Latest / International Flavor: Where the Truth Tastes Better / Robots Signed the Pardons, Missiles Sank the Boats: Human Rights, Autopen Scandal, and Law of the Sea Accountability Tonight

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Robots Signed the Pardons, Missiles Sank the Boats: Human Rights, Autopen Scandal, and Law of the Sea Accountability Tonight · International Flavor: Where the Truth Tastes Better

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It's incredibly awesome music to bring you some
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incredibly awesome political talk on damn radio Just
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makes me feel like Saying hey, how you
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doing?
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I'm Samuel trap This is international flavor You're
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here on damn radio.
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You can listen to me every night on
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damn radio 9 o'clock 1030 love it.
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I'm here live at the Lake Ozark Real
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estate of the art studio So I came
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in a little bit early and Harassed the
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old Ike stir Who I like talking to
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because I just think he's an interesting guy
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anyway but I heard him chatting about something
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similar to what I was gonna kind of
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go off on today and that is these
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continual Bombing killing of boats in the Caribbean
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by the Trump administration, you know, no No
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trial necessary No discussion this We say we
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say we should trust the government, right?
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We must trust the government To make sure
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that we're not just blowing people up.
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So Let's say let's let's give you a
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couple of examples here just for anybody knows
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I'm talking about the boats that are alleged
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drug smuggling boats leaving from Venezuela somewhere and
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then they get a little bit out and
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then they get just blown up and No,
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no discussion.
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No Hey, that wouldn't happen to be your
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wife on board.
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That doesn't have anything to do with it
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Would it you know the one that's forced
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to get on and come with you And
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you blow up the boat anyway, or what
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if you're a six-year-old sons in
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the hold does that stop them from?
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Blowing up the boat.
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I don't know probably not I Got some
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interesting comments on it and I was listening
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and so I came in and began to
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rap with him About it and he you
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know, he has his views I've mind they
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coincide In many ways and then again, sometimes
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they don't Which is okay, you know, everybody's
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you know, I appreciate other points of view
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and I don't Presume to tell anybody they
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can believe what they want or they have
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to believe like me I don't give a
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rip, you know that I just believe what
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I believe and I usually Attempt to back
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it up with my own beliefs.
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So You know and in keeping with that
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tonight.
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I have two things.
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I want to talk about one I had
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some time to go over the Auto pen
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fiasco and the evidence did well you want
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to call it that the document that I
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downloaded for for JR and I I Was
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able to go through it in a fairly
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detailed fashion So that'll be kind of fun.
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But before I do that, I wanted to
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Talk to you a little bit about something
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called article 17 of the 1988 United Nations
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Convention against the illicit traffic in narcotic drugs
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and psychotropic substances So it's in short they
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call it the illicit traffic by sea and
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So I'm gonna read you parts of this.
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Okay Basically what it starts out with the
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parties shall cooperate to the fullest extent possible
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to suppress illicit traffic by sea in conformity
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with the International law of the sea.
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Okay What article 17 provides in you know,
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plain English?
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is It provides assistance to suppress at sea
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which means if a state suspects a vessel
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flying its own flag a US ship following
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a US flag or Without a flag or
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marks of registry is used for drug trafficking
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It may ask other states for help those
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asked shall Render assistance within their means so
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if somebody asks you Then you have to
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or you know, you shall render assistance okay,
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that's if it's under your own flag a
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suspect vessel under another flag If a state
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suspects a vessel on the high seas is
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engaged in a lift in illicit traffic and
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It flies the flag of another state country.
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It may one notify the flag state to
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request confirmation of registry and if confirmed three
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request authorization from the flag state to take
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appropriate measures The flag state what the flag
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state may authorize this they can authorize something
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authorizations can include a boarding the vessel be
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Searching the vessel see if evidence is found
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taking appropriate action regarding the vessel persons and
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cargo This is United Nations Treaty language.
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We're talking about Which the u.s. Is
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a part of we'll get to that in
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a minute Safety and interests that are protected
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all action must account for safety of life
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Safety of life safety of life.
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I repeat at sea Security of the vessel
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or cargo and avoid prejudiced prejudicing commercial or
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legal interests of the flag state or other
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interested states Hmm Conditions by the flag state
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the flag state may attach conditions including on
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responsibility to any authorization that they grant fast
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responses and designated authorities states must respond expeditiously
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to registry and authorization requests and must designate
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an authority to receive respond This designation is
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notified via whom the UN Secretary General within
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one month Informing so they had the UN
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has to be notified of this, you know,
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even after the fact informing of results any
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state That takes action under article 17 must
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promptly inform the flag state of the outcome
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They have to encourage bilateral and regional agreements
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states should consider agreements to implement or enhance
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article 17 cooperation 9 I Mean, I'm sorry
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only government ships and aircraft Enforcement actions under
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the the nine.
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Well the the previous may be carried out
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only by warships military aircraft or clearly marked
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government service vessels or aircraft Coastal state rights
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preserved any action must not interfere with coastal
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state rights or jurisdiction under the International Law
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of the Sea Okay, this is on page
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197 198 of the UN Treaty Series PDF
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you can find that online check it out
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So the u.s. Is a signatory to
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this agreement it was signed by the u
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.s. the 20th of December 1988 in Vienna
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it was ratified by the United States on
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the 20th of February of 1990 and the
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convention all of it entered into force on
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the 11th of November of 1990 thus binding
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the u.s. From that date since the
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u.s. Had already ratified it Before it
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entered into force now the u.s. Put
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a dis exclusion and said we're not bound
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by article 32 which regards Dispute settlement, so
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they said we're not bound by one Article,
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but we are bound by the rest.
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They ratified it.
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It's a treaty It's a law of the
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United States, okay?
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That's how you do it Um so I
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think A Inappropriate response Is
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not to blow up a ship I Just
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I just don't think that's appropriate.
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I I I Don't know I I had
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a discussion with Ike about it and said
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you know in my view.
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It's just un-american you know we don't
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I Don't agree with that.
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I gave him an example of back away
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back when when I was practicing law And
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there were some drug runners that I was
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dealing with and helping to defend in court
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You know give the example of let's say
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you know they're drug runners, and you know
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they're coming up from from Oklahoma and Texas
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and that they are Bringing drugs through the
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United States does that authorize blowing them up
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or Killing them just because and let's say
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you absolutely know and now what difference does
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it make if it's on the sea or
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in a car?
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Or in a truck or in anything?
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Those are just a few comments that I
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have and I'm gonna go into a little
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bit further based on this But I also
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thought it might be interesting to point out
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That Venezuela is also a party to this
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Agreement this treaty they signed it on the
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20th of December 1988 same day in Vienna
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Austria they ratified it on the 16th of
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July of 1991 and thus Venezuela's also bound
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by this convention upon joining Venezuela filed interpretive
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Declarations the convention the convention is not a
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legal basis to extradite Venezuelan citizens and controlled
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delivery Applies only in so far as that
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is consistent with the national law so they
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put two exceptions on there that their national
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law deals with criminal sorts of Penalties and
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Investigations and all that sort of thing but
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in general everybody is bound by this and
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I've given you what article 17 requires and
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Obviously, we're not doing it We're not and
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I suppose You could say well, why would
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we hmm?
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I don't know sounds curious doesn't it but
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I want to go into just a Short
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little Diatribe about this and if you feel
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like calling in it's an interesting topic And
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I do appreciate other points views if you
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feel like dying Diving in with me five
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seven three seven four six eighty twenty and
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I'd be happy to chat with you Let's
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see so basically What's the difference between?
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The law of the sea which I just
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read to you and bomb first and ask
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questions later I Mean, you know like me.
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Let's ask questions later like is there perhaps
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a spouse on board?
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Maybe she didn't do anything or him.
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Maybe there's a kid on there Maybe there's
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a 15 year old daughter of somebody that
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you know might look like an adult But
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isn't you just blow up the boat you
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don't it doesn't matter who's there nothing hmm,
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so if you're a cop at sea Does
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the badge turn your Torpedoes into a gun
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to fire willy-nilly because you don't like
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to look at the boat or your best
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friend told you that Somebody's carrying drugs The
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high seas is supposed to run on rules
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Hmm what are ours?
