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GOP Sen. Cassidy 'talks a bigger game than he walks' · INSIGHT TODAY

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  Speaker 1: What are you hearing about the decision again that just
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: happened just a few minutes ago, and then also tell
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: us what happens now.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Britt, this was one of those rare moments on
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  Speaker 2: Capitol Hill where anything that a member of Congress said
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  Speaker 2: was going to be news. In that case, Bill Cassidy.
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  Speaker 2: That's because Bill Cassidy was the make or break vote
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  Speaker 2: on whether or not Todd Blanch would become the permanent
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  Speaker 2: Attorney General. If he voted no, then Blanche's nomination would
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  Speaker 2: have failed at this moment. If he voted yes, then
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  Speaker 2: it would sail through. And of course he has voted
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  Speaker 2: yes to Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowskier, the two Republicans
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  Speaker 2: who were voting against Todd Blanche, and of course, as
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  Speaker 2: you mentioned, McConnell still absent and unable to vote. And
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  Speaker 2: this was a very long winded road to lead Bill
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  Speaker 2: Cassidy to this moment. He has voiced a number of
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  Speaker 2: concerns about Todd Blanche in the past, including having to
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  Speaker 2: do with that anti weaponization fund, with the IRS audit immunity,
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  Speaker 2: and then whether or not Todd Blanche would serve as
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  Speaker 2: an independent Attorney general. Given the fact that he was
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  Speaker 2: previously President Trump's personal attorney, and Bill Cassidy laid that
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  Speaker 2: all out on the table in that floor speech he
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  Speaker 2: just delivered within the past hour, saying essentially that Todd
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  Speaker 2: Blanche isn't perfect, but he's better than somebody else who
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  Speaker 2: could be, who could come along as acting Attorney General,
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  Speaker 2: who maybe isn't as qualified. Also, Bill Cassidy made the
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  Speaker 2: case that it's important to have a Senate confirmed Attorney
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  Speaker 2: General rather than an acting Attorney General. And at the
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  Speaker 2: end of the day, he said, I am going to
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  Speaker 2: vote for Todd Blanche. I may be criticized for it,
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  Speaker 2: but what's new now. What brought him to this decision
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  Speaker 2: seems to be a bevy of conversations that he had
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  Speaker 2: in recent days, including as recently as last night, including
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  Speaker 2: with former Attorney General Bill Barr, two US attorneys in Louisiana,
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  Speaker 2: as well as Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, the
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  Speaker 2: two no votes, and Tom Tillis and John Cornyn, the
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  Speaker 2: two yes Republican votes who were on the fence for
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  Speaker 2: a while before they struck that deal with the DOJ
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  Speaker 2: over the Antieponization fund and the irs audit immunity, So
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  Speaker 2: that all being said, Todd Blanch will have the votes
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  Speaker 2: to move forward and become the permanent Attorney General. Just
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  Speaker 2: when that vote will happen is still up in the
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  Speaker 2: air right now. The Senate working through a number of
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  Speaker 2: procedural hurdles as they try to finish up their business
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  Speaker 2: before heading home for the August recess. But certainly they're
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  Speaker 2: going to be able to check a very big item
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  Speaker 2: off their to do list, that being confirming Todd Blanche
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  Speaker 2: as the permanent Attorney General.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it really came down to the wire here, Eugene.
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  Speaker 1: What was interesting is that the Senator did get emotional
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  Speaker 1: at the end of his speech there. But why do
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  Speaker 1: you ultimately think that he decided to fall in line
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  Speaker 1: with Republicans?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I get number one, because Republicans always do. How
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  Speaker 3: many times have we've seen Burkowski and Collins being the
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  Speaker 3: only no votes. Look, I can take him at his
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  Speaker 3: word that he thought that Todd Branch was better than
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  Speaker 3: though any likely alternative, But I you know, let's keep
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  Speaker 3: in mind, first of all, yes, Cassidy was the vote
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  Speaker 3: that was outstanding, so we didn't know which way he
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  Speaker 3: was going to go, So he was in that sense
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  Speaker 3: the key vote. But every Republican senator except for Collins
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  Speaker 3: and Murkowski also voted to confirm Todd Blanche.
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  Speaker 4: And so.
