The Young Turks - Trump Booked

Episode Date: August 25, 2023

Trump shakes up his Georgia legal team hours ahead of Atlanta booking. Wagner chief Prigozhin was on a plane that crashed in Russia, the aviation agency says. Fox & Friends pronounces Nikki Haley the ...Republican primary debate winner after her clash with Ramaswamy: "She ran away with the show." The Biden administration launches a new student loan repayment plan application. Rail union wants new rules to improve conductor training in the wake of two trainee deaths. The CEO of a bank in Australia is getting slammed for ordering staff back to the office not for productivity, but instead for "mental health."  HOSTS: Cenk Uygur (@CenkUygur) & Ana Kasparian (@AnaKasparian) SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE: ☞ https://www.youtube.com/user/theyoungturks FACEBOOK: ☞ https://www.facebook.com/theyoungturks TWITTER: ☞ https://www.twitter.com/theyoungturks INSTAGRAM: ☞ https://www.instagram.com/theyoungturks TIKTOK: ☞ https://www.tiktok.com/@theyoungturks 👕 Merch: https://shoptyt.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 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, we know you probably hit play to escape your business banking, not think about it. But what if we told you there was a way to skip over the pressures of banking? By matching with the TD Small Business Account Manager, you can get the proactive business banking advice and support your business needs. Ready to press play? Get up to $2,700 when you'll open select small business banking products. Yep, that's $2,700 to turn up your business.
Starting point is 00:00:36 Visit TD.com slash small business match to learn more. Conditions apply. Woo! Get some! America. America. So it is actually a lovely day because we actually have Good news today. What is going on? Several days recently where we have had good news. Is justice coming? It kind of feels like it. I mean, that's why we have the Tumblr that says justice is coming.
Starting point is 00:01:43 Not that you can see that writing. But anyways, all right, guys, Biden does something really positive. What is this? Trump gets arrested for the 88th time. We're going to, we should have mugshots for you guys later in the program because he might be. having his picture taken right now. That's fun for everybody. And then later, should we crack eggs on our kids' heads? No, no, no. We cut that story. Oh, we cut it?
Starting point is 00:02:10 Oh, that was good. I had fun with that story. Let me just say, if you're a parent and you're cracking eggs on your children's heads for attention, just don't do that. It's bad. It's not good. It's bad. Don't.
Starting point is 00:02:23 Just don't. All right, so, and by the way, who we covered the debate last night. If you're a member, good news. You can get it anytime you want, t.y.com slash join. Go nuts in the member section. You get all of our content. But we're going to discuss who the media thought won and who actually won as well. All right, Casper, take it away.
Starting point is 00:02:42 Well, even though Trump hasn't been booked quite yet, I do think that there are some stories surrounding that whole situation they're worth getting into, beginning with this. Former President Donald Trump is turning himself in at the Fulton County, Georgia jail today after getting indicted, of course, by district attorney Fannie Willis for his role in attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election. He's facing 13 felony counts for his role in doing so. And just before turning himself in, Trump decided to shake up his Georgia legal defense team, which I think is a really fascinating story here. So he added a veteran criminal defense lawyer
Starting point is 00:03:22 by the name of Steve Sadow to the team. And Sadoo filed a document indicating that he, He is, in fact, the lead counsel of record for Donald Trump. Now, he also worked on many high profile cases pertaining to rappers like Urshur. You also have Rick Ross, T.I. He's celebrated as one of the top defense attorneys in the state. Now, Trump's decision comes soon after one of his lawyers, Drew Findling, and his two other lawyers in the Georgia case, Jennifer Little and Marissa Goldberg, negotiated a $200,000 bond fund. for Trump, Finling is expected to be let go according to a person familiar with the matter
Starting point is 00:04:04 while little will be retained. There were some reports after this was reported that the way Finling was doing the job was not the reason for letting Finlay go. But I don't really know why the switch up happened if that's the case. But nonetheless, Trump has been inquiring for several days about who else could be brought in for his legal defense team. And that's according to a person familiar with the discussions. Trump's main concern, according to this person, was that he wanted a more sophisticated team. So Saddow said in a statement that Trump should never have been indicted, adding he is
Starting point is 00:04:46 innocent of all the charges brought against him. Prosecutions intend to advance or serve the ambitions and careers of political opponents of the president have no place in. in our justice system, alluding to the notion that this is a political prosecution rather than a prosecution with evidence indicating that Trump attempted to overturn the election. Obviously, I disagree with that take. Now, there are other elements of this story worth getting into, including the attempts to move the trial from the state courts to the federal courts. We can get into that, and the disconnect between one of Trump's co-conspirators wanting a
Starting point is 00:05:27 speedy trial and Trump's legal team not wanting a speedy trial. We'll get into that as well. But first, Jank, what do you think about this legal team, defense team switch up? Yeah, so there's two things here. So number one, Trump changes lawyers more than almost anyone I've ever seen. And this is well documented. And there is a reason for that, because he has unreasonable demands. He will tell a lawyer, okay, go lie on my behalf on television.
Starting point is 00:05:52 And the lawyer would be like, I can't do that. Go lie in court. Well, I can't do that. can't do that. Okay, you're fired. And he thinks, well, look, if you guys can get mobsters off, you can get all these guys off, why can't you get me off? And they're definitely guilty, and I'm definitely guilty. A good lawyer would figure out how to get me off, go on television, convince the whole country that I didn't do it when I obviously did it. Yeah, but by the way, the mob family actually tried to cover up their crimes. You didn't even do that, brother.
