What A Day - Georgia Grand Jury On My Mind

Episode Date: August 16, 2022

More allies of former President Donald Trump will have to appear before a special grand jury in Georgia in the coming weeks, as part of the criminal investigation over possible attempts to interfere in the 2020 election. Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal attorney, is now a target of that probe.And as millions of people across the country face the effects of extreme weather, a new poll finds that fewer Americans are concerned about how climate change will impact them personally.And in headlines: the U.K. became the first country to approve an updated Covid vaccine that targets the Omicron variant, Brittney Griner’s lawyers appealed her conviction for drug possession, and a second attempt to recall L.A.'s progressive district attorney has failed.Show Notes:Vote Save America: Fuck Bans Action Plan – https://votesaveamerica.com/roe/Crooked Coffee is officially here. Our first blend, What A Morning, is available in medium and dark roasts. Wake up with your own bag at crooked.com/coffeeFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/whataday/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It is Tuesday, August 16th. I'm Josie Duffy Rice. And I'm Priyanka Arabindi, and this is What A Day, the podcast that's currently fighting off a stomach bug it got from eating Dr. Oz's wife's crudite. Yeah. To be clear, we're not blaming her. It was Dr. Oz who bought all the wettest, limpest vegetables that they had at the grocery store. Yeah, it might also be our fault for going to a party hosted by Dr. Oz. True, never again. On today's show, the effort to recall LA's progressive district attorney has failed.

Very exciting news. Plus, Kenya has declared a new president, but not without some disputes. But first, we don't want you to forget all of Trump's many legal problems. There is some news about the case against him in Georgia. But before that, let's do a quick update on the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. Yesterday, the Justice Department asked a judge to ensure that some details about last week's search remain sealed.

In particular, the DOJ requested that the sworn affidavit that apparently served as the basis for the search not be made public. Okay. Yeah. These affidavits, usually they give more insight into why the cops would find it necessary to execute a search such as this one. Right. And that's why news outlets and others want to know what's in that thing. But in their request to keep it sealed, the DOJ stated that if it were unsealed, it would, quote, have devastating consequences for the reputations and rights of individuals whose actions and statements are described. Okay, bold statement. I don't really feel like they are normally making bold statements.

So sounds pretty intense. If the attorney general is saying that this is going to have devastating consequences for your reputation and rights, that's not good. Yikes. So, Josie, let's get back to that Georgia stuff. You live there exactly where it's happening. Can you give us a refresher and kind of tell us what is happening with that as of now? Yes. So, Priyanka, as you may remember, in 2020, Trump famously rang up our Republican Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger.

Famously. Famously. And asked him to, and I quote, find 11,780 votes. Yeah, as one does. As one does. Just that many. No reason for that number. There was a recording of it and everything.

Also not a great call. And it turns out that when you're the president and you ask the Secretary of State to just find some votes, that's frowned upon. Interestingly enough, he did some other things too that like didn't get as much attention, including calling Republican Governor Brian Kemp and other state lawmakers. He reached out to Georgia's Attorney General, Chris Carr, quote, warning him not to rally other Republicans to oppose a lawsuit that Trump's allies had filed with the Supreme Court, seeking to toss millions of votes from Georgia and other states. And then, remember, his campaign also tried to, like, coordinate this takeover of Georgia electors, even though they knew,

as the Washington Post has said, that, quote, this scheme was baseless and probably illegal. Cool. So they're up to a lot. They're up to a lot. Busy. Really just came into Georgia like a whirlwind. So here in Georgia, a local prosecutor in Fulton County, which is where Atlanta is, so this is my local prosecutor, Fannie Willis, decided to investigate whether or not Trump's attempt to overturn Georgia's election results violated the law.

And now a grand jury is convening over the next few weeks to help decide what happens next. Cool. Okay. Feels like we know the answer to that question help decide what happens next. Cool. Okay. Feels like we know the answer to that question, but fine. We will let it happen. Anyways, you know, this is wild for a few reasons. First of all, the president trying to overturn an election. Right. Not normal. Not okay. Right. Not acceptable. Right. But also, it is, seems quite unusual for a local DA to be investigating a case like this. It is super, super unusual. Yeah, local DAs usually investigate local cases, right? They're

not usually like taking on the President of the United States. The President. Yeah. Now, Raffensperger and Attorney General Carr could have opened up their own investigations against Trump after he blatantly tried to violate not just the law, but the fundamental tenets of our democracy. Right. But they chose not to do that because while they are not like necessarily willing to commit treason when called on the phone, they are still huge fans of Trump.

