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Let's create.

1:00

I'm Jonathan Strickland, host of the podcast

1:02

Tech Stuff. I sat down with Sudhan Shahani

1:05

of Surfair Mobility, which recently went public. We

1:08

talked about flying in electric planes and regional

1:10

air mobility. The future of travel doesn't

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range flight on an electric plane.

1:21

Learn more on Tech Stuff on the iHeartRadio

1:23

app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you

1:26

get your podcasts. Countdown

1:28

with Keith Olbermann is a production of

1:30

iHeartRadio.

1:44

Tanya Sue Chutkin

1:47

is about to become the most important person

1:49

in the 2024 presidential campaign,

1:52

period.

1:53

Maybe the most important person

1:56

in the fight to prevent the sabotaging of

1:58

democracy. Because if... Judge

2:00

Judkin sides with Trump

2:03

and against Jack Smith in the gag order

2:05

case, she will be enabling

2:07

Trump to claim that everything

2:10

he does from here on in, every

2:12

threat he makes, every conspiracy

2:15

theory he stokes, every lie

2:17

about President Biden he proclaims

2:20

has been authorized

2:22

by a federal judge. And you

2:25

cannot stop him, and the law

2:27

cannot stop him, and the Constitution

2:30

cannot stop him, and that

2:32

fresh hell will make

2:34

the current one we are living in read like

2:36

a quick dance in the spring rain.

2:39

To read the full 25 page

2:42

Trump gag order filing

2:45

answer is an exercise

2:47

in realizing that for the right fee there are

2:49

lawyers who will invent and argue

2:51

for your right to saw

2:54

off their limbs. But

2:57

more importantly it soon becomes apparent that

2:59

it is even more of an exercise by

3:02

Trump to get the judge and

3:04

thus the courts to in effect

3:06

sign off on every one of his anti-democracy

3:09

rages and every call for assassination

3:11

by proxy via mental gymnastics

3:14

akin to proving a negative. The

3:16

Trump lawyers response filed

3:19

late Monday night right before the deadline

3:22

bursts with Trumpian claims

3:24

of rights that do not exist and

3:26

precedents that do not authorize his dangerous

3:29

rhetoric and constitutional means

3:31

to destroy the Constitution that are

3:33

not part of the American system of representative

3:36

government. Well they don't exist

3:38

now, and they don't authorize him

3:40

now, and they are not part of America

3:42

now. But if Judge

3:45

Chutkin finds for Trump he will

3:47

immediately claim they are all in effect,

3:49

and he will exploit them, and 482

3:52

days from now we may

3:54

very well be living in an authoritarian

3:56

state. Trump's

3:58

lawyers gave away the subplot here

4:01

in the first sentence, literally

4:03

the first sentence, the

4:05

answer to the Smith demand for a gag order

4:07

begins, quote, President Trump

4:09

respectfully submits this response in opposition

4:12

to the prosecution's motion to impose

4:15

unconstitutional prior

4:17

restraints. There

4:19

it is. It is the special counsel

4:22

violating the Constitution, not Trump

4:25

who called for terminating

4:27

the Constitution. There it is. It is the special

4:29

counsel trying to hinder Trump, not

4:31

Trump lying about who he's

4:34

being prosecuted by and why and

4:36

encouraging his cult to, oh, kill

4:39

at least one likely witness in the case against

4:41

him, trying to hinder all of them.

4:44

If Chutkin finds for Trump, Trump

4:46

will proceed and boast that his threat

4:49

that kicked this all off, if you

4:51

go after me, I'm coming after you, is

4:53

constitutionally protected. He

4:56

might as well put it on bumper stickers and MAGA

4:58

hats. If you go after

5:01

me, I'm coming after

5:03

you.

5:04

But that's not a threat.

5:06

The entire document, apparently

5:09

written mostly or largely by Todd

5:12

Blanche, starts with the

5:14

statement of a Trump lie as if it were

5:16

a fact. Again and again, Trump's

5:18

lawyers insist, repeat, assume the

5:20

paranoid delusion that Trump may or may not

5:23

believe, but which he has sold to his mob

5:25

since the day the special counsel was appointed,

5:27

that he is being prosecuted at

5:30

the direct orders of Joe Biden and

5:32

not because he, Trump, is

5:34

the most venal criminal in the history

5:37

of a nation, amazingly abundant

5:39

in evil bastards. Quote,

5:42

this very motion came on the heels of

5:45

adverse polling for President Biden.

