What A Day - How To Get Away With Burr-der

Episode Date: May 15, 2020

Today the House is set to vote on a $3 trillion coronavirus relief package that Senate Republicans say is dead on arrival. They’ll also vote on rules to allow for remote voting—which means we could be seeing a lot more technology barriers and funny Zoom mishaps in the near future.Late Wednesday night, FBI agents showed up to the house of Senator Richard Burr, served him a search warrant and took his cell phone. That’s in relation his sketchy sale of a ton of stock right before the market collapsed as a result of the pandemic. And writer and comedian Bridger Winegar joins us for headlines: McDonald’s sends US franchises a 59-page guide to reopening their dining rooms, South America’s soccer league issues temporary ban on kissing, and Ikea France snoops on customers and staff.

It's Friday, May 15th. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick, and this is What The Day, where we're still finding ways to make Fridays more casual. Yeah, I'm eating in bed, and I'm not even using a plate. Like, my chest is the plate. I'm just laying down. I repurpose my feet as spoons. On today's show, the FBI seizes a Republican senator's phone as part of an investigation, then some headlines.

But in news, today the Democratic-controlled House is set to vote on a $3 trillion coronavirus relief package that Republicans in the White House have said is dead on arrival. And also, the House will vote on rules to allow for remote voting, as many members are either at home or finding it difficult to actually get a flight back to D.C. Right. So the initial plan is to allow for proxy voting, so members of Congress could vote on behalf of up to 10 members who aren't there. It's a nice buddy system, I guess. It's one of the bigger changes to the rules of the House in decades. And it would also allow for remote hearings, depositions and more so we can get accustomed to technology barriers for some of these older members and perhaps more zany Zoom mishaps. Oh, goodness, the backgrounds. All right. Well, back to the relief bill. As we said, it's expected to pass in the House and then totally stall out. Democrats are still feeling

urgency about the current economic situation. Makes sense to me. But Republicans are obviously more wait and see, which is insane because the data just keeps showing over and over again just how bad this is. I mean, case in point, another almost three million people filed for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the total to a staggering 36 million people out of work in just the last two months. Yeah, there really aren't words to overstate it. But drilling down a little bit more, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that in 11 states, more than a quarter of people who had jobs as of February are now unemployed. Some have gone back to work without actually getting benefits when they were out of work even. And as we mentioned before, households that are at the

bottom of the income ladder have been hit the hardest. And even in the various states doing some reopenings right now, there have been anecdotal concerns about workers who might be coming back to their jobs facing fewer hours and lower paychecks at those establishments. This is part of the reason why House progressives were mad this week when a paycheck guarantee program was excluded from the massive bill that Democrats are voting on today. Progressives were also saying recurring monthly payments needed to be included instead of just another one-time $1,200 offering. And they've also wondered why a bill that is supposed to largely function as a

purely messaging device, if it's not actually going to pass, has so many compromises in it already. But quickly on the paycheck program. It's a proposal that's written by Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal. It would cover salaries and benefits for those making up to $90,000 for as much as six months and give grants to businesses to cover their operating costs. The thinking goes that the coverage from the government would allow for those workers to be rehired by these businesses that are currently hurting. This comes as other governments globally have done much more to pay workers' wages, and even some Republicans in the U.S. have introduced similar ideas. Wow.

Well, on the topic of Senate Republicans, there was a pretty significant development concerning Richard Burr, the Republican senator from North Carolina who sold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stock right before the market collapsed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Gideon, what exactly happened there? So late Wednesday night, FBI agents reportedly showed up to Burr's home in D.C., served a search warrant and took his cell phone, which is not a great situation and not a great Wednesday night for anybody. And yesterday, he stepped down as the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and