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The rule book on the high seas a
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ship answers to its own flag state Other
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states can only board for very narrow reasons
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piracy slave trade statelessness or with flag state
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consent for drug states That's 1988 Vienna Convention
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article 17 that I already outlined to you
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even then Force has to be necessary Reasonable
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and aimed not to endanger life that isn't
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poetry That's not Sam that is black letter
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law of the sea, okay Let's let's look
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at this the something called the Saiga rule
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is the international sea law That you hit
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you know you have to warn them first
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De-escalate and not endanger life when enforcing
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law at sea So in this case, which
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was a 19 99 Case the international law
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of the sea case 1999 Guinea used excessive
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force and the tribunal said nope can't do
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that And it wrote the standard for the
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whole new world that I mean that the
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world cites now So, you know, maybe we
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could have a mug for you know To
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provide for the president in his and his
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crowd that says life over seizures or maybe
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put it in a On a t-shirt
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or something There's another case a case of
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Guyana versus Suriname threats are force as well
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Suriname pointed guns at a drilling rig and
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what did the tribunal say?
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That is an unlawful threat of forced force
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that is not law enforcement, so what's the
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translation?
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menacing a civilian vessel crosses the line Bombing
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it, you know, we have pole vaulted pole
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vaulted over the line, right?
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Let's let's give you another case Sound bite
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number three.
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It said this one.
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Well, I can't play it because it's another
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language.
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I had to translate it I'm alone deja
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vu Canada versus the United States the Coast
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Guard sank a Prohibition era rumrunner called I'm
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alone on the high seas and the u
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.s. Ended up paying Okay, that was nearly
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a century ago Nearly a century later.
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The warning is still a valid warning, you
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know, the you sink a smuggler at sea
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Expect a legal bill and a you know
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diplomatic migraine headache So how are drug cases?
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Supposed to work.
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Well, I read you how the article 17
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works For narcotics two flags use flag state
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consent under Vienna 1988 and regional agreements if
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they have any Council of Europe's article 17
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implementing pact There is one you hail you
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pursue you board you seize and you arrest
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if you must use force It's warning shots
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then engine disabling fire Deadly force only to
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protect life.
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That is the u.s. Playbook on paper
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Right Department of Homeland Security US Coast Guard
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policy sinking comes after the rescue or to
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remove a hazard Not as a rolling punishment
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from 10,000 feet, right?
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So why does it matter?
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Because since early September Washington has carried out
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a string.
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I can't tell you anymore I think it's
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close to 10 of Missile and airstrikes on
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small boats in the Caribbean and now in
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the Eastern Pacific killing dozens with Colombia UN
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experts and plenty of law of the sea
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nerds crying foul Even if you wanted a
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tough anti cartel message the law enforcement Paradigm
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still governs on the high seas.
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You can't just declare an all-ocean war
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so under the law that actually exists to
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sequences hail board seize prosecute what we've seen
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is detect allegedly strike Absolutely, and bury the
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evidence that is not enforcement That's extra judicial
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shortcut in a splash zone.
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This is crap in my opinion Let's talk
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about human rights, okay Human rights, I don't
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believe are tethered to someone's zip code You
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know human rights are human rights if your
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agents control or target people at sea Your
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obligations travel with them, right our obligation for
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law enforcement Isn't it?
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You know you leave the border suddenly you
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can kill whoever you want But that's how
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we're doing it.
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It's this is wrong The here's another one
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her seed Jama in 2012 the court held
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that acts by state vessels on the high
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seas trigger that states human rights Jurisdiction, how
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do you like this so if the u
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.s.? Takes an action on the high seas
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against a criminal ship from another jurisdiction another
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country our our Human rights jurisdiction is triggered
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which means they should get the same treatment
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as a citizen Because we're bombing them.
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How do you like that?
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That's law.
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This is this is law.
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This is precedent It's already been done.
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We're not doing it So why doesn't why
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doesn't the rest of the world trust us
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we create whatever rules we want treaty no
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treaty doesn't matter We just do what we
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want if you intercept or push back migrants
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your right to life Duties follow you off
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the beach the principle doesn't vanish when the
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target is a suspected smuggler Here's a 1997
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case Haitian interdiction the Inter-American Commission Said
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that the u.s..
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Interdiction program stopping people Violated international law because
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it couldn't fairly assess in the asylum claim
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and protected right at sea Read that again
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with missiles in your head instead of boarding
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ladders So I'm not saying I agree with
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it.
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I'm saying that's the state of the law
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right now that if you are stopping Haitians
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and You are stopping them and turning them
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around that as soon as you stop them
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and begin to question them our human rights
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our policies on What do you call it?
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Asylum Take take effect now.
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I don't necessarily agree with that, but that's
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international law right there Uh, let's see UN
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right to life Baselines, okay the UN Charter
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basic principles on the use of force and
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fire arms this is UN which we ignore
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because we can We do say that lethal
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force is for imminent Threats to life only
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not for destroying evidence Not for stopping property
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crime and the Human Rights Committee's general comment
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number 36 Hammers on that no arbitrary deprivation
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of life is allowed even in emergencies and
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conflicts That's what you on UN people are
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saying right now So there's a group of
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human rights experts from the UN that calls
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these maritime kills No, which is the same
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thing.
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I call them Extrajudicial execution in international waters
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full stop warning of the UN Charter breach
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and Regional destabilization, okay, we are breaking the
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UN Charter we are just doing what we
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feel like why because we have the bigger
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warships and because we Care about our own
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politics and what hopefully people look at this
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and go yeah get those drug runners You
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don't know that they're drug running.
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I mean Jesus I Don't know how hard
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we have to push this, you know, how
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would you like do unto others?
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Let's talk about do you know people call
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up ask about Jesus and I'm not against
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it You know do unto others Then split
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is that what it says in you know
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do under do unto others and then get
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the hell out of here quick for Somebody
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catches us.
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No, it's do unto others as You would
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have them do unto you isn't that how
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it goes, right?
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But no, no, no, we just blow them
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up.
23:19
Now.
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Let's ask questions later, right or don't ask
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questions ago We're like the kids sitting at
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the back of the bus shooting spitballs toward
23:29
the front, you know Somebody looks back and
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catch what you know, that kid's a dick
23:35
And you should we can shoot him in
23:37
the head he started it right, you know
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Look what he's doing.
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He's doing bad stuff, you know, I should
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therefore, you know one horror story shouldn't be
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get another right So I'm very much against
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this.
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Maybe you can tell What are our friends
23:56
on the other side of the planet saying
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This has been pretty blunt coverage six killed
24:03
in The Caribbean five killed in the Pacific.
24:07
There's probably more Washington is calling this a
24:11
war on cartels But neighbors are calling it
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Murder, that's what I call it.
24:18
It's the Monroe Doctrine in deck shoes.
24:20
We can do whatever we want.
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Why?
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Manifest destiny, baby.
24:25
We're supposed to be there, you know, Columbia's
24:27
government Normally pretty tight with Washington and remember
24:31
Columbia used to be, you know It's all
24:34
nothing but drug lords when I went to
24:35
Columbia for New Year's Year and a half
24:38
two years ago.
24:39
Can't remember might only been so last year
24:42
You know might only been last year that
24:44
I went for New Year's to Columbia.
24:46
What a beautiful country.
24:47
What a fantastic country Maybe they do sell
24:50
drugs there and if they're drug lords, you
24:52
know growing stuff and in the mountains But
24:54
I was way up in the mountains and
24:56
it's freaking fantastic and there there are Americans
24:58
everywhere So, you know riding bicycles all over
25:02
to pace place beautiful highways I thought the
25:05
u.s. Might have purchased Columbia a long
25:07
time ago, you know Because we've been trying
25:10
to buy him out.
25:10
You sure as hell don't want him in
25:12
bed with China according to the government.
25:14
I don't give a crap frankly.
25:16
I Just want a nice place to travel
25:18
to but I you know, I don't I
25:21
don't want drugs going anywhere but I sure
25:23
as hell don't want to take all things
25:26
American and just crap on them because you
25:31
know, we allege that there's somebody that you
25:34
know Running drugs, right?
25:38
So we and we just blow them up
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execution Execution is what this is so if
25:47
your law enforcement plan at sea is Boom
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splash no boarding report.
25:53
Don't be shocked when the UN's, you know
25:56
Complaining that this is extrajudicial Because it is
26:00
you can't save American lives by skipping the
26:05
very legal tests designed to Separate criminals from
26:10
fishermen.
26:11
That's why the tests exist you know I
26:15
in in our own country and Internationally, there
26:20
is zero excuse for this zero.
26:22
I think it's a What do you call
26:26
it a squirrel to look, you know to
26:28
get you to look the other way squirrel
26:29
You look at see the dog look over
26:32
here.
26:32
Don't pay attention to this.