These are Trump's people. They may not be getting along because of this, but on every other way, their politics align. And so like, these are not the people who are going to go after him. Sure. But if you're not anti-treason like actively like i don't really know if we need to be giving you a credit right right yeah totally yeah and like what i try to keep in mind here because as you know every time i read this stuff i like have a small moment of panic of being on the side of law enforcement

but like these we're talking about the highest ranking member of the state. It's not like a private citizen doing something crazy. Like he was the president and he was calling the Georgia Secretary of State, like trying to ask him to find votes. It's just so bananas. Absurd. Okay. So back in May, DA Fannie Willis's office put together this grand jury. So now what's happening?

Okay. Ellis's office put together this grand jury. So now what's happening? Okay, so she subpoenaed a lot of people, including Attorney General Carr, the Secretary of State, other members of the Trump funhouse circus, whatever. Traveling band of God knows what. Right, right. Including Jenna Ellis, remember her, Rudy Giuliani, and Senator Lindsey Graham. Senator Graham tried to get out of testifying but was unsuccessful after a judge ruled against him yesterday. He claims that he was told that he is a witness and not a target.

However, Rudy Giuliani, on the other hand, America's grandfather, America's senile, racist grandfather, has been identified as a target in the investigation, which means he could be facing indictment at some point. And that news came from his lawyer speaking to reporters. He is supposed to testify tomorrow, but don't expect any big revelations. His lawyer said, quote, if these people think he's going to talk about conversations between him and President Trump, they're delusional. Now, I'm never standing up for Rudy Giuliani. However, this is a good lawyer. The first person here with a good lawyer.

Because if you're representing Rudy Giuliani, you should never let him speak. Never let him speak to authorities. Are you kidding me? If he were my client, I'd have to lock him in a room. Also, it's worth mentioning that this is a special grand jury, which means that the grand jury itself is not going to decide whether or not to indict the former president. They're going to basically make a recommendation.

They're going to give Fannie Wells a report and tell her whether or not they think that she should press charges, and then she'll decide. Okay. My big takeaway from this is that somebody is finally taking your legal advice and shutting their mouth. Thank you. Congratulations to you. Thank you. You've been doling out free advice on this show. I have.

I have been doling out free advice, even though I'm not barred, so I wouldn't take my advice. But it is true. Don't talk to the cops. You know, it was good advice. Don't ever talk to the cops. I don't care what they say. Also, Priyanka, it is worth noting that Fannie Willis, the DA, is currently being hailed as a hero. And it's, like, giving me stress flashbacks to the other prosecutors.

Big Robert Mueller vibes. Yeah, big Robert Mueller vibes, big pre-Barara vibes, you know, like the couple of prosecutors who did the right thing and went after Trump, like Trump is so bad that he makes anyone going after him look good. And we tend to like overlook all the other bad things they do. So while I agree with this particular investigation, I must say that I have been super critical of Fannie Willis as DA in the past and probably will continue to be. However, she is correct here. Also, one more thing we must talk about is Trump's lawyer.

Yeah. Okay. I've been hearing about this. Please. Okay. Please tell us what is going on. Are you ready? Because it is extremely great.

This case is happening in Atlanta, and it is playing out the most Atlanta possible way with Trump hiring a lawyer, Drew Finling, otherwise known by the hashtag billion dollar lawyer. All one word. Love that. Love that for us. All one word. Correct. He has represented a number of clients, including Cardi B, Gucci Mane, Migos, Waka Flocka,

and many others. Sure. Offset called him the biggest lawyer in the game. He's also defending Young Thug in this current conspiracy case also in front of Fannie Willis and this guy seems booked and busy he's booked and busy and according to an old profile of him in the New York Times which I

love, 2 Chainz once said to his wife see that guy right there honey we don't ever want to be in his office so Trump should have listened to 2 Chainz and maybe things would be different his office so Trump should have listened to two chains and maybe things are different right now probably should have taken that advice um you know it seems like a very specific clientele a very specific industry that he's working in I don't really think Donald Trump fits in there I don't really think that any of these clients want to be

in the company of Donald Trump but right I don't know right we'll see how this works out for him there are some also great quotes in that article of his previous tweets he sent about Trump being racist and awful. So it's just so many levels, so many levels. I love it. Good. Love that. People will do anything for a paycheck. Yes.