5:47

His administration's plan is quite

5:50

simple. Unleash a 45 page

5:52

speaking indictment, discuss and

5:54

leak its talking points in the press, and

5:57

then cynically attempt to invoke the court's authority

5:59

to. prevent Trump and those acting on

6:01

his behalf from presenting

6:04

his side of the story

6:06

to the American people during

6:09

a political campaign. If

6:12

Judge Chutkin does not take the fascist

6:15

conspiracy theory-laden argument and

6:17

break it over Trump's head, he

6:20

will then act as if

6:23

every single thing said in it

6:25

has been endorsed by

6:28

the courts. It will

6:30

no longer be Biden is

6:32

prosecuting me. It will

6:35

be as Judge Chutkin agreed

6:37

Biden is prosecuting me. Failure

6:41

to take the opportunity presented

6:44

to her, to smash Trump's

6:46

delusional, extra-legal arguments

6:49

now will give them the

6:51

authority of a court that did not

6:53

bark in the night, and it will give

6:55

him the authority to behave in public just

6:58

as he behaved in public in the month before January

7:00

6th. Behave

7:02

as a terrorist. The

7:05

Trump argument against a gag order ignores

7:07

the entire universe of reality.

7:10

It is about, and it is only

7:12

about, Jack Smith as

7:15

some sort of political minion micromanaged

7:18

by Joe Biden.

7:20

Quote,

7:21

preventing Trump from defending himself

7:23

in the political arena while giving President

7:26

Biden and his surrogates, including those

7:28

in the corporate media, free

7:30

rein to say whatever they want.

7:33

Unquote. It is premised

7:36

on the idea that every single

7:38

conspiracy theory and paranoid construction

7:41

of MAGA and Trump and the new American

7:43

fascism is indisputably

7:46

correct. And

7:48

Trump's lawyers make no attempt to hide this. Quote,

7:51

no one can doubt that substantial segments

7:54

of the U.S. public harbor deep

7:56

suspicions regarding the prosecution's

7:58

motives in this case. President Trump

8:01

has a constitutional right to speak

8:03

on this subject both as a political candidate

8:06

and as a citizen of this country." Who

8:11

caused that suspicion? Who

8:14

nurtured that suspicion? Who has

8:16

exploited that suspicion? No

8:18

one can doubt that substantial segments

8:20

of the U.S. public harbor deep suspicions

8:23

regarding the sudden death of Ivana Trump

8:25

and her inexplicable burial near the first

8:27

tee at her ex-husband's golf course, but

8:29

if I ran for president against Donald Trump and

8:31

my entire campaign was based on some kind

8:34

of assertion that it was obviously true that all

8:36

those suspicions were justified because

8:38

we all know how she really died

8:40

and why she was really buried there, I

8:42

would have to suffer the consequences,

8:44

legal and otherwise, of this ridiculous

8:47

and arrogant presumptions. Trump's

8:51

presumptions are no less ridiculous

8:54

and no less arrogant and in many senses far

8:56

more slanderous. Now

8:59

that he has poisoned society, he wants

9:01

to pretend he had nothing to do with the poisoning.

9:04

He's only commenting on the bad taste

9:06

in the water. And

9:08

once again, what Judge Chutkin rules

9:10

in this case will not just decide

9:13

whether or not there is a gag order, but

9:15

it will decide whether or not Trump gets away with making

9:17

up a false rumor and then running for president

9:20

by pretending it's not only true, but he's

9:22

just speaking on suspicions,

9:25

that substantial segments of the US

9:27

public harbor after

9:30

he did everything in his power

9:32

for month upon month to get them

9:35

to gaslight themselves

9:37

into being suspicious. There

9:42

is as ever, as in

9:45

every utterance by Trump or in his

9:47

defense, in this document, neither

9:49

shame nor conscience. Quote,

9:52

the prosecution's examples are

9:54

intentionally vague in order to chill

9:57

the First Amendment rights of President Trump.