Starting point is 00:06:17 Like, you're, they're, like, they ran a criminal enterprise. So they had to do some management. So the guys at the top were relatively smart. You, on the other hand, and our knucklehead who's like, hey, you want a host top secret documents I got it right here. Hey, Mark Meadows, biographer, you want to see them? Here it is, our war plans on the round. Some mob guys are a little bit more careful than that. So this sadro guy, he's also represented others, including Gunna and YSL, which of course, you know, young slime life.
Starting point is 00:06:49 Now he's representing old slime life. So it's a nice little combo there. and the Gambino family. So he's right at home now with the Trump crime family. Sounds quite experienced. Now, he was not a Trump fan. In fact, some of his previous social media posts indicated that he was very much not a fan of Donald Trump's. But he was willing to represent Trump in this legal battle in Georgia having to do with the election meddling.
Starting point is 00:07:15 Now let's get to some interesting developments, especially when it comes to whether or not there will be a speedy trial. because there is an individual who's calling for a speedy trial, but Trump ain't into it, okay? Now, as I shared with you all recently, there are three defendants that are seeking to remove their cases and instead have them heard in federal court. And that includes Mark Meadows, Trump's former chief of staff, Jeffrey Clark, a former department, justice department official, and also David Schaefer, a former head of the Georgia Republican Party. Now, Jeffrey Clark, the former DOJ official, is the individual who is calling for a speedy trial, and Trump is not having it. But Fawney Willis is willing to get started pretty soon, actually.
Starting point is 00:08:04 So let's get to those details. Apologies. It's actually Kenneth Cheesebro who wants the speedy trial, not Jeffrey Clark. Can I just say, yeah, it's, I was going to correct that. But Cheesebro is like the funnest name in the world because it reminds me of Wayne Grove from Heat. And because it's like, hey, what are you doing, Cheesebro? Why are you trying to move up to trial date? It just makes me think of someone who's a big fan of cheese.
Starting point is 00:08:28 Like he's a cheese bro. He's a cheese connoisseur. He has a business called the cheese bros. There's no way he does. If he doesn't have that business, as soon as he gets out of jail, he should start that business up. And I always think he's a Packers fan. Anyways, but it is super relevant that he wants that date moved out.
Starting point is 00:08:44 We'll talk about it. Yes. Okay. So again, I want to correct myself, it is Kenneth Cheesebro who wants the speedy trial. So he made the demand on Wednesday of this week and which under Georgia law would require the trial for all 19 of the defendants to begin as soon as possible. He called for it to begin on November 3rd months earlier than the prosecutors had sought. So Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis filed a motion Thursday suggesting in October 23rd trial date for former President Donald Trump and his 18 co-conspirators. in response to the motion filed Wednesday by attorneys for former Trump campaign attorney Kenneth
Starting point is 00:09:26 Cheesbrough seeking a speedy trial in the case. Now, if approved by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing the case, Willis would have to begin presenting her case against all 19 before November 3rd, the last day of the next court term in Fulton County. And so what's, she's ready. That's what's really impressive to me about. Fawny Willis, right? She's coming in, she's coming in strong, and she's like, oh, you want a speedy trial? I'm ready. In fact, they ensured that they had all of their ducks in a row in case this situation arose and the situation has arose. Like they have decided, okay, if they want a speedy trial, we're willing to go along with this. However, notably the Trump
Starting point is 00:10:12 legal team does not want a speedy trial. No, they do not. So why is that, Jane? So look, The prosecutors are also a little concerned because they want it to be in March and gives them four more months to prepare. But they say we can go, okay? I want the speediest trial possible as long as it's fair to everyone involved. And Trump wants it to be as late as possible. Remember, he tried to move some of his trials to 2026, that's three years from now, okay? So he doesn't, the very last thing he wants is a speedy drop.
Starting point is 00:10:51 Because the quicker they go, the quicker the American people will know, is he guilty, not guilty? They'll get to see some of the witnesses. They'll see Republican after Republican testifying against them. They'll see the evidence against him. And then if he's convicted before the voting starts, that's, look, I know a lot of Republicans say, and then we saw it on the debate stage last night, six out of the eight schmucks that were there, I said they would back him as the presidential candidate, even if he got convicted, if he won the primary. But at some point, this is going to do damage, because the Republican voters
Starting point is 00:11:27 are going to wake up and go, we're walking into a definite loss here, like a nearly guaranteed loss. Are we sure we want to do that? So we'll see, we'll see which way they go about it. But to me, Jim Jordan, which we'll get to in a second, does make one good point, which is so rare. It's literally, I've never seen it before. But we're the fairest show in America, so I'll give him this. One of the things that he wants to explore in a hearing is, why did it take two and a half years, whether it's Fannie Willis or the Justice Department, et cetera, why did it take all of them two and a half years? And I think that's outrageous.
Starting point is 00:12:03 I think that is a real problem. and I'm not even positive that it's not political. I'm not at all positive of that. I mean, look, obviously it's impossible to be positive. But if I had to make a bet, yeah, definitely. The timing of it is political. In my opinion, again, opinion, I don't have like the evidence to show you that. But there was no reason why it needed to take this long to indict Trump.
Starting point is 00:12:30 Yeah. And so the original, what Fannie Willis is asking for is, for the trial to start right before the voting begins, like a day before Super Tuesday. And come on. Come on, it's too much. Yeah, I agree with that. I hope Cheeseboro wins because it should be before that. It shouldn't be after that.
