What A Day - Here's The Deal With Hunter Biden

Episode Date: July 27, 2023

A federal judge has delayed approval for Hunter Biden’s plea deal with the Justice Department over tax and gun charges. The agreement the president’s son reached with prosecutors unexpectedly fell apart Wednesday, after the judge raised concerns about some of its conditions.Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani admitted in court documents that he made ‘false’ and defamatory statements about two former Georgia election workers. The pair have sued him for defamation, after he claimed they tampered with ballots during the 2020 presidential election count.And in headlines: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell insists he’s ‘fine’ after he abruptly froze during a news conference on Capitol Hill, Congress held a rare bipartisan hearing on UFOs, and the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to a 22-year high.Show Notes:What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastCrooked 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/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Thursday, July 27th. I'm Priyanka Arabindi. And I'm Juanita Tolliver and this is What A Day, where we salute the agents of chaos behind Love Island USA for bringing Ariana Maddox to the villa. Yeah, I cannot think of anything better than appearing on the very show that your cheating ex refused to watch with you because the show invites you on. That was a major red flag that he wouldn't watch with her because this is my definition of quality time. On today's show, there are new questions about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's health after an alarming moment on Capitol Hill. Plus, the ocean water in South Florida may have set a new temperature record. But first, a U.S. district judge has delayed approval for Hunter Biden's plea deal with the Justice Department over tax and gun charges.

But it's not for the reason congressional Republicans had hoped for when they filed a last-minute amicus brief earlier this week. Instead, the agreement fell apart after prosecutors and the defense team couldn't agree to the implications of the previously set plea deal. And after the judge raised concerns about the diversion program associated with the gun charges, there was even a dramatic moment when one of the defense attorneys was overheard saying, then we'll rip it up, referring to the plea deal as the disagreement came to a head. Wow. Okay. Dramatic here. What specific concerns did the judge have?

So last month, Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax offenses and one felony firearms charge for behavior that stemmed from a point in his life when he was struggling with addiction issues. Both legal teams were confident in the agreement up until the hearing yesterday when Judge Mary Ellen Noreika questioned the logic and implications of the plea deal. Specifically, the judge had concerns about the gun charges plea deal requiring her to act as an arbiter if Hunter Biden violated the terms during the next 24 months, as that is an atypical requirement for the judiciary. She was also concerned that the terms of the agreement of the gun charges would override the terms of the tax charges. And she questioned if there were additional charges coming down the pike, including failing to register as a foreign agent. This sparked yet another disagreement between counsel as the defense team argued that the agreement would prohibit additional charges, while the prosecutors, of course, disagreed. Long story short, the hearing was expected to only last for one hour,

but it lasted for three hours and concluded with Hunter Biden entering a not guilty plea. OK, got it. So a lot more happened than anticipated here. But what comes next from all of this? Well, the judge has essentially told counsel for both sides to get it together, to reach terms that they both actually agree to, and to provide her with more information within the next few weeks. Ultimately, when and if they reach a new agreement, then Hunter Biden will amend his plea and accept that new plea deal. In terms of a comment from the president about all of this, the White House press secretary,

Corrine Jean-Pierre, told reporters yesterday, quote, Hunter Biden is a private citizen, and this was a personal matter for him, she said. She added that the president and the first lady love their son and continue to support him, as well as the fact that this case was handled independently by the Department of Justice. And that fully tracks with how President Biden has been explicitly clear that the DOJ operates independently from the White House. Totally. In contrast, we can fully expect House Republicans to continue to latch onto this case like a leech because this is what they have deemed to be the most politically harmful story against President Biden. Their argument is that there shouldn't be, quote, two justice systems. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is the first and only former president to face federal criminal charges and has multiple indictments that could be announced within the next few weeks.