26:33
This is crap Um Let's talk about the
26:38
evidence problem Washington has no public evidence That
26:43
these boats any of them any of them
26:47
carry drugs Much less that these boats post
26:51
any imminent threat to life to anyone by
26:57
drugs or otherwise Reporters and regional officials say
27:01
several routes targeted aren't even the main pathway
27:05
for u.s. Bound fentanyl Families of the
27:09
dead say some were fishermen Meanwhile bodies and
27:13
cargo are vaporized So good luck litigating truth
27:18
after that Let's talk about effectiveness in the
27:24
theater surrounding that if The goal is interdiction
27:29
the Coast Guard not air-to-surface munitions
27:33
should be the doctrine The government accounting office
27:38
has dinged DHS and its partners for years
27:41
on performance gaps related to drug enforcement, but
27:45
the answer has never been skip boarding the
27:49
boats at all even the DOD says When
27:52
it does maritime law enforcement under u.s.
27:57
Coast Guard control it follows u.s. Coast
28:00
Guard policy warning shots engine stops rescue bomb
28:06
first is completely outside the bounds of legality
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Backsplash which which which to which the horror
28:17
story of this you're normalizing Sink on site
28:22
You're writing the talking points for every state
28:25
that wants to shoot first at boats it
28:28
doesn't like does that mean that up in
28:31
the Baltic Sea the Lithuanians see a Russian
28:37
tanker ship that is or a ship suspected
28:42
of carrying Russian oil Does that mean they
28:48
can blow it up?
28:50
I mean, that's a legal activity, right?
28:53
They're breaking sanctions You know depending on how
28:56
you look at it, I suppose but it's
28:58
nonsense, you know You just blow it up.
29:02
That's you know, that's why the threat of
29:05
force is Unlawful remember the guy on a
29:08
verse Surinam case because there's precedent we've done
29:12
this before But we ignore it.
29:14
We completely ignore it.
29:16
This is this is nonsense and be freakin
29:20
s so between September and now media accounts
29:25
put the dead in dozens AP Guardian Al
29:28
Jazeera Reuters and even RT Russia today all
29:32
tally fatal strikes and widening Geography they've gone
29:37
from the Caribbean to the Pacific Colombia and
29:40
Venezuela have taken this issue to the UN
29:45
This isn't niche.
29:46
It's on the floor of the Security Council
29:50
Where Russia's the president till the end of
29:53
the week?
29:54
What to say to but it works, you
29:57
know if somebody comes to you and says
29:58
but wait a minute this works If you
30:02
mean by works People die and there's a
30:05
boom sure But is this law enforcement?
30:09
This is this crap law enforcement is supposed
30:12
to be an accountable process a professional Accountable
30:16
process the Coast Guard's own history and DHS
30:20
policies you warn them you board them you
30:23
collect evidence and then you prosecute You don't
30:27
pre detonate the chain of custody.
30:29
So there is no evidence.
30:31
I mean, this is nuts Where do we
30:34
get to the big boy package?
30:35
Where do we get to the remember?
30:37
They always used to talk about the grown
30:38
-ups entering the room I hate to think
30:41
that I myself am actually a grown-up
30:43
But let me give a couple of suggestions
30:47
What if we?
30:49
recenter flag state consent and boarding under Vienna
30:56
1988 article 17 workflow publish monthly stats requests
31:03
approvals interdictions Prosecutions if the route is real
31:09
We'll see it We'll be able to see
31:13
it right Follow the force ladder hail warn
31:17
disable rescue No, lethal fire and less imminent
31:22
threat to life.
31:23
So if you're bombing somebody from 10,000
31:27
feet Even there you don't even have to
31:30
be but you make sure to video it
31:32
right now.
31:33
We're gonna get these guys We're gonna blow
31:36
them up, this is gonna be great and
31:38
you blow them up and you make sure
31:40
you got a video and If you can
31:46
do that Why can't you at least wait
31:49
and see if they're gonna be a threat
31:51
to you when you pull up your Coast
31:53
Guard cutter?
31:54
Why don't you track them?
31:55
I mean, obviously you got a video of
31:57
the blowing them up out in international waters
32:00
Why can't you track them?
32:03
I Don't know.
32:04
What about What about you Put body cams
32:13
on boats seriously, what if you require sensor
32:16
and video capture airframe ship frame before Something
32:23
before any sort of threat auto release sanitized
32:27
clips within 30 days absent Operational harm if
32:31
you can post a strike video you can
32:33
post the boarding refusal video too.
32:36
Can't you I Don't know.
32:39
What about a regional task force fund the
32:42
a regional task force Operations that put boarding
32:48
teams on the water with partner Navy or
32:52
Coast Guard Government accounting office says performance is
32:55
lagging anyway So solve that with assets not
32:59
with air-to-surface, you know missiles What
33:04
about right-to-life training?
33:06
I mean, don't you think that UN basic
33:08
principles human?
33:11
Basic principles are you don't just go kill
33:14
anybody, you know People should have to watch
33:17
this if troops can recite what the escalation
33:21
of force is They should be able to
33:24
say lethal only to protect life This isn't
33:29
the protection of life.
33:30
This is the destruction of a boat from
33:33
10,000 feet How is that protecting anything?
33:38
Yeah, I mean Zero evidence.
33:41
What do you got?
33:43
independent after-action review of every Lethal maritime
33:47
strike with a public summary if you can't
33:51
justify it to a judge or a journalist
33:53
You shouldn't be able to justify the missile
33:56
So, I don't know.
33:58
That's about all I got on this topic
34:00
for tonight.
34:01
I mean call me old-fashioned Call me.
34:04
I don't know what a pacifist.
34:05
I'm not but if you claim a boat
34:08
is a floating pharmacy Maybe you should board
34:12
it and show me the pills Before you
34:15
turn it into a an addition to the
34:18
coral reef below otherwise, you're just Conducting law
34:24
by explosion and yet another Do what I?
34:28
Do what I say, you know Tell me
34:32
this is what it is in I law
34:35
for thee, but not for me I don't
34:37
we don't have to anybody other people have
34:40
to follow those treaties.
34:41
We don't have to wear America Why the
34:43
heck would we follow that I mean, come
34:46
on these people are drug runners We need
34:49
to blow them up, right?
34:51
I don't believe that.
34:53
I think it's a Nonsensical nonsense, so I
34:58
don't know I think so and here's my
35:01
comparison for you So I brought that up
35:05
and I wanted to talk about it tonight
35:07
on purpose Because I have a another topic
35:13
that I'm gonna get into over the next
35:15
hour And I'm hoping I have enough time
35:17
to get through it Because it's a lot
35:20
of a lot of content and it is
35:23
the Biden auto pen to people have been
35:26
talking about especially since that report came out
35:29
yesterday and I've got I've got some some
35:33
stuff for you so basically this report Geez
35:40
it zeroes in on the wrongdoing by Biden
35:43
era apologists for his condition Let's talk about
35:49
who's implicated in the auto pen chain and
35:51
why?
35:52
what was signed by auto pen with a
35:54
special focus on the pardons and Then a
35:58
summary of witnesses that because there were decent
36:01
amount of witnesses Interviewed and I've gone through
36:04
them all.
36:04
Okay, and Basically there was a cover-up
36:08
and then manipulation of The auto pen after
36:13
this so let's let's take a quick look
36:15
about this So I want to talk about
36:19
the severity level high severity Severity those that
36:23
interfered with the legal or process integrity, right
36:26
the use of the auto pen for presidential
36:29
actions without a robust contemporaneous approval process like
36:36
for example Handwritten signatures recommended by White House
36:41
lawyers for pardons were not followed approvals routed
36:45
by email or staff sent messages as principles
36:50
some approvals were outsourced to the vice president
36:54
per a memo that was Talked about and
36:58
then there was concealing and stonewalling on who
37:02
actually Operated the auto pen and nobody tracked
37:06
whether documents Including clemency documents or hand-signed
37:11
or auto pen signed Chief of staff science
37:14
could not name the operator of the auto
37:17
pen How do you like that and the
37:21
executive clerk's office?
37:24
Is allegedly the one who pushed the button?
37:27
So those are pretty high severity that is
37:30
those those are things being done that that
37:33
are supposed to be done by the President
37:35
that were done by somebody else then there's
37:38
ones that are medium sorts of Severity deception
37:43
obstruction of public understanding centralized communication strategy that
37:50
fed press room binders with prepared lines Calling
37:54
everything a cheap fake and sidestepped the physician
37:57
on health specifics KJP Kim Jean-pierre, whatever
38:02
name was said the binder didn't note authorship.
38:06
You know, she didn't know who wrote it.