Starting point is 00:12:54 It shouldn't be then. It should be before. I totally agree with you on that. So he's going to report to the jail today and get booked. Donald Trump will. Many of his co-conspirators have already been booked and we've showed some of those mugshots to you and we will update you as soon as he does officially get booked and very likely has his mugshot taken as well. I do want to move on now to the Jim Jordan angle here because it's a really fascinating, I think it's a fascinating development in a really bad way, but also in some cases, as you
Starting point is 00:13:50 mentioned, Jank, in a legitimate way as well. So the Republican House Judiciary Committee has officially had it with Fawney Willis, and they want to now investigate her as the Fulton County, George, District Attorney who has brought indictments against Donald Trump and 18 of his co-conspirators, which of course include his campaign lawyers and his closest allies. Now the House Judiciary Committee Chair, Jim Jordan, launched an investigation into the so-called motivations behind her indictments against Trump and his 18 co-defendants. And we have a letter that he sent to the Fulton County District Attorney. We'll give you some excerpts on what it says.
Starting point is 00:14:33 to Mediite, Jordan sent a letter to Fulton County, District Attorney Fonie Willis, questioning the timing of the prosecution on RICO charges of election tampering, stating it was noteworthy that Willis launched a new campaign fundraising website that highlighted her investigation into Trump just days before the indictments were issued by a Fulton County grand jury. I looked into this and she launched that fundraising website about four days before the indictments were announced, so he has questions along with others in the Judiciary Committee about the timing of the fundraising website, and also the timing of the indictments as well as it pertains to the 2024 presidential election.
Starting point is 00:15:18 Yeah, so look, 98% of Republican congressional hearings are nonsense, and they're meant to just be political theater. They almost never have any evidence at all, but here there are a couple legitimate questions One is definitely about the timing of the trial, you know, starting right before Super Tuesday. Why did they wait two and a half years? Yes, those are legitimate questions. I know it's a giant rarity for Republicans, but it does happen sometimes. And you have to keep an open mind and you have to look at the actual facts and not just dismiss it out of hand.
Starting point is 00:15:51 Now having said that the rest of it, like, okay, did she coordinate with federal prosecutors? So what if she did? Yeah, I- Like, why is that's not a crime? There's nothing wrong with that. I don't know why that's like a, they say it like as of like, oh, can you imagine if she, yeah, well, why wouldn't prosecutors coordinate? I don't get it. Well, speaking of political maneuvering, this is also partly or majorly political on their behalf as well, right?
Starting point is 00:16:17 For Jim Jordan? For Jim Jordan? Of course. Yeah, so I say that because, look, there's this really interesting psychological trick that's taking place in multiple different contexts, and it involves someone engaging in something that is not criminal, that isn't even problematic or questionable, but the opposing party will make it appear as though, or talk about it with framing and a tone that makes it seem like there's some illegality there. And in this case, Jordan is accusing her of coordinating with special
Starting point is 00:16:47 counsel Jack Smith on this indictment against Donald Trump. There's nothing, if she were doing that, there's literally nothing wrong. I specifically looked into it because I'm like, I don't know, Maybe there's some sort of legal rule that I'm not privy to. I'm not a lawyer, didn't go to Columbia. I'm like, who knows? Plays, but it turns out that no, actually a lot of legal experts were concerned back in April when Fannie Willis said in the context of an interview that, no, she's not coordinating with Jack Smith. I want to give you her exact quote. So this was an interview in April with W-A-B-E.
Starting point is 00:17:24 She said, I don't know what Jack Smith is doing. Jack Smith doesn't know what I'm doing. In all honesty, if Jack Smith was standing next to me, I'm not sure I would know who he was. My guess is he probably can't pronounce my name correctly. But the legal experts were alarmed at that statement because they feel that the two absolutely should be coordinating considering the similarity of the charges, right? Yeah. Look, I don't know why they wouldn't be. And I'll tell you, you can tell one way that I think that they are not coordinating. It's that Jack Smith didn't charge Mark Meadows with anything.
Starting point is 00:18:02 And based on what we already know, my guess is that Mark Meadows is working with Jack Smith, the special prosecutor on the federal case. And that's why he was like, well, do I really have to come into Georgia? Do I really have to take a mugshot like the rest of them? And Fannie Willis was like, yeah, why not? because I don't think she has any idea that he's a cooperating witness for Jack Smith, if I'm right, okay, if I'm right. But so if that's the case, well, then they're definitely, definitely not coordinating,
Starting point is 00:18:33 but who cares if they are? There's nothing wrong with coordinating. Like, Republicans just say things like, as if they're, like, did you know that Hunter Biden called Joe Biden the big guy? Oh, okay. No, but it is amazing. Like, the human mind is an incredible thing. Right? Because if you just say something, if you make a comment about something innocuous,
Starting point is 00:18:57 but you say it in a certain tone, people will be like, but there's nothing wrong with that. Like there's no criminality in that at all. Like here's another one that they did. Joe Biden would call Hunter Biden every day. And you're telling me they weren't coordinating. Yeah, their father and son and the hunter was on crack. So Joe would kept calling him to say, please get off crack and like, are you okay, son? They make it sound so nefarious, right? Just in how they stated.
Starting point is 00:19:29 But by the way, we're super fair. Fannie Willis, for example, the setting up to fundraising site four days before the indictment, was that related? Of course, it's related. Of course. She knows her name's going to be in the press a thousand times and there's a big fighter against Trump. And is she going to raise a lot of money for campaigns based on that? Of course she is.
Starting point is 00:19:47 And the question is, I mean, you might think that that is, I don't know, I don't know the right word. You might not like that. You might think that looks shady or whatever. But this is what politicians do. Yeah, 100%. This is all they do. Look, I hate it, but I'm not hating the player. I'm hating the game.
Starting point is 00:20:06 Yeah, totally. Right? So, like, they all do for this greasy fundraising, and they all need to do it because of the insane system that we have. By the way, you know, the other guy who made a lot of money fundraising. off the trial? It's Donald Trump. So Republicans, are you as fair as we are? I don't like either one of them fundraising off of this stuff. But my guess is you're going to say, I can't believe Fannie Wallis is doing it into four days before. Trump, of course, here's a couple hundred million dollars. In fact, Trump has not spent any of his personal money for his legal defense at all.
