Performative Bulls***

don't want to pass out and knock my head. But dear friends, something interesting has developed from the investigation that had been underway by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

They issued a press release that will shock no one that paid attention to the four years under Donald Trump and the fact that he was using the White House as essentially a cash cow, the fact that Mara Lago was an extension of that place so that he could meet with folks that wanted to wine and dine him throw money into Mara Lago and throw money into his pockets. But when the House Oversight and Reform Committee, run by Representative Carolyn Maloney issued this statement, I was like, Oh,

is that what we're doing? So let me read you the title. Committee chairs release new documents showing Mara Lago Trio violated transparency law and improperly influenced veterans policies under President Trump. Now in small print, lean in to listen to this. Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, and other White House advisors were aware of efforts to skirt the law. Funny when I'll tell you exactly how they were skirting the law, because you know you'll conjure the memory of what about

her emails? So here's the statement. Today. Represent Carolyn Maloney, Chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Representative Mark Takano, Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, release new documents showing that Ike Pearl Mutter, Mark Sherman, and doctor Bruce Mauskowitz, associates of former President Donald Trump, known as the Mara Lago Trio, violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act and attempted to exert improper influence over government

employees and policies involving the Department of Veterans Affairs. Here is what the joint statement says. VERBTA, our Joint investigation found that Ike Pearl, Mutter, Mark Sherman, and doctor Bruce Maskowitz, bolstered by their connection to President Trump's private Moralago Club, violated the law and sought to exert improper influence over

government officials to further their own personal interests. The documents we are releasing today shed light on the secret role of the trio played in developing veterans affairs initiatives and programs, including a hugely profitable plan to monetize veterans medical records.

The committee's investigation demonstrates the need for Congress to pass the Federal Advisory Committee Transparency Act, which would ensure that the American people know who is providing advice to federal policymakers and would require agencies to disclose whether individuals on advisory committees have conflicts of interest. Here's the thing, folks about this, is that I am really fucking tired of policy initiatives and acts being introduced that are nothing more

than lip service. What we want is, instead of an investigation to get more material, I want a criminal investigation into how this trio, among other people in the Trump administration were using right their connection to Donald Trump, his connection to power in order to enrich themselves. That is breaking the fucking law. And yet we're calling for more

acts so that things like this don't happen. Do you know what stops people from you know, undermining our democracy in order to enrich themselves by throwing their asses in jail. That's what stops them, not an act like many others that the Trump administration officials decided to you know, just ignore.

Last week, we were told that there were several folks Our friend Glenn Kirshner will walk through later in the show, will walk through exactly who is being subpoenaed by the one six Commission, right and whether or not those people are going to show up, because we know that during the Trump administration, these motherfuckers took subpoenas as if they were suggestions, as opposed to you know, you needing to show up because you are subpoenaed by a court of

law to make yourselves present. Well, it's not a court of law when the subpoenas come from Congress, but it is in fact Congress does in fact have the power to enforce subpoena by holding people in contempt of Congress. And what we will learn from Glenn Kershner also throwing their asses in jail. And so here's the thing. I need Democrats to stop pretending that holding people accountable and responsible for their criminal activity during the Trump administration is

seen as a partisan act. Republicans are going to call you out regardless. They're gonna call everything a hoax, a witch hunt, whatever it is that you want to give its name, They're going to do that because that's what they do. So you cannot continue to make movements right with regard to accountability and responsibility in fear about whether or not Republicans are going to point their finger at

you and wave. They're going to sit down in these quote unquote collaboration meetings and then they're going to walk away. They're going to get up in front of Fox News and they're going to tell you that you're a bunch of liars and schemers. They are so obvious with their playbook that you would think by now that Democrats in power wouldn't pretend like they're shocked. I'm so tired of

the performative bullshit. I don't need your Transparency Act. I need criminal charges brought against fucking criminals, regardless of whether or not they are quote unquote white collar crimes. These people need to have the book thrown at them and not read to them, and admonish them about better behavior as government officials. We know what was moving through Mara Lago. We know what was fucking moving through the Trump Hotel on sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue. We know what the fuck

was running through the White House. Give me a break. You know, good, god damn well, that Republicans would not have needed some deep level of research and investigation to pull the hot Benghazi shit that they did under the Obama years, Right, they just kept hammering and hammering and hammering until they were through. Well, when the fuck are we going to do that? So I'm hoping that this statement that was released is a signal that we are

moving in the direction of accountability. And again I'm not talking about, oh, let's pass another act that can just be overrode with some type of executive order. I don't care about those things. What I want is for them for this information that is unearthed to be scoop up by federal prosecutors and investigated. Right, that's what we need.