38:07
She just read it and And they never
38:11
talked about who was the medical authority never
38:13
brought him into the room And then they
38:15
had actual Hollywood coaches and stage management So
38:19
on delivery language, well, you know minimizing steps
38:23
and walks how to do this Maintain optics
38:26
despite internal concerns that were really there.
38:29
Those are medium and then and then they
38:31
have some lower Severity political spin, you know
38:35
control of the narrative that type of thing
38:37
and they would all you remember these they
38:39
would always dismiss public concerns about cognition as
38:45
mere age talk or public Speculation and this
38:49
was even after the her report described Biden
38:52
as an elderly man with a poor memory
38:56
So the bottom line to report the whole
38:59
of it frames process violations as the gravest
39:02
exposure comms and optics misconduct is Systematic and
39:08
spin and denial is pervasive The committee asks
39:11
the Department of Justice to investigate and treat
39:14
open sign open Auto pen signed executive action
39:20
as void that's actually in it Okay, so
39:24
let's talk about the chain of the auto
39:27
pen who they questioned and why?
39:29
They questioned Jeff sites chief staff Could not
39:33
identify who physically operated the auto pen permitted
39:38
staff routed email approvals His aide Rosa Poe
39:42
emailed as him to authorize the auto pen
39:46
So he didn't even see them this Rosa
39:48
Poe did Communication teams controlled talking points on
39:52
hunter Biden pardon never even ran it by
39:55
him Then there's the press secretary near attendant.
39:58
She oversaw auto-pen processing But did not
40:04
track whether the president hand signed or used
40:06
the auto pen.
40:07
She relied on the executive clerk to flag
40:11
auto pen items and She only saw them
40:15
later in her tenure Guy named Bruce Reed
40:18
deputy chief staff at Cisco White House Council
40:21
in the approval routing and legal risk loop
40:25
They are cited in testimony around auto pen
40:28
process and debate But no real process David
40:33
Colbaugh who's an executive clerk office like his
40:36
office likely Operated the auto pen per testimony
40:41
and was the center of mechanical execution This
40:45
Rosa Poe on zaint staff she sent the
40:48
auto pen Authorization as jay-z as science
40:53
email in the hunter Biden pardon So there
40:57
was Rosa Poe that sent it Ron Klain
41:01
former chief staff Acknowledged verbal authorizations were sometimes
41:06
used like fan vaccine mandate defense memo rather
41:11
than formal sign-off procedures And then the
41:15
vice president's office to report cites a memo
41:18
indicating auto pen Operations and approvals were at
41:23
times.
41:24
They didn't say how many to outsourced to
41:27
the vice president Why they're being questions because
41:32
the approval process is opaque not transparent email
41:36
in lieu of formal sign-off or verbal
41:39
Non tracking of the hand versatile pen Unknown
41:43
who operated it physically and policy and legal
41:46
memos Legal memos urged hand signature for pardons.
41:51
That was completely disregarded so Let's see What
41:58
was actually signed by auto pen at least
42:04
32 of 51 Clemency warrants in the Biden
42:09
years were auto pen signed.
42:11
This is according to the oversight project the
42:15
January 19 2025 pardons the ones right before
42:20
he left office Five members of the Biden
42:25
family auto pen.
42:26
Dr. Fauci auto pen Mark Milley Auto pen
42:31
members of the house January 6 select committee
42:34
and their staffs The report says many of
42:38
these were auto pen signed and links to
42:41
DOJ's pardons granted by President Biden for the
42:45
master list White House legal memoranda recommend hand
42:51
signatures on pardons, but instead approvals arrived by
42:54
email from this Poe lady Wow This document
43:00
does not print a full recipient by recipient
43:04
roster So we don't have the all the
43:06
names not in this one But they just
43:08
lump them all together and say many in
43:10
the group were auto pen for a complete
43:13
roster It reports it points to the DOJ's
43:17
pardon attorneys public log For the time period
43:21
the Biden was in office So here's what
43:24
the witness testimony says in in a nutshell
43:27
None of them are too horribly long, but
43:29
there's like 10 12 of them So I'll
43:31
tell you what they say this near a
43:33
tangerine whose staff secretary She oversaw auto pen
43:37
routing She had no systematic tracking of hand
43:41
versus auto pen This is what she said
43:43
the executive clerk flagged auto pen items fewer
43:47
cabinet meetings and distance from POTUS Acknowledged elsewhere
43:51
in findings, but that's that's her Ashley Williams
43:56
deputy director of the Oval Office described This
44:01
was on July 11th described meticulous stage management
44:04
of events denied or deflective deflected cognition talk
44:10
as a public speculation Claimed any staff who
44:13
needed access had it the committee says that
44:17
is not credible Ron claimed the chief of
44:20
staff.
44:21
He was interviewed on July 24 He admitted
44:23
that verbal approvals replaced formal processes and he
44:27
pushed early debate to blunt Age concerns that
44:32
he pushed it after the debates were effed
44:36
The we're we're F moment.
44:39
He considered conceded that it was a very
44:41
big political problem Steve Rischetti Who was interviewed
44:47
on July 30, he denied that the debate
44:50
proved cognitive struggle He said I don't agree
44:54
He was involved in a withdrawal letter letter
44:56
drafting where Biden was coming out of the
45:00
race He was accused in the report of
45:02
withholding negative polls, but he denied it Mike
45:07
Donilon senior advisor.
45:09
He was interviewed July 31st Financially incentivized by
45:14
a campaign role about four million potentially eight
45:18
He was pressed to lighten Biden schedule when
45:22
Biden was tired He was accused of controlling
45:26
polling flow to POTUS.
45:28
He didn't give it to him, but he
45:30
denies that Bruce Reed the deputy chief of
45:33
staff was interviewed on August 5th He said
45:36
he was in the he was supposed to
45:37
be in the auto pen approval loop But
45:40
he described Hollywood involvement in the debate prep.
45:43
He gave a variant rationale on an earlier
45:46
debate Calendar not age.
45:50
He said it was, you know all calendar
45:52
Anita Dunn senior advisor For communications on August
45:57
7.
45:58
She ran comm she hired Bates and Sam's
46:01
downplayed Cognition as an age issue and helped
46:05
set the early debate and Has passed on
46:11
these comms talking points to KJP In Sam's
46:18
the White House spokesperson said part of the
46:20
team.
46:20
He was part of the team that labeled
46:23
hers cognition rationale Gratuitous in their press strategy,
46:29
you know that didn't need to be put
46:30
out there.
46:31
He said Andrew Bates senior depart see senior
46:36
press secretary September the 5th high volume communications
46:41
operator He was part of the tight senior
46:44
managed message flow and limited POTUS access according
46:49
to his own stuff Kareem Jean Pierre press
46:52
secretary September 12 relied on Prepared talking points
46:59
Especially with relation to the cheap fakes line.
47:02
She referred health questions to communications not to
47:06
the physician She admitted unknown authorship of binders,
47:10
you know for Kim Jong pierre or Kim
47:13
jump in whatever However, you say your name
47:15
denied recalling concerns at the time and acknowledged
47:18
that There were contradiction by POTUS on China
47:24
and Taiwan So here's your chief of staff
47:27
Jeff Sainz Acknowledged increasing stumbles and recall issues
47:32
of the president.
47:33
They were more common across time Could not
47:37
say who operated the auto pen.
47:39
He noted donor concerns about Teleprompters and the
47:43
reliance thereon and post debate.
47:46
He urged Biden to drop out He also
47:51
took some depositions dr.
47:53
Kevin O'Connor invoked the Fifth Amendment He
47:58
sent a memo to KJP about neurologist visits
48:01
and omitted cognition test details The report paints
48:05
him has complicit with political staff In you
48:10
know making sure this went forward Anthony Bernal
48:15
July 16th Invoked the Fifth Amendment also listed
48:20
as a close observer of the inner circle,
48:23
but no information forthcoming Annie Tomasini deputy chief
48:28
of staff for operations July 18th Invoked the
48:32
Fifth Amendment Alleged that she had control and
48:36
over all access and scheduling to Biden question
48:40
raised whether she discouraged medical review Committee cites
48:45
this report on internal wheelchair discussions getting him
48:50
a wheelchair so This is unbelievable stuff in
48:57
it Let's see Where we gonna go?
49:03
about this so dr.
49:07
O'Connor was Complicit this medical cover-up
49:12
the physician stonewalling he invoked a fifth rather
49:16
than answer questions the comms leaders not the
49:19
doctor shaped health messaging and KGP relied on
49:23
prepared talking points the Hollywood coaching was talked
49:27
about the Workload lightning, you know, you need
49:31
him because he was falling apart and I
49:34
mean we all saw this.