But now I do want to turn our attention to some climate trouble that we are facing across the country. On yesterday's show, we told you about climate change doubling the risk of a mega flood in California within the next four decades. I don't know if you remember. Yeah, before yesterday, I'd actually never heard the term mega flood. And now, yeah, now you've heard it multiple times. So that's upsetting. Yeah, no, it is very terrifying. We wanted to give a few more details just to refresh everybody's memory. So this news came courtesy of a UCLA study that was released last week. In it, they talk about rising temperatures and how they allow the atmosphere to absorb and store more moisture, which can result

in really dry, arid conditions on the ground, kind of similar to what California is dealing with now. Or on the other hand, a massive release of water from the sky that they are calling an atmospheric river, which would be this terrifying, long-lasting mega flood. Can we just go back to that phrase, atmospheric river? Yeah. Doesn't seem like it would be great either. No.

It seems like the sky just opens and there is water for days and days and weeks and weeks on end. Right, right. They also estimated that this kind of event could displace up to 10 million people, could destroy interstates, submerge areas, including parts of L.A. It would be the biggest natural disaster in the history of the modern world in terms of scope and cost of damage done. Yeah, it would be completely catastrophic, difficult to wrap your head around even. But they're talking about this happening towards the end of the century. Maybe that seems a little less tangible to some of you who may not be around to see that.

But, you know, some people living today certainly will be. Some of your kids will be. Like, this is not a thing that we should be like, okay, whatever. Doesn't matter. Not our problem. In 40 years, my kids will be like 40. Right. I feel like we always used to think of this as 500 years away, 300 years

away, 200 years away, and it's around the corner. Yeah. Yeah. And this far off flood isn't the only one we're facing. You know, right now, as we speak, 7 million people around the country are currently under flood watches in the Southwest where storms hit over this past weekend. Two people died last week in flooding that swept through Las Vegas. And this is all thanks to the wettest monsoon season to hit the region in a decade. Two people died in a flood in Las Vegas, which, by the way, is in the desert. Yeah. That's wild. And the Southwest isn't the only place in the country experiencing this either.

Is that right? Right. Over in West Virginia, flash flooding yesterday in the early morning resulted in dozens of water rescues, destroyed at least two bridges, at least 100 homes. Thousands of people there still don't have power. And to top things off, heat advisories are in effect across the South, and the West Coast will be in the grip of another brutal heat wave this week. West Virginia, who's the senator there again? His name. His name is just escaping me. It's escaping me. But I guess I can't be too hard on him because he did vote for the climate change legislation.

He gave us one good vote. Thank you. So as all of these catastrophic events, future and present, are being reported, has there been any change in people's perspective on climate change? Like how they're approaching it, how they feel about it personally, any of that? Yeah, you know what? People's attitudes and opinions about climate change have changed over the past three years, but perhaps not in the direction that you and I may have anticipated. Oh, no. No, yeah, that is exactly the right reaction.

So according to new polling from the AP, in the past three years, Americans have actually become less concerned with how climate change might impact them and how their personal choices may impact the climate. People still think that corporations and governments have a responsibility to address this. They definitely do. But overall, fewer U.S. adults say that they are very or extremely concerned about the impact of climate change on them directly. Obviously, there are a bunch of different things that we are dealing with now that we weren't three years ago. We have rampant inflation, the effects of the pandemic. There was a war abroad, and we had a huge reckoning in this country about race and injustice right here at home.