But naturally, Hunter Biden is the political story that they want to amplify. So there's that. Got it. OK, zero equivalence I'm seeing between those two situations. Zero. It doesn't feel like Hunter Biden is like not facing consequences. Like it feels like the legal system is working as intended. But thank you so much for filling us in on this because this is one of those topics that

is spoken about very differently depending on like what corner of the internet and what people you're talking to. So it's really helpful to hear the facts. Pivoting to some other news, former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani officially conceded that he made false and defamatory statements about two former election workers in Georgia back in 2020. This admission came as part of a defamation suit against Giuliani brought by the two election workers in question, Ruby Freeman and Shea Moss, and it was made in a two-page statement filed in federal court

just before midnight on Tuesday. In it, Giuliani said that he, quote, does not contest that his statements were false and said that he made statements that, quote, carry meaning that is defamatory per se. Oh, my God, that's oozing and legal talk for. Yeah, I said it and I'm not sorry. Look, all I keep thinking about is Seamus's testimony before the January 6th Select Committee and that harrowing 911 call recording that Ruby Freeman made when people were literally banging on her door about this. So I'm just going to foul this in the box of white men ruining black women's lives and not really caring at all. Yeah. I mean, if what Rudy is saying sounds like the most half-assed apology you have ever heard, you are actually wrong because he didn't actually apologize at all. His statement is actually quite complicated.

But first, I want to rewind and give you all some context. Giuliani was originally sued for defamation by Freeman and Moss back in 2021. Both women were counting ballots in Fulton County, Georgia during the 2020 election. Afterwards, Giuliani and then Trump and the right-wing news organization OAN boosted conspiracy theories claiming that these women manipulated ballots. This was part of their election fraud, their narrative of the big lie, all things that we know to be false. But because of these conspiracy theories that Giuliani elevated, Freeman and Moss, as you said, became the targets of incredible amounts of harassment. You probably recognize their names.

Both of them testified before the January 6th committee in June of 2022. They described how those accusations completely upended their lives. OAN ended up settling with the women last year, but Giuliani's lawsuit is still ongoing. That is what this is a part of. So in his statement, Giuliani says that despite his admission that he made false and defamatory statements, this does not affect his argument in the defamation lawsuit that, quote, his statements are constitutionally protected statements or opinions and that they did not result in, quote, any damages to the plaintiffs. That is a wild quote.

Obviously, the plaintiffs would beg to differ. As would anybody who like heard the January 6th committee testimony. Pretty harrowing to me. Right. Shea Moss literally said she didn't even want to go to the grocery store. No less have her mother say her name in public for fear of the harm that would come to them. Also, did Giuliani like copy and paste this from Alex Jones or something? Because that's what is giving right now. Why did he even make the statement if he's just going to follow

up with this kind of legal jujitsu then? I mean, it's a good question. His lawyer is stressing that despite this statement, Giuliani is not actually admitting to the defamation that he is being sued for. Instead, he claims that Giuliani is not actually admitting to the defamation that he is being sued for. Instead, he claims that Giuliani is actually just trying to speed up the litigation through a quote, legal maneuver. You know, the famous legal maneuver in which you actually admit to doing the crime that you are accused of. Don't have my resident legal advisor, Josie. Still sounds wrong. I don't know. But basically, it is looking like Giuliani doesn't want to or isn't able to produce records of his exchanges with President Trump regarding this conspiracy and is making this statement to get the court to move past the discovery portion of this case into the actual legal arguments. Apparently, he thinks he has a shot when it comes to those.

So going to be very interesting to see how that plays out. I'm sure not well, but put a big, nice bow on all of this for us. How does it all relate back to Trump's legal issues? Yes. I mean, these were conspiracy theories that via Rudy Giuliani, Trump parroted that made these women the targets of his rabid fans and supporters. As of now, we are still waiting on the DOJ his rabid fans and supporters. As of now, we are still waiting on the DOJ's second indictment against Trump over his attempts to interfere with the 2020 election.

Those are charges that may actually relate to some of the claims we are discussing now. I mean, interfering with the 2020 election kind of has a little something to do with, you know, making these false claims that people are meddling in the election by tampering with ballots, claims that are not true. Ding, ding, ding. We're also expecting an indictment from Georgia sometime next month, so we're staying busy here. Giuliani was actually named as a target in that Georgia probe last year. He was interviewed by prosecutors in Fulton County as part of that. He was also reportedly interviewed by the special counsel's office as part of the federal investigation

that we are all sitting here expecting an indictment from. So Giuliani is playing a pretty significant role in everything that is going on. Obviously, we are still waiting for that indictment to come down and the related charges.

