Latest / Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning / WOR White House correspondent and attorney Jon Decker interview

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WOR White House correspondent and attorney Jon Decker interview · Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, we always look forward to talking to John Decker,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: but especially so today. We were talking about this yesterday.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: John Decker is not only the wr White House and
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Washington correspondent, but he's also a constitutional attorney. He is also,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: by the way, the host of the podcast The White
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: House Briefing Room with John Decker that could be found
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app. And the reason it's so important
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: that your constitutional attorney is because, of course Anthony Fauci
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: took the Fifth one hundred and eleven times and they
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  Speaker 1: were saying to him. Ran Paul said it. Several of
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  Speaker 1: the Republican senators told him, you don't have the right
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  Speaker 1: to take the fifth because you were pardoned. So what
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  Speaker 1: is the answer. Can he take the fifth?
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  Speaker 2: Well, that is every American's constitutional right. But the added
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  Speaker 2: element to this is that he received a pardon. But
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: the pardon that he received from former President Joe Biden
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  Speaker 2: on Biden's last day in office only covers a specific
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: period of time, and because of that, his lawyers advised him,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: it would be in your best interest to plead the
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: fifth to invoke your Fifth Amendment rights because the time
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  Speaker 2: period as it relates to the pardon only covers through
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  Speaker 2: January the nineteenth of twenty twenty five, and as a result,
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  Speaker 2: if he essentially perjured himself yesterday during his testimony, he
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: would be on the hook for that. The pardon would
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  Speaker 2: not cover that particular instance.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: One other thing I heard John to add to that
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  Speaker 1: is they are investigating him. The US state attorney in
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: the US Attorney of General, he should say in Florida
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: is also investigating him, and the pardon wouldn't cover state charges, right,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: That is correct.
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  Speaker 2: So pardons only apply to federal charges federal convictions. They
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: don't apply to state charges or state convictions. So that
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  Speaker 2: is something that you know, Anthony Falci, who's eighty five
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: years old, has to now contend with, is the possibility
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: of a specific state bringing certain charges against him for
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: actions that he may have taken during the course of
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: his time advising President Donald Trump and advising President Joe
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: Biden during the coronavirus pandemic.
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: Thank you, John Dicker. I want to pivot and shift
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: because sometimes I don't know if President Trump knows stuff
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: already or if he truly is surprised. But yesterday I
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: think he was asked a question about a Reuters report
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  Speaker 3: that red China has sent four hundred showed the fired
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  Speaker 3: Stinger missiles to Iran, which sort of conjured up an
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  Speaker 3: image to me of how we had sent those same
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: Stinger missiles to the Moujah dem when they were shooting
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  Speaker 3: out of the sky the Soviet Air Force in Afghanistan.
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  Speaker 3: He seemed to say he had no idea about that.
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: I don't know if you are on the premises at
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: that time.
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  Speaker 2: But I was in the Oval Office. I asked a
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: question of the President in the Oval Office yesterday, So
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  Speaker 2: I was there when that question was posed to the President,
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: and you're right. The President seemed to be caught off
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: guard when that question was posed to him, and the
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: President reverted back to conversations that he had most recently
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: with President she in which the President said President she
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  Speaker 2: had given his assurances to President Trump that he would
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  Speaker 2: in no way China would in no way help Iran
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  Speaker 2: in this conflict that has been going on since late February.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: Well, all right, and Larry had discussed this before you
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: came on the air. And Larry's knee jerk response was,
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: if true, more tariffs, more tariffs against red Chine, can
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  Speaker 3: we assume that if in fact it turns out to
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: be true. John Decker, well, we can.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: That being said, you know what is on the horizon
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  Speaker 2: in a short period of time. September the twenty fourth,
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  Speaker 2: in President Trump reach firm that yesterday in the Oval
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  Speaker 2: Office is a state visit by President she at the
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: White House, So that could potentially complicate that state visit.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: I think that that would be an apt response if
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: indeed China was in any way helping out Iran in
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: this conflict. But ultimately it's up to the President in
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  Speaker 2: terms of whether or not he wants to impose those
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  Speaker 2: tariffs on an adversary like China, which is not always
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: looking out for America's best interest.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: You know, it seems like every time we talk, I
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: bring up the Save Act, And the only reason I
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: do because you just say, look, the votes aren't there.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: The only reason I do is because the President keeps
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: bringing it up, and Republicans keep bringing it up, and
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: some of them are attacking John Thun for not getting
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: the job done right now, and now they're talking about
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: canceling the August recess to try to get this through.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: So Donald Trump is held bent on getting this through,
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  Speaker 1: but he would he be able to do it if
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: they got rid of the filibuster.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: Would he be able to pass the Save Act if
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  Speaker 2: they got rid of the Philipbuster. The answer to that
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  Speaker 2: question is yes. But as John Thune said in fact
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  Speaker 2: within the past week in an interview that he did
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  Speaker 2: on Fox News, the votes are not even there to
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  Speaker 2: change the philipbuster rules. There are certain Republicans that do
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  Speaker 2: not want to change those rules, and there's no way
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  Speaker 2: around that problem. Either. You can keep the Senate in
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: session if you want to do that, but it's just
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  Speaker 2: going through this process that's not going to change the endgame.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: And in addition to that, as I mentioned the other day,
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  Speaker 2: Leader Thune is very much concerned about at least two
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: of his members that would like to be back in
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: their home state campaigning for reelection. And you know, he
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: wants to give those Republican centers that opportunity, and keeping
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: them in Washington would essentially keep them off the campaign
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  Speaker 2: trail and that would be problematic in terms of their
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  Speaker 2: reelection runs.