49:36
It's not like We need some report later
49:39
We watched the man be a mess in
49:42
there.
49:43
And so but his inner circle was all
49:45
involved in this cover-up, right?
49:48
I mean, this is this is unbelievable stuff
49:52
Let's see.
49:53
I'm gonna get to What the biggest parts
49:58
of this are The Machinery literally the auto,
50:06
you know how you get the auto pen
50:08
to work.
50:08
It's not a metaphor It's a device that
50:11
reproduces a signature.
50:13
It's harmless for routine letters, right?
50:16
Cute even except this report says the machine
50:21
wandered into the high church of state power
50:24
executive actions and clemency pardons Commutations the stuff
50:30
where the Constitution expects a conscious and Accountable
50:35
human to say yes, I the president choose
50:39
this Instead we got sure hit the button
50:43
You know press the button then we talk
50:46
about the chain of custody.
50:47
That wasn't in An alleged normal government the
50:51
path of a decision is documented You know
50:54
kind of like scene of a crime who
50:56
has the file who briefed the president who
50:59
signed when By hand or by machine, that's
51:03
how it's supposed to go But in Biden
51:05
government, it's like some sort of scavenger hunt
51:08
run by a bunch of interns on a
51:11
caffeine cleanse the president's decision materials move through
51:15
aids valets residential staff sometimes logs most time
51:20
not Staff secretary the person supposedly regarding this
51:24
paper vault saw the president only every six
51:28
to eight weeks and Didn't track which documents
51:32
he hand-signed versus auto pen.
51:34
That's in their own words You know, they're
51:36
talking about this is me making crap up.
51:39
So then they had the 2025 January 19
51:43
clemency sprint the final hours pardon Palooza The
51:50
report Reconstructs this like a bad game of
51:53
telephone tag the meeting happens with a senior
51:55
aid chief of staff is an air Isn't
51:58
there aid calls the chief at home chief
52:00
says, okay use the auto pen by email
52:03
Yes by email for multiple pardons Then the
52:06
staff secretary's office shuttles the order to the
52:08
executive clerk team who apparently Physically hit the
52:12
auto pen who actually operated the machine Nobody
52:16
knows who documented the president's direct approval on
52:19
paper contemporaneously as the lawyer recommend for pardons
52:26
That's what we're looking out for and so
52:28
far There's nothing there and who is in
52:31
the favored slice to report says that state
52:34
included five members of Biden's family dr.
52:38
Anthony Fauci General Milley and members of the
52:41
staff of the January 6th committee like I
52:44
told you And then we got apologists those
52:47
people who go, you know arrange the paper
52:49
approve the paper explain the paper chief of
52:52
staff says auto pen was Versus hand was
52:55
a logistics issue staff secretary oversaw the workflow,
52:59
but didn't track the difference executive clerk shop
53:01
like likely press the button like I said
53:04
and Then there's a communication cell shell game
53:07
Cheap fakes they were told about the president's
53:11
health We're told it's all just age just
53:14
lighting just cold just the stairs press secretary
53:17
reads talking points from a binder She didn't
53:19
write and can't attribute who did the president's
53:23
doctors a political fog machine whose paperwork omits
53:26
the thing People actually wish to know Hollywood
53:30
is coaching the State of the Union like
53:33
a Netflix pilot and Donors whisper about the
53:36
teleprompter being glued to the podium Let's talk
53:41
about lawyers a little bit, you know, I
53:43
love this part right White House counsel types
53:47
reportedly advised that Pardon should be hand-signed
53:52
Not maybe not if you have time hand
53:56
-signed Why?
53:58
Because clemency isn't a ribbon-cutting.
54:01
It's one of the most serious acts a
54:03
president takes And yet we have a process
54:07
documented in this report Which you can download
54:10
online the auto pen presidency where email relays
54:14
and verbal approvals are a substitute for the
54:17
president's?
54:18
Pen and an auto scribbler gets to call
54:21
like it, you know You know gets the
54:23
call to you know Do something like a
54:26
picture in the bullpen in the ninth inning
54:28
the committee's conclusion on this if you can't
54:32
show the president Actually approved it Void it
54:36
I'm not so sure.
54:38
I'm against that.
54:38
I mean, I doubt it'll ever happen.
54:40
But you know, here you go Let's see,
54:44
I told you about the 32 of 51.
54:47
What are the stakes?
54:49
Is this just a gotcha about pens?
54:52
I'm not so sure.
54:53
It's about whether the presidency can delegate his
54:58
presence without documentation If you're gonna run the
55:03
modern White House like, you know, I don't
55:06
know Like you're you know, Amazon shopping cart
55:11
Okay But you have then you have to
55:14
be a fanatic about who's doing the record
55:17
-keeping Who briefed what what was decided how
55:21
it was?
55:21
Memorialized memorialized who signed and what method they
55:25
you know?
55:27
signed with If you don't do that You
55:31
don't have a White House right So, what
55:37
do we do with all this?
55:38
I'm not so sure anything will happen out
55:41
of any of this.
55:42
It's a grand little report.
55:44
I Mean remember the 9-11 report the
55:47
hell we do with that except take away
55:49
rights of normal Americans, right What's anybody gonna
55:54
do on this?
55:55
nothing so I Don't know I Remember this
56:05
Tandon lady I'm gonna underline what she said,
56:09
you know I Mean think about this decision
56:15
materials This is a binder with memos card
56:18
boxes agree disagree discuss The civics class stuff
56:23
that proves a human with article two powers
56:26
actually read the words Before the country had
56:31
to live with them who owned this in
56:34
the Biden White House We know it wasn't
56:37
Biden.
56:37
It was the staff Secretary's office according to
56:41
this report in theory They compiled delivered and
56:45
retrieved items and ensured the president's physical signature
56:48
ended up where it belongs in practice The
56:53
staff secretary near a Tandon saw the president
56:57
once every six to eight weeks and She
57:01
candidly described the heart of the process as
57:04
a black box Her team would send a
57:07
binder over something would happen.
57:09
The binder would return with a signature She
57:12
checked that there was a signature not whether
57:15
it was his hand or a machine that
57:17
isn't chain of custody You know, let me
57:21
say again She she said her role was
57:25
Extremely limited.
57:26
She didn't watch the review.
57:28
She didn't know who sat with the president
57:30
when he Quote decided she didn't track whether
57:34
the signature came from the man or the
57:36
machine.
57:36
She trusted that the protocol was working But
57:41
conceded that she wasn't present for most of
57:44
it That's like a notary who only sees
57:47
the envelope after the fact, right?
57:50
Who did touch the binder according to Ashley
57:53
Williams Oval Office ops basically whoever Some days
57:59
an op staffer other days a valet or
58:01
someone from the residence staff ferried it There
58:04
was no formal list of who was authorized
58:07
to carry the president's decision book And when
58:10
asked if there was a log an actual
58:12
record of everyone who touched it Williams confirmed
58:16
that there was no log.
58:18
So the country's most sensitive approvals commuted around
58:21
the complex by the honor system You know,
58:24
I mean Maybe you have a proper hall
58:27
pass, you know, it was Given to you
58:30
by somebody right if you got one, you
58:33
wouldn't make that up who would Even the
58:36
return trip wasn't there.
58:38
Sometimes the president handed it back directly Sometimes
58:41
Annie Tomasini carried it back sometimes who knows
58:45
William says she can't even speak to a
58:47
set protocol No set protocol that phrase should
58:52
be engraved all over the whole section.
58:55
No protocol Imagine a police courtroom chain of
59:00
custody for evidence Now imagine the opposite.
59:05
That's your executive action in the Biden White
59:08
House, right?
59:09
Now let's talk about the signature because in
59:11
you know, Washington the pen is not just
59:14
mightier than the sword It's mightier than the
59:17
subpoena Who insured the president personally hand-signed
59:22
the big ones answer?
59:23
No one you You can't get anyone under
59:28
oath who will say.
59:29
Yep.
59:29
I saw him sign that one the staff
59:31
secretary confirms her office didn't track anything, right
59:36
and And they didn't track hand versus auto
59:40
pen so the people whose job Was to
59:45
memorialize the president's decision didn't record how it
59:48
was memorialized You know if that was a
59:52
bank that would be akin to Not putting
59:57
a camera at the vault door So when
1:00:00
Sam, you know the teller who has to
1:00:02
go into the vault, you know Walks out
1:00:04
with his hand stuffed with $100 bills or
1:00:08
his pockets Nobody's gonna see it because there's
1:00:10
no no there who had the keys to
1:00:13
the auto pen Tandon says she oversaw Auto
1:00:18
pen use but did not operate it.