As soon as that happens, we'll be sure to bring you all of that news. But this is the latest for now. We'll be back after some ads. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. this week has been good bipartisan cooperation and a string of uh uh you just heard senate minority leader mitch mcconnell abruptly freeze during his weekly

leadership news conference on capitol hill yesterday The 81 year old was quickly escorted to his office without any explanation. McConnell returned to the podium a few minutes later, insisted that he was fine and went on to answer questions. An aide later said that he was feeling lightheaded. McConnell was briefly hospitalized back in March after suffering a concussion and a broken rib from a fall at a private fundraising dinner in Washington. Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, who was at McConnell's side at the time and wasn't orthopedic surgeon before entering politics, told reporters afterwards that he's been concerned about McConnell's health ever since his injury. They say the truth is out there, though it remains to be seen if we got any closer to it yesterday following a rare bipartisan hearing on UFOs. As though our earthly concerns are, you know, not enough to take up all the time and attention of Congress, but okay.

Apparently not. More on our plate. Bring it on. a former intelligence official turned whistleblower, testified before House lawmakers that the U.S. government is in possession of what he called, quote, non-human bodies and has been hiding a program to capture and reverse engineer UFOs. It's giving Area 51, it's giving Independence Day literally line for line. What is going on? I don't like it. The Pentagon has, naturally naturally denied his claims.

Grush served for 14 years as an intelligence officer in the Air Force and National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and appeared alongside two former fighter pilots who claim they've had firsthand encounters with unidentified aircraft. They asked the committee to demand more transparency from the military to investigate encounters with UFOs, noting that systems to report such incidents are inadequate because of the stigma around them. Aside from the far out possibility that any of this involves extraterrestrial life, red flag in my mind, wow, the hearing stems from growing interest from lawmakers about how the armed

forces investigate these reports while most sightings end up being confirmed as airborne trash balloons or even weather phenomena there's still the very real possibility that some of these things could be drones or other aircraft from foreign adversaries i mean we saw that with the chinese surveillance balloons popping up in different corners of the country collecting data with their cameras etc etc i mean are you saying that it's not a very real possibility that these are aliens remains to be seen i don't know if we have enough information anyways stop us if you have heard this one before but the federal reserve hiked interest rates again yesterday by a quarter of a percentage point. The last time the benchmark index was this high, Destiny's Child's Survivor was at the top of the charts. Hey! And Buffy the Vampire Slayer was still on TV. A different time.

Okay, shout out to Destiny's Child and their long-standing career. Okay. Yeah, shout out to Destiny's Child. Possibly the only part of that that we would like to go back to. Yes. This latest rate increase comes after the Fed took a short break following 15 months of consecutive increases. As we've told you before, all of this is part of the central bank's ongoing effort to fight inflation. And while there are some signs that we aren't heading towards a recession, like many economists had feared earlier this year, the Fed doesn't seem convinced. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said yesterday that there is more work to be done to bring down the cost of consumer goods and that the Fed is prepared to raise rates again

if necessary. It feels like real deja vu, honestly. Two transgender Tennesseans have sued Vanderbilt University Medical Center for turning over their medical records to the state's attorney general. The anonymous plaintiffs say the move violated their right to privacy, adding they were two out of 100 patients whose records were handed over to state officials. A representative for Attorney General Jonathan Scarmetti said the records request was part of what they call a run-of-the-mill probe into possible medical billing fraud at Vanderbilt. But according to court filings, the AG's office specifically asked for a list of people who had visited the university hospital's transgender health clinic. It's giving targeted action. Vanderbilt says it was required by law to comply with the request. But even so, the hospital waited months before they even told patients their information was shared.