Starting point is 00:20:37 It's all through the donations he's received from his supporters. So just something to keep in mind as this, you know, war continues with both sides accusing each other of things. And in this case with the Republican Party accusing Fannie Willis of engaging in something that quite honestly is pretty indicative of what you'll see in our political system. Now I want to give you some other excerpts from the letter that was sent to Fonnie Willis from the House Judiciary Committee. So in addition to accusing Willis of being politically motivated, Jordan also complained about the fact that she required mugshots for those who were indicted, which didn't happen in his previous three. indictments, in Trump's previous three indictments, of course, he wrote, quote, you did not bring charges until two and a half years later at a time when the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination is in full swing. Moreover, you have requested that the trial in this
Starting point is 00:21:32 matter begin on March 4th, 2024, the day before Super Tuesday and eight days before the Georgia presidential primary. So we discussed that. I think there's a legitimate grievance there for sure. Jordan claimed the indictment appears to be an attempt to use state criminal law to regulate the conduct of federal officers acting in their official capacities and questioned whether and how your office coordinated with DOJ special counsel Jack Smith during the course of this investigation. So those were the highlights of the letter, but look, what I'm concerned about is that now things have devolved even further, right? Because while I do think it's important to hold Trump accountable and his co-conspirators accountable for attempting to undermine our
Starting point is 00:22:23 democratic process and essentially steal an election, at the same time, now we have these like phony investigations being launched against a prosecutor who's literally doing her job, right? Yeah, well, look, that's the much larger issue, which is the Republicans breaking down law and order. And it's super ironic because my whole life, the Republican Party has said that they're for law and order. But now that their leader is being held accountable, they do not like it at all. And it's one thing to say, hey, I don't like it. I don't want you to prosecute this guy. I think it's political.
Starting point is 00:22:57 Okay, I don't agree. And they have overwhelming evidence and you'll see it in trial. But I at least understand that. It's another thing to say, no, let's now defund the FBI altogether, like disband it, because it's, Because if you disband the FBI, then they could break even more loss. And by the way, theoretically, the Republicans should be thinking, well, if we just, if we defund the FBI, couldn't Biden and the Democrats get away with more stuff? We don't want that, right? But they're not thinking that because they know that Biden's not trying to get away with more stuff.
Starting point is 00:23:29 And Democrats are generally, the politicians have tons of problems, right? And there's systemic corruption in the campaign donations, et cetera. But Democrats generally follow the law because they're very establishment. They're very pro-status quo. They don't have a reason to break the law. They're already sitting pretty in a lot of ways, right? But the Republicans keep breaking the law over and over and over again at the political level, right? Or their politicians are breaking actual criminal statutes.
Starting point is 00:23:59 So they're like, get rid of the cops. Get rid of the cops. Cops, yes, good when it's people that we don't like, minorities, whoever else it might be. Cops good when I want to be protected in the suburbs, but when cops are going after our guys, I don't want to just protect my guy. I want to get rid of the cops completely. And by the way, that is not unprecedented for the Republicans. There's one other place where they have defunded the law enforcement, and that's Wall Street.
Starting point is 00:24:27 So for the IRS. For the finance guys, for the bankers. And IRS is another good example. IRS is enforcing the tax laws. And they're like, defunded. They have defunded so much. I talk about that in my book. Justice is coming.
Starting point is 00:24:41 You can get a link is down below in the description box. You could pre-order now at t.R.T.com slash justice. But anyway, I prove the case. I show you exactly. And what was the first thing Kevin McCarthy promised as soon as they won the house? Defund the IRS, right? And they always want to defund all the regulatory agencies that hold Wall Street accountable. Because they don't want the rich and the powerful to be held to account.
Starting point is 00:25:05 They only want you, hell to account. And it's because it's not about law and order, it's about power. All right, we're going to take a break. When we come back, a pretty big story involving someone who started a rebellion against Vladimir Putin and the Russian military, Yvgeny Progoshin. He's now dead, and we'll tell you how he died when we return. Get myself in a little trouble. That's what I do. All right on Tjana with you guys.
Starting point is 00:25:50 I love our members because on our website, Wong John Rodin, I'm guessing Bart's in a good mood. Well, if you don't know, Bart does audio for us and it certainly does sound like he was in a good mood. Oh, here's why I'm in a good mood, guys, the mugshots, the mugshot of Trump. It's going to be beautiful. I can't wait for the mugshot. Hopefully we'll have that later for you in this show. And Seth Michael Drogensky said, Justice is coming to my place because I pre-ordered it. I appreciate your brother.
Starting point is 00:26:19 T.yT.com slash justice to do likewise bookshop, by the way, among the different links, I think helps indie bookstores, Barnes & Noble's good, a lot of different places to buy the book. We appreciate all of you guys. Casper. All right, we've got a big development in Moscow. Video showing the plane registered to that mercenary leader, Yvgeny Progosian, falling to earth from 28,000 feet. Behind it, a trail of smoke. Russian state TV reporting tonight that he was on board and he was killed in the crash. The plane plummeting, erupting into a fireball, 10 people in all on board, no one survived this. That's right, Yvgeny Progoshin, who was the leader of the Wagner mercenary group that
Starting point is 00:26:59 staged a short-lived mutiny against the Russian military's top brass back in June, was one of the passengers on that plane that crashed outside of Moscow just Wednesday of this week. Now, all 10 people, as you heard on board, have died as a result of that plane crash. And we're getting some more detail into what intelligence officials here in the United States think happened here. But if you are suspicious of Vladimir Putin's potential role in this, you should be. Of course. Now, the plane that listed Progosian as a passenger left Moscow's airport on Wednesday at about 6 p.m. local time, and it was bound for St. Petersburg, to which I ask, what was he doing in Russia after staging a rebellion against Putin and his
Starting point is 00:27:49 military? Like, yeah. Insane, especially considering what we know about Vladimir Putin and the way that he has treated his political opponents, journalists who have not been so celebratory in their coverage of him. You know what I'm saying? So it's like, wow. Mental. Look, he he was definitely overconfident. There's no question about it. And I remember thinking like this guy's strolling around way too much. And I thought, does he know something? I don't know. One, he's the leader of a mercenary army and one that's brutal and awful and has robbed Africa blind, let alone what he did in Ukraine, and has made apparently billions in post-Soviet Russia through basically, you know, mob-like activities, etc. So I'm like, maybe he's in charge.