1:00:21
She would alert the executive clerk David Calba
1:00:25
and His staff would actually auto pen the
1:00:29
document.
1:00:29
She admits she didn't witness the machine in
1:00:32
use Until very late in her tenure So
1:00:36
what's that translate to the functional custody of
1:00:39
the signature device lived in a shop?
1:00:44
She did you know that she was in
1:00:46
charge of but didn't run, you know She
1:00:49
would pass it off to someone else and
1:00:52
the chief of staff Jeff Zients Testified he
1:00:55
did not know who physically auto Auto, oh,
1:00:59
you know auto pinned operated it Wow What
1:01:06
was the rule book?
1:01:08
There's a draft decision memo on auto pen
1:01:11
use in February 2021 that actually reads Fairly
1:01:17
sane like a sane set of guidelines.
1:01:20
It includes a bright line Recommendation says right
1:01:24
on it hand sign pardon letters.
1:01:27
Oh, that's sensible except 32 of 51 we're
1:01:32
not and Zients says he personally never saw
1:01:36
a breakdown prior to the prep for his
1:01:38
interview and Practic practice diverged from that anyway
1:01:42
Even Tandon concedes the president did not hand
1:01:46
sign executive orders So the memo that should
1:01:49
have been a guardrail was ignored unknown or
1:01:52
treated as nice to have So, you know
1:01:56
required to do anything what did day-to
1:01:59
-day operations really look like I mean I
1:02:02
don't know.
1:02:03
Let's picture a principal increasingly Stage managed he
1:02:10
was stage managed fewer events lighter schedule teleprompter
1:02:14
even at small fundraisers razors and Hollywood whispers
1:02:19
like Spielberg Katzenberg coaching delivery and language for
1:02:24
the State of the Union and beyond is
1:02:27
that illegal?
1:02:27
No, but it's not a great look when
1:02:31
mixed with paperwork that you can't tell who
1:02:34
decided what when Right.
1:02:37
I mean this this this place was a
1:02:40
mess according to this report Wow verbal authorizations
1:02:45
happened Even though they were cited as a
1:02:49
feature of you know Of What shouldn't happen
1:02:54
Ron Klain admits that there were times the
1:02:57
formal process was not followed Decisions were made
1:03:01
and later.
1:03:01
They were Memorialized the report's point is not
1:03:06
that no one ever wrote anything down It's
1:03:10
that the writing was often after the fact
1:03:12
an email based and sometimes not from the
1:03:15
person who supposedly Made the decision And that
1:03:19
crazy So, I don't know we're gonna this
1:03:25
is there's so much to get through here.
1:03:27
I'm gonna go to We already know well,
1:03:32
we have a lot of testimony on who
1:03:35
ran or didn't run this piece and Let's
1:03:40
see.
1:03:40
I want to get to some of the
1:03:45
The clemency sprint is what I call it
1:03:50
Let's talk about the final hours of the
1:03:54
White House You know, they're playing doordash with
1:03:57
the auto pen, right?
1:03:58
This is January 19 2025 a Meeting in
1:04:03
the West Wing a phone call to the
1:04:05
chief of staff at home an email authorizing
1:04:08
the auto pen For multiple pardons and voila
1:04:12
robot signatures on some of the most sensitive
1:04:15
acts a president can take The report calls
1:04:20
it a game of telephone tag After reading
1:04:23
this, you know, I call it, you know
1:04:26
malpractice myself.
1:04:27
This this is not how you get a
1:04:29
presidential pardon So here's how it worked according
1:04:33
to the the steps that have been outlined
1:04:37
in this report Step one the room where
1:04:41
it happened Senior aides Bruce Reed deputy chief
1:04:44
staff Ed Siskel White House counsel Steve Ruscetti
1:04:48
Annie Tomasini Anthony Bernal met in person with
1:04:52
President Biden on January 19 to discuss pardons
1:04:57
Notably not in the room chief of staff
1:05:01
Jeff Zients.
1:05:02
Okay.
1:05:02
Now there's the relay Who carried the decision
1:05:06
out of that room?
1:05:08
Zients assumed it was Reed or Siskel, but
1:05:12
he didn't know So when the chief of
1:05:14
staff has to assume who carried the president's
1:05:17
ideas out of the room you already lost
1:05:20
Reed and Siskel reportedly deliver the gist of
1:05:24
it all to Rosa Poe the assistant the
1:05:29
assistant of Zients And then so that's the
1:05:35
relay of information so first you have the
1:05:37
meeting then the relay third one is the
1:05:38
call Poe his assistant called Zients at home.
1:05:43
She gives him the telephone, you know game
1:05:47
Second-hand summary of what was decided in
1:05:50
the meeting that he didn't attend and neither
1:05:53
did she No contemporaneous decision memo is produced
1:05:58
nothing zip Step four there's an email without
1:06:04
calling back into the room without confirming with
1:06:08
anyone Who was actually present?
1:06:11
Zients says that Poe can send an email
1:06:15
from his account signed with his initials approving
1:06:20
the use of the auto pen to sign
1:06:22
multiple pardons once again the Authorization for a
1:06:27
robot to sign clemency warrants is a staff
1:06:30
sent email from the chief of staffs inbox
1:06:34
Okay, that's step four Step five the button
1:06:38
Poe hits send right the secretary's staff secretary's
1:06:44
office Conveyed to someone and that someone used
1:06:48
the auto pen to sign the warrants Zients
1:06:52
admits he doesn't know who actually operated the
1:06:54
auto pen neither does anybody else apparently In
1:06:58
any sane procedure who pressed a button isn't
1:07:01
a mystery.
1:07:01
It's supposed to be logged here.
1:07:03
It's just you know folklore It's like I
1:07:06
don't know Bigfoot We have we have the
1:07:10
auto pen We used to have Bigfoot now.
1:07:14
This is another another legend out there now
1:07:17
if you're hoping the paper trail gets better
1:07:19
Hold on the report says these January 19
1:07:23
pardons included the five Biden members Dr. Fauci
1:07:27
general Milley and members of the staff of
1:07:30
the January 6 committee.
1:07:32
That's not me making that up That's document
1:07:34
about about what it says in the auto
1:07:37
pen email And it wasn't just to who
1:07:40
it's to how the White House described the
1:07:42
broader clemency push that week on January 17
1:07:45
the White House boasted of commuting sentences for
1:07:49
Nearly 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug
1:07:55
offenses a record-setting history-making headline then
1:08:01
a senior DOJ ethics attorney Bradley Weinsheimer Weighed
1:08:05
in with a memo that basically says stop
1:08:08
saying nonviolent because it's untrue Or at least
1:08:13
misleading he lists cases with violence in the
1:08:17
offense of conviction or violent histories The 19
1:08:20
flagged is highly problematic I mean, I'm sorry
1:08:23
of the 19 flagged is highly problematic 16
1:08:26
still got clemency his line That should have
1:08:29
frozen, you know That should be frozen I
1:08:33
have no idea if the president was aware
1:08:35
of these backgrounds the department was largely excluded
1:08:38
from the process That's not that you know,
1:08:41
that's not me saying that that's DOJ So
1:08:44
the constitutional pardon power is a personal power
1:08:48
of the president the president must decide The
1:08:53
reports remedy section says the quiet part out
1:08:56
loud to all of us Treat auto pen
1:09:00
executed actions as void where there's no contemporaneous
1:09:05
record of the president's own approval They recommend
1:09:08
the DOJ review Biden era executive actions on
1:09:12
that basis What does that mean in plain
1:09:15
English if you can't prove the boss said
1:09:17
yes The robot signature shouldn't be signature shouldn't
1:09:21
be able to rescue you Right.
1:09:24
This is never gonna happen by the way,
1:09:26
but it's it's people can now put it
1:09:28
on paper and go Well, I told him
1:09:30
they should do this, but nothing's gonna happen
1:09:32
just so you know Now let's go back
1:09:35
to January 19th because the effects are three
1:09:38
one No decision memo for the most sensitive
1:09:41
category of presidential act, right?
1:09:44
That is the headline, you know, there's no
1:09:48
decision memo No decision by the president the
1:09:51
telephone relay The chief of staff wasn't in
1:09:55
the meeting an aide relayed the decision another
1:09:57
eight emails the authorization Another somebody unknown signs
1:10:01
it that's proven, you know, that's rumor mill,
1:10:05
right?