he's denied that he did anything wrong, but he said his reasoning was that the whole investigation would be a distraction from their work. Now, as a refresher, Burr sold a big chunk of his stocks in 33 transactions in mid-February, and it just so happened that at the same time, he was getting briefings about the coronavirus that the country writ large wasn't privy to. We are not on the Senate Intelligence Committee. And the sell-off of those stocks happened about a week before the stock market started to tank as a result of the coronavirus. So this sell-off, anywhere between $600,000 to $1.7 million, was mostly invested in

companies that were severely impacted by the pandemic. Additionally, in late February, Burr told a small group of constituents at a private luncheon that things were looking pretty bad in the United States as it related to COVID-19. But at that same time, there were only 15 confirmed cases, and he hadn't issued as strong a warning about it in public. Yeah, it doesn't look good for him. You know, I mean, actual repercussions for actions. It's rare, but it does feel good. Yeah. I mean, the fact that the phone was taken and that reportedly there was another warrant served to Apple to get access to his iCloud account makes it look like Burr is in some serious trouble.

And according to the New York Times, taking such actions against a sitting senator would have had to have been approved by Attorney General William Barr. So clearly they're taking it seriously. Back to Richard Burr, though. He has claimed that he was making these choices, these selling of stocks, based on publicly reported information

about the financial situation in Asia. Sure. But the big legal issue here would be if the investigation showed that he made the decisions based on the private info he was receiving as a member of Congress at those hearings. Oh, and Burr is not alone in doing this either. Reportedly, investigators have been looking at trades done by senators around the same time, including Republicans James Inhofe and the perhaps infamous version Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Dianne Feinstein, who said that she was asked about transactions that were made by her husband and claims that she has no involvement. So this story is clearly not over. And we're

going to keep following these developments as we get them. Yeah, but now let's talk about the rest of the country. So on yesterday's show, we spoke about the conservative majority Wisconsin Supreme Court deciding to end the Democratic governor's stay-at-home order in that state. Akilah, we're seeing the same kind of Republican rebellion against stay-at-home orders popping up elsewhere. Yeah, it's really madness. I mean, bars in Wisconsin were reportedly packed immediately after the court made the decision, which I am not looking forward to those numbers. But, you know, Republicans are really just telling people to take their chances. In Pennsylvania, the Democratic governor is fighting

with several Republican-led counties who want to ignore his stay-at-home orders and start reopening up today. He didn't mince words, though, this governor. He used a military metaphor accusing Republicans of desertion in the war against the pandemic. He even used the word cowardly. So, you know, he's not he's not kidding. It's a real mess. Similarly, in Texas, tensions between the statehouse and local governments have been rising. It's the opposite dynamic there, though. So several cities in the state are trying to impose restrictions, and the Republican attorney general is telling them that they could face lawsuits if they don't just loosen up. And in New York, the nursing home lobby has won legal provisions to protect them from allegations of neglect from families who would otherwise sue over the death of their relatives. More than 5,300

of the coronavirus fatalities in New York happened in nursing homes. The new provision appears on page 347 of the latest budget bill passed by Governor Cuomo, and many lawmakers just hadn't read that far when they chose to pass it. There are several other states that have also passed legal protections for nursing facilities during this time. We're still getting data on this, but according to an analysis from the New York Times, a third of all COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. are among nursing home residents and workers. Yeah, it's a really scary and shameful situation. Before we go, though, anything else to touch on around the world? Yeah, so there's a ton, but I'm going to keep it to just one. It's an update on vaccines, which are still in development, but already

causing international tensions. The CEO of the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi said yesterday that the U.S. would get first dibs on any vaccine the company developed. That's because the U.S. government has been funding the company's research. People in France were, to put it mildly, trepist. And then a few hours later, the CEO walked back those comments to say that the potential vaccine would be made available in all countries. So, good, that's the latest. Happy Friday, WOD Squad. It's the end of another week and time for one last check-in. We've been keeping track of all the new quarantine content and we have a new submission.