Starting point is 00:28:42 I don't know, maybe he's stronger than Putin. Maybe he's got guys inside the Russian military, Because this doesn't make sense, he's flaunting himself, walking around like he doesn't have any care in the world. Well, it turns out, no, simpler explanation, overconfident. So the seven passengers that were listed included Progogian and also some of his lieutenants, including Wagner's top commander, Dmitri Utkin. It also listed three crew members in addition to the seven. Now, earlier today, American and other Western officials said an explosion on,
Starting point is 00:29:18 the plane likely brought down the aircraft on Wednesday killing all passengers aboard based on preliminary intelligence reports. A definitive conclusion had not been reached at that point but an explosion is the leading theory of what caused the plane to crash. And then later today the explosion was confirmed by a US intelligence official who spoke to the press. They claim that the West believes that this was an intentional explosion for, I think, obvious reasons, right? We don't have to discuss that. I know, I know. Of course it was intentional. And of course Putin shot it out of the sky. I mean, was there another leader who has Stinger missiles firing at a plane inside Russia? Okay, wait, hold on, though, because there's a disagreement, right? Because
Starting point is 00:30:08 U.S. officials aren't saying that a missile shot it down. U.S. officials are actually pouring cold water on that. They actually disagree with that theory. But actually, I want to go to, so American satellite intelligence did not detect a missile launch, and there is no other evidence of a surface to air weapon that took out the plane. But to your point, Jank, there have been some other individuals, including former members of the United States military, who have said that they believe based on what they saw in the wreckage, that it was shot down by a missile, I don't know what the truth is. This is above my pay grade. But nonetheless, let's take a look at the video. Video circulating online from the crash site showing what appears to be puncture marks
Starting point is 00:30:52 in the wreckage. Experts saying this points to the likelihood of a missile strike, not a bomb blast. If it had been a bomb on board, we would have seen deformation that would have been expanding out of the aircraft. Right now we're seeing the puncture holes that are a signature. of a surface to air or an air-to-air missile impacting that aircraft. So the U.S. intelligence community apparently disagrees with that. The explosion could have been caused by a bomb or other device planted on the aircraft, though there have been some other theories floating around, including, I've never heard this phrase before in this context,
Starting point is 00:31:27 but adulterated fuel, which sounds like it could be fun, but it's not. So that's also being explored. So after months of increasingly caustic criticism of the Russian military leadership's campaign in Ukraine, Progoshin led a short-lived revolt against the top brass in June. The brief mutiny, the most dramatic and public challenge to Putin's rule in decades, was diffused. A deal was announced by the Kremlin to end hostilities, and Wagner or Wagner forces were allowed to either sign up with the Russian military or move. to Belarus, a close Russian ally, and I do want to note that Vladimir Putin has issued his condolences, and I want to give you a sense of what kind of condolences he's into, especially
Starting point is 00:32:16 when it comes to someone who tried to lead a rebellion against him. He said, quote, this was a person with a complicated fate. He made some serious mistakes in life, but he also achieved necessary results. Jesus. Heartwarming. He seems really broken up about it. Okay. So, and he did what I think were a little jabs about how, you know, Progosion had some questionable activities in Africa. I don't know that he meant it as questionable because they're all profiting off of all the things that this mercenary army was doing. But there's one giant question still left. By the way, look, whether it was a internal bomb or a missile that shot it down or anything else, it doesn't matter. It happened inside
Starting point is 00:33:02 Russia from Moscow to St. Petersburg, that was the flight. The Germans didn't do it. The Taiwanese didn't do it. It was obviously the Russian military that did it. If it wasn't the Russian military, then we got a bigger problem because there's a foreign army inside Russia. And that could be a disaster. Now, of course it was, of course. One of my favorite things was in one of the articles, they're like, yet Putin was celebrating the Soviet army's victory over Nazi Germany. hundreds of miles away in a different town. Yeah, I didn't think he actually shot this thing or missile himself. No, it's hilarious.
Starting point is 00:33:38 Like, why does that matter? I love how they're trying to like drum up an alibi for Putin. It's totally. Yeah. And oh, there's another great line from Blinken, which is shocking. But anyway, although Putin is the only guy who might think about him, be like, maybe I get on horseback, take shirt off, fire it to myself. Totally.
Starting point is 00:33:58 Okay, I jump in it. Anyways, Anthony Blinken said, NATO has an open door policy and Russia has an open windows policy. So I'd be careful if I was prognosian. That is a good call. Yes, and he said that earlier and unfortunately he was proven right. Now to maybe the most relevant part of the story, which is yes, but how is the Wagner group going to respond?
