What A Day - Confessions Of A Dangerous Bolton

Episode Date: January 7, 2020

Former White House National Security Advisor John Bolton said that if he’s subpoenaed by the Senate, he’d be willing to give up the goods. We discuss the GOP reaction and what else is new in Trump’s impeachment.  Film producer and accused rapist Harvey Weinstein went to trial in New York yesterday. At the same time, he was indicted for similar crimes in Los Angeles. Things are not looking good for Harvey. And in headlines: memories of Pier 1 Imports, Judge Judy gavels for Bloomberg, and helping out in Australia with the power of nudes.

It's Tuesday, January 7th. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick, and this is What A Day, your top source for hard facts until the Goop Lab comes out on Netflix. Who is fact-checking this lab? Like, who is funding these experiments? Gwyneth, if you're listening, let us know. On today's show, the return of impeachment and Harvey Weinstein made it to 2020 somehow. And then some headlines. On Monday's show, we joked about remembering impeachment and some kind of supernatural specter must have heard us because there's more impeachment news always. So yesterday, former National Security Advisor John Bolton said that he would be

prepared to testify in a Senate trial if a subpoena was issued. It's a big old if. We'll get to that in a moment. But first, Gideon, can you remind everyone who John Bolton is? And aside from just being the guy with the big mustache, why his testimony has been such a hot topic for impeachment so far? Yeah, absolutely. The man with the large upper lip. It's really big. Bolton has been sort of the ultimate white whale for Democrats in the whole impeachment process. Obviously, he didn't testify in the House proceedings like they had wanted him to. And he would be the most high ranking and closest advisor to Trump to testify about what the president was thinking when he was withholding aid from Ukraine while demanding the announcement of an investigation into the Bidens. All of his

aides had testified before, and he was the other person that was sort of privy to all of this, we assume. And while we don't really know what Bolton would say, obviously, his aides told House investigators that he was pretty concerned about how Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, were pressuring the Ukrainians to investigate Democrats. Now, our wadheads out there might remember when we were talking about Bolton allegedly saying that Giuliani was a, quote, hand grenade who was going to blow everybody up. All right, that's all fine and good. But I mean, I just want to say we have not agreed on wadheads. So I'd like to be removed from that narrative anyway. So John Bolton says he's willing to testify now if he's

subpoenaed. Again, that if is doing a lot of work. So is he even going to get subpoenaed by a Republican Senate? Or is it just him being, you know, oh, it's very convenient to play virtuous right now, since there's no chance he's actually gonna have to follow through? Yeah, it definitely could be the latter for sure. What we know right now is that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that senators should wait to figure out if any witnesses should appear after they hear opening statements from House impeachment managers and Trump's lawyers. Obviously, he and other Republican senators are thinking it would be easiest if we just get this done and acquit the guy as soon as possible. But meanwhile, it is a little bit out of McConnell's hands directly to influence

all of this for one pretty important reason. You only need 51 senators to call a witness or request new evidence. Now, if we do some back of the napkin math here, there are only 47 Democratic senators. So in theory, all you'd have to do is to get four Republicans to be like, hey, we would in fact like to hear from that guy. Yeah, we too would like to know the truth. Right. Not a total lost cause, but it is Republicans that we are talking about after all. Yeah, it'd be your own Republicans. Right. And here's Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer talking about this very issue on the Senate floor. As my colleagues return from the holiday recess, one question looms before us. Will the United States Senate conduct a fair impeachment trial of the president of the United

States? Will we search for all of the facts or will we look for a cover up, a sham trial on one of the most important powers the founding fathers gave the American people? Wow. What are Republicans actually saying about John Bolton's announcement, though? Are there any surprises from GOP members? Is there hope? I mean, kind of not really. Well, I don't want to say there's no hope.