1:10:07
The robot signature on clemency documents despite a
1:10:11
draft auto pen memo saying don't do that
1:10:13
hand signed But defenders will say auto pen
1:10:16
is lawful Verbal decisions are still decisions and
1:10:20
emails are a record sure But only if
1:10:23
you can show the president made the decision
1:10:26
Then and that that method matched the category
1:10:30
seriousness here we have an absence where the
1:10:32
record should be an email where a signature
1:10:35
should be and a machine where the man
1:10:39
should be You know, it gets worse friends
1:10:43
and neighbors the report surfaces a briefing memo
1:10:48
of February 23rd 2024 By White House Deputy
1:10:54
Associate Counsel Issa case him Suggesting the vice
1:10:58
president's approval had been sufficient to obtain the
1:11:03
president's approval for a particular clemency package Zaint
1:11:08
says he never saw it and blows it
1:11:10
off as a junior draft.
1:11:11
Maybe so but drafts don't draft themselves and
1:11:15
The sentence does exist in a healthy system
1:11:19
that line would would you know?
1:11:22
You know Hopefully supposed to be a guardrail,
1:11:26
but it isn't okay Paying attention to who
1:11:30
had a seat in pardon discussions is is
1:11:33
problematic to the report Flatly says that the
1:11:37
science testified that Hunter Biden was included in
1:11:40
meetings about pardons Including the meetings tied to
1:11:45
the January 19 slate of family members Fauci
1:11:49
Miller and all those other a million all
1:11:50
those others So the president's son is involved
1:11:55
in his own pardon discussion Chief of Staff
1:11:59
isn't even in the room and the authorization
1:12:02
is an email sent by an aide to
1:12:04
the chief of staff and blessed by an
1:12:07
auto pen Unfarging Believable the culture around this
1:12:13
sprint matters quite a bit to Same the
1:12:16
same section of the report says a presidency
1:12:18
was increasingly stage managed makeup walking step counts
1:12:23
teleprompters Hollywood coaches done delivery on language comms
1:12:28
machine and Note cards who nobody knows who
1:12:31
wrote and the press secretary can't identify It's
1:12:35
crazy Wow you can argue the president gave
1:12:40
an oral yes in the room and the
1:12:43
email was a Administerial relay and the auto
1:12:46
pen is just a mechanical extension if that's
1:12:48
true produced a record that ties the president's
1:12:51
decision to the specific warrants authorized the 2
1:12:55
,500 while we start with that Show the
1:12:58
decision memo show an initial show the date
1:13:01
and time the list Did he do 2
1:13:04
,500 all at once or did he review
1:13:06
each and every one?
1:13:08
I guarantee so the bottom line January 19
1:13:14
pipeline was meeting relay phone email auto pen
1:13:17
with no decision Is this is nuts?
1:13:21
nuts the apologists, you know Well, they're all
1:13:27
there it's the same people What's their alleged
1:13:30
wrongdoing Jeff Zients green lighting executive memo for?
1:13:35
Method for auto pen for clemency with no
1:13:38
decision This near a tendren who only participated,
1:13:44
you know once every six to eight weeks
1:13:47
Not criminal but institutional negligence failure to track
1:13:51
signatures That you know have legal force to
1:13:56
them David Calba executive clerk Hands on the
1:14:00
hardware, but nobody can prove who it was
1:14:03
his alleged wrongdoing was executing signatures in a
1:14:06
system where authority Authorization is unrecorded or email
1:14:11
based from somebody not even there Bruce Reed
1:14:15
Ed Siskel Steve Ruscetti Annie Tomasini Anthony Bernal
1:14:19
the room, right?
1:14:21
What is their wrongdoing?
1:14:23
opaque relay of presidential decisions without contemporaneous documentation
1:14:28
Ashley Williams not a criminal but again procedural
1:14:32
dereliction of duty system practically invited Unverifiable authors
1:14:37
and what about Kareem Jean-pierre and her
1:14:41
cheap fakes and these these things She sustained
1:14:46
the opacity regime around the president's health and
1:14:50
clemency decisions, you know publicly minimizing privately sourcing
1:14:56
talking points of unknown authorship and Reinforcing a
1:15:00
culture where optics was more important than Providence
1:15:05
Crazy, what about?
1:15:07
Dr. Kevin O'Connor?
1:15:09
his wrongdoing Withholding or failing to document cognition
1:15:13
and focused information in public facing health summaries
1:15:16
while the West Wing curated optics Anita Dunn
1:15:20
senior communications.
1:15:21
What did she do?
1:15:22
Again, not a crime but creating a culture
1:15:25
that prioritized packaging over Content so thoroughly the
1:15:30
proof of authorship You can't even find it
1:15:33
the Otto Penn fiasco wouldn't have happened without
1:15:36
her couldn't happened senior advisor Mike Donilon who
1:15:42
wanted to lighten the load right his testimony
1:15:45
about lightening the president's workload and limiting his
1:15:48
events again, not criminal just poor management Man,
1:15:55
I tell you what what wrongdoing looks like,
1:15:58
you know for all of them Approval with
1:16:01
no author custody with no log guidelines with
1:16:05
no governments Messaging with no medicine, you know,
1:16:09
no treatment clemency by email, you know is
1:16:13
crazy You know if you want a prosecutorial
1:16:16
bumper sticker ready.
1:16:18
Here's one for you.
1:16:19
You can get these printed up and say
1:16:20
Sam said They replaced the signer with the
1:16:25
signature.
1:16:25
How about that?
1:16:27
That's a punchline, but it's true Replace the
1:16:31
signer with the signature.
1:16:32
Well, why do you need a you know,
1:16:34
that's not theater.
1:16:35
That's a documentary remedy you know, I had
1:16:39
I remember this when I had several staff
1:16:42
that I authorized to write checks in my
1:16:46
my absence when you know my job and
1:16:49
I had a Signature stamp if you authorize
1:16:54
somebody to use your signature stamp it's just
1:16:58
like you sign it you've passed off your
1:17:00
Your Authority and it's probably a bad plan
1:17:05
and I did it but I did it
1:17:08
for you know small things You know said
1:17:11
no stamp over a certain amount of money,
1:17:14
you know 500 bucks something like that And
1:17:18
and I really I really wanted to do
1:17:20
more on What these witnesses all said I
1:17:24
don't think I can get through them all
1:17:29
The Let's let's get to just to the
1:17:32
bottom line on these because there's so much
1:17:34
to go through let's take the quote for
1:17:37
Specific quotes to each one of these Jeff
1:17:40
Zients September 18 2025 here's the question who
1:17:44
ran the auto pen His do you know
1:17:47
who ran the auto pen and he says
1:17:50
I do not Sorry to laugh about that
1:17:55
here is Neera Tanden staff secretary her interview
1:17:59
June 24 did Biden hand-signed all executive
1:18:07
orders she said He did not hand sign
1:18:10
all executive orders.
1:18:12
So he didn't why not Ashley Williams deputy
1:18:16
director of the Oval Office.
1:18:18
Here's her.
1:18:18
Here's her quote of the day When pressed
1:18:24
on what the process was Williams conceded she
1:18:28
couldn't speak to a formal process on decision
1:18:32
-making Ron Klain former chief of staff his
1:18:37
interview July 24th his quote.
1:18:40
What's a political?
1:18:42
Why?
1:18:43
Why would it be a political problem After
1:18:49
the debate when he said member he said
1:18:51
we're f'ed and he told investigators he
1:18:54
knew they had a big problem then And
1:18:57
they said why a big political problem.
1:18:59
He said because I thought the president's answer
1:19:02
answer had been halting Steve Ruscetti Where is
1:19:08
his little quote his quote The committee was
1:19:15
critiquing a culture that treated the auto pen
1:19:18
as a convenience Not a legally loaded document
1:19:21
and he said I don't think so age
1:19:24
was the consideration we Didn't want him to
1:19:29
have to sit down and sign all those
1:19:31
documents.
1:19:32
He's too damn old How do you like
1:19:34
that?
1:19:36
Okay, Mike Donilon senior advisor Let's see what
1:19:43
Normalizes remote approval, you know, how did that
1:19:46
get normalized and he said The best approach
1:19:50
he said the same thing is the other
1:19:51
guy the best approach would be to have
1:19:53
lightened Biden's schedule load Right, so that's what
1:19:57
they were doing it for Bruce Reed The
1:20:03
model of what you guys were doing Makes
1:20:06
the auto pen less of an exception and
1:20:09
more of a feature and he said at
1:20:12
times I sat with President Biden and went
1:20:15
through material with him.
1:20:16
He did the work and put in the
1:20:18
time at times.
1:20:21
I Love it Anita done her quote Operationally
1:20:26
You're using optics over process and she says
1:20:30
no you're asking me to mind read I
1:20:33
don't know.