But if anything, you know, climate change and its effects are an even bigger threat to all of us. So, I mean, I'm not trying to say we should live in a constant state of anxiety and be worried about this day in and day out, but we shouldn't tune out of it and think that it's not here and not affecting us because it is. It's here right now and it's having real effects right now and we'll have catastrophic ones somewhat shortly within our lifetimes. Yeah. And I feel like it's also important to remember that like no matter what, there will be like climate change effects, but it can also get a lot worse or even better than we expect if we do something about it.

I feel like people have given up because it sort of seems like it's too late. And it's not too late to change something. A lot of things. Thank you. I appreciate that because I do feel like we, even on the show, talk about, you know, like so much that has already happened. So many catastrophes that seem like they can't be avoided. But there are steps that we can take. And President Joe Biden will sign the Inflation Reduction Act into law today. That bill, as we told you last week, will put hundreds of billions of dollars towards the fight against climate change.

It might not be perfect, but it's definitely a start. That's great news. That's some good news to end this segment. It really is. For the first time, possibly ever, we have ended on a high note. Yeah's some good news to end this segment. It really is. For the first time, possibly ever, we have ended on a high note. Yeah, we're ending on a high note. We'll keep you updated as we know more, but that is the latest for now. Let's get to some headlines. Headlines. The United Kingdom achieved virology overachiever status on Monday,

becoming the first country to approve an updated COVID vaccine that is said to protect people against both the original virus and the Omicron variant. This new Moderna-made vaccine is still in clinical trials, but the British government agency that greenlights vaccines said that the shots could be ready in booster form as early as the fall. Yesterday, WNBA star Brittany Greiner's lawyers appealed her conviction for drug possession. Earlier this month, she was sentenced to nine years in Russian prison. After being sentenced, Greiner's lawyers called her conviction excessive and pointed out that

similar cases received shorter sentences, sometimes for about five years in prison, with roughly a third of those people making parole. Meanwhile, the U.S. government is still talking to Russia about possibly swapping a convicted Russian national who is in U.S. custody in exchange for Greiner's release. Kenya's next president will be William Ruto after he won a tight and contentious race against former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. But Monday's victory came after a week-long ballot counting process, several officials injured, and protests around the country. Minutes before Ruto's win was announced yesterday, four of the seven election commissioners said that they couldn't endorse the final result, although they didn't give details why. And then tensions erupted at the ballot tallying center. Scuffles broke out, a lectern was thrown from the stage, and two election commissioners

who stayed behind were injured. Raila Odinga's campaign has seven days to file a court challenge to the results, and it probably will. Some of his team members alleged that the counting was rife with irregularities and mismanagement. But whoever takes the presidency will have a lot on their plate, from widespread corruption to rising food and fuel prices. There's more evidence against the argument that California voters have moved on from criminal justice reform. In Los Angeles, a well-funded recall attempt against progressive district attorney George Gascogne failed to gain enough signatures and will not move forward. This was the second recall attempt made against Gascon since he took office in 2020,

and it seemed poised to gain momentum after the successful recall of his progressive peer, Chesa Boudin, in San Francisco. Like Boudin, Gascon has opposed prosecuting children as adults, because they're children, see how that works, as well as so-called sentencing enhancements that lead to harsher penalties. Also like Boudin, he's been relentlessly criticized by the county sheriff. We mentioned him the other day. He's the one that's running a department that has 18 different gangs in it.

He was also criticized by big business leaders since he took office and blamed for rising crime, even though crime trends in LA mirror those in California cities with more tough on crime prosecutors. Responding to the recall efforts failure, a Gascon spokesperson said, quote, the DA's primary focus is and has always been keeping us safe and creating a more equitable justice system for all. Today's announcement does not change that. I got to say, if the sheriff of LA wants you gone you are doing something right yeah definitely like that's not a question absolutely tough day for all the celebrities posting uh about the recall effort trying to get him recalled i know

stories i know i'm gonna have to go and do some flame emojis do some sad face emojis the sarcastic kind you know yes they were very invested i don't know about anybody else. But anyways, everyone deserves a second chance, supposedly, which is why investors have given former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann a billion dollars to start another company that charges people for space in buildings. This time, Neumann is thinking residential. His new company, Flow, aims to disrupt the rental market by creating a branded product with recognizable service and community features. It sure sounds like WeWork, but with more beds and showers.