There's a little bit of hope, maybe. Two separate questions, the second one very loaded. There were a lot of different kinds of responses to this. Senator Marco Rubio saying, you know, he's not interested. Basically, the McConnell stance that the Senate should just consider what the House was able to consider when the House made their judgment to vote to impeach Trump, which, like we said, did not include the Bolton testimony or, you know, planned Bolton testimony. In addition to Rubio, there was a sort of confusing statement from Senator John Cornyn. Well, I think it's entirely likely that his testimony would be

helpful to the president, because it would identify basically a foreign policy dispute, which is reserved to the president under the Constitution, his really his sole authority, as a basis for impeachment for this now the third time in American history. So he could it could well be beneficial. Well, you'd think if he thought that it was beneficial, he'd be like, OK, then, you know, I would vote to subpoena. He did not answer that question directly, of course. Cornyn, come on. And then, of course, there's Senator Mitt Romney, who said that he would want Bolton to testify, but didn't endorse what the Democrats actually want,

which is for that testimony to start at the beginning of the trial. Yeah, and that idea is basically that, you know, Democrats want to hear before we get into an actual trial from John Bolton so we have the facts going into it instead of, you know, the Republican idea, which is let's not hear from anybody. Let's start the trial. Let's hear Donald Trump's argument and be like, great, right. He's close. We're not really going to

subpoena him. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, a lot of them have already started at the point of, you know, being ready to acquit, which is an interesting way to pursue a trial. But, you know, in addition to that, the other sort of weather vane senators that people often look out for, Senator Susan Collins and Senator Lisa Murkowski, are so far also saying that they're sort of close with McConnell on how they view all of this. Yeah. So an array of reactions from we shouldn't subpoena Bolton to Bolton's testimony will be beneficial to Trump. So big picture, what's actually coming next? Yeah. So where we last left off was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hadn't sent over the articles

of impeachment to the Senate playing a big game of keep away because she wanted assurances over a fair trial like we've been talking about, meaning the opportunity to call witnesses, introduce new evidence as it as it comes up republicans have said that they want to hear the opening arguments and the president's defense before they even consider allowing more evidence and more information into this whole thing and overarching above all of that over the last couple of days has been this little old story with a place called iran and what that has done um has made republicans and democrats talk past each other know, on that and how that's sort of interacting with impeachment. Republicans have said things like Trump can't possibly be removed while working on national security issues that he created himself.

Yeah. And some Democrats have been saying that the two things can be focused on separately. So trying to, you know, run those two tracks at the same time. And then you have some Democrats also arguing that Trump's strike to kill General Soleimani is in and of itself grounds for removing him. Congressman Ro Khanna was one of the people who mentioned that. We spoke with him on Monday's show about Iran, if you want to go check that out. Yeah. Not to mention how this is all intersecting with the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates who might have double duty in the Senate trial. And, you know, that whole running for president thing, like how are you going to split your time? Yeah. Booking flights very late, not knowing where you're going to land.

There is a debate scheduled for next week. After all, yes, another one. And three out of the five people who have qualified so far are senators. So, you know, a little bit of scheduling craziness going on over there. Now, we might get more clarity on this later today when the House of Representatives return to work. But for now, there are no signs that Pelosi is going to say what she's planning to do right away. We'll obviously let you know when we know. Quick heads up. Our next story may be hard for some listeners to hear.

We will be detailing several ongoing sexual violence trials involving Harvey Weinstein. If it's too early or you want to skip it, no big deal. Fast forward three minutes for a word from our sponsor and then some headlines. In chickens coming home to roost news, disgraced Hollywood producer and accused rapist Harvey Weinstein is now on trial in New York City for sexual assault. At the same time that that criminal trial got underway on Monday, Weinstein was indicted in Los Angeles for raping one woman and sexually assaulting another over a two day period in 2013. We've covered the civil suits against Weinstein on the show before. And these are the first criminal cases to go to trial.

Right. In L.A., prosecutors filed four charges, one of each of the following. Forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by use of force and sexual battery by restraint. Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey held a press conference explaining the charges. We believe the evidence will show that the defendant used his power and influence to gain access to his victims and then committed violent crimes against them. Lacey explained that it is possible additional charges will be brought against Weinstein, and she went on to applaud the survivors for telling their stories. We cannot comment further on this case at this time. However, I want to commend the victims who have come forward and bravely recounted what happened to them. In New York, Weinstein faces five felony charges based on the claims of two women, one of whom remains anonymous.