It's the Not Too Late Show with Elmo. It's a new HBO talk show hosted by Elmo from Sesame Street. Like, what other Elmo do you know? The kiddie. What do we think? We're used to getting Elmo in small doses. Do you think he can carry his own talk show? Look, I mean, he's a talented guy.

I think it's good that he's being given a shot at this opportunity. I think, you know, Oscar might be a bit of a tougher interviewer, but Elmo has his own je ne sais quoi. I think he's going to carry it. Yeah. I mean, I think that those are good points. Like he is a little bit more softball than one would want, but it is late night, right? You can't go in with the hard hitting stuff that late at night. And he is an entertainer. So I'm sure the games will be on point. That's,

that's how they make their money now. I think. Yes. And he, you know, he's, he's interesting to look at too. Like we don't always see late night hosts that are entirely red.

You know, that's like a cool innovation. Um, I appreciate that. Do you, I mean, are you going to give him a shot? Are you going going to you're going to watch the show? I mean, so I'm going to obviously give it a shot. I'm curious. So I'm going to watch it for that reason. Maybe not because of like a fan stance. Like I love the Muppets and I love everybody on Sesame Street, but I babysat a lot in the early aughts. And, you know know on a lot of those tapes Elmo is half the show

and it's not necessarily good like his voice is a little grating I think that he gets like a little too focused on one task and a whole show can't be carried by like helping Telly find his trombone so like I'm just saying I think he's gonna have to really step up into the role you know they should follow the Watt example and have two hosts. So, you know, he gets a little bit of relief. There's somebody that can bounce off of him a little bit. That's right. Yeah, I think maybe the count, he seems like he can drive the hard line.

That's a level-headed fellow who knows his numbers. You know, it seems good. That's exactly right. And guess what? Just like that, we've checked our temperatures. We are wishing Elmo good luck on his show's launch later this month. And we're wishing you a peaceful weekend. Let's wrap up with some headlines.

Headlines. We've got a special guest joining us today, Bridger Weineger. He's a writer and an actor known for Jimmy Kimmel Live, Corporate, and The Unbreakable, Kimmy Schmidt. Thank you so much for doing the show. Thank you for having me. I'm so thrilled to be here. I just use technology to swoop in and here I am, easy as can be. Yes, we had a whole amazing debacle with the microphones. We loved it. We learned something. We're closer than ever. I'm going to join the geek squad and get going.

See, a new ambition was formed. All right, well, let's get into the headlines. All right. IKEA France and some of its former executives are going to trial on charges of spying on their staff and customers. Good reminder for 23-year-olds who furnish their apartments in a single afternoon. It is time to check your lack coffee tables for microphones, all right? IKEA's trouble started when one store was accused of paying for access to police records, court records, and bank details of employees involved in unions and clients it had disputes with. Doesn't sound cool. Prosecutors say that in some cases, that information was used to dismiss staff members. 15 people, including police officials and two former IKEA France CEOs, are facing charges.

I'm disappointed in IKEA. Look, that's all i can say about this i mean it's just not right like they you know it does seem like a a security state there so people shouldn't be shocked it tracks for sure that's right uh well mcdonald's another beautiful corporation has sent u.s franchises a 59 page guide to reopening their dining rooms and like that my summer reading list is finally complete the guide requires each mcdonald's to clean their bathrooms every half hour a slight change from only cleaning them when a customer destroys a toilet employees now have to operate soda fountains that used to be self-service that means you're going to have to use persuasion andains that used to be self-service.

