Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / People in the FBI think Patel is a 'dumpster fire' - Fmr. FBI official

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People in the FBI think Patel is a 'dumpster fire' - Fmr. FBI official · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: Joining us now former FBI official and ms NOW National
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  Speaker 1: security and Intelligence analyst Chris O'Leary. Joyce Vance is former
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  Speaker 1: US attorney and ms NOW legal analyst. Ashley Parker, staff
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  Speaker 1: writer at the Atlantic, is back with me, Joyce knowing
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  Speaker 1: what's public about six years of investigations into twenty twenty,
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  Speaker 1: including rulings by Republican appointed judges. What are the chances
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  Speaker 1: we're on the precipice of a history changing conspiracy being unmasked.
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  Speaker 2: I suppose that there's a non zero chance of just
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  Speaker 2: about anything. But the timing on this one is suspect
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  Speaker 2: at best. This issue involving the election has been litigated
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  Speaker 2: again and again. I think that this is very likely
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  Speaker 2: more about politics than it is about anything else.
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  Speaker 1: Chris, how unusual is it? I mean, look, first, we're
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  Speaker 1: used to FBI directors coming out and they're usually flanked
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  Speaker 1: by a bunch of people, and they say that they
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  Speaker 1: have made a series of arracts or they have filed
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  Speaker 1: a lawsuit, whatever. But when you announce a future arrest
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  Speaker 1: on TV or a series of future arrests, how unusual
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  Speaker 1: is that?
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  Speaker 3: You don't do that? But when you're an unqualified sick
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  Speaker 3: event who should not be the director of the FBI.
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  Speaker 3: He's catering to the White House and to President Trump,
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  Speaker 3: who has alleged these conspiracies going all the way back
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  Speaker 3: to when he didn't win an Emmy for The Apprentice,
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  Speaker 3: and then when he lost the Iowa Caucuses to Ted Cruz,
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  Speaker 3: and on and on and on. So he, you know,
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  Speaker 3: every time Cash, you know, embarrasses himself, the FBI, and
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  Speaker 3: the country, he then does something to distract and to
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  Speaker 3: please President Trump. And this to me just seems like
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  Speaker 3: the latest episode. And we can reflect back just you know,
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  Speaker 3: a couple of months when the FBI and TULCA Gabbert
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  Speaker 3: sees the voter information down in Fulton County, something that
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  Speaker 3: is clearly inappropriate and not based on any facts.
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  Speaker 1: So Ashley, your colleague at The Atlantic, s Sarah Fitzpatrick
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  Speaker 1: reports in that article that several officials told her Patel
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  Speaker 1: had consumed alcohol to the point of obvious intoxication in
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  Speaker 1: front of White House officials and other Trump administration staff
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  Speaker 1: on multiple occasions within the past year. Members of his
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  Speaker 1: security detail have also had difficulty waking Patel because he
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  Speaker 1: was seemingly intoxicated. These are the allegations Patel is challenging
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  Speaker 1: in his suit. But I know you've reported on Patel's
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  Speaker 1: standing with the president. Do we know where he stands
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  Speaker 1: with the president right now?
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  Speaker 4: We have some sense. So someone I spoke with in
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  Speaker 4: the White House, Hade, told me that that incident that
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  Speaker 4: did involve at least an image of him drinking with
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  Speaker 4: the US hockey team at the Olympic, had obviously displeased
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  Speaker 4: the President. It's worth noting here that President Trump is
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  Speaker 4: someone who does not drink, has never drink. His older
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  Speaker 4: brother died after a long illness with alcoholism, and so
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  Speaker 4: it's something in general substances, substance abuse, alcohol that the
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  Speaker 4: President does not like. He doesn't like to see his
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  Speaker 4: aids engaging in that. And again we don't know how
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  Speaker 4: much he was drinking there. There was just that one image,
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  Speaker 4: but I know the President was upset or displeased as
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  Speaker 4: it was put to me about that one image. And
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  Speaker 4: then generally, when Pambondi was pushed out as Attorney General,
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  Speaker 4: we heard rumors that there were other people in the
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  Speaker 4: White House who were also going to be next to go,
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  Speaker 4: and one of those was Cash Patel, And in talking
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  Speaker 4: to several senior officials at the White House. They basically
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  Speaker 4: did not waive me or my colleagues off of his
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  Speaker 4: name being on that list. But they also said, you know,
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  Speaker 4: there's nothing immin it. It's not like he's getting pushed
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  Speaker 4: out tomorrow. But yes, he is one of this handful
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  Speaker 4: of people serving the press president who there had been ongoing,
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  Speaker 4: slow moving discussions about when is the appropriate time for
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  Speaker 4: them to leave.
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  Speaker 1: So, Chris, what impact could this reported behavior from an
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  Speaker 1: FBI director have overall on the agency and its staff.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I'll tell you there is no trust and confidence
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  Speaker 3: in cash Hotel's abilities within the FBI, but also across
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  Speaker 3: the law enforcement community in the United States, the intelligence community,
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  Speaker 3: and our international partners. The FBI has been effective since
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  Speaker 3: its birth in nineteen oh eight because it builds strong
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  Speaker 3: partnerships and it sets a standard for professionalism with law
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  Speaker 3: enforcement and intelligence, and all of that has been abandoned
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  Speaker 3: with the actions and the clown car side show of
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  Speaker 3: cash matel. I mean, frankly, people within the FBI think
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  Speaker 3: he's a dumpster fire.