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  Speaker 3: What did they just do. Well, they voted to confirm
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  Speaker 3: the guy who's been doing everything he can to bury
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  Speaker 3: the Epstein files. That's one thing they did. They voted
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  Speaker 3: for the guy came who tried to his best to
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  Speaker 3: establish this one point eight billion dollar fund for the
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  Speaker 3: January sixth rioters, and who maybe maybe not, has reluctantly
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  Speaker 3: agreed not to give you know, total immune unity maybe
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  Speaker 3: to the to the president for well, I guess he
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  Speaker 3: has given immunity for past tax violations and he claims
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  Speaker 3: to have limited it that somehow. But that's the guy
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  Speaker 3: they all voted for. And I think if I were
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  Speaker 3: advising Democrats running in Senate races, I would advise them
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  Speaker 3: to hold every senator who voted for Todd Blanch accountable
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  Speaker 3: for those things.
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  Speaker 1: But just to follow up on something you said at
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  Speaker 1: the beginning of your answer, couldn't you also argue that
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  Speaker 1: he had a lot of reason not to fall in
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  Speaker 1: line with Republicans?
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  Speaker 3: Well, yeah, because Donald Trump ended his political career. But remember, yes, yes,
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  Speaker 3: Cassidy has in some ways bucked Trump, you know here
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  Speaker 3: and there. But on the other big vote that he took,
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  Speaker 3: which to confirm RFK Junior as HHS Secretary, Cassidy ultimately
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  Speaker 3: voted to confirm him. And look how that has turned out.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, listen to what Kennedy has been saying the
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  Speaker 3: past few days, essentially trying to promulgate quack science and
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  Speaker 3: clearly making the nation unhealthier. And so again, Cassidy talks
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  Speaker 3: a bigger game than he walks.
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  Speaker 1: You know, Ken, some of the concern out there is
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  Speaker 1: that now that Blanche is confirmed, you know, there's going
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  Speaker 1: to be this about face. You know, he won't be
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  Speaker 1: able to keep the promises that he made when it
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  Speaker 1: comes to the ANTE Weaponization Fund, when it comes to
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  Speaker 1: the Epstein survivors. Are you anticipating any significant policy changes here.
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  Speaker 5: In terms of whether he violates his promises to senators?
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  Speaker 5: And that's anyone's guests, Britt, It's a great question, and
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  Speaker 5: it's something they all should have factored in, and of
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  Speaker 5: course they will have no leverage whatsoever if he does that. Look,
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  Speaker 5: it's very clear, as Egene said that Senator Cassidy and
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  Speaker 5: also Senator Cornyn and Senator Tillis viewed Todd Blanche as
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  Speaker 5: the least of a series of bad options.
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  Speaker 4: That's where we are as a country right now.
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  Speaker 5: They know that Todd Blanche has transformed the Justice Department
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  Speaker 5: in a way that violated decades of norms.
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  Speaker 4: They know that they all know that Todd blanch.
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  Speaker 5: Knows that that he's doing the bidding of Donald Trump
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  Speaker 5: in a way that no Attorney general ever has in
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  Speaker 5: American history, that he is overseeing investigations of Donald Trump's
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  Speaker 5: political opponents. Cassidy mentioned that that he oversaw the creation
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  Speaker 5: of this weaponization fund that he's now saying won't happen.
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  Speaker 4: But there's no guarantee.
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  Speaker 5: There's nothing, nothing that would stop the Justice Department from
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  Speaker 5: settling individually with January sixth defendants or others that Donald
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  Speaker 5: Trump wants to get to receive millions of dollars from
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  Speaker 5: the taxpayers. So it's really a remarkable situation we find
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  Speaker 5: ourselves in.
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  Speaker 4: But that's where we are as a country. Britain.
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  Speaker 1: Cornell, what do you what do you think about this?
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  Speaker 1: Is there anything that Democrats can do to sort of
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  Speaker 1: take this moment, maybe even take the process to get
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  Speaker 1: to this moment and use it to their advantage, as
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  Speaker 1: we had towards the midterms.
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  Speaker 6: Perhaps let's connect the dots here, right, so you listen
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  Speaker 6: to Cassidy, you know, give that struggle, to give that
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  Speaker 6: rationale for for for voting for this person. As Eugene said,
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  Speaker 6: I don't want to underline this, right, this is someone
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  Speaker 6: who who's going to be burying the Epstein files.
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  Speaker 4: And and it's.
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  Speaker 6: Kind of back and forth about a slush fund, uh
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  Speaker 6: for for people who attack the capital. None of these
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  Speaker 6: are things that are in the voter's best interest. None
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  Speaker 6: of these things actually address that the American publican and
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  Speaker 6: and their and their interests. And here's someone who is
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  Speaker 6: who is the criticism is leveled, and it's fairly spot
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  Speaker 6: on that this is the Donald Trump's attorney general is
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  Speaker 6: going to be doing the bidding of Donald Trump, not
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  Speaker 6: the American people. And so you have Republicans fall in
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  Speaker 6: fall in live. Now connect the dots back to this.