10:00

his counsel." That is one

10:02

of 25 different

10:04

references in the filing, 25 in 26 pages,

10:10

25 references to the First Amendment. The

10:13

document was in fact submitted roughly 27 hours

10:16

after Trump promised, boasted,

10:18

crowed that if he regains

10:20

power he will go to news organizations

10:23

like NBC and all the others and

10:25

remove from them all of the

10:27

protections provided to them by the

10:30

First Amendment. This

10:33

is what Judge Chutkin could solidify

10:35

into what amounts to settled

10:39

law in Trump land. His

10:43

lawyers have also included a passage in here which

10:46

if Chutkin signs with them will be offered by Trump

10:48

as proof that the courts have ruled he

10:50

had nothing to do with the insurrection. The

10:53

insurrection, the only purpose of which was to reinstall

10:55

him in the White House by bloody force and

10:58

which he inspired and he incited.

11:00

It claims the special counsel launched,

11:03

quote, gratuitous out of court

11:05

statements wrongly insinuating

11:08

that President Trump was responsible for

11:10

the events of January 6th. Oh,

11:14

and one more perverse Easter

11:16

egg. It cites from a precedent

11:19

case, quote, if the First Amendment

11:21

has any force it prohibits Congress

11:23

from fining or jailing citizens

11:26

or associations of citizens for

11:28

simply engaging in political speech, unquote.

11:32

Forget for one moment that in this country

11:34

the urging of violence against prosecutors

11:37

and judges and potential witnesses

11:39

who just happen to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs

11:42

has never been considered protected political

11:44

speech. It's more

11:46

important to note which case

11:49

that quote I just read comes

11:51

from. That's what matters here. It is

11:54

from Citizens

11:56

United and it

11:59

is in there. to set up an appeal

12:01

to the Supreme Court, which as we now know

12:03

from the latest ProPublica revelations about

12:06

Clarence and Ginny Thomas and bribes,

12:09

Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court corruptly decided

12:12

Citizens United and opened the Pandora's

12:14

box of limitless political graft

12:16

and venality disguised as free

12:18

speech. And

12:21

yet, none of this that

12:23

I have read you so far is the

12:26

most cynical and the most

12:29

disingenuous of all

12:31

the things in the Trump answer

12:33

to the Jack Smith demand for a gag

12:35

order or some action

12:38

restraining Trump. Quote,

12:41

The Constitution does not permit

12:44

the censorship of President

12:46

Trump for the unprovoked

12:49

acts of third parties. But

12:53

Trump has never called for any improper

12:56

or unlawful action, writes

12:59

Todd Blanche or whoever. And

13:02

they cite a 2003 case, Virginia

13:04

versus Plack, and quoting that intimidation

13:07

in the constitutionally prescribable

13:09

sense of the word is a type of true

13:11

threat where a speaker directs

13:13

a threat to a person or group

13:15

of persons with the intent of placing

13:18

the victim in fear of bodily harm or

13:20

death. Quote, If

13:23

Chutkin finds for Trump and not

13:25

for the special counsel, the

13:27

distinctions without differences

13:30

that are at the heart of Trump's lifetime

13:32

of getting away with

13:35

it will become codified

13:38

and solidified and in

13:40

cement. The

13:43

judge has her choice. She can pick

13:45

the side that will say that even the

13:47

judge in the witch hunt against poor martyr

13:50

Demjay Trump believes that telling

13:52

a bunch of killers and psychopaths that

13:54

the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is guilty

13:57

of an act so egregious

13:59

that in times gone by, the punishment would

14:01

have been death, that that is not

14:03

the same as telling them something like, Ooh, I

14:05

want one of you to go kill the chairman of the Joint

14:07

Chiefs of Staff. She

14:10

can choose that side,

14:12

or

14:12

she can pick the side that believes that who

14:15

says something like that

14:17

is more important than the precise

14:20

phrasing, that if the speaker inspired

14:23

the January 6th coup attempt, the

14:25

words are as

14:27

calculated to inspire an assassination

14:30

attempt as would be

14:32

the, just to pick an example

14:34

out of thin air, the doxing of President Obama.