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  Speaker 1: Ashley. When you look at Betel's announcement of quote arrests
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  Speaker 1: coming soon, and then we hear of a separate effort
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  Speaker 1: to investigate the twenty twenty four election in Michigan, spearheaded
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  Speaker 1: by someone, I should say, who's widely reported to be
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  Speaker 1: jocking to be the next attorney general. Is it a
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  Speaker 1: far reach to think this is a way to get
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  Speaker 1: into the President's good graces.
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  Speaker 4: Well, first I have to say, when Cash announced you know,
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  Speaker 4: arrest coming soon to me, I just had flashbacks again
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  Speaker 4: a former Attorney General Pam Bondi saying the Epstein files
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  Speaker 4: are on my desk and I'll be releasing them soon.
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  Speaker 4: And this is you know, Cash Battell is someone like frankly,
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  Speaker 4: everyone who works in this administration who does want to
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  Speaker 4: get on the president's good side, who is performing again
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  Speaker 4: like everyone for an audience of one, who does know
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  Speaker 4: what this president wants. And one of the things that
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  Speaker 4: this president wants, you know, is validation for his false
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  Speaker 4: and baseless claims that the twenty twenty election was somehow
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  Speaker 4: stole from him. So it's not particularly surprising that Cash
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  Speaker 4: battal is, the president's FBI director, would be doing what
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  Speaker 4: he believes is the President's bidding. But the risk here
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  Speaker 4: for Cash is the same thing that happened in certain
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  Speaker 4: ways to Pam Bondy, which is even if you bring
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  Speaker 4: arrests and bring investigations that when Trump wants something. He
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  Speaker 4: was disappointed that she was not able to win these
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  Speaker 4: cases that most people would have told you were unwinnable
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  Speaker 4: and they would not have brought. And you could see
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  Speaker 4: him running into those exact same challenges. He could do
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  Speaker 4: what the president wants, but he can't always deliver the
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  Speaker 4: outcome that the president wants.
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  Speaker 1: So meantime, Joyce Michigan, Secretary of State, is fighting the
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  Speaker 1: Justice Department's claims that the state has a quote history
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  Speaker 1: of fraud convictions and other allegations. Let's take a listen.
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  Speaker 5: They're trying to use old tropes to sow seats of
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  Speaker 5: doubt about the validity and safety and security of our elections,
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  Speaker 5: way towards intimidating voters, particularly voters of color, but also
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  Speaker 5: setting the tone to try to challenge elections in the future.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah that part. How real is the concern? This is
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  Speaker 1: really an effort to so doubt about future elections.
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  Speaker 2: Well, much like what Ashley was just talking about, where
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  Speaker 2: we saw Patel do something that no FBI director should
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  Speaker 2: ever do, which is essentially discussing ongoing grand jury proceedings
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  Speaker 2: and suggesting that indictments were forthcoming, something that's right on
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  Speaker 2: the tip of being a federal felony in addition to
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  Speaker 2: something that violates DOJ policy. What we're seeing Harmi Dillon,
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  Speaker 2: who's currently the head of the Civil Rights Division in DOJ.
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  Speaker 2: Do in Michigan, it is very similar, right. All of
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  Speaker 2: this is an effort to curry favor with the president,
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  Speaker 2: to see whatever job these individuals want next, or to
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  Speaker 2: hold on to the one that they already have. In
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  Speaker 2: going after voting records in Detroit, Dylan is of course
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  Speaker 2: playing into one of the President's future goals for upcoming elections,
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  Speaker 2: to so so much doubt about their integrity that if
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  Speaker 2: his party loses, he can say that it was the
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  Speaker 2: result of fraud. But I think it's important for us
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  Speaker 2: to note what is not happening in Detroit. You know,
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  Speaker 2: in Atlanta, as flawed as that effort to go in
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  Speaker 2: and snatch and grab voting records was, prosecutors went to
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  Speaker 2: a federal magistrate judge with what they purported was probable
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  Speaker 2: cause and got a search war well up in Michigan,
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  Speaker 2: all we have is this statement coming out of the
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  Speaker 2: Justice Department.
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  Speaker 5: Gee.
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  Speaker 2: This is an area where historically there have been problems
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  Speaker 2: with elections, so we want to get your records and
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  Speaker 2: see what happened in twenty twenty four. And that's so
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  Speaker 2: far away from being predication for a legitimate investigation that
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  Speaker 2: it would be laughable under any other administration. Of course,
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  Speaker 2: here the Justice Department is trying to get records out
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  Speaker 2: of Michigan. They've already been advised by the way that
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  Speaker 2: their initial request for the records went to the wrong place.
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  Speaker 2: It went to a county clerk instead of the municipal
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  Speaker 2: clerks who actually hold those records. Make of it what
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  Speaker 2: you will. It's not competent, it's not legally based. It's
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  Speaker 2: just more of the same politics.