That means you're going to have to use persuasion and high-level mentalism if you want to sneak some Sprite into your cup. And if you want to steal Coke, you're going to have to take it by force. McDonald's, they've got 14,000 U.S. locations, and their dining rooms will reopen gradually once local authorities give the go-ahead. It's now just a matter of time before you can eat somewhere sadder than your kitchen table. Dark and true. I'm excited to bribe every local

McDonald's guy to give me Mr. Pibb on demand. I'm fully willing to pay half price for the soda in a small, clear plastic cup. That's how it's got to be uh talking is officially canceled a new study shows that normal speech can emit potentially virus containing respiratory droplets that stay in the air for at least eight minutes aka the

length of one quibi this so-called toxic ghost spit which is a technical term that is exclusive to wad isn't created by breathing just talking this feels like uh terrible news for slimer i feel like he's done he is finally done defeated at long last so initiating small talk in an elevator is like a declaration of war now, especially for Slimer. Talking loud is even worse, creating about a thousand droplets in one minute. I would not even want to dare ask about beatboxing. People should stop beatboxing anyway.

Truly. It's not 1999 anymore. I do want to ask is what is going to last longer covid or quibi as a corporation i'm genuinely curious i mean it's a race to the grave oh god oh god well look you know i love sports so let's talk sports when south america's biggest soccer uh when their biggest soccer leagues resume play, they're not going to allow players to kiss the ball as if there was any other reason to watch.

These people are not going to stop until they've completely removed the sex. The governing body of South American soccer released a set of new regulations on Wednesday, and apart from banning that special expression of love between man and equipment, players will not be allowed to spit, blow their noses on the field,

or exchange jerseys. That's something players traditionally do at the end of the game. Can they kiss their jerseys? God only knows. I'm going to need a list of all the things in the soccer game that players can kiss and can't kiss, including the grass.

Otherwise, I'm never going to watch soccer again. South America's soccer body has distributed $79 million to national leagues that have been put out by the pandemic, and they just announced plans to distribute $14 million more. Wow. All this, and we don't get

any kissing. That's a good point. For that much money, they could at least throw in a kiss. Oh, please. Yeah, a light smooch, if you will. All right, well, a lawsuit accusing President Trump

of illegally profiting from his Washington hotel is set to move forward. The charges, which were brought by the state of Maryland and D.C., claim that Trump violated the Constitution by accepting money from foreign governments through his hotel. He refuses to shed any of his holdings to this day, and even hired a director of diplomatic sales whose job is to promote the Trump organization

to foreign states, which seems like a red flag. I don't know. This is the one person who deserved to be furloughed. Conservative judges dismissed the case last July, but a federal appeals court in Virginia revived it in a new ruling yesterday. Trump's lawyers are now planning to go to the conservative judges dismissed the case last july but a federal appeals court in virginia revived it in a new ruling yesterday trump's lawyers are now planning to go to the supreme court to overturn yesterday's decision all right well i guess it's just a thing you can do uh one of his attorneys texted politico quote this case is another example of presidential harassment all right i feel bad for trump and his huge ugly buildings. It's just a whirlwind of hotels and lawsuits with this person.

To be sued once in my life, that would ruin everything. This is somebody who is just living in a tornado. It's crazy. It's just a Friday for him. Just suit after suit. Oh, good lord. All of them ill-fitting also.

Oh, thank you. Gideon, oh thank you it needed to be said you are very welcome at bridger thank you so much for reading with us uh before you go and you know kiss a soccer field is there anything else that you want to plug while you're here that our listeners can go find you at? Of course. Sure. I host a podcast. It's called I Said No Gifts. Every Thursday, I have a guest on. They disobey me. They bring a gift.

And then we end up having to talk about whatever they've wrapped up for me. So that's something you can listen to if you don't hate the sound of my voice. I'm on Twitter, Bridger W. I'm on the internet like every other human being. You guys, I'm so sorry that I nearly let technology get in the way of me being here. It would have ruined everyone's evening. We are closer than ever. Okay, just strengthen our bond. And those are the headlines. have to say about their experience. Intriguing. Listen and subscribe to With Friends Like These wherever you get your podcasts. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you

subscribe, leave a review, trade us a sterile jersey, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just 59 pages of McDonald's rules 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 please don't spy on me, French Ikea. Don't do it. It's enough already.

Sacre bleu, French Ikea. Mais oui. You said it. Nerd. 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.

Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.