So you'd think there'd be more skepticism. As we all know from the numerous podcasts, articles, TV shows, and documentaries, WeWork imploded in grand fashion in 2019 in the lead up to its attempted IPO, doing no small part to Newman's God complex and his slippery relationship with the truth. Flo isn't the only startup keeping Newman busy.

He also launched a company called Flo Carbon this year in the famously scam-free cryptocurrency industry. I gotta say, this guy's really bold. A lot of self-confidence to get back in the game. A lot of self-confidence to get back in the game self-confidence to get back in a game that's an idea kind of we worky he did it but it's also it's more on these people who are like sure let's give this guy some money right why not what's the worst that could happen i mean we've already seen it it's on several tv shows but you actually know what the worst that could happen is

right yeah literally i turn on hulu it's fine imagine if we just blew like a gazillion trillion dollars i don't feel like people would be paying me to run flow carbon but you know who knows Turn on Hulu. It's fine. Imagine if we just blew like a gazillion trillion dollars. I don't feel like people would be paying me to run flow carbon, but you know, who knows? Could be fun. We're available. We're available. Give us some money. We are sure to blow it.

Venmo. I'm around. And those are the headlines. We will be back after some ads with a new and disturbing definition of the acronym BDE. Really wish we weren't, but we are. If we have to hear it, so do you. So do you. It's Tuesday, Wild Squad, and today we're doing a segment called Bad Sound. Take a listen to today's clip.

I'll tell you what he's got. I don't know if you heard of this, but he's got BDE. Anybody know what that means? Ask your kids about it later. No, don't. I call it Big DeSantis Energy. Right? This is physically painful to listen to.

He's got the same kind of BDE that President Trump has. Oh, no. Ew. And frankly, he has the same kind of BDE that we want all of our elected leaders to have. What is going on? This is disgusting. That was, of course, Trump-endorsed candidate for Arizona Governor Carrie Lake. She coined the delightful term Big DeSantis Energy while talking— It's not delightful.

It's not delightful. Who wrote that? While talking about the Florida governor this weekend at a rally in Phoenix, Lake is a former newscaster whose campaign website now describes the media as the, quote, enemy of the people. Cool. Great democracy she's supporting there. Priyanka, what are your thoughts on this clip? I mean, that clip was extremely disturbing, disgusting. I don't like any of it. That feels like should bar you from running for public office and also like being within 100 feet of a school. Like I'm terrified of this woman. Honestly, that was such a dark moment in all of our lives.

And, you know, I just feel like I don't really need to think about the BDE energy of any politician, especially not those two. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. That was bad sound. Objectively bad sound. Really bad sound. The worst sound.

Two more things before we go. Do you have any questions about monkeypox that you'd like a doctor to answer? We'll be talking to one soon who is specifically dedicated to health among LGBTQ people. So send us a voice recording or a written question and email it to us at wad at crooked.com. You might even hear your voice on our show. And also Crooked Media has partnered with comfortable, sustainable shoe brand Kiriyuma

to create two awesome pairs of shoes that listeners of What A Day will love. One design features an all over I voted print, and one is a sleek white pair that says No Steps Back on the side. You can order your pairs today in the Crooked store, and as always, a portion of the proceeds from these shoes and any item you buy at the Crooked store goes to VoteRiders, the leading organization focused on voter ID. Check out both designs and claim your pair at crooked.com slash kicks. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, retire the term BDE because it's been ruined by the right. Ruined. And tell your friends to listen.

It's also like years old. It's several years old. It's several years old. And if you're into reading and not just large checks sent to Adam Neumann like me, what a day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Priyanka Arabindi. I'm Josie Duffy Rice. And beware of bad crudite. I'm sorry, if Dr. Oz is offering you anything, go far away. Truly.

And Pennsylvania has like a ton of food that they're like actually known for. But I guess last time he tried that, the cheesesteaks restaurant told him to. Didn't go that well. Yeah, so he's just doing what he can. He only has broccoli on his side. He only has fruit a day. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance,

Jazzy Marine and Raven Yamamoto are our associate producers. Our head writer is John Milstein and our executive producer is Leo Duran. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.