Starting point is 00:34:21 So there's a couple of different possibilities here. So you've got not only progiosian, but a couple of his top lieutenants are dead now in that plane crash. So is there a strong leader still left in that mercenary group? Here's four possibilities. One, they just melt away because they're like, we're not putting ain't nothing to mess with. That would be ideal. Yeah. Number two is they just go, they decide screw it, let's go back into the Russian military, endure
Starting point is 00:34:47 damage there. Not ideal? Not ideal. They're the, again, don't have any sympathy for progosion. Zero. These guys were the worst of them. And just because he turned out Putin doesn't make him a good guy at all or anybody in the Wagner group. Three is they just go, screw all of this. Let's just go back to being mercenaries. Let's go
Starting point is 00:35:05 back to Africa and keep the robbery going and make tons of money and don't get involved in Ukraine, Russia, or anything else along those lines. The fourth possibility is the most interesting and dangerous one, which is, they're like, okay, well, now it's our turn. And a video was released today with masked men in saying they're in the Wagner group saying, expect us. So that might be next. Well, we'll see how it all plays out. But, you know, clearly Putin had held a grudge against progoshin. He considered it a massive betrayal.
Starting point is 00:35:45 So if, you know, the members of the Wagner group are directing their ire and potential violence toward Putin, definitely based on his behavior in the past and the statements he's put out in regard to prognorion. following the rebellion. One last thing. Yeah. As I read that statement from the, what remains of the Wagner group, which is, by the way, the great majority of them, they just lost three leaders, everyone else remains. So the army's still there.
Starting point is 00:36:15 We just don't know if they have a strong leader left and a smart leader left. But I thought, well, maybe that's why Progrosion was overconfident, because he had a backup plan and thought Putin's not going to do it. Because if he does it, we're going to counter strike in a way that puts him in actual danger. And so, but we don't know. We don't, I have no idea what the capabilities of the Wagner group is inside Russia. But I will say, if you think this is over and that they're not going, you're sure that they're not going to strike back, I think you're definitely wrong. There's certainly a percentage chance that they're going to strike back.
Starting point is 00:36:51 And then it's going to be an incredible mess inside Russia. When we come back from the break, we're going to switch gears and do a little more coverage than we've already done on the first GOP primary debate, which took place last night. Fox News is really trying hard to make Nikki Haley happen. It ain't going to happen if you ask me. I'll tell you why when we return. Two. Apparently we've got a theme in the music today. All right, Young Turks, Jenkins Anna, with you guys.
Starting point is 00:37:40 Also Jason, Jason Otani, just joined by hitting the join button below the video on YouTube, thereby making him an American hero. You can join them at t.com slash join. And Bruce Salazar gifted another five Young Turks membership. and Bruce is one of the all-time American heroes. We appreciate your brother. Casper, what's next? All right, the aftermath of the first Republican primary debate, which took place last night.
Starting point is 00:38:05 We should get into how the press has reacted to it, including who Fox News would like to prop up following that debate. Nikki Haley, who we did kind of an informal survey here in the studio, and I talked to some of my friends last night, and they said that they felt that she ran away with the show. I thought Nikki Haley just knocked it out of the park with the debt, blaming Republicans and Donald Trump for the debt. Wow, that was a surprising reaction from Ainsley. I thought she would want to defend Donald Trump. That's what she's certainly done in her career so far.
Starting point is 00:38:38 But nonetheless, clearly the fine folks over at Fox and Friends absolutely believe that Nikki Haley nailed it last night during the first GOP primary debate. Is she going to happen? I don't think she's going to happen. Watch the exact same debate and I don't know, Jank. I felt like she was very forgettable in that whole exchange interaction. So I forget if we predicted it at that end of the coverage or not or if I just tweeted about it a couple of times. But I was like, oh, I know who they're gonna say one, Nikki Haley.
Starting point is 00:39:10 Why? Because she was the most establishment candidate. She certainly was, yeah. They always love the most establishment candidate. And by the way, here we go again whenever it's, you know, the president is going to affect economic issues. massively. So all of a sudden, Fox News and MSNBC this morning saying, Nikki Haley, where to go, Nikki Haley? Let's go. Scarborough and Fox and Friends both agree. It should definitely be Nikki Haley. Why? Because she's the most corporate candidate there is.
Starting point is 00:39:39 And we watched it last night. And so she's out there screaming, more defense spending, more money to Israel, more money to all my donors. By the way, as she calls for more money in defense spending, you know, loosening up the purse strings when it comes to potentially her donors, just today she put out a statement about how she does not believe that people should be retiring at 65 because 65 is just too young to retire. Oh, yeah, 100%. By the way, Pence's policies are just as bad as Nikki Haley's on the economic issues. They're always talking about cutting social security, Medicare, making you work longer. They hate the average guy. That's why when it was so telling when Ducey's like, we pulled the studio here and everybody
Starting point is 00:40:26 in corporate media agreed. And then I asked my friends at the cocktail circuit and they all agreed, the rich are to love Nikki Haley. And we watch the debate and we don't like him at all, but we thought Vivek Ramoswamy probably won. So look, let's, we're going to hear from Republican voters and who they thought won, in just a bit. And honestly, like, who cares what we think, right? I mean, sure, we'll do our analysis. But at the end of the day, what matters is the perception or perspective of the actual Republican
Starting point is 00:40:55 voters who are going to make the decision in the primaries. But I do want to go to that MSNBC video that you were alluding to, Jank, because it's worth watching. Let's take a look. Some kind of debate last night. But Nikki Haley had a couple of moments. She really did. I think Nikki Haley had the best debate of the night in terms of the expectations game. That's often how debates are judged. She came in, she'd been having trouble disenfranchining herself. She was strong on foreign policy. She was somebody who bridged the foreign policy of the Republican Party.
Starting point is 00:41:25 And she went hard after a vague on experience. And it really left the line. She's got it. Mickey Haley had a great night. I think as he wrote this, I thought she stood out among the group. And I got to say corporate media and, you know, establishment Republican politicians are so thirsty, like so thirsty for an ordinary, bland, traditional conservative Republican, right?