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  Speaker 6: The vast majority of voters right now want someone who
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  Speaker 6: will actually put a check on Donald Trump, not fall
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  Speaker 6: in live with Donald Trump. That's the vast majority of voters.
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  Speaker 6: And you see Cassidy again, like all Republicans fall in
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  Speaker 6: line knowing that what they're doing isn't right, but doing
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  Speaker 6: it anyway, and it just drives the thirst for voters
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  Speaker 6: to want to put a check on the president and
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  Speaker 6: not to someone who's going to say, well, this is
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  Speaker 6: the best that we can do.
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  Speaker 4: No, voters are angry.
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  Speaker 6: They're angry that their issues aren't being addressed, they're angry
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  Speaker 6: that the president and corruption seems to be winning the day.
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  Speaker 4: And this is just more of the same of this.
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  Speaker 6: Son, Can Democrats use this, Yeah, they have a puthoro
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  Speaker 6: of this this, but this is reinforcing the narrative that
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  Speaker 6: they already that's already begin to be baked in and
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  Speaker 6: the reason why the vast majority of Americans now want
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  Speaker 6: someone who will put a check on Donald Trump and
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  Speaker 6: Republicans don't seem to be up to the job.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, sort of that anti Trump strategy that we've seen
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  Speaker 1: from Democrats in the past months. Eugene, You know, a
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  Speaker 1: lot of focus right now is on Senator Cassidy, of course,
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  Speaker 1: but just this morning, Senator Murkowski's voting no, joining Senator
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  Speaker 1: Collins as well. Do you think there are no votes
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  Speaker 1: are on principle or are they just distancing themselves from
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  Speaker 1: Trump over their own electability. I mean, what are the
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  Speaker 1: motives behind their no votes?
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  Speaker 3: Well, let's take them individually. At Lisa Murkowski has been
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  Speaker 3: is not hesitant to get on Donald Trump's bad side,
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  Speaker 3: and he has tried to knock her off. He has
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  Speaker 3: tried anything he can to damage her political standing and
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  Speaker 3: he can't.
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  Speaker 4: And she knows.
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  Speaker 3: This is a woman who won a write in campaign
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  Speaker 3: for that seat in Alaska with a name like Murkowski
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  Speaker 3: that voters had to write in. She's got such a
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  Speaker 3: solid political footing that she can do what she thinks
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  Speaker 3: is right, and that's what she did in this case.
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  Speaker 3: Susan Collins, I you know, I can't read Susan Collins
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  Speaker 3: behind but obviously she's in a tough race this.
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  Speaker 4: Year and she doesn't want.
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  Speaker 3: She doesn't want to be tied that closely to Donald
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  Speaker 3: Trump in a state that is blue, the state that
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  Speaker 3: does not like Donald Trump. And so did that play
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  Speaker 3: a role in her calculation? I'm sure it did. I
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  Speaker 3: don't know what she really thinks about Todd Blanche, but
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  Speaker 3: I think she did what she knew was politically necessary
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  Speaker 3: for her.
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  Speaker 1: Ken to that end, do you think there's going to
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  Speaker 1: be some pretty strong direct conversations happening behind closed doors
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  Speaker 1: right now over those no votes.
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  Speaker 5: Look, what I can tell you is that at the
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  Speaker 5: Justice Department brit there are some very strong conversations.
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  Speaker 4: Going on about how bad morale is.
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  Speaker 5: I had a text from a source over there who
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  Speaker 5: said that they could not believe that Senator Cassidy described
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  Speaker 5: morale as high at the Justice Department.
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  Speaker 4: The person said, what is he smoking?
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  Speaker 5: Because the career employees that the Department of Justice are
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  Speaker 5: beside themselves with the direction that Todd blanche has taken
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  Speaker 5: the department. They know that he was a prosecutor for
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  Speaker 5: nine years, and they are just utterly perplexed at some
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  Speaker 5: of the decisions he's made and very depressed about what
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  Speaker 5: the road forward looks like. We're only a year and
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  Speaker 5: a half into this term. Thousands and thousands of Justice
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  Speaker 5: Department employees have been driven out or have left or
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  Speaker 5: have retired, both at the FBI, at the DOJ, and
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  Speaker 5: at the DJ and there's a lot of road left
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  Speaker 5: to travel here along this path that Donald Trump wants
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  Speaker 5: to take the Justice Department