1:20:34
I don't have anything I can say to
1:20:36
that Kim Jean Pierre on about her binder
1:20:42
she said nowhere in the book did it
1:20:44
exist and she was asked who wrote it
1:20:47
who put the who put the Communications in
1:20:51
her binder.
1:20:51
Well, that was nowhere in the book.
1:20:53
She's got to bite during that was that
1:20:55
she didn't know who wrote it No idea
1:20:58
Ian Sam's Let's see he talking about approvals
1:21:03
that greenlit auto pen actions without contemporaneous confirmation
1:21:08
from Biden and he said Asked if he
1:21:13
met the president to get the president's views
1:21:15
first.
1:21:16
He just said I did not So he
1:21:19
had no idea and he was the guy
1:21:20
running the auto pen sometimes Andrew Bates How
1:21:27
often did you meet the president and he
1:21:29
says as far as formal meeting not very
1:21:31
frequently.
1:21:32
Dr. O'Connor Given the health given that
1:21:36
health opacity Justified heightened scripting and thus more
1:21:40
off-site staff driven approvals his silence leaves
1:21:44
the auto pen regimes medical predicate question Unanswered
1:21:49
and his quote I Invoked the Fifth Amendment
1:21:53
and respectfully declined to answer that question Same
1:21:58
thing for Anthony Bernal same thing for Annie
1:22:01
Tomasini.
1:22:02
No, we aren't gonna answer that question Isn't
1:22:07
that?
1:22:09
loopiest of stuff so the bottom line in
1:22:14
plain English the big part What we can
1:22:18
name a specific night January 19 when the
1:22:22
auto pen was used to sign multiple pardons
1:22:26
often an email Or the guy said he
1:22:30
gave somebody the permission for a slate that
1:22:32
included family and high-level names with no
1:22:35
decision We can cite a credible account or
1:22:39
count.
1:22:40
I mean 32 of 51 of these Indicating
1:22:43
that the auto pen usage was common not
1:22:47
rare We can quote the staff secretary Biden
1:22:51
did not hand sign e o's the office
1:22:54
didn't track the method the operators sat in
1:22:58
the Executive clerk's shop the chief couldn't name
1:23:02
who ran the auto pen so for executive
1:23:06
orders and other actions Auto pen happened, but
1:23:10
nobody knows because there's no official roster We
1:23:15
can also add DOJ warning that the communication
1:23:18
messaging is untrue and and or at least
1:23:22
misleading Because the violence remember that and that
1:23:25
DOJ was largely excluded from the process evidence
1:23:29
of a rushed staff centric clemency process in
1:23:33
the same Window, so if you're keeping score
1:23:37
on all this the robots resume definitely includes
1:23:40
all the January 19 pardons Probably a big
1:23:44
chunk of those clemency warrants to 2,500
1:23:47
and some executive orders But the Biden White
1:23:50
House didn't keep a full ledger.
1:23:52
So we don't know in audit terms, you
1:23:55
know, that's not an accident That's a design
1:23:57
choice when the signature replaces the signer the
1:24:01
remedy should be Prove the president approved it
1:24:05
or redo it with a human hand and
1:24:08
now it's too late because the president doesn't
1:24:10
have And or that president doesn't have any
1:24:14
authority There are plenty of charges that people
1:24:18
are talking about clemency by email without a
1:24:21
memo chain of custody violations Guardrails existed but
1:24:26
were minored verbal approvals DOJ ethics flags memo
1:24:31
suggesting VP sign off could suggest for POTUS
1:24:35
apologists and Pleading the fifth and staff management
1:24:39
as a complete operating philosophy Crazy stuff.
1:24:44
What does it all mean?
1:24:46
So let's land this here plane Shall we
1:24:48
we've walked the paper vapor trail the robot
1:24:53
pen the telephone the cheap fake the Hollywood
1:24:55
coaches the fifth What does it mean for
1:24:58
law for politics for a country trying to
1:25:00
remember who's supposed to sign their own homework?
1:25:04
Start with the Constitution the presidency isn't a
1:25:07
brand it's a person Entrusted with powers that
1:25:10
don't travel well without their owner Clemency is
1:25:14
the purest example.
1:25:15
The document is not the act the president's
1:25:18
decision is the act if you replace the
1:25:21
decision With an email relay by third parties
1:25:25
who weren't even there and a signature with
1:25:27
a machine you haven't streamlined government you've Amputated
1:25:32
authorship That is why the reports blunt remedy
1:25:37
is to treat any of these auto pen
1:25:39
executed actions as Void this will never happen
1:25:43
But you know the point is the pen
1:25:46
is not the presidency the person is I
1:25:48
agree now We can layer on what actually
1:25:51
happened in the clemency sprint, you know, you've
1:25:54
you've heard all that's nonsense What does that
1:25:57
do to finality clemency is supposed to end
1:26:00
a story?
1:26:01
This process is open in a potential sequel.
1:26:04
Are these valid for every controversial grant in
1:26:08
that window?
1:26:09
Beneficiaries who want certainty now have a cloud
1:26:11
Opponents who want to fight have a ladder
1:26:14
even if no judge ever voids anything the
1:26:17
whiff of void ability Isn't gonna help that's
1:26:22
why grown-up governments make over documentation a
1:26:26
religion, you know The crazy stuff let's talk
1:26:30
culture because process doesn't you know Exist in
1:26:34
a vacuum the same shop that normalized verbal
1:26:37
now email later Approval and shrugged it not
1:26:40
knowing who ran the auto pen Normalized optics
1:26:43
is the operating system teleprompters lightning the schedule
1:26:46
Hollywood lines all of this and a doctor
1:26:49
whose public paperwork Carefully avoids the question the
1:26:53
public is asking they never asked it at
1:26:56
all You don't need a conspiracy theory when
1:26:59
these sorts of incentives are at work if
1:27:02
the priority is protecting his image Authentication isn't
1:27:05
nice to have You know, it would be
1:27:08
very nice to have right now, wouldn't it?
1:27:12
So I don't know What's the political meaning
1:27:17
of all this?
1:27:18
Too bad options for defenders option a well
1:27:21
This is normal It's normal to phone the
1:27:24
chief at home and authorize robot signing by
1:27:26
email from you know Somebody not in the
1:27:29
room by a person not in the room
1:27:30
to somebody who isn't the president And I
1:27:35
don't know maybe you should try to get
1:27:37
a restraining order that way.
1:27:38
Mr. Attorney It doesn't work that way This
1:27:42
is logistics if auto pen versus hand is
1:27:45
logistics then rule of law is a parking
1:27:48
ticket either way You've told that public authenticity
1:27:51
is Negotiable if it's after hours, right?
1:27:56
Crazy stuff.
1:27:57
What's this mean to the media?
1:27:59
Messaging, you know without provenance is how you
1:28:02
talk yourself into a scandal This is not
1:28:05
a scandal.
1:28:05
Nothing's ever gonna come of this.
1:28:07
It's just not gonna happen What should be
1:28:10
done?
1:28:10
I Don't know hand-signed clemency period in
1:28:15
the future name the operator log the method
1:28:18
Rebuild staff secretary as a witness kill verbal
1:28:22
then maybe by email publish an auto pen
1:28:26
policy How about that?
1:28:28
Audit the backlog, you know, what about all
1:28:31
that?
1:28:32
I'm not so sure.
1:28:33
I like this, you know how this is
1:28:36
going, but here's my verdict.
1:28:37
This wasn't drama about technology It was a
1:28:40
drama about accountability the auto pen didn't cause
1:28:44
the scandal it revealed it a Healthy White
1:28:48
House could use a robot pen and never
1:28:50
fall off a cliff Because the paperwork would
1:28:54
be bulletproof chain of custody method trackers Operator
1:28:58
known of who it is and above all
1:29:00
the president saying he documented it at the
1:29:04
moment It mattered what we just covered is
1:29:07
exactly the opposite a system that replaced the
1:29:11
signer with the signature and Hope no one
1:29:14
would notice or check the receipt we checked
1:29:16
and now, you know at international flavor where
1:29:20
the truth just tastes better I Plan to
1:29:25
see you tomorrow if you want to go
1:29:27
back and listen or you want to Check
1:29:32
out other Topics in my diatribes they exist
1:29:37
at international flavor Dot-com all of them
1:29:40
are out there For your listening pleasure and
1:29:43
JR does a good job of making sure
1:29:45
they're also available at damn radio dot-com
1:29:47
Forward slash podcast.
1:29:50
I very much appreciate you for being here
1:29:53
each and every one of you.
1:29:55
Have a good night damn radio