Starting point is 00:41:56 The pre-Trump days, that's what they're looking for. Traditional corporate Republican. That's what they're desperate for, for sure. Look, guys, I say it on the show all the time. The hardest thing in the world is to escape your own perspective. So there's two reasons why all these anchors are all saying the same thing. And if you noticed in the videos we just showed you, that was Fox News, MSNBC and CNN. All the anchors and all the pundits agreed, Nikki Haley.
Starting point is 00:42:23 Because one is they have a financial incentive to have a corporate Democrat and a corporate Republican run against each other. They're all going to spend tons of money on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News. They're going to get that money from corporate donors. It's this corruption machine that feeds, most of all, corporate media, those cable channels, right? So they have a financial incentive to go in that direction. But more than that, on a personal level, it's just that they can't escape their own perspective. They think everybody thinks the status quo is great. We just want to get back to the status quo.
Starting point is 00:42:52 We just want to get back to the establishment being in charge. They don't think of it in those terms, but that's what their gut leads them to. That's why they all agree. It's group think, right? Meanwhile, we try to analyze the debate in terms of not what we want, but what do Republican voters like? Because this is the thing that drives me most crazy about pundits on television. They're always with no data, no facts, no nothing to back them up. They substitute their opinion for the opinion of the American people.
Starting point is 00:43:24 I see that happening a lot. And, you know, look, sometimes it's difficult to parse out the two and put your own personal preferences aside and put yourself in the mind of, of voters and what, you know, voters very likely are going to want. So what's really interesting is that CNN spoke to a group of Republican Iowa voters after the debate. Why don't we take a look at that video and see if the corporate presses predictions are at all aligned with the actual voters. Who do you think won the debate?
Starting point is 00:43:56 I'm gonna do it in alphabetical order, to be fair. Anyone think Doug Bergham did the best? That's zero. Chris Christie did the best. He certainly got most of the airtime. A lot of the air time, not most of the air time. How about Ron DeSantis? How many of you think Ron DeSantis are the best? That's two people. How about Nikki Haley? One, two, three, four people. Asa Hutchinson, Mike Pence, zero. The Vake Ramoswamy. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Tim Scott.
Starting point is 00:44:29 Okay, so this panel here thinks Ramoswami won the debate. Tell me why you think he won the debate. I was reminded of the time when Vivek was talking about the national identity situation. And I know Pence brought up that that wasn't really an issue,
Starting point is 00:44:44 but I think it was a generational problem because Vivek understands that young folks don't really understand that people, my age, don't really love America. And if you don't love it, you can't protect it. And I think if we fix that problem, then people will, as a natural byproduct, want to protect America and what it stands for. Look, I got to say, I've had a little bit of difficulty in expressing this on the show
Starting point is 00:45:08 because I don't want people to think I'm going in the direction of jingoism or, you know, the, like, annoying and oftentimes fake patriotism you see among some. But I think that that point that Vivek makes is a legitimate one about loving the country. I mean, look, understanding that this country has flaws and we should work to improve and we should always look to improve, right? But I do feel like there's this like growing disdain for the country that's not healthy and I'm worried about that. No, I'll go further.
Starting point is 00:45:41 I love America. I'm not shy about it. I'm not going to back away from that at all. I don't care what anybody says. And does that mean that I think America is flawless? Of course not. That's ridiculous. There's a thousand things to improve.
Starting point is 00:45:54 And part of the reason I love America is because we're supposed to improve them. And they've given us a pathway to improve them. We haven't in a long time, but I would love to. And my parents and my family came here because we love this country. Ideas, ideals. We didn't come because like, oh, we would love to be among white people or black people or whatever. We came for the idea of America. And the idea is land of opportunity, hope, and freedom, right?
Starting point is 00:46:22 So now you can say, oh, well, that's, well, first of all, if you're saying that sounds like Republican points, well, that's shame on the Democrats. No, freedom is not a Republican talking point. It's something we should all cherish, and we should hold the Republicans accountable when they don't actually mean it and go against that idea all the time. And equality of opportunity is not equality of opportunity for everyone who's already rich. It's equality of opportunity for all of us, for all of us. That's why America's awesome. And so did it have problems in its founding? Of course it did, guys.
Starting point is 00:46:56 Why do we live in these extremes or the right ones like, no, America's never done anything wrong and everything they did is great and don't teach the things that were bad, right? And then some on the left are like, no, we hate America. It's the worst. The only reason it was formed was to do slavery and everybody's evil. It said, come on, guys, come on. That's ridiculous.
Starting point is 00:47:14 So I'm sorry, I love your brothers, sisters, but that's ridiculous. So I've been reading, because I want to really fully understand critical race theory. I want to read the scholars and what the actual thesis is as opposed to the summaries of the thesis, the thesis. And so Derek Bell is one of the prominent scholars in critical race theory. And really the center of the thesis is that racism is permanent in America, right? That it is, there's no way to root it out. There's no way to progress. And I disagree with that.
Starting point is 00:48:07 No, of course it's wrong. Sorry. Look, I love that he's putting it forward and we're having discussions about it. And it's a graduate level class. And if you can't handle that in graduate school, then you shouldn't be in graduate school. It's not taught in any of the high schools or publicans are totally lying about it, let alone elementary or junior high. It's ridiculous, right?