So this is where we are at this particular moment, right, now with the investigations, and we will learn more in our conversation with Glenn Kirshner about the four Trump entities that are now being investigated now are being subpoenaed for their role in the insurrection. All right, folks. Coming up next is my conversation with our friend Glenn Kirshner, bringing

us the latest in Trump world. I wish one day that we will talk about something else, but until then, Glenn is here to walk us through the latest, Folks. I'm always so thankful when we have the opportunity to run through the latest legal breakdowns happening with the former administration, with the one six Select Committee, and just you know

the crazy that continues to funnel through America. Glenn, breaking news was that, finally, months after the putting together of the one six Select Committee, we have seen now our first major round of subpoenas. Six of Trump's closest aids,

including Steve Badden, including Mark Meadows, have been subpoenas. I want you to walk us through one how we finally got to this place that you and I have been talking about and waiting for for months, but also what we can expect because if I recall, none of these Republican folks like to, you know, follow the rules, show up for subpoenas, and what we have seen thus far from Democrats is that they don't actually enforce and use

the power that they have to the fullest extent. So walk us through the announcement of these subpoenas and what we can expect in the coming days and weeks. So, Danielle, I am the eternal optimist, bordering on being naive or polyganna. And so I say that because of what I'm about to say, which is that I feel like a kid in the justice can be shop with these four With these four subpoenas being issued, it doesn't mean justice will

come soon or ever. But here's why I think these four subpoenas are so and I think it maybe four, maybe six. I may be wrong about the number. But here's why I think they're so important. First of all, they were issued for you know, Bannon and Meadows and Patel and Scavino. These are Donald Trump loyalists, acolytes, sycophants, and perhaps criminal associates, co conspirators in the insurrection. That's

one that's why they're important. But as you say, Republicans at least in the age of Trump, view subpoenas as like party invitations that you can politely or not so politely decline, Yeah, no, thank you very much. Right. So, here's why I think these subpoenas are so important, both for who is being subpoenaed and what we're gonna now learn about our institutions and our systems of government. Have

they learned from their mistakes of the past. Are they going to be willing to stand up and fight for our democracy? Because here's how this is going to play out. These people who have been subpoened. First of all, they're going to try to claim executive privileged. Trump has already said, oh, I'm going to put a stop to this. Going to claim executive privilege, the executive privileged dog won't hunt. Here's why. One, former presidents don't get to invoke it. Only current presidents

get to invoke it. And Joe Biden will not invoke it because that would be viewed as covering up the attack on our democracy. One. Two, guys like Steve Bannon couldn't even possibly assert executive privilege because he wasn't a federal government employee at the time. So that's two. And then three, even if they try to assert executive privilege, they'd be trying to cover up crimes. And the crime

fraud exception will negate any claim of executive privilege. So there's three reasons why the executive privilege dog won't hunt. Let's move on to the next phase. They're gonna challenge these things in court, right even if they start with a bogus claim of executive privilege. Now we're gonna learn will the courts continue to allow themselves to be weaponized so that the people like Don McGann can claim bogus privileges and then run out the clock for two years.

Have the courts learned anything from that experience? Because Danielle, the courts don't have to say, Okay, I want briefs in three months, and then we're going to have arguments three months later, and then I'm going to take three months to decide the case. This is why I've been screaming for an inter branch dispute court, which can be stood up like that, just a rules change within the court itself. You want to attack on executive privilege grounds,

this lawfully issued congressional subpoena. You got two weeks to file your brief two weeks later, we're going to have oral argument. Two weeks after that, you'll have my ruling six weeks done. The courts can do this if the courts are willing to learn from their mistakes of the past.

How about Congress. Will Congress learn from its mistakes of the past when they would issue subpoenas lawful subpoenas, and then they would refuse to do what they could do to enforce them because they can do three things civil civil enforcement. That's really not viable because that's the Don McGann. Let's run out the clock approach. Criminal contempt. Here's why that real player. Why criminal contempt takes the Department of

Justice to cooperate with Congress. Right, criminal contempt not inherent contempt. I'm going to get to that in a minute. When Congress can just go out and arrest people, that's one of my favorite vehicles. We'll get to that. One. Criminal contempt is where somebody fails to comply with a subpoena and the Department of the Congress makes a referral to the Department of Justice and asks the Department of Justice go into court and help us enforce this via criminal contempt.

Having a judge, say you're in contempt, go cooperate. We couldn't do that under the Donald Trump years, with Bill Barr, the corrupt Attorney General in power, because he wouldn't let the Department of Justice do what it is supposed to do. Help Congress use the courts to enforce their subpoenas via criminal contempt. That is a tool that's back in Congress's toolbox, and that can be done fairly quickly, unlike civil enforcement.