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: Please explain to USh John Decker the hold up on
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: the Attorney General becoming the permit in Attorney General, they
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: are two Republicans is corinth and there's Tillis, who are
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  Speaker 3: basically saying, you got to put everything you said before
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  Speaker 3: us on a piece of paper. I didn't quite understand
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  Speaker 3: what they were talking about.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: Okay, Well, Todd Blanche has said publicly, hey, there's no
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: anti weaponization fund. We've moved on from that position. Well,
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  Speaker 2: if that's the case, there are two senators, Republican senators
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: who both sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, that have
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: said to Todd Blanche, put that in writing, put that
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: idea in writing, and we will consider voting for your nomination.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: The other problem for Todd Blanche is the fact that
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: the Justice Department negotiated a settlement which essentially prevents the
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: IRS from ever looking into any tax information of President Trump,
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: his sonans tax information, or the businesses that Donald Trump
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: has the Trump Organization. That's problematic for both John Cornyn
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: and Tom Tillis, and as a result, right now they're
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: not approving Todd Blanche's nomination to be the next Attorney
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: General on a permanent basis, and as a result, the
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: vote for his nomination was put off by the committee
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: chairman until they can secure the votes of those two
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: Republican senators.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: It looks like Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenski's visit to Washington
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: was an extremely successful one. Donald Trump had nothing but
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: good things to say about him and met with him.
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  Speaker 1: It looks like the Congress is going to pass sanctions
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: against Russia. Things really changed in our relationships with Ukraine.
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  Speaker 1: What is it going to be like going forward now?
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: Well, it's a good question. The President seemed to yesterday
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: in the Oval Office when asked about Ukraine and specifically
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: that Russia sanctions bill, he seemed to add another caveat
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: to his support for that legislation. He says that he
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: once added to the legislation which has already passed the Senate,
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: tariffs on Iran in addition to sanctions on Iran. So
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: if that indeed is added as an amendment, the whole
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: process needs to start all over again, because it would
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: change the legislation that was already passed in the US Senate,
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: and of course the House hasn't voted on it yet.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: But I agree with you, Larry, that it was a
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  Speaker 2: successful visit by President Zelenski to Washington. He came here
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: for the funeral of Lindsay Graham, and he leaves with
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  Speaker 2: passage of that bill and also the relationship between the
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: US and Ukraine on much firmer footing. I think the
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: president really respects President Zelensky as things stand today.
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  Speaker 3: Now, John Deck, you know the culture Washington, Fauci's diaries
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: being dropped because they will left on government servers, not
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: even his own private a lot of self aggrandizement saying yes,
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: I agree, right, things that we knew. Okay, you got
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  Speaker 3: an ego, this was so over the top. Well people
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  Speaker 3: expecting this at all in that Washington culture because he
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: he was an integrated part of that.
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  Speaker 2: Well, keep in mind, I covered the White House during
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: that entire period of time. I was there every time
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: he came into the White House briefing room to brief
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: us on the latest concerning the coronavirus pandemic. I would
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: see Anthony Fauci out, you know, at events that that
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  Speaker 2: I attended as well, and you could tell he really
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: developed a huge ego as a result of all the
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: attention that was thrust upon him during that period of time.
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  Speaker 2: So to me, not a surprise in terms of what
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: he put in those diaries that were released by Senator
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: Rand Paul this week. And you know, I think that
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: obviously a lot of that went to his head in
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: terms of all of the attention that he was getting
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: during that period of time.
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  Speaker 1: All right, John Decker, WR, White House and Washington correspondent
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: and host of the podcast The White House Briefing Room
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: with John Decker, which can be found on the iHeartRadio app.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: Thanks a lot, John, Thanks Larry, Thanks Curtis. Have a
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: great day. Bye bye.