14:37

All right, Trump did that too. Judge

14:43

Chutkin's upcoming choice, and

14:45

the Jack Smith response is not due until

14:47

Saturday, is about far

14:49

more than just a gag order

14:53

for somebody who deserves it for

14:55

the rest of time. This

14:59

decision may actually

15:01

decide the presidential

15:04

campaign, and thus

15:06

in turn it may actually decide whether

15:09

American representative government lives

15:13

or dies. The

15:18

other judges have been busy, and Trump continues

15:21

to lose at almost every turn in the

15:23

nearest parallel to Chutkin's upcoming

15:26

breathtaking choice. In

15:28

her upcoming gag order ruling, Judge

15:30

Sarah B. Wallace of Denver has

15:32

limited what Trump and other parties in the 14th

15:35

Amendment ballot ineligibility case there

15:37

can say. Nothing quote,

15:40

that could reasonably be construed as a

15:42

threat, intimidation, or act of harassment

15:44

intended to coerce, compel, or adversely

15:47

influence any party, counsel,

15:49

or witness from fully and freely participating

15:51

in these legal proceedings, including

15:54

quote, statements to the media

15:56

or in public settings, including

15:59

through social. media that

16:01

pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice

16:04

to this case. In Atlanta,

16:06

Judge Scott McAfee has ruled that the

16:08

identities of the jurors in the prosecution

16:10

of Trump there for trying to steal the

16:12

election in Georgia will remain

16:15

protected. No names, no videos, no sketches,

16:17

no recordings, no identification in

16:19

any document by anything other

16:21

than their juror numbers.

16:25

Even in the Florida case, with Trump appointee

16:27

Judge Eileen Cannon trying not to fall

16:29

off the chair behind the bench, she

16:32

has granted Jack Smith's motion to examine

16:34

potential conflicts involving

16:37

Trump's co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos

16:39

de Oliveira and their Trump-supplied

16:41

lawyers, and she has ordered that backup

16:44

attorneys stand by in case

16:46

she has to throw the current lawyers out.

16:50

And of course here in New York, the judge and the

16:52

attorney general's civil fraud case against

16:54

Trump has already awarded much

16:56

of the verdict to the prosecution. He's

16:59

canceled the Trump organization's New York

17:01

business certificates. He said that Trump

17:04

and his sons,

17:06

Uday and Cuse, that's

17:09

right, isn't it? Uday and Cuse Trump? That

17:12

they quote repeatedly unquote

17:14

violated New York state fraud law

17:16

and in particular Trump lied about how much he was

17:18

and is worth by oh only about three

17:21

billion six hundred million dollars. The

17:24

documents here clearly contain

17:27

fraudulent valuations that defendants

17:30

used in business, Judge

17:32

Anguaron said yesterday. He then fined

17:34

Trump's attorneys 7,500 clams

17:36

each for reusing legal arguments

17:39

that had already been rejected by the judge

17:41

twice. Judge Arthur

17:43

Anguaron literally just put

17:46

Trump out of business here. Now,

17:50

metaphorically speaking, it

17:52

is up to Judge Chutkin to do

17:54

exactly the same thing.

18:01

Also of interest in this 300th

18:03

edition of the podcast, Good

18:06

God, 300 episodes in 423 days.

18:14

Well,

18:14

what's coming up? What's the opposite of breaking

18:17

news? Former baseball hero, Kurt Schilling,

18:19

is a really, really dangerous, hate-filled man

18:22

with a bad memory. And Robert

18:24

F. Kennedy Jr. says he doesn't know what actually

18:26

happened on September 11th. I know. Neither

18:29

of these qualifies as breaking news. 300 episodes

18:32

in 423 days? I'm

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is Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

20:18

This won't

20:19

be a full sports report. This will

20:22

simply be a brief farewell

20:24

and thanks and tribute to Brooks

20:26

Robinson. I

20:28

don't think enough people in baseball today understand

20:31

that Brooks Robinson was the greatest third

20:33

baseman to ever play the game. Certainly defensively

20:35

and offensively he was enough to lead

20:37

the Orioles to the 1966 World Series

20:40

Championship and another one in 1970. But

20:43

this is about something else. Brooks

20:46

Robinson was one of those rare

20:48

sports immortals who

20:52

to the end didn't quite

20:54

believe that he was anything

20:57

special. Brooks Robinson

20:59

was nice, I think, to everybody

21:02

he ever met. He treated them

21:04

with respect. He deferred

21:06

to them. He complimented them. He

21:08

was always available for any small

21:11

task or favor asked of him. All

21:14

the fan stuff, all the, do

21:16

you know Brooks Robinson, can I meet him stuff,

21:19

Brooks Robinson accepted with happiness

21:23

and with gratitude

21:25

as we will accept the

21:28

memory of Brooks Robinson

21:30

with happiness and gratitude.

21:46

Still ahead on Countdown.