And then the third one, which I hope to hell Congress uses, is its inherent power to enforce its own subpoenas via congressional contempt. It was last done in the nineteen thirties. It was done successfully, and nobody seems interested in pulling that old tool out, dusting it off, and using it again. It's a lawful tool, and Congress should

consider using it. What they have to do is vote out a contempt citation against somebody who fails to appear, and then they can start finding them ten thousand dollars a day, twenty five thousand dollars a day until they appear and purge the contempt. That's what it's called. When you finally give up the ghosts and go in and testify, or they can jail them. They can literally send a sergeant at arms of the House out to arrest the person and put their butts in the witness chair before Congress.

Has Congress learned anything by its failures of the past, by its undue timidity of the past, Will it enforce its own subpoenas aggressively this time around? Because it's only our democracy at stake. So that's why I'm so excited, because there's an opportunity here to make progress on so many fronts, personal and institutional. Let's do it. We're now,

do we know where the DC District Attorney is? Where is the actual Again, we're on a fact finding mission with the Select Committee, but where is the actual criminal investigation? Because if I see one more damn headline, Glenn, that tells me who knew what? That is obvious? Right that if Republicans, let's just say, had a quarter of that information on the Obama administration or on Benghazi, which they tried to turn into a thing, we would be in

a different place. So where is the criminal investigation that should be moving in tandem to what the Select Committee is doing? It is moving in tandem I believe, but we're not supposed to know about it, because nobody's supposed to be talking about the criminal end of the insurrection case being investigated by the Department of Justice and most directly,

sixty federal prosecutors at the DC US Attorney's Office. These are my friends, colleagues, some of my former homicide prosecutors, some people I tried cases with when I was there. These are the men and women heading up the insurrection investigation. Sixty prosecutors are assigned to it. I believe the investigation is moving forward, albeit behind the scenes so we don't

know about it. But two days ago, Christopher Ray, I'm not a fan, but Christopher Ray, director of the FBI, testified before the Homeland Security Committee, and this kind of flew under the radar, but Scott McFarland of NBC DC four News tweeted it out. Yesterday, Ray testified that there are more superseding indictments on the way in the January

sixth investigation. That's big news. Frankly, he probably shouldn't have said it, because we typically don't say things like that as law, but it was an important little sound bite because when he says more superseding indictments are on the way. That doesn't mean more foot soldiers of the insurrection are being arrested. A superseding indictment is a term of art, legal art, so it's the ugliest kind of art, but

it's a term of art. A superseding indictment means basically, you are going to return a bigger, more inclusive, more serious indictment on more significant charges than what you have already had the Grand jury vote out. You're building on it in a significant way. It doesn't just mean we're locking up ten more foot soldiers. So stay tuned, because I do believe that this work is being done quietly

by the Department of Justice. I also will go out on a limb and say, when Congress issued these subpoenas, Congress is already in at least communication with the Department of Justice on the timing and the logistics of these kinds of things, because I don't think Congress wants to interfere with the ongoing criminal investigation, which frankly, in my book, is more important than the congressional investigation. Right the congressional investigation is designed to figure out, Okay, who knew what,

who did what? How can we prevent it from happening again in the future, But they can't hold people accountable criminally. Only the Department of Justice can. So I think the dj peece is more important for the future of our democracy because really, you know, Mark Meadows runs his mouth and he only seems to open his mouth to change feet because he's always sticking a foot in his mouth.

And so he said, wait a minute. You know these subpoenas are out of bounds because the House Select Committee is only supposed to be in investigating you know what happened, what were the security shortfalls, and how can we prevent them from happening again, to which I would respond, Okay, Mark, the way we figure out what happened and the way we prevent it from happening again is by prosecuting the people who were responsible for it the first time, so

you deter future criminal politicians and criminal presidents from doing it again. That's how you stop it from happening again. So I think d OJ is working on it, albeit behind the scenes. We shouldn't be hearing about it, even though we all celebrate the leaks when they come out. So I still believe. Let me go back to where I started being naive, maybe, Pollyanna, I still believe we're

going to get there. You can't investigate the biggest gang case in the history of our nation, which is the gang that attacked the capital, without investigating the funders and the organizers and the insiders, including the insider in chief. You can't take it from me. I've investigated big gang cases. You can't ignore or parcel out that piece of it. It's all the attack on the Capitol. And I happen to believe DJ is going to get there because I

have confidence in the leadership. No, Merrick Garland hasn't shown himself to be a strong, aggressive leader the hope the way we had hoped. But I trust Lisa Monica the number two, and I trust Merrick Garland. I trust Lisa Monica the number two. I trust Nita Gupta, I trust Kristen Clark. These are strong, solid, law and order oriented women and in Merrick Garland's case, men who are heading up our Department of Justice. I have confidence in them.

That's it for Today's Woke, a f daily podcast. To hear more from today's show, including my full interview with Glenn Kirshner, support me on Patreon at patreon dot com. Slash Woke a power to the people and to all the people. Power. Get woke and stays fu