koch brothers, or you are getting paid by people in the oil industry, and I'm sure you are through daily wire, because that's filled with corruption. It doesn't make any money on its own. All it is is propaganda for outlets that are profit off of the fossil fuel industry and other industries, so yeah, you're part of the corruption and you just stooped to a level where you got even kicked off of Fox News.

Congrats, well play, I'm sure your boss, Ben Shapiro is super proud. So let me give you the details on that because Fox did release a statement following what Michael Knowles said. Here's what the statement says. The comment made by Michael Knowles, who was a guest on the story tonight was disgraceful. We apologize to Greta Toonberg and to our viewers. And Fox told the Hollywood reporter that it had no plans to book Knowles as a guest in the future. And one other thing I do want to mention, the disgusting behavior toward Greta Toonberg, again,

a teenager, was not limited to that one moment on Fox because then you have someone like Laura Ingram who never takes a minute to think about whether it's a good idea to attack children. Remember, she attacked the Parkland students who had just seen their peers get slaughtered. And now she's also attacking Greta Toonberg. Let's go to video D4. The world is waking up and change is coming whether you like it or not. Anyone else find that chilling? A time of tribulation has come.

A test is at hand. The final test. I can't wait for Stephen King's sequel, Children of the Climate. So she's comparing Greta Toonberg to children of the corn where children kill adults, like religious zealot children kill adults. Well, in the real world, the children are trying to save the adults. But corrupt people like Laura Ingram say, yeah, but what do I care about my kids? And that the planet is on fire.

I got a really big check from Fox News. And so everyone in the conservative movement gets giant checks from the fossil fuel industry. So I guess that's my kid's problem, not my problem. In this movie, the adults are the ones endangering the lives of the kids. And Fox News has not commented on Laura Ingram's attack against Toonberg. However, Laura Ingram's own brother has come out to criticize her for that segment. So let's go to that quote. Clearly, my sister's paycheck is more important than the world, her three.

adopted kids will inherit. I can no longer apologize for a sibling who I no longer recognize. I can and will continue to call out the monstrous behavior and the bully commentary born out of anger. Now, Curtis Ingram is absolutely right. And to Laura Ingram, I just want to ask you, is this what family values is all about? Yeah. So look, one last thing. Back to the scientists for a second. I just want to be super clear about this. If you don't agree with 99% of the world scientists, it is credibly likely that you're a stupid person or corrupt. I mean, look, I at least get Laura Ingram and Michael Knowles, they're getting paid for it.

What's your excuse? So if you're a right winger who says, without any evidence to back you up, and given that the hottest 16 years on record were in the last 17 years, you somehow think you know better than 99% of the world scientists at every temperature reading on the planet, well, you're You're a stupid person, because you're not even getting paid for it. You're just a sucker for Laura Ingram and her paychecks. And now you're, I guess, celebrating going after this child who's actually trying to do something about it and help the rest of us.

So congratulations, idiot. All right, we're gonna take a break. When we come back, we have some slimy stuff going on with Biden, and later we're gonna tell you about Bernie Sanders and his wealth tax. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work, listen ad-free, access members-only bonus content, and more by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at apple.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.