So not only did they violate the patient's privacy and rights and protections there, but they sat on it physical safety, given how lawmakers in Tennessee and elsewhere have consistently targeted the trans community with bans and restrictions on gender affirming care for youth and adults. And goodness, I'd be terrified for my safety, too, if I was in their position. Yeah, these people have been failed by every part here. I mean, of course, there's the hospital turning over the records and not telling them for so long. Right. But the AG's office blatantly lied

about the way they sought these records, which I don't know. What's the punishment for doing that? I don't know how you hold someone accountable other than voting,

but that seems like a big thing to lie to the public about. 100%. And finally, spare a thought, if you you can for folks in Florida as they sweat through the grueling heat wave that has enveloped much of the U.S. But many Floridians can no longer count on a trip to the beach to cool off. According to meteorologists, seawater temperatures at the southernmost tip of the state have

hit triple digits. That is the water temperature, people, not even just the outdoors. A buoy at Manatee Bay, which is 40 miles south of Miami, read 101.1 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday evening after registering just over 100 degrees the night before. That is about the same temperature as a hot tub for reference. Oh my goodness. That is really fucking crazy. While some scientists are hesitant to confirm the reading, it is already raising alarms because that could set a new global temperature record for ocean water. That is also

bad news for Florida's already threatened coral reefs, which serve as the foundation for marine ecosystems. And while Governor Ron DeSantis told Fox earlier this year that he rejects what he likes to call, quote, the politicization of weather, we would like to hold him to that because warmer ocean temperatures can make hurricanes much, much stronger. Feels like, as the governor of Florida, that's something you should actively be working against.

Oh, but Priyanka, he's not the governor of Florida. He's a Republican primary candidate. And, you know, that's the exclusive lane he's existing in. Like, forget what Florida's going through. He doesn't care about Florida. Got it. Or 100 degree water. Totally.

Exactly right. It's very on brand for him, you know. And those are the headlines. One more thing before we go. Are your people going to kill you for having me on? I don't think so. I think it's going to be fine. Is it though?

Do not worry. Your podcast feed did not temporarily overlap with the Ben Shapiro show because that is in fact former New Jersey governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie chatting with Crooked's own John Lovett. And he's clearly asking the right questions, because why, oh why, is this man on Crooked Media anything? Did he get lost on the turnpike or something? Why did this happen?

Listen, we cannot say for sure why Christie said yes to Lovett. Perhaps he, you know, expounds a little more in the interview on this. But you're going to want to listen to today's episode of Pod Save America with some popcorn, because this man had a lot to say about Donald Trump. Usually, folks like this commit discreet crimes. That winds up having one trial. This guy has been a one-man crime wave. He also dished on some other GOP contenders heading to the debate stage next month.

And you're not disappointed in Mike Pence because he's a weird dude, right? Well, no. I wouldn't call Mike a weird dude, but what I would say is... Have you ever had a normal conversation with Mike Pence? I have. Come on.

I have. I have. And maybe one time the three of us can go out. Yeah, no, I'd love that. What a normal conversation would look like with Mike Pence. Viggenize. Come on. He's a weird fucking dude a normal conversation will look like with Mike Pence. Viggenize, come on. He's a weird fucking dude.

I have had normal conversations with Mike Pence, but Mike can't break himself away from his association with Trump. I mean, I guess the same applied to Chris Christie back when he endorsed him, you know, shout out to 2016,

but okay. But okay, if you want to hear hear more the full interview is out now check it out on today's episode of pod save america wherever you get your podcasts that's all for today if you like the show make sure you subscribe leave a review reminisce on the cultural achievements of the early 2000s and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just non-apologies from Rudy Giuliani 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 Juanita Tolliver. And the truth is out there. I mean, maybe if it comes in the form of E.T. Like E.T. was a dope alien. Like I would vibe with E.T. E.T. or Stitch? Fucking love Like I would vibe with E.T. E.T. or Stitch? Fucking love. I have never seen Lilo and Stitch.

Stitch is very cute. I love a friendly alien. We love him. Those are the only ones welcome. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance. Our show's producer is Itzy Quintanilla. Raven Yamamoto and Natalie Bettendorf are our associate producers.

Our intern is Ryan Cochran. And our senior producer is Lita Martinez. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kshaka.