Prosecutors have confirmed that they plan to call more accusers to the stand to establish a pattern of predatory behavior, including The Sopranos actor Annabella Sciorra, who accused Weinstein of raping her in 1993. To date, more than 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual battery and assault. He is a genuine monster. Yeah. The pattern of behavior thing is interesting just because, you know, if you have two coasts worth of, you know, crimes that you've been accused of, I think that that's a pretty clear pattern. Shouldn't be too hard to prove. Anyway, the timing of this new announcement is purely coincidental. And L.A. officials expect to begin their proceedings following the wrap of the trial in Manhattan.

And today, jury selection in the New York case is scheduled to begin. Back in Los Angeles, prosecutors are recommending bail be set at $5 million. If Weinstein is convicted in the L.A. case, he faces up to 28 years in state prison. In the New York case, he faces up to life in prison if convicted on the most serious charge. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to the charges, denying that any non-consensual sex occurred. So there's going to be more news to come in what is the most high-profile MeToo movement case to date. And now for some ads. Let's wrap up with some headlines. The Deadlines. Confusion following the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani continued on Monday.

A letter to Iraqi officials released yesterday afternoon said that U.S. forces would withdraw from Iraq after the country's parliament voted to expel them. Shortly thereafter, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, said that the letter was merely a draft, poorly worded, and that the U.S. has not made any decision to leave Iraq. Seems like these guys are doing a really great job handling a multinational conflict of their own making. The U.S. currently has roughly 50,000 troops in the Persian Gulf region, and the Pentagon has now directed an additional 4,500 troops there to reinforce U.S. outposts, bases, and airfields. What other drafts are floating around? Yeah, don't publish them. Some big presidential endorsements yesterday. Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro released a video endorsing Senator Elizabeth Warren, saying that they share the same

vision of bold, progressive change. Now, somewhat less notably, depending on who you ask, Desperate Housewives star Terry Hatcher endorsed Andrew Yang via Instagram post. And the reigning queen of daytime TV, America's number one no-nonsense grandma, the big bad bowl cut of justice, Judge Judy Shineland has endorsed former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. She'll join him on the campaign trail in Texas this weekend and has already talked him up on The View. We'll see if that's enough for the American people to find him guilty of being our next president. I just want to say it's not a bull cut. She just has those 80s bangs and that like, you know, older lady haircut. That's all that is. That's not a bull cut. Whatever it is, the judge looks great. Okay, well, influencer Kaylin Ward has raised an estimated $1 million towards relief efforts for the wildfires in Australia

by offering to send nudes to anyone who can prove they donated $10 to the cause. Hell yeah. More proof that not all heroes wear capes or clothes. Ward is now going by the naked philanthropist and says she had to hire four people just to verify donations and to help send out the goods. It's a great reminder that we can all pitch in, whether it's with our time, our money, or our big, beautiful asses. God bless you, Kalen. Big, beautiful asses on the way to work. I hope you enjoy it.

Furniture heads are going to hate this next story. Reports indicate that Pier 1 Imports will close up to 450 of its 936 stores and lay off an unspecified number of employees. The store where I personally learned what potpourri was could be headed for bankruptcy and has drafted a plan for how they'd do it. Filing for Chapter 11 would put them in good company with a bunch of other brick-and-mortar stores that did it just last year, including Forever 21, Barney's New York, and Payless Shoe Stores. Yeah, we love our modern, hassle-free online shopping experience, but we would definitely miss Pier 1, or as I once called it, the very boring place where I would go with my mom. Here's hoping that they can find a way out. And those are the headlines.

That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review. Please return our camping tent that we lent to you months ago and tell your friends to listen. By the way, if you're into reading and not just nutritional facts on tropical gushers like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick.

And that's how you save the world one butt cheek at a time. Double cheeked up on a Tuesday. Make it clap. What a day is a product of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tun is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein and our senior producer is Katie Long.

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