Starting point is 00:48:26 To say that when it isn't true. But do I agree with him on that? No, I don't agree with him on that. And I mean, I have a thousand reasons why. But my personal experience shows that too. When my dad came to the country, it was so open and welcoming to a Muslim immigrant. And then later, as I grew up, unfortunately, it became more close to Muslim. immigrants. And then Trump famously said we should ban all Muslim immigrants until we figure
Starting point is 00:48:52 out what the hell is going on. So when I love America, it's not because, oh, I think it's great and it's wonderful that Trump said that. Of course not, right? But look at the difference in the different time periods. It goes to show you, no change is definitely possible. It can get better, it can get worse. And the culture is malleable. To say that it cannot change and it cannot change for the positive is a completely wrong in my opinion and be it's depressing it to your own side it says don't bother trying for change don't bother trying to make things better that's exactly right lose all hope and I don't agree I'm never going to agree to that okay so but back to Vivek and Pence and all these guys look Pence made the argument
Starting point is 00:49:36 when Vivek and Pence fought in the debate that everything is good now why because he's in in favor of the status quo. And Vivek said, no, the country's going in the wrong direction. And I knew Vivek was going to win that argument, because I've seen the polling. It doesn't take a rocket scientist. 65% of the country, not 65% of Republicans. 65% of the whole country says we're going in the wrong direction. And here's a bunch of corporate hacks that get out there and go, rah, rah, we're going in a great direction, right? No, that's silly. And they say that because they're in great shape. And their donors are in great shape. And the guys in the media, they're all, almost everyone you saw on screen there are multi-millionaires.
Starting point is 00:50:14 So they're like, what do you mean? Pence and Nikki Haleyer are so right, we're in great shape. Meanwhile, the Republican voters, we told you, we told you. You asked them and they go, no, country's not going in good shape, but we wanted to, and we believe in America. So Vivek hit them on both of those things. That's why we thought he was going to win. So I want to go to one other, so you watch that focus group, right? That's, I don't know, it was like a dozen people. Let's look at an actual poll and see how Republican voters felt after the primary debate.
Starting point is 00:50:44 This was actually shocking. So this is a poll done by the Washington Post, and they report that Ron DeSantis was the one that the likely Republican voters believe won that debate. I just find that super shocking. However, Vivek Ramoswamy is very close to him at 26%. And remember, Vivek Ramoswamy just weeks ago was being referred to as a long shock. candidate, you know, what is he really running for? Is he trying to get a cabinet position? Is he hoping that, you know, if Trump ends up going to prison and drops out of the race, that maybe he'll be the frontrunner. Who knows what the motivations are, but I'll say this,
Starting point is 00:51:24 regardless of what you feel about his policies, and there are many of his proposals that I think are goofy and ridiculous, including increasing the voting age to 25 years old and forcing people to take a civics test before being able to vote. Yeah, why don't you just do a poll tax while you're I mean, insane. I don't agree with any of that stuff, right? However, just judging by his performance on that stage, speaking of optics, right? He came out across a strong, confident, charismatic. That confidence really does go a long way. He did have some goofy moments, though, including the debate portion about Ukraine. And that was when Chris Christie and Nikki Haley almost like tag teamed in crushing him. Yeah. And he looked like a lost child briefly. That was the way.
Starting point is 00:52:08 moment in the debate for him. But even so, in the grand scheme of things, if you look at the entirety of the debate, I do think that he came out on top. So I have an explanation why the primary voters are a little bit different than the focus group that you just saw. Because primary voters are, A, much older than the average population, whereas the focus group you saw on television was mixed age and a lot of young people in there. And number two, the primary voters don't have nearly as much information. And they go so much more on name recognition. And DeSantis has much larger name recognition and has had a lot of positive publicity.
Starting point is 00:52:45 And Vivek is so young, so there's a lot of reasons why DeSantis beat him a little bit with the primary voters. But you see how strong a guy who no one had ever heard of a couple of months ago came in because he actually had a debate strategy to appeal to Republican voters instead of television pundits. And I'm gonna say one more thing. Nikki Haley did better than I expected among those primary voters in that poll. She didn't do that great, but better than I expected. So, you know, so they're seeing something positive there.
Starting point is 00:53:16 So give her credit for that. And Chris Christie's still not doing well, but I'm not, no, I'm telling you, let's see what happens. But I'm still saying that Chris Christie is going to be one of the last ones left because Republican voters respect strength. Let's see what happens. And by the way, in regard to that Washington Post poll, they polled. the voters both before and after the debate. So the numbers that I shared with you were their responses after the debate. But in regard to the poll that happened prior to the debate, here's what they found. Haley showed the most improvement when it came to the share of Republicans
Starting point is 00:53:52 who say they would consider voting for her. Pre-debate, 29% of GOP primary voters who watched the debate said they were considering voting for her. And that increased to 46% after the debate. Okay, so then I look, by the way, that means the answer somewhere between us and cable news because they thought, you know, she nailed it. We thought she was just mediocre, but the Republican primary voters thought pretty good. Vivek was better according to them. We were right about that. And by the way, everyone on cable news thought Vivek did terrible.
Starting point is 00:54:23 So they were 100% wrong about that. They're like, he didn't even want to support more defense spending. What a child. They don't really seem to like him. No, they hate him. Yeah, it's pretty obvious to me. That's what I've been saying all along. That's going to help him, by the way.
Starting point is 00:54:37 Of course it's going to help him. If you're a Republican candidate, you want the press to hate you. If you're a Democratic candidate, you don't want that. Because unfortunately, way too many Democratic primary voters still listen to the jackasses on MSNBC and CNN. But for Republicans, that's a badge of honor, right? And the reason or the cable guys don't like him is because he's an outsider. They despise all outsiders. All right, we got to take a break.
Starting point is 00:55:03 when we come back an update on Trump's bond situation and we'll also talk a little bit about how Chris Christie did not take kindly to Ramoswami referring to the other politicians including Chris Christie himself as being bought and paid for
Starting point is 00:55:17 so I can't wait to talk about that and give you the details come right back 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,
Starting point is 00